Re “The Lobotomized Weasel School of Writing,” Commentary, May 20: I vehemently disagree with Crispin Sartwell’s characterization of the five-paragraph essay as “hoo-ha.” While he explains that ...

Teacher Susan Ryan once thought her students wrote like robots. Her fifth-graders at Tavares Elementary would spit out essay after essay, using the same five-paragraph structure. They would start with ...

Early in our careers, when we were fresh-faced and idealistic (we still are!) the prepackaged curriculum and the advice of more experienced colleagues was the go-to resource. Largely, we were advised ...

Roberto Loiederman lays out a formula (what he calls PEDOS) for writing college admission essays (“Selling yourself through the personal statement,” Nov. 9). Writing an essay according to formula ...