Benjamin's Chapter 4, Stort Statements, Oct 16, 2012
Benjamin makes a succinct case for concise writing, and she provides plenty of useful tips and examples along the way. (Even now as I write this I'm wondering how to make sentences denser with meaning!)
I love that Benjamin's gives us examples of wordy, inefficient writing, then points out the inherent problems, and re-writes the paragraph. Teaching by example works! Benjamin leads us through different types of writing assignments: the brief bio, contrast and comparison statements, and sentences that show cause/effect. She spotlights common writing mistakes and instructs us on questions of grammar such as how to properly use colons and semi-colons. (Never has anyone taught me when to use a colon or semi-colon, so this was a true revelation!)
I think these suggestions are valid and that these types of writing errors will continually arise in the classroom. I'm hoping to teach earth science and I'm sure there will be plenty of badly organized, wordy assignment, essays, journals, observations, and the like, which will come across my desk.
But do Writing Across the Curriculum programs intend science teachers to teach the use of semi-colons or not? I would love some clarification on this. Perhaps this is a question that is best asked your principal or school administrator.
In my opinion not all of Benjamin's suggestions are useful. Her lists of action words seem a bit forced. Am I really going to post a list of action words for my students to keep in mind while their writing a paper or report? Other ideas, such as making an informational diagram or chart of what you know, before beginning to write, makes sense.
I believe the goal of this chapter, this book, and this course in general, is to make future teachers aware of the kinds of mistakes we're likely to encounter, and to instruct us on how to straighten out those mistakes when they occur. By making teachers better writers, there's an improved chance that students will get meaningful writing instruction across the content areas.
- Michael Kaas
Nice reflection here- concise :) Though all academic writing should be explicit and clear, I think science teachers need to promote the most explicit type of writing-- as scientific writing is meant to be factual, straight-forward and without extra fluff.
ReplyDeleteI am not 100% sure what mean by semicolons... I agree with you that Benjamin's hands-on examples provide a way to visualize the concept she's talking about. Modeling is always helpful.
Hi Michael, I am a loyal reader of your blog, in which the points are simple and straightforward, and from which I enjoy and learn simultaneously.
ReplyDeleteBut I have some different thought when you say giving a list of action words to students is kind of pushy. I agree with you at some point, to high level students, word list seems limiting their creation and imagination, but to the majority of students, especially lower level and ELL students, an action word list will be helpful to them. It encourages them to use the right words as well. I wish my teacher would have given me more resource in the writing class when I was in junior high school.