Writing Ekphrasis:

Lake Michigan Writing Project

Teacher Inquiry Institutes 2015-16, 2016-17

Snapshot of Teaching Diction, Grammar, & Inference through Ekphrasis

Problem/Issue

How can we teach the conventions of Edited Academic English without diverting valuable instruction time from meaningful critical thinking and engaging curricular content?

Literature Review

Acknowledging the difficulty of teaching grammar that transfers to students’ writing, our innovation builds on research in sentence combining and sentence imitation (Saddler 2009; Asaro-Saddler 2010), yet tries to solve one of the limits of Killgallon’s (1998) curriculum—that students are asked to complete playful writing exercises rather than meaningful acts of communication. We use three simple questions called Visual Thinking Strategies (Yenawine 2013) to ask students to write about images related to our curriculum, but combine this work with direct instruction of grammar schema and sentence patterns (Anderson 2004, Anderson & La Rocca, 2017)

Innovation/Design Prototype

This ekphrastic poetry composition curriculum hones language to the most vivid and precise word choices. It builds mental schema that a sentence, at its root, is one or more subject+verb units, often combined by conjunctions. The work of ekphrasis, describing an image or work of art, teaches close reading, inference and interpretation skills.

1. Choose & show an image.
   • Connect image to content
2. Demonstrate a sentence pattern.
   • Scaffold a sequence from simple (subject - verb) structures to compound and complex ones. Let students notice the pattern. Build grammatical understanding.
3. Ask students to write about the image, following the sentence pattern.
   • While using the sentence pattern, notice, describe, infer, analyze, interpret, create. Use three VTS questions (https://emprobstvts.weebly.com/vts-the-three-simple-questions.html)
   • Check students’ comprehension of the schema and ability to notice and infer.

Hypothesis

Composing ekphrastic sentences enables students to develop inference and concise writing skills.

Specific Research Questions

1. What is the effect of this ekphrastic wordplay on student engagement with grammar instruction?
2. What is the effect of this ekphrastic wordplay on students’ ability to punctuate compound and complex sentences?
3. To what extent does this ekphrastic wordplay improve students’ ability to write/revise using vivid and specific nouns/verbs (diction)?
4. To what extent does the practice of ekphrastic poetry deepen students’ ability to describe, infer and interpret when writing?

Sources of Data for Analysis

• Pre/Post-test paragraphs
• Portfolio writing
• Individual practice on note-taking handouts
• Independent practice on Google Doc
• Final argumentative essay

Findings & Next Steps

1. Less is more
2. Images should enhance and connect to content
3. Built vocabulary
4. Assisted peer feedback
5. Enabled noticing what students didn’t know
6. Enabled explicitly teaching implicit grammar knowledge
7. Fostered metalinguistic awareness
8. Need to balance routine and novelty
9. Enabled collaborating with colleagues

Bibliography

Andrews, R. (2005). Knowledge about the teaching of [sentence] grammar: University of York, York.

Anderson, J. (2004) Mechanically Inclined. Stenhouse

Anderson, J. and W. La Rocca. (2017) Patterns of power. Stenhouse.

Clark, Urszula. (2010). Grammar in the context of teaching English: What next? Changing English, 17(2), 189-200.

Eilam, B. (2012). Teaching, learning, and visual literacy. Cambridge: Cambridge University

Fearn, L. & Farnan, N. (2007). When Is a Verb? Using Functional Grammar to Teach Writing. Journal of Basic Writing, 26(1): 63-87.

Gartland, Lauren B., & Smolkin, Laura B. (2016). The histories and mysteries of grammar instruction: Supporting elementary teachers in the time of the common core. The Reading Teacher, 69(4), 391-399.

Graham, Steve & Harris, KarenR. (2012) Common core state standards, writing, and students with LD: Recommendations. Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, 28(1), 28-37.

Grierson, S., & Orme, S. (2015). Speak out! how ekphrasis inspires writing on the edge. English Journal, 104(6), 47.

Jeurissen, Maree. (2012). Perhaps I really didn’t have as good a knowledge as I thought. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 35(3), 301-316.

Killgallon, D. (1998). Sentence Composing. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook Heinemann.

Locke, Terry. (2005). Editorial: grammar wars -- beyond a truce. English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 4(3), 1-10.

Macken-Horarik, Mary. (2012). Why school English needs a ‘good enough’ grammatics (and not more grammar). Changing English, 19(2), 179-194.

Noden, Harry. (2001). Image Grammar: Painting Images with Grammatical Structures. Voices from the Middle, 8(3), 7-16.

Sipe, Rebecca. (2006). Grammar matters. English Journal, 95(5), 15-17.

Weaver, Constance. (1996). Teaching grammar in the context of writing. English Journal, 85(7), 15-24.

Weaver, C., & Bush, J. (2008). Grammar to enrich & enhance writing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Yenawine, P. (2013). Visual thinking strategies: Using art to deepen learning across school disciplines. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard Education Press.

2017 All Rights Reserved, Lake Michigan Writing Project

Dr. Lindsay Ellis, Director, Associate Professor of English, Grand Valley S U Research Team: Melissa Ausua, Erinn Caley, Corinne Cozzaglio Martinez, Laura Fair, Sue Garza, Katie Jarvis, Ann Mahoney, Dustin Morley, Maria Rooks, & Sarah Slachter. With Erin Beal