MWP Summer Institute Scribe Notes

July 17, 2008

Scribe: Tom Backen

Today's quote:  "The more you write, the more you will come to realize that form is organic, that it is something that grows out of the material, that the form of each story is unique. . ."  --Flannery O' Connor

                                                                                                                   from Shop Talk by Donald Murray

Writing Prompt:  One of Muriel's favorite books is Journal of a Prairie Year by Paul Gruchow.  She read a passage about favorite smells, tastes, or months and the memories they carry for us, as we wrote in our journals and responded to what the passage made us think of.  She noted that Gruchow's memoir is being published soon.

Candance introduced a guest today, Tom Friedrich, who was in MWP with Candance and recently completed his Ph.D.

Demo:  Michelle Shaw        Topic:  Using emotions in our writing

Michelle teaches 5th grade English at Normandale, a French immersion school in Edina.  She teaches reading, writing, and social studies, so she's always trying to integrate those three areas.

She related her recent experience of her dog dying and how she shared that with her class, along with their reactions of support and connecting to their own experiences of loss.  She read the Dr. Seuss book Oh, the Places You'll Go, a book she reads to her class both at the beginning and end of the school year. 

We generated a list of emotions that we felt in the passage she read:  excitement, anticipation, disappointment, frustration, along with textual references.  Next, we brainstormed a variety of emotions we feel: wonder, fear, sadness, anger/crankiness, relief, resignation, nervousness, gratitude, happiness, feeling misunderstood, guilt, satisfaction, curiosity, etc.

We then wrote in our journals about an emotion from the list and a time when we felt on top of the world.

The main topic of today's lesson:  showing versus telling.

What is the difference?  (listed on overhead)

Showing:  add action or dialogue, it suggests the emotion, easier to relate to, implicit, allows reader to feel, we

                    utilize our senses more, it becomes more of a story, uses metaphors, narrative

Telling:  simply using the emotion words (she was happy, sad, etc.) rather than describing, label, factual, you

               interpret the feeling for the reader, a feeling of detachment

               Mark Twain quote: "Don't just say the lady yelled; bring her on and let her scream!"

Two sentences:  Boy, the dogs were so scared that the humans would find them hiding in the shed.

                            My heart thumped so hard I could feel it beating in my throat.  I sat trembling behind Mother, waiting

                            for the shed door to bang open, but I heard only the sound of voices.

Discuss the differences between them in terms of telling vs. showing.

Small groups, each given an envelope with sentences inside.  The task is to put the sentences in the category of showing or telling.  Entire group then shared results, by going to the overhead and putting the sentence in its appropriate category.  The sentence: "John was fuming mad when his brother flushed his Luke Skywalker action figure down the toilet" was put in both categories by some groups because it captured emotion, even though it tells it directly, and you don't always need to elaborate (which can bog down the writing).  Bob pointed out that "fuming" really says it all; there's no action needed when one is fuming! 

Next, each group was secretly assigned an emotion to act out with no dialogue for the class.  After a few minutes of planning, each group performed their emotion and the class tried to guess what emotion it was.  The class pointed out the specific nonverbal behaviors that displayed the emotions while a group member listed the actions on the overhead.

Michelle then shares with her class a paragraph she wrote describing one of her own "top of the world" moments.  She shows students two versions on the overhead, one that tells the emotions and one that shows them.  If time allows, you could then have your students revise a piece of their own writing in light of this lesson (maybe from the day's prompt?).

Michelle concluded by showing some book titles that include good examples of showing, not telling.

(Way to go, Shaw-dog!  :>)   It was a great presentation!  -TB)

Demo: Diane Thayer-Peterson

Topic:  Using Argument Strategies

Scribe:  Gretchen Hovan

"Writing well means entering a conversation." (Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein, "They say/I say")

Quotes for sorting:

"The challenge for us as writing instructors is to bridge the transition from rich verbal debates to the written essay."

"Writing well means entering a conversation."

"To be persuasive, we must be believable.  To be belieavable we must be credible.  To be credible, we must be truthful."

Diane talked about how she taught writing and got a little burned out from the demands of the classroom and of the administration.  She tried to leave education, but "every time she thought she was out, they pulled her back in."  She consulted for schools in a variety of levels and ultimately decided to teach again in the eighth grade.

Diane hopes that the activities she is showing us will help students to argue more persuasively by understanding the other side of the argument and how to respond to it well. 

Activities:

1.  Diane formed small groups with partial quotes that people had to match up (each quote was on a different color of paper; colored paper slips formed one group).  Each small group was to provide the best argument for why they should get the candy that Diane has brought to give to one group.  Diane had the students write their three reasons for why their group should get the candy on the board.  Reasons had great diversity.  Diane asked us to note what kinds of arguments the students used:  guilt, logic (scientific terms), building of character (as worthy recipient), arguing to audience (what Diane might like--personal arguments), and emotional appeals.  [Diane did give everyone candy--and said she would with her students).

2.  Diane asked the group about their experience with coins (Who has a change jar?  Who picks up pennies?).  She showed clip from CBS news about cost of making coins.  (Link: CBS story: Should we make cents?)  She broke class into teams, based on who had feelings about the penny issue, and then passed out a hand-out with research and a graphic organizer from readwritethink.org to help students begin structuring their argument.  She gave the thesis for each group (the penny should be eliminated from U.S. currency; the penny should not be eliminated from the U.S. currency) and asked students to go together with other people who are on their side to start thinking about the best arguments they will be using. 

3.  Diane discussed other ways she has students work on debating.  Diane gave the students "sentence stems" with words that can start argument points/discussion (she developed this list to help her ESL students but has found it helpful with all of her students).  She has groups do a four corners debate (students stand in the corner that expresses their opinion on the issue: I strongly agree, I agree, I disagree, I strongly disagree).  In their corners, students discuss and then say their opinion.  Diane does an "issue of the day" with her students to help them practice this. Early in the year, she allows a neutral zone.  Later in the year, she often has the students argue the opposite side of their own opinion.  Diane also has a verb sheet that helps students to think of more powerful language for arguing and asks students to give "signal statements:"  'So far we have been talking about x, but I want to talk about y.'

4.  Diane had the group practice using the four corners debate.  She said she usually lets the affirmative side start.  Diane pointed out how she asks students to use transitions.  She does not require one point at a time from each side, but she will ask one side if it has other points to make if it has been quiet.  (Bob said he gives students poker chips)