Reading & Writing Are Intricately Connected
By: Sarah Stratton
When I taught two freshman English courses in the early 2000’s–one was focused on writing about reading and the second about reading about writing. What the college courses point out is this–we are better readers when we analyze and write about what we read, and we are better at writing when we analyze the author’s craft of writing. We can’t separate them; when we do, our students' ability to grow as readers and writers is limited.
We already understand that reading is a high impact practice in growing readers. With the huge number of words students need to gain each year to stay at grade level–2000-3000, word study isn’t going to cut it. While reading, students can automatically acquire words once they understand the words–which generally requires 8-12 exposures. (That is why staying on a topic for an extended time is optimal–one is more apt to “see” a word in text multiple times.)
Do we understand, however, that writing is also impactful in reading growth? While we don’t necessarily “acquire” words when we write, we are thinking about our words as we write, and thinking seals the deal in learning. We remember what we think about and focus our attention. Writing is the glue. It helps make what we read permanent. Failing to write frequently (if not daily), equates to missed opportunities to grow as readers.
We can prepare students for the ATLAS Reading & Writing tests best by making writing an integral part of our reading practice. Even though the writing test isn’t a reading test–it really is a reading test. Text to Speech most certainly helps bridge the gap; however, if students lack knowledge of the topic–and of the 90 percent or so of that topic’s words–they still will struggle with the text. Consequently, preparing students for the writing test means the work we do in building knowledge (and thus vocabulary) is still vital for this test.
What can the integration of reading and writing look like? And how much is enough of each to grow readers and writers? The answer is A LOT and A LOT.
It might look like this: (50 minute classes)
Monday–I was gone last Monday teaching a workshop at Arch Ford–on writing. I provided students with a checklist of important annotations by page that needed to be done to help them independently navigate the text I assigned. Students had to examine the date of Elli’s entrance into the ghetto and note its significance. (1944–a year before liberation), examine the location of the ghetto–which is noted at the top of the text (Hungary) and understand its significance. (one of the last countries occupied by Hitler), then look for details about the ghetto–the overcrowding–and how it made Elli feel. They were tasked with reading and noting Elli’s description of the perpetrators and bystanders outside the fence. The purpose of the reading was to build enough knowledge about the topic to navigate the source packet on the Jewish ghettos (they would read later in the week) with ease. It was a building knowledge exercise.
Tuesday–We thoroughly discussed their annotations, and they continued to annotate, if necessary. We used new vocabulary words that were not in the text–like bystander and atrocity, as well as words Elli used like deportation and internment camps.
We spent the rest of the period looking at Bitton-Jackson’s use of DASHES and a zeugma. The DASH is a Writing on Command technique, and it is vital to teach for numerous reasons.
1–It’s unique. Students don’t use them in their writing. Intentional writers do. A DASH is used to create an abrupt break or pause–it’s intentional–definitely on purpose. This gets students thinking about intentionality and the fact that writers are intentional when they write. They use what they use to influence their readers.
2–The discussion of the DASH naturally opens up a vital discussion on punctuation. (My thought on their lack of punctuation knowledge is this–when a language is our native language, we don’t HAVE to know the rules. We already speak it–and mostly–can already write. So to get students to understand punctuation–we introduce them to the DASH. We have to trick them into this discussion.) Why do we use periods, commas, and DASHES? Why is a period important to use as a writer? True writers use punctuation to control their reader. Want them to pause for a second–comma. Stop? Period. Abrupt pause (really pay attention to this) the DASH.
Real conversation with a 7th grader taking his quiz over this text on Friday (we’ll get to that):
“Did I do my claim and evidence right?” (To write the claim, he had to answer the text-dependent question. To write the evidence, he had to find a quote from the text that proved his claim to be true.)
“Mostly, “ I say. “Do I get to stop after the claim? Can I take a breath before you go on, so I can pay attention to your evidence?”
“Oh yah,” he says as he puts his period after his claim. “That means I need a period here too, so you can stop.” He puts a period after his evidence, and I wander on to the next student who wants to show off his skill.
NOTE: If I had not been circulating–this teachable moment would not have happened. His next sentence–his commentary–had a period. He whipped through his next two questions with ease. The DASH lesson opened up the door to “talk punctuation” in a way that was non threatening and made sense to them.
Another conversation in another class the day of the lesson:
“So a DASH is a pause on purpose. What if I’m supposed to use a comma for a pause, but I want them to really pause? Can I use a DASH?”
“Yep.”
“Hmmm.”
We practiced using DASHES in the ways Bitton-Jackson used them. They wrote beautiful DASH-filled sentences. (Bitton-Jackson also had some hyphenated words in the sentences, so we got to talk about the difference between a DASH and a hyphen.) We got out our chromebooks and practiced a hyphen (one line CLICK) and a DASH (two lines–CLICK CLICK–the onomatopoeia helped)
For fun–and only because sometimes making them feel extra smart is worth the time–I taught them zeugmas. They got to join the I-know-what-a-zeugma-is club. We looked at Bitton-Jackson’s (It’s an amazing one) and tried writing some of our own. The most valuable reason to spend talking about zeugmas is that they are used on purpose to make a point. Find a zeugma–find the main point. They’re tough to write, but there are always a few students who shine at this endeavor.
Wednesday– The Friday before this lesson, students had written introductions for the passage set they had read on the Jewish yellow star. Before breaking into groups to write the introductions, we studied Bitton-Jackson’s use of rhetorical fragments to make a point. I wanted them to know they had the option of using a series of rhetorical fragments as their Full Circle Technique. Why I teach rhetorical fragments:
1–It’s a powerful way to open an essay.
2–Talking about fragments means we are also talking about complete sentences–as they are opposite of each other.
3–A rhetorical fragment causes an abrupt STOP. Word. (stop) Word. (stop) Word. (stop)--we read Bitton-Jackson’s to see that her use of them forces us to STOP after each word–thus emphasizing the fragments. This is powerful.
4–Using rhetorical fragments to open an essay forces students to THINK ABOUT their topic. What is my topic? What is my goal? Which words would represent my topic well and draw in my reader?
5–Parallel structure is hard to teach. It goes in one ear and out the other. However, using a series of rhetorical fragments requires parallel structure and by practicing the skill and looking at other students' series of rhetorical fragments–they start to understand that a pattern is important!
6–A transitional sentence needs to follow the fragments–telling the reader what the words show–represent–do. This sentence opens the door to talking about transitions.
Next, they must reveal 2-3 facts about their topic. Then they end with their claim about the topic. I’ve started calling their thesis statement a claim. This is my reasoning: no matter their topic–whether informational, explanatory, or argumentative–they are claiming something to be true. It is helping them understand their job–what to write. Some of my struggling students say under their breathe–I claim this to be true–
Lastly, I decided to teach the Writing on Command technique–Clause Opener. I decided on teaching the complex sentence with the subordinate conjunction as an OPENER because they already understand from the LY Opener that a comma follows most openers. I spent time on the BECAUSE Clause Opener. I love this one because it makes a powerful claim, and students always tell me: “I thought we couldn’t open a sentence with BECAUSE.” This shows them WHY. The Because Clause Opener is a dependent clause and MUST BE attached to an independent clause.
Formula:
Because of this, this happened.
Examples:
Because the Nazis hated the Jews, they forced them to wear yellow stars as identifying badges.
Because the Nazis wanted to humiliate the Jews, they —
This was my first INTRODUCTION lesson–using rhetorical questions to open as Full Circle, integrating facts about the topic, and ending with a claim that opens with BECAUSE.
The groups put their introductions in our Discussion Board, so we could look at them later. I waited until Wednesday to have students examine them because they would be writing their own introductions on Thursday about the Jewish ghettos.
Their Task: Individually, they had to look at all 11 introductions and
1–Pick what they felt was the most powerful series of rhetorical fragments (and transition sentence) and why.
2–Pick what they felt was the best integration of facts about the topic and why.
3–Pick the most powerful BECAUSE claim and tell why it was most powerful.
When we discussed their findings we found–
1–The series of rhetorical fragments and transition sentences were good! The groups rocked it!
2–The integration of 2-3 facts was good too. Some groups tried to say too much, and we got to talk about why they needed to keep this part brief.
3–Only about a third of the groups used the BECAUSE opener like they were supposed to do. They all had great claims, but the BECAUSE opener claims were definitely the best. (It was their first attempt at the Because Clause Opener.)
Thursday–Materials needed: Chromebook and headphones
Students listened and followed along to the Jewish Ghettos passage set using Text to Speech. They had a piece of blank scratch paper to document their CATEGORIES–the topics they HEARD and SAW as they listened to the passage.
We had a lengthy discussion beforehand about the passages. I told them:
Look at the source titles. Before you even start the Text to Speech or the reading of the passages, put yourself at ease. Say to yourself: Do I know anything about this topic? Even if I don’t–if the topic is electric cars–what might my categories be? What are they? How do they work? Why are they beneficial? RECYCLING? What is it? How do you do it? Why do you do it? HISTORICAL TOPIC? What is the history of this topic? What happened? How did this impact the people? They need to think about the topic before they start. Doing so will put their mind at ease.
After listening (and stopping/starting as necessary), following along and using scratch paper to take notes on the categories (ie. body paragraph topics–at least 3), they wrote an introduction following the same format as they wrote in groups the week before. (And just the day before they had examined the introductions.) They needed a series of rhetorical fragments (2-4), a transition sentence, 2-3 facts, and their claim. They also had to use a DASH and an LY Opener in their fact sentences, and a BECAUSE Opener for their claim. They ROCKED it. Over 95 percent of them were highly successful. I had provided them with MY sample on an anchor chart. It couldn’t be copied. I used tough words in my series and complicated sentence structure in my other sentences and claim. But I color coded the parts and labeled what I had done. What they produced was 100% theirs.
Friday-That was 2 days ago. Students took their quiz on the memoir excerpt “The Ghetto” that they had closely read and annotated on Monday and discussed and annotated some more on Tuesday. I wrote 8 questions and in the directions, they had to answer 4. Because I passed back their INTRODUCTIONS to inspire them, they only had to choose 3. I get 100% buy-in when they get to choose which 3 questions they answer. They don’t even balk about having to write. We practice the CLAIM, EVIDENCE, COMMENTARY format on their quizzes. They must answer each text-dependent question in 3-5 sentences. Their CLAIM is the answer to the question. Their EVIDENCE is the quote in the text that proves their claim to be true, and their commentary is their own words that tell HOW the quote proves the claim to be true.
If that was already challenging for students, I told them to IGNORE the extra credit. For those who already understood the C,E,C format, they could use an LY Opener and a BECAUSE Clause Opener in their responses for extra credit. These have not been graded. I have seen them because I circulated, and students appeared to be performing really well on this assessment.
Sample Situation/Discussion
Student struggles with attention and NEVER gets independent work done. Can’t even start/continue without lots of support. Gets 1 done to everyone elses’ 3. I have walked student through–answer the question, find a quote of support, & then tell how the quote shows your claim is true. Student does it, but it takes all period.
Student returns later that day and finishes the other two questions in record time. This has NEVER happened. I do not have to support student at all.
“So & So, how did you get these done so fast?”
“I already knew how to do them.”
“What do you mean?”
“I answer the question for my claim, put the quote it, and tell how the quote proves the claim!” (use a DUHHH tone as you read this.)
“Yep. Wow.” (Wow. Wow. Wow.) This struggler has been empowered.
The Intertwining of Reading & Writing Recap
Writing on Command is not just the teaching of techniques, and what I mean is this:
1–WOC is understanding writing at a deep enough level that YOU understand everything you can teach with the one technique you choose to teach–understanding how you approach the teaching of the technique matters.
2–WOC is knowing that being a WRITER yourself matters. YOU model yours to them. (When students were asked at the workshop on Monday what mattered most–each said the modeled sample was most beneficial.They needed to see what it looked like.)
3–WOC involves circulating while they write and understanding this action is PARAMOUNT–the teachable moments make the difference between learning and not learning for the struggling students AND the advanced students AND every student in between.
Note: I once had a participant at a workshop tell me that Full Circle wasn’t new. She’d been teaching it for a very long time. Most of the WOC techniques aren’t new. She missed the point. Yes, it’s what we teach that matters. But mostly, it's HOW we teach them that matters the most. Full Circle is a game changer. Done correctly, it adds instant organization and sophistication to writing. It needs to be practiced over and over again. Students need to look at the most powerful examples of it to emulate it in their own writing.
We create writers first–let them see they are good writers--and then they ask “Did I do this right?” or “Is this powerful?” or “Check this out!” They start to care. The writer is born.
When I passed back their introductions Friday before their quiz, I told them how amazingly they had performed. They were beaming and showing off their skill to each other. Then I collected them back and showed them the orange crate where I was keeping ALL of their writing. “What if we send your writing on to your next teacher at the end of the year? What if we make a checklist of what Writing on Command techniques you were taught, a list of the techniques that were modeled for you that some of you used, and YOU check off the techniques you mastered this year?”
They liked that idea.
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