What did you notice?

There is a general question I like to ask my students, particularly after they have been reading for a while. – What did you notice? – It’s a simple question, but one that often challenges my students. You see something that I have noticed about my seventh graders at the beginning of the year is that they know how to do sustained silent reading. They can sit still and appear to read for at least 15 minutes. Then when I ask what they noticed, they may tell me what the book is about, retell interesting plot related passages, and how much they like what they are reading. What I noticed is a general tendency toward glib over-generalizations, and story retellings. Therefore, what I noticed is a general propensity to read across the top as opposed to reading between or below the lines.

I adopted this question from Jeff Anderson, who writes about ways to teach grammar and editing as an integrated and daily element of the writing workshop. In Everyday Editing (2007), he explains his approach to teaching writing as an invitational process  (p. 14). In reference to teaching rules of grammar and punctuation he writes, “I invite students to notice, to read like writers, to come into the world of editing – a friendly place rather than a punishing place, a creational facility rather than a correctional one” (p. 15).

Although Anderson has made an invitation to notice popular through his books containing memorable techniques for teaching editing to mid-level students, the notion about reading like a writer originated in the works of psycholinguist, Frank Smith (1988), who is best known for literacy learning theories involving reading and writing instruction through holistic processes. Paraphrasing Smith’s ideas, he claims that writing is best learned in the supportive environment of a writer’s club, where students and teachers collaboratively study author’s craft by emulating mentor texts. A key idea in this concept, however, is that student’s see themselves as writers, which puts the onus on teachers to create that friendly and invitational classroom atmosphere that Anderson alluded to.

Smith’s language and literacy development theories have influence writing instruction across the grade levels. Using literature written for children and young adults as mentor texts to inspire literacy habits of mind in reading and writing workshops can be considered standard practice today. But, invitations, via a supportive atmosphere or interesting texts are only the basic elements of sound literacy instruction. Although, former classroom teacher, Katie (Anderson, 2007; Atwell, 1998; Dorfman & Cappelli, 2007; Dorfman & Cappelli, 2009; Fletcher & Portalupi, 2007; Lattimer, 2003; Portalupi & Fletcher, 2001; Wood Ray, 1999) Wood Ray attributes her writing workshop methods directly to Frank Smith’s legacy, she takes this notion of apprenticeship a step further. In Wondrous Words: Writers and Writing in the Elementary Classroom (1999), she claims that “Writing well involves learning to attend to the craft of writing, learning to do the sophisticated work of separating what it’s about from how it is written” (p. 10).  Ray is certainly not alone in calling for explicit craft lessons. Numerous articles and publications document how teachers use authentic literature to teach craft lessons from K – 12 grades. See for example, works by Nancie Atwell (1998), Lynn Dorfmann & Rose Capelli (2007, 2009), Ralph Fletcher & JoAnn Portalupi (2001, 2008), Kelly Gallagher (2011), and Heather Lattimer (2003), to name only a few.

This leads me back to my seventh graders. Asking my students to discuss what they notice when they read is both a practice and a mindset I try to develop among my students when they are reading. Within the first days of school, I explain to them that this year they will learn to read in an entirely new way from what they are accustomed to doing. This year, I exclaim, they will learn to read from the inside out. I tell them that they will learn to read like writers, in order to become better writers themselves.

What I haven’t told them is that reading like a writer will also improves their reading comprehension. But then, I have discovered, that I don’t need to tell them that. They have discovered it for themselves. This became evident the day that one of my students realized that the thinking charts, close readings, annotations, and conversations we were having about how authors write reflects the choices authors make about what to write. My day was made, when that student realized that the tools, whether they involve punctuation, sentence structure, parts of speech, imagery, or other literary devices, make all the difference in how well the writer’s message is delivered. The charts we compile during guided and independent reading merely help students to see patterns in an author’s style and technique. It makes the implicit explicit. Thus, reading from the inside out, from the perspective of a writer improves both reading and writing skills. And it all begins with an invitation to notice.

How do you get your students to make connections between their reading and writing and the texts they read?

References

Anderson, J. (2007). Everyday editing: Inviting students to develop skill and craft in writer's workshop. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Atwell, N. (1998). In the middle: New understandings about writing, reading, and learning (2nd ed.). Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook.

Dorfman, L. R., & Cappelli, R. (2007). Mentor texts: Teaching writing through children's literature, K-6. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Dorfman, L. R., & Cappelli, R. (2009). Nonfiction mentor texts: Teaching informational writing through children's literature, K-8. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Fletcher, R. J., & Portalupi, J. (2007). Craft lessons: Teaching writing K-8 (2nd ed.). Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Gallagher, K. (2011). Write like this: Teaching real-world writing  through modeling & mentor texts. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Lattimer, H. (2003). Thinking through genre: Units of study in reading and writing workshops 4-12. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Portalupi, J., & Fletcher, R. J. (2001). Nonfiction craft lessons: Teaching information writing K -8. Portland, ME: Stenhouse Publishers.

Wood Ray, K. (1999). Wondrous words: Writers and writing in the elementary classroom. Urbana, IL: NCTE.