Readers as Writers Writers as Readers Using Style Study in the Classroom

Readers as WritersWriters as ReadersUsing Style Study in the Classroom by Kristi Piper

Donald M. Murray • Collected quotations from writers on the craft of writing for over 50 years and eventually used them to create Shoptalk • Writes “Over Sixty” for the Boston Sunday Globe • Won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing and has published seventeen books on writing

“Try to be one of the people on whom nothing is lost.” Henry James “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.” Mark Twain “Writing is hard work. It’s like being in a dark cave. You don’t know where the walls are, the boundaries of the play. You have to sense the limits of where you are, what you’re doing and where you’re going.” Arthur Miller

Kathleen Dudden Andrasick(Rowlands) • Former language arts department head at Iolani School in Honolulu • Helped found the Hawaii Writing Project • Opening Texts: Using Writing to Teach Literature • As of June 2002 enrolled at University of Pennsylvania where she was working toward a doctorate in rhetoric and linguistics

“Imitation is such a fundamental element of human thinking and learning that we should be able to employ it in our teaching quite naturally. However, somewhere along the way, imitative practice in the classroom has been devalued, sometimes to the point of being equated with copying or plagiarism.”

What is style study? • Using reading texts as models for particular mini-lessons • Imitating chosen aspects of text in your own writing • Dissecting text for specific examples of writing styles Uses all 12 IRA standards

1. Using reading texts as models for particular mini-lessons • Parts of Speech • Sentence Structures • Word Play • Setting • Exposition • Genre • Audience • Show, Don’t Tell • Brushstrokes

2. Imitating chosen aspects of text in your own writing • Give each student access to at least one model • Allow an out (safety activity) because this can be a very threatening activity • Let your students guide the focus of imitation

This is Just to Sayby William Carlos Williams I have eaten The plums That were in The icebox And which You were probably Saving For breakfast Forgive me They were delicious So sweet And so cold

3. Dissecting text for specific examples of writing styles • Andrasick discusses three categories: • Writing Next to the Text Dialectical Journals • Writing Through the Text Process Logs • Writing About the Text Reader Response

Writing Next To The Text:The Dialectical Journal • Allows students to record quotations, observations, lists, and images from their reading and then return to those entries for reflection and comment. • Provides a useful way for students to converse with themselves about both the what and the how of their reading. • Student is reader and writer simultaneously.

Dialectical Journal Entry Format “The book says…” I say… page # “I Don’t Understands” “I Wonders”

Dialectical Journal Mini-Lessons • Response Expectations “Bring something new to the feast.” • Questioning skills 1. I don’t understand… Problems, Fix-ups 2. I wonder… Motivation, Predictions

“No one mentioned such things; it was not a rule, but was considered rude to call attention to thins that were unsettling or different about individuals.” p. 20 I wonder what our school would be like if we followed the same sort of guidelines. Here, it almost becomes a game or sport, calling attention to anything that makes the other feel uncomfortable, different, or ashamed. It seems like in Jonas’s world, no one would grow up feeling left out or having hurt feelings just because they are not just like everyone else. No one has to be better than the other person in Jonas’s group of friends. I still think their society is whack, but I CAN see this aspect being beneficial. The Giver

Provide a focus for the excerpt:(Great form of assessment!) • Literary Elements • Point of View • Setting • Characterization • Elements of Plot • Problem/Fix-up

“…when ding-dong-a-ling-dang, his bell rang again…” p. 17 onomatopoeia The author used this element to show exactly what the doorbell sounded like. The Hobbit

“At may never return he began to feel a shriek coming up inside, and very soon it burst out like the whistle of an engine coming out of a tunnel.” p. 23 simile I think the author used this simile for two reasons. First, to emphasize just how ear piercing the shriek was, and, second, to show how shocked everyone was. You can’t see a train when it is in a tunnel and so you may not even know it is approaching. That would make the sound of the whistle that much more startling. The Hobbit

Find a quote which demonstrates how the point of view in which this story is written affects the piece. Identify the point of view. Discuss your reasoning for choosing that quote. How would the story be different if written from another point of view? The brother The mother Omniscient Narrator Excerpt from “Unveiled”by Anonymous

Dialectical Journal Adaptations • Toning Up: Use as beginning of dialogue journal. Have students respond to one another’s “I Don’t Understands” and “I Wonders” • Toning Down: Gear personal response toward the entire reading rather than a specific quote, Audiotape responses, Use drawings as response

Meaningful use of style study can help ALL of your students bring something new to the feast. Questions? Comments…

Readers as Writers Writers as Readers Using Style Study in the Classroom