Writing with an Aesthetic Stance in Social Studies

1. Writing with an Aesthetic Stance in Social Studies By Helena Goense Al Hadi School July 18, 2005

2. Research-Vygotsky • The sense of a word is the sum of all the psychological events aroused in our consciousness by the word • The existence of a dynamic system of meaning, in which the affective and the intellectual unite

3. Research-Vygotsky

4. Research-Louise Rosenblatt • The reading of any work of literature is, of necessity, an individual and unique occurrence involving the mind and emotions of some particular reader

5. Research-Louise Rosenblatt • The term aesthetic was chosen because its Greek source suggested perception through the senses, feelings, and intuitions • The aesthetic reader pays attention to-savours- the qualities of the feelings, ideas, situations, scenes, personalities, and emotions that are called forth and participates in the tensions, conflicts, and resolutions of the images, ideas, and scenes as they unfold.

6. Research- Stanislavski • The most fundamental principle of Stanislavski's teaching is that the actor must live the life of the character that he is portraying, he must learn to think like the character and behave as the character would, therefore the portrayal is not confined to the performance but will, to some degree, begin to overlap into the actor's own life. This, he asserts, is the only way to achieve total realism and, to reinforce this, the actor must also extend this exercise of imagination to encompass the costumes that he wears, the articles that comprise the set and the props that are used.

7. Research- Stanislavski • It is therefore necessary for the actor to approach the role from two levels, the external level being the more obvious. The way in which the character moves, speaks and behaves must be studied and practised, but this performance will become mechanical unless it is guided by the inner belief in the characters feelings and emotions .The actor should draw on his own experiences, wherever possible, to understand and interpret the emotions and events that the character will experience, and the wider the actor's experience of life then the greater his insight and comprehension will be. The more an actor has observed and known, the greater his experience the clearer his perception of the inner and outer circumstances of the life in his play and in his partThis work is not done by the intellect alone but by all your creativeforces, all the elements of your inner creative state on the stagetogether with your real life in the sense of the playTherefore, to follow the teachings of Stanislavski it is necessary for the actor to totally immerse himself, body, soul and mind, in the part that he is playing

8. New Journalism • Tom Wolfe describing an article in Esquire written in New Journalism Style “…It was a garage sale, that piece…vignettes, odds and ends of scholarship, bits of memoir, short bursts of sociology, apostrophes, epithets, moans, cackles…that was its virtue. What interested me was not simply the discovery that it is possible to write accurate non-fiction with techniques usually associated with novels and short stories.

9. New Journalism • It was the discovery that it was possible in non-fiction, in journalism, to use any literacy device, from the traditional dialogisms of the essay to stream-of-consciousness, and to use many different kinds simultaneously, or within a relatively short space…to excite the reader both intellectually and emotionally”

10. Saturation Research Paper • Carol Booth Olsen & Ruby Bernstein-Bay Area Writing Project • You saturate yourself with your subject • Writing non-fiction using fictional techniques • There will be scenes, characters, characterization, and dialogue • Author identification you can be in or out of the story • As you capture an isolated segment of today’s world, you say something about the total world

11. Saturation Research Paper • Overview: students will research and saturate themselves in a historical figure; select a significant event from that person’s life; assume the persona of that person; and, weaving together factual information and fictional technique, and dramatize the event, showing, not just telling, why it is significant.

12. Saturation Research Paper • Prewriting Activities • Reviewing the student model • Clustering to find a topic • Planning Activities • Conducting research • Practice in Point of View • Showing, not telling • Creating a storyboard • Writing Activities • Writing the opening scene • Read-around • Writing first draft • Peer partner scoring of draft • Editing Activities • Focus on dialogue • Focus on verb tense • Evaluation • Reflection

13. Saturation Research Paper Directions for Responding to the Saturation Research paper (These annotations go directly on the text) • Pointing • Use yellow highlighter to point to the writer's golden lines. • Telling Telling how you are reacting to the piece. • We thought this was really poignant. • Wow! We loved this scene. • This kept us in suspense. • We were with you here. etc. • Summarizing • Summarize what you think the writer was trying to convey • So, what you're getting at is… • The message you're sending is… • A word that seems to summarize the main theme of your paper… • Showing • This section reminded us of a watercolor sketch. • If this piece were music, it would have dissonant chords.

14. Modifications • GT-include within their paper a second genre • Limited English-Olson suggests prewriting guided activities that will help them make a connection between their own lives and the life of the chosen character. She asks them to think about a significant moment in their personal history and to cluster and free write about it. After wards they are asked to put their free write away and tell about the event to a partner. The partner must then re-create in writing the event. To do so the partner must become the person who just told the story and assume their voice. This practice in adopting the persona of a known subject helps students make the transition to becoming someone they can come to know only secondhand.

15. Bibliography http://ausxip.com/lucia/artwork http://web.syr.edu/~hcavino/vygotsky.gif Capossela, T. (1993). The critical writing workshop. Portsmouth, Heinemann. Olsen, C.B. (2003) The reading/writing connection. Boston, Allyn&Bacon. Rosenblatt, L. (2005). Making meaning with texts. Portsmouth, Heinemann. Stanislavski, C. (1961). Creating a role. New York, Routledge. Wolfe, T. (1973). New Journalism. New York, Harper&Row.