Spring 93 Vol 6 n°13

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ARGENTINA T E S O L

NEWSLETTER Spring '93

Vo1.6 N째 13

Inviting Children to Make Connections Between Reading and Writing Katherine Davies Samway and Dorothy Taylor

Sometimes we are fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to hear children spontaneously share insights into their literacy process.

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Not long ago, Homa, an eighth grader, explained in her reading dialogue journal how reading and writing can influence each other: l ... don't think that it matters if a book is a mystery or not for the auther to make you ask questions from your self. 1 think most 01 the books I've read make me ask questions from myselfin the beginning and 1 have written stories that make the readers of them ask questions and 1 can start another one that way too!!! Homa's remark reveals the way in which she was conscious of how writers craft their storiesand how her reading influenced her writing. Professional writers often ta1kabout how theirwriting is influenced by what they read;

Homa's comments show that children who are developing readers and writers and second language leamers like herself can make and express connections between their reading and writing. Sometimes we are fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to hear children spontaneously share insights into their literacy process. As teachers, we have made inferences about how children's reading has influenced what or how they wrote (e.g. "I saw her reading Tuck Ev erlasting [Babbit, 1975] last week, and this story of hers reminds me of it. I bet she modeled it after Tuck Everlasting" ). We realize, however, that we cannot rely solely on our hunches. We need to talk directly with students about these issues in order to better understand them as learners. We have, therefore, interviewed students to find out how theirreading influences their writing. Some of these interviews were face-to- face interviews with Taylor, and others were telephone interviews with Samway.

In many ways, literature studies serve the same purpose as writing conferences- they give students and teachers an opportunity to explore texts collaboratively (Continued on page 3)

INSIDE Inviting Children _

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TESOL Awards __

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Upcoming events_

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Content-Based .. __

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Totally H ...

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TESOL and ...

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Raise your ...

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Dialog Journal. ..

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An EFL~IS ...

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Ask the ATN

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Spring 93 Vol 6 n°13 by Argentina TESOL - Issuu