Readers as Writers
Writers as Readers
Using Style Study
in the Classroom
by
Kristi Piper
Donald M. Murray
• Collected quotations from
writers on the craft of
writing for over 50 years
and eventually used them
to create Shoptalk
• Writes “Over Sixty” for
the Boston Sunday Globe
• Won the Pulitzer Prize for
editorial writing and has
published seventeen books
on writing
“Try to be one of the people on whom nothing is
lost.”
Henry James
“The difference between the right word and the
almost right word is the difference between
lightning and a lightning bug.”
Mark Twain
“Writing is hard work. It’s like being in a dark cave.
You don’t know where the walls are, the
boundaries of the play. You have to sense the
limits of where you are, what you’re doing and
where you’re going.”
Arthur Miller
Kathleen Dudden Andrasick
(Rowlands)
• Former language arts
department head at Iolani
School in Honolulu
• Helped found the Hawaii
Writing Project
• Opening Texts:
Using Writing to Teach
Literature
• As of June 2002 enrolled
at University of
Pennsylvania where she
was working toward a
doctorate in rhetoric and
linguistics
“Imitation is such a fundamental
element of human thinking and
learning that we should be able to
employ it in our teaching quite
naturally. However, somewhere
along the way, imitative practice in
the classroom has been devalued,
sometimes to the point of being
equated with copying or plagiarism.”
What is style study?
1. Using reading texts as
models for particular
mini-lessons
2. Imitating chosen aspects
of text in your own
writing
3. Dissecting text for
specific examples of
writing styles
Uses all 12 IRA standards
1. Using reading texts as models
for particular mini-lessons
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Parts of Speech
Sentence Structures
Word Play
Setting
Exposition
Genre
Audience
Show, Don’t Tell
Brushstrokes
2. Imitating chosen aspects of
text in your own writing
• Give each student access to at least one
model
• Allow an out (safety activity) because this
can be a very threatening activity
• Let your students guide the focus of
imitation
This is Just to Say
by William Carlos Williams
I have eaten
The plums
That were in
The icebox
And which
You were probably
Saving
For breakfast
Forgive me
They were delicious
So sweet
And so cold
3. Dissecting text for specific
examples of writing styles
• Andrasick discusses three categories:
1. Writing Next to the Text
Dialectical Journals
2. Writing Through the Text
Process Logs
3. Writing About the Text
Reader Response
Writing Next To The Text:
The Dialectical Journal
1. Allows students to record quotations,
observations, lists, and images from their
reading and then return to those entries for
reflection and comment.
2. Provides a useful way for students to converse
with themselves about both the what and the
how of their reading.
3. Student is reader and writer simultaneously.
Dialectical Journal
Entry Format
“The book says…”
page #
I say…
“I Don’t Understands”
“I Wonders”
Dialectical Journal Mini-Lessons
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Response Expectations
“Bring something new to the feast.”
Questioning skills
1. I don’t understand…
Problems, Fix-ups
2. I wonder…
Motivation, Predictions
The Giver
“No one mentioned
such things; it was not
a rule, but was
considered rude to call
attention to thins that
were unsettling or
different about
individuals.”
p. 20
I wonder what our school
would be like if we followed
the same sort of guidelines.
Here, it almost becomes a
game or sport, calling
attention to anything that
makes the other feel
uncomfortable, different, or
ashamed. It seems like in
Jonas’s world, no one would
grow up feeling left out or
having hurt feelings just
because they are not just like
everyone else. No one has to
be better than the other person
in Jonas’s group of friends. I
still think their society is
whack, but I CAN see this
aspect being beneficial.
Provide a focus for the excerpt:
(Great form of assessment!)
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Literary Elements
Point of View
Setting
Characterization
Elements of Plot
Problem/Fix-up
The Hobbit
“…when dingdong-a-lingdang, his bell
rang again…”
p. 17
onomatopoeia
The author used
this element to
show exactly
what the doorbell
sounded like.
The Hobbit
“At may never return he
began to feel a shriek
coming up inside, and
very soon it burst out
like the whistle of an
engine coming out of a
tunnel.”
p. 23
simile
I think the author used this
simile for two reasons.
First, to emphasize just
how ear piercing the
shriek was, and, second, to
show how shocked
everyone was. You can’t
see a train when it is in a
tunnel and so you may not
even know it is
approaching. That would
make the sound of the
whistle that much more
startling.
Excerpt from “Unveiled”
by Anonymous
• Find a quote which
demonstrates how the
point of view in which
this story is written
affects the piece.
• Identify the point of
view.
• Discuss your
reasoning for choosing
that quote.
• How would the story
be different if written
from another point of
view?
– The brother
– The mother
– Omniscient Narrator
Dialectical Journal Adaptations
• Toning Up: Use as
beginning of dialogue
journal. Have students
respond to one another’s
“I Don’t Understands” and
“I Wonders”
• Toning Down: Gear
personal response toward
the entire reading rather
than a specific quote,
Audiotape responses, Use
drawings as response
Meaningful use of style study can help ALL of
your students bring something new to the feast.
Questions?
Comments…