Writing+is+Dialogue

House, Jeff. //Writing Is Dialogue: Teaching Students to Think (and Write) like Writers//. Norwood: Christopher-Gordon Publishers, Inc., 2006.

Synopsis:

Jeff House wants all students to move beyond the formal writing assignment by using writing as a tool in their daily lives. In order to reach this goal, he argues for the use of an inductive approach to creating and analyzing written work. So what exactly does “inductive” mean? House explains, “Inductive thinking is an exploration, a rummaging of the cabinet in search of something to cure what ails us. It gathers particulars and then, sensing a pattern, begins to assemble them into a coherent whole” (p.4).

House views writing as a continuum of three styles— suggestive, informative, and critical—which start with the most personal and move to the most formal. The needs of the writer and the purpose of the work will call for the necessary style.

Ultimately, House believes that English teachers, on average, are currently doing a major disservice to students by the way they teach writing in general. Students have been so ingrained to view writing as an end to a mean—i.e., the thesis and final grade—that they completely overlook the importance of the writing process. “Writing yields meaning, and when we approach the task inductively, we enable students to see how what they write connects them to the world outside the classroom. In helping them find meaning, we clarify for them how writing is purposeful, not just the fulfilling of a course assignment” (p.41).

With the help of this book, English teachers can assist their students in becoming not only stronger writers, but also deeper thinkers, with the ultimate aim of allowing the students to rediscover their unique, empowering voices that have been lost in the monotonous and convoluted structure of school. In the end, House just wants to show students that English class can be fun again, and I think he does a stellar job fulfilling this goal.

Classroom Application:

Jeff House has created a wonderful resource for English teachers in this text. The book is organized clearly, and I could definitely see myself reaching for this book again and again in the future as I create lesson plans. The middle part of the text is organized into four main parts, based on the four parts of the induction process: gathering resources, structuring ideas, developing a voice, and analyzing literature. Each part describes the best instructional methods, provides student sample work, and explains a variety of lesson plans. The last part of the text focuses exclusively on the practical application of teaching students the inductive writing process. What’s really nice about this book is the fact that it gives specific sample units for grades seven through twelve. There is also a CD with additional assignments, handouts, media, and student samples.

As a future teacher, I really enjoyed House’s ingenuity—he takes the most basic English material and transforms it into something completely new and interesting through his inductive teaching strategies. For example, I found his section on helping students develop their own voices extremely helpful. He analyzes the importance of diction, syntax, tone, sentence patterns, and even punctuation, and he gives wonderful teaching strategies for each.

Also, I found the section on analysis unbelievably enlightening. House lists the major types of analysis—textual, sociological, psychological, mythological, and deconstruction—and delves into each, focusing on how students can best comprehend and use these styles of studying written work. Without these analyzing skills, students will not reach their fullest potentials in exploring the world’s greatest books and producing their own writing. House reminds us that the ability to read and write are completely interrelated—so much so that a deficiency in one will hold back the development of the other.