Teaching the five paragraph essay to students in middle school and high school is not an easy task. The teachers are expected to use the proper techniques and the tools for teaching essay writing to students. They have to design the essay questions or the topics for the essays to develop the students’ skills in language and writing as well as creative and analytical skills. To help the students to grasp the basic ideas and develop these skills teachers must carefully select their teaching aids and tools.
Few of the Widely Used Teaching Aids

A graphic essay organizer is a widely used tool for teaching the five paragraph essay. This is very popular among students and the teachers because it helps the students get the essay organized in addition to helping the teacher in explaining the students of the different parts of the essay. Other popular aid for teaching is essay outline template. Essay prompts, essay examples, picture cards and poetry analysis charts are also among the good teaching tools that help students develop their writing skills. The students who develop a habit of using these aids for themselves learn the intricacies of essay writing faster.
Elements of the Five Paragraph Essay

Teaching the five paragraph essay shall start with the elements of the essay. The elements are the title and the five paragraphs. How to write and what to write in the five paragraphs is the key to writing a good five paragraph essay. The title should be written to describe clearly what the essay is about.

The students have to be taught how to write the first paragraph introducing the essay as this is the most important part of the essay. Introductory paragraph shall give a very brief outline or a road map of the essay, the thesis statement and a transitional handle to the second paragraph. The three body paragraphs shall include the arguments, or examples, one in each paragraph. The final paragraph shall include a summary of the three body paragraphs and restatement of the thesis, giving the conclusion. Final paragraph of an essay is very important, especially for essays such as argumentative or persuasion essays.
Use of Transitional Cues and Transitional Words

The strength of a five paragraph essay lies in the proper use of transitional words and transitional cues to create an uninterrupted flow of ideas from the first paragraph to the final paragraph. This improves the coherence and readability of the whole essay. This must take precedence in teaching of essay writing. Many students joining colleges do not understand that five paragraph essay structure is not some holy object that should not be touched and changed. This misunderstanding makes students who wrote A-grade essays in high school to write C-grade essays in the college. Therefore students should be taught that there is no limitation of paragraphs in writing an essay though this is used as an aid to teaching.

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