Re: [TCP] California Association of Teachers of English
Kelly McDaniel wrote: = ...words are combinations of tiny images, organized according to precise rules generally learned automatically by copying, trial and error at a very early age. I was so fortunate to have attended parochial school in grades 1-5 where I was taught phonics, speed reading, and conjugation. I entered grade school in 1956, BTW. I still consider those 4-5 years of phonics, the basics, my most important language skill. For those who require an analogy, think of the martial artist when it comes time to use the skills in a real-life situation...the basics are used. Think of the lifelong guitarist with magnificent chops...built on the basics. insert your own creative analogy here English is not a pictographic language, rather, the characters are arranged to be a linguistic unit (word) that represents an image with which we associate it. I present this word: candelabra ...and your brain goes to work assembling the image. There is no location in your brain where the images of candelabra are stored. You think (and think is even a stretch) candle, wax, hot, flame, light, metal, gold, silver, shiny, heavy, dining table, grand piano, Liberace, menorah, kippa, grandmother and on and on and you assemble the image that you associate with candelabra. My dad taught me, pre-K, that most words have roots that become decorated at one or both ends to help shape their meaning. So to learn to read, he helped me first learn what the roots of some words I knew, by speaking and hearing, looked like. Then we'd look for their roots. Then we'd look for those roots in other words that I knew, which built up a terrific base of knowledge that unlocked other knowledge. So this is another view of building upon fundamentals and rudiments. I'm somewhat dyslexic, but I wasn't diagnosed until decades later, and it didn't seem to show up in my learning to read because I had this magical decoder. I learned to read and use some other languages with difficulty, but whereever I applied the root technique it was helpful. Fortunately, my dad also taught me early on, that some words which sound alike are spelled differently and have different meanings. When I first saw phonics - as an adult - I felt good about having missed something that could have been very ruff and tuff four mi and probably cud of hert my sol if it were my soul learning method. And, I still remember my first encounter in college with the printed version of a word I'd heard and used myself on occasion. Iwas, for me, the oppidomy of understanding why auditory learning isn't always reliable. Regards, Peter ___ Peter Gold KnowHow ProServices __ Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. Interactive 3D Documentation Parts catalogs, animated instructions, and more. www.i3deverywhere.com ___ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com
Re: [TCP] California Association of Teachers of English
Aptly and humorously put, Dori! Let's trade jobs--from age 9 I always wanted to be a comic book artist and writer. As far as that goes, images should accompany text whenever needed to illustrate points and clarify verbiage. A great post on Melanie Spiller's writing, editing and English usage website 5 ways people learn. Aural, Tactile, Visual, Verbal and...can't recall the 5th. Mnemonic??? ;-) But all of us have the vast majority of our brains hardwired to recognize visual patterns. It's essential to everything from navigation to face recognition, and is of course the basis for writing and reading. Images are primal...words are combinations of tiny images, organized according to precise rules generally learned automatically by copying, trial and error at a very early age. These rules make literacy a challenge, especially with English--which is such an amalgam of history, cultures, various rules and exceptions, and of course, constant evolution. So, my point: If you make your manuals comic books they're more likely to be read and understood, faster and with better retention. Humor helps the learning. A good example: I'm learning Doc-To-Help, and constantly finding fault with its online help. It isn't visual enough to show me what it means. And when I get a verbal instruction list from the support people, I've started telling them I need pix to make it clear. Tim - Message from Dori Green [EMAIL PROTECTED] The tie-in to this discussion for technical writers comes down to an issue I'm facing every day in my job writing work instructions for packaging plant line workers -- sometimes management is forced to recognize that employee qualifications have to be raised beyond breathes. As a matter of necessity, I'm becoming a comic book author. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's a disturbing trend within the profession. Dori Green __ Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. Interactive 3D Documentation Parts catalogs, animated instructions, and more. www.i3deverywhere.com ___ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com
[TCP] California Association of Teachers of English
I have been selected to present our Read, Write, and Fun publishing program to the California Association of Teachers of English. Their annual convention is March 7-9, 2008 in Long Beach. The program helps teachers design a classroom publishing operation that mimics a newspaper or magazine publishing environment. The goal of the program is to reward young writers with a professionally printed and bound classroom anthology. This builds enthusiasm for writing and literacy through a goal-oriented program that puts practical skill to use. Current teaching methods have raised reading scores (decoding) but lowered writing and comprehension test (encoding) scores over the last few years. This has actually caused overall literacy rates to drop. I had the pleasure of presenting this program in October to the National Even Start Association (early childhood and family literacy instructors) and had the highest attendee review scores of their conference. As professional wordsmiths, we should all be concerned by falling literacy rates. The world has become more textual over the last two decades. Please feel free to contact me if you would like more information on this innovative program. Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the economic injustice that makes philanthropy necessary. ? ??? Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Teresa Trujillo Book Workshop/Mighty Designs 1501 E. Orangethorpe Avenue Suite 130 Fullerton, California 92831 Phone (714) 525-0882 Fax (714) 879-7156 Cell (714) 926-8343 More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail ! - http://webmail.aol.com __ Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. Interactive 3D Documentation Parts catalogs, animated instructions, and more. www.i3deverywhere.com ___ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com
Re: [TCP] California Association of Teachers of English
I have my doubts as to whether falling comprehension is really the result of classroom teaching methods. You can teach people to read (decode) in class, but comprehension is the result of actually using what one learns in class to read after one has gone home for the day, and there's not much comprehension to be gotten from spending all of that time with TV and video games. Gene Kim-Eng - Original Message - From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Current teaching methods have raised reading scores (decoding) but lowered writing and comprehension test (encoding) scores over the last few years. This has actually caused overall literacy rates to drop. __ Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. Interactive 3D Documentation Parts catalogs, animated instructions, and more. www.i3deverywhere.com ___ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com
Re: [TCP] California Association of Teachers of English
I agree. That is why this program has incentive for personal writing and story development practice outside of the classroom environment. Students want an answer to Why do I need to learn this ___. The program is suitable to all grad levels, but it is best instituted in grades 3-4. The goal is to create a daily writing habit through journaling and writing exploration exercises that the? student use to explore and explain their world to others. We're closing the missing link between theory and practice. Teresa Trujillo Book Workshop/Mighty Designs 1501 E. Orangethorpe Avenue Suite 130 Fullerton, California 92831 Phone (714) 525-0882 Fax (714) 879-7156 Cell (714) 926-8343 -Original Message- From: Gene Kim-Eng [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; tcp@techcommpros.com; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 2:56 pm Subject: Re: [TCP] California Association of Teachers of English I have my doubts as to whether falling comprehension? is really the result of classroom teaching methods.? You can teach people to read (decode) in class, but? comprehension is the result of actually using what? one learns in class to read after one has gone home? for the day, and there's not much comprehension to? be gotten from spending all of that time with TV and? video games.? ? Gene Kim-Eng? ? - Original Message - From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]? Current teaching methods have raised reading scores (decoding) but lowered writing and comprehension test (encoding) scores over the last few years. This has actually caused overall literacy rates to drop.? ? More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail ! - http://webmail.aol.com __ Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. Interactive 3D Documentation Parts catalogs, animated instructions, and more. www.i3deverywhere.com ___ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com
Re: [TCP] California Association of Teachers of English
And this has to do with technical communication how? I'm confused. On 1/8/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I agree. That is why this program has incentive for personal writing and story development practice outside of the classroom environment. Students want an answer to Why do I need to learn this ___. The program is suitable to all grad levels, but it is best instituted in grades 3-4. The goal is to create a daily writing habit through journaling and writing exploration exercises that the? student use to explore and explain their world to others. We're closing the missing link between theory and practice. Teresa Trujillo Book Workshop/Mighty Designs 1501 E. Orangethorpe Avenue Suite 130 Fullerton, California 92831 Phone (714) 525-0882 Fax (714) 879-7156 Cell (714) 926-8343 -Original Message- From: Gene Kim-Eng [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; tcp@techcommpros.com; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 2:56 pm Subject: Re: [TCP] California Association of Teachers of English I have my doubts as to whether falling comprehension? is really the result of classroom teaching methods.? You can teach people to read (decode) in class, but? comprehension is the result of actually using what? one learns in class to read after one has gone home? for the day, and there's not much comprehension to? be gotten from spending all of that time with TV and? video games.? ? Gene Kim-Eng? ? - Original Message - From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]? Current teaching methods have raised reading scores (decoding) but lowered writing and comprehension test (encoding) scores over the last few years. This has actually caused overall literacy rates to drop.? ? More new features than ever. Check out the new AOL Mail ! - http://webmail.aol.com __ Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. Interactive 3D Documentation Parts catalogs, animated instructions, and more. www.i3deverywhere.com ___ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com __ Author Help files and create printed documentation with Doc-To-Help. New release adds Team Authoring Support, enhanced Web-based help technology and PDF output. Learn more at www.doctohelp.com/tcp. Interactive 3D Documentation Parts catalogs, animated instructions, and more. www.i3deverywhere.com ___ Technical Communication Professionals Post a message to the list: email [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, unsubscribe, archives, account options, list info: http://techcommpros.com/mailman/listinfo/tcp_techcommpros.com Subscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe (email): send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Need help? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] Get the TCP whole experience! http://www.techcommpros.com
