Entry #9: The Importance of Knowing the Author

IS IT IMPORTANT TO KNOW WHO IS WRITING A TEXT?

As I was reading through the Persuasive Writing chapter in Tompkins' (2012) text, I couldn't help but wonder what it would take for me to be persuaded or convinced when reading or hearing an argument. Tompkins (2012) mentions how the three appeals strengthen a persuasive piece by targeting readers' or listeners' logic, emotions, and character. Personally, I find character the most intriguing.

When someone is trying to persuade me to do or believe something, I am skeptical until I know who the persuader may be. Is it a family member who I trust with my life? Is it a professional who I trust? Or is it someone who lacks qualifications related to the topic of persuasion? In my opinion, if someone is trying to persuade me to use a new herbal supplement, I would listen to my family friend who is a certified nutritionist before I would listen to an ad on television. 

Marshall's (2019) Article

While reading the Persuasive Writing chapter, these questions led me to think of the article I chose for my Biography Genre Expert Project. In this article, the author wrote "This understanding of life writing as something constructed, the idea that it is open to critique, frames how language arts teachers approach life writing in the curriculum" (Marshall, 2019, p. 171). Marshall (2019) encourages readers to ask critical questions about who wrote the text and how they wrote it (p. 171). I argue that all writing pieces are constructed, therefore we must question all genres of writing. Similar to what Marshall (2019) described, I think one of the first questions we can ask is "Who is writing this piece and how does that impact what they wrote?" As readers and writers, our identities and backgrounds impact how and what we write. It may lead us to interpret a text in one way but someone with a different experience may interpret it in another way.

"The free encyclopedia anyone can edit"

With the widespread use of the internet, pretty much anyone can blog or write or post online. Anyone can try to persuade a reader to do something. How do we know who to trust on the internet? I believe that we should be teaching our students how to critique and ask questions of all texts so they do not willingly believe everything they hear. We should explicitly teach students how to research an author and determine whether they are a person they can trust.

With that said, maybe you are now questioning whether you should believe me in this blog. If you are, GOOD! I hope that readers question what I write. I am developing my understanding of concepts through my writing in this blog, so I am not yet an expert. I hope that the research I include makes me somewhat more trustworthy. Even though you may not trust me entirely yet, I hope that my my thoughts and ideas are at least considered before being distrusted. 

For my Genre Pieces project, I am writing from the voice of a journalist who is persuading readers to reconsider their perspectives on standardized testing. After exploring the importance of trust in the author in this blog, I am thinking that I may want to include an "About the Author" portion of the piece so readers are more likely to trust the information that I put forward. (hint hint: If you are still wondering if you should trust my thoughts on this blog, check out the About Me section on my homepage.)

As you continue to read and view, continue to question! Know your author and consider whether or not you should trust them. It took me a long time to learn how to think for myself, and I hope this entry encourages you to think for yourself more often.

References

Marshall, E. (2019). Life writing and the language arts. Language Arts, 96(3), 167-178. 

Tompkins, G. E. (2012). Teaching writing: Balancing process and product (6th ed.). Merrill.

Entry #8: Elise Takes Center Stage!

"From Tompkins (2012) and Dymock (2007), I have developed an understanding that explicit instruction of text structure, more specifically, the elements of specific genres, can support students across their reading, writing, and their comprehension. "

~Elise Coon, Blog Entry #7

Let me tell you about my brilliant colleague and friend, Elise! Like me, she also has a blog that she uses as a tool to reflect upon and deepen her understanding of our class readings. Click here to visit her amazing blog! 

I was particularly impressed by her connections in her Blog Entry #7. Elise began by describing how authors Tierney and Pearson (1983) taught her that reading and writing are parallel processes. This opened Elise's mind to the connections between studying mentor texts and teaching writing, particularly related to the structure of narrative mentor texts. She noted that studying the text structures of different genres can improve students' reading, writing, and comprehension because reading and writing are parallel processes (see the quote detailed above). 

Story Graph from Elise's Blog

In her post, Elise discussed how story graphs and story maps could be used as tools to scaffold narrative text structure. This led me to think of MacKay, Ricks, and Young's (2017) article about the use of mentor texts. I agree with Elise, that these organizers can be useful when explicitly instructing students on the narrative text structure. However, I would expand on this and suggest that before dissecting the text, students should listen to the story just for enjoyment. As MacKay, Ricks, and Young (2017) state, “Authors do not create children’s books to be deconstructed and used as writing texts but, rather, to be read over and over again for the pleasure of reading. It is through the reading that students begin to value a book enough to be willing to look to its author as a writing mentor” (p. 177). Once students have listened to the story at least once or twice for pleasure, they can analyze the structure in depth and "read with writers' eyes" (p. 178).

Story Web from Elise's Blog

I have used similar graphic organizers when conducting interactive read alouds involving narrative texts with students at the primary level. What I have not done, though, is use these same graphic organizers as a tool for writing. I have provided graphic organizers for writing, but not like the ones Elise highlighted in her post. As Elise wrote, reading and writing are parallel processes. It would make sense to utilize the same graphic organizer for both analyzing a narrative mentor text and scaffolding the planning of students' own narrative pieces that they will write. 

I can see Elise using the story graph to model how events are put in a specific order in narrative texts to create an engaging story. After modeling this once, students may find it entertaining if Elise purposefully puts the story pieces in the wrong order based on a mentor text they read! I can imagine students giggling at their teacher's silliness. They would say "Miss Coon, that is ALL WRONG! It doesn't make any sense!" and then correct her "mistake." This would further demonstrate how important it is to consider the sequencing of events when writing narrative texts.

While thinking about these two graphic organizers, I also wondered if these could be created into laminated mats for students to use in the prewriting/brainstorming phase of the writing process. Similar to the Card Strategy we used in class, I can envision students writing or drawing the different episodes they plan to include in their narrative on index cards (Kucer & Rhodes, 1986). Then, I see them experimenting with the order of the episodes by moving the cards around the different Xs on the mat/template. I know the Card Strategy helped me brainstorm, and I think adding in the template with the story graph would provide even more scaffolding for students as they try to determine the structure and sequence of their own narrative pieces.

A big shoutout to Elise for helping me reflect further on reading and writing as parallel processes! I do not think I would have made these further connections without checking out your blog. Don't wait another moment - check out Elise's blog for more information about reading and writing!

References

Dymock, S. (2007). Comprehension strategy instruction: Teaching narrative text structure awareness. The Reading Teacher, 61(2), 161–167. DOI: 10.1598/rt.61.2.6

Kucer, S. B. & Rhodes, L. K (1986). Counterpart strategies: Fine tuning language with language. The Reading Teacher, 40(2), 186-193.

MacKay, K. L., Ricks, P. H., & Young, T. A. (2017). Supporting young writers with award-winning books. The Reading Teacher, 71(2), 177-187.

Tierney, R. & Pearson, P. D. (1983). Toward a composing model of reading. Language Arts, 60(5), 568-580.

Entry #7: What Makes a "Good" Mentor Text?

 "One drawback of the current lists of ECCBYA and TSGA winners is the lack of diversity of the main characters....Although diversity is an issue, winners of these two awards can provide rich resources for teachers of young students looking for well-written and well-illustrated mentor texts to foster the development of emergent writers" (MacKay, Ricks, & Young, 2017, p. 178). *Link added

List of Award Winning Books
(MacKay, Ricks, & Young, 2017, p. 179)

In their article Supporting Young Writers with Award-Winning Books, MacKay, Ricks, &
Young (2017) emphasize the importance of reading strong mentor texts so students can use these as models for their own writing. The quote written above leaves me to wonder: Just because a text is an award-winner, does that mean it is the best mentor text for all students? As seen above, MacKay, Ricks, and Young (2017) acknowledge the lack of diversity in many of these award winning texts (and I am glad they did). However, in my opinion the authors briefly mention the lack of diversity and then continue to argue that educators should use these books as mentor texts. Personally, I think educators (myself included) should go beyond an award winning "stamp of approval" and think critically about the texts we choose to use as mentor texts. Shouldn't diversity and representation of people and thought be on the forefront of our minds when we choose mentor texts to use with our students?

Critical Questions
about Life Writing
(Marshall, 2019, p. 175)

While conducting research for my Genre Expert Project, I came across an article that offers a more critical perspective when it comes to choosing mentor texts for genre studies. Rather than focus on whether or not a text has won an award, Marshall (2019) argues that we should shift our focus toward diverse counter-narratives when choosing texts to use for teaching "life writing" (aka biographical writing). Marshall (2019) explains that educators often choose biography texts that highlight exceptional, heroic individuals who led to positive change. The examples that come to my mind are the "big names" we learn about in school during the Civil Rights unit (e.g. Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, etc.). We celebrate the change that these individuals created and the progress that resulted. But should we only use read and write biographies about activists whose efforts resulted in change? What about all of the other activists whose efforts did not lead to change or whose efforts went unrecognized?

What I appreciate most about Marshall's (2019) article is that she encourages educators like myself to ask critical questions when choosing mentor texts, particularly for biographical writing. Yes, MacKay, Ricks, & Young (2017) offered some strong, award-winning mentor texts. In my opinion though, educators must not rely solely on texts that have won awards. We cannot overlook diversity when choosing mentor texts any longer. How many strong mentor texts are not given an award because of the biases held by the people who choose the winning texts? How many biographical texts do not win an award because they do not tie up historical events in a nice neat bow? 

These two texts lead the voice in my head to scream MUHAMMAD (2020)! HRL LEARNING GOALS! CRITICALITY!!! Not only should teachers be critical of mentor texts, particularly biographical texts, but we can also teach STUDENTS to become critical readers and writers. As Marshall (2019) mentioned, educators can talk about the author's stance when students read biography texts and write their own. She notes, "Scripts, cultural conventions, and the writer's own perspective and politics inform the writing of a life story" (Marshall, 2019, p. 171). We can teach students to learn about their own identities and how their identities impact they way in which they read and write biographies (Muhammad, 2020). We can then help students critically read texts and analyze the author's stance, noticing how the author's identity impacted the way the life story was told. Many people think that nonfiction texts are all facts, that they must be true. I strongly believe that we must teach students to be critical consumers of ALL information, even information presented in nonfiction texts. Reading Marshall's (2019) article led me to question MacKay, Ricks, and Young (2017) further. I will certainly be more critical of texts when I choose them in the future, and I plan to teach students to do the same as they read and write.

References

American Library Association. (2021, March 24). Theodor Seuss Geisel Award. ALSC. https://www.ala.org/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/geisel

MacKay, K. L., Ricks, P. H., & Young, T. A. (2017). Supporting young writers with award-winning books. The Reading Teacher, 71(2), 177-187.

Marshall, E. (2019). Life writing and the language arts. Language Arts, 96(3), 167-178. 

Muhammad, G. (2020). Cultivating genius: An equity framework for culturally and historically responsive literacy. Scholastic.