NortonSampler < Kitchen

04 Dec 2005 - 22:37

you guys are amazing—

One of you (I have to find the Comment again—) left a link to the Johns Hopkins CTY Summer program, specifically to the page that lists all the courses.

All of the writing courses have posted syllabi, including the course called Crafting the Essay.

The readings for 'Crafting the Essay' seem far too weighted towards the personal essay—what is it with all this memoir writing?^*—but, at the end of the syllabus, there's a list of 'Supplemental Texts' that includes this book:

Here's the jacket copy:

As a rhetorically arranged collection of short essays for composition, our Sampler echoes the cloth samplers once done in colonial America, presenting the basic patterns of writing for students to practice just as schoolchildren once practiced their stitches and ABCs on needlework samplers. This new edition shows students that description, narration, and the other patterns of exposition are not just abstract concepts used in composition classrooms but are in fact the way we think—and write. The Norton Sampler contains 63 carefully chosen readings—classics as well as more recent pieces, essays along with a few real-world texts—all demonstrating how writers use the modes of discourse for many varied purposes.

Wow.

Depending what's actually in the book, this is exactly what I'm looking for—and I found it thanks to ktm commenters. Incredible. Thank you.

I've mentioned that I learned how to teach writing at the University of Iowa. At the time (and perhaps still today) Iowa had one of the best freshman writing programs in the country.

We used the The Norton Reader of Expository Prose. We lived by that book. Later on I used the short version, I believe, to teach the same course to gifted middle schoolers for Johns Hopkins CTY.

I looked at the Norton Reader again the other day, and had been planning to order it this weekend....but it isn't exactly what I want.

If I were teaching a full-fledged writing course at school, then sure. The Norton Reader would probably be the book.

But I'm going to be trying to hammer my massively resistant middle-schooler into adding afterschool writing to afterschool math, and the mere sight of a 1214-page NORTON READER is going to be trouble.

I haven't looked at The Norton Sampler yet, but I'm almost certainly going to be buying it tonight.

Susan explains the shift to early writing

Part of the problem is that, like New Math and Whole Language, there is a movement afoot to push what I consider middle school skills down into grade school, all with the assumption that grade school skills will just be learned by osmosis (or shoved onto the middle school teachers...again.) These are your two camps.
In the beginning this new way of teaching writing looks very impressive as little persuasive essays come home and state tests appear to improve. Like math, we didn't learn it that way and so what do we know? I believe this is what you would label teaching Whole to Parts.
The traditional way of learning writing (or math, for that matter) has always been Parts to Whole, starting with building blocks for younger children (handwriting, grammar, sentence structure, punctuation) and then moving to more complicated techniques requiring better critical thinking skills (notetaking, outlining, etc.)that actually match the child's growing opinions and ideas. This strikes me as common sense, but what do I know?
Whether this new way is really better in the long run is still unsure, from everything I've read, yet one can't help notice that something is wrong when college professors complain loudly about students' bad writing skills, and then even request a grammar section on the SATs.

That explains a lot.

I've never given it any thought, but offhand I would say that writing isn't 'foundational' or 'hierarchical' the way math is foundational or hierarchical.

Still, I think it's nuts to plunge right into paragraphs and short essays in grade school. Doesn't make sense to me.

Without knowing much about it, I'd say the focus in the early years is words and sentences; then paragraphs.

I don't know what to think about all the journal-writing tiny little children do these days. I like having a record of Christopher's 6-year old thoughts, but whether journaling helped him learn how to write, I don't know.

I was over at a friend's house the other day, looking at books on how to write. My friend was traumatized by a nasty writing teacher in high school and has only recently started to recover from that experience. She's read a number of books for people who want to write but are anxious or blocked, the writing equivalent of Math Anxiety.

All of these books, universally, promote journaling, freewriting, etc., etc......and they all seem utterly foreign to me.

I have no idea whether professional writers 'journal' or 'freewrite.' Maybe they do. If so, they don't talk about it much.

I do neither. I have zero interest in journaling or freewriting; I find the very word 'freewriting' slightly repellent. (Because it doesn't sound free?)

I have so little interest in journaling that I don't do it even though I wish I would. From time to time I remind myself that I'm letting my kids' childhoods pass by unrecorded & unremembered. Then I carry on not journaling.

I suspect that professional writers of nonfiction, which is what we're talking about, are motivated to 'communicate' more than to 'express.' I write every day, but I write to other people, not to myself. I used to write letters; now I write emails & blooki posts & comments on Kitchen Table Math.

I'm also motivated by curiosity, and nonfiction writing means Learning New Things virtually every day. That's another reason I write Kitchen Table Math. Once I write a post, people chime in with interesting comments and factoids I've never heard before. I love that, and it doesn't happen with Journaling or Freewriting.

Given that I've been a professional writer for quite awhile now, and given that I never, ever Journal or Freewrite, I'm not inclined to think that students should Journal or Freewrite as a means to learning to write themselves.

One other thing.

I never took a writing course.

I never even wrote a paper in high school. I arrived at Wellesley not knowing what a paper was.

I never took a writing course because I was terrified I would be told I was no good. I desperately wanted to be a writer, but didn't think I was good enough, and I figured if a teacher told me I wasn't good enough that would be the end of it.

So I didn't get near any teachers.

The funny thing is, when I finally got on track to write, just short of age 30, two different Authority Figures instantly popped out of the woodwork to tell me I wouldn't be able to do it. One said I didn't have the commitment or the drive; the other told me he'd never liked my writing. This person actually took the time to sit down and write me a letter saying, 'I've never liked your writing.'

People are bizarre.

In any case, they were too late. I'd made up my mind.

Getting back to how to teach children to write.....I think my own personal narrative tells me that writing isn't a hierarchical skill the way mathematics is, and I think it tells me that expository writing isn't a direct or natural outgrowth of Journaling or Freewriting, but may be a natural outgrowth of reading, thinking, and talking to other people about what you're reading and thinking.

I know that in order to write nonfiction you have to be reading nonfiction.

That's about as far as I can go tonight.

Johns Hopkins CTY course list (including math courses):
Crafting the Essay WRT3
Crafting the Essay 3B

KTM Commenter suggestions and recommendations:
First Language Lessons by Jesse Wise (recommended by Ken &, I think, Susan, looks good; apparently there are more books coming in the series)
Classical Writing series (Nick's Mama left the link for this series)

The two biggies amongst homeschoolers seem to be:
Writing Strands (the Well Trained Mind people use this series)
Excellence in Writing

KUMON reading

I'd bet money the KUMON reading program teaches writing as well as reading, if only incidentally. I've scanned in one set of KUMON reading worksheets and will get them posted to a separate KUMON page & linked here, so you can see what I'm talking about. KUMON Reading is as good a nonficiton, critical reading program as any I've ever seen.

Actually, KUMON Reading is the only nonfiction critical reading program I've ever seen. At our school, and apparently at many other schools, the kids read wall-to-wall fiction. No one teaches them how to read nonfiction.

KUMON does.

update: Norton Sampler TOC

This is fantastic:

Introduction

Annie Dillard, The Death of a Moth
Annie Dillard, How I Wrote the Moth Essay—and Why
The Processes of Writing
The Modes of Writing
Mixing the Modes (great)

1 Description

2 Narrative

3 Example

4 Classification and Division

5 Process Analysis

6 Comparison and Contrast

7 Definition

8 Cause and Effect

9 Argumentation and Persuasion

10 Classic Essays for Further Reading

It doesn't look overloaded with partisan picks, and there are two student essays included, which could be a lot of fun. Ann Hodgman ('No Wonder They Call Me a Bitch') is the author of three of my favorite cookbooks: Beat This, Beat That!, and One Bite Won't Kill You.

This is the one.

1918 version of Elements of Style online

^* My neighbor's son has now written so many personal narratives he says he's running out of memories.

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Look here for syntax help.

"I have zero interest in journaling or freewriting..."

I agree. If anything, I found requirements to write in journals to be harmful to my writing. I find that if I know what I want to say, I have little problem writing. If I'm writing with an ill-defined purpose ("What did you do on your summer vacation? is the iconic title of this form), I tend to get writer's block.

Nothing is so harmful to wanting to write as occasions of writer's block.

As to advice and practice on how to write, I find that "How to Write" books written by successful writers are often useful. If you haven't seen it, you might want to check out Orson Scott Card's Uncle Orson's Writing Class".

Solid practical advice.

-- DougSundseth - 05 Dec 2005

If anything, I found requirements to write in journals to be harmful to my writing.

Interesting.

I also suspect a sex difference here.

Our BRILLIANT 5th grade teacher last year said we just can't be having the boys write about their feelings year-in and year-out.

"They aren't interested in writing about their feelings," she said.

-- CatherineJohnson - 05 Dec 2005

Thanks for the tip on 'Uncle Orson'; I'm looking it up now.

I've also just found a college textbook that's probably useful: EVERYTHING IS ARGUMENT.

That is the message you're trying to get across, and it's very hard for kids to understand this.

Ed says his entering graduate students can't write argument.

-- CatherineJohnson - 05 Dec 2005

I just ordered Step Up to Writing from Sopris West for my classroom. I haven't had time to go through the research base, so I could be today's winner of the fool and his money are soon parted award.

My grade eights are having difficulty with paragraphs. Some find the whole idea of writing a sentence a rather daunting task. At parent/teacher interviews on Friday, I was raked over the coals for not having the class write countless essays. What is it with the desire for quantity instead of quality?

-- SmartestTractor - 05 Dec 2005

Oh thank you so much!

I've set up a page for myself, just to keep all this stuff in one place. I'll get this logged in over there.

Why do you think your eighth graders are having trouble writing sentences and paragraphs?

I'm very curious about this, because the AP English teachers are saying exactly the same thing at the high school. They're saying kids are coming in 'not writing grammatical sentences,' I believe is almost a direct quote.

-- CatherineJohnson - 05 Dec 2005

I'll take a closer look at Christopher's writing.

I think he can write sentences, but I'm going to spend some time looking at this.

Offhand, though, I'd say he can write sentences. My sense is that what he needs with sentences now is varied structure & rhythm.

I'd say, too, that he can write paragraphs.

I don't know whether he can write paragraphs as well-developed as those of a child in a decent writing program. My guess is no.

This is helpful.

I think my unit of focus at this point will be paragraphs.

-- CatherineJohnson - 05 Dec 2005

"My sense is that what he needs with sentences now is varied structure & rhythm."

If he's reliably writing grammatical sentences that say what he means, paragraphs that hang together logically, and essays in which the paragraphs procede logically to a conclusion, I think he is doing just fine.

The craft of writing is an absolutely necessary precondition to the art of writing. Rhythm is art.

-- DougSundseth - 05 Dec 2005

One thing I noticed about my 5th grader's writing was the short sentence syndrome left over from early grade school. Just taking a couple of stubby little kid sentences and saying, "Hey, you have these two short sentences. Maybe you could put a conjunction like...between them and turn them into one sentence." Even reading the two short sentences aloud and then reading the new version can really start them towards changing their own writing without being overwhelmed. My son's eyes got real big as though he had never thought of such a wonderful idea. It was a nudge without being too much. He could handle that. He went on to find a couple of other spots and they were pretty good places to change. You can point out how the rhythm changes just by doing that.

You also get to explain a little about the compound sentence and various conjuctions that are out there and see, it's not hard at all, or so I'm hoping he'll realize.

-- SusanS - 05 Dec 2005

Why do you think your eighth graders are having trouble writing sentences and paragraphs?

The students haven't been required to practice the necessary skills. This is due to years of unfocused instruction in the school. Ultimately, the responsibilty rests with the person in charge of the classroom. I get to identify the gaps in their knowledge and their skills and now I have to get them to where they need to be for high school.

-- SmartestTractor - 05 Dec 2005

So you're saying they haven't spent time practicing sentences, and then practicing paragraphs—they haven't practiced the component parts?

Is that it?

-- CatherineJohnson - 05 Dec 2005

One thing I noticed about my 5th grader's writing was the short sentence syndrome left over from early grade school. Just taking a couple of stubby little kid sentences and saying, "Hey, you have these two short sentences.

Yes, definitely.

Sentence rhythm is next.

Christopher came home today with a D on his 'photo essay' and a D on his 'feature story.'

He flunked his chapter test in math.

We now have a child who is failing Math and English.

He's also developing test anxiety. Now, when he takes a math test, he gets anxious and freezes up.

-- CatherineJohnson - 05 Dec 2005

Yes.

-- SmartestTractor - 05 Dec 2005

Catherine,

Do these papers with D's on them have any tips on how to not make a D? Is there's no rewriting to maybe get a C? Where's the learning part?

-- SusanS - 05 Dec 2005

Do these papers with D's on them have any tips on how to not make a D? Is there's no rewriting to maybe get a C? Where's the learning part?

I'll get the comments and post them.

There is no constructive criticsm whatsoever.

Just a big red D and 3 lines saying 'too short' & 'no book cited page'

-- CatherineJohnson - 06 Dec 2005

I'm going to have Christopher read Susan's comment about handwriting & teacher grading.

Part of the problem is that kids Christopher's age still think......in black and white?

Something like that.

They really haven't discovered complexity or mixed motives, and they definitely don't know about the unconscious.

Christopher really believes that no teacher would grade him on handwriting if the teacher didn't say she was grading on handwriting.

He doesn't have a category for things people do that they don't consciously intend to do & may not even know they're doing.

-- CatherineJohnson - 06 Dec 2005

WebLogForm
Title:	you guys are amazing—
TopicType:	WebLog
SubjectArea:	AboutBooks, LanguageArts, TeachingWriting
LogDate:	200512041736

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