Ideas, Organization, Word Choice and Conventions

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Ideas, Organization, Word Choice and Conventions

• Rob Gardner
• 6 Traits of Writing
• St. Cloud School District 742
• September 2, 2009

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Stanford Study of Writing

• Longitudinal study
• Participating students submit all writing (not
  just coursework)
• Particular interest in how online shapes writing
• ssw.stanford.edu

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Stanford Study of Writing Findings

• Students personal writing
• More audience awareness
• Broad sense of possible audiences
• More engagement by authors
• More diverse formats
• More self-directed
• Focused on immediate, concrete goals
• More writing, period

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Principled Practice

• Decide what is appropriate given the unique
  intersections in your classroom
• Many and varied students
• Your beliefs about teaching and learning
• The materials available to use
• The public, professional, and policy contexts in
  which you teach
• Based on the research of Arthur Applebee

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Reading and Writing

• To be a good writers, one must be a good reader.
  However, not all good readers are good writers.
• Thomas Newkirk
• Holding on to Good Ideas
• in a Time of Bad Ones
• (Heinemann, 2009)

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For all the traits

• Examples
• Have students find both good and bad examples
• Share
• Use the rubric
• Not all examples must be grade-level targeted
• Alteration
• Make it better
• Make it worse
• Imitation
• Model with effective examples of traits
• Parodies of style

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Ideas
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Name that movie

• Transported to a surreal landscape, a young girl
  accidentally kills the first woman she meets. She
  teams up with three complete strangers to kill
  the womans sister for personal gain.

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Ideas

• Topics
• Prewriting
• Generating ideas from thought and experience
• Borrowing ideas from others
• Observing carefully
• Moving from broad to focused
• Purpose
• Knowing the purpose for writing
• Developing thinking skills
• Audience
• Molding the topic and purpose to fit the audience

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Ideas rubric
A strong, focused argument and relevant,
meaningful details should hold a readers
attention
page 40

• The writer seems to be writing from experiences
  and shows insight
• Supporting, relevant, telling details give the
  reader important information that he or she could
  not personally bring to the text
• The writing has balance main ideas stand out
• The writer seems in control and develops the
  topic in an enlightening, entertaining way
• The writer works with and shapes ideas, making
  connections and sharing insights
• The writing has a clear sense of purpose that
  fits the topic and audience

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Note-taking

• Work on notetaking skills with students
• Is it worth writing down?
• Should I take notes on it?
• Model highlighting/annotating with a text
• How to take notes on the computer
• Students who dont know how to take notes often
  struggle with how to include details in their
  writing

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Topics

• More tightly focused topics work better
• Moving beyond the obvious frees up space for more
  original thoughts and details
• Student choice in topics
• Work on how to narrow a topic to a reasonable
  scope
• An inspired prompt will provide better
  opportunities for responses

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R.A.F.T.S.Creating prompts
pages 55-58

• Role of the writer (p.o.v. and voice)
• Audience for the piece of writing
• Format
• Topic or subject of the writing
• Strong verb directs purpose (persuade, analyze,
  create, etc.)

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• My imagination is
• bigger than my life.
• 3rd grade student

quoted in Misreading Masculinity by Thomas Newkirk
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Ideas in film

• The main contribution that the writer
  makes is the choice of how much information
  to divulge at any given moment, and when to hold
  back. If you reveal too much, then theres not
  enough at stake and you lose the audience. And if
  you hold too much back, theyre never with you.
• Phil Alden Robinson
• Screenwriter, Field of Dreams
• Words, Camera, Action! by Ann Hornaday,
  Washington Post, 12 July 2009

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Show and tell

• Strike an appropriate balance between the show
  and tell in writing
• Tell main points, overview, summary, to change
  the pacing of the writing
• Show the details that add meat to everything
  that the writer tells

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Its in the details

• What does a detail look like?
• Students need help in identifying what a detail
  or example is

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Show and tell
Turn these tell statements into show
paragraphs.

• The room was a mess.
• She was a kind person.
• The situation was frightening.
• The storm was violent.
• The dog looked dangerous.

• The worker was tired.
• The building was deserted.
• She was a good basketball player.
• He felt depressed.

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Draw it

• I made a new friend yesterday. We played for
  about an hour. We had a really good time. I hope
  we will get together again soon.
• Draw individually
• Share pictures
• Discuss why there are discrepancies
• (besides due to artistic talent)
• Rewrite and draw it again

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Process and details

• Write instructions on how to use something simple
• paper clip
• scissors
• rubber band
• spoon
• bottle opener

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Analogies

• Encourage the use of analogies or metaphors in
  writing
• New perspective
• Original ideas
• Creativity

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Organization
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Organization

• Iniviting introduction
• Logical sequencing
• Smooth transitions
• Good pacing
• High point
• Resolution

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Organization rubric
page 76

• Details seem to fit where theyre placed
• sequencing is logical and effective.
• An inviting introduction draws the reader in and
  a satisfying conclusion leaves the reader with a
  sense of resolution
• Pacing is very well controlled the writer
  delivers needed information at just the right
  moment, then moves on.
• Transitions are smooth and weave the separate
  threads of meaning into one cohesive whole.
• Organization flows so smoothly the reader hardly
  thinks about it.

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Organization

• The choice of structure fits the topic, purpose
  and audience
• Avoids the formulaic (The three reasons why)
• Inviting introduction
• Reader can follow along without feeling lost
• Thoughtful transitions show how ideas connect
• Satisfying conclusion
• It doesnt just stop

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Ways to start an essay

• Anecdote
• Statistic or fact
• Quotation
• Descriptive details, summary, or characterization
• Shocking statement
• juxtaposition

• Thesis
• Tantalizing question
• Definition
• Historical review
• Review of a controversy
• Analogy
• suspense

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Tips for introductions

• Models Open paragraphs of book reviews
• Write multiple introductions for the same essay
• Type up a list of the opening sentences from
  students essays and analyze

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Transitions

• Effectively used transitions also add to sentence
  fluency
• Use the same word (or a form of it) as the last
  word in one sentence and the first word in the
  next
• Review lists of transition words

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Tips for conclusions

• Answer the question So what?
• Synthesize, dont summarize
• Redirect the reader
• Create a new meaning
• Echo the introduction
• Challenge the reader
• Look to the future
• Pose questions

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Conclusions

• Find a story with a fairly unpredictable ending
• Read it aloud
• Ask students to write an ending before reading
  the authors ending
• Discuss
• What seems most plausible?
• What leads to a satisfying conclusion?

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Word Choice
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• I do not choose the right word. I get rid of the
  wrong one.
• A.E. Houseman

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Word choice

• Strong vocabulary
• Natural
• Energetic verbs
• Specific nouns
• Slang, cliches, repetition used for purpose

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Word choice rubric

• Words are specific and accurate it is easy to
  understand just what the writer means. The words
  and phrases create pictures in your mind.
• The language is natural and never overdone both
  words and phrases are individual and effective.
• Lively verbs energize the writing. Precise nouns
  and modifiers add depth and specificity
• Striking words and phrases often catch the
  readers eye and linger in the readers mind.
• Precision is obvious. The writer has taken care
  to put just the right word or phrase in just the
  right spot.

page 147
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Word choice

• Build vocabulary through reading
• Use resources effectively
• Put tired words to rest
• Use figurative language
• Practice precision

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Rogets syndrome

• Use the thesaurus wisely
• Indiscriminate use the words arent yoursthe
  voice disappears

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Denotation and connotation

• Denotation the literal meaning (dictionary
  definition)
• Connotation the emotional or cultural
  associations of a term

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Synonym matrix
Positive connotation
Formal
Informal
Word
Negative connotation
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1 in words

• Brainstorm words on a topic in these categories
• 1 cent, 5 cents, 10 cents, 25 cents, 50 cents
• Write sentences using the given words that add up
  to 1

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Label it

• a la world language classrooms
• Put descriptive labels on everything in your
  classroom
• drab, grey wall
• authoritative lectern
• wobbly chartreuse chair

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Change one word

• Each student writes one sentence of 8-12 words
• Pass the sentences around the class
• Each student re-writes the sentence, replacing
  one word with a synonym

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Jargon

• Read instructions
• How technical is too technical?
• Make convoluted language user friendly

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Word obituaries

• Write word obituaries for overused words,
  phrases, or slang terms
• Students justify their observations about language

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Sensory words

• Brainstorm lists for the senses
• Post in the classroom
• Especially effective for food writing
• Synesthesia
• a blue, uncertain, stumbling buzz

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Conventions
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• Punctuation is the way one bats ones eyes,
  lowers ones voice or blushes demurely.
  Punctuation adjusts the tone and color and volume
  till the feeling comes into perfect focus.
• Pico Iyer

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Conventions

• Spelling
• Grammar and usage
• Punctuation
• Capitalization
• Paragraphing

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Conventions

• The writer demonstrates a good grasp of standard
  writing conventions (e.g., grammar,
  capitalization, punctuation, usage, spelling,
  paragraphing) and uses them effectively to
  enhance readability. Errors tend to be so few and
  minor the reader can easily skim right over them
  unless specifically searching for them.

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Conventions rubric

• Paragraphing is sound and reinforces the
  organizational structure.
• Grammar and usage are correct and contribute to
  clarity and style.
• Punctuation is smooth and guides the reader
  through the text.
• Spelling is generally correct, even on more
  difficult words.
• The writer may manipulate conventionsparticularly
  grammarfor stylistic effect.
• The writing is sufficiently long and complex to
  show skill in using a wide range of conventions.
• Only light editing would be required to polish
  the text for publication.

page 225
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Conventions

• Conventions may vary by topic and audience
• Remember conventional style guidelines change
  over time

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Conventions influence voice

• Play around with conventions to create style
• e.e. cummings
• Mark Twain
• J.D. Salinger
• James Joyce

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Which Jane is most adored?

• Jane (whom I adore)
• Jane, whom I adore
• Janewhom I adore

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Which would you rather have?

• She had thirty-five dollar bills.
• She had thirty five-dollar bills.

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In which line would you rather be?

• The people in the line who managed to get tickets
  were very satisfied.
• The people in the line, who managed to get
  tickets, were very satisfied.

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Stream of consciousness

• We love each other and belong to each other
  lets dont ever hurt each other Nicole lets
  dont ever hurt each other.
• Gary Gilmore

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What is This Thing Called Love?a song by Cole
Porter

• What? Is this thing called love?
• What is this thing called, love?
• What is this thing? called Love.
• What? Is this Thing? called Love.
• What is this thing called, love?
• What is this thing called, love?
• What is this? Thing called. Love?
• What is, this thing called, love?

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Conventions tips

• Take a piece of writing, strip out the
  punctuation, have students punctuate it
• Discuss variations
• Read the conventions
• Practice often, but briefly, in class
• Slow down! Let it rest a few days
• Proofread backwards
• Read it aloud

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Microsoft Word

• Analyze sentences with the squiggly lines
• Do this with sentences and/or passages from novels

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Revision v. Editing

• Revise first
• Save editing for the end
• Focusing on conventions too early in the writing
  process shuts down revisions in the other five
  traits

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• Thank you!