In his essay "The Art of Writing," ancient Chinese poet Lu Chi observed: "In making an axe handle by cutting wood with an axe, the model is indeed near at hand."
Like Lu and so many others, Rief suggests holding up models to students.
I have used models in the past, and am now convinced that I need to use them more extensively. However, I am also mulling over the idea of using short texts as models (suggested by Christy)--even as small as a sentence.
For example, when teaching students how to write a short story, I could take bits and pieces of good short stories, rather than a whole. My rationale for this is because some writers are great at opening lines, others are better at characterization, others have a great way of getting out. Thus, it will be imperative to choose the BEST examples of each to model the concept.
In regard to using DOL (e.g., grammar-based "Mug Shots"), why use a poor model? After all, it is by handling genuine currency day after day after day that tellers are quickly able to spot a counterfeit bill when it passes through their hands. They're so used to the real stuff that a red flag goes up as soon as they encounter falsehood. In the same way, if students are fed the "good stuff" regularly, they will tend to be more able to spot that bad or weak stuff in language.
I need to look into this more deeply when I am back in the classroom.
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Axe Handles
ReplyDeleteby Gary Snyder
One afternoon the last week in April
Showing Kai how to throw a hatchet
One-half turn and it sticks in a stump.
He recalls the hatchet-head
Without a handle, in the shop
And go gets it, and wants it for his own.
A broken-off axe handle behind the door
Is long enough for a hatchet,
We cut it to length and take it
With the hatchet head
And working hatchet, to the wood block.
There I begin to shape the old handle
With the hatchet, and the phrase
First learned from Ezra Pound
Rings in my ears!
"When making an axe handle
the pattern is not far off."
And I say this to Kai
"Look: We'll shape the handle
By checking the handle
Of the axe we cut with—"
And he sees. And I hear it again:
It's in Lu Ji's We Fu, fourth century
A.D. "Essay on Literature" - in the
Preface: "In making the handle
Of an axe
By cutting wood with an axe
The model is indeed near at hand."
My teacher Shih-hsiang Chen
Translated that and taught it years ago
And I see: Pound was an axe,
Chen was an axe, I am an axe
And my son a handle, soon
To be shaping again, model
And tool, craft of culture,
How we go on.
Raymond Pert that posted this poem is my brother! I am glad he is visiting our blogs. I think after seeing how Bonnie used text as a way to have students play with conventions, we can add another strategy to our toolboxes. Christy
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