Vocabulary Seminar:  Janet Angelillo

Reviewed by Amy Mikell

            Janet Angelillo, author of A FRESH APPROACH TO TEACHING PUNCTUATION, gave the participants just that and more.  She explained that it’s important to find ways to use punctuation as a comprehension tool, not an add-on.  She emphasized that punctuation is not simply an element of editing but is rather “as critical to words as tempo is to music.”  She continued, “At performance time, both must be correct.”

            She gave us a practical tip: when teaching punctuation to young learners, you need to use “kid language.”  For example, telling kids to use commas in a series may suggest using them in television shows.  Instead, if you use the word “list” at first, they will understand better.

            It is invaluable to give kids the chance to “approximate,” meaning to let them observe and practice before expecting them to have control over punctuation.  An example of approximating is when the youngest writers put a period at the end of each line, just as the texts in their early readers tend to do.

            Contrary to the timeworn practice of workbook exercises, we should remember that skills taught in isolation rarely transfer to student writing.  Whole-class drills, such as “Daily Oral Language,” are more of a guessing game than meaningful practice.  She suggested displaying CORRECT samples and discussing why they are correct, lending a broader purpose to the exercise.  It is helpful, however, to assign exercises to small groups who need the extra practice.

            Just as our language is continually evolving, so is punctuation.  E-mail and text messaging have their own conventions of punctuation and correctness is important for communication in those media just as in Standard English.  “Kids can understand code-switching!”  It behooves us as teachers to learn those systems and to validate them, but tell kids the importance of knowing when to use each.

             She then urged us to talk about punctuation in both writing conferences and when analyzing authors’ styles.  Interestingly, kids who write without punctuation also read without it, focusing only on the words.  They also may not even notice most punctuation since the marks are so small. When opening their eyes and minds to punctuation, we need to emphasize the reasons for those marks and to find ways to teach punctuation through inquiry.

            A powerful “fresh approach” Janet demonstrated is using literature such as Cynthia Rylant’s NIGHT IN THE COUNTRY as models for how authors use punctuation to convey voice, mood, and elaboration.  These “mentor texts” help us emphasize that punctuation is a powerful tool to create meaning.  She also assured us that there is no need to buy every book we hear about.  Instead, she said to select 2-3 books we love and know well and use them over and over to teach lots of different skills.  She displayed her personal copy of HARRY THE DIRTY DOG, a classic picture book now fifty years old and which is still a wonderful model of effective use of punctuation.

            She took a look at the power of a dash to add elaboration, clarity, and excitement.  True, when kids first learn about new punctuation marks, they tend to overuse them at first, as how they might “dash all over the place.”  This stage is necessary approximation and leads to control: kids deliberately using those dashes for fluency, style, and meaning.

            In practice, she explained the importance of reading the text aloud first to give the kids a sense of the story.  Only then should you reread sections that exemplify punctuation (or any style element) you want to teach.  When using authentic literature, she reminded us that authors often break “rules” on purpose, as when using deliberate fragments and beginning sentences with “and” and “but.”  With a wry smile, she informed us that after all of her research, she had never found a rule that forbids starting a sentence with “and.”  Still, she said to caution kids that it is very difficult to do it correctly, so they should avoid it unless they can state a reason for it.

            Janet continued by noting the value of multiple readings of texts, first for meaning and then for analysis.  She reminded us of the value of using both fiction and non-fiction as models.  A great topic for inquiry, in fact, is studying how punctuation is used in non-fiction content area texts.

            She then addressed the problem of passivity in students towards learning to use punctuation (among other things) properly.  She believes that passivity is a result of the “empty vessel” approach to teaching, the idea that kids are simple empty containers into which we are to pour knowledge.  A better way is the inquiry approach in which we teach the rules but then show kids how to apply those skills by asking why punctuation marks are used a certain way in certain situations.  After all, she added, creative thinkers are vital for the workplace of the future.  Rote memorization of rules won’t prepare kids for solving the problems they’ll face.

            Janet’s background in both English and music next came into play with her presenting a novel way to teach sentence structure to kids.  She said, “A sentence is such an abstract thing.”  Approaching sentence completeness with only subjects and predicates has limited value.  Instead, she suggests (as she has successfully done) using a simple sentence from a book the kids know well, read it aloud, and tell them to listen to the “music” of it.  Perform several readings and then have the kids read it aloud to partners to notice where their voices go up and down.  By teaching kids to notice the cadence of sentences, they will have better “sentence sense.”

            To expand this practice, use the same simple sentence but switch words (not order) and see how the rhythm stays the same.  They can then make up their own revised sentences, write them down, and read them to hear how if they hear the same cadence, they have successfully produced another complete sentence.

            Janet noted that the phrase “complete sentence” may simply not be meaningful to the youngest learners.  She suggests teaching them to “hear” sentences first and start giving them the grammar terms around fifth grade, after they understand cadences.

            A key understanding is that authors use punctuation deliberately to convey style and meaning.  She offered the story of Oscar Wilde telling friends at a dinner party that he was exhausted saying, “I spent the entire morning putting a comma in and the afternoon taking it out.”  Janet emphasized that grammar instruction done well, as by opening students’ eyes to punctuation beyond the rules, helps reveal the beauty of language, a precious element of being human.  She asked how many of us had been taught to diagram sentences and informed us of a new book on the topic, SISTER BERNADETTE’S WHITE DOLL.

            She next offered some sage advice on dealing with standardized tests.  The best preparation is quality instruction every day and a bit of test prep (such as a look at the format of the test) near the time of administration.  Students who understand and recognize good writing in all genre and content areas are well-equipped for any such test.  To help, she urged us to tie learning together by making connections among content areas and from unit to unit.

            She addressed the value of an often misused strategy, giving students passages with no punctuation and having them insert the marks.  She said this only works well if students are allowed to play around with it and discuss their reasons for each move.  She reminded us that “Punctuation is the decision of the writer!”

            Another useful writing strategy she offered is the “one day” strategy.  A writer might begin describing how things usually go and then say, “One day,…”  In this fashion, the writer is able to effectively organize rather than ramble.  She then stressed the value of modeling by writing in front of students and thinking aloud as you do.  This works only with age-appropriate topics and style; you don’t want to use this as an occasion to show off your own skill but to help them see how writers make decisions about such  things as punctuation.

            She then led us into a theory into practice session, asking us to write a short piece in which we deliberately used punctuation with flair.  We then shared with our small groups, justifying those decisions.

            Next she talked about “red pen” issues.  She began with a cute tale about the style manual by Strunk and White: ELEMENTS OF STYLE.  It seems that the writer E.B. White was a student of Strunk and, in fact, married his daughter.  He wrote the manual by simply compiling the hand-outs from Strunk’s class.  His book has been a valuable resource for many years, but has had its share of fun poked at it.  Isoke Nia refers to it as “Shrunken White” and Bill Walsh has published his own book, THE ELEPHANTS OF STYLE.

            She moved on to remind us that style books don’t always agree, which just adds to the fun.  Such books should be made available in our classrooms, not just for us but even more for our students.  If we are the only ones making corrections on student writing, we rob kids of a sense of ownership and even connection with their audience.  They should take responsibility for their own correctness, and to see that even errors are useful.  If they post samples of their writing with errors, it’s very powerful when they also attached a sticky note or index card to comment on what they learned from that writing error or from the piece as a whole.

            She said we should open kids’ eyes to something that may shock them, that “even work that is published is never really done.”  Authors could always go back and change words and style elements.  In fact, “That’s part of the fun!”  Also, kids need to see that learning is recursive and happens over time, even for adults.

            We then had a quick discussion of how technology affects our writing.  One participant noted that when writing an e-mail, she often feels compelled to use several exclamation marks to make her ideas more prominent.  Janet replied that e-mail simply hasn’t yet attained the status of hard-copy memos or letters, so the writer is trying to add power to the e-mail.  She continued that sometimes people don’t consider e-mails important enough to send a reply, a rude move in her opinion.

            The next portion was one of the more powerful.  She “fishbowled” two writing conferences by asking two of us to come onstage and discuss our writing done earlier.  First, she told us to always take notes during conferences, and that we must take care to focus on listening and not spend the precious minutes simply correcting the student’s work.  She began by asking the first writer, “Talk to me about the writing work you’re doing today.”  As the conversation developed, she demonstrated how to work in some teaching by asking “Can you point to a place you have concerns about?”  Whenever possible she would refer the student to a mentor author for ideas, being sure those texts are available in the classroom.  At another point she said, “I think that works nicely!  Do you have any other concerns?” and “Can you tell me what you’re going to do now?” to check for clarity. 

            Janet validated the importance of “teacher-as-reader” by showing how powerful it was to have mentor authors in mind to help kids.  Just as valuable is when the students are readers and can answer yes if asked, “Do you have a favorite mentor author you can go to?”  The quality of such conferences also goes up when the student has been given choice and has written on a topic he cares about.  We should be extremely careful to not over-talk during conferences and, again, to listen to the students.  “With the eyes of our hearts we have to see the intentions of even reluctant students.”  [WOW!]

            Another tip is to post wall charts of effective punctuation samples, etc. and rather than re-teach mini-lessons, you can refer the student to a particular chart.  This helps them find the answers for themselves and teaches responsibility for their own learning.  It is important to continue asking kids, “Why did you do this?” to keep purposeful process alive.  She also reminded is that the qualities of good writing are interwoven, so even if our focus is on one element like punctuation, we should still point out examples of voice, flow, tone, etc.

            Next she addressed the concept of writing dialog.  She began with a cute history of quotation marks.  Back when monks were the only ones writing, they drew open and closed mouths to indicate words that were spoken.  The little mouths evolved into simpler marks that looked like two horizontal commas stacked on top of each other.  When the printing press came along, those marks evolved into the familiar “…” ’s we use today.  She then explained that skillful use of dialog is when the “spoken” words move the plot forward and aren’t there just as filler.

            She stated that we need to urge students to notice how artful punctuation belongs everywhere in all content areas and contexts.  Reminding us of purposeful punctuation, she noted that the “rules” weren’t even established until the 19^th century, explaining why Dickens, Melville, and other early writers used punctuation in such interesting ways.

            In best practice style, she ended with closure by asking us to think about one thing we talked about that we could commit to using in our own classrooms.  She asked us to share them with the group as she listed them on an overhead.  As she ended, it struck me that punctuation is just as crucial to effective reading as to effective writing. I thank Janet Angelillo for bringing her passion for punctuation to us and recommend her book to everyone.

This page updated last on :  08/25/2007