Entry 7--Biographical, Expository, and Narrative Writing

I guess I never really thought about all the different genres of writing there were.  I never realized that these genres could really fit into every content area.  I am excited for my new found knowledge in genre reading and writing.

The first is biographical writing and I can see a niche for this in my social studies classroom.  Biographical writing is a motivator in itself.  Students love to write about themselves and others, especially when it is interesting to them.  I have always planned on having my students create some kind of piece about themselves as a way to create a classroom community.  Especially in adolescent education students can feel like they are just moving moving moving from classroom and no one really cares about them.  I will first use biographical writing to have my students introduce themselves to the class.   

The next fit I see for biographical writing is biographies.  There is a lot of stress on DBQ and thematic essays in social studies classrooms,  I can foresee teaching my students about biographical writing and having them use that skill in other types of writing.  History is filled with characters and many of them have undiscovered stories.  Students are always wanting to go deeper and beyond the textbook,  biographical writing allows for students to do so. 

The next type of writing is expository writing.  Non-fiction writing is done a lot in a social studies classroom---students are usually always writing about facts.  History conveys information to the world, but  I never knew there was so many ways of writing.  Sometimes I think because of the test driven curriculum we as teachers have to follow---we forget about the different ways of writing and getting the same task accomplished.  Sometimes I think its a fear teachers have--going outside the norm.  Any way I am ranting.  There are five different text structures Expository writing can follow--description, sequence, comparison, cause and effect and problem and solution (Tompkins, 2008, p.173).  I can see using all these text structures in my classroom one day.  Description they could talk about a certain event in history or in a geography type class.  Sequence can chronologically put events into history.  Comparison is easy---maybe two countries during WWII or cultures in the United States in the 1960s.  Cause and effect---write about WWI and the effects of the war on Europe and the United States.  Also they can write about an government or economic problem and lastly Problem and solution--students can write about a problem like social injustice and how it was solved.  Expository writing opens many ideas I have---you probably can see that in my writing right now :)

Lastly is narrative writing, which I am struggling seeing in my social studies classroom.  I am open to any ideas!!! (I just figured one out!!!)  But I am also a special education teacher as well and I noticed that narrative writing can be sometimes difficult for students to comprehend.  Students do a lot of narrative writing in primary levels, but I really cannot remember writing fiction in high school.  

The elements of story structure are key to narrative and I think its best to always review them with our students.  Plot, conflict (the different types), Plot development, Setting, Characters, Theme, and Point of View.  All these elements have to be present in a narrative---sometimes I think students forget about them and the work seems incomplete.

I just figured out how to use narrative writing in my history classroom--Tompkins even has a whole section on it---historical fiction, students love reading it (especially YA) why not write their own.  Using facts from the class, they can create a whole story about living in a time period ie: the civil war.  Students would actually be able to place themselves within the time period and create a work of fiction that is historical accurate in time and place.  Why can't students do that in a global studies class?  Wouldn't that make the topics more easy to comprehend?  I think so....
 Also narratives offer a wide selection of novels for students to read.  Many of them can spark interest for students and I think the more and more I read research---I see the need for students interest to be sparked when it comes to reading and writing.  

Allowing and exposing students to different genres allows them to find what they like and spark there interests.  Many students see writing and reading as a one sided task.   If we allow them to explore these different genres maybe test scores and everything everyone is so concerned about will go up?  How's that--food for thought.