Topic: Preparing to Write Stories

10-second review: Read the obituaries and find stories in the gaps—what’s missing from the person’s life record.

Source: L Batt. The Writer (January 2005), 29. The Writer is a magazine by writers for writers.

Topic: Preparing to Write Stories

10-second review: How to get ideas for stories. Look for incidents that leave you with lingering questions. Write the story to answer those questions.

Source: T Bailey. The Writer (May 2005), 13. The Writer is a magazine by writers for writers.

Topic: Preparing to Write Articles or Essays

10-second review: How prepare students for writing? Begin by outlining your article, essay or book.

Source: C Willis. The Writer (November 2004), 27. The Writer is a magazine by writers for writers.

Topic: Preparing to Write Essays

10-second review: How prepare students for writing? One way of preparing to write an essay: Summarize what happens in the beginning, in the middle and end of your essay. List 3 words or phrases that summarize the contents of your essay.

Source: HE Ollmann. Notes Plus (October 2004), 8-10. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Topic: Writing Poetry

10-second review: What are some techniques for teaching students how to write poetry? Students underline words and phrases on a page torn out of an old book; or in books they are reading [that are their own personal copies]. Arrange the words and phrases into a poem. I tried it. Here’s mine, taken from several pages in Schlesinger’s Robert Kennedy and His Times:

A profound emotion—the dread of war:

Unrelenting antagonisms lead to the end of everything,

The only victor—compulsive gloom.

Source: L Gajdostik. Classroom Notes Plus (April 2005), 7-8. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Comment: I’m not saying it’s great or even good or even fair poetry. But putting those words together into a connected thought made me think. RayS.

Topic: Peer Review of Students' Writing

10-second review: A skeptical view of the effects of peer responses to other students’ writing. Author finds that student comments on their peers’ papers are superficial, that the student writers do not revise along the lines suggested by their peers and that student comments are not as valuable as the teacher’s. The students say they like peer response groups but she, the writer, is skeptical.

Source: ME Casey. Teaching English in Two-Year Colleges (March 2005), 278.A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Comment: One thing I have learned about using peer reviews by students of other students’ writing: the procedure needs to be clearly outlined with a purpose for every step. I have used peer reviews in the following manner.

First, test the unity of the composition. Divide an 8 1/2” X 11” paper in half, width-wise. The peer reviewer reads the composition and on one side of the paper writes the main idea. The writer writes the main idea on the other side. Open the paper and compare the two versions of the main idea. If they are similar, the paper is probably unified.

Second, test for clarity. The peer reviewer re-reads the composition silently and places question marks in the margin of any idea that is not clear. The writer reviews the question marks and the ideas they question, asks for any clarification of what is not clear and decides whether to make any changes. One technique is for the writer to write out in full detail what the writer intended and then re-cast it for the composition.

Third, test for smooth expression (that is, ridding the composition of “awks”). Both the peer reviewer and the writer read the composition out loud one after the other. If either stumbles in reading aloud, underline where the stumbles occurred. The writer decides if the expression should be revised.

Fourth, check for spelling. The peer reviewer reads the composition from the last word back to the first. Because the reviewer will not be reading for meaning, the reviewer should be able to spot any spelling errors.

That’s what I mean by a “structured” peer review. Don’t waste any time. Check for unity, clarity, smoothness and spelling. I don’t care how the teacher structures the peer review, just make sure the students understand clearly what they are expected to do. RayS.

Topic: Writing Journals

10-second review: What are some alternative methods for writing in journals? Write a journal, using the form of letters to someone.

Source: K Campbell. “Letter Journaling.” The Writer (May 2005), 15. The Writer is a magazine by writers for writers.

Comment: I’m still not a fan of writing personal journals if the teacher is going to read them. I would urge the students, if the teacher expects to read what they write, not to put anything in them that would embarrass the students. The purpose of the journal would be to develop the writing habit. RayS.

Topic: Writing an Introductory Paragraph

10-second review: What should the introduction of a composition do? “A properly constructed introduction provides a general context that either implies a thesis for the essay or leads to an explicit declaration of it.”

Source: J T Crow. English Journal (March. 2005), 48. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Comment: That’s my definition of an introduction to a composition or a feature article in a newspaper. However, the lead for a news article will be considerably different, emphasizing the “who?” “what?” “when?” “where?” “why? and "how?” Even though newspapers today do not use leads anymore, the skill of composing leads should still be taught. If newspapers ever return to popularity, it will be because they use "leads" again. A well written lead tells readers at a glance the gist of the story and readers can find details that answer their questions in the body of the news article. RayS.

Topic: Technical Writing

10-second review: Writing instructions. Sample assignments: instructions for elementary school teachers on how to bring their classes to the South Carolina Aquarium for a field trip; instructions for a director at Miramax on how to cast extras for a large scene; instructions for a new employee in a Starbucks located in a Barnes and Noble book store on how to troubleshoot a malfunctioning Utopia coffee brewer; a description for JIB (kayak manufacturer) safety inspector on innovations found in the company’s kayaks; a description for Love-Them-Mousies sales representatives of a young child’s oversized computer mouse; a definition of animation for newly hired tour guides at Disney World; a definition of aspirin which Pfizer representatives can present when they are invited to speak to a class of seven-year-olds.”

Source: B Devet. Teaching English in Two-Year Colleges. (May 2005), 411-412. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Comment: Probably some work needs to be done first by students in analyzing effective instructions. That in itself should be fun—and a challenge. RayS.

Topic: Technical Writing

10-second review: How prepare students for technical writing? Students research and choose companies for whom they are going to write technical information: name of company; products and services; divisions; size and location; Web site; why you chose this company.

Source: B Devet. Teaching English in Two-Year Colleges (May 2005), 411.A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Comment: I think the teacher needs to try this activity first before asking the students to do it. RayS.

Topic: Interesting Writing Assignment

10-second review: How help students write for a purpose? Set up writing situations for businesses that students complete. Example: Write “a document on tsunamis in light of current science and recent events so that a museum in Hawaii can hand it out to tourists.”

Source: B Devet. Teaching English in Two-Year Colleges (May 2005), 411. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Comment: Find out what field trips are planned for elementary and middle schools and prepare background information for the students. RayS.

Topic: Writing and Controversial Issues

10-minute review: How teach students to deal with controversial issues in writing? Motivate students to write by raising emotional, controversial issues, but show students how to control their emotions when discussing them and writing about them.

Source: J Lindquist. College English (November 2004), 187-209. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Comment: The key is to help students deal rationally with emotionally-charged issues. Here is an example that I used with my students, an essay dealing with teenagers, fabricated by a committee concerned with critical thinking and published in English Journal (copyright 1966 by the National Council of Teachers of English, Reprinted with Permission). The essay contains a number of propaganda techniques designed to enflame the audience, teenagers.

Teen-Age Corruption

by Mentor

One day as I was walking thorough the halls of our school, I saw a young girl standing at her locker swearing quite loudly because her lock was stuck. I walked over to her and asked her if she could refrain from using foul language in the halls. Just as I made my statement, two other students approached and came to the defense of the girl. All three students were obnoxious in their attitude and were in every way disrespectful. It is this kind of disrespect, foul language, and cliquishness that typifies the low moral tone of the teen-agers of today.

Teen-agers are probably the most corrupt segment existing in our society. Most of this corruption is due to the fact that spineless, ill-informed, and irresponsible adults who pretend to be educated coddle those sickening children. In our schools, churches, homes, courts and businesses, so-called well-meaning idiots say that teen-agers must have a chance at free expression and must be dealt with kindly because they are going through a difficult period of life. They say teen-agers are socially maladjusted because of problems that disturbed these children when they were infants and because our world is insecure. These statements are rubbish.

Teen-agers must be dealt with in the same fashion as any other criminal or immoral group in our society. They must be shown firmness and must be shown that our democratic society will not tolerate their corruption. We must not try simply to understand them, but must deal with them swiftly and efficiently. Psychologists, such as E. P. Thompson of the Committee for Teen-Age Guidance, state that teenagers are basically moral and that the crime and immorality that they demonstrate is but an expression of their insecurity. Mr. Thompson had better wake up. His statement is completely false because he follows the policies of a misguided left-wing organization. He is so worried about keeping his job as a psychologist that he cannot face the question directly. He is a poor authority because he has no children who are teen-agers and he lives in the ivory tower of the academic world. If he would ever leave the confines of his library and walk out into the truth of day, he could see the evil that spreads over our country.

Any human being who loves mankind and dignity, and is able to think objectively or for that matter, anyone who is able to think at all, can see that teen-agers have reached the lowest ebb of human existence. They are human only in name; they are surely not human in the sense that the great Greek philosophers conceived it.

Teen-agers are like movie sets which look appealing at first glance, but on closer inspection are shallow. Movie sets are highly painted flimsy paper and canvas that change according to the requirements of the show. They are simply trash that have no real value but impress many by their glitter. It is only when we see the real thing that we are disgusted with movie sets. With these things in mind we can see what teen-agers really are like.

The real shame is that the violence exhibited by teen-agers turns our streets into a paradise for evil. Our older citizens are afraid to walk the streets at night. Our highways have become the slaughterhouse of the world. We citizens who really care about goodness and love must band together as an immovable unit to force teenagers back into the mold that their Creator established for them. We must move before it is too late. We cannot stand by while our world falls into oblivion.

----------

Of course this essay was written before Columbine and any number of teen-age crimes that have been committed in cities and schools and spread across newspapers throughout the country. Which gives even more reason to find a way to “sell” the good that teen-agers produce.

In my classes, the students usually vented after reading the essay. Then I set them looking for the propaganda techniques that were purposely designed to enflame emotions and, finally, we discussed how to respond to the writer in a way that would be persuasive to such a biased person without using the writer’s kinds of techniques to enflame emotion. The students set up a list of guidelines for responding to controversial issues. They then tried dealing with other controversial issues. RayS.

Topic: Spelling "-er" or "-or"

10-second review: How to predict spellings that end in “-er” and “-or”? Concrete nouns (water, slipper) tend to end in “-er,” while abstract nouns tend to end in “-or” (humor, flavor), but exceptions are “sugar” and “cellar.”

Source: JW Bloodgood & LC Pacifici. Reading Teacher (November 2004), 261. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).

Comment: Never heard that rule before. Worth thinking about and testing when you are not certain about the ending. RayS.

Topic: Teaching Spelling

10-second review: Do teachers understand how to teach spelling? Even though they use standard spelling basals, most teachers do not understand how to teach spelling. Source: MT Fresch. Research in the Teaching of English (November 2004), 189. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

10-second review: What do we know about having difficulties with spelling? 85% of our words are spelled regularly. The difficulty has risen because the 15% that are spelled irregularly are used 85% of the time. Source: GL Jackson & AM Guber. “The Way Out of the Spelling Labyrinth,” 94.

Comment: I don’t know if the authors’ statistics are accurate, but they certainly seem to match my own experience.

The typical spelling lesson in school is a bore. Typical lesson plan: Memorize a list of words. Use each word in a sentence. Write each word ten times. Take the test on Friday. Often the list of words has no point. At the very least, the words should be difficult to spell for some reason. The next thing the teacher needs to do is show the students how to remember those difficult-to-spell words.

Most spelling texts emphasize sounding out words when poor spellers really need to learn how to visualize the spelling of troublesome words.

Harry Shefter was a professor at New York University. He wrote a book called Six Minutes a Day to Perfect Spelling. He suggested a number of techniques that I did not find helpful. But two techniques seemed to work well with my students.

If a word is hard to spell, it’s often because, most likely, the vowel is a schwa, meaning you can’t tell whether it is a, e, i, o, or u. Take “secretary” for instance. We tend to pronounce it sec-ra-tary. Shefter suggests blowing up the trouble spot: SECRETary. Then he adds a silly little sentence to help remember the trouble spot: “A SECRETary can keep a SECRET.”

Shefter gives example after example of words that are hard to spell: believe, receive, supersede, proceed, succeed, exceed, accede, intercede, helpful (the –ful is misspelled –full); argument (misspelled often as “arguement”); cEmEtEry (“ ‘EEE!’ she screamed as she passed the cEmEtEry.”); sacrilegious, and so on.

Pick up a copy of the book. You can find it on Amazon.com. Shefter shows you how to visualize words that are frequently used and hard to spell. When I used his techniques, my students in grades 9, 10 and 11 loved them and spelling became even fun.

It is my belief that in teaching English, there are many student mistakes that a teacher can predict. Don’t wait for them to happen. Help them correct the mistakes before they happen. RayS.

Topic: Spelling Consciousness

10-second review: Proposes the concept of “spelling consciousness,” whether students recognize that they have misspelled words.

Source: WJ Valmont. “Spelling Consciousness: A Long Neglected Area.” Elementary English [No Date] 1219-1221. Elementary English preceded Language Arts as the elementary school publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Comment: I never heard anything more about this concept after the publication of this article. Of course, spelling checkers now tell people if they have misspelled words. And people are able to have words they frequently misspell automatically spelled correctly in a word processor. The one thing that has not changed: misspell words in written communications and you will be charged with illiteracy, laziness, sloppiness, and lack of a desire for excellence. I have personally seen an English department chairperson spot a misspelled word in a resume and, without reading any further, dropped it in a waste basket.

Problems with spelling are tied to proofreading. The best method I know of to find words that I have misspelled is to start with the last word and read, word by word, back to the first word. Because I am not reading for meaning, I will see each and every word. Tedious, but spelling is important. RayS.

Topic: Research Preparation

Comment: How organize a research project? Students reflect on their personal experience with the subject; consult children’s books on the subject; Young Adult books on the subject; adult books on the subject; knowledgeable people on the subject; Internet info on the subject; prepare a Q &A on the subject; Produce unanswered questions about the subject. RayS. (2004),

Source: Suggested by Sr. P Randle. Elementary English (January 1970), 156. Elementary English was replaced as the elementary publication of the National Council of Teachers of English by Language arts.

Topic: Publishing

10-second review: How prepare book proposals? In submitting book proposals, you need to summarize your competition, other books written on your topic, and state why your book is different. Begin with Amazon.com.

Source: M Allen. The Writer (November 2004), 15-16. The Writer is a magazine by writers for writers.

Comment: Comparing your book to other books on the same topic is sometimes overlooked by writers. It’s an important step in persuading publishers to consider your proposal. RayS.

Topic: Publishing Students' Writing

10-second review: We need somehow to post our students’ written ideas in markets and malls and everywhere else the public gathers. What our students write should not remain enclosed in the classroom.

Source: N Welch. College Composition and Communication (February 2005), 470-492. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English.

Comment: Interesting idea, but much would depend on how these written words are displayed. People who are in public places are there for a reason and will not be tempted to deviate from their purposes by spending time reading students’ writing. Using various-sized texts and pictures could cause some people to stop and look and go on to read. RayS.

Topic: Publishing

10-minute review: What is the hardest job in having your book published? “When I held the completed manuscript in my hands, little did I know that the hardest jobs—getting the book published and getting it noticed—were still ahead of me.”

Source: L Borders [Author of Cloud Cuckoo Land]. The Writer (May 2005), 14. The Writer is a magazine by writers for writers.

Comment: Without a doubt, for me, even self-publishing the book was hard. Going over and over the 538 pages of Teaching English, How To…. (Xlibris, 2004), knowing that for every mistake I was going to have to pay money to have it corrected, was exhausting almost to nausea. I finally said, “Enough is enough.” and quit editing. When the book was published, I found so many mistakes I overlooked that I am deeply embarrassed. And selling the book? I never even thought of it ahead of time. I should have. No doubt, publishing and selling are serious problems. Next to them, writing the book was almost easy. RayS.

Topic: What Can Be Learned from Other People's Writing?

10-second review: Mary Higgins Clark summarized the first and last paragraphs of each chapter of duMaurier’s Rebecca to see how she created terror or suspense.

Source: EM Abbe. The Writer (December 2004), 6. The Writer is a magazine by writers for writers.

Comment: Never tried this technique because I don’t write fiction. But I have favorite professional articles and I might go back and analyze them. What did they do that made me believe they were valuable articles? RayS.