Topic: Grammar and Composition

10-second review: Are grammar and composition the same? “For years we have taught grammar and usage, thinking that we were teaching composition, but the kind of mental activity required for grammatical analysis is not the same as that required for composing a sentence.”

Source: RL Graves. College Composition and Communication (October 1978), 227. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Comment: I grew up in the late 1940s and early 1950s studying nothing but grammar and literature in English. In high school, all I ever did was diagram sentences. I never wrote a composition. I never heard of a summary paragraph, nor did I know what a term paper was. I began teaching English thinking that I was teaching writing when I was teaching grammar.

When the head of our high school business department complained to me that the local power company that hired many of his graduates had to teach their employees how to write, I asked, “Don’t they know their grammar?”

“It’s not grammar,” he said. “It’s writing. For example, they have to teach their employees to use the ‘you’ point of view when they write to customers.”

“Oh,” I said. That weekend, I went down to center city Philadelphia to Gimbel’s bookstore where I bought every self-help book I could find on writing. That’s how I learned to teach writing. RayS.

Topic: Grammar and Style

10-second review: How help students identify and solve problems in writing? Give students a monthly calendar. Each day of the calendar has a problem in sentence structure, usage or punctuation.

Source: Idea suggested in The Mathematics Teacher (March 2005), 480-481. Publication of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM).

Comment: Take the problems from grammar texts or SAT prep materials. Put them in the form of the SAT objective writing questions. You could use the same problem but a different example for a week, maybe for the entire month, like passive active voice. A way of highlighting the kinds of problems that will appear on the SAT writing section and in the students’ writing. RayS.

Topic: Grammar

10-second review: How help students improve sentence structure? Students contrast two sentences and decide which was better expressed.

Source: Suggested by EH Schuster. English Journal (May 2005), 94-98. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Comment: The technique I guess has some use, but I think the sentences need to be in context. After combining sentences, students choose which sentence (of two or three or more) seems to be better or best, but need to keep in mind that context and tone could affect the decision. The discussion could be interesting. Need to try this myself before trying it with the students. RayS.

Topic: Creative Writing and Exposition

10-second review: Are creative and expository writing categorically different? “…we need to recognize the false dichotomy between wheat we call ‘creative’ and ‘expository’ writing….”

Source: AR Gere. College Composition and Communication (October 1978), 260. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Comment: In any narrative, you will find portions of exposition, just as you will find narrative in exposition. The most vivid example is in the novel War and Peace in which the story line involving the main characters is conveyed in narrative, contrasted with Tolstoy’s essays on the folly of war. RayS.

Topic: Writing Fiction

10-second review: What are some problems in writing effective fiction? “We are often offered novels of murder and detection set in some period past—Elizabethan England, Ancient China, Imperial Rome—but they are rarely successful because the author is more concerned with detailing the period than with telling a good story.”

Source: Review of The Detling Secret by J Symons. The New Yorker (February 7, 1983), 123.

Comment: Too much research, not enough story. RayS.

Topic: Writing Evaluation

10-second review: Identify and describe the level of competence expected of students completing our writing courses.

Source: JF Kobler. College Composition and Communication (October 1978), 264-266. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Comment: Might be a good idea to share such a vision with the students at the beginning of the semester. Could raise some interesting discussion. I don’t think I ever thought to do that when I was teaching writing. Could be intimidating, too, I guess. Might be something to research WITH the students, RayS.

Topic: Timed and Untimed Essays

10-second review: How do students’ timed essays differ from their untimed essays? Compare timed essays with students’ untimed essays.

Source: Y Cho. Research in the Teaching of English (November 2004), 205. (abstract) A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Comment: I don’t remember what the researcher found in answering this question. It’s an interesting question. So is a somewhat related phenomenon-- A parent told me one time that when his son went through all the steps in the writing process, he earned poorer grades from me than when he dashed the composition off before breakfast. What does that tell you? Me? RayS.

Topic: Marking Errors in Compositions

10-second review: What are some effective methods for helping students improve their writing? Finds that both teacher correction [making the actual correction, not labeling it] and simple underlining of errors are superior to labeling the type of error for reducing long-term error.

Teacher correction results in the most accurate revisions and is preferred by students for its efficiency, but students indicate that they learn more from self-correction based on teacher underlining of errors, without any labeling, which also requires less teacher time.

Source: J Chandler. Research in the Teaching of English (November 2004), 205. (abstract) A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Comment. Conclusion: Students make fewer errors if they learn to find their own errors and make their own corrections rather than having their errors corrected by the teacher. I don't think that means one method or the other. Students benefit from both. RayS.

Topic: Improving the Teaching of Writing

10-second review: How can teachers of writing improve their teaching? Teachers meet at one time to evaluate their students’ writing samples. Enables them to identify and discuss problems in students’ writing that need to be addressed.

Source: D Fisher, et al. Reading Teacher (April 2005), 656-666. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).

Comment: Useful exercise. It’s at least one part of improving writing—awareness of mistakes common to students and discussion of how to deal with them. RayS.

Topic: "Mistakes" in Writing

10-second review: When is conscious use of “mistakes” effective in writing? Author points out that many common “errors” [sentence fragments; “they” instead of “he,” and beginning sentences with coordinating conjunctions], when used purposely, can be very effective stylistically and are so used in published materials.

Source: D Gorrell. Teaching English in Two-Year Colleges (May 2005), 393-402. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Comment: The problem is to make sure the students are using them stylistically, not making mistakes they don’t recognize as mistakes. RayS.

Topic: Writing Process

10-second review: How help students gain insight into the way in which writers write? Share with students quotes, articles, etc. that reveal how professional writers write. Also, survey the faculty and community to learn how people prepare for, organize and revise their writing.

Source: Suggested by JS Damico. Reading Teacher (April 2005), 644-652. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).

Topic: Preparing to Write

10-second review: Begin article with a single sentence that summarizes the article succinctly.

Source: Suggested by AV Manzo.

Topic: Preparing to Write

10-second review: Brainstorm what you know and what you need to know about the topic.

Source: M Anderson. The Writer (November 2004), 22-23. The Writer is a magazine by writers for writers.

Topic: Writing Practice

10-second review: Write for increasing amounts of time, 5, 10, 15 minutes, using a timer. Introduce the topic and write.

Source: BD Barrett. The Writer (January 2005), 39-40. The Writer is a magazine by writers for writers.

Topic: Preparing to Write

Topic: Preparing to Write

10-second review: Develop a specialty.

Source: P Campbell. The Writer. (January 2005), 36. The Writer is a magazine by writers for writers.

Comment: Take my advice. Keep up with every aspect of your field, but specialize in that which interests you. RayS.

Topic: Preparing to Write

10-second review: In ten words write the purpose of your piece. Begin with, “The purpose of this is….”

Source: P Campbell. The Writer (January 2005), 36. The Writer is a magazine by writers for writers

Topic: Writing Practice

10-second review: Write something different from your preferred, habitual genre.

Source: P Campbell. The Writer (January 2005), 35. The Writer is a magazine by writers for writers.

Topic: Writing Practice

10-second review: Write regularly, but not always for publication.

Source: P Campbell. The Writer (January 2005), 34. The Writer is a magazine by writers for writers.

Topic: Preparing to Write Stories

10-second review: Start with a setting with enough detail that it can’t be mistaken for someplace else. Then let people loose in that place.

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

Topic: Writing Practice

10-second review: With a few minutes to go in class, someone said, “Red” and everyone began to write.

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: Listen to stories friends, relatives and strangers tell you.

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: Tell the story behind a photograph.

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