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Before I share my teasers, I'm going to do a quick tease on the Book Review Bulletin, a monthly link-up for review posts. I'm just starting out with this project, and will see how it goes! The Book Review Bulletin for July will open on June 28th (yes, a couple days before the beginning of July!), and I hope you'll drop by and share a review or two.
And now for some First Lines:
I'm featuring something a little more academic this week. One of my side gigs for the past several years has been teaching Literature and Writing to high school age students at a homeschool co-op. It is one of my favorite things to do, honestly! I've taught both Fiction and Non-fiction writing, and this coming school year the current plan is for me to teach the Non-fiction class remotely. So when the following book was available for me to review, I thought it would be very useful and interesting as I prepared to teach. It is good reading for me, and I'm enjoying it, but I suppose it's not for everyone!
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Introduction
Composition as Conversation: Engaging in Meaningful Academic Dialogue
The composition classroom is much more than word counts and gallons of spilled red ink, and yet even the most enthusiastic writing instructor may have difficulty fostering a love of academic writing in students.
~From the beginning of Composition As Conversation by Heather M. Hoover
Teaching writing is not for the faint of heart, but it can be a tremendous gift to teachers and students. Students often approach writing courses with trepidation because they think of writing as a mystical and opaque process. Teachers often approach these same courses with dread because of the enormous workload and the often-unpolished skills of new writers. This approachable composition textbook for beginning writers contends that writing can be a better experience for everyone when taught as an empathetic and respectful conversation. In a time in which discourse is not always civil and language is not always tended carefully, a conversation-based wrirting approach emphasizes intention and care.
Written by a teacher with more than fifteen years of experience in the college writing classroom, Composition as Conversation explores what happens when the art of conversation meets the art of writing. Heather Hoover shows how seven virtues―including curiosity, attentiveness, relatability, open-mindedness, and generosity―inform the writing process and can help students become more effective writers. She invites writers of all skill levels to make meaningful contributions with their writing.
This short, accessible, and instructive book offers a reflective method for college-level writing and will also work well in classical school, high school, and homeschool context. It demystifies the writing process and helps students understand why their writing matters. It will energize teachers of writing as they encourage their students to become careful readers and observers, intentional listeners, and empathetic arguers. The book also provides helpful sample assignments.
Book Beginnings on Fridays is hosted by Rose City Reader.
*It's Book Beginnings on Fridays! Time to gather with our fellow book lovers and share the opening sentence (or so) of the books we are reading this week. Or share from a book that is on your mind right now -- whatever catches your fancy.
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First Line Fridays is hosted at Reading is My SuperPower
*Share the first line or two of the book closest to you, then visit other FLF participants.
*Please keep posts family friendly or clean reads.
*Link back to Reading is My SuperPower within your post or grab a button.
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Rodin's famous sculpture The Thinker at first seems to support the idea of an individual pondering powerful questions alone. But Rodin's Thinker emerged from the clay only with the help of the artist, who in turn was deep in conversation with his artistic community, particularly Michelangelo, and with Dante's Inferno, which inspired the work.
~at 56% of Composition As Conversation by Heather M. Hoover
The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice
*Grab a book, any book.
*Turn to Page 56 or 56% on your e-reader.
*Find a snippet, short and sweet.
*Post it, and share in the Linky.
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And here is the weekly bookish question in the Book Blogger Hop, hosted by Billy at Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer.
This Week's Question: What questions would you ask any author if you had the chance?
My Answer: Wow, I do not know. I think that in general I'm curious about the writing process for authors - how they develop their ideas and plan out the plots, especially for mysteries. There are some authors I think I'd just enjoy sitting with for a chat over a cup of tea or coffee, and see what kinds of questions come up in conversation.
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