2. Contentions
Writing to learn asks students to use higher order thinking skills,
such as interpretation, analysis, and synthesis.
Scaffolding student writing provides a framework for developing
ideas toward an end product.
Students who write to a specific audience through the point of view
of a literary character retain deeper levels of understanding
through the act of writing and role-playing.
Use of imagery, music, lyrics as poetry, and writing to respond and
reflect intrinsically motivates students to achieve deeper learning
and understanding.
3. Supporting Research
One reason for using writing to think is precisely to bring the
unconscious more to the surface, where we can see what we have to
say. The English Teachers Companion (1999, 140)
To improve the teaching of writing, particularly in the context of
academic tasks, is also to improve the quality of thinking required
of school children. How Writing Shapes Thinking (1987, 3)
Teachers [sic] can encourage imagination through various
applications of role playing: for developing an argument from
diverse perspectives, for inventing a character and improvising
action in various situations, for assuming the point of view of a
literary character, and so on. Because Writing Matters (2006,
54)
In assignments, [intellectual work] means asking the student to
construct knowledge through analysis, synthesis, and
interpretation. Because Writing Matters (2006, 49)
4. Please consider the following:
How were you taught drama in your high school English
courses?
Describe how your students respond when you announce that they will
be reading a play during a unit.
To what extent are your students able to make connections to the
characters in a dramatic piece?
5. Drama is meant to be experienced
in order for connections to be made.
6. Advice from Polonius
And these few precepts in thy memory
See thou character.Give thy thoughts no tongue,
Nor any unproportiond thought his act.64
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment68
Of each new-hatchd, unfledgd comrade.Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel; but being in,
Beartthat opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice; 72
Take each mans censure, but reserve thy judgment.
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy,
But not expressd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man, 76
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are most select and generous in that.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend, 80
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all:to thine own self be true.
7. Wish You Were HerePink Floyd - 1975
So, so you think you can tell
Heaven from Hell,
Blue skies from pain.
Can you tell a green field
From a cold steel rail?
A smile from a veil?
Do you think you can tell?
And did they get you to trade
Your heroes for ghosts?
Hot ashes for trees?
Hot air for a cool breeze?
Cold comfort for change?
And did you exchange
A walk on part in the war
For a lead role in a cage?
How I wish, how I wish you were here.
We're just two lost souls
Swimming in a fish bowl,
Year after year,
Running over the same old ground.
What have we found?
The same old fears.
Wish you were here.
8. AlivePearl Jam - 1991
Son, she said, have I got a little story for you
What you thought was your daddy was nothin' but a...
While you were sittin' home alone at age thirteen
Your real daddy was dyin', sorry you didn't see him,
but I'm glad we talked...
Oh I, oh, I'm still alive
Hey, I, oh, I'm still alive
Hey I, oh, I'm still alive
Oh, she walks slowly, across a young man's room
She said I'm ready...for you
I can't remember anything to this very day
'Cept the look, the look...
Oh, you know where, now I can't see, I just stare...
I, I'm still alive
Hey I, but, I'm still alive
Hey I, oh, I'm still alive
Hey I, I, I, I'm still alive, yeah
Is something wrong, she said
Well of course there is
You're still alive, she said
Oh, and do I deserve to be
Is that the question
And if so...if so...who answers...who answers...
I, oh, I'm still alive
Hey I, oh, I'm still alive
Hey I, oh, I'm still alive
Yeah I, oh, I'm still alive
9. Horatio to Hamlet
Overview:
Hamlet has been acting strangely since the death of his father and
some of the
characters are beginning to take notice.There is a rumor going
around the castle
that Hamlet is considering avenging his fathers death by killing
his uncle, King
Claudius.Some people are disgusted by what the rumors seem to say
and others
understand his grief in light of the circumstances.
Directions:
Select a character and write a letter to Hamlet through their point
of view that
Either persuades him to avenge his fathers death or persuades him
to stop his plan of
action.You will try to convince (or persuade) him through evidence
and support.
Character Selection
GertrudeOpheliaPoloniusHoratio
LaertesMarcellusRosencrantzGuildenstern
10. Consider the possibilities
How might writing to learn help our students relate to:
Romeo and Juliet
The Crucible
A Raisin in the Sun
11. Romeo and Juliet
Act II, Scene 2
RomeoHe jests at scars that never felt a wound.
[Juliet appears above at her window.]
But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief
That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.
Juliet Ay me!
RomeoShe speaks!
O, speak again, bright angel! For thou art
As glorious to this night, being oer my head,
Juliet O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And Ill no longer be a Capulet.
Audio breathes life into characters
while writing and music form connections.
12. Love StoryTaylor Swift - 2008
We were both young, when I first saw you.
I close my eyes and the flashback starts-
I'm standing there, on a balcony in summer air.
I see the lights; see the party, the ball gowns.
I see you make your way through the crowd-
You say hello, little did I know...
That you were Romeo, you were throwing pebbles-
And my daddy said "stay away from Juliet"-
And I was crying on the staircase-
begging you please don't go...
And I said...
Romeo take me somewhere, we can be alone.
I'll be waiting; all there's left to do is run.
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess,
It's a love story, baby, just say yes.
So I sneak out to the garden to see you.
We keep quiet, because we're dead if they knew-
So close your eyes...
escape this town for a little while.
Oh, Oh.
Cause you were Romeo - I was a scarlet letter,
And my daddy said "stay away from Juliet"
but you were everything to me-
I was begging you, please don't go-
And I said...
Romeo take me somewhere, we can be alone.
I'll be waiting; all there's left to do is run.
You'll be the prince and I'll be the princess.
It's a love story, baby, just say yes-
Romeo save me, they're trying to tell me how to feel.
This love is difficult, but it's real.
Don't be afraid, we'll make it out of this mess.
It's a love story, baby, just say yes.
Oh, Oh.
I got tired of waiting.
Wondering if you were ever coming around.
My faith in you was fading-
When I met you on the outskirts of town.
And I said...
Romeo save me, I've been feeling so alone.
I keep waiting, for you but you never come.
Is this in my head, I don't know what to think-
He knelt to the ground and pulled out a ring and said
Marry me Juliet, you'll never have to be alone.
I love you, and that's all I really know.
I talked to your dad -- go pick out a white dress
It's a love story, baby just say... yes.
Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh.
We were both young when I first saw you.
13. Pray Your GodsToad the Wet Sprocket - 1991
I will give the secrets you request
and you will be the one to sacrifice.
So lay your olive arms upon my breast
and sing the poems; free the butterflies
Pray your gods who ask you for your blood.
For they are strong and angry jealous ones
or lay upon my altar now your love.
I fear my time is short,
there are armies moving close;
be quick, my love.
I feel my body weakened by the years
as people turn to gods of cruel design.
Is it that they fear the pain of death
or could it be they fear the joy of life?
Pray your gods who hold you by your fear.
For they are quick and ruthless punishers
or lay upon my altar now your love.
I fear my day is done,
there are armies moving on;
be quick, my love.
14. Were Gonna Make ItLittle Milton - 1965
We may not have a cent to pay the rent
But were gonna make it, I know we will
We may have to eat beans every day
But were gonna make it, I know we will
And if a job is hard to find
And we have to stand in the welfare line
I've got your love and you know you got mine
So were gonna make it, I know we will
We may not have a home to call our own
But were gonna make it, I know we will
We may have to fight hardships alone
But were gonna make it, I know we will
Cause togetherness brings peace of mind
We can't stay down all the time
I've got your love and you know you got mine
So were gonna make it, I know we will
Our car may be old, our two rooms cold
But were gonna make it, I know we will
We may not can spare a roach a crumb
But were gonna make it, I know we will
And if I have to carry round a sign
Sayin Help the deaf, the dumb, and the blind
I got your love and you know you got mine
So were gonna make it, I know we will
Were gonna make it
Were gonna make it, baby
It might seem hard sometime
But don't worry, darlin baby
Were gonna keep on tryin
15. Questions, Comments, or Concerns
Writing is not simply a way for students to demonstrate what they
know.It is to help them understand what they know.At its best,
writing is learning.
- National Commission on Writing for Americas Families, Schools,
and Colleges
16. Burke, Jim. The English Teacher's Companion. Portsmouth, NH:
Boynton/Cook, 1999. Print.
Esquith, Rafe. Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire. New York: Penguin
Group, 2007. Print.
Gallagher, Kelly. Teaching Adolescent Writers. Portland, ME:
Stenhouse Publishers, 2006. Print.
Kittle, Penny. Write Beside Them. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2008.
Print.
Nagin, Carl. Because Writing Matters. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass,
2006. Print.
Bibliography/Related Reading
17. I see the value, but is it legal?
