Convergence of the Twain: Writing with Purpose, Context and Audience in Mind

Convergence of the Twain: Writing with Purpose, Context and Audience in Mind Sue Chaney Gilmore, Ph.D., Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet High School, Nashville, Tennessee

Here is where some of my English students started The prompt for Romeo and JulietPart I: Prompts for Literature

Use your word journal/log to come up with a theme for the play. Explain how you think Shakespeare uses these particular examples to advance his main ideas. [Attach your log and answer in paragraphs to receive full credit.] Romeo and Juliet Prompt

One main theme that can be seen through the plants and sonnetts in Romeo and Juliet is how love and feelings can grow. Shakespeare uses plants as a way to show how the love shared can grow in people. Some of the sonnetts are showing how the love is growing, and how much it has grown. The main theme of the play is love, and this is a part of the theme by showing how it grows. Student Answer A

The big theme I found with Romeo and Juliet was fate. Shakespeare’s references to the stars and sky about them being aligned perfectly contributed to the theme that Romeo and Juliet were together through fate. Fate was what brought them to meet and fall in love and get married. Student Answer B

Reactions? • Responses? • Implications? • Suggestions? • Is the problem the prompt, last year’s teacher, the student???? Talk to a Colleague: 1 minute

Imagine you are the manager of the Opryland Hotel. Three famous guests are coming and you will introduce them to a reporter for The Tennessean. Each of the guests reflects the character and physical appearance of one of Chaucer’s pilgrims. Write the introduction the manager might give. • Add a note to identify which of Chaucer’s characters are your models. Last week’s prompt

Are these thesis statements/introductions home runs? Merely adequate? Strike outs? 1. As the manager… 2. There are 3 guests coming … 3. The Opryland Hotel has served… 4. Opryland Hotel is proud… 5. On Halloween night… 6. As the manager of the Opryland Hotel… Where they are now? Has anything improved—prompt or writing?

Three types of rubrics: Compare and contrast question Change or continuity over time question Document based question Lessons about audience and purpose we could learn from our social studies colleagues : Part II

Note the important distinction between English class point of view and Social Studies point of view • In the following set of advertisements we see multiple perspectives—the history teacher wants students to show WHY, the English teacher wants students to show HOW the perspective is conveyed. POINT OF VIEW

HSBC advertisement series

Convergence of the Twain: Writing with Purpose, Context and Audience in Mind