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Writer’s Craft Notebooks Analyzing Author’s Craft to Enhance My Craft. presented by Catherine D’Aoust July 3 , 2014. Ongoing grammar question:. To teach grammar or not to teach grammar?. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Writer’s Craft NotebooksAnalyzing Author’s Craft to Enhance
My Craft
presented by Catherine D’Aoust
July 3, 2014
Ongoing grammar question:
To teach grammar
or
not to teach grammar?
* Teachers today do not question if grammar should be taught because
the standards require grammar instruction.
CCSS Language Standards!!!
•Does the research support teaching grammar traditionally? - NO! “…in view of the widespread agreement of research studies basedupon many types of students and teachers, the conclusion can be statedin strong and unqualified terms: the teaching of formal grammar has anegligible or, because it usually displaces some instruction andpractice in actual composition, even a harmful effect on the improvement of writing.” R.Braddock, R. Lloyd-Jones, L. Schoer Research in Written Composition, NCTE, 1963
, Inquiring Minds want to know
“Those findings that report no correlation between the formal teaching of grammar and writing ability
conclude only that grammar should not be taught in isolation,as an end in itself. They do not conclude that it
should not be taught at all…Unfortunately, the result of theresearch has been to drive grammar instruction out of
the composition classroom, rather than into it, where itbelongs.”
Martha KollnRhetorical Grammar: Grammatical Choices, Rhetorical Effects, 1991
Grammar Instructionin Meaningful, Productive
Contexts opposed to Grammar Instruction in Isolation, often with drill and kill worksheets(sometimes called traditional grammar instruction)
What is instruction in meaningful contexts?
•This instruction is incorporated into reading and writing instruction in the classroom; grammar instruction becomes a natural part of Analyzing Author’s Craft and learning style while applying it to students’ own writing.
• Instruction is context-based and utilizes both didactic and constructivist pedagogical strategies: - Sometimes students just need directly to be taught rules and how the English language works. - They need continuous opportunities to apply what they have learned to their own writing.
Grammar Instruction
Should NOT be
Grammar Instruction is often
Rapid Release
In some classrooms …TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY
STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY
Focus Lesson“I do it”
Independent
“You do it alone”
Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2008). Better learning through structured teaching: A framework for the gradual release of responsibility. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
TEACHER RESPONSIBILITY
STUDENT RESPONSIBILITY
Focus Lesson
Guided Instruction
“I do it”
“We do it”
“You do it together”Collaborative
Independent “You do it alone”
A Model for Success for All Students Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2008). Better learning through structured teaching: A framework for the gradual release of responsibility. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Gradual Release Process
Focused, directed instruction with models
Guided, interactive first experiences
Collaborative practice for correction and further learning
Independent practice for attainment in meaningful contexts
Grammar Instruction is often Declarative Knowledge only
highly abstract, without real application
instead of
Procedural Knowledgewhere students use new knowledge in real, meaning- ful contexts where they practice and improve
The goal of grammar instruction is to
improve writing and speaking
Grammar is often taught as if the goal was to acquire linguistic understanding of the English language.
CCSS excerpt on Language Standards
Note on range and content of student language use:
To be college and career ready in language, students must have firm control over the conventions of standard English. At the same time, they must come to appreciate that language is as at least as much a matter of craft as of rules and be able to choose words, syntax, and punctuation to express themselves and achieve particular functions and rhetorical effects. They must also have extensive vocabularies, built through reading and study, enabling them to comprehend complex texts and engage in purposeful writing about and conversations around content. They need to become skilled in determining or clarifying the meaning of words and phrases they encounter, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies to aid them. They must learn to see an individual word as part of a network of other words—words, for example, that have similar denotations but different connotations. The inclusion of Language standards in their own strand should not be taken as an indication that skills related to conventions, effective language use, and vocabulary are unimportant to reading, writing, speaking, and listening; indeed, they are inseparable from such contexts.
Grammar Research
Writing as a decision-making activity
Common Core College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Language
Conventions of Standard English
1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of
standard English grammar and usage when writing
or speaking.
2. Demonstrate command of the conventions of
standard English capitalization, punctuation, and
spelling when writing.
Common Core College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Language
Knowledge of Language
3. Apply knowledge of language to understand how
language functions in different contexts, to make
effective choices for meaning or style, and to
comprehend more fully when reading or listening.
Common Core College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Language
Vocabulary acquisition and Use4.Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and
phrases by using context clues, analyzing meaningful word parts, and consulting
general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate
5.Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and
nuances
in word meanings.6.Acquire and use accurately a range of general academic and
domain-specific words and phrases sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and
listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in
gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to
comprehension or expression.
Constance Weaver
Harry Noden
Jeff Anderson
200519991979
Grammar Research says…Constance Weaver (2007) explains,
“Grammar taught in isolation from writing does not produce significant improvements in writing. It is both more motivating and more practical to teach selected aspects of grammar in conjunction with the writing process. (pg.8)”
“It is better to teach a few things repeatedly and well than a lot of grammatical terms that have little or no practical relevance to writing.”
Improving Your Sentences with Brush Strokes
Artist’s
Palette
Harry Noden from Image Grammar
“Traditionally, the study of grammar has dealt only with words, phrases, and clauses. However, when I began to see grammar as a process of creating art, it seemed unnatural – even impossible – not to view grammar as a continuous spectrum in a whole work. As I explored this view with my students, the connection seemed to bring grammar into a meaningful relationship with stories, novels, screenplays, poems, reports, and songs – the ultimate products of the writer’s art.”
I’m a writer, not an artist…right?
“The writer is an artist, painting images of life with specific and identifiable brush strokes, images as realistic as Wyeth and as abstract as Picasso.”
“Writing is not constructed merely from experiences, information, characters or plots, but from fundamental artistic elements of grammar.”
-Harry Noden,
Image Grammar
Table of Contents: Image Grammar
What are brush strokes?
Comparison of writing to painting
- Use of a palette of words and combination of words
- Variety of strokes – sentence structures
- Choices determined by artist’s purpose and audience
- Drafting and adding color/shading
What brush strokes?
A writer’s brush strokes are their repertoire of sentence structures combine with their word choices. Students can begin with these five basic brush strokes:
a) Action verbs
b) Adjectives out of order
c) Appositives
d) Participle used as adjectives
e) Absolutes
Professional authors use these tools to create masterpieces
“Shifting the weight of the line to his left shoulder and kneeling carefully, he washed his hand in the ocean and held it there, submerged, for more than a minute, watching the blood trail away and the steady movement of the water against his hand as the boat moved.”
-Ernest Hemingway
Old Man and the Sea
“Dazed and disoriented, I looked up from the bright red blood pulsing out of my arm—into the fevered eyes of the six suddenly ravenous vampires.”
-Stephanie Meyer
New Moon
Brush Stroke ProcessImitation Writing
Choose a brush stroke
Show a picture
Model the brush stroke
Show a 2nd picture (GRR)
Student(s) practice
Students use brush stroke in their writing
Adjectives Out of OrderThe leopard hung on the tree branch.
The leopard, hungry and vigilant, hung on the tree branch.
You try using adjectives out of order.
Gorilla:Peering at the onlookers, the gorilla passed hour after hour in his depressing cage.
Painting with Participles
Gorilla:Peering at the onlookers, slumping forward, staring dejectedly, the gorilla passed hour after hour in his depressing cage.
Painting with Participles
Gorilla:Bored by his surroundings, the gorilla passed hour after hour in his depressing cage.
Painting with Participles
Killer Whale:Now you try:
Painting with Participles
Example [Note the lack of sentence variation]
Final words from Harry Noden:
“The writer is an artist, painting images of life with specific and identifiable brush strokes.”
“Writing is not constructed merely from
experiences, information, characters, and
plots, but from fundamental artistic
elements of grammar.”
My ConcernsHow do we ensure transfer?
Where is accountability in grammar instruction?
What does practice look like?
How do we add the meta-lens?
Thus the Author’s Craft Notebook was born!
Components of Author’s Craft JournalOngoing journal used as an opening writing activity, a writer’s workshop journal, an anchor writing journal, or even a homework journal.
Builds on student memories ( small r research)
Utilizes all CCSS genres
Provides models of grammatical structures and punctuation usage; requires student imitation writing in real contexts
Provides a place for students to practice and explicitly integrate new learnings
Holds students accountable
Fosters transfer to other writing
Anchor Journal Content
Journal Cover
Numbered blueprint
I remember poem
Table of Contents
Student writing with annotations
Acknowledgment section
I Remember Poem
I remember when
1. …
2. …
3. …
4. …
5. …
6. …
I Remember Poem
I remember when
1. … I came home from school and saw my baby sister for the first time.
2. …playing ghosts in the dark hallway with pillows
3. …listening through the hallway furnace to my parents’ parties
4. …
5. …
6. …
Table of Contents
1. Ghosts in the Hall
2. Adult Parties
Students Write
Students choose their topics from their I Remember Poem.
Analyzing Author’s Craft
How the Notebook title was named!
Sample Excerpt from Of Mice and Men
A tall man stood in the doorway. He held a crushed Stetson hat under his arm while he combed his long, black, damp hair straight back. Like the others, he wore blue jeans and a short denim jacket. When he had finished combining his hair, he moved into the room and he moved with a majesty only achieved by royalty and master craftsmen. He was a jerk line skinner, the prince of the ranch, capable of driving ten, sixteen, even twenty mules with a single line to the leaders.
He might have been thirty-five or fifty. His ear heard more than was said to him, and his slow speech had overtones not of thought, but of understanding beyond thought. His hands, large and lean, were as delicate in their actions as those of a temple dancer.
A tall man stood in the doorway. He held a crushed Stetson hat under his arm while he combed his long, black, damp hair straight back. Like the others, he wore blue jeans and a short denim jacket. When he had finished combining his hair, he moved into the room and he moved with a majesty only achieved by royalty and master craftsmen. He was a jerk line skinner, the prince of the ranch, capable of driving ten, sixteen, even twenty mules with a single line to the leaders.
He might have been thirty-five or fifty. His ear heard more than was said to him, and his slow speech had overtones not of thought, but of understanding beyond thought. His hands, large and lean, were as delicate in their actions as those of a temple dancer.
Students Copy
In the acknowledgment section of their journals, students write
Subordinate Clause (comma use) J. STEINBECK
And then copy
He held a crushed Stetson hat under his arm while he combed his long, black, damp hair straight back.
Modeling, Imitation, Group Practice, and Release
The teacher and or the teacher and the class create another sentence using the same structure. All students copy this sentence, too, on the acknowledgment page.(could use “Harry Nodin picture”)
Subordinating Conjunctions
after, although, as, because, before, how, if, once, since, than, that, though, till, until, when, where, whether, while
Frames
sub conj + clause (subj+ verb) + comma + clause.When he had finished combining his hair, he moved into the room.
clause (sub + verb) + sub conj + clause (sub + verb)
He held a crushed Stetson hat under his arm while he combed his long, black, damp hair straight back.
Sample Acknowledgment Page
Acknowledgement
1. Subordinate Clause J. Steinbeck OF MICE AND MEN
He held a crushed Stetson hat under his arm while he combed his long, black, damp hair straight back.
Although he dreamed of writing a novel, he laterrealized that first he needed something to say.
Students return to their Craft Notebooksto apply subordinate clauses.
Students make notes in the margin of their Journals,acknowledging that they usedthis craft.
When they do, they write the name or number of the structure in the margin next to where they used it and highlight it.
In their Craft Notebooks, students also adda usage or function description.
Under subordinate clauses, a student would add, “this craft establishes the relationships between what could be 2 different ideas or sentences.”
Sample Acknowledgment Page
Acknowledgement
1. Subordinate Clause J. Steinbeck OF MICE AND MEN
He held a crushed Stetson hat under his arm while he combed his long, black, damp hair straight back.
Although he dreamed of writing a novel, he laterrealized that first he needed something to say.
Function: establishes the relationships between what could be 2 different ideas or sentences.
1, The craft of other authors becomes the craft of our students.
2. Transfer begins intentionally and then becomes automatic.
3. Grammar instruction is fun with immediate application.
Authors’ Craft Notebook Outcomes
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