English Update March 1, 2007

How help law students learn to write in the legal profession? The first communication need for anyone in law is to be able to state precisely…what the law is. DW Stevenson. CCC (Feb. 78), 30. The second communication need for anyone in law is to be able to define a problem, or, in their terms, to isolate legal issues. DW Stevenson. CCC (Feb. 78), 31. The third communication need for anyone in law is to be able effectively to set forth the facts of a case. DW Stevenson. CCC (Feb. 78), 32. The fourth need for anyone in law is [to]…apply general principles of law to particular instances. DW Stevenson. CCC (Feb. 78), 33. If lawyers need the power to persuade, however, it is interesting to discover how little training in persuasion they receive. DW Stevenson. CCC (Feb. 78), 33. The fifth need for anyone in law is to be able to adapt his or her written discourse on legal issues to communicate to non-lawyers. DW Stevenson. CCC (Feb. 78), 33. Of course, I am not suggesting that all legal discourse should be accessible to non-lawyers, but it is certainly true that much legal discourse must be. Surprisingly, though, there is little training given law professionals in this very important professional skill, even though it is clear that those in law understand the need for the skills. DW Stevenson. CCC (Feb. 78), 34.

What are the characteristics of a good leader? The people say, “We did it ourselves.” [“A leader is best when people barely know he exists. Not so good when people obey and acclaim him. Worse when they despise him. But of a good leader who talks little when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say, ‘We did it ourselves.’ ”—Lao-tzu (sixth century BC). ]

How help children learn to speak and write using the language experience approach [LEA]? Children retell a story they have read or heard read to them. Their re-told story is recorded on chart paper. They then read it aloud. GM Giovannini. EE (Nov. 72), 981-985.

Why teach creative writing? Students engage in creative writing exercises to help them understand the creative techniques used in writing literature. CCC (Feb. 77), 72-73.

How use writing in teaching literature? In the last 5 to 10 minutes of class, students write journal entries on the literature being discussed in class. JR Nicholl. CCC (Oct. 79), 305-307.

How is metaphor used in science? Crick and Watson’s metaphor of the structure of DNA as a double helix has been the base for major developments in perhaps our most exciting and swift-moving science, genetic biochemistry. J Emig. RTE (Fall 72), 165. Today, the very language of science—peppered with talk of black holes, the big bang, gene splicing—hints at metaphor spurring scientific thought. WJ Broad. NYT (Jul. 31, 83), 8E.

How help students learn different types of essays? Use Montaigne as a model for the personal essay, an alternative to the standard 5-paragraph “essay.” “Meandering thoughts.” RM Palumbo. CCC (Dec. 78), 382-384. [Might want to use the “Spectator” and Francis Bacon and more modern essayists as well.]

What do modern writers need to learn? …the biggest problem writers now face: how to present the sophisticated content people need in the simplified formats today’s attention spans require. CS Stepp in Rev. of B Ross-Larson’s The Web’s Impact on Writing…. American Journalism. Issue 8, 2002, p. 1. [B Ross-Larson]: ‘Attention-sustaining devices….’ CS Stepp in Rev. of B Ross-Larson’s The Web’s Impact on Writing…. American Journalism. Issue 8, 2002, p. 2.

What should be the writer’s purpose? Louis Sachar: Try to write something really good. Don’t go into it as a money-maker or with the objective to get published. The object is to write something good. And then it probably will get published and might make money. The goal is to write a good book. SM Cindrich. Wrt (Oct. 04), 23.

CCC = College Composition and Communication. EE = Elementary English. NYT = The New York Times. Wrt = The Writer. RTE = Research in the Teaching of English.