Persuasion and the Writer's Notebook

This week I was planning with teachers as they made preparation for the next term’s work. Their major writing focus will be persuasive texts and the question arose as to how to make a strong connection with the writer’s notebook and the persuasive texts. This set me to thinking.

I have harboured a concern that many teachers are not sure how to use the writer’s notebook across the genres. It seems okay when the focus is narratives or poetry, but they appear uncertain as to how to best use the notebook as a resource for developing ideas. It is important to see the notebook as launching pad for writing. So, how do we make the notebook our starting point?

I started to think about the ways I could support the teachers with whom I was planning. What could I be doing as a writer to model for them and their students?

It was then that an idea came calling! For the next three weeks I intend to link my reading of local, national and global issues such as global warming, drought, poverty, education, climate change etc to my notebook writing. As I notice articles in newspapers, on the internet, in magazines, -or as I watch a television report on a topical issue I will write about that issue from a personal perspective. I will document my various opinions in the hope of finding my voice on these issues.

At this point in time my aim is not to write a persuasive essay. It is purely to develop a stance and see where it takes me as a writer. At the same time, I will talk about these issues, with friends, family and anyone else who comes by. A glass of shiraz, and a stimulating discussion sound quite appealing. In this way these pre writing conversations will assist me to refine my view. I am aware that my writer’s notebook is a place to collect ideas and experiment, so that’s exactly what I intend to do.

When the new term begins, I will have a collection of writing to share with the teachers and students with whom I work. I will be able to share my discoveries and I can invite them to take a similar journey.

I see this notebook writing as a foundation for developing a persuasive essay. When I reach this point, I can look more closely at the text features and structure of persuasive texts. My initial writing will help me find my argument and the structure will assist me to construct it effectively. It is at this point that I lift my notebook ideas out into the light. I will develop them further. My notebook will have served me well as an incubator for my ideas, my thinking, my voice.

Often when teachers ask students to respond to newspaper articles and the like, they dish up a précis, or recount of the documented issue. We don’t want the 5W’s of the journalistic world at this point. We want a response that clearly shows what the writer thinks, where they stand, what they wonder about, and what questions remain. To avoid this time honoured rehashing of events we need to get them to talk to other students regarding their response. This must take place before they contemplate picking up a pen or pencil. To facilitate this, small group discussion, partner sharing or random sampling could be utilised. We must not forget what the aim is here - to get them thinking and talking to their peers. This pre writing conversation allows students to articulate their ideas prior to writing. Their writing intentions and their point of view have a chance to form, and develop. Then it’s off to the notebook to pour out and capture their thoughts.

I look forward to next term, but first I look forward to my personal writing challenge and what I discover along the way…

I'll keep you posted.

Comments

  1. Anonymous15 May 2019 at 23:03

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular With Other Visitors

Writing Opposite Poems

Image
 O pp o s ite  P oem s In his book, ' How To Write Poetry,'  Paul Janeczko presents the idea of opposite poems. Paul suggests they could also be referred to as antonym poems. This is wordplay and it's fun to try. Here are some examples Paul provides to help us see very clearly how these short little poems work. I think the opposite of chair Is sitting down with nothing there What is the opposite of kind? A goat that butts you from behind Paul Janeczko You will  notice the poems are written in rhyming couplets. They can be extended so long as you remember to write in couplets. Paul shows us how this is done. What is the opposite of new? Stale gum that's hard to chew A hot-dog roll as hard as rock Or a soiled and smelly forgotten sock You might notice that some of Paul's opposite Poems begin with a question. The remainder of the poem answer the question posed. Opposite poems are a challenge, but it is a challenge worth trying. Not eve...
Read more

Writing About Reading - Reading Reflection Journals:

Image
UPDATED February 2022 Writing in response to literature can be a great way for students to organize their thoughts, explore what they think, and generate ideas. One of the strengths of writing in journals is that it allows students to capture all of those great ideas that generally float off into the air during the discussion.  Journal writing can also become drudgery if students are asked to write too often, given little choice or inspiration in what to write, or if they simply don't have anything to say. While some students eagerly share their impressions about selections they have read in class discussions, others are less comfortable and keep their thoughts to themselves. In an effort to encourage all students to think more about what they read and confidently share their observations and opinions, some teachers are turning to the reading reflection journal and are gaining insights they never anticipated.  The Value of Reflection Journals   Journals assist teachers...
Read more

Learning How to 'Zoom In' When Writing

Image
It is important for young writers to understand that not all parts of a story are equal. There are parts through which a writer moves quickly, and important parts where the writer slows down and lingers a while. This is where the writer might intensify the action or reveal the character’s reactions in greater detail. Young writers need to know that this is a deliberate strategy on the part of the author. The author consciously zooms in. The writer uses a magnifying glass to view a part of the story more closely; to focus on a moment and to slow down time. When an important part of the story is enlarged upon, it   is a signal to the reader, that this part of the story is important. The strategy of ‘zooming in’ goes by many names: ‘exploding a moment’ ‘magnifying a moment’, ‘hotspot’ ‘snapshot’, ‘adding detail’ or ‘slowing the action.’  What ever the name, the idea is the same. The author writes in a way that expands a significant part of the story with the intentio...
Read more

Slice Of Life Story-The Trials Of A Left Handed Writer

Image
Amazingly I learnt to write using my left hand. An achievement against the prevailing beliefs of the day. My very first teacher saw it as her mission in life to ‘fix’ the poor, wretched little boy suffering from what she clearly diagnosed as left handed disease. She must have thought, 'This child must be re formatted! If he remains left handed he will be forever condemned to writing in a scrawl that no one will be able to read. Ugly hand, ugly hand.' ...They tried to say it couldn't be done, it mustn't be done. They took the pencil out of my left hand and placed it in my right hand. It felt unnatural. It felt weird. It was not right. More to the point it was not left. I was not about to conform. At least they didn't try tying my hand behind my back. Watch me I said. I may be an oddball, left handed scribbler but I am a determined oddball. I mean how boring would the world be if everyone wrote with their right hand? So I dug my toes in –and my hands to...
Read more

Exploring Themes in Poetry With Emerging Writers

Image
There is so much more to poetry than haiku and acrostics. Yet, so many young poets never get to experience the rich breadth of poetry beyond these highly structured forms. Why? Primarily, it’s about their teachers comfort levels with poetry. We often teach to what we know, meaning that being adventurous and taking young poets into new realms is not part of the poetic landscape for many. This sells young poets and poetry itself short. Last week I had the pleasure to again work with a group of young poets from Derrimut Primary School grade 5/6 in Melbourne’s west. We have been exploring patterns and repetition in poetry. We have explored personification as a literary device to develop the writing of poetry. We delved into the idea of writing through a mask to provide inanimate and animate entities with a voice. They told stories in words from their own perspective. On this occasion we again went to the edges and began to explore poetry through themes. We discussed a range ...
Read more