Teaching Paragraph Writing

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Do you start the year with a unit about writing paragraphs?

It’s pretty standard.

But I don’t do it. I am kind of a rule breaker! (I mean, I did just start a sentence with the word “but.”)

In this episode, I am excited to share two reasons that I stopped using a paragraph writing unit at the beginning of the school year.

Here is a little review:

1. Paragraph writing is boring. When you start your year with this type of writing exercise, you show your students that writing is going to be boring in your class this year. That’s not what we want our students to be thinking right from the get go!
2. There is not one right way to write a paragraph. Some paragraphs are 5-7 sentences long and some are only one sentence long. The length of a paragraph depends greatly on the type of writing! 

So why teach paragraph writing out of context? 

Instead, teach it during your specific writing genre units. Afterall, a personal narrative paragraph will be written differently than an informational report paragraph.

Would you like more information about teaching writing? 

I teach an online professional development course for teachers in grades 2-5. The course is called Not So Wimpy Writing Masterclass. In this course, I help teachers to go from feeling discouraged and overwhelmed about their writing instruction, to feeling excited and confident. I only open this course a couple of times per year. Make sure that you are on the waitlist so that you can grab a spot the next time that the doors are open.

Get on the waitlist: www.notsowimpymasterclass.com