Wrapping My Brain Around Britton

Now That You Go to School by James N. Britton


Question: 
--p. 10- "...poetic writing is fully differentiated to meet the requirements of the role of spectator."
--p. 16- "What the children write in the spectator role will not therefore be "literature": it will be moving out in that direction and the point at which we make the cut--the degree of formal organization required to merit the name 'literature'--this is a matter upon which we can speculate,..."
     Where do spectator and participant fit on the spectrum? It seemed to me that children start at spectator, only observing things and expressing their views, and move out to participant, sharing and interacting with the reader--making what they are writing clear to the reader. I am unclear about these two different uses of spectator.
Visual:

     This visual fits my understanding of "two parallel main lines of development" (p. 5). (Please disregard the words "causes" and "effects" as they do not fit this graphic.

Predict:

    I can use this web as I plan lessons to help my students become aware of these two types of writing. I could present examples of the two advanced types and help them see which direction their own writing is heading. I could also use it for my own private analysis of student writing to assess where my students are on the continuum--toward both types of writing--and to plan to help them advance in their skills.

Connect:

     My own writing is usually expressive when I journal or quickly jot down thoughts. As I have learned and grown, there is an underlying urge to make my writing understandable to others. When our NIWP class did the writing marathon, I had a hard time ignoring grammar mistakes and word choice because I wanted it to be readable.

     Britton's thoughts connect to Moffett's. His article, I, You, and It, notes  the progression from speaking directly to a well-known audience to making writing clear for an unknown audience. This would relate to Britton's idea that transactional writing needs to be more explicit (to ensure the piece accomplishes what is desired with the reader).  

      Although Moffet doesn't distinguish between poetic and transactional writing, he does describe a progression from internal verbalization to outer vocalizing to writing to others to formal writing. It would seem the writing to others would fit Britton's expressive stage, and the two types of literature (transactional and poetic) would fit the formal writing stage of Moffett.

     As for connecting Britton's ideas to the world, even adults in our culture tend to engage mostly in expressive writing. Our emails, Facebook, texting, and other communications tend to be expressive--mostly sharing what we are thinking. Sometimes we take time to write transactionally--a letter to the editor, directions for a housesitter, or a report for work. Rarely do we write poetically--at least not publicly--carefully crafting our words around an object or idea. Perhaps we could benefit from further involvement in these styles of writing.

Respond:

     Personally, I found this article very difficult to understand on the first (and second) reading when I wrote my initial notes and highlighted. A day later, after reading Moffett two more times, I have a little better understanding. Carefully noting my thoughts next to the diagram in the article on p.10 and then developing my own graphic organizer were helpful to me as a reader. I will have to remember that for my students. 

     I still think the spectator versus participant idea is unclear to me (although it seems that it should either describe one of the 2 formal types of writing or relate to the distinction between beginning expressive and the 2 formal types of writing). Perhaps I will understand better as I read other blog posts.