Topic: The Varied Language of Writing

10-second review: Students should pick their own topics, purposes and audiences which will allow them to experiment with varieties of English.

Title: “Self-Directed Writing: Giving Voice to Student Writers.” K B Lovejoy. English Journal (July 2009), 79-86. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Quote: “When students are given opportunities to write about their own topics and to write for different purposes and audiences, they learn that language need not be rigid as they might have thought.” p. 84.

Comment: An interesting point of view. I always felt the need to teach students to write in formal, standard English. As a result, I tried to eliminate in writing “speakwrite,” or language that is informal, like the language students use when they speak.

I think if I had to do it over, I would adopt this author’s point of view two or three times a year and maybe more often. I would still emphasize formal, standard English and I always have allowed students to pick their own topics. But, in establishing different purposes and audiences, students could vary the level of language from informal to formal, depending on the audience. An interesting idea. RayS.

Topic: Reading Aloud Marathon

10-second review: Students read aloud, one by one, some in pairs, Kerouac’s On the Road throughout the day and into the night. When one student finished reading aloud, another took over. Some read well, some poorly. They all became involved in the book.

Title: “ ‘Ripples in the Upside-Down Lake of the World’: A Read-Aloud Marathon.” D Iasevoli. English Journal (July 2009), 74-78. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Quote: “…a celebration of the life that we, as students of literature, put into printed matter. On October 21, we made some words fly off the page. High school seniors were able to forget, for a few hours that day, that they were responsible for getting something out of their books. Instead, they lived with the book, in the book’s time, or it became a part of them, of their hearts and minds, as they read within a group of readers.”

Quote: “It transformed the school setting for them. By the time students have entered high school, they read (and, to a lesser degree, also write) as lone minds…. But as these seniors experienced, when their eyes dissolved with too many words, their egos also dissolved and they joined in a community play with words.”

Comment: This was spontaneous reading aloud. I understand its purpose. Still, I think there is room for a more structured marathon. That way students can practice before reading aloud. An interesting idea. RayS.

Topic: JK Rowling, Harry Potter and Rhetorical Devices

10-second review: So you think Harry Potter is just kid’s stuff. Check out the rhetorical devices you will find in the Harry Potter books.

Title: “Naming Tropes and Schemes in JK Rowling’s Harry Potter Books.” DLF Nilsen and AP Nilsen. English Journal (July 2009), 50-68. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Summary: You can find all of the following rhetorical devices in the Harry Potter books: allegories, allusions, archaisms, circumlocutions, hyperbole, incongruity, irony, paradox, oxymoron, innuendo, meiosis, metaphors, similes. metonymy, synecdoche, paralipsis, adolphasis, periphrasis, personification, synesis, synesthesia, alliteration, anagrams, anaphora, apposition, assonance, cacophony, euphony, chiasmus, puns.

In the article, the authors explain each of these rhetorical devices and give examples from the Harry Potter books.

Comment: This article is a “keeper.” Write to ncte.org to purchase a copy. RayS.

Topic: Engaging Students in Writing Humor

10-second review: Some funny writing situations

Title: “Comic Relief: Engaging students Through Humor Writing.” BA Goebel. English Journal (July 2009), 38-43. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Summary:

Definitions: Try writing definitions for made-up words like the following: pod snob, word of mouse, beepilepsy, jargonaut, for example.

Association brainstorms: “…students are given a character in terms of profession---firefighter, police officer, dog-catcher, gardener—and then asked to brainstorm as many verbs as they can that might metaphorically describe a physical or psychological condition. For example, in describing how a firefighter might feel, coming home from work, one might list burned up, torched, fired up, steaming and not too hot.” p. 39.

Fractured clichés: “If at first you don’t succeed, quit.” W.C. Fields. “If all the world’s a stage, it’s time to change the director.” Russell Goebel.

Rule of three: “he was my dream date, tall, dark and dumb.”

Lists: “Top ten signs you’re watching a bad monster movie.” David Letterman.

Rewrite funny passages: Identify the funniest passage. Explain why it is funny. Write a brief description of how to write a passage like this. Write a brief emulation that captures the form and style of the chosen passage while using content of your choosing.

Students look for things that make them laugh, then share with the rest of the class.

Comment: I bet they’ll have a heckuva time explaining why it’s funny. Why not a unit on humor? I know. Don’t bother to answer that question. It won’t help improve students’ scores on high stakes tests. RayS.

Topic: Best Practices

10-second review: Author has decided that “Best Practices” are what works for each individual teacher—as opposed to the No Child Left Behind law that mandates “Best Practices” based on research. for all teachers of reading. The individual teacher has to make the judgment of “what works.” Which defines teachers as professionals.

Title: “Is It Time to Abandon the Idea of ‘Best Practices’ in the Teaching of English?” Peter Smagorinsky. English Journal (July 2009),15-22. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Comment: I think that Smagorinsky is reacting to the kinds of scripted lessons that seem to have been put in place following the No Child Left Behind law. His belief that teachers need to adapt “best practices” is another one of those ideas that seems to be just plain common sense. Long ago, I learned that borrowing an idea from a professional journal meant that I had to adapt the idea to the students with whom I worked. In fact, I learned that I needed to try the idea myself on myself before I would attempt to use it with my students. “Best Practices” are and should remain recommendations. I think I would call them “Promising Practices.”

As a side note, the National Council of Teachers of English has been defining “best practices” for years with its resolutions, statements and guidelines. Obviously, teachers must be informed of and reflect on these ideas. They are produced by thoughtful, experienced teachers. But once again, teachers need to adapt these ideas to the classes and individuals with whom they work. The guidelines for teaching writing (2004), for example, state that the conventions are important so that readers’ expectations are met and readers are not distracted by “mistakes.” But how to teach the conventions is an issue. Formal grammar? Functional grammar? Teachers have to decide what will work with their classes. RayS.

Topic: Response to Literature

10-second review: Students draw stick-figure comics of scenes in novels, short stories and nonfiction.

Title: “Teaching for the Fun of It.” K Mitcham. English Journal (July 2009), 13-14. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).

Comment: Why? It’s fun. Begin by having the students recall a list of scenes in the book or story, one way of reviewing what occurred in the book. Rendering the comic strip in pencil helps to implant the scene in the students’ minds. The students’ rendering of the scenes could lead to discussion of interpretation. Characters’ quotes could come directly from the book. Requiring only stick figures takes away the need for artistic skill, which many of us do not have. Could be used in any review of outside reading. RayS.

Topic: Our Schools are "stuck in the mud."

10-second review: Nothing much has changed in our schools in the twenty-first century.

Title: “Shaping New Literacies Research: Extrapolations from a Review of The Handbook of Research on New Literacies.” RJ Tierney. Reading Research Quarterly (July/August/September 2009), 322-339. A publication of the International Reading Association (NCTE).

Quote:

(1) “In North America, paper and pen technologies still dominate….

(2) “Inside-the-head versus social models of learning guide teaching and testing….

(3) “Print seems to remain more privileged than images….

(4) “And apart from keyboarding and the use of a few other tools of technology…the technology changes that are contributing to changes in our lives outside of school are not occurring within the confines of our classroom or school lives.” p. 338.

Comment. Some quick responses:

(1) The reason we’re using paper and pen technologies is that students need experience with all forms of communication technologies. Also, they are technologies that are still comfortable for many people. When I know what I am going to talk about, I use word processing. When I don’t know what I am going to say, I use yellow pads and pencil. I still think that the best purpose for word processing is for genres (memos) that don’t take much thinking or in revising and editing of serious communications.

(2) Someone is going to have to prove to me that “social learning” is more important than inside-the-head (individual) learning and producing in society.

(3) Images will never be superior to print for the communication of ideas. Images support the ideas in print.

(4) Someone always wants to replace reasoned discourse with the latest technology—forget the organization of expository writing and substitute in writing class texting, twittering and e-mails with carelessly organized, sloppy diction and grammar, the very opposite of thoughtful writing. RayS.