Somewhere Russell Stauffer and Jane Hansen and Bill Martin, Jr. are smiling serenely! Thanks, Jennifer. You knocked this one out of the park!!
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Sat, 5 Jul 2008 22:00:19 -0400> To: > [email protected]> Subject: Re: [Understand] Reading/writing > connection> > > Joy> I had to think a while before responding to your post. > (Dwell in the ideas, > maybe??? LOL) The reading- writing connection is > something I have wondered a > lot about, too. Why did so many of my first > grade kids learn to write before > they learned to read? Why were the > strongest readers often the best writers? > It was, and still is, something > of a mystery. A few years back, I was asked > to teach a graduate level > summer course on the reading/writing connection and > I said yes...but I was > terrified because I didn't feel I understood the > mechanics behind it very > well myself. I agreed to teach it because I thought it > would help me come > to grips with how the reading/writing connection worked. > Well...not enough > people signed up for the course, so it was canceled. I was > really relieved > but also a little disappointed and have not really wrestled > with this topic > since then. Your question challenges me to think about this one > more time, > this time in light of what I have learned about the deep and > surface > structure systems from Ellin and our discussions on this listserv. > > I > think you have hit upon something that is important to Ellin's philosophy > > of literacy. I wonder if the reason she changes the names for the aspects of > > reading and writing workshop is because of the strong connection between > > reading and writing. Think of what the term"composing" lends itself to in > people's > minds. Reading comprehension is really a composition...the meaning > we create > in our own minds using our background knowledge and the author's > words. It > becomes a dialogue between you and the author and just as > something you write > (like this email) becomes a dialogue between the writer > (me)and readers (you > and others on the list). The only difference between > the two is who > initiates the "dialogue;" both are attempts to create > meaning using language.> > In thinking about both the deep and surface > structure systems, they are all > related to language...the use of and the > understanding of language. In surface > structure--there are the sounds that > make up language. You use your phonics > to speak, read and to write. You use > the lexical system to remember what > words look like to read them fluently > to understand some one else's message or > to recall their spelling to > communicate your message. With semantics...we use > that system to understand > the connotations and denotations of the words > authors use...subtle > differences in meaning make such a difference in what we > understand. And > when we write, we choose our words carefully...trying to > anticipate what > effect they will have in the readers minds in order to communicate > what we > want to say. As we use our comprehension strategies during reading we > build > our background knowledge which in turn helps us to write more clearly...> > > Reading reinforces writing and writing reinforces reading because, I am > > thinking, they are both ways to use language. I used to think that reading > was > receptive language and writing is expressive, but I think that reading > is also > expressive because of how much of the meaning is constructed in our > own > minds. We don't receive understanding by taking in the author's > words...meaning is > constructed with input from ourselves as the readers. In > a fashion, we are > writing the text along with the author. The same with > writing---when we write > we express our ideas we are anticipating how others > will react to and > understand what we write. We think about how others will > be understanding > it...receptively and write accordingly. Once again, it is > a negotiation of sorts > between the writer and the readers.> > Does this > make sense? Just some Fourth of July weekend ponderings. I would > love to > hear what others think...> Jennifer> > > > In a message dated 7/3/2008 > 6:47:44 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:> > I'm > wondering about the reading/writing connection. Ellin talks about them > > together in her discussion of the six structure systems. I'd like to explore > > this further. How does reading support writing, and how does writing > support > reading? I've seen this, but would like to understand the mechanics > better.> > > > > > > > > **************Gas prices getting you down? Search > AOL Autos for > fuel-efficient used cars. > (http://autos.aol.com/used?ncid=aolaut00050000000007)> > _______________________________________________> Understand mailing list> > [email protected]> > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org _________________________________________________________________ It’s a talkathon – but it’s not just talk. http://www.imtalkathon.com/?source=EML_WLH_Talkathon_JustTalk _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list [email protected] http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
