[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-1-en-105":3,"doc-seo-199997-105":53,"doc-detail-199997-en":126},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,14,19,24,29,34,39,44,49],{"id":8,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":11,"show_sort_weight":12,"slug":13},11,1,"Template","Presentations",90,"presentations",{"id":15,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":16,"show_sort_weight":17,"slug":18},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":20,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":21,"show_sort_weight":22,"slug":23},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":25,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":26,"show_sort_weight":27,"slug":28},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":30,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":31,"show_sort_weight":32,"slug":33},16,"Social Media",50,"social-media",{"id":35,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":36,"show_sort_weight":37,"slug":38},17,"Forms",40,"forms",{"id":40,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":41,"show_sort_weight":42,"slug":43},18,"Letters",30,"letters",{"id":45,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":46,"show_sort_weight":47,"slug":48},21,"Paper Templates",5,"papers-templates",{"id":50,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":51,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":52},158,"General","general-158",{"code":4,"msg":54,"data":55},"ok",{"site_id":56,"language":57,"slug":58,"title":59,"keywords":60,"description":61,"schema_data":62,"social_meta":119,"head_meta":121,"extra_data":123,"updated_unix":125},105,"en","laying-our-burden-down-saying-final-goodbyes-to-theme-writing-journal-of-teaching-writing-301","LAYING OUR BURDEN DOWN - SAYING FINAL GOODBYES TO THEME WRITING - Journal of Teaching Writing 30.1","","An argumentative article traces the persistence of theme writing and the five-paragraph theme across more than a century of composition instruction, highlighting the many voices, recurring objections, and continuing attraction to formulaic pedagogy. The author frames five-paragraph practices as outdated instructional “residues” and argues for transformative, empathy-centered teaching that prioritizes authentic writing tasks, credible assessment, and sustained lifelong writing engagement. It also includes virtual conversations and a bibliography to support the case for abandoning the school theme.",{"@graph":63,"@context":118},[64,80,101],{"@type":65,"itemListElement":66},"BreadcrumbList",[67,71,74,77],{"item":68,"name":69,"@type":70,"position":9},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":72,"name":10,"@type":70,"position":73},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/",2,{"item":75,"name":11,"@type":70,"position":76},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/presentations/",3,{"item":78,"name":59,"@type":70,"position":79},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/laying-our-burden-down-saying-final-goodbyes-to-theme-writing-journal-of-teaching-writing-301/199997/",4,{"url":78,"name":59,"@type":81,"image":82,"author":87,"headline":59,"publisher":90,"fileFormat":93,"inLanguage":57,"description":61,"dateModified":94,"datePublished":95,"encodingFormat":93,"isAccessibleForFree":96,"interactionStatistic":97},"DigitalDocument",{"url":83,"@type":84,"width":85,"height":86},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/laying-our-burden-down-saying-final-goodbyes-to-theme-writing-journal-of-teaching-writing-301/199997.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":88,"@type":89},"Jacob","Person",{"url":68,"name":91,"@type":92},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-11","2026-09-04",true,{"@type":98,"interactionType":99,"userInteractionCount":47},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":100},"ViewAction",{"@type":102,"mainEntity":103},"FAQPage",[104,110,114],{"name":105,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":107},"What does the article argue about the five-paragraph theme in today’s writing curriculum?","Question",{"text":108,"@type":109},"It argues that the five-paragraph theme and theme-writing residues have no place in the writing curriculum and should be abandoned if education aims at twenty-first century literacies and communication skills.","Answer",{"name":111,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":112},"Why does the author say theme writing has persisted despite negative opinions?",{"text":113,"@type":109},"The author observes that theme-writing pedagogies and the five-paragraph theme persist even when critics describe them negatively, and consistent objections have not dislodged the practice.",{"name":115,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What does rejecting theme writing mean according to the article?",{"text":117,"@type":109},"Rejecting theme writing does not mean rejecting form; it means engaging student writers in more authentic writing acts and using sophisticated assessment tools aligned with genuine writing development.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":78,"og:type":120,"og:title":59,"og:site_name":91,"og:description":61},"article",{"robots":122,"canonical":78},"index,follow",{"doc_id":124,"site_id":56},199997,1788507597,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":127},{"doc_id":124,"user_id":128,"nickname":88,"user_avatar":129,"doc_module":9,"category_id":8,"category_name":11,"doc_title":59,"doc_description":61,"doc_content":130,"file_id":131,"file_url":132,"file_type":133,"file_size":134,"view_count":135,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":9,"is_downloadable":9,"audit_status":9,"page_count":136,"language":137,"language_code":57,"site_id":56,"html_lang":57,"table_of_contents":138,"faqs":139,"seo_title":140,"seo_description":61,"update_tm":125,"read_time":141},962084931830,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_a8503ba1806abce46bf441b54a3ca4cd","LAYING OUR BURDEN DOWN:  \nSAYING FINAL GOODBYES TO THEME WRITING  \nMichelle Tremmel  \nIn 2009 I began a study of articles and books on composition instruction dating back to 1897, to try to understand both the persistence of theme writing over the last century and the emergence of the five-paragraph theme about fifty-six years ago. Significant in this exploration have been the hundreds of voices who have spoken before now about current-traditional themewriting practices. Thus, anyone who writes today about theme writing is “not, after all, the first speaker, the one who disturbs the eternal silence of the universe” on this issue (Bahktin 69), which suggests that it is important for writing teachers to listen to our colleagues of the past.  \nFrom the study, a dominant impression emerges: themewriting pedagogies and the five-paragraph theme have persisted, despite the many negative descriptions of and opinions about them (eerily similar across the expanse of time since the turn of the twentieth century), and consistent objections have done little to unseat theme-writing instruction. However, while it is true that writing teachers in the twenty-first century are still enamored of the formula (cf. Boldt; Jenkins; Kunkler-Laake), I do not see the history of theme writing as a history of futility (even though coming upon the five-paragraph theme in a writing classroom today can feel like coming upon a dunce-cap-wearing student sitting in a corner with a slide rule) .  \nInstead, I see an opportunity 1) to argue that now is the time for all writing teachers to end the practices of theme-writing and the five-paragraph theme that have shaped so much writing instruction for over a hundred years and 2) to offer a bibliography  \nJOURNAL OF TEACHING WRITING VOLUME 30.1  \nof sources to broaden the knowledge of those who want to say goodbye to the outdated relic of the school theme, who want to, finally, lay this pedagogical burden down by the riverside—or wherever mathematics teachers have discarded those slide rules. Embedded in the argument are short, virtual conversations on theme writing that function as supportive intermezzos and provide a snapshot of a theme-writing discussion across a century. Taken together, the argument, the intermezzos, and the bibliography intend to help those who want to construct a case for abandoning formulaic approaches to teaching writing argue that case before resistant others (e.g. , colleagues, program directors, students, administrators, business, government, parents, or the wider public) .  \nEnough is enough. In 2015 the five-paragraph theme or practices that contain the residues of theme writing have no place in the writing curriculum if our country is truly serious about twenty-first century literacies and communication skills, as I hope it is. The question is how to dislodge the practice. One way, I think, is to create broader awareness of the century-long, recycling conversation on theme writing—escaping George Santayana’s indictment that people who don’t know history are condemned to repeat it—and to foster more pedagogically and rhetorically defensible approaches to teaching writing than current-traditionalism.  \nDespite the writing rut in which our educational systems are stuck (Applebee and Langer 27), we can, with many intelligent, creative, dedicated, and tenacious writing teachers armed with knowledge, take on the project of breaking the stranglehold that formula has had on writing instruction and not waste the next hundred years playing at writing via fake discourses like the fiveparagraph theme. To do this, we need transformative change that rejects the wrong-headed, “culturally narcissistic” reform that expects children to be perfect (especially intellectually) and that gives adults “a grandiose sense of superiority and entitlement [that results in their] relentless fault-finding [,] preoccupation with control [, offering of] conditional approval [, viewing] their own  \n56 JOURNAL OF TEACHI","cbCaislcKHxNcZVm","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaislcKHxNcZVm","pdf",181562,13,22,"English","# LAYING OUR BURDEN DOWN: SAYING FINAL GOODBYES TO THEME WRITING\n## Historical persistence of theme writing\n## Arguments for ending formulaic practices\n## Transformative change and authentic writing tasks\n## Bibliography and supportive conversations","[{\"question\":\"What does the article argue about the five-paragraph theme in today’s writing curriculum?\",\"answer\":\"It argues that the five-paragraph theme and theme-writing residues have no place in the writing curriculum and should be abandoned if education aims at twenty-first century literacies and communication skills.\"},{\"question\":\"Why does the author say theme writing has persisted despite negative opinions?\",\"answer\":\"The author observes that theme-writing pedagogies and the five-paragraph theme persist even when critics describe them negatively, and consistent objections have not dislodged the practice.\"},{\"question\":\"What does rejecting theme writing mean according to the article?\",\"answer\":\"Rejecting theme writing does not mean rejecting form; it means engaging student writers in more authentic writing acts and using sophisticated assessment tools aligned with genuine writing development.\"}]","LAYING OUR BURDEN DOWN - SAYING FINAL GOODBYES TO THEME WRITING - Journal of Teaching Writing 30.1 | PDF",8]