The days of worksheets and monotonous grammar rules are over, my friends! Harry Noden hits the nail on the head in his book, Image Grammar. The philosophy is quite simple: the writer is an artist, and with 5 simple brustrokes, anyone can create a masterpiece.
The first step is to familarize yourself with the idea of writing(painting) with these brustrokes:
1) Painting with participles 2) Painting with absolutes 3) Painting with appositives 4) Painting with adjectives shifted out of order 5)Painting with action verbs.
Once the brushstrokes are understood, Noden explains the art of combining brushstrokes in order to create this work of art.
Using this simple strategy provides students with a fun, interesting, and activity filled "grammar lesson" that they can easily master.
The text is packed with accessible activities for each of the different strategies, complete with lessons, ideas, student examples, printables, and more. The CD-Rom is an invaluable tool that provides quick and easy handouts for students.
Sianara boring grammar memorization and repetition....this is the begining of an entirely new philosophy for teaching grammar. Go forth and paint a masterpiece :)
Aileen, Really wanting to hear more on your take on Image Grammar. I really, really get how the ideas in this book are moving practice from some really traditional stuff (daily oral language, worksheets, etc), and I actually LOVE to engage in the activities inside here. What I am wondering is how valuable this kind of engagement is for my writing.
ReplyDeleteIf you asked me on the street I could not tell you what a participle is or how to do stuff with them. BUT I do (apparently) use them all the time. This book has had me wondering for a while. Wanting to talk to you about it.
Image Grammar... Part 2: Why is this helpful? Application!
ReplyDeleteHow can I get my students to take their writing from step one (the bare bones) to a finished, polished, detailed piece of writing? Adding in the "brushstrokes" brings out the difference in "showing" versus "telling." These techniques, though, are not just valuable for our students; I was amazed at how helpful (and simple) these ideas became once they were broken down...
What are these brushstrokes? How do I use them?
Participles are those "-ing" verbs. Adding in the -ing's to any basic sentence structure enhances the action!
For example: The diamond scaled snakes attacked their prey. Versus: HISSING, SLITHERING, AND COILING, the diamond scaled snakes attacked their prey.
Absolutes are a combination of "-ing's" and nouns. It is a pair-- 2 words. By adding this simple pair, an enormous amount of detail emerges.
For example:The mountain climber edged around the cliff. Versus: The mountain climber edged around the cliff, HANDS SHAKING, FEET TREMBLING.
Appositives are additional nouns; basically, they are giving more detail to enhance a first noun.
For example: The racoon enjoys eating turtle eggs. Versus: The racoon, A MIDNIGHT SCAVENGER, enjoys eating turtle eggs.
Change the order of your adjectives! Avoid monotonous combinations by switching up the order of your adjectives.
For example: The old, wrinkled woman smiled. Versus: The woman, OLD AND WRINKLED, smiled.
Use action verbs to intensify the active voice! Get rid of those "being" verbs! Replace them with an intense action.
For example: The gravel road WAS on the left side.
Versus: The gravel road CURLED around the left side.
Some of these examples can be used to really evoke the visual image of the piece of writing. The focus of the text is to imagine the writing as a picture; these steps really help to slow the writer down in order to rethink and intensify their writing.
Once these 5 aspects are mastered, editing writing to paint a picture--to enhance the detail--becomes an exciting art form!
One of my favorite aspects of the text is the use of pictures, music, and outside readings to incorporate this idea of picturing the description.
During my demo, I am excited to share some of my favorite writing techniques offered by Noden to enhance writing.
Hope this helps a bit :)