Writing Like A Pro

1. Writing Like A Pro Debra Cook cookd@libertyschool.org June 17, 2005

2. Why study the masters? • Noden says studying the masters is an important prerequisite to original creation, allowing students “to internalize writing techniques that students can later apply in infinite ways.” (1999) • Daiker, Kerek, and Morenberg found that college freshman who imitated professionals “for a semester wrote better papers that were graded higher than those written by students who had not.” (1990)

3. Why study the masters? • Calkins calls it “standing on the shoulders of a great book.” ( 1994) • It has been used successfully for decades. (Christenson, 1979) • Many professional authors have used this method. (Noden, 1999) • Imitation is one of the quickest ways to learn a new technique. (Cassill, 1975)

4. What do you hear? • Shhh. • Listen. • Write.

5. Why practice? • In an interview, author Pete Hamill explains, “The journal is sort of like going to the gymnasium. It’s not the fight itself. It’s preparing you for it. It’s working on certain aspects of what you do.”(Callahan, 1993)

6. What do you see? • Shhh. • Look. • Write.

7. What is close reading? • Constructing meaning of a text through careful annotation • Reading on the line, between the lines, and beyond the lines (Laying the Foundation, 2004)

8. Reading on the Line… • Simple Inquiry • What? When? How?

9. Reading Betweenthe Lines… • Abstract • Key verbs: represents, suggests, personifies, alludes to • Why? So What?

10. Reading Beyond the Lines… • Super abstract • Theme, meaning, universal theme • Now what?

11. What other passages will work? • Appropriate grade level • Short passages • Passages of high interest

12. Ready to compare? • The real value comes in the student’s comparison of their own writing to the author’s. (Noden, 1999)

13. We have to do what? • Sit outside. • Don’t move! • Observe and write. • Include: similes, metaphors, personification, and a reflection

14. How did it go? • I wondered why I had to be forced to sit outside and watch nature instead of actually wanting to. Aunie • The world around me just felt like it slowed down a bit. Zach • Nothingness to me is something that sounds like something I don’t get to do very often. My constant motion is always forward. Sometimes I wish I could push a rewind button. Rob

15. Did I Say That? • “All writers need support, positive feedback, and encouragement, mountains of encouragement. Don’t tell me what I did wrong. Show me what you liked. Let me hear my words spoken by your lips. Tell me you want to know more. Let me know my words affect you.” (Carol Lafrance, a teacher consultant with the National Writing Project in Kalamazoo, Michigan, 2000)

16. Did I Say That? • “Even in a ‘bad’ piece of writing, the [teacher] reaches into the chaos, finds a place where the writing works, pulls it from the wreckage, names it, and makes the writer aware of this emerging skills with words. Careful praise of this kind can fuel a writer for a long time.” ( Fletcher, 1993)

17. Similes • “Stewart was dancing around like an old lady does when she wins on bingo night.” • “They are white like cotton balls, gray like my grand-ma’s hair, surrounded by an everlasting blanket of blue.” • “…branches that spread out like the split ends of a girl’s hair.” • “The ivy was hanging from the branches like swinging, hissing snakes.” • “His head swiveled from side to side and his tail swished about like a fly swatter.” • “The wind moans and wails every few seconds as if the Creator were taking deep breaths after running a long race.” • “Its ears were abnormally tall like cell phone towers receiving signals.”

18. Metaphors • “The vines were light and delicate but at the same time a steel, stern jungle gym.” • “He was an unmovable boulder of concentration.” • “.…into the grass, a wild and mysterious jungle…” • “Her hair was silk, gleaming against the rough ground beneath her.”

19. Personification • “…the birds were waving their wings up and down as if someone was waving back.” • “but their squeaks and fluttering wing beats made them sound disorderly, drunk, and chaotic.” • “…two small, immature magnolia trees shivering in the subtle wind.” • “It fell gracefully, like a feather that had just fallen from the body of a bird. A bit of a breeze picked up and it did cartwheels in the air. It swayed back and forth until it landed lightly on the ground below. The last leaf had fallen." • “The trees talked to each other, swaying about telling stories, taking turns.” • “The deadly ivy seems to look for new victims as it crawls over the stone wall and up the porch.”

20. Life Lessons/Reflections • “I just move where the crowd takes me and try to stand up for myself, but get put down. In some ways the tree and I are alike, confused, lost, and helpless.” Danielle • “Was this world such a misunderstood place that one moment one could be picking on someone, then the next unite like old buddies from high school…I have chosen wisely with whom I hang….have you?” [birds] Krystal • “Life’s blows can be enormous, but you only get stronger when you make an effort to move on.” [ladybugs] Mangenda • “Sometimes it’s not what people say to you, or what they have done for you, it’s having the comfort of knowing that they will always be there when you need them.” [turtle] Jill • “Why do we always tend to flee from danger? Instead of standing up to our problems, we run away and ignore it. No, the squirrel probably can’t work out his problems with the hawk, but I do think that we can fix our problems if we stand up instead of running away.” Corbin C.

21. Extensions? • Study previous AP English exam essays. www. collegeboard.com • Tweek the assignment using authors your students study. • Play with lots of lessons on sentence imitating and sentence combining. • Remember, the value is in the comparison.

22. Bibliography • Caulkins, Lucy McCormick. (1994). The Art of Teaching Writing. Portsmouth : Heinemann. • Callahan, T. (1993). “Interview with Pete Hamill.” Writer’s Digest (Sept.) : 45-46 • Daiker, D.A., A. Karek, and M. Morenberg. (1990). The Writer’s Options: Combining to Composing. 4th ed. New York: Harper & Row. • Dillard, Annie. (1974). Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. New York: Harper’s Magazine Press. • Fletcher, Ralph. (1993). What a Writer Needs. Portsmouth : Heinemann. • Kilgallon, D. (1997). Sentence Composing for High School. Portsmouth: Boynton Cook. • Lafrance, Carol. (2000). “Well-Seasoned Teacher Thrives at Summer Institute”. The Voice (November-December). • Laying the Foundation: A Resource and Planning Guide for Pre-AP English Grade Nine. (2004). Dallas: AP Strategies. • Noden, Harry R. Image Grammar. Portsmouth : Heinemann. • Pittman, Helene Clare. (1996). One Quiet Morning. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books.