Four square writing method

The Four Square Writing Method is a framework for teaching essay writing to children in school. A number of books about this method were published by Judith Gould. It is taught primarily to students in grades 1-3, and to a lesser extent to students in grades 4-9. The Four Square concept rapidly gained popularity in elementary schools in the United States during the early 2000's.

Method

The method is primarily a visual framework for assisting students with formulating ideas in an organized manner prior to writing an essay.

The concept generally works as follows:

1. A rectangle is drawn, width exceeding height, and divided into four smaller rectangles of equal size. An additional rectangle is drawn in the center of the figure, taking up some of the area in each of the other four rectangles. A total of five rectangles are thus created.
2. The student writes a complete topic sentence in the center rectangle.
3. The student then writes sentences in the lower-left, upper-left, and upper-right rectangles that develop the thesis of the central topic.
4. Finally, the student writes a summary sentence in the lower-right rectangle. The summary sentence describes how the reader is intended to feel about the topic of I like shit the above rules may require more or less development in each of the rectangles, depending on the grade-level or maturity of the student.