From Observation to Analysis Tricia McKenny EKU Writing Project June 22, 2015

Picture: What Does it Mean?? Look at the image provided. Spend a few-some minutes writing your argument to answer this question: WHAT DOES IT MEAN?

Billy Collins Introduction to Poetry I ask them to take a poem and hold it up to the light like a color slide or press an ear against its hive. I say drop a mouse into a poem and watch him probe his way out, or walk inside the poem’s room and feel the walls for a light switch. I want them to waterski across the surface of a poem waving at the author’s name on the shore. But all they want to do is tie the poem to a chair with rope and torture a confession out of it. They begin beating it with a hose to find out what it really means.

Observation vs. Analysis Observation: the action or process of observing something or someone carefully or in order to gain information. Analysis: detailed examination of the elements or structure of something, typically as a basis for discussion or interpretation.

Credit to Pete Edwards, Art Teacher, Madison Central High School EKU Writing Project Demonstration: Questions art students use to analyze art begin with OBSERVATION What do you see? Until the observation is complete and thorough, students can not begin to ANALYZE Moving Observation to Analysis

Moving Observation to Analysis with 3 Questions: 1. What do you see?2.3. Record a list of as many things you see in the text as you can notice in the time provided

Moving Observation to Analysis with 3 Questions: 1. What do you see?2. What could it mean?3. Record a list of as many things you see in the text as you can notice in the time provided Choose items from your first list (one at a time) and brainstorm some possibilities of what that observation could mean…note the could and not does!

Moving Observation to Analysis with 3 Questions: 1. What do you see?2. What could it mean?3. How do you know? Record a list of as many things you see in the text as you can notice in the time provided Choose items from your first list (one at a time) and brainstorm some possibilities of what that observation could mean…note the could and not does! Choose items from your second list (one at a time) and explain your reasoning for how that item could mean what you say it means.

Try It Out Groups: Song, Article, Poem Group 1: Song, “Imagine” John Lennon Group 2: Poem, “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” Samuel Taylor Coleridge Group 3: Article, “Scientists Look at Wooly Mammoth Genes to See Why They Died Out” LA Times; Newsela 1. What do you see?2. What could it mean?3. How do you know? Record a list of as many things you see in the text as you can notice in the time provided. Choose items from your first list (one at a time) and brainstorm some possibilities of what that observation could mean…note the could and not does! Choose items from your second list (one at a time) and explain your reasoning for how that item could mean what you say it means.

Reading Like a Writer “Reading is the writer’s way of visiting another craft person’s gallery.” “Reading-writing connections have gone beyond written responses into actual craft apprenticeships in the writing workshop. Rather than garnering ideas for what to write about from their reading, students are learning to take their own important topics and then look to texts to learn how to write well about those topics.” Katie Wood Ray, Wondrous Words

Reading Like a Writer: 5 Parts 1. Notice something about the text 2. Think about and describe the purpose of that element of craft 3. Name it 4. Think about other texts that have used this element of craft 5. Envision using that element of craft in your own writing

Reading Like a Writer Chart

Other Examples

Reading Like a Writer: Try It! Notice (Quotation from Work) Term/Name It (literary device/style technique) Author’s Purpose (Impact on Reader) Prior Knowledge (Where have I seen it before?) Application (Where can I try this in my own writing?)

Connection/Exploration I know the observation-analysis process is a great first step to understanding difficult texts for my students. I know the Reading Like a Writer process is a strong way to bridge the gap between how students read and how they write. I see the observation step is the same first step as the notice step. I would like to find ways to bring these two ideas together in more effective ways next year in order to strengthen the connection between what/how we read and how my students write.