Readers as Writers Writers as Readers Using Style Study in the Classroom

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Readers as WritersWriters as ReadersUsing Style
Study in the Classroom

• by
• Kristi Piper

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Donald M. Murray

• Collected quotations from writers on the craft of
  writing for over 50 years and eventually used
  them to create Shoptalk
• Writes Over Sixty for the Boston Sunday Globe
• Won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing and
  has published seventeen books on writing

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• Try to be one of the people on whom nothing is
  lost.
• Henry James
• The difference between the right word and the
  almost right word is the difference between
  lightning and a lightning bug.
• Mark Twain
• Writing is hard work. Its like being in a dark
  cave. You dont know where the walls are, the
  boundaries of the play. You have to sense the
  limits of where you are, what youre doing and
  where youre going.
• Arthur Miller

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Kathleen Dudden Andrasick(Rowlands)

• Former language arts department head at Iolani
  School in Honolulu
• Helped found the Hawaii Writing Project
• Opening Texts
• Using Writing to Teach Literature
• As of June 2002 enrolled at University of
  Pennsylvania where she was working toward a
  doctorate in rhetoric and linguistics

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Imitation is such a fundamental element of human
thinking and learning that we should be able to
employ it in our teaching quite naturally.
However, somewhere along the way, imitative
practice in the classroom has been devalued,
sometimes to the point of being equated with
copying or plagiarism.
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What is style study?

• Using reading texts as models for particular
  mini-lessons
• Imitating chosen aspects of text in your own
  writing
• Dissecting text for specific examples of writing
  styles
• Uses all 12 IRA standards

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1. Using reading texts as models for particular
mini-lessons

• Parts of Speech
• Sentence Structures
• Word Play
• Setting
• Exposition
• Genre
• Audience
• Show, Dont Tell
• Brushstrokes

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2. Imitating chosen aspects of text in your own
writing

• Give each student access to at least one model
• Allow an out (safety activity) because this can
  be a very threatening activity
• Let your students guide the focus of imitation

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This is Just to Sayby William Carlos Williams

• I have eaten
• The plums
• That were in
• The icebox
• And which
• You were probably
• Saving
• For breakfast
• Forgive me
• They were delicious
• So sweet
• And so cold

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3. Dissecting text for specific examples of
writing styles

• Andrasick discusses three categories
• Writing Next to the Text
• Dialectical Journals
• Writing Through the Text
• Process Logs
• Writing About the Text
• Reader Response

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Writing Next To The TextThe Dialectical Journal

1. Allows students to record quotations,
   observations, lists, and images from their
   reading and then return to those entries for
   reflection and comment.
2. Provides a useful way for students to converse
   with themselves about both the what and the how
   of their reading.
3. Student is reader and writer simultaneously.

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• Dialectical Journal
• Entry Format
• The book says I say
• page
• I Dont Understands I Wonders

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Dialectical Journal Mini-Lessons

• Response Expectations
• Bring something new to the feast.
• Questioning skills
• 1. I dont understand
• Problems, Fix-ups
• 2. I wonder
• Motivation, Predictions

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The Giver

• I wonder what our school would be like if we
  followed the same sort of guidelines. Here, it
  almost becomes a game or sport, calling attention
  to anything that makes the other feel
  uncomfortable, different, or ashamed. It seems
  like in Jonass world, no one would grow up
  feeling left out or having hurt feelings just
  because they are not just like everyone else. No
  one has to be better than the other person in
  Jonass group of friends. I still think their
  society is whack, but I CAN see this aspect
  being beneficial.

• No one mentioned such things it was not a
  rule, but was considered rude to call attention
  to thins that were unsettling or different about
  individuals.
• p. 20

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Provide a focus for the excerpt(Great form of
assessment!)

• Literary Elements
• Point of View
• Setting
• Characterization
• Elements of Plot
• Problem/Fix-up

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The Hobbit

• when ding-dong-a-ling-dang, his bell rang
  again
• p. 17
• onomatopoeia

• The author used this element to show exactly
  what the doorbell sounded like.

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The Hobbit

• I think the author used this simile for two
  reasons. First, to emphasize just how ear
  piercing the shriek was, and, second, to show how
  shocked everyone was. You cant see a train when
  it is in a tunnel and so you may not even know it
  is approaching. That would make the sound of the
  whistle that much more startling.

• At may never return he began to feel a shriek
  coming up inside, and very soon it burst out like
  the whistle of an engine coming out of a tunnel.
• p. 23
• simile

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Excerpt from Unveiledby Anonymous

• Find a quote which demonstrates how the point of
  view in which this story is written affects the
  piece.
• Identify the point of view.

• Discuss your reasoning for choosing that quote.
• How would the story be different if written from
  another point of view?
• The brother
• The mother
• Omniscient Narrator

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Dialectical Journal Adaptations

• Toning Up Use as beginning of dialogue journal.
  Have students respond to one anothers I Dont
  Understands and I Wonders
• Toning Down Gear personal response toward the
  entire reading rather than a specific quote,
  Audiotape responses, Use drawings as response

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Meaningful use of style study can help ALL of
your students bring something new to the feast.

• Questions? Comments