Image Grammar

I was reading Harry Noden's book, Image Grammar, and was really impressed with what I found. First of all, I thought it was really cool that I was sitting there reading a book by a teacher whom I have already had a class with at Kent State University. His book is supposed to be pretty popular, and I can see why. I really like how he organized the information in Image Grammar, starting each chapter with concepts, then ending each chapter with teaching strategies that coincide with the concepts from that chapter.

The first chapter talks about brush strokes, the idea that the writer is an artist who paints images with writing. I think this is a beautiful and interesting way to look at writing. "A well-described fiction or nonfiction work creates the mental equivalent of a film, leading readers through a visual journey of endless images with close-ups, action scenes, and angle shots. Creating art that shows requires...the ability to select words like colors on a palette and apply sentence structures like brush strokes to a verbal canvas" (pg 4). The five basic brush strokes that Noden speaks of are: 1) the participle, 2) the absolute, 3) the appositive, 4) adjectives shifted out of order, and 5) action verbs. I really like the use of participles, as in the example with hissing, slithering, and coiling snakes. The added description really does paint a picture; actually, it goes beyond just the visual picture because I can actually imagine the sounds the snakes are making. This and the other brush strokes are all great tools to make students' writing more detailed and colorful. I especially like page 11 which shows the writing of an eighth grader who blended different forms of brush strokes into his horror story about a spider. The brush strokes that he added are listed in bold, and they really do greatly improve his story. I was impressed. Noden of course also has teaching strategies that go with this idea of brush strokes. I will definitely consider using some of his ideas and strategies in my future classes, especially because I think students' writing would benefit greatly from it.