Once I talked on the Language Lady Facebook page about how many times I had said “A paragraph is a unit of thought” in three days of teaching. (Too many to count!) And promised a post about designing paragraphs, paragraph breaks, and general paragraph help. Here you go!

Dividing paragraphs is one of the most challenging aspects of writing for young writers and adults alike (along with many other challenging aspects!). That is why when people who do not write a lot write a full page with no paragraph breaks. That is also why middle school writers start writing and have no idea when to indent–so they randomly pick a spot (“Hmmm….looks like I’ve written enough to change paragraphs now…”) and indent.

While paragraph division isn’t always simple to determine (I admit to looking at a lengthy paragraph and thinking those middle school thoughts myself at times!), there are some tips that can make the process easier.

1. Think of the “main idea.”

Remember all of those achievement tests that had you color in the little oval for a reading selection’s main idea? Well, turns out that is actually a skill you might need!

When you are writing (assuming you don’t have an amazing outline to write from–see next item!), ask yourself what the main idea of the paragraph you are writing is? Then keep writing until you start writing something that is not about that main idea!

I know that sounds simplistic, but it truly is the way to determine paragraph breaks–because, as I mentioned earlier–a paragraph is a unit of thought. When that thought changes, you should change paragraphs. Then you have a new “main idea” of the paragraph.

2. Write from an outline.

I know, outlines are for people who have more time than you have. However, if you want to write clear, concise paragraphs, you should learn to outline. (Stay tuned to Language Lady. I will teach you how to outline painlessly. Honest!)

In the fifty curriculum books that I have written over the past dozen years, every single writing project I have created has a student commit to the paragraph’s topic in an outline before anything else. I use dozens of outlining techniques in my books–Paragraph House for second graders, split paper technique for comparing/contrasting writing, formal outline for research papers, scene outlines for stories. But every type of outline I teach has one common characteristic: the Topic of Paragraph line.

When you create a paragraph-by-paragraph outline, you learn to write strong paragraphs without even realizing that you are learning to write strong paragraphs. Why? Simply because you are committing to what each paragraph will contain right off the bat. And you are forced to change paragraphs (start a new one) at the right time. Try it!

3. A paragraph generally contains three or more sentences.

I say generally because nowadays, especially on blog posts and inspirational writing, this rule of thumb is broken all the time. However, for those in school turning in reports and essays, it is still an important rule of thumb.

A paragraph might contain three or four sentences, or might contain eight or nine, but generally, a paragraph of fewer than three sentences is not truly a paragraph. And a paragraph of twelve sentences probably needs to be broken into two paragraphs (with the first paragraph being Part I of the topic and the second paragraph being Part II of the topic!).

This rule of thumb is a help to a new writer on the shorter end of the spectrum. A new writer needs to know that he can write three or four sentences for a paragraph, and it will still be a paragraph. (Let’s give those new writers every break we can!)

4. Teach very new writers to write the “paragraph is a unit of thought” way by having them write on a subject with clear paragraph topics.  

I know some of you adults are tuning me out here, and I understand! Language Lady has a diverse audience of adults who want to know where to put commas in and how to speak and write eloquently in the work place to teachers and homeschooling parents and students! So I will try to give you a little of everything!

In this instance, though, if you are a parent or a teacher (or both), this little tip can really help your young writers. (I’m all about making learning easier for young ones!) In my younger books, I like to expand from one paragraph writings to multi-paragraph writings by taking a topic that is simple to divide: Three Best Pets, Four Great Presidents, Five Zoo Animals.

By making the paragraph breaks so obvious, a new writer can’t go wrong! He is not going to write about cats in his dog paragraph. In this way, it is really like writing three one-paragraph reports and “squeezing” them together. It starts new writers out in a fool-proof method–and gives them immediate success.

So whether you are a teacher instructing a little guy in his first two

-paragraph essay or a college student writing eighteen pages of a final

research paper, always keep in the forefront of your mind that a paragraph is

a unit of thought. (And don’t forget to outline!) Smile…)

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If you are interested in learning more about writing poetry or improving the poetry you do write, you might want to obtain the poetry handbook described below. I like trying different kinds than I normally write (which are nearly alwyas rhymed verse of fairly “normal” rhyme schemes–ABAB, AABBCC, ABCB, etc.). A handbook such as this one helps me learn about other styles–and challenges me to give them a try!

There are many handbooks out there–but the one below received rave reviews, is not too long, and is written by an award-winning poet.

Amazon.com Review: This slender guide by Mary Oliver deserves a place on the shelves of any budding poet. In clear, accessible prose, Oliver (winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for poetry) arms the reader with an understanding of the technical aspects of poetry writing. Her lessons on sound, line (length, meter, breaks), poetic forms (and lack thereof), tone, imagery, and revision are illustrated by a handful of wonderful poems (too bad Oliver was so modest as to not include her own). What could have been a dry account is infused throughout with Oliver’s passion for her subject, which she describes as “a kind of possible love affair between something like the heart (that courageous but also shy factory of emotion) and the learned skills of the conscious mind.” One comes away from this volume feeling both empowered and daunted. Writing poetry is good, hard work.

https://www.amazon.com/Poetry-Handbook-Mary-Oliver/dp/0156724006

Tomorrow–tips on getting started writing or teaching poetry.

The post day 97: poetry handbook appeared first on Character Ink.

1. If your child is hesitant to write because of penmanship difficulties, either teach him how to type (use a typing program for young kids) or write for him as he dictates to you. He needs to see that penmanship difficulties do not mean that he is unable to write. Writing is thinking. Penning is art.
2. Try having him write sentences about things you are doing. For example, have him write a sentence each day in a journal about that day or every Saturday about the weekend.
3. Or have specific things listed at the top of a journal for him or her that he/she writes about:
1. Monday: Weekend
2. Tuesday: Food
3. Wednesday: Book
4. Thursday: Animal
5. Friday: Person
6. Saturday: Movie
4. Have him write a sentence under a picture, similar to captions. These pictures may be ones that he has drawn or colored or cartoons or pictures from a book.
5. Make a list of nouns and a list of verbs. Have him write a sentence using one word from the noun list and one word from the verb list. For example:

The post day 82: homework help—final sentence writing help appeared first on Character Ink.

1. If your child likes the feeling of creating through writing, but doesn’t think he can write sentences, you may want to try one of the following:
1. Have him copy sentences that you write for him or sentences out of one of his favorite books.
2. Write sentences for him with a light colored highlighter and have him write over the highlighter with his pencil.
3. Write “fill in the blank sentences for him.” When I was in teacher’s college, these were called “cloze sentence” (for those who want to google to find out more). This is where you write sentences but leave blanks for him to fill in key words. This way you have started the sentences for him, but what happens in the sentence and to whom is still his creation. (There’s a site that lets you build these and print them for your kids/students at https://www.theteacherscorner.net/printable-worksheets/make-your-own/fill-in-the-blank/ .)

2. If he can’t think of anything to write about in his sentences, ask him questions that he must answer in sentence form. “What is your favorite animal?” “What is your favorite color?” etc.
3. If he is having trouble writing “real” sentences (i.e. write fragments or dependent clauses instead), have him say it aloud and ask him more questions. For example, if he says “Blue” (to the favorite color question), say “Blue what?” If he says “favorite color,” continue to coach him. “Try this…Blue is…can you make that into a complete sentences instead of just words?” (Coaching is a huge part of teaching writing!)
4. If he likes to write stories, have him dictate sentences to you (or alternate giving sentences—he then you) that you pen for him.
5. Finally, have him write a sentence a day to get used to sentence writing. We had journals for our kids that they copied verses and quotes in—one a day—to help them get a feeling for sentence writing.

The post day 81: homework help—more sentence help appeared first on Character Ink.

Roadmap for the week:

1. Starting with some reading help! Reading is the inverse of spelling in the same way that addition is the inverse of subtraction. Build a strong reading background, helping  your student to reach “reading fluency,” and a love for learning, and you will go a long way way in helping him or her in language arts in general–and all learning eventually.

2. Then sentence writing, including…

a. Penmanship vs writing
b. Beginning sentence writing
c. Copy work
d. Reading and writing connection
e. Writing “from his brain” and from a source for little ones

Thanks for joining us!

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