Reading for Writing: Modeling the Modern Essay

Content

Throughout the unit, there has been mention of the term “audience” and having the students discuss who the audience is. In seminar, we discussed how an audience is who the essay is written for, or who is the intended reader of the essay. In the 13^th Edition of the Norton Reader, page xxxii, it explicitly states “Sometimes that audience is a single reader, as in an entry in a private diary; sometimes the audience is national or international, as in an editorial for a newspaper like the Washington Post or the New York Times.”⁷The audience is important for third graders to know because it lends itself to the author’s purpose, which is a TEK addressed in the unit. Oftentimes students struggle with this concept, and it has worked well for me when it is modeled by think aloud a few times first. If there are concerns about students knowing specifically who the intended audience is for an essay or story, the teacher may guide them to the answer, with special care to remember that guided practice is okay, but the end result should be for students to become independent learners and thinkers.

Another thing to consider when teaching this unit is keeping in mind who the author actually is. This is important as it lends itself specifically to the genre of writing the students will be writing on their own. Which brings me to the next point, genre. As discussed in seminar we talked about the different narrative genres of writing. Certain genres follow certain forms, styles, and subjects. The genre of writing the students will be writing for this unit is a literacy narrative. The literacy narrative is a subcategory of the autobiographical essay. The essay the students write will focus on learning to read or learning to write.

• Autobiographical essay This genre focuses on a significant experience in a writer’s past and draws out the meaning as the writer tells a story and reflects on the experience.⁸
• Literacy narrative A subcategory of the autobiographical essay, the literacy narrative focuses on learning to read or write. This genre uses “personal experiences, requires vivid details and a sharp narrative style, and gives a clear indication of the narrative’s significance.”⁹

After researching codeswitching and linguistics, I found that some argue the benefits of it and some argue that it adversely affects student writing. In analyzing the essay during seminar, “Learning to Read” by Frederick Douglass we talked about why Douglass chose to use the words that he did and why his mistress felt compelled to treat him cruelly. As I sat quietly in seminar trying to make sense of it all, I couldn’t help but wonder how his essay may have read or been written if his audience changed. What if perhaps, Douglass wasn’t speaking to college aged persons, but instead to his homeboys? He says on page 348, “In moments of agony, I envied my fellow-slaves for their stupidity. I have often wished myself a beast. I preferred the condition of the meanest reptile to my own;”¹⁰ Part of my research revealed to me that part of my job as a teacher could be to hone in on that skill that the majority of my students possess and exploit it to their benefit. William Brennan, the author of the article, about a speech pathologist, “Julie Washington’s Quest to Get Schools to Respect African American English” feels strongly that helping students switch dialects is how they will become successful. What was eye opening about the article was the science that surrounded it. Julie mentioned, “The experience convinced her that dialect was playing a significant and unrecognized role in the reading achievement of millions of children-and very likely contributing to the persistence of the black-white gap in test scores.” ¹¹ The problem or argument that is being made about code switching is that even though there are well intentioned lessons on code switching, it is the linguistic version of “separate but equal”¹² Instead of telling students that it is right or wrong to speak a certain way, simply have students turn and talk (one of the strategies that will be elaborated more on later in the unit. John Dawkins is a believer in that linguistics, the study of language, can be taught in the early grades.

Another element of code switching that has not yet been mentioned is English-Spanish (Spanglish). Students who code switch in this manner are fusing two languages together by deleting words or phrases in one language and replacing it with the other language. Take for example, the chart that is listed in the article written by Domnita Dumitrescu. She contends that this manner of speaking could be viewed as not being authentic, or mimetic. She goes on to say…