Thank You!

I'm posting special thanks to those who participated in my workshop, "Using Writing to Increase Content Understanding in Non-Language Arts Classes," at the recent National Middle School Association conference in Baltimore. The mix of participants—classroom teachers, curriculum supervisors, literacy coaches, and administrators—was refreshing, and active interaction made the workshop a joy to conduct. Thanks, too, to those of you who took time to comment, whether in person or by email.

The workshop was based, in part, on my book, Writing for Understanding (at right). So anyone who wasn't able to get to NMSA can find what they need in that publication. Now, please consider giving me some feedback on this blog—and sign in to become a follower.

Tip #17 - Writing to Be Heard

Consider asking students to write a five-minute audio newscast. Why? Not only will they practice writing skills, they’ll also be tapping into current events, building content understanding, and gaining immediate feedback on their writing when other students listen to their broadcast.

Teams of two or three reporters/writers can compose and record their newscast, which also builds teamwork and collaboration skills. And because this type of writing mimics radio news, which can't use visuals, students get to work on their descriptive skills, too.

Want to ramp up this idea? Then ask students to work in groups of two or three to write a radio sketch—a kind of mini-play script. Encourage students to:

• Base the three- to five-minute sketch on a favorite short story scene or a historical incident.
• Think about not only dialogue but also sounds and background music.
• Practice/rehearse a few times until they are comfortable with their work.
• Record their sketch.

Share the students’ recordings and discuss how doing the project changed what and how they learned.

The recordings don’t have to be sophisticated to be effective. If you need audio sketch or drama examples, check out Internet Archive’s Audio Archive. The site is a treasure trove, especially for old-radio buffs.

Tip #16 - Listen—and Hear

Today’s students often are called “screenagers” because their lives are dominated by looking at screens, from the gigantic (think three-story IMAX) to the minuscule (on a mobile phone). Their sensory input is overwhelmingly visual, though an audio undercurrent often forms the backbeat. Even before modern culture became overwhelmed by electronic screens, vision was dominant among our human senses.

Visual dominance is evidenced in common language: “I see” (I understand), “I’ll see you to the door” (walk with you), “We’ll see” (maybe), and so forth. Consequently, when students are asked to write descriptions, their compositions usually are filled with visual imagery and little attention is paid to the other senses. In life, all of the senses work together, but even the next most prominent, hearing, can be neglected.

To awaken students to the auditory sense—that backbeat so often taken for granted—try this:

• Ask students to take out a sheet of paper and a pen or pencil.
• Next ask them to close their eyes and simply listen.
• Begin by guiding their hearing: “What sounds come from nearby?” “What sounds rise from beneath you, behind you, above you, to one side or the other?” “What sounds come from a distance?” “Are the sounds loud or soft, mellow or sharp?”
• Then let silence settle in the classroom so that students can listen. Stretch this for two to five minutes, depending on the group.
• Finally, ask students to open their eyes and write down as many auditory impressions as they can remember.

This exercise is a good stand-alone to create greater awareness of sensory input that can be translated into richer written descriptions, or students might immediately follow this experience by writing a “sounds of our classroom” composition that they can share.

Tip #15 - Anthologize!

Two responses to writing energize writers: getting read and getting published. Why should this be any different for students? In Tip #13, I wrote about teaching young writers to be mindful of their audience of readers—and about the importance of teachers ensuring that students’ writing gets read.

Publication is another way to validate students’ writing efforts, and classroom publications are not very difficult or time-consuming to produce. This is particularly true if students use a common word-processing program for the final copy of their manuscripts. That way, much of the publication work can be accomplished electronically. Compositions also can be shared electronically or, more traditionally, printed out and distributed or posted. For example, a dedicated bulletin board might be reserved for a rotating selection of students’ compositions that are posted for their classmates to read. Teachers might even consider providing a pad of sticky notes so that readers can post comments on their favorites. (Be sure to discuss how to give appropriate, positive feedback.)

Another class publication project is the anthology. Let’s say the assignment is an essay or a story about an animal that students have owned, admired, or come into contact with in some way. After writing, a team of student editors can organize the resulting compositions into several thematic anthologies, such as “Pets I Have Loved,” “Wild Things,” and so forth. Each anthology might include six to ten compositions, printed out and staple-bound, with covers designed by the students, too.

Sharing these anthologies within the class is one approach. But they also can be taken home to parents, placed in the school library, or even distributed on a wider scale. Such publications, whether naïve or sophisticated—depending on students’ ages and abilities—help to encourage students’ writing efforts and to make school writing more authentic.

Tip #14 - Old Theme, New Twist

Take the cliché out of the old “what I did last summer” theme by introducing students to the haiku form of poetry. Haikus work with every age group, and they offer a great way to introduce students to poetry—even those for whom the mere mention of poetry elicits a groan.

Imagine this assignment: Capture a memorable event from your summer vacation in the form of a haiku—a succinct seventeen syllables. For example:

new blue bicycle

swerve into the gravel turn

red bloody elbow

Or how about:

faces on Rushmore

sunlit granite shows each man’s

determination

Haikus originated in Japan. Traditionally, a haiku has seventeen on, or sounds. In English these are usually translated as syllables and configured in three lines of five, seven, and five syllables, as in the examples above. But there’s also room for variation and innovation.

One of the most famous Japanese haiku writers was Matsuo Bashō, who lived in the 1600s. His poems often are given as examples, such as:

all day in grey rain

hollyhocks follow the sun's

invisible road

For more about haikus in English, check out the Haiku Society of America website.

Tip #13 - Start the Year: Write

Setting expectations from the start of the school year is vitally important for long-term progress and success in reaching learning goals. One key expectation that teachers can set from the start is that writing should be written to be read.

We all jot notes for ourselves. Often these jottings would seem cryptic to another reader. That’s because we “fill in the blanks” in the writing itself. After all, we know what we mean. It’s in our head, at least for the time being. But if you’ve ever run across a note from a few weeks or months earlier, after the memory has faded, you understand just how cryptic such jottings can be.

Writing for others — a mindfulness of audience — is a learned skill. And it’s one that teachers need to emphasize if they are to teach students to write well in academic and future workplace settings. Creating a mindfulness of audience requires ensuring that students have an audience for their work. This means that sharing writing is a key component of successful teaching.

Whenever students write, be certain to build in time and opportunity for students to share their writing with one another. Initially, this may mean asking students to read aloud what they have written for their classmates to hear. This strategy is particularly important for beginning writers who can “fill in the blanks” in their less-than-complete prose.

As student writers gain confidence in writing, their compositions can be shared in print, one student reading another’s paper, for example, or posting or projecting a composition for group reading.

The key point is that when students develop a mindfulness that others must read and understand what they write, then students better refine their writing so that it most clearly conveys their ideas. By ensuring that student writing is read, teachers encourage this mindfulness of audience.

Tip #12 - Summer Writing

Summer reading expectations and assignments probably go back to the dawn of books in schools—or so it seems. But summer writing tends to be an afterthought, often along the lines of the cliché topic: What did you do last summer?

Teachers who want to ramp up the writing experience and keep students thinking about writing during the summer school recess can choose a number of strategies. Some are simple suggestions for students and parents; others hinge on coordinating with students’ future teachers. Here are a few sample ideas or assignments for students:

• Keep a summer reading journal, jotting down information about what you read, whether that reading is purely independent or suggested by your teacher.
• If you travel, keep a travel journal that records what you see and do on vacation.
• Keep a camp diary if you go to camp—and write letters, text messages, or emails home.
• Write a job report if you take a summer job and create an updated resume when the summer job is over.
• Create a blog and write about things that interest you and your friends, such as summer festivals.
• Write a skit or play to perform with friends or at a family reunion.
• Work toward a writing goal during the summer, such as to write a short story or a series of poems or song lyrics.

The key to successful summer writing is to keep the projects focused and fun. Such writing needs to be fulfilling in itself, rather than merely an obligation.

Tip #11 - Teach Dialogue Writing for Fun and Motivation

Isn’t dialogue just for fiction? You might think so because it features strongly in stories and, of course, in scripts. However, dialogue often is a feature of nonfiction writing. For example, not all scripts are fiction. Consider scripts for historical reenactments or documentary narrations.

Dialogues are useful for deepening students’ content knowledge. Let’s say that students are studying the pros and cons of banning smoking in public places — a real-world debate in many communities. How might two individuals on opposite sides of this debate conduct a rational discussion? Ask students to write the dialogue.

Or take another example, this one set in history. It is 1804, and Meriwether Lewis and William Clark are about to set out on their epic trek to the Pacific Ocean. Ask students to write a dialogue between the two explorers discussing various routes, the supplies they will need, or the dangers they anticipate.

To create a successful dialogue, students need to know their material (or do additional reading or research) and then be able to voice the ideas that logically might come from each party in the dialogue. Some students are good at mentally “hearing” the voices of their pair and setting down those voice on paper or on a computer screen. Other students benefit from working with a partner. In paired dialogue writing, each of the partners takes on a role. Then, in essence, they act out their characters and write down the dialogue that results.

One key thing to remember about writing dialogues is that the results won’t — and shouldn’t — look like formal English. Few people speak consistently in complete sentences or avoid contractions. Dialogues need to sound like real people speaking. The best way to check not only for correct content but also for natural speech is to ask students, singly or in pairs, to read their finished dialogues. This process works much like reader’s theater.

Most students find writing dialogues interesting and fun. The writing gets easier with practice, and students’ understanding of content is increasingly enriched over time.

Tip #10 - Stuck at the Start? Try Free Writing

Students (and writers of all ages and experience) often have a hard time getting started. They sit and stare at the blank page or screen, and the words won’t come. What to do?

A strategy that has been around at least since the mid-1970s, but often is underused, is called free writing. It also is called “stream-of-consciousness writing” because it involves simply writing whatever comes to mind without regard to sense, sentence structure, spelling, grammar, and so forth. The idea is to free the writer’s thinking by pushing aside the conscious blockage of the mind, which can be caused by anxiety, apathy, uncertainty, or other emotional or intellectual impediments. Blunting the influence of these impediments by free writing allows the subconscious to spur creativity. Eventually a cogent idea will emerge that can be shaped and set into prose, poetry, dialogue, or some other desired form.

To use free writing, ask students to write continuously for one to five minutes. Ask them to turn off conscious thinking and write whatever pops into their heads, even nonsense. The idea is to keep writing for the set time. After the free-writing period, ask students to turn their attention to responding to the question or prompt that embodies the actual assignment or project.

Spontaneous writing can be difficult. Yet it often is required, for example, in testing situations. Students need to be able to read a question or writing prompt and set immediately to work producing a coherent, organized, well-developed response in order to do well on an essay test. A way to build skill in spontaneous writing is to practice. One element of practice, certainly at the beginning, may be free writing. It’s a handy starter. Once students develop a capacity for fluent spontaneity, free writing can be dispensed with; however, it is always a useful fallback technique whenever students get stuck at the beginning of a writing assignment.

Tip #9 - Comma Rules, Part Two

Following are a couple more simple comma rules that students need to master.

#1 - Serial words are set off with commas. For example, commas separate multiple adjectives before a noun, but a comma is not used between the final adjective and the noun.

John was a tall, slender, athletic boy.

NOT John was a tall, slender, athletic, boy.

On the other hand, when the serial adjectives compose a series using the word and, the comma is included before (not after) and. For example:

John was tall, slender, and athletic.

This also is true for series of phrases. For example:

Betty was in charge of sweeping the floor, setting up the chairs, and arranging the refreshments.

The final comma in these instances is called a serial comma. Most standard American English writing calls for its use. However, it is omitted in journalistic writing. And the British tend to leave it out altogether.

#2 - In compound sentences a comma is placed before the conjunction (and, nor, but, yet, for, so). Examples:

We wanted to go swimming, but the rain made it impossible.

COMMA - “BUT”

Elaine had seen the movie, yet she could not remember the plot.

COMMA - “YET”

This rule is similar to the rule of separating independent and dependent clauses in a complex sentence with a comma (see Tip #8).

For most writing tasks the rules in this tip and the previous one will help students avoid common errors in using commas. There are a couple more rules, and there are nuances that may be applied to these four. But these rules cover the basics for most descriptive and expository writing.

Tip #8 - Comma Rules, Part One

Unless they come at the beginning of a sentence, after an introductory phrase or clause, or precede a concluding phrase or clause, commas usually come in pairs. In the previous sentence, for example, they surround the phrase “after an introductory phrase or clause,” which explains “at the beginning of a sentence.” In both preceding sentences a comma also is used between clauses. So here are a couple of rules:

#1 - One comma separates independent and dependent clauses in the same sentence. Examples:

John took a taxi, as it was too far to walk comfortably to the museum.

INDEPENDENT CLAUSE - COMMA - DEPENDENT CLAUSE.

If rain is forecast, please take your umbrella.

DEPENDENT CLAUSE - COMMA - INDEPENDENT CLAUSE.

#2 - Use commas in pairs to set off nonessential phrases, clauses, appositives, interjections, direct address, and so on as needed, except when they begin or end the sentence. Examples:

John, would you set the clock for me?

DIRECT ADDRESS - COMMA - INDEPENDENT CLAUSE.

She knew, for example, how to tie her shoelaces.

“FOR EXAMPLE” INTERRUPTS AND IS SET OFF WITH COMMAS.

Are there exceptions? Of course. After all, this is English, and what would our language be without exceptions to every rule? For instance, most modern writing avoids the comma following a short introductory prepositional phrase: “In January we will go skiing” rather than “In January, we will go skiing.” The latter form would have been more common, if not indeed required, fifty years ago. If the introductory phrase is long or might confuse the reader, however, the comma should be used.

Note in Rule #2 above the word nonessential. Essential clauses are not set off with commas. For example: “The woman who is wearing a red hat is my aunt.” Without the clause “who is wearing a red hat” the reader wouldn’t know which woman is the writer’s aunt.

More about commas in future posts.