From Observation to Analysis
Tricia McKenny
EKU Writing Project
June 22, 2015
Picture: What Does it Mean??
Look at the image provided. Spend a
few-some minutes writing your
argument to answer this question:
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
Billy Collins
Introduction to Poetry
I ask them to take a poem
and hold it up to the light
like a color slide
I want them to waterski
across the surface of a poem
waving at the author’s name on
the shore.
or press an ear against its hive.
But all they want to do
is tie the poem to a chair with
rope
and torture a confession out of it.
I say drop a mouse into a poem
and watch him probe his way out,
or walk inside the poem’s room
and feel the walls for a light
switch.
They begin beating it with a
hose
to find out what it really means.
Observation vs. Analysis
Observation: the action or process of
observing something or someone carefully or
in order to gain information.
Analysis: detailed examination of the elements
or structure of something, typically as a basis
for discussion or interpretation.
Moving Observation to Analysis
Credit to Pete Edwards, Art Teacher, Madison Central High
School
EKU Writing Project Demonstration: Questions art
students use to analyze art begin with OBSERVATION
What do you see?
Until the observation is complete and thorough, students
can not begin to ANALYZE
Moving Observation to Analysis with 3
Questions:
1.What do you see?
Record a list of as
many things you see
in the text as you
can notice in the
time provided
2.
3.
Moving Observation to Analysis with 3
Questions:
1.What do you see?
2. What could it mean? 3.
Record a list of as many
things you see in the text
as you can notice in the
time provided
Choose items from
your first list (one
at a time) and
brainstorm some
possibilities of what
that observation
could mean…note
the could and not
does!
Moving Observation to Analysis with 3
Questions:
1.What do you see?
2. What could it mean?
3. How do you know?
Record a list of as many
things you see in the text
as you can notice in the
time provided
Choose items from your
first list (one at a time)
and brainstorm some
possibilities of what that
observation could
mean…note the could and
not does!
Choose items from
your second list
(one at a time) and
explain your
reasoning for how
that item could
mean what you say
it means.
Try It Out Groups: Song, Article, Poem
Group 1: Song, “Imagine” John Lennon
Group 2: Poem, “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” Samuel
Taylor Coleridge
Group 3: Article, “Scientists Look at Wooly Mammoth
Genes to See Why They Died Out” LA Times; Newsela
1.What do you see?
2. What could it mean?
3. How do you know?
Record a list of as many
things you see in the text
as you can notice in the
time provided.
Choose items from your
first list (one at a time)
and brainstorm some
possibilities of what that
observation could
mean…note the could and
not does!
Choose items from your
second list (one at a time)
and explain your reasoning
for how that item could
mean what you say it
means.
Reading Like a Writer
“Reading is the writer’s way of visiting another craft
person’s gallery.”
“Reading-writing connections have gone beyond written
responses into actual craft apprenticeships in the writing
workshop. Rather than garnering ideas for what to write
about from their reading, students are learning to take
their own important topics and then look to texts to
learn how to write well about those topics.”
Katie Wood Ray, Wondrous Words
Reading Like a Writer: 5 Parts
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Notice something about the text
Think about and describe the purpose of that element
of craft
Name it
Think about other texts that have used this element of
craft
Envision using that element of craft in your own writing
Reading Like a Writer Chart
Reading Like a Writer Chart
Other Examples
Other Examples
Reading Like a Writer: Try It!
Notice
(Quotation
from Work)
Term/Name
It (literary
device/style
technique)
Author’s
Purpose
(Impact on
Reader)
Prior
Knowledge
(Where have I
seen it before?)
Application
(Where can I
try this in my
own writing?)
Connection/Exploration
I know the observation-analysis process is a great first step
to understanding difficult texts for my students.
I know the Reading Like a Writer process is a strong way to
bridge the gap between how students read and how they
write.
I see the observation step is the same first step as the
notice step.
I would like to find ways to bring these two ideas together
in more effective ways next year in order to strengthen
the connection between what/how we read and how my
students write.