not the same old, same old

1
not the same old, same old

• rethinking writing style in the composition
  classroom

2
introduction

• Questions about the teaching and learning of
  writing..  --How do people learn to write?
•        --What is the most effective way to teach
  writing?
•        --How do the processes of expert writers
  differ from the
• processes of novice writers?
•        --What do people write, for whom, and to
  what end?
•        --How do we recognize good writing?
•        --What effects does writing have on
  thinking?
•        --If we are all individuals, why must we
  all write the same
• way? 

3
introduction

• Place of narrative in writing...
•            --We learn in the form of stories. 
  Stories fit all ages, places, times, and
  circumstances.  Children are natural
  storytellers.  Combining children's natural
  storytelling abilities with quality multicultural
  literature enlarges and enriches students'
  language skills and appreciation of cultural
  differences.  Storytelling enables children's
  creativity, language enrichment, and
  experimentation. 
• --When children share stories about their
  home/family lives, it helps others learn about
  them, strengthening social ties.  This also
  connects curriculum to students' lives, showing
  that educational experiences are meaningful and
  relevant. 

4
example story

• Once upon a time, ________ insert name of big,
  brawny, manly man hero here went on an
  adventure.
• Event A occurred.
• Event B occurred.
• Event C occurred.
• In conclusion, ________ got the girl/won the
  prize/etc and he lived happily ever after.

5
example essay

• Introduction with explicit thesis.
• Body paragraph with reasons, explanations.
• Body paragraph with reasons, explanations.
• Body paragraph with reasons, explanations.
• Conclusion with summary of main points and
  restated thesis.

6
traditional writing style

•  only one correct way to write
•        beginning, middle, end
•        linear, predetermined manner
•        explicit thesis
•        clearly-defined thesis, topic-driven
  paragraphs, review of main points
•        moves from page to page, chapter to
  chapter
•        goes towards an end where the plot is
  finally resolved
•        scientific, logical, objective
•        proposes an argument, presents the facts,
  interprets those facts
•        writer is disconnected from the material
•        writer never uses the words "feel" or "I
  think"
•        dominated by males, English-speakers,
  power, politics
•         silences voices of "others" 

7
traditional writing process

• linear    
• prewrite, rough draft, edit, revise, final draft,
  publish

8
non-traditional writing style

• expressive   
• flows
• fragmentary
• indirection
• circuitness
• recursive

•   unclear transitions
•     focus on themes
•     implicit thesis
•     deferred closure
•     spirals of storytelling meaning
•     process of writing
•     qualification
• figurative language

9
non-traditional writing style, cont.

•   reflects on the author's marginal experiences
  
•     challenges stereotypes
•     explains oneself
•     makes the invisible visible
•     contributes a voice
•     writing as a learned form of art
•     private experiences and emotions
•     emphasizes and engages reader/audience
•     leads to a transactional experience
•     community of readers makes communicates the
  meaning behind the work, makes connections
  between ideas and understands context
•     makes BOTH reader writer discover/explore/po
  nder/ personalize/raise questions
•     used by females, but by any 'outsider', be it
  by gender,class,culture 

10
non-traditional writing process

• Cyclical
•  inspire, explore, incubate, illuminate
• compose, reformulate, edit, share

11
task

• Create a reflective portfolio to show your
  progress throughout the course how your views
  (self,writing,society) have changed
•   --No single voice can represent an entire
  culture or ethnicity. 
•        --Students will produce better writing
  simply because they are
• not  struggling to fit a formulaic
  model.
•        --Use writing as a tool for thinking.
•        --Write about your experiences because
  self-discovery is
• enlightening in positive, therapeutic ways.

12
task components

• introductory autobiography
• -- 11 pieces exploring self others
• -- 6 pieces discovering non-traditional writing
  styles
• -- final reflective autobiography

13
task overview

• Each entry should include evidence of all parts
  of the writing/thinking process. Include a
  reflective statement at the end of each piece
  showing what you learned about the topic, the
  writing style/type, and yourself.
• beginnings endings
• stories of self others
• im just expressin my style

14
assessment

• Your reflective portfolio should include
• -- introductory autobiography
• -- 11 pieces exploring self others
• -- 6 pieces discovering non-traditional writing
  styles
• -- final reflective autobiography (counts as 2)
• Each of the 20 pieces will be graded as its own
  homework assignment, but then will be included in
  a final portfolio grade based on a rubric.

15
assessment rubric

• Each of the ten categories is rated on a scale of
  
• needs improvement, satisfactory, exceeds
  expectations
• Shows evidence of use of cyclical writing process
• Includes reflective statement
• Focuses on the topic
• Focuses on the writing style/type
• Is developed and descriptive
• Includes pieces of YOU your LIFE
• Uses writing conventions well
• Uses creativity imagination
• Shows movement from a traditional style to a
  non-traditional style
• Final reflective autobiography is written in a
  totally non-traditional style, employing at least
  five of the characteristics of such style

16
conclusion

• People are individuals with their own quirks,
  their own stories to tell, and their own way of
  expressing those experiences.
• We cannot expect them all to fit their unique
  lives into one cookie-cutter format. Various
  writing styles must be used and accepted.
• However, we cannot make the non-traditional style
  the new standard. We have to continue to value
  differences, while still having standards to
  reach.
• Writing in a style that shows who you are is a
  way to reflect on your life and shape your
  identity, as well as a way to connect with others
  and learn from their stories. We may all be
  different, but we are all still connected.

17
beginnings endings

• introductory autobiography write at the
  beginning of unit/course
• final reflective autobiography write at the end
  of unit/course

18
introductory autobiography

• Write the story of your life. However, write it
  from the perspective of someone/something that is
  not you ex. your shoe, your little brother,
  your car, your worst enemy. Dont just list the
  events in your life explain them. Remember,
  this is just an introductory activity to get you
  thinking about your life and get you used to
  sharing your experiences.

19
final reflective autobiography

• Write the story of your life using aspects of
  non-traditional writing styles. Include at least
  two of the experiences mentioned used in the
  exercises about self others. Include at least
  two experiences you used in the exercises about
  style. Include at least two experiences you have
  not written about yet.
• vignette
• written in a circular writing style that begins
  and ends at the same point
• use of imagery and figurative language
• lack of traditional summative ending
• lack of conjunctive adverb transitions use of
  fragmentary writing

20
stories of self others

• i wanna talk about me
• how embarrassing
• hot spot
• gossip
• annoying repetition
• e-m-o-t-i-o-n
• the ties that bind
• those who dont
• crossing the abyss
• opposites attract
• ego trippin

21
i wanna talk about me

• My Name
• http//www.humboldt.edu/engl406/2002a/myname.html
  
• I Wanna Talk About Me
• http//www.lyricsondemand.com/t/tobykeithlyrics/iw
  annatalkaboutmelyrics.html
• The vignette and the song both deal with the
  self, the individual, what makes one who one
  really is, ones identity.
• Write a poem that focuses on your identity and
  your name, tying the two together.

22
how embarrassing!

• Pulitzer prize winning poet Henry Taylor suggests
  this exercise for loosening yourself "Remember
  how it feels to suddenly think of one of the most
  embarrassing moments in your life how it
  surfaces without being invited and makes your
  skin crawl, and you may have to pull over on the
  shoulder for a second and compose yourself, but
  you mash the thing back down into the
  subconscious where it belongs, and get on with
  the day. Okay. This time, write it down. Make
  sure you linger lovingly over the painful
  details."
• http//www.cortlandreview.com/features/99/readings
  /

23
hot spot

• Novelist and short story writer Merrill Joan
  Gerber suggests inspiring your story by thinking
  of a "hot spot," something that happened in the
  past that still compels your attention, something
  that attracts your thoughts over and over, an
  incident, a fright, an argument, an insult, some
  mystery in a relationship that hasn't been solved
  or is still exciting over time.
• http//www.its.caltech.edu/mjgerber/lostairman.ht
  ml
• http//www.cco.caltech.edu/mjgerber/oldmother.htm
  l

24
gossip

• A loosening exercise used by novelist Nora Okja
  Keller (Comfort Woman) with her students is to
  begin with a family story, or some gossip you
  have heard. Write another version of it, from
  behind the scenes. Or write out a dream you had,
  then pare it down and shape it.
• http//www.penguinputnam.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0
  ,,0_0142001961,00.html?symEXC

25
opposites attract

• Write something almost diametrically opposed to
  what you've been comfortable writing up to now.
  "The idea," says Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni,
  author of Sister of My Heart and Mistress of
  Spices, "is not necessarily, don't write what you
  know, but try to look at it from a whole other
  angle. Write about someone who is absolutely not
  yourself."
• http//www.chitradivakaruni.com/books/mistress_of_
  spices/excerpt/
• http//www.chitradivakaruni.com/books/sister_of_my
  _heart/excerpt/

26
annoying repetition

• Memoirist and fiction writer Bernard Cooper finds
  this one useful Write down the story you've been
  telling people over and over, a story that
  irritates or amuses or has gotten into your craw
  in some way, a story that is so strange or so
  outrageous that you have to keep telling it to
  kind of corroborate what's happening with
  yourself. Such an exercise tends to get you
  writing very loosely and quickly.
• http//www.kcrw.org/dialabook/Guess_Again.htm

27
e-m-o-t-i-o-n

• Rage, fury, and revenge are huge emotions you can
  use to loosen up your writing, according to
  novelist Margot Livesey (Criminals). Write a
  character description (or a poem) from the point
  of view of one character detesting another.
• http//www.henryholt.com/holt/banishingveronaexcer
  pt.htm

28
the ties that bind

• An anthology edited by Nikki Giovanni, Grand
  Mothers contains short stories, poems, and
  memories of grandmothers by people of various
  ages, genders, geographic locations, ethnic and
  cultural backgrounds.
• Read  A Conspiracy of Grace by Ethel Morgan
  Smith and Roofwalker  by Susan Power.
• Discuss... How did the writer develop and present
  her characters in such away that the reader had a
  vested interest in their well-being?  Did the
  characters seem to be three dimensional (real)?
  Why?
• Write...  about the things and people closest to
  you. Select someone in your family that you want
  to write about.   Select a memory and use it to
  write a short story about the family member you
  had selected.
• http//www.da.wvu.edu/archives/003011/news/003011,
  01,02.html

29
those who dont

• Sandra Cisneros book The House on Mango Street
  is a collection of short stories about growing up
  female, Hispanic, in the Hispanic quarter of
  Chicago in a house on Mango Street.  It is also
  about the neighborhood -- the people who inhabit
  it -- their hopes, dreams, heartaches,
  disappointments and lives.
• In "those who don't" Cisneros considers the way
  her neighborhood appears outsiders as opposed to
  its inhabitants
• Discuss appearances, formulating assumptions, and
  walking a mile in another person's shoes. Discuss
  making judgments based on personal values and
  experiences as opposed to considering another
  perspective.
• Read Nikki Giovannis "Nikki Rosa" to reinforce
  these themes.
• Write about being in an unfamiliar place or
  situation (i.e. a strange neighborhood in a
  strange city meeting new people) and how you
  reacted to it. Describe how your neighborhood
  feels to you and how it would appear to an
  outsider (perhaps someone from another part of
  town, an different city, an other country, or
  even another planet).
• http//wonders.eburg.wednet.edu/Morgan/ThoseWhoDon
  t.htm

30
crossing the abyss

• From editor Ray Gonzalez's Dancing River
  Contemporary Latino Fiction, Nonfiction, and
  Poetry , read  Kitchens by Aurora Levins
  Morales.   Explore her status as an immigrant as
  Morales recalls the cooking lesson she received
  in her mothers kitchen. In so doing she
  discusses the dishes they cooked and the methods
  of preparation that they applied.
• Read a poem by Juan Felipe Herrera, Notes on
  Other Chicana Chicano Inventions.
• Read "Ending Poem Rosario Morales and Aurora
  Levins Morales, in which the poets compare the
  ways they are alike with the ways they are
  different.  Write a poem in which you discuss the
  similarities and differences you have with
  another person. 
• http//english.cla.umn.edu/creativewriting/disloca
  te/fall04/Herrera_interview.html

31
ego trippin

• Define the term "ego trippin'".
• Read Nikki Giovannis poem Ego Trippin, in
  which Giovanni gives Africa a feminine persona, a
  voice and an extremely well developed ego. 
  Discuss the images she has presented in this
  piece and the manner in which she has transformed
  the continent of Africa into a woman with
  extraordinary powers. I
• Write an Ego Trippin poem about yourself.  You
  may claim any super-human traits or powers that
  you desire.
• http//www.math.buffalo.edu/sww/poetry/giovanni_n
  ikki.htmlego20tripping

32
im just expressin my style

• vignettes
• this is the song that never ends
• reader as worker
• circles, cycles, spirals, oh my!
• paint me a picture
• language is like blood

33
paint me a picture

• Paint a picture with words.
• Let the reader see what you write.
• Write an imagery poem by using the website
• http//www.bsu.edu/web/kmewers/docs/imagery.html

34
language is like blood

• Play with language, figurative language, that
  is. 
• Write a figurative language poem using metaphors,
  similes, and personification with the website 
• http//www.bsu.edu/web/kmewers/docs/figurative20l
  anguage.html

35
reader as worker

• The reader actually has to work to figure out the
  meanings and to connect ideas, at least according
  to many Asian and feminist authors.
• Transitions are not as important as they are in
  traditional Western writing. Ideas are
  fragmentary.
• Write a short story about an experience you had
  when you felt as if you didnt fit it. Jump from
  emotions and images, but the theme behind it all
  should be one, large, interconnected idea.
• http//www.nyu.edu/clubs/generasian/fall03/Feature
  s/story.htm

36
this is the song that never ends

• Realism
• Many writings in the feminist vein do not attempt
  to have a neat tidy conclusion.
• They recognize that life goes on, even after the
  story is supposedly finished.
• Everything we do feeds into something else.
• This shows the inherent need for self-growth and
  self-discovery.
• It leaves room for the reader to make meaning
  to create interpretations.
• Write a short story about an obstacle that had to
  be overcome. However, do not end it in a
  tried--true fashion. Leave it open, yet not
  unfinished.
• http//www.english.vt.edu/kagraham/childlit/reali
  sm.htm
• http//oblog.typepad.com/oblog/files/endings.doc
   

37
vignette

• sketch or essay or brief narrative characterized
  by great precision and delicate accuracy of
  composition -- a separate whole or a portion of a
  larger work. 
• Write a vignette in which you recapture a moment
  of time. Use the website to help
• http//www.rbc.edu/Syllabus/EFloyd/Eng102vignette.
  html

38
circles, cycles, spirals oh my!

• Pantoum
• Write a pantoum.
• rhymes with zoom
• a spiral form of writing
• even with repeated lines, new meaning is created
•     --verse form composed of stanzas of four
  lines
•     --the second and fourth lines are repeated as
  the first and third lines in the following
  stanzas
•     --the first line in the poem becomes the last
  line in the final stanza
•     --the third line in the poem becomes the
  second line in the final stanza
• http//dragonnet.hkis.edu.hk/ms/grade_8/grade_8_20
  03_4/Poetry/pantoum20examples.htm

39
circles, cycles, spirals oh my! cont.

• A kiss hello...a wave good-bye...an airplane
  fading in the sky.
• Our lives are marked by beginnings and endings.
  In the things we do every day, we look for
  starting and ending points. We hold those images'
  sight, smell, taste, and feel. It's no wonder,
  then, that writers take such care to develop
  strong introductions that grab readers and
  conclusions that leave them feeling satisfied.
• The best leads and endings don't just happen
  they are crafted. This can be a painstaking
  process that, as any experienced writer knows,
  becomes somewhat easier with practice.
• http//teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonpl
  ans/instructor/power.htm

40
circles, cycles, spirals oh my! - cont.

• Much good fiction is written in a circular style.
• The Bone People by Keri Hulme is a wonderful
  example of this cyclical nature.
• http//www.postcolonialweb.org/nz/kerihulme/kh13.h
  tml
• http//communication.students.rmit.edu.au/media/cl
  are_oataway/BonePeople.html

41
circles, cycles, spirals oh my! -- cont.

• Once a first draft is completed, a circular
  lead/close is easy to create. Look at your
  endings and try to begin with those closing
  words as well. This type of lead brings the
  pieces full circle. It's a tidy way to begin and
  end.
• Ex. Eric Carle, The Grouchy Ladybug
• http//www.readinglady.com/wr/Fluent_Lessons/fluen
  t_lessons.html

42
circles, cycles, spirals oh my! -- cont.

• Circular writing is when a writer's introduction
  and conclusion solidly connect.  The end comes
  back to the beginning somehow.  Writers can write
  in circles by simply repeating the same sentence
  at the beginning and the end.  Or--better
  yet--they can remind the reader how the starting
  and stopping point of their writing are connected
  with one word or phrase that's repeated.  Linking
  an introduction to a conclusion is an effective
  skill writers might think about when thinking
  about the organization of their writing, and it's
  good to practice once in a while.
• Think of a funny scene or experience. Use the
  same word or phrase to begin and end the story.
•  http//www.writingfix.com/leftbrain/start_and_end
  _with_phrase.htm

43
circles, cycles, spirals oh my! -- cont.

• Unwinding a circular plot
• Circular stories follow a round patternthey
  begin and end in the same. Like the cycle of
  seasons or the life cycle, circular stories
  follow a predictable series of events that
  returns to the starting point.
• Ex. If you give a mouse a cookie or Louise
  Erdrichs Native American novels poems
• Follow the instructions on the website to create
  your own circular story
• http//www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.
  asp?id292

44
references

• Aronson, D. (2005).  Isabel Allende Loves the
  Writing Process.  The Council Chronicle, 9, 6. 
• Jenkins, R.Y. (1993).  The Intersection of Gender
  and Culture in the Teaching of Writing.  College
  Teaching, 41, 19-24. 
• Luna, C. (1993).  Story, Voice, and Culture The
  Politics of Narrative in Multicultural
  Education.          Working Papers in
  Educational Linguistics, 9 (1), 127-142. 
• Perry, S. (1999). Writing in Flow Keys to
  Enhanced Creativity. Writers Digest Books.
• Reid, G. (2004).  Non-linear narrative and
  EFL/ESL Projects for Creative Writing.  The
  Onestop Magazine.
• Satie, S. (2001).  Pre-Creating the HyperNews
  Classroom Community (Not) Speaking, (Not)
  Writing the Subtext. Annual Meeting of the
  Conference on College Composition and
  Communication, 3-8. 
• St. Amour, M.J. (2003).  Connecting Children's
  Stories to Children's Literature Meeting
  Diversity Needs.          Early Childhood
  Education Journal, 31 (1), 47-51. 
• Stewart, J. Rhythm Science.  Critical Studies in
  Improvisation.
• Surfus, B. L.  (1994).  Autobiography and the
  Ascent of Multiculturalism A Negotiation. 
  Viewpoints, 120, 2-5. 
• Tohe, L. (1993).  A Native American's Perspective
  on the Writing Classroom.              Annual
  Meeting of the Conference on College Composition
  and Communication, 2-9. 

45
credits

• http//www.learnnc.org/lessons/SharonMackenzie3262
  003584
• http//www.cortlandreview.com/features/99/readings
  /
• http//www.its.caltech.edu/mjgerber/lostairman.ht
  ml
• http//www.cco.caltech.edu/mjgerber/oldmother.htm
  l
• http//www.penguinputnam.com/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0
  ,,0_0142001961,00.html?symEXC
• http//www.chitradivakaruni.com/books/mistress_of_
  spices/excerpt/
• http//www.chitradivakaruni.com/books/sister_of_my
  _heart/excerpt/
• http//www.kcrw.org/dialabook/Guess_Again.htm
• http//www.henryholt.com/holt/banishingveronaexcer
  pt.htm
• http//www.da.wvu.edu/archives/003011/news/003011,
  01,02.html
• http//wonders.eburg.wednet.edu/Morgan/ThoseWhoDon
  t.htm
• http//english.cla.umn.edu/creativewriting/disloca
  te/fall04/Herrera_interview.html
• http//www.math.buffalo.edu/sww/poetry/giovanni_n
  ikki.htmlego20tripping
• http//www.nyu.edu/clubs/generasian/fall03/Feature
  s/story.htm

46
credits

• http//teacher.scholastic.com/lessonrepro/lessonpl
  ans/instructor/power.htm
• http//www.postcolonialweb.org/nz/kerihulme/kh13.h
  tml
• http//communication.students.rmit.edu.au/media/cl
  are_oataway/BonePeople.html
• http//www.readinglady.com/wr/Fluent_Lessons/fluen
  t_lessons.html
•  http//www.writingfix.com/leftbrain/start_and_end
  _with_phrase.htm
• http//www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.
  asp?id292
• http//www.bsu.edu/web/kmewers/docs/imagery.html
• http//www.bsu.edu/web/kmewers/docs/figurative20l
  anguage.html
• http//www.english.vt.edu/kagraham/childlit/reali
  sm.htm
• http//oblog.typepad.com/oblog/files/endings.doc
   
• http//www.rbc.edu/Syllabus/EFloyd/Eng102vignette.
  html
• http//dragonnet.hkis.edu.hk/ms/grade_8/grade_8_20
  03_4/Poetry/pantoum20examples.htm
• http//www.humboldt.edu/engl406/2002a/myname.html
  
• http//www.lyricsondemand.com/t/tobykeithlyrics/iw
  annatalkaboutmelyrics.html