THE MEANING OF UNITING READING AND WRITING

THE MEANING OF UNITING READING AND WRITING

Hillary Procknow, PhD

The University of Texas at Austin

Two Approaches to Supporting IRW:

¨  Empirical and Scientific Approach ¤ Based on studies,

quantitative information, brain science, etc.

¨  Philosophical and Theoretical ¤ Based on social

conditions, experiences, and reflection

Both approaches are valid…

Science says…

¨  “Reading and writing should be viewed as a single act of literacy” (Straw, 1990, p. 295).

¨  Integrated reading and writing instruction “eliminates the artificial boundaries of current separated courses” (Fry & Ecung, 1998, p. 35).

¨  But...teaching writing does not automatically lead to gains in reading and vice versa (Shanahan, 1984).

(from Holschuh and Deithloff 2013)

Science says…

¤ The two should be focused on continuously on every assignment and every text (Holschuh & Paulson, 2012).

Philosophy says…

¨  Students are not “empty vessels” to be filled like piggy banks; they should be considered co-creators of their knowledge – Paulo Freire Pedagogy of the Oppressed

¨  John Dewey argued that people “learn by doing,” rather than by “passively receiving.”

¨  bell hooks talks about education as the “practice of freedom.”

Using Philosophy to Engage Students in Reading and Writing ¨  Start with material that relates to their lives ¨  Provide challenging work and have high

expectations ¨  Allow students to participate in their own education

and meaning making

Starting with Narrative to draw them in, then nudge them out.

Relate to Their Lives

The House on Mango Street

¨  Starting with narrative keeps students interested and can give them a successful experience with reading

¨  Reading On the Lines, Between the Lines, Beyond the Lines

¨  Literal, Inferential, Evaluative ¨  What does it say? What does it mean? What does

it matter?

The House on Mango Street: Reading Components

¨  Color code themes in the book: coming of age; oppression; sexuality; being trapped; cultural differences

¨  Color code or mark with symbols all places in the book when a character appears or reappears: note what is going on around that character

¨  Explore plot structure diagrams

The House on Mango Street: Writing Components ¨  Low Stakes In-class Writing:

¤ Cisneros’s House on Mango Street has received criticism for portraying Mexican American men in an unfavorable light, by reinforcing stereotypes; in particular, she has been accused of painting a picture of Hispanic men as controlling and abusive. On the other hand, she has also been accused of not placing enough blame on the male characters of her novel. For example, after Esperanza is attacked, she does not blame her attackers; instead, she appears to be angrier at her friend in particular for not being there when she needs them, and for giving her false visions of love and romance.

The House on Mango Street: Writing Components

¨  Low Stakes In-class writing (cont.) ¤ Write an essay comparing the men in Mango Street to

the men in “The Men We Carry in Our Minds.” Consider what the men on Mango Street are like. Consider what the real life men in the essay are like. Make at least three points comparing them. Each point should be supported by evidence from the text.

The House on Mango Street: Writing Components

¨  High Stakes Writing: ¤ Scaffold with draft writing and graphic organizers,

exploratory questions all the way through ¤ Peer review and edits ¤ Choose a major theme from the book and identify three

instances of it in the text. Explain why the theme is important to the story. Compare this theme to your life.

Other Good Narratives

¨  American Born Chinese – a graphic novel dealing with stereotype and difference by Gene Luen Yang (2006)

¨  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian – novel with illustrations dealing with oppression as well as the love for and importance of reading. By Alexie Sherman (2009)

Why we can’t let our preconceived notions of our students color what we think they can do.

Challenging Work and The Educator’s Expectations

Did You Know?: Robert Rosenthal’s 1964 Study

¨  Teachers’ expectations of students is the number one in-class predictor of student achievement.

¨  If you tell teachers that certain students are about to grow intellectually, two years later, that’s what happened. Read about it here.

Challenging Work

¨  “No professor in sociology is going to fail them if they have the wrong ending on the verb, but they could fail if they are not able to read the book and understand what it says…If we taught them how to write about their summer vacation or a personal essay and were worried about commas, they would not be prepared to do the work of the university.”

Callahan and Chumney 2009

The Compassion Unit: Comparative Work

¨  In this thematic unit, students read samples of different genres, including essays, sociology and psychology studies, and blogs on the topic of compassion and empathy.

¨  The Unit culminates in a 3-5 page paper in which students are asked to compare several positions regarding the display and purpose of compassion.

The Compassion Unit

¨  Essays ¤ On Dumpster Diving, On Compassion, The Glass Castle

¨  Studies ¤ “You Can’t Buy Empathy” find here ¤ RSA Animate: The Empathic Civilization find here ¤ “Emotional Intelligence” find here

¨  Blog ¤ “A Word On The Boston Bombings, The Suffering Of

White Children, And The Erosion of Empathy” find here

The Compassion Unit: Reading Components

Text Connection/Question/Thought

So What?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Triple Entry Diary for “The Glass Castle” and “On Compassion”

The Compassion Unit: Reading Components

¨  Annotating or Interrogating a Text ¤  Can the text be divided into parts? Is there an introduction? A thesis

statement or explanation of its argument? Are there individual points made in the middle sections? Is there a clear concluding section? Mark all divisions on your copy of the text. Make your marks clear and label them so you will remember what they are when you come back to the text.

¤  Are there moments in the text when you think the argument changes significantly? Mark those spots in the text

¤  Are there places in the text that are confusing to you? Mark them and write a question next to them.

¤  For each of the sections you have marked and labeled, what is the argument contained in that section?

¤  Look at the differences between your answers in Question 4 and the actual language used in the text, especially differences in the language used in the text as opposed to your paraphrases of it. Are there significant differences? Why or why isn’t this significant?

¤  Find this and other assignments on CRAFTx.org September 2013

The Compassion Unit: Low Stakes Writing Components

¨  1)  In The Glass Castle, describe the relationship between Walls and homeless people.  How does she view homelessness?  How does she want to help homeless people?

¨  2)  In The Glass Castle, what is the author's main problem?  ¨  3) In "On Compassion," describe the relationship between Ascher and

homeless people.  How does she view homelessness?  How does she view people who help homeless people?

¨  4) What do you think Ascher thinks of Walls?  Use evidence from the text in your answer.

¨  5) Describe two significant ways in which "On Compassion" and The Glass Castle are similar.  Use evidence from the text in your answer.

¨  6) Describe two significant ways in which "On Compassion" and The Glass Castle are different.  Use evidence from the text in your answer.

The Compassion Unit: High Stakes Writing Components

¨  Write a 3-5 page paper in which you take a position regarding the display and purpose of “Compassion” or “Empathy.” Your job in this paper is to make an argument about the nature of compassion or empathy. You must use at least three of the sources we read to help make your argument. You are not to summarize the sources; rather, you should find evidence in them that supports your claim about these two attributes.

The importance of doing versus receiving.

Students’ Roles in Participating in Their Education

The Research Project:

¨  “Empowering first year (post-matric) students in basic research skills: a strategy for education for social justice”

¨  Constance Zulu (2011) ¨  Underserved high school students from rural South

Africa ¨  Students were guided through small, relevant

research projects that first year students don’t often have the opportunity for

The Research Project

¨  “Students reported that the collaborative research experience had a positive effect on their basic research, reading, writing, and critical thinking skills, and it empowered them to work in groups on a project. They had not been exposed to this experience at high school.”

¨  Active participation in their own education.

The Research Project Becomes a Debate

¨  Students of the class democratically vote for a controversial topic to research: gun control; legalizing marijuana; regulating food industry

¨  Students learn the basics of online research and how to do literature searches

¨  Students find journal articles related to topic: annotate, summarize, evaluate articles

¨  Class debate ¨  Write a 3-5 page position paper

Don’t throw away everything you have worked on and love so much…

Using What You’ve Already Got

First and Second Draft Readings of Photographs

The Kissing Sailor Read the blog here.

Fire Escape Collapse Read the blog here

Brainstorm ways to make this IRW

¨  Take a position ¨  Compare different points of view ¨  Find something meaningful

•  CRAFTx.org (coming September 2013) •  ReadWriteThink.org •  TxProfDev.org/apps/reading

Helpful Websites