Writing

Contention... What are you going to write about?

What is a contention?

• It’s a statement of your view, opinion or stance (position).

Here are 3 examples...1. A complaint... “I don’t like the way it moves.” 2. A belief... “I think it’s unpredictable.”3. An optimistic statement... “It acts according to

it’s design.”

CONTENTION

• CONTENTION...how to come up with a curious, confronting, grabbing statement for you writing...and this session we will look at three ways...

• These are like warm up exercises you do before you run, play sport...

• Like stretching ...for your mind!

1. ONE WORD

• You are going to write a contention about one word. You will have 60 seconds. At the end, you can revise, improve, refine...

Now it’s your turn...

• Ok, are you ready? Make sure your book is open and you are ready to write

• On the next slide there will be one word at the top and you have to write for 60 seconds... Don’t stop...just write anything that comes into your head

COMMUNICATION...

• You now have 60 seconds to write... Go! Write anything , words, phrases... Go! And keep writing for 60 seconds, anything that comes into your head...

Share & Listen...

• Wow!...how many good ideas you have and just from ONE WORD...

Ok now we want to turn your thoughts into a CONTENTION...

When you say “Talking” or “Chatting” we want to develop our view or opinion... “Talking is the best”... “Talking develops friendships”... “I enjoy chatting with my friends”

2. ONE PHRASE

• Now let’s try ONE PHRASE... • Here you will be a given a statement, a short

sentence. You are going to write about one phrase. Now we want to include your view or opinion...Again you will have 60 seconds. At the end, you can revise, improve, refine...

Now it’s your turn...

• Ok, are you ready? Make sure your book is open and you are ready to write

• On the next slide there will be one phrase at the top and you have to write for 60 seconds... Don’t stop...just write anything that comes into your head...

Social networking sites destroy communication...

• You now have 60 seconds to write... Go! Write anything , words, phrases... Go! And keep writing for 60 seconds, anything that comes into your head.

Share & Listen...

• Great!...how many developing contentions you now have and just from ONE PHRASE...

ONE PICTURE

• Now let’s try ONE PICTURE... • Here you will be a photograph. You are going

to write a contention about that picture. Be imaginative and adventurous here. Again you will have 60 seconds.

• This time as well as saying you “agree” or “disagree”, use words to describe thoughts and feelings too ... “X makes me think about...”, “When I do X I feel like...”

• Ok, are you ready? Make sure your book is open and you are ready to write

• On the next slide there will be one picture and you have to write for 60 seconds... Don’t stop...just write anything that comes into your head

Go! Write anything ,

words, phrases...

Go! , anything

that comes

into your head.

Share & Listen...

• Great!...how many useful points you now have and just from ONE PICTURE...

• And did you notice it was easier to write for 60 seconds with the picture there?

• I wonder why?

Developing our ‘Contentions’ from the picture

• Let’s work on writing our words and phrases from the picture as contentions...

• You will have 60 seconds to write a contention based on the picture of the people sitting around talking

• Ok, now let’s share...

LOCATING THE CONTENTION IN TEXT...

• So now, what is an idea?The dictionary says... ‘Something, such as a

thought or conception, that potentially or actually exists in the mind as a product of mental activity’... That is, a concept in your mind from thinking.

So now; let’s think...think as a verb. Do it. And let’s see what concepts we come up with.

Text

• Here we read a short a passage and look for ideas... Remembering what we just said...

• ‘Think and see what concepts we come up with’.

• Ok, we are going to read a short passage with the intention, the purpose, of finding the ideas in the text.

• Social Networking May Affect Kids’ Health• By Brenda Goodman

WebMD Health News Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

March 28, 2011 -- Cyberbullying, sexting, and so-called Facebook depression are a few of the reasons parents should tune in to what their teens and tweens are doing on social networking sites, pediatricians say.A new clinical report, published in Pediatrics, outlines some of the key benefits and risks of social networking. It stresses the need for parents not only to talk to their kids about specific risks, but to participate with their kids on sites like MySpace and Twitter, rather than to leave monitoring up to software programs.“Some young people find the lure of social media difficult to resist, which can interfere with homework, sleep, and physical activity,” says Gwenn Schurgin O’Keefe, MD, a Wayland, Mass.-based pediatrician, blogger, and health writer who co-authored the guidelines. “Parents need to understand how their child is using social media so they can set appropriate limits.”O’Keefe is no dilettante in matters of adolescents and their cyber lives, either.“I’ve had a few ‘a-ha’ moments as a mom with technology,” she tells WebMD.She once had to summon her daughter to dinner via instant message after repeatedly calling, and failing, to steal her attention away from an online chat session.“It was like she had become fused with the computer. She was so absorbed in what she was doing she was just tuned out,” O’Keefe says.

Again, ...think...what idea or ideas are in this text? And what is main contention?

Share & Listen...

• And whoo hoo! What wonderful ideas you have come up with...and where did you get them from?...that’s right from thinking about the text & picture as you read it.

• And now you know something...that these ideas are not yours...they are the writer’s.

But you can use these ideas!• And still the writer owns them. That’s another

story... about referencing and copyright.