This one’s for the students: beat box

Hip hop, Write Like This

Move writing to the front burner:
Job apps, occupational tests, prefixes, suffixes, roots—
Write for Life!

Sentence complete, not the back burner, follow instructions.
Rise up—grammar trees in elementary?
Models in our schools;
kids with a hierarchy of needs.

Teach ye young artist
Write about your craft
Explain, expand your imagination.

Write for standards, 9–12
What’s the problem?

Premise 1, the real-world writer—
Understand your hard work,
your frustration,
your intrinsic reward.

The discourse,
why you write,
and POTUS
interrupt us.
Integrity
libel
slander
inflammability
the horrible example
the Donald, tweeting prez
gee whiz.

Learn to type, learn to write,
ten fingers, not two:
five times the value!

Like a list of standards—
Purpose and explain
express and reflect
inform and explain
evaluate and judge
inquire and explore
analyze and interpret
take a stand, propose a solution

Some good examples
to sample, with purpose
the source.

Premise 2, extensive teacher, real-world models—
Be a teacher! Model. Lead.
Investigative your experiences.
Encourage.

Writer letters
to CEOs,
human resource managers,
accountants,
engineers
each other..
Mom!

Model mentor texts
Examine the real world.
examples to sample
Low hanging fruit
and emulate.
You don’t have to be a novelist—
But How do they write?

Express and Reflect
sentence complete
save the free verse
symmetry
your poetry
for your journal, your diary
personal, reflective, shape yourself, are you a writer?

Express, reflect, shape—
Memoir Tweets? Get real..
Haiku and call it a day, eh?
Personal, reflective, shape yourself, are you a writer?

An alphabetized existence,
more interesting, compelling, and captivating
than a yawning timeline lesson.

Thirty-two favorite mistakes and the
Bucket List,
that neighborhood spot,
sentence starters,
the road not taken,
forgive my guilt,
reverse poems,
what my childhood tasted like,
childhood games,
a hard moment,
a watermark event,
your personality type,
a family photo,
Ask Questions!,
a treasured object!

What are your dreams?

Top 10 lists,
a so what paper,
birth order essay,
memory minutes.
Why should I care?
Reflect every day!

Burst the entertainment bubble with pen, paper, drafts—
skip the social media
typing is meditation—
inform and explain.

Write letters—all sorts:
advocacy, technical, marketing,
satire and sarcasm.

Your experience extends
beyond creating
a peanut butter sandwich.

My favorite words,
I was a witness,
don’t judge a book,
judge a book,
Facebook,
black sheep,
square peg and round hole,
unwritten rules—
stoke creativity

Think and share, meet the standards—
How does it work?
A leads to B

What is all this?
Free writing, AP course, composition?
In public high schools?
Still?
Finish your reading, prepare for creativity,
evaluate and judge,
make comparisons,
navigate consumer culture,
Write a review!

The real world of lit and back again.

Find the value
in narrative or essay;
read from your peers,
make big decisions.

Print ads,
flat screen commercials
propaganda techniques,
YouTube study,
Web site evaluation.

Teachers, set it up and break it down.

Ballot box.

 

 

Write Like This: Teaching Real World Writing Through Modeling and Mentor Text

Kelly Gallagher.  Steinhouse Publisher, 2011

 

 

“Plan like hell, and then wing it”. Thomas Newkirk

1. “A strong writing teacher creates the itch to write.  It’s deliberate.”

 

Conversations with Leaders: Principles of Effective Writing Instruction.   Zumbrum, Krause (2012)