Conjunction Junction

Tips and Tricks by Teachers for Teachers

From Your Reading Department

As I research for this newsletter, I find volumes from a multitude of sources on reading, writing, and communicating. Ultimately, however, nothing I have discovered is as powerful as what you, the down-and-dirty teachers of reading have to say. No, that's no typo; I meant to call you a reading teacher, too-there's no way to elude it. Perhaps this will assist some opf the doubtful out there (Not for the faint of heart. The following paragraphs suggest connection between reading and writing [GASP!!]):

Do You:

* Brainstorm? Research? Make Lists? Do Interviews? Use sensory details? Pick out favorite details? Work on making the main message and purpose crystal clear?

YOU'RE TEACHING IDEAS!

Organize information? Group things together that go together? Look for patterns? Write more than one lead? More than one conclusion? Work on transition words like next, therefore, after a while? Think how order makes information understandable and interesting?

YOU'RE TEACHING ORGANIZATION!

Identify the audience? Think about what the audience already knows? Wants to know? Adjust the voice/tone for the audience? Help students find their individual voices?Leave personal marks on a piece of writing? Make sure voice/tone matches purpose (business letter vs. narrative)?

YOU'RE TEACHING VOICE!

Stretch your student's knowledge of word meanings? Explore how words are used in the literature you read? Keep lists of favorite and least favorite words? Encourage students to define specialized terminology? Keep personal dictionaries? Encourage students to teach YOU new words?

YOU'RE TEACHING WORD CHOICE!

Read aloud to students? Reda often-and from a variety of written sources (tech writing, novels, poetry, business writing, novels, etc.)? Encourage students to read their own work aloud? Check sentence beginnings for variety? Show students how to vary sentence length? Work on tips for good sentences (avoiding "There is" and "There are" beginnings, run-ons and fragments)? Keep informational/technical pieces succinct?

YOU'RE TEACHING SENTENCE FLUENCY!

Ask students to proofread their work? Use dictionaries, handbooks, spell checkers, and other resources? Teach students how to use copy editors' symbols? Provide opportunities for students to practice editing writing that is not their own? Model editing using your own writing? Ask students to be editors for YOU? Post copy editors' symbols on the wall for quick reference? Model use of dictionaries, handbooks, and other resources?

YOU'RE TEACHING CONVENTIONS!

"So you see!
There's no end
To the things you might know,
Depending how far
Beyond zebra you go!"

-From Beyond Zebra!, by Dr. Seuss