10-second review: Students produce magazines with a focus and publish them using the computer. They invite fellow students interested in the same focus to contribute articles. Use “Call for Manuscripts” as a model for inviting others to contribute. Use contemporary magazines as models for ideas on design and formatting.
Source: T Perry. English Journal (May 2005), 117-121. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Comment: In the 1980’s, publishing a magazine was popular among teachers in my high school in suburban Philadelphia. Provided opportunities for a number of different types of writing. I think it’s an interesting idea.RayS.
10-second review: When students complained about the cafeteria, English composition teacher made the cafeteria the assignment. Researched cafeterias in other schools, interviewed people to find out why things were done as they were and drew up a set of recommendations to present to the administration and the cafeteria personnel.
Source: F Barton. English Journal (May 2005), 75. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
10-second review: Whatis the normal progression in learning to write by hand? “The practice of beginning instruction with manuscript [printing] writing in grade one and changing to cursive by the end of the primary grades has become almost universally accepted…. 75-100 minutes per week in primary grades; 45-60 minutes per week in intermediate and upper grades.
Comment: I read some research in handwriting that found people could write as quickly in manuscript [printing] as they could in cursive. Why not allow students to continue printing? Read on:
10-second review: Suggests beginning with manuscript and maintaining it throughout the grades. Cursive is not worth the time which could be better spent on other language activities.
Source: EEPlattor & ES Woestehoff. “Toward a Singular Style of Instruction in Handwriting.” 1009-1011.
Comment: I think handwriting is still important in this age of twittering and texting and word processing. I waste so much time in my life trying to read my handwriting, even when it is in manuscript [printing].RayS.
10-second review: “Root” of the day. Each day give students word roots, on which several words are based.
Source: JWBloodgood & LC Pacifici. Reading Teacher (November 2004), 253. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
Comment. For example: ego- (egotist), alter- (altruist), mis- (misanthrope), anthrop- (philanthropist), phil- (philatelist), bio- (biologist), etc. For additional examples of word roots, see Word Power Made Easy by Norman Lewis. RayS.
10-second review: What is the spirit behind the desire to learn vocabulary? George Eliot, 1856: “I never before longed so much to know the names of things…. The desire is part of the tendency that is now constantly growing in me to escape from all vagueness and inaccuracy to the daylight of distinct vivid ideas. The mere fact of naming an object tends to give definiteness to our conception of it. We have then a sign which at once calls up in our minds the distinctive qualities which mark out for us that particular object from all others.”
Source: LS Golub. Elementary English (May 1971), 450. Elementary English was the NCTE elementary school publication replaced by Language Arts.
Comment: When teaching nouns in grammar, we ought to capitalize on the inherent desire of students to learn the names of things.RayS.
10-second review: Students given list of words in article, book or story. Each student given two or three words to become expert in. They teach these words to the other students. Then the class reads the article, book or story.
Source: MA Richek. Reading Teacher (February 2005), 417. A publication of the International Reading Association (IRA).
Comment: Another solution for what to do when the number of vocabulary words to pre-teach is too many. Students need to be shown how to “teach” the words, the meanings of which they have mastered, i.e., how to teach them in an interesting manner. RayS.
10-second review: How can secondary teachers use vocabulary to prepare students for reading a selection? Give students key words from article or story and have them try to compose their own articles or story by connecting these words. Then read actual article or story.
Source: MA Richek. RT (Feb. 05), 415.
Comment: Solution to the problem of how to use a great many vocabulary words in a chapter, article or story. Good way to introduce the chapter, article or story. RayS.
10-second review: How increase students’ vocabularies? Expand on words; come up with words related in some way to the target word. Example: apostatized—abandon an organization or cause. Other, related words: ostracize, emigrate, secede, blackball, blacklist, boycott, exile, banish, deport, expel, expatriate, shun, etc.
Source: Suggested by C Washburne, “Short Papers on Readiness, Reading Interests, Vocabulary Development, and Comprehension.” [No Source or Date] 533-551.
10-second review: How well do computers evaluate student writing? “How can a computer determine accuracy, originality, valuable elaboration, empty language, language maturity, and a long list of similar qualities that are central to assessing writing? Computers can’t. We must ensure that the human element remains the dominant factor in the assessing of student writing.”
Source: PL Thomas. English Journal (May 2005), 29. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Comment: Haven’t read much about this topic lately. I wonder what the state of computer grading is.RayS.
10-second review: Professional articles criticizing the five-paragraph essay follow the format of the five paragraph essay.
Comment: Professional articles are similar to the five-paragraph essay in that they introduce the topic, state what they are going to say early in the article, say it and summarize what they have said.
How do professional articles differ from the five-paragraph essay? They are not limited to five paragraphs.
However, the very format of the professional article attacking the 5-paragraph essay belies the criticism of the 5-paragraph essay. Authors of professional articles follow the “Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them and tell them what you told them” formula, which the 5-paragraph essay models and epitomizes. RayS.
10-second review: What is wrong with teaching the five-paragraph essay? The belief that asking students to write within a prescribed form (the 5-paragraph essay) suffocates their creativity. Assumes that students will write what is safe and correct at the expense of writing what they really want to express.
Comment: That never happened in my experience. The students began with topics they chose, used their experiences and shaped their messages in the format of “Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and tell them what you told them,” the format modeled by the five-paragraph essay.
The students often expanded the parts of the 5-paragraph essay to go well beyond 5 paragraphs. The introduction could go on for several paragraphs. The thesis sentence could be expanded into several sentences or even a paragraph as happens in many published writings. Details were expanded into several paragraphs albeit with a single topic sentence or a topic paragraph. The summary paragraph was usually just that—a single paragraph. RayS.
10-second review: How teach argumentative writing? “Kaspar asked her students to write letters to the person with whom they most disagreed on an issue and to present their arguments against his or her position….”
Source: LF Kaspar and ST Weiss. Teaching English in Two-Year Colleges (March 2005), 286. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
10-second review: How teach students to create character? Exercises in creating character.
300-word sketch involving character’s thoughts who cares passionately about something and then 300-word sketch involving character’s thoughts who feels the opposite. Write letter in which writer describes meeting you—and does not like you—and then letter from someone who likes you.
Source: G Godwin. The Writer (December 2004), 8. [originally, Dec. 1979.] The Writer is a magazine by writers for writers.
Comment: I never tried to teach creative writing. I didn’t know how. Nor did I have in my mind a compelling reason for teaching it. Now, after the fact, after I am retired, I can see that students who attempted to write in the genre would have a greater appreciation and understanding of the artist’s achievement in the literature read for class. At any rate The Writer magazine is a great source of techniques for learning to write fiction and of fairly frequent articles on writing poetry. Some of those articles have been reviewed in this blog.RayS.
10-second review: After reading a particular work in a genre, students formulate the “rules” for writing in this genre.
Source: TFHaffner. Notes Plus (October 2004), 3-4. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Comment: In other words, students read a short story, the students decide on the "rules" for writing short stories. Read a sonnet? What are the "rules" for writing a sonnet? An interesting and challenging idea. RayS.
10-second review: Before writing stories, children should tell them orally.
Source: MJ Tingle. Elementary English (January 1970), 73. EE preceded Language Arts as the elementary school publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Comment: Another way of preparing young children to write. However, this practice raises an issue. Older writers say that talking out what you are going to write takes away the need to write. Just thought I’d mention it.RayS.
Comment: I have used this demonstration with first graders, middle schoolers, high schoolers, college students, adults and school board members. Works every time.
After the group composition, demonstrated above, children or adults work feverishly to write their own individual cinquains. The results are sometimes astounding. I have given them an outline of the writing process and they know it works.
For the expository composition for older students, I modify the steps in the writing process as follows: 1. Model of an expository composition, 2. topic, 3. brainstorm, 4. thesis, 5. draft including middle paragraphs and summary paragraph, 6. introductory paragraph, 7. revising and 8. editing, 9. final copy.
10-second review: Introduce children to writing poetry by using patterns, including free verse, Haiku, cinquain, the diamante septolet, quinzaine, quintain.
Comment: I used the cinquain to illustrate the writing process to students, including older students, and even to the public and school board members. I will explain in my next blog. RayS.
10-second review: What are ideal conditions in which to write? Answer: “Don’t look for ideal writing conditions. They don’t exist. Work where you are and with what you have.”
Source: BJ Chute. The Writer (May 1950), reprinted in The Writer (May 2005), 8. The Writer is a magazine by writers for writers.
Comment: And don’t forget that you are writing when you are shaving, preparing meals, walking, gardening, etc. RayS.
10-second review: How give effective writing assignments? Students need to understand clearly the purpose of a writing assignment.
Source: A Beaufort. Research in the Teaching of English (November 2004), 162. (abstract). A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Comment: I never spent enough time making clear the purpose of any assignment, let alone writing assignments. For me it was enough that the textbook called for descriptive writing. But why descriptive writing? What's the purpose? RayS.
10-second review: How can a preoccupation with grammar inhibit writing ability? “This preoccupation with the skills of grammatical analysis rather than with the skills of composing is a subtle, yet crucial factor in the recently publicized decline of writing ability.”
Source: RL Graves. College Composition and Communication (October 1978), 227. A quarterly publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Comment: I think the author is saying that grammatical analysis is not the same as composition whichconstructs sentences and paragraphs. I think there is some truth to this, especially when the writer stops to analyze grammatically every sentence before moving on to the next sentence or paragraph. I have been guilty of stopping to analyze grammar while I am writing and it keeps me from completing the composition.
I’m a firm believer in writing the first draft as quickly as possible and waiting for after the first draft to go back to analyze and correct sentence structure, usage, punctuation and style. When I complete the first draft quickly, I establish unity, the thesis, the middle paragraphs with topic sentences, the final, summary paragraph and the introductory paragraph. Now I can smooth and polish. RayS.
