A Road Less Traveled: Critical Literacy and Language Learning in the Classroom, 1964–1996 (Counterpoints)

__A Road Less Traveled:__ __Critical Literacy and Language Learning in the Classroom, 1964–1996__ takes us through what Robert W. Blake calls the "jaunty journey" of the English/English Language Arts classroom from its linguistic and literature foundations, to emphases on close reading techniques and structures to composing and responding to literature. __A Road Less Traveled__ heads bumpily into the path of learning how to work with "non-native speakers" and other "basic" students toward a (re)-burst of a renewed interest in poetry and drama, reader response, a process approach to writing, and the diverse student, showing through the often winding and blurry road along the journey of our literacy travels over 30 years, that what we understood best about reading and writing has stood the test of time. Cover 1 Contents 11 Acknowledgments 15 Introduction 17 Section I: The English/English Language Arts Classroom 21 Chapter 1: Behavioral Objectives and the Teaching of English (Robert W. Blake (1971)) 23 Why Behavioral Objectives? 23 Behavioral Objectives and Instruction 24 Behavioral Objectives and the Teaching of Poetry 25 Affective Domain 26 Cognitive Domain 26 Behavioral Objectives and the Teaching of Writing 28 Affective Domain 29 Cognitive Domain 29 Behavioral Objectives and a Stance Toward Teaching 31 Behavioral Objectives and Humanistic Values 32 Notes 33 Chapter 2: I See You, I Hear You, You’re OK: Humanizing the English Classroom (Robert W. Blake (1974)) 35 Notes 44 Chapter 3: The New English: Hot Stuff or Cool, Man, Cool? (Robert W. Blake (1970)) 47 Notes 55 Section II: Linguistics in the Classroom 57 Chapter 4: Linguistics and the Teacher (Robert W. Blake (1965)) 59 Notes 68 Chapter 5: Once Upon a Morpheme: An NDEA Institute in Applied Linguistics for the Elementary School Teacher (Robert W. Blake (1967)) 71 Introduction 71 The Program 72 Post Mortem 76 Linguistics in the Elementary School: Where Do We Go From Here?—The Edpa 78 Chapter 6: I See What You Mean—But Not by Words: Extraverbal Communication (Robert W. Blake (1973)) 81 The Dimensions of Proxemics: The Anthropology of Space 83 A Notation System for Proxemics 85 If I Don’t See What You Mean, I’m in Trouble 88 References 91 Section III: Writing and the Writing Process in the Classroom 93 Chapter 7: The Composing Process and Its Relationship to the Teaching of Writing (Robert W. Blake (1980)) 95 Understanding Composing in Writing 95 Stages in the Composing Process 97 Activities for the Prewriting Stage 99 Advice for Writers To Give Themselves During the First Draft 103 Activities for the Revising Stage 105 Activities for Editing 108 Bibliography 110 Chapter 8: Teaching Ideas: Back-to-basics: How To Talk to a Writer, or Forward to Fundamentals in Teaching Writing (Robert W. Blake (1976)) 111 The Composing Process 112 A Childhood Experience 113 Varieties of Writing 117 Skills of Writing 119 Better Sentences 120 Talking About Writing 121 Chapter 9: Composing for the Left Hand: Writing Activities for the Intermediate Grades (Robert W. Blake (1978)) 127 The Right Hand, the Left Hand, and Luck 127 The Right and Left Parts of the Brain and Two Ways of Behaving 128 Intellect and Intuition in Writing 129 Modes of Writing in the Schools 131 Assumptions for Composing with the Left Hand 133 Guidelines for Teaching Composing for the Left Hand 134 A Baker’s Half Dozen Activities for Composing for the Left Hand 136 References 140 Chapter 10: Composing as the Curriculum: The Albion Writing Project (Robert W. Blake and Frederick B. Tuttle, Jr. (1979)) 141 What We Planned 141 Inservice Agenda 142 What We Did 143 What We Learned 151 Bibliography 153 The Composing Process 153 Varieties of Discourse 153 Sentence Manipulation 153 Workshopping 154 Assessment and Evaluation of Writing 154 Chapter 11: Setting Up an Effective Writing Program in the Schools (Robert W. Blake (1981)) 155 What’s the Problem? 155 Myths About Writing and Teaching Writing 155 What Makes an Effective Writing Program? 158 What Makes Up an Effective Writing Program? 159 Essentials for an Effective Writing Program 159 How To Get It Done 162 Basic Goals for a Writing Program 163 But Why Do It? 163 Chapter 12: Assessing English and Language Arts Teachers’ Attitudes Toward Writers and Writing (Robert W. Blake (1976)) 167 Note 179 Section IV: Poetry in the Classroom 181 Chapter 13: Poets on Poetry: Writing and the Reconstruction of Reality (Robert W. Blake (1990)) 183 Poets on Writing Poetry 184 Obsession with Words 184 Need for Solitude 185 A Tempered Confidence 186 Why Poets Write Poetry 187 What’s Poetry Good For? 188 Works Cited 190 Chapter 14: Poets on Poetry: One Way To Write a Poem (Robert W. Blake (1991)) 193 Early Memory 193 Prewriting Task 195 Charlotte’s Process 195 My Process 198 Chapter 15: Poets on Poetry: The Morality of Poetry (Robert W. Blake (1992)) 203 Works Cited 210 Chapter 16: Responding to Poetry: High School Students Read Poetry (Robert W. Blake and Anna Lunn (1986)) 213 Background 213 The Study 215 The Process of Responding 217 Stages in the Responding Process 219 Conclusions and Implications 221 Bibliography 222 Section V: Responding to Literature/ Reader Response in the Classroom 223 Chapter 17: Using the Personal Response To Become a Learning Community: A Model for Secondary Students To Learn To Read Short Fiction (Robert W. Blake (1991)) 225 Reading, Writing, and Interpreting a Short Story 230 To the Students (Pre-Reading Writing Task) 230 To the Student (introductory Discussion) 231 To the Student (Initial Writing) 231 To the Student (Small Group Discussion of Initial Reading) 232 To the Student 232 What Does the Main Character Learn about the Other Characters? 233 What Does the Main Character Learn about Herself? 233 Evaluating the Text 235 Becoming a Learning Community 235 Works Cited 236 Chapter 18: Reader Response: Toward an Evolving Model for Teaching Literature in the Elementary Grades (Robert W. Blake (1996)) 239 Abstract 239 How Reader Response Works in a First Grade Classroom: Practice Exemplifying Theory 241 Elements of Reader Response in a First Grade Classroom 244 References 251 Section VI: Drama in the Classroom 253 Chapter 19: The Play’s the Thing for Middle School Students (Robert W. Blake (1989)) 255 Why Read This Play? (Rationale) 256 Knowledge the Students Will Assimilate and the Skills They Will Practice (General Instructional Objectives) 257 How to Teach the Play (Teaching Strategies) 257 Reading the Play as a Script 258 Reading Orally, Discussing, and Interpreting the Play 259 Discussing the Play as a Whole 261 Putting on the Play 262 Evaluation 263 Where Do We Go from Here? 264 References 264 Chapter 20: Converting Narrative into Drama: Using the Composing Process To Integrate the Language Arts (Robert W. Blake (1982)) 265 Adapting a Play from a Short Story 265 Analyzing the Story 266 What Happens in the Story? 267 Who Are the People? 267 What Are the Ideas? 267 Retelling the Story 268 Rewriting the Story as a Play 268 Creating Original Fantasies: Stories or Plays 270 Learning Communication Skills by Converting Narrative into Drama 272 Section VII: English Language Learners and Other ‘Basic’ Students in the Classroom 273 Chapter 21: Starting Off a Non-native Student in a College Basic Skills Course (Robert W. Blake (1982)) 275 Chapter 22: A New Look at Basic Skills Writing Instruction: A Teacher Workshop for Basic Skills Writing in the Secondary Schools (Robert W. Blake (1983)) 285 Skills-Drill Approach To Basic Writing Instruction 285 What’s Wrong With the Skills-Drill Approach? 286 Planning For a Basic Skills Workshop in Writing 287 Assumptions Underlying the Workshops 288 Outline of the Three Workshops 289 First Workshop 289 Foundations of Teaching Writing and Teaching Expressive Writing 290 Workshop Evaluation 291 Teaching Expository and Persuasive Writing 291 Third Workshop 291 Sentence Combining, Assessing and Evaluating Writing, and Setting Up a Basic Skills Writing Program 292 Total Workshop Evaluation 292 Solving the Problem of Basic Writing 292 Chapter 23: How Can We Help Our Teen-agers? (Robert W. Blake (1966)) 295 Section VIII: Teacher Education and the Classroom 301 Chapter 24: Is Teacher Education Governable? (Robert W. Blake (1973)) 303 Problems in Setting Up Competency-Based Programs 303 University Roles in Governance of Teacher Education 304 The Influence of Public School Teachers 306 Professionalism in English Education 307 A Hypothetical Program 308 Index 311 Blank Page 326 A Road Less Traveled: Critical Literacy and Language Learning in the Classroom, 1964-1996 takes us through what Robert W. Blake calls the "jaunty journey" of the English/English Language Arts classroom from its linguistic and literature foundations, to emphases on close reading techniques and structures to composing and responding to literature. A Road Less Traveled heads bumpily into the path of learning how to work with "non-native speakers" and other "basic" students toward a (re)-burst of a renewed interest in poetry and drama, reader response, a process approach to writing, and the diverse student, showing through the often winding and blurry road along the journey of our literacy travels over 30 years, that what we understood best about reading and writing has stood the test of time--back cover A Road Less Travelled: Critical literacy and language learning in the classroom -- 1964-1996 takes us through what the Blake calls the "jaunty journey" of the English/English Language Arts.