WriteTraits

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WriteTraits

• VOICE

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Knowing Your Audience
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Your Audience

• If a writers voice is clear and strong, you
  should be able to identify the intended audience

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Audience

• Who is the intended audience?
• How do you know?
• Lets look at some samples

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• Bad storm dumps 30 cm of snow on Cape
• BretonMotorists advised to stay off roads
  Marine Atlantic ferries tied upBy JOCELYN
  BETHUNESnowplow drivers worked overtime Saturday
  all over Cape Breton Island, clearing driveways
  and roadways as the first major blizzard of the
  season dumped more than 30 centimetres of the
  white stuff in some places.
• Temperatures hovered around -10 C, but the cold
  wind made it feel more like -25 C.

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Petes Introductory Celeriac Salad

• 125 ml (1/2 cup) mayonnaise
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) Dijon mustard
• Salt and pepper
• 125 ml (1/2 cup) coffee cream
• 3 medium-sized celeriac (1kg / 2lb), peeled and
  cut into pieces a little larger than matchsticks
• 1 Spanish onion, thinly sliced
• Lettuce
• 2 ml (1/2 tsp) caraway seeds
• 50 ml (1/4 cup) minced parsley
• METHOD
• Fold the mayonnaise, mustard, salt and pepper
  into the cream.
• Drain the pieces of celeriac, dry them on paper
  towel and fold them into the dressing along with
  onions. toss with two forks.
• Place the mixture in a salad bowl lined with
  lettuce and sprinkle with caraway seeds and
  parsley.
• Serves 4 to 6.

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ABA takes flight

• Slam dunk champion Beacham wins over
• Metro Centre crowdBy CHAD LUCAS Sports
  ReporterIf the horde of kids lined up for
  autographs from slam dunk champion Donny Beacham
  was any indication, the American Basketball
  Association succeeded in making a legion of new
  fans on Saturday night at Halifax Metro Centre.
• Beacham brought the estimated crowd of 2,500 to
  its feet with the nights most electrifying dunk
  the Texas Tycoons forward threw the ball off the
  backboard, caught it while soaring over a group
  of six huddled children in Halifax Rainmen
  T-shirts and slammed it home.

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DEAR ABBY

• DEAR ABBY I am a 43-year-old woman with a lot of
  experience in my field of expertise. My problem
  is, my boss hired a student intern full time. I
  have been working here four years and, basically,
  run the store -- opening up, etc. -- but the
  student is making more money than I do. What
  would you do? Move on, or stay and feel unfairly
  treated? -- THE OLD SHOE
• DEAR OLD SHOE I would certainly explore other
  employment opportunities. Money talks, and by
  paying you less than the intern, your boss has
  sent you a message.
• It appears your boss is taking you for granted.
  But before you leave, have a chat with the boss
  and give him or her the opportunity to offer you
  a raise and retain a trusted employee.

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(No Transcript)
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Voice of the peopleToken protest Dear
editor The logic of phasing out bridge tokens
escapes me. We have let the Utility and Review
Board rubber-stamp yet another weird decision by
the Halifax-Dartmouth Bridge Commission. Lets
see if Ive got this right One lane in each
direction will accept change for the thousands
like me, who travel to Halifax on an irregular
basis, as well as tourists and those visiting HRM
from other parts of the province. Many of the
mental midgets who race at full speed through the
toll booths now will have several more booths to
practise their limited driving skills. In a Jan.
23 story, Steve Snider said, "The bridge
commission would be one of the very few toll
agencies left in North America that would have
cash, tokens and electronic toll collection." I
dont think so. I can pay cash or token in Saint
John, N.B., at the Cobequid Pass, and at many of
the toll booths in the United States. Does this
mean that after decades of horrendous management,
the bridges will be paid for? If not, leave the
present system in place, which is supposed to be
convenient for the consumer. Is that not how any
system is supposed to work? Fred McKee,
Dartmouth
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• The writers words often provide clues as to the
  intended audience
• Voice changes depending on the purpose

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Knowing Your Audience

• People who fish change bait or lures depending on
  the kind of fish they are after
• You do something similar when you change your
  voice and choose your words to talk to friends as
  opposed to talking to your parents
• Writers change voices, too, to hook their audience

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Sugar Cane Fire by David Rice

• Excerpt from a book of short stories called
  Crazy Loco
• Romero, a seventh grader, wants to buy tickets to
  a high school dance for himself and two friends.
  
• He must use the right words with the right voice
  if he wants to get the tickets from the high
  school boys who are teasing him for his efforts.

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• One of the guys laughed. Youre in junior
  high. You have no rights. The other students
  joined in the ha has.
• Then I recognized the guys laugh. A month
  earlier my English teacher had given the class
  extra-credit points for watching the high school
  drama class rehearse a Shakespeare play. Every
  time one of the actors messed up a line. The guy
  who was laughing at me now would jump in and make
  fun of him. And every time, the actor would
  throw his arms up and respond with the same
  sentence What is this? The Spanish
  Inquisition? Then both guys would shout in
  unison, Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition,
  and all the actors would laugh. I didnt get it,
  but I knew it worked.
• I threw my arms up. What is this? The Spanish
  Inquisition? I said.
• The two guys laughed and answered, Nobody
  expects the Spanish Inquisition, and they let me
  buy three tickets. The girl with the tin box
  stood up and put out her hand. That will be nine
  dollars for you and your dates, she said,
  smiling. I paid her and walked away happily.

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Reflecting

• What do you think about this passage?
• Romeo ended up getting what he wanted, but how
  did he adjust his voice to accomplish this?

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Activity

• Suppose the person Romero wanted to buy the
  tickets from was a parent or a teacher.
• In 3 or 4 sentences, how would he request tickets
  if the adult was someone you knew?
• Someone you didnt know?

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Glue Prompt in Writing Notebook

• Your writing task today is to write two letters.
  You will
• write one to Mrs. Rhindress and one to The Jaguar
  Post, a
• student newspaper which often has articles where
  students
• air their concerns. In these letters, you will
  tell each
• audience about your ideas for making the dances
  more fun
• for everyone. You want to persuade Mrs.
  Rhindress that
• your ideas are worthy but you also want to get
  the
• students behind your improvements. (Think
  audience!)
• Each letter must be at least eight sentences
  long.
• Remember that voice is affected by the details
  and words
• you choose.

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Ongoing Teacher Writing Conferences

• There is to be no talking!
• Only independent writing.
• Complete for next Writing Workshop Day

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Use this Format
January 29, 2007 Dear Mrs. Rhindress/Editor, Sin
cerely,