Teachers of other subjects are expected to support student writing.
The five paragraph essay is a basic format of essay, very useful, but not the only one. In fact, the problem is that many students, even of university level, cannot go beyond it. It helps them to understand the basic structure.
Going beyond the five-paragraph-essay
Any type of writing should have an introduction of some kind, a body of about three main points, and a closing. This is basically a five-paragraph-essay; but students should not feel they are to write only five paragraphs. It is not true, either, that each paragraph should have a certain number of sentences.
1 Read good writings
Show mentor texts, examples of well-written texts in the genre we want students to write. Thus, if we want them to write a good piece of argumentative essay, models of such genre should be provided to them. Real life texts are the best at this initial stage. It is also a good idea to deal with topics students feel connected with, so they have more to say about it.
Reading is not enough: comparisons need to be made, how the writer cited, criticism and analysis are to be carried out before actually writing.
Formulaic writing is not quite a s important as experimenting a variety of writings.
2 Free style arguing
Icebreakers are used, where one polemic issue is discussed and students take their stand. They defend their position, so ideas flow freely. This is to show that giving an argument is something done regularly and sometimes unconsciously. An easy topic which students can talk about is ideal.
3 Formal argument
The teacher gives written data and information to learn about a topic before beginning the writing process. This helps to back up one´s personal opinion and strengthens one's argument. Students look for evidence to support their points in the material they were given. This is an oral discussion.
Philosophical Chairs
A little bit more formal and structured debate, two sides argue their points. One side is supposed to summarise the opposite's point before talking. Students are required to refer to evidence in their texts. As a result of this, they get acquainted with citing textual evidence for one's argument.
4 Performance assessment
It takes time; it could take up to four weeks. A sample is shown, teacher-created or a well-done student model as a model of the assignment. teaching how to do a research should be taught in a different lesson.
5 Building the base
Not leaving students work alone without help is important. Students can look at their partners' work. After all, they are going to write different things. The teacher could start composing and writing his/her own essay on a topic of his/her choice to show how the process works. Seeing how the process develops really helps their own. This step, the writer's workshop, would take two weeks
Once students have their thesis statement and three reasons they could work at their own pace. This is self-paced learning. Students write and clear up their doubts with the teacher's help and work at their own pace. Some skills students need to develop are knowing how to choose the best evidence, how to distinguish reliable, credible information, the kind of language necessary, citing sources correctly and how to move from one idea in a paragraph to the next one.
