What We Say Matters Diction in AP Preparation American Studies English Sara E. Jones - Illinois Writing Project 2018
Context: An Acronym Definition What is “AP”? “Advanced Placement” is a series of high-stakes ● tests owned by College Board that cover many subjects. These tests exempt students from taking associated college classes. While there is no scripted curriculum, the test in ● AP English Literature focuses exclusively on traditional literary analysis.
Context: General Background Information I teach Pre-AP juniors (though I’ve taught ● these lessons with freshmen, too!), who are largely math- and science-focused people. You’ll see math and logic crop up in my instructions, especially in step-by-step processes. We start the year with an important ● foundational conversation using Accountable Talk (Michaels et. al): Does the language we use matter? Invariably, the kids decide that it does matter.
Context: Not Excuse, but Explanation What I’m about to show you is about ten class ● days of work. You’ll notice that, in the instructions, the words I ● want my students to remember are in ALL CAPS. At some point in this string of lessons, we stop to ● discuss how powerful (negatively) it can be to use hate speech, because it takes three or four lessons for that to percolate through enough of the class’s consciousness for it to spontaneously arise. I could plan it, but I’ve found that it’s much more pointed when it arises naturally.
Contention 1: Pulling Back the Curtain: Jean Piaget proposed that to learn new things, ● human beings first must build schema , which are the basic units of knowledge. By making learning explicit, we begin the process of creating these “understandings” (qtd. in McLeod). Think of it like file drawers. If I ask you to put ● away a file marked “English Stuff,” but there’s no drawer in the cabinet for files that start with an E, and no drawer for files that start with an S, what are you going to do?
Contention 2: The Bowling Ball Theory (MKO, ZPD, scaffolding, and intellectual bravery) “Social learning tends to precede development” and requires ● “someone who has a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, with respect to a particular task, process, or concept” (the MKO). The “difference between what a child can achieve independently and what a child can achieve with guidance and encouragement from a skilled partner” is the ZPD, where “the most sensitive instruction or guidance should be given, allowing the child to develop skills they will then use on their own” (qtd. in McLeod).
Contention 3: The Spiral Theory (revisiting work, metacognition, and celebrating your victories), aka The Diamond “A spiral curriculum is one in which there is an ● iterative revisiting of topics, subjects, or themes throughout the course. A spiral is not simple repetition of the topic taught. It requires also the deepening of it, with each successive encounter building on the previous one.” It requires, 1) students to revisit topics taught, 2) increasing levels of difficulty, 3) new learning related to previous learning, and 4) the competence of students increases. (qtd. in Harden & Stamper 1999)
Contention 4: Metacognition is All “In metacognitive conversation, participants ● become consciously aware of their mental activity and are able to describe it and discuss it with others. Such conversation enables teachers to make their invisible cognitive activity visible and enables teachers and students to reflectively analyze and assess the impact of their thinking processes” (Schoenbach et. al 26).
Contention 5: The Basketball Theory (practice prevents you from looking foolish!) “Teachers should think of practice not as rote repetition, but as deliberate, goal-directed rehearsal paired with reflection on problem-solving processes… That is, teachers should always design practice activities with the goal of transferring knowledge to new and more complex problems” (Brabeck).
Contention 6: Language and Identity are Inextricably Bound “Language is tied up with identity, in that ● individual speakers express their choice of identity by their choice of language… Through such “acts of identification” or “acts of identity,” speakers signal their degree of affiliation with one sociocultural group or another… revealing through their personal use of language their sense of social and ethnic solidarity or difference” (Le Page & Keller 181).
Approach: Prep Work IF language = communication, ● AND communication = 2 or more parties transmitting and receiving ● information, AND control of communication = discerning audience and situation to ● tailor transmission of information so it will achieve the desired effect, THEN “effective communication” is as much the obligation of the ● speaker/writer as it is the listener/reader AND control of language is a powerful tool with which you can ● manipulate your audience’s perceptions of you and the world.
Approach: Prep Work At the end of every class period, I prompt students to open their composition notebooks and write notes about what we’ve done that day. The first two or three times, I help them, then I let them help each other. By the third week, they complete the task on their own!
Day One: Diction can be Positive, Neutral, or Negative Using a number line to assist students in understanding the difference between a positive, negative, and neutral word. ● Word choice advice: The first few times you do this, try using simple words like “house,” “laugh,” or “car.” Look for a noun that has a large number of synonyms. Once you have a little confidence, or if you have a class that is flat, branch out to adjectives. I usually use “ugly” because it feels transgressive and they have a large store of synonyms that are negative, which makes it a challenge: How do you talk about something negative without hurting people’s feelings? (This works well for refining words with which the kids are in the “using but abusing”stage!)
Day Two: The Denotation and Connotation Spider ● In the center of the board, write a word that has a great deal of meaning, like “weeping” or “stink.” ● Ask students what that word makes them think of in their personal experience. Give them markers and let them fill the board, making a word web. ● When they’re finished (5-10 minutes), introduce the ideas of “denotation” and “connotation.” ● Hand out a election from Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer in which Alex, whose knowledge of English is almost entirely denotative. Have the class read it. Discuss the differences between denotation and connotation in a few examples. ● In groups, have students rewrite the selection using connotation.
Day Three: Words have Weight ● Distribute cards to the students. Each card holds one word. Some of are LIGHT, like “is” or “some,” carrying little to no connotation, and some are WEIGHTY words like “slap” and “glittering,” carrying enormous connotation. Students stand up and pair off. ● Instructions: Look at your card, then look at one other person’s card. Which word has more WEIGHT? Figure out a way to show which word has more WEIGHT. You must match up with at least ten different people. ● Some students will make a balance bar with their arms. Some will be balloons while their counterpart is skinny. Some will make pucker faces while others will make big round eyes. ● Show past student work. Choose examples that utilize WEIGHTY words vs. those that use LIGHT words.
Day Four: Formal vs. Informal Diction ● “School” English (academic English) is just one type of English: there are many types of English, and none of them is necessarily “bad” or “good.” It’s all about context. ● Students divide their papers into three columns. At the top of the first column, they write “Teacher.” Under that heading, they list words that they only use in the presence of teachers. I offer “isosceles,” then they come up with 10-20 words. The second column is “Friends.” I offer “‘sup,” then suggest that curse words are OK. The third column is “Authority.” I offer “Sir,” then they finish the list. ● Groups compare lists, then answer these questions in small groups with a class share at the end: Can words move from one list to another? What makes a word fit in a particular list? What does using a particular word say about the person who uses it? What happens if you use a word from one list with a person on another list?What does being able to use academic language in an academic language say about you? What does refusing to use or being unable to use academic language in an academic setting say about you?
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