Thursday, January 13, 2011
Chapter 3
I have honestly never put much thought into genres before; I know the ones I like to read, and the ones I like to write. In this chapter Dean writes about students needing a variety, but they also need appropriate models to show these varieties. Page 57 states, "individuals can only draw from genres that they know... the more genres they know, the more potential antecedents they have for addressing new situations". I have never been required to write more than a few genres which include research papers, essays, poems, biographies, and a few short creative pieces. After reading this chapter and after our lesson in class I realized that I have been exposed to many different genres I was just not aware. I had a very limited definition of what genres were and I did not even realize how big of a range there really was. I wish now that I had been given the chance to explore a variety of genres and been able to see them and practice them. I feel like that knowledge and practice would have allowed me the skills to be a better writer. Dean reminds us again about the importance of modeling different strategies to detect these genres, so that students can gain a better understanding. It takes more than an example text, there has to be a knowledge of structure and purpose as well.
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9 comments:
I agree with Jen. I was very surprised at the large number of genres. I had never thought about all writing belonging to a certain category, but it's true. Everything that we write falls into a specific purpose and form. I think that this is very important to think about as we teach reading and writing, because being able to manipulate these forms is a key element in being a successful writer and reader. From this chapter, I also really enjoyed her creative approach to teaching different genres. I especially liked her idea on the "how to" form. I know that whenever I think about how to papers, my mind instantly attaches the word boring. However, the student work that she present was imaginative and very enjoyable. By modeling different tones and audiences that the "how to" paper could be written on, Dean helped her students expand their creativity and make successful products while learning through guided process.
It is interesting to me that everything we discussed in class falls under the term "genre". I always thought there were a few genres that were connected to books and writing, but that was it--nothing outside the typical ten to twelve popular categories. Anything else I would term a "style" or a "type". I agree with Melissa that it is important to teach this concept to our students and make sure they are exposed to as many of the genres as possible.
Another important point was made by Dean when she said we should teach students to "question texts: what they do and why they do it and how they accomplish their purposes." This will help students develop better reading and writing skills by figuring out what works and what doesn't when it comes to their own work.
As mentioned in the comments above and by Dean, exposure and recognition of exposure seems to be a critical part of writing and reading genres. I probably wrote "exposure" a dozen times in my annotation of the text. What I found most interesting was the idea that exposure allows the writer to write the genre, but recognition and understanding of variations in the genres is what really helps the writer to control the writing.
Models as options rather than form was another concept that caught my attention. I feel that too many teachers are afraid of showing models for the fear of every student taking it as the one and only form. Because of this, I have had essays and papers in which I had no clue how to write. Perhaps using models is much like giving a lecture--if done correctly it can do wonders, but when done incorrectly, it does more harm than good.
What does everyone think of the applications Dean provides? I agree with Melissa about the "How to" paper. I think I will take some time to write my own "How to." I also liked the use of Your Can't Take a Balloon into the Metropolitan Museum. The idea emphasizes the fact that creativity is important and that there is no one and only form.
I agree with Kevin that Dean makes an obvious point that you must give the students exposure to the genres your are discussing. As a teacher and a student, reading the genres will give me information to write them and writing them will help me understand more about the reading from the author's point. I think she refers to this as "mixing texts" or "reading like a writer". She also explains that students must be exposed to multiple genres to help them understand how they are different and similar, allowing them to make connections and develop a knowledge of what to use and when.
We have talked a lot in class about modeling strategies and examples. I think her point is important to remember, that students do what they know. It won't be possible to teach how to appropriately read and write all genres, but as a teacher, we can help our students develop the strategies to tackling unknown genres on their own.
When I think back on my junior high and high school experiences with writing, I think about the typical five paragraph essay or learning about the six traits of writing that were posted all around every single English classroom I went in. Reading this chapter really opened my eyes to the fact that writing in the classroom can be so much more fun and engaging!
In order for writing to be engaging we must use models effectively, or as Dean states, we must use "active analysis" in stead of just reading a text and giving them a formula. Modeling how to analyze a text will help give them the "tools" or "strategies" they need to become creative, analytical writers and readers.
I am really into the last bit of this chapter: the imperative verbs applied with "how to" writing. First of all, I had to double check in one of my books regarding literature and language terms in order to know exactly what an imperative verb/verb phrase really is. Then that sent me off to find out what or how "indicative" really means to the setting of the mood in the verb phrase. Then Whammo - I got it. Imperative verbs are the big and bad (meaning really good) verbs that are the keys to organizing a "how to" into a great short story, just like the example in our book on how to ruin a play. I really want to try using imperative verbs listing for brainstorming and organizing a "how to" genre.
I think I'm missing the light bulb. I really don't understand the genre approach. I feel like the book is telling me that almost everything is a genre, but I need a specific list.
I do like the remark that genre structure must take purpose, audience, language, tone, and content into consideration.
I think that the today's class and the following will definitely help create an environment of genres to help us become more familiar with the different types and styles of writing that engulf our literature and texts. I think that teaching and learning different genres is something we are a little bit more familiar with than we think in regards to writing more than reading, such as the high school requirements of writing creatively, poems, biographies, resumes, news articles, etc but this is a strategy that absolutely needs to be applied to reading and i feel most often doesn't.
There are so many genres out there. I was awakened to a lot of new genres I hadn't even thought about in class. I like how Dean mentions that we need to expand our student's horizon and expose them to many genres. I thought I had, was that at the end of a semester I could review all the different genres we had touched in the class I will be teaching. We discussed these genres in Romeo and Juliet, you created these genres in your autobiography assignment, etc. Processing is very important. I also think that just throwing out different genres and seeing if your students know what they are and how to produce them would be very helpful. Kind of a test the waters kind of thing. Have them have confidence in their ability to combat new situtations that they will face in the real world.
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