English Update. March 26, 2007. Archive

Archive
Writing..... Assignments ..... How give effective writing assignments? Students need to understand clearly the purpose of a writing assignment. A Beaufort. RTE (Nov. 04), 162. (abs.)


Writing..... Attitude..... How distinguish between an amateur and a professional writer? “The amateur wants to be a writer. The professional wants to write.” BJ Chute. Wrt (May 1950). [Wrt (May 05), 8.]


Wtiting..... Conditions..... What are ideal conditions in which to write? “Don’t look for ideal writing conditions. They don’t exist. Work where you are and with what you have.” BJ Chute. Wrt (May 1950). [Wrt (May 05), 8.]

Writing..... Creative..... How teach children to write poetry? Introduce children to writing poetry by using patterns, including free verse, Haiku, cinquain, the diamante septolet, quinzaine, quintain. IM Tiedt. “Exploring Poetry Patterns,” 1082-1084. [File]


Writing..... Creative..... How teach children to write stories? Before writing stories, children should tell them orally. MJ Tingle. EE (Jan. 70), 73.

Writing..... Creative..... How teach creative writing? After reading a particular work in a genre, students formulate the “rules” for writing in this genre. TF Haffner. N+ (Oct. 04), 3-4.

Writing..... Creativity..... How teach students to create character? Exercises in creating character. 300-word sketch involving character’s thoughts who cares passionately about something and then 300-word sketch involving character’s thoughts who feels the opposite. Write letter in which writer describes meeting you—and does not like you—and then letter from someone who likes you. G Godwin. Wrt (Dec. 04), 8. [originally, Dec. 1979.]


Writing..... Critical Thinking..... How teach argumentative writing? “Kaspar asked her students to write a letter to the person with whom they most disagreed on an issue and to present their arguments against his or her position….” LF Kaspar and ST Weiss. TETYC (Mar. 05), 286.

Writing..... Criticism of my point of view..... What is wrong with teaching the five-paragraph essay? The belief that asking students to write within a prescribed form (the 5-paragraph essay) suffocates their creativity. Assumes that students will write what is safe and correct at the expense of writing what they really want to express. That never happened in my experience. The students began with their topics, used their experiences and shaped their messages in the format of “Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, and tell them what you told them.” In addition, students often expanded the parts of the 5-paragraph essay to go well beyond 5 paragraphs. The introduction could go on for several paragraphs as I do in my model. The thesis sentence could be expanded into several sentences or even a paragraph as happens in many published writings. Details were expanded into several paragraphs albeit with a single topic sentence or a topic paragraph. The summary paragraph was usually just that—a single paragraph. Ray 11/04.


Writing..... Criticism of my point of view..... How are professional articles similar to and different from the 5-paragraph essay? They are similar in that they introduce the topic, state wheat they are going to say, say it and summarize what they have said. How do they differ? They are not in five paragraphs. The introduction can be paragraphs in length. The topic sentence of intermediate paragraphs is expanded into a topic paragraph with subordinate paragraphs filling out the information of the detail. The reader still gains the major ideas and details of the article by reading the first and last paragraphs and the first sentences of the intermediate paragraphs. In short, the very format of the professional article attacking the 5-paragraph essay belies the criticism of the 5-paragraph essay—“I’m still looking for one.” Authors of professional articles follow the “Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them and tell them what you told them” formula, which the 5-paragraph essay epitomizes. Ray. 11/4.

Writing..... Culture..... How do Chinese and Western writers differ? Discusses Chinese indirectness as the favored mode of communication vs. the European/American directness and suggests that the two modes can become complementary in a new Chinese/American rhetoric. L Mao. CCC (Feb. 05), 421-469. [Reactions: I have always assumed that directness and clarity, getting to the point with no wasted time, is the desired method of communicating. Obviously other cultures do not value directness and clarity as Europeans and Americans do. Interesting point of view. I think I need to read this article more thoroughly.]

Writing..... Deaf Students..... How do the mistakes in writing by deaf students differ from those of hearing students? “Many, although not all, deaf students’ English errors are similar to those made by hearing nonnative speakers.” KL Schmitz and SK Keenan. TETYC (May 05), 371.

Writing..... Evaluation..... How well do computers evaluate student writing? “How can a computer determine accuracy, originality, valuable elaboration, empty language, language maturity, and a long list of similar qualities that are central to assessing writing? Computers can’t. We must ensure that the human element remains the dominant factor in the assessing of student writing.” PL Thomas. EJ (May 05), 29.

EJ = English Journal. TETYC = Teaching English in Two-Year Colleges. CCC = College Composition and Commuication. Wrt = The Writer. EE = Elementary English.