Old School Writing Workshop

Deirdre Sullivan joins OSWW

OSWW is growing its program and coaching team this year. Kate and I are thrilled to have Deirdre Sullivan join us for coaching and workshop instruction. Her extensive experience, unique talents with teaching kids with different learning styles and needs, and enthusiasm for all things grammar makes this a perfect fit for all.  Deirdre is already coaching students this summer and will be co-teaching Fall 2011  OSWW Fundamentals (more details on that soon).  Here is more on Deirdre:

Deirdre Sullivan, a former English and Spanish teacher, also supervised the Write Place, a peer mentoring program at Fenwick High School in Oak Park. She graduated cum laude from Boston College where she majored in English and minored in International Relations with a concentration in Spanish. During college, Deirdre worked as a copy editor on the Sub Turri yearbook. She believes it is pertinent for students to fine-tune basic English grammar skills in order to advance to composition level writing.  Deirdre has a personal interest in assisting students with special needs, but has been a passionate educator for varied levels of learners; over the past twenty years she has been a classroom instructor for students ages 7 to 70. 

"Good reading is hard writing."

Kate and I have chosen select quotes about writing to adorn our OSWW manuals. This simple quote --by the late, great Anonymous-- reminds us that writing is demanding.  By dumb-luck, today I stumbled upon an article with a unique take on this truth.

While I rushed about the kitchen cleaning up after dinner, a headline peeped out at me  from amongst the scattered mail and other distractions littering my counter: "What John Keats Can Teach a CEO" (Wall Street Journal, April 18).  I could not resist; the dishes could wait.

What does poetry have to do with business? In our day of blogging, email, and Twitter, brevity and clarity matter more. According the author, poets have much to teach us about "saying a lot --and saying it memorably--in small spaces."

So, as it is National Poetry Month, pick up your Eliot, Dickinson, Yeats, or Collins. It may help you land your next deal. Better yet, you may just enjoy reading poetry again.

-Molly  

A Private Place for Writing...

If only each of us had a writing shed: imagine the novels we'd churn out! We especially like Pollan's because it appears to have a napping nook (foreground). One can dream, right?  Enjoy this short picture survey of famous writers'  hideouts, from re-nest.com.

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We are celebrating National Grammar Day here at OSWW!

In case you haven't celebrated this important holiday before, you can learn more here. Kate will be writing a haiku about the value of vivid verbs. We'll publish it soon.

-Molly

 

Writing instruction: quality, frequent feedback vs. quantity?

I keep telling my kids that if you want to improve at something, you have to practice.  It would be nice to sit down at the piano and automatically play beautifully, but that is not the way it works.  It is the same for writing.  Writing is a skill;it takes time, effort, and patience. 

 Studies show that students today are not writing enough in school.  Most parents don’t need a study to tell them this bit of information.  Often I hear parents lament that their children are not getting enough practice writing and consequently not enough instruction on how to improve their writing. 

 Molly pointed out an interesting article to me the other day on The Chronicle of Higher Education website.  The article, “Writing Assignments Are Scarce for Students in 2 Majors at Texas Colleges”, makes many valid (and scary) points about the lack of writing going on in our higher learning institutions.  Being required to read and write on a regular basis, as the article points out, are integral to the mastering of critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing.  The good news is that according to some scholars, that doesn’t have to mean working on lots of large writing assignments.  The key is to work on the writing process and receive frequent, quality feedback. 

 Molly and I believe one-on-one feedback is essential to help students strengthen their writing skills. Understanding the writing process and what it means to edit is one of our main goals when working with a student.  Obviously, the goal when writing is to produce a well-written and interesting paper, but when teaching a student how to write, it is equally important to focus on the process.

Check out the article at here.

-Kate

 

WSJ article: "How to Raise Boys who Read"

 
This WSJ article by Thomas Spence makes a lot of sense. One aspect that it does not discuss is the degree to which our household culture influences children. As my husband, Jerry, put it: "Taking away video games and filling your shelves with great books won't do any good if parents spend their free time watching Jerry Springer and reading trashy magazines."  

That is true. But what if parents raised the "cultural I.Q." of their households by modeling the behavior they wish from their children? Such a culture needs to be authentic, but if we all raise the bar a bit, I think kids would more likely meet our expectations. Watch out: they might even choose to read something good, something that elevates their minds, absent the parental bribe or threat. Perhaps this is easier said (or written) than done --as I type this, my four-year-old is playing Wii Star Wars. I'll report back in a few years. 

-Molly

Beware the Typo Hunters: coming soon to the western suburbs?

 

Slow reading in a fast-paced world

I've always considered myself to be a slow reader. As a child, I'd try to read faster based on the youthful notion that "fast" trumps slow any day, in any endeavor. In my studies, however, I ultimately resigned to reading at my poky personal pace because it proved the best one for me: my comprehension and appreciation of the written word diminished so much when I pushed to read faster that I'd lose whatever benefit I'd targeted by speeding up.  The harried mom in me is grateful that renewing library books is so easy today (I can't remember finishing one by the original due date). But now I may start bragging about being a slow reader! This article from The Guardian explains why we might count "slow reading" as a strength. 

"Slow reading", though perhaps counter-cultural today, is a familiar concept to serious English students. When instructing high-school students, I use the term "close reading", which I shamelessly borrow from Jack Lynch, the Rutgers English professor and grammarian. I like his approach to grammar and writing instruction, and encourage anyone interested in these subjects to visit Lynch's website. -Molly