Native Soil: Using Close Study to Read and Write About Home

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Native SoilUsing Close Study to Read and Write
About Home

• Tasha A. Thomas
• Director, Spartanburg Writing Project
• Dawn J. Mitchell
• SWP Partnership Coordinator

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Agenda

• Overview Discussion of place and home as
  themes in Southern writing exploration of Rays
  close study and reading like a writer methods
  using Ron Rash work as anchor text
• Group Work Participants work in small groups to
  apply close study and noticing strategies using
  mentor texts
• Group share Compilation of noticings related
  to craft and theme in mentor texts discussion of
  specific classroom application for the shared
  mentor texts and the close study methods
• Writing Under the Influence Participants will
  spend time crafting their own original pieces as
  inspired by the Appalachian authors
• Writing Share/ Final Questions/Classroom
  Applications

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I discovered that my own little postage stamp of
native soil was worth writing about and that I
would never live long enough to exhaust it.
-William Faulkner, Lion in the Garden
Interviews with William Faulkner
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Place in Southern Writing

• Much cultural diversity in Southern writing
• Writers touched by the Appalachian region seek to
  create a true sense of this place in their work
• Through intricate description of physical
  landscapes, recreation of dialect, and stark, yet
  realistic portrayals these authors take us deep
  into the place that is the South, that is our
  home.

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• I learned how to write from writers. I didnt
  know any personally, but I read.
• -Cynthia Rylant
• I say that the way one learns to write is by
  reading and developing a passion for language
  used in meaningful ways.
• -Lois Lowry

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What is Close Study?

• A step into the inquiry process of teaching
  writing
• A time to develop some shared understandings and
  language to name the qualities of good writing
  youve seen in the texts.
• Reading Like Writers
• Katie Wood Ray,
• Study Driven p. 128

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Elements of Close Study

• Noticings
• What choices does the writer make regarding
  craft, structure, diction, punctuation, etc?
• Why does the author choose to craft the work this
  way?
• How might I use this technique in my writing?
• Writing Under the Influence

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Questions to ask during Close Study

• Which parts are particularly good? Whats
  happening with the writing of these parts?
• How is the piece organized? What are the chunks
  of it? How does the piece move from one chunk to
  the next? Does it move through time or is it a
  list of ideas?
• Look closely at the lead and the ending how
  does the writer manage these two critical chunks
  of the piece?
• How has the writer focused the piece? Whats
  included, and what has likely been left out?

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More Questions for Close Study

• What different modes of writing operate in the
  piece (description, exposition, narration, etc.)?
• Is there any interesting punctuation work in the
  piece?
• Any insights about how page-break (in picture
  books) or paragraph-break decisions were made?
• How do graphics, illustrations, layout, font,
  etc. add to the meaning and appeal of the piece?
• How does the title of the piece relate to the
  meaning? How was it likely chosen?

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Native Soil Reading and Writing About Home

• Ron Rash Poetry Close Study
• July, 1949, Eureka Mill
• Mill Village, Eureka Mill
• At Reid Hartleys Junkyard, Raising the Dead

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Craft Study Thinking Native Soil Reading and
Writing About Place and Home
1. NOTICE something in the text. 2. TALK about WHY the writer may have crafted the writing this way. 3. NAME exactly what the writer is doing in the text. 4. CONNECT to another text in which the writer uses the same craft. 5. ENVISION yourself using the same craft in your own writing.
what I cannot remember callousing lint-filled lungs sand-lapper relatives Slows down the one moment in time The idea of poverty The hope of eight-hour work days and indoor plumbingthings we take for granted hoehow much that one word, repeated, creates the image of his mother The idea of FATEthat one moment can change destiny grip vs. Suitcase weave rooms roar The beginning was before he was born, but we dont realize that until the end to create a sense of the southof place and history To show the characters attitude To note the change in her life and the change in the culture To show that his father doesnt yet know his mother is coming Circular ending Historical Context Theme Sensory imagery Word choice Theme Consonance Other Rash poetry No Star Nights about the steel mills in W. Virginia The Glass House All Over But the Shoutin When I Was Young in the Mountains My piece about candy and Mamaw comes full circle I want to write a tribute to my mother who sacrificed for me I want to create time-period pieces through research and concrete imagery I want to steal the line This is what I cannot remember This is my grandpas story the donkey wasnt cooperating, so he jumped on a train and went to SC
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• We shall not cease from exploration
• And the end of all our exploring
• Will be to arrive where we started
• And know the place for the first time.
• -T.S. Eliot
• Little Gidding, From Four Quartets

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• Rick Bragg
• All Over But the Shoutin
• Avas Man
• The Prince of Frogtown
• The Most They Ever Had
• Silas House
• A Parchment of Leaves
• The Coal Tattoo
• Clays Quilt
• Lee Smith
• Oral History
• Saving Grace

Other Appalachian Writers
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Noticings Chart
Genre/Title Craft Techniques Common Themes Sense of Place




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"One place understood helps us understand all
places better" Eudora Welty
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Native Soil Reading and Writing About Home

• Writing Under the Influence
• Writing Time
• Writing Share
• Final Questions / Classroom Applications