Barry Lane, Ch. 11: Giving students choices

I learned this lesson the hard way. Last year, I had my seventh graders write a short story. I established some parameters, which they very quickly either forgot or ignored. I think the latter was more commonly the case. But I digress.

I discovered that the ones who ignored my boundaries wrote far more interesting or risky stories. Some were downright hilarious. I also discovered that those who were more freewheeling about my requirements wrote more, rather than less. Not a few of my students wrote stories that took up 10-20 pages, far more than I expected. Of course, some rambled on and got lost in the process, but I was pleased that they were having fun with their writing.

From then on, I decided to give my students the permission and power to choose as often as possible. I will continue this practice into my second year.

After The End/6-8/Graphing a story

I found this particular section useful. Graphing a story seems to reveal more than using a more simplistic plot line. You can graph various aspects of the narrative, such as emotional states of the characters, action, even keep track of how a writer uses vivid verbs, appositives and other "brush strokes" (thank you, Warren). Right away you can determine a number of variables, and decide where the story needs more work. I suppose this can be applied to just about every kind of writing, whether poetic or transactional. I would relate it to a seismograph or an EKG.

My Stepfather

Snuck into my sisters’ rooms,
held their bodies down in the dark.
Clamped a hand over their
tiny pink mouths.

Whispered threats
of cigarette burns
and a fist. Crept away
with no trace of blood.

Twisted mother’s heart with lies,
stroked her fears with his coiled tongue.
Claimed the victim. Heard
the voice of devils.

Moved like a snake. Spoke slant.
Kept everyone spellbound
with his unblinking
yellow eye.

On Harper's Writer's Toolbox

It's obvious that Harper is not reinventing the wheel, but is giving it a good push up the hill. I really like her approach to making Lane's ideas accessible through the use of graphic shorthand. I'm with her all the way about having a common language,and symbols do the trick.

I'd like to carry this further and relate the same idea to Warren's presentation on teaching grammar: why not come up with some symbols for "ing", apositives, absolutes, etc.? I'm not sure what kinds of symbols I would use, but I think it's worth contemplating.

I also like her idea about color coding the text so that students can get a bird's eye view of their draft--they can see where the weaknesses or imbalances are very quickly.

Need to get that toolbox filled right away.

Warne on Teaching Conventions in a State-Mandated Testing Context

We all face the dilemma of having to "teach to the test," whether the ISAT for you Idahoans, or the WASL for us Washington teachers. As is typical, I had to prepare students to write two-point and three-point responses to a prompt. I hated it as much as my students did. But I digress.

I am encouraged with Warne's directive to use examples from the books that students are actually reading. In my class, for example, I certainly could have used passages from the Twilight series and other popular books. After all, that's where they were, and many of them might even be able to quote whole paragraphs from Eclipse. What a great way to get them to buy into conventions if they can see how their favorite author is doing it.

Sentence combining exercises have their place, and I would follow through with the same strategy: use their books for examples.

Lu Chi's Wen Fu: The Art of Writing

Team, here is the URL to read Lu Chi's Wen Fu. I think this is worth storing on your hard drive, or at least bookmarking for future use.

Enjoy!

http://www.mnstate.edu/gracyk/courses/web%20publishing/LuChi.htm

On "What's Right With Writing" (Rief)

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.