This year, I’m taking a close look at what I call the Nonfiction Triumvirate—nonfiction categories, writing styles, and text structures. For the last month or so, I’ve been focusing on Nonfiction Categories. If you missed the discussion, you can scroll down or use the search box to see past posts.
Today, I was planning to plunge into writing styles, but thanks to a conversation I had with teacher-librarian Matthew Winner, aka The Busy Librarian, at the recent AASL conference, I realized
that before I can get into the nitty gritty, I need to address one aspect of
Common Core that really frosts my britches.
Common Core emphasizes author purpose quite a
bit. This has lead to a plethora of Easy as P-I-E anchor charts that drive me batty. They claim that there are three possible purposes for writing—to persuade, to inform, or to
entertain. And as a result students should learn to master persuasive/opinion writing, expository
writing, and narrative writing.
This all seems so misguided to me.
So false.
So shallow.
So disappointing.
As far as I’m concerned, there are many, many
possible reasons to write, and most of them have nothing to do with wanting to
inform or entertain. In my opinion, if either of these are a writer’s sole
purpose, sole motivation, the result will be a piece with no soul.
Nonfiction writers—all writers—have to dig
deep. They have to get in touch with their passions and their vulnerabilities. If
they don’t, their writing will fall flat, and no one will want to read it.
Here’s how I think about it. My mission as a
writer is to share the beauty and wonder of the natural world with young
readers. But each manuscript I write has a more focused purpose, and that purpose
is often closely linked to who I am—my personality, my beliefs, my experiences
in the world.
And that purpose, that central nugget, that creative core is what drives me to
dedicate years of my life to a single manuscript. It spurs me on despite the obstacles
and setbacks and challenges, and of course, through the inevitable criticism and
rejection of early drafts.
I’ll be honest, to me, the Common Core’s use
of the term “author purpose” is insulting. And I’m not alone. This is a
complaint I frequently hear from fellow nonfiction writers.
And yet it’s true that within nonfiction,
there are different kinds, or styles, of writing. An expository writing style is
quite different from a narrative writing style. (Although some people recognize
a distinct persuasive writing style, I do not. In my experience as a reader and
a writer, a persuasive/opinion text has either a expository writing style or an
narrative writing style.)
An
expository writing style describes, explains, or informs, while a narrative writing style tells a story or
conveys an experience. I’ll take a close look at these two writing styles after
Thanksgiving.
Stay tuned.
Oh, Melissa, this is a post for my heart and soul. I am working w/a 5th grade class and we are writing "for real." I am covering author's purpose sooner or later w/this Project Based Learning "project," and have CC's reasons for writing.I may use this if that's OK. We are writing our own NF bios and I am a former school librarian at this school. Btw, I met you at AASL, too, and heard one of your sessions. Kids, teachers, readers are all lucky to have you and your books, Melissa.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind words, Kathy. Please do feel free to use it with your students.
ReplyDelete