Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Profile of Raymond Stopper
Raymond Stopper spent 35 years in public education as a secondary English teacher, instructional consultant, director of secondary education and, for 20 years, K-12 language arts supervisor. He has taught or given demonstration lessons at every level from first grade to college. He has specialized in teaching expository writing, developed a K-12 writing program and has conducted teacher workshops on reading, writing, grammar, literature, spelling, the SAT, professional writing, censorship, critical thinking and language exploration among other topics. As a supervisor, he enjoyed working with teachers to solve professional problems.
Teaching English, How To.... Thoughts on Supervision
In twenty years as a K-12 language arts supervisor, I learned the following lessons:
1. The most fun was working with teachers to solve problems in our profession. The camaraderie that we developed in working together and in achieving our successes was rewarding. But the problem-solving workshop is only the beginning. The larger problem is in spreading the word to those who were not in the workshop.
2. Never stop listening. Listening to teachers and parents and students and administrators and helping them achieve their goals enriched our K-12 language arts program immeasurably.
3. In inservice programs, teach teachers the way you want them to teach their students. They can gauge the effects of those methods on themselves and if they work well for them, they will use the methods with their students.
4. Don’t change for change’s sake. Don’t change because of the popularity of contemporary fads. Initiate change because almost everyone agrees on the need to change. This agreement to change will come from unbiased evaluation. And even when almost everyone agrees on the need to change, watch out for the side effects. Spend as much time planning evaluation as planning the change in the curriculum.
5. The most rewarding aspect of supervision is not having the authority to tell people what to do. Helping people to change without the authority to demand it requires creativity. The more resistance you experience, the more creativity you need. Supervision is, by definition, problem solving. And problems are best solved by working together with everyone affected by the problem.
1. The most fun was working with teachers to solve problems in our profession. The camaraderie that we developed in working together and in achieving our successes was rewarding. But the problem-solving workshop is only the beginning. The larger problem is in spreading the word to those who were not in the workshop.
2. Never stop listening. Listening to teachers and parents and students and administrators and helping them achieve their goals enriched our K-12 language arts program immeasurably.
3. In inservice programs, teach teachers the way you want them to teach their students. They can gauge the effects of those methods on themselves and if they work well for them, they will use the methods with their students.
4. Don’t change for change’s sake. Don’t change because of the popularity of contemporary fads. Initiate change because almost everyone agrees on the need to change. This agreement to change will come from unbiased evaluation. And even when almost everyone agrees on the need to change, watch out for the side effects. Spend as much time planning evaluation as planning the change in the curriculum.
5. The most rewarding aspect of supervision is not having the authority to tell people what to do. Helping people to change without the authority to demand it requires creativity. The more resistance you experience, the more creativity you need. Supervision is, by definition, problem solving. And problems are best solved by working together with everyone affected by the problem.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Teaching English, How To.... Essential Ideas 12
Language investigations I: An important part of language study in the early 1970s, now almost forgotten in the revival of the basics in which language study means grammar. The idea was to gather data about language, analyze the data and draw conclusions about language. Example: cut maps of the U.S. into sections. Students look at place names on the map and jot down any that are interesting. In groups, students organize the place names according to probable origins. They then draw generalizations about how Americans named their towns and cities. p. 443.
Language investigations II: Students ask among themselves, teachers and relatives why they were named (first name) as they were. For example, one teacher’s name came from a disagreement between her parents, her mother’s wanting to name her “Gloria” and her father’s wanting to name her “Rita.” They finally agreed on “Glorita,” a good example of the process of putting two words together, as in “smoke” and “fog” = “smog.” Such words are called “portmanteau” words after a kind of suitcase. Another example of a portmanteau word is “chortle” from “chuckle” and “snort.” p. 447.
A complete vocabulary program I: Pre-teaching important vocabulary before students read their assignments. Purpose is to alert students to the presence of the words, which they might not see because they don’t know the meanings of the words. Students would increase their vocabularies exponentially if all teachers in all subjects in all grades pre-taught the important words in reading assignments. p. 452.
A complete vocabulary program II: A second approach to developing vocabulary would be to use Norman Lewis’s Word Power Made Easy as a class text. Lewis bases his vocabulary development program on prefixes, roots and suffixes, mainly roots. For example, he introduces the Latin root “ego meaning “I” or “self” and then adds the related words, “alter ego,” “egotist,” “egoist,” “egomaniac,” “egocentric” and the word “ego” itself. Students remember the words because all of them are based on “ego” meaning “I” or “self.” However, his frequent tests are short, interesting and also help students remember the words they have learned. Students who finish this text will increase their vocabularies by thousands of words. All of my students enjoyed this approach to vocabulary development. p. 453.
A complete vocabulary program III: Students should record unfamiliar words on index cards when reading on their own. They should limit the meanings to as few words as possible. The fewer the words in the meaning, the better they will remember the words and meaning. Students will find many valuable words if they read a news magazine each week. Reviewing the words once a week and sorting them into a “known” pile and “not sure” pile will help them to remember the words. p. 464.
A vocabulary development warning: While I rarely say that any method is wrong, I am extremely skeptical of memorizing words and meanings for a Friday test. And NEVER, NEVER have students write a composition, using every word in a vocabulary list in order. Before you assign that exercise, do it yourself.
Vocabulary and the SAT. Time was, back in the 1970s and 1980s, when the SAT was an “aptitude” test, the Verbal Section of the SAT consisted almost completely of vocabulary. Three of the four tests in the Verbal Section were vocabulary tests. The antonym test was supposed to be the only test of the extent of a student’s vocabulary. Students either knew the words or they didn’t. The analogies were supposed to be “vocabulary free,” but with the harder items, students did not know the words.
Sentence completions are now the only vocabulary items remaining in the SAT Verbal Section, together with the writing section and the section on critical reading. The key to sentence completions is to insert your own words to complete the meaning of the sentence and then to find the words in the answer that mean approximately the same as your words. Unfortunately, if the answer is “ephemeral” and you do not know its meaning, you’re out of luck.
Language investigations II: Students ask among themselves, teachers and relatives why they were named (first name) as they were. For example, one teacher’s name came from a disagreement between her parents, her mother’s wanting to name her “Gloria” and her father’s wanting to name her “Rita.” They finally agreed on “Glorita,” a good example of the process of putting two words together, as in “smoke” and “fog” = “smog.” Such words are called “portmanteau” words after a kind of suitcase. Another example of a portmanteau word is “chortle” from “chuckle” and “snort.” p. 447.
A complete vocabulary program I: Pre-teaching important vocabulary before students read their assignments. Purpose is to alert students to the presence of the words, which they might not see because they don’t know the meanings of the words. Students would increase their vocabularies exponentially if all teachers in all subjects in all grades pre-taught the important words in reading assignments. p. 452.
A complete vocabulary program II: A second approach to developing vocabulary would be to use Norman Lewis’s Word Power Made Easy as a class text. Lewis bases his vocabulary development program on prefixes, roots and suffixes, mainly roots. For example, he introduces the Latin root “ego meaning “I” or “self” and then adds the related words, “alter ego,” “egotist,” “egoist,” “egomaniac,” “egocentric” and the word “ego” itself. Students remember the words because all of them are based on “ego” meaning “I” or “self.” However, his frequent tests are short, interesting and also help students remember the words they have learned. Students who finish this text will increase their vocabularies by thousands of words. All of my students enjoyed this approach to vocabulary development. p. 453.
A complete vocabulary program III: Students should record unfamiliar words on index cards when reading on their own. They should limit the meanings to as few words as possible. The fewer the words in the meaning, the better they will remember the words and meaning. Students will find many valuable words if they read a news magazine each week. Reviewing the words once a week and sorting them into a “known” pile and “not sure” pile will help them to remember the words. p. 464.
A vocabulary development warning: While I rarely say that any method is wrong, I am extremely skeptical of memorizing words and meanings for a Friday test. And NEVER, NEVER have students write a composition, using every word in a vocabulary list in order. Before you assign that exercise, do it yourself.
Vocabulary and the SAT. Time was, back in the 1970s and 1980s, when the SAT was an “aptitude” test, the Verbal Section of the SAT consisted almost completely of vocabulary. Three of the four tests in the Verbal Section were vocabulary tests. The antonym test was supposed to be the only test of the extent of a student’s vocabulary. Students either knew the words or they didn’t. The analogies were supposed to be “vocabulary free,” but with the harder items, students did not know the words.
Sentence completions are now the only vocabulary items remaining in the SAT Verbal Section, together with the writing section and the section on critical reading. The key to sentence completions is to insert your own words to complete the meaning of the sentence and then to find the words in the answer that mean approximately the same as your words. Unfortunately, if the answer is “ephemeral” and you do not know its meaning, you’re out of luck.
Teaching English, How To.... Essential Ideas 11
The first-grade and secondary English connection. In first grade, teachers use the directed reading assignment to develop comprehension skills. So should all secondary teachers in all subjects to help students read material that is too difficult for them.
In first grade, students learning to write use “invented spelling,” estimating the spelling of words they do not know how to spell, so that their writing is not interrupted and they can make use of their full vocabulary in writing. Spelling can be corrected in the editing stage of the writing process. Secondary students should also use invented spelling so that they can make full use of their writing vocabulary. In both first grade and in secondary school, teachers should make sure that the spelling is corrected before publishing or sending the writing home where the presence of misspelled words will produce considerable upset.
Finally, the issue of basal vs. whole language, an “either/or” proposition, should be resolved by using both, just as at the secondary level, the writing process vs. writing product issue should be resolved by emphasizing both. Ideally, when students use the writing process, they produce a better product. It is amazing to me that educators who preach critical thinking fall into the either/or trap so often. p. 353.
Why read literature? I think a greater realization of life, with its happiness, its tragedies and other realities, is the reason to read literature. Simply living life is like journalism which reports the facts. Reading literature enables us to feel the emotions, understand the complex motivations and appreciate the dilemmas of life that underlie the facts. The New Criticism had the effect of moving the study of literature to an emphasis on the technical nature of the language of literature and away from what literature does best for most people who are not English majors: give insight into life. “Do any human beings ever realize life, while they live it—every, every minute?” asks Emily of the Stage Manager in Wilder’s Our Town. He replies, “No. The saints and poets maybe—they do some.” And I add, so do those who read and understand literature. p. 388.
Joseph Conrad on literature: “My task is by the power of the written word to make you hear, to make you feel—it is, before all, to make you see.” William Faulkner on literature: “The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life.” p. 380.
Significant sentences: Students collect memorable sentences from the literature they read. Helps them interpret the literature and to defend their points of view in a discussion. Also a resource for useful quotes when writing and speaking. Significant sentences provoke thought. p. 381.
Finding time to read: Read 15 minutes a day and you will read 20 books a year. p. 393.
One approach to reading a classic. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. 1. Background information: a review of events and people from 1800 to 1815. 2. Other literary works from the time of Jane Austen. 3. Reflections on the title. 4. Selected quotations from Pride and Prejudice. What do you infer about the novel from these quotations? 5. Sample the novel. Read for five minutes near the beginning, in the middle, three-fourths through the novel and near the end of the novel. Any unfamiliar vocabulary? What questions do you have about the novel? 6. Read to answer your questions. p. 398.
Having trouble becoming involved in reading a classic novel? Read a paragraph a page until you become hooked.
What is a discussion? Someone has said that there are two types of discussion: one in which the teachers ask questions to which they already have answers. The students are either right or wrong, depending on what the teacher thinks. In short, the teachers have a discussion with themselves as they check to learn if the students have read the assignment and if they agree with the teacher’s interpretations. The second type of discussion involves exploring the answers to questions about which the teacher and students are uncertain. Real questions to which no one has the answer = real discussion. For me, real literary discussions begin with students’ questions about what they have read. p. 419.
A K-12 literature program. In elementary school, the best in children’s literature. In middle school and junior high, the best in Young Adult and popular adult literature. In high school, the best in American, British and world literatures. p. 391.
Censorship. Preparing for it. Develop rationales for teaching books that are potentially controversial. Cf. http://www.ncte.org/. Summary of book; summary of controversial parts of the book; appropriate grade level for the book; value of the book for the students; objectives for teaching the book; summary of reviews of the book; teaching methods; assignments; possible objections and responses to those objections. p. 434.
In first grade, students learning to write use “invented spelling,” estimating the spelling of words they do not know how to spell, so that their writing is not interrupted and they can make use of their full vocabulary in writing. Spelling can be corrected in the editing stage of the writing process. Secondary students should also use invented spelling so that they can make full use of their writing vocabulary. In both first grade and in secondary school, teachers should make sure that the spelling is corrected before publishing or sending the writing home where the presence of misspelled words will produce considerable upset.
Finally, the issue of basal vs. whole language, an “either/or” proposition, should be resolved by using both, just as at the secondary level, the writing process vs. writing product issue should be resolved by emphasizing both. Ideally, when students use the writing process, they produce a better product. It is amazing to me that educators who preach critical thinking fall into the either/or trap so often. p. 353.
Why read literature? I think a greater realization of life, with its happiness, its tragedies and other realities, is the reason to read literature. Simply living life is like journalism which reports the facts. Reading literature enables us to feel the emotions, understand the complex motivations and appreciate the dilemmas of life that underlie the facts. The New Criticism had the effect of moving the study of literature to an emphasis on the technical nature of the language of literature and away from what literature does best for most people who are not English majors: give insight into life. “Do any human beings ever realize life, while they live it—every, every minute?” asks Emily of the Stage Manager in Wilder’s Our Town. He replies, “No. The saints and poets maybe—they do some.” And I add, so do those who read and understand literature. p. 388.
Joseph Conrad on literature: “My task is by the power of the written word to make you hear, to make you feel—it is, before all, to make you see.” William Faulkner on literature: “The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life.” p. 380.
Significant sentences: Students collect memorable sentences from the literature they read. Helps them interpret the literature and to defend their points of view in a discussion. Also a resource for useful quotes when writing and speaking. Significant sentences provoke thought. p. 381.
Finding time to read: Read 15 minutes a day and you will read 20 books a year. p. 393.
One approach to reading a classic. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. 1. Background information: a review of events and people from 1800 to 1815. 2. Other literary works from the time of Jane Austen. 3. Reflections on the title. 4. Selected quotations from Pride and Prejudice. What do you infer about the novel from these quotations? 5. Sample the novel. Read for five minutes near the beginning, in the middle, three-fourths through the novel and near the end of the novel. Any unfamiliar vocabulary? What questions do you have about the novel? 6. Read to answer your questions. p. 398.
Having trouble becoming involved in reading a classic novel? Read a paragraph a page until you become hooked.
What is a discussion? Someone has said that there are two types of discussion: one in which the teachers ask questions to which they already have answers. The students are either right or wrong, depending on what the teacher thinks. In short, the teachers have a discussion with themselves as they check to learn if the students have read the assignment and if they agree with the teacher’s interpretations. The second type of discussion involves exploring the answers to questions about which the teacher and students are uncertain. Real questions to which no one has the answer = real discussion. For me, real literary discussions begin with students’ questions about what they have read. p. 419.
A K-12 literature program. In elementary school, the best in children’s literature. In middle school and junior high, the best in Young Adult and popular adult literature. In high school, the best in American, British and world literatures. p. 391.
Censorship. Preparing for it. Develop rationales for teaching books that are potentially controversial. Cf. http://www.ncte.org/. Summary of book; summary of controversial parts of the book; appropriate grade level for the book; value of the book for the students; objectives for teaching the book; summary of reviews of the book; teaching methods; assignments; possible objections and responses to those objections. p. 434.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Teaching English, How To.... Essential Ideas 10
A spelling fact you probably didn’t know: only one word ends in the suffix “—sede”: “supersede.” Only three words end in the suffix “—ceed”: “proceed,” “succeed” and “exceed.” All the other words ending with the sound of “—cede” are spelled “—cede”: “intercede,” “recede,” “precede,” “accede,” etc. (except, of course, for the word “seed,” the thing that you plant in the ground). Along the same lines, the suffix “—ful” is always spelled with one “l.” Only the word “full” ends in two “l’s. ” p. 289.
Gaining confidence in public speaking. Organize your material according to the “Tell them what you are going to tell them,” “Tell them,” and “Tell them what you told them” formula. Conclude your interesting opening with a thesis. Use topic sentences in the body of your message and summarize at the conclusion. Write out your opening and closing on cards so that, if you become flustered, you can at least open and close effectively. Put key words from the body of your message on an overhead projector or in “Power Point.” p. 297.
Small-group work. People play helping and hindering roles in small-group work. According to David M. Litsey, there are three major roles in small-group work: maintenance roles (encouraging, harmonizing, compromising); task roles (initiating, clarifying, summarizing);and self-serving roles (dominating, interfering, seeking recognition). To be successful in group work, avoid the self-serving roles. p. 299.
Employment interviews. Any number of Web sites, most notably Monster.com, provide the types of questions likely to be asked in an employment interview. Don’t even think of going to an employment interview without preparing yourself to answer those questions. Examples: What are the key responsibilities for _____ position? When have you been the most satisfied with your job? Give me an example of when you’ve done more than your job required. Tell me about the most difficult assignment you had in your last job. Tell me about when you had to adjust to change. What do you think are the key qualities for _____ position? Tell me about a time you had a confrontation with a co-worker. etc. p. 304.
Speed reading—is it a myth? No. The following technique will double, triple, quadruple and even quintuple the reading speed of people who have no reading problems. Read for five minutes both before the training and after the training. Brainstorm what you remember from these five minutes of reading as a comprehension check. The training: slide the hand down the page to a count of 10 for five pages. Then, 1-9, 1-8, 1-7, 1-6, 1-5, 1-4, 1-3, 1-2, and 1, each for five pages. See page 315+ to learn how to figure words per minute. Example: pre-training, 100 words per minute. post-training, 500 words per minute. The secret? Your eyes are conditioned to read well beyond your comfortable speed and, when you have finished the exercise, you can’t slow down.
Efficient reading—finding ideas fast. Chapters and articles: 1. Read first and last paragraphs. 2. Read the first sentence of each intermediate paragraph. 3. Raise questions you want to answer. 4. Read to find the answers. Nonfiction books: 1. Read the foreword. 2. Read the first and last paragraphs of each chapter. Should give you an idea of what information is in each chapter. 3. Raise questions you want to answer. 4. Read the first sentence of each paragraph in the chapters in which you are likely to find the answers. p. 322.
Reading in science, home economics, social studies, industrial arts, health and any other subject in which information is gained through reading a textbook chapter. Use the directed reading assignment to help students read difficult material, material that is more difficult than their reading level. 1. Develop background information on the topic through discussion—the more students know about the topic, the better they will comprehend. 2. Pre-teach important, unfamiliar vocabulary. Otherwise, students will not see words they do not recognize. 3. Set purpose for reading. Have students read the first paragraph, the first sentence of each paragraph and the last paragraph and then decide on questions they will read to answer—their purposes. 4. Have students apply what they have learned from their reading. p. 333.
Read aloud to secondary students and teach secondary students how to read aloud effectively. Reading aloud to secondary students helps them to appreciate the emotion conveyed by the language of literature. When reading Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum” silently, students were bored and awed by the abstractness of the “big words.” When I read the story to them aloud, they were riveted to their seats. They could experience vividly the swish of the big blade. When the period came to a close before I could finish the story, they asked breathlessly, “What’s going to happen?”
Reading aloud to students gives them a model for how to read aloud effectively, a skill that any citizen of a democratic society needs to call on. Teach students how to read aloud to hold an audience by teaching them to practice before reading aloud. Do NOT use “round-robin reading” in which the teacher goes around the room having students read aloud without practicing. Wastes time. Serves no useful purpose. Embarrasses poor readers and bores the listeners.
They can begin by reading their compositions aloud--after practicing--provided they want to read them aloud.
Gaining confidence in public speaking. Organize your material according to the “Tell them what you are going to tell them,” “Tell them,” and “Tell them what you told them” formula. Conclude your interesting opening with a thesis. Use topic sentences in the body of your message and summarize at the conclusion. Write out your opening and closing on cards so that, if you become flustered, you can at least open and close effectively. Put key words from the body of your message on an overhead projector or in “Power Point.” p. 297.
Small-group work. People play helping and hindering roles in small-group work. According to David M. Litsey, there are three major roles in small-group work: maintenance roles (encouraging, harmonizing, compromising); task roles (initiating, clarifying, summarizing);and self-serving roles (dominating, interfering, seeking recognition). To be successful in group work, avoid the self-serving roles. p. 299.
Employment interviews. Any number of Web sites, most notably Monster.com, provide the types of questions likely to be asked in an employment interview. Don’t even think of going to an employment interview without preparing yourself to answer those questions. Examples: What are the key responsibilities for _____ position? When have you been the most satisfied with your job? Give me an example of when you’ve done more than your job required. Tell me about the most difficult assignment you had in your last job. Tell me about when you had to adjust to change. What do you think are the key qualities for _____ position? Tell me about a time you had a confrontation with a co-worker. etc. p. 304.
Speed reading—is it a myth? No. The following technique will double, triple, quadruple and even quintuple the reading speed of people who have no reading problems. Read for five minutes both before the training and after the training. Brainstorm what you remember from these five minutes of reading as a comprehension check. The training: slide the hand down the page to a count of 10 for five pages. Then, 1-9, 1-8, 1-7, 1-6, 1-5, 1-4, 1-3, 1-2, and 1, each for five pages. See page 315+ to learn how to figure words per minute. Example: pre-training, 100 words per minute. post-training, 500 words per minute. The secret? Your eyes are conditioned to read well beyond your comfortable speed and, when you have finished the exercise, you can’t slow down.
Efficient reading—finding ideas fast. Chapters and articles: 1. Read first and last paragraphs. 2. Read the first sentence of each intermediate paragraph. 3. Raise questions you want to answer. 4. Read to find the answers. Nonfiction books: 1. Read the foreword. 2. Read the first and last paragraphs of each chapter. Should give you an idea of what information is in each chapter. 3. Raise questions you want to answer. 4. Read the first sentence of each paragraph in the chapters in which you are likely to find the answers. p. 322.
Reading in science, home economics, social studies, industrial arts, health and any other subject in which information is gained through reading a textbook chapter. Use the directed reading assignment to help students read difficult material, material that is more difficult than their reading level. 1. Develop background information on the topic through discussion—the more students know about the topic, the better they will comprehend. 2. Pre-teach important, unfamiliar vocabulary. Otherwise, students will not see words they do not recognize. 3. Set purpose for reading. Have students read the first paragraph, the first sentence of each paragraph and the last paragraph and then decide on questions they will read to answer—their purposes. 4. Have students apply what they have learned from their reading. p. 333.
Read aloud to secondary students and teach secondary students how to read aloud effectively. Reading aloud to secondary students helps them to appreciate the emotion conveyed by the language of literature. When reading Poe’s “The Pit and the Pendulum” silently, students were bored and awed by the abstractness of the “big words.” When I read the story to them aloud, they were riveted to their seats. They could experience vividly the swish of the big blade. When the period came to a close before I could finish the story, they asked breathlessly, “What’s going to happen?”
Reading aloud to students gives them a model for how to read aloud effectively, a skill that any citizen of a democratic society needs to call on. Teach students how to read aloud to hold an audience by teaching them to practice before reading aloud. Do NOT use “round-robin reading” in which the teacher goes around the room having students read aloud without practicing. Wastes time. Serves no useful purpose. Embarrasses poor readers and bores the listeners.
They can begin by reading their compositions aloud--after practicing--provided they want to read them aloud.
Teaching English, How To.... Essential Ideas 09
Professional writing: Begin by sending brief articles on classroom techniques to journals that accept them. Study examples in the journal and use the required format. For lengthier articles, check “Calls for Manuscripts” in each issue. Use ERIC (http://www.eric.ed.gov/) for previous articles that serve as background for your ideas. With most professional education publications, the full article will be expected by the editors, not a query letter. Articles will be “peer reviewed,” read and evaluated by other members of the profession who will recommend or not recommend publication. Always include a stamped, self-addressed envelope for the return of your manuscript. Don’t send to several different publications at the same time. Wait until the article is rejected before sending to another publication. Chapter 14, “Professional Writing,” p. 265.
Should you let others read your manuscript before you send it to the editor? Professional writers disagree on this issue. Some do. Some don’t. One suggestion—have people read your manuscript in process, but ask them to make no judgments of “good” or “no good” or “You have a grammar or spelling error.” Ask them to put only question marks in margins when the text is not clear. Will enable you to see potential problems for readers. Chapter 14, “Professional Writing,” p. 265.
Reading professional journals quickly and efficiently. Professional journals contain valuable ideas for classroom techniques, provide information on issues and report on interesting research. To find ideas quickly: 1. read the title, heading, first paragraph and last paragraph. If you have no questions, summarize briefly and go on to the next article. 2. If you have questions, read the first sentence of all paragraphs. If your questions are answered, summarize briefly and go on to the next article. 3. If you still have questions, read the entire article. I usually answer all of my questions by completing the first two steps and only occasionally need to read the entire article. p. 268.
Spelling. The importance of both sounding out syllables and visualizing parts of the word likely to cause misspelling—usually the indefinite vowel in which pronunciation of a, e, i, o, u is not clear. “Cemetery,” for example, is usually pronounced “cem a tary.” Blow up the trouble spot to help visualize it: “cEmEtEry.” Associate the trouble spot and the word in a sentence: “ ‘EEE!’ she screamed as she passed the cEmEtEry.” Or “arGUMent.” “Never chew GUM in an arGUMent.” Thanks to Harry Shefter’s Six Minutes a Day to Perfect Spelling. Shefter points out that we can usually sound out most of the syllables in our language, but that we usually misspell only parts of the word. His technique helps us to visualize those word parts that are difficult to spell. Students thoroughly enjoyed this approach to spelling. Chapter 15, “Spelling—the Dreadful Ordeal,” p. 281.
Attitude toward spelling that affects the quality of writing: “I will never use a word in writing that I do not know how to spell.” Source of that quote was a Syracuse University junior. That attitude toward spelling will severely restrict the student’s writing vocabulary. One cure for this attitude is to use "invented spelling." Don't interrupt your flow of thought by worrying about spelling. Approximate the spelling and keep going. You can check the spelling later. Chapter 15, p. 281.
Computers and spelling checkers. Spelling checkers obviously are a big help. Of course, if you’re not using a computer, you’re on your own. And computers will not spot homonyms or words you use that are words, but not the words you intended. Several writers I know who were not familiar with the limitations of spelling checkers were amazed at the number of misspelled words that turned up in their manuscripts when others read them. Chapter 15, p. 281.
Proofreading for spelling. Read backwards from the last word to the first. This procedure will enable you to see the details of the words you have written. When reading from left to right, from beginning to end, you will read for meaning and will not see the individual letters in the words. Important to take this step because incorrect spelling reflects negatively on your intelligence, education and desire for excellence. More than one human resources person has told me that a misspelled word sends the résumé into the waste basket. Chapter 15, p. 281.
Helping students learn to spell and enjoy it. Begin with a list of words related by the same spelling problem, such as multi-syllable words with double consonants: “committee.” Students identify the problem and suggest a method for remembering the correct spelling, like over-pronouncing the double consonants and sounding out by syllables those parts of the words that can be sounded out. Then give the same spelling test at the beginning of class with the same ten words each day for a week. Give credit for 100% accuracy only. Chapter 15, p. 281.
Should you let others read your manuscript before you send it to the editor? Professional writers disagree on this issue. Some do. Some don’t. One suggestion—have people read your manuscript in process, but ask them to make no judgments of “good” or “no good” or “You have a grammar or spelling error.” Ask them to put only question marks in margins when the text is not clear. Will enable you to see potential problems for readers. Chapter 14, “Professional Writing,” p. 265.
Reading professional journals quickly and efficiently. Professional journals contain valuable ideas for classroom techniques, provide information on issues and report on interesting research. To find ideas quickly: 1. read the title, heading, first paragraph and last paragraph. If you have no questions, summarize briefly and go on to the next article. 2. If you have questions, read the first sentence of all paragraphs. If your questions are answered, summarize briefly and go on to the next article. 3. If you still have questions, read the entire article. I usually answer all of my questions by completing the first two steps and only occasionally need to read the entire article. p. 268.
Spelling. The importance of both sounding out syllables and visualizing parts of the word likely to cause misspelling—usually the indefinite vowel in which pronunciation of a, e, i, o, u is not clear. “Cemetery,” for example, is usually pronounced “cem a tary.” Blow up the trouble spot to help visualize it: “cEmEtEry.” Associate the trouble spot and the word in a sentence: “ ‘EEE!’ she screamed as she passed the cEmEtEry.” Or “arGUMent.” “Never chew GUM in an arGUMent.” Thanks to Harry Shefter’s Six Minutes a Day to Perfect Spelling. Shefter points out that we can usually sound out most of the syllables in our language, but that we usually misspell only parts of the word. His technique helps us to visualize those word parts that are difficult to spell. Students thoroughly enjoyed this approach to spelling. Chapter 15, “Spelling—the Dreadful Ordeal,” p. 281.
Attitude toward spelling that affects the quality of writing: “I will never use a word in writing that I do not know how to spell.” Source of that quote was a Syracuse University junior. That attitude toward spelling will severely restrict the student’s writing vocabulary. One cure for this attitude is to use "invented spelling." Don't interrupt your flow of thought by worrying about spelling. Approximate the spelling and keep going. You can check the spelling later. Chapter 15, p. 281.
Computers and spelling checkers. Spelling checkers obviously are a big help. Of course, if you’re not using a computer, you’re on your own. And computers will not spot homonyms or words you use that are words, but not the words you intended. Several writers I know who were not familiar with the limitations of spelling checkers were amazed at the number of misspelled words that turned up in their manuscripts when others read them. Chapter 15, p. 281.
Proofreading for spelling. Read backwards from the last word to the first. This procedure will enable you to see the details of the words you have written. When reading from left to right, from beginning to end, you will read for meaning and will not see the individual letters in the words. Important to take this step because incorrect spelling reflects negatively on your intelligence, education and desire for excellence. More than one human resources person has told me that a misspelled word sends the résumé into the waste basket. Chapter 15, p. 281.
Helping students learn to spell and enjoy it. Begin with a list of words related by the same spelling problem, such as multi-syllable words with double consonants: “committee.” Students identify the problem and suggest a method for remembering the correct spelling, like over-pronouncing the double consonants and sounding out by syllables those parts of the words that can be sounded out. Then give the same spelling test at the beginning of class with the same ten words each day for a week. Give credit for 100% accuracy only. Chapter 15, p. 281.
Teaching English, How To.... Essential Ideas 08
What does the SAT writing assessment consist of? A 25-minute writing sample and an objective test of “editing.” This objective test involves recognition of, and ability to correct, such problems as dangling and misplaced modifiers, parallel structure, run-on sentences, sentence fragments, pronoun reference, etc. These are the kinds of problems that I focus on in the grammar program and on 10-minute essays and major writing assignments. Chapter 10, “Helping Students Prepare for writing Assessments,” p. 180.
Putting students to work immediately in the first ten minutes of class is a good idea. What are some alternatives to 10-minute essays for classes who are not scheduled for them? Daily spelling test. Or a daily grammar test. Put a problem on the board and the students try to correct it. The problems can come from the students’ writing or from the textbook. Either takes relatively little time to correct. The grammar exercise is another way of preparing students for state and SAT editing tests. Chapter 10, “Helping Students Prepare for Writing Assessments,” p. 180.
Before computers and word processing, learning to write was tedious and revising non-existent. Revised and edited papers were made almost illegible by cross-outs and insertions. The revised paper had to be rewritten in its entirety, even if 90% of the paper was fine. Most students wrote longhand, which was very tedious and time-consuming. Even typing was tedious, requiring instruction in how to type and only made slightly easier by white-out and erasable bond. Therefore, most students hated to revise—and didn’t.
With word processing, students could easily insert, delete and rearrange text and the finished product always looked great. Ease of revision was the computer’s gift to student writers. Word processing changed students’ attitude toward writing. Chapter 11, “The Computer and Writing Instruction,” p. 239.
Issues, now forgotten, with the introduction of the computer in writing instruction. Should all students be taught how to type the correct way? Impractical. Hiring teachers of typing would be a budget buster.
How encourage English teachers to teach their students to use word processing when the teacher was more afraid of the computer than the students? Supervisor taught word processing to the teacher’s classes while the teacher observed and then took over.
Should handwriting continue to be taught? Students still need to write long hand in writing assessments. Legibility continues to be the goal. In addition, students need to learn how to use different tools for composing. For example, when I am not sure of what I want to say, I still brainstorm and write first drafts on yellow pads with pencil. When I am writing memos and other not-so-important documents, I will compose using the key board.
Since word processing’s best use is to aid in revision, I still have students brainstorm and draft longhand, type the draft into the word processor and then revise on the computer. Chapter 11, “The Computer and Writing Instruction,” p. 239.
What is the future of writing instruction in the era of computers and word processing? So long as words are the medium of communication, students will still need to learn how to brainstorm their topics, construct their theses and write rough drafts. They will need to write introductory material, use topic sentences with paragraphs, revise and edit. Multi-media devices like pictures, charts and sound will continue to be illustrative of the text. Chapter 12, “Computers, Writing Instruction and the Future,” p. 248.
How encourage teachers of other subjects to support the teaching of writing? Agree in general on the steps in the writing process; use subject-area journals in which students reflect on what they understand and don’t understand; agree on the organization of essay exams and on teaching the research paper. Chapter 13, “Writing Across the Curriculum,” p. 253.
Putting students to work immediately in the first ten minutes of class is a good idea. What are some alternatives to 10-minute essays for classes who are not scheduled for them? Daily spelling test. Or a daily grammar test. Put a problem on the board and the students try to correct it. The problems can come from the students’ writing or from the textbook. Either takes relatively little time to correct. The grammar exercise is another way of preparing students for state and SAT editing tests. Chapter 10, “Helping Students Prepare for Writing Assessments,” p. 180.
Before computers and word processing, learning to write was tedious and revising non-existent. Revised and edited papers were made almost illegible by cross-outs and insertions. The revised paper had to be rewritten in its entirety, even if 90% of the paper was fine. Most students wrote longhand, which was very tedious and time-consuming. Even typing was tedious, requiring instruction in how to type and only made slightly easier by white-out and erasable bond. Therefore, most students hated to revise—and didn’t.
With word processing, students could easily insert, delete and rearrange text and the finished product always looked great. Ease of revision was the computer’s gift to student writers. Word processing changed students’ attitude toward writing. Chapter 11, “The Computer and Writing Instruction,” p. 239.
Issues, now forgotten, with the introduction of the computer in writing instruction. Should all students be taught how to type the correct way? Impractical. Hiring teachers of typing would be a budget buster.
How encourage English teachers to teach their students to use word processing when the teacher was more afraid of the computer than the students? Supervisor taught word processing to the teacher’s classes while the teacher observed and then took over.
Should handwriting continue to be taught? Students still need to write long hand in writing assessments. Legibility continues to be the goal. In addition, students need to learn how to use different tools for composing. For example, when I am not sure of what I want to say, I still brainstorm and write first drafts on yellow pads with pencil. When I am writing memos and other not-so-important documents, I will compose using the key board.
Since word processing’s best use is to aid in revision, I still have students brainstorm and draft longhand, type the draft into the word processor and then revise on the computer. Chapter 11, “The Computer and Writing Instruction,” p. 239.
What is the future of writing instruction in the era of computers and word processing? So long as words are the medium of communication, students will still need to learn how to brainstorm their topics, construct their theses and write rough drafts. They will need to write introductory material, use topic sentences with paragraphs, revise and edit. Multi-media devices like pictures, charts and sound will continue to be illustrative of the text. Chapter 12, “Computers, Writing Instruction and the Future,” p. 248.
How encourage teachers of other subjects to support the teaching of writing? Agree in general on the steps in the writing process; use subject-area journals in which students reflect on what they understand and don’t understand; agree on the organization of essay exams and on teaching the research paper. Chapter 13, “Writing Across the Curriculum,” p. 253.
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