CRAFTING WRITERS K-6
ELIZABETH HALE
Brief Summary
• This is a text designed to help teachers improve
their writing instruction and help students to
become better creative writers.
• Style not mechanics/grammar/spelling
• Many teachers focus on “using voice” and
“writing with detail” as a method to improve
writing, but in fact these are the goals; students
need to be explicitly taught how to do these
things.
Brief Summary cont’d
• Most people can read a piece of writing and say
offhand if it is “good” or not, but how do we
know? How can we teach that?
• Hale shows teachers how to teach the specific
elements (craft) - other than proper mechanics
and grammar - that make certain writing
“good.”
• This text includes many examples and practical
methods to teach the craft of writing.
• Why teachers have trouble teaching the craft of writing: knitting analogy
http://www.stenhouse.com/html/halepodcast.htm
“Specific Craft”
“Specific craft techniques are what I consider to be the
small building blocks of different aspects of good writing,
such as description, voice, and sentence fluency… [it]
shows students one particular way to write at a time so
that each one is small enough to hold in their hands and
own.” (11)
Examples: description using the 5 senses, word variations
Reading like a Writer
1. Read quality literature, and pick out your favourite
parts
2. “Why is it good?”
Chicken Sunday
By Patricia Polacco
“He pulled out a rusty Band-Aid tin.”
Using a brand name
• Brand names can sometimes evoke images that ordinary
nouns cannot
• Visualize the Johnson & Johnson logo, the metal tin with
creaky hinges, the visual of a Band-Aid itself, and
perhaps the cotton/plastic smell of a Band-Aid tin.
Trying it
Use a brand name to give a sentence more of an
effect.
She scooped some coffee into the coffeemaker, yawning.
She scooped some Folgers into the coffeemaker, yawning.
A blue car pulled into the driveway.
A blue Mazda pulled into the driveway.
“I’m calling your grandmother,” he shouted as he
wagged his finger in Stewart’s face.
Combinations
e.g. A sound and a visual joined by “as”
Trying it:
“Let’s play on the field today,” Elizabeth said as she put
on her coat.
The smell of freshly baked cookies wafted out as Talia
opened the oven door.
“I’m calling your grandmother,” he shouted as
he wagged his finger in Stewart’s face.
Variations of Words
Instead of calling them “exciting” or “strong” words,
show students that many words are variations of each
other, falling onto a continuum. Each continuum has
many ways to say the same thing, depending on how
intense you want it to be.
Word Continuums Based on Intensity
whispered
murmured
mumbled
mentioned
said
declared
exclaimed
shouted
barked
yelled
glanced
peered
scanned
looked
eyed
gazed
stared
scrutinized
glared
content
glad
pleased
happy
delighted
joyful
thrilled
ecstatic
uneasy
tense
worried
nervous
edgy
anxious
panicky
Trying it
Use a variation of the word “said” or “looked” to
give a sentence more impact.
“I can’t wait to see the Hunger Games!” Caitlin said as she took
her seat in the theatre.
“I can’t wait to see the Hunger Games!” Caitlin whispered as
she took her seat in the theatre.
Conferring
1. Notice and teach the strengths in
a student’s writing.
“My emphasis is on going beyond just positive
feedback to actually teaching students what
they do well”
2.Next Step
3.“Say it back”
• Example dialogue to show how Hale would
speak in a student-teacher conference.
• Real dialogue between Hale and actual
students, and scanned pieces of real student
work, which she discusses.
• There are practical examples of every ‘specific
craft technique’ or ‘conferring technique’ that
Hale mentions.
• Very useful for someone who wants to
improve the overall writing quality of
students but is not sure where to start.
• Felt repetitive; This book could have been
shorter. It got boring after the first half.
• Some things felt over-analyzed, such as the
chapter on use of punctuation as a “craft.”
What I learned
• Reading a piece of writing and fixing mechanics &
spelling comes naturally – in a conference, I could easily
talk about these things
• Teaching and conferring about improving writing style,
creativity and interest is more difficult.
• This book gave me more of an idea of where to start
• In order to teach students “good writing,” I have to
break down what good writing is, and why it’s good.
My use of technology
• Powerpoint
• Podcast
• Bitstrips
Connection to Research
“Writing can be a powerful way to process ideas,
reflections, and thoughts, whether one teaches or
not… Having a notebook makes a public
statement that writing is something adults do on
their own… we are willing to put parts of our
own lives on paper just as we are asking them to
do.” (Hale, 2008, p.3)
A wordle of the rough draft of my lit review,
“Improving Writing Instruction in the P/J
Classroom”
What stands out? Literacy, teacher, sharing,
audience, choice, process, interest…