Transcript What is Good writing? - Learning with Jonny Bahk

http://www.ttms.org
What is Good Writing?
You know it when you see it.
Ideas – interesting and important
Organization – logical and effective
What is Good Writing?
Voice – individual and appropriate
Word choice – specific and
memorable
Sentence fluency – smooth and
expressive
Conventions – correct and
communicative
Chores
Chores! Chores! Chores! Chores are boring!
Scrubbing toilets, cleaning sinks, and washing bathtubs
take up a lot of my time and are not fun at all.
Toilets! When you’re scrubbing toilets make sure
they are not stinky. I’ve scrubbed one before and I was
lucky it didn’t stink. I think toilets are one of the
hardest things to scrub in the bathroom because it is
hard to get up around the rim.
Sinks are one of the easiest things to clean in the
bathroom because they have no rims and they are small.
I have cleaned one before and it was pretty easy.
Bathtubs, ever washed one? They are big, they are
deep, and it is hard to get up around the sides. The
bathtub is the hardest, I think, to wash in the
bathroom.
All chores are boring, especially making my bed.
Cleaning my room is OK because I have to organize,
and I like organizing. Dusting is the worst: dust, set
down, pick up, dust, set down. There are so many
things to dust, and it’s no fun.
Chores aren’t the worst but they’re definitely not
the best!
What is Good Writing?
 Interesting and Important Ideas
 An Important main idea

1. Complete sentence

2. Important to the author

3. Important to audience
What is Good Writing?
 Ideas and Details
 Interesting – help readers understand main idea
 “Show” details for reader to “see” in their minds
 Clear and meaningful purpose
 -Something surprising or unusual that works
What is Good Writing?
 Logical and Effective Organization
 Organization is driven by ideas.
 Beginning catches attention; you want to read.
 Ending feels finished and makes reader think.
What is Good Writing?
 Sequencing, Pacing & Transitions
 Parts arranged in best order
 Right amount of time spent on each part
 Easy to follow from part to part
What is Good Writing?
 Individual and Appropriate Voice
 Voice is choice
 Writer cares about topic
 Strong feelings, honest statements
What is Good Writing?
 Individuality and Appropriateness
 An individual, authentic and original
 Displays a definite and well-developed personality
 Appropriate tone for purpose and audience
What is Good Writing?
 Specific and Memorable Word Choice
 So many words, so little time
 Strong verbs that tell how an action is performed
 Adjectives and adverbs that make things specific
What is Good Writing?
 Memorable, Accurate, Appropriate
 Words and phrases you remember
 Words and phrases accurate and effective
 Language appropriate to purpose and audience
What is Good Writing?
 Smooth, Expressive Sentence Fluency
 Go with the flow
 Variety in sentence beginnings
 Variety in sentence length and structure
What is Good Writing?
 Expression, Effects, Understanding
 Sounds great read aloud
 Rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, “sound” effects
 Sentence structure easy to understand
What is Good Writing?
 Memorable, Accurate, Appropriate
 Words and phrases you remember
 Words and phrases accurate and effective
 Language appropriate to purpose and audience
What is Good Writing?
 Memorable, Accurate, Appropriate
 Words and phrases you remember
 Words and phrases accurate and effective
 Language appropriate to purpose and audience
What is Good Writing?
 Correct Conventions that Communicate
 What exactly are we talkin’ about here?
 Correctness counts
 Conventional wisdom
What is Good Writing?
 Punctuation, Inside and Outside
 “Outside” punctuation shows where ideas begin and
end.
 “Inside” punctuation shows where parts of ideas begin
and end.
What is Good Writing?
 Capitalization and Paragraphs
 Use capitalization for names, places and things that are
one of a kind.
 Use paragraphs to show groups of related ideas.
What is Good Writing?
 Spelling and Grammar
 Spelling makes your writing easy to read.
 But what about grammar?
 Why do we need conventions?

Tools, not rules