F R E D D I E H A R R I S R A M S B Y A N D K R Y S TA L C H I A R A V A L L O

MAKING THE MOVES: TEACHING GENRE THROUGH PERFORMANCE

WHAT ARE GENRES?

• What is genre?• List some genres?• What

characteristics render your genre recognizable?• How have folks

fused genres in memorable ways?

PART 1: DANCING GENRES

• Everyone knows the Hokey Pokey!• Right ?

LET’S TRY ANOTHER ONE

• What makes the Hokey Pokey, the Hokey Pokey?

• And the Soulja Boy, the Soulja Boy?

“Genres have become increasingly defined as ways of recognizing, responding to, acting meaningfully and consequentially within, and helping to reproduce recurrent situations.”*

• W. 11-12.1.a Introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that logically sequences claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence.

PART TWO

OK, BUT WHAT IF…

• A room furnished comfortably and tastefully, but not extravagantly.

• At the back, a door to the right leads to the entrance-hall, another to the left leads to Helmer's study.

• Near the window are a round table, arm-chairs and a small sofa.

• In the right-hand wall, at the farther end, another door; and on the same side, nearer the footlights, a stove, two easy chairs and a rocking-chair; between the stove and the door, a small table.

• Engravings on the walls; a cabinet with china and other small objects; a small book-case with well-bound books.

• The floors are carpeted, and a fire burns in the stove.

MAKING THE MOVES, EXPLICITLY

• It is winter. • A bell rings in the hall;

shortly afterwards the door is heard to open.

• Enter NORA, humming a tune and in high spirits.

• She is in outdoor dress and carries a number of parcels; these she lays on the table to the right.

MAKING THE MOVES, IMPLICITLY

• SCENE I. Elsinore. A platform before the castle.

• FRANCISCO at his post. Enter to him BERNARDO

• BERNARDO Who's there?• …• FRANCISCO You come most

carefully upon your hour.

• BERNARDO 'Tis now struck twelve; get thee to bed, Francisco.

• FRANCISCO For this relief much thanks: 'tis bitter cold,And I am sick at heart.

• BERNARDO Have you had quiet guard?

• FRANCISCO Not a mouse stirring.

• BERNARDO Well, good night.If you do meet Horatio and Marcellus,The rivals of my watch, bid them make haste.

• FRANCISCO I think I hear them. Stand, ho! Who's there?

• Enter HORATIO and MARCELLUS

DIFFERENT WRITING SITUATIONS/ DIFFERENT DANCES/DIFFERENT STAGE DIRECTIONS AND

CHOREOGRAPHY

• Explicit cues: “format, language, and style that the performer or student is presumed to understand.”• “Can be understood by those who are already

familiar with the genre”• Writing Situations, like stage directions, also

“include implicit assumptions about what constitutes an acceptable “performance.” • Many high school/college students are

unfamiliar with the genres they encounter.• Irene Clark , 2005

JOURNAL STAGE DIRECTIONS

The “stage directions” are not quite so explicit in this journal.

THE MOVES: PARAGRAPH LEVEL

Explicit

Science Journal• Abstract• Introduction• Methods• Results • Discussion• References

Not Explicit

Literary Journal• Introduction • Roadmap/thesis• (Usually some alliance

with a theorist)• Analysis + quoted

examples• Conclusion• Works Cited

11-12 STANDARDS USED IN ARGUMENT PROFICIENCIES / IMPLICIT MOVES: SENTENCE LEVEL

• W. 11-12. 1.d “Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing.”

• But what does this mean?• “Formal?”• “norms and

conventions of a discipline?”

WHAT WE HAVE DISCUSSED

• Genres are a bit like dancing. They are characterized by “moves!”

• Different writing genres offer “stage directions”: explicit or implicit.

• Genres give us insight into what those stage directions are. But we have to “dig about in them.”

• Collect samples• Look for recurrent or dominant patterns of usage

on macro to micro levels (not always explicit)• Analyze “moves.”• Handout/ reading list

IMPLICIT MOVES: SENTENCE LEVEL

• Let’s talk about the placement of doers in sentences. • Circle the bodies.• Which of the two

excerpts features more doers in subject positions within clauses? (SV0)• What is the effect?