From our Man Ken

Hi Everybody -
We covered a lot of ground in the session on Rules of Notice, and I just wanted to emphasize a few key points.

1. I believe the power of Rules of Notice is that they are a limited number of specific, concrete elements which makes them accessible to all--even our most challenged readers can come to understand and use them.
2. As to Rules of Notice with non-fiction, I would suggest that the concept of each category holds across content areas (privileged position, elaboration, and structure), although there may be differences in individual rules within each category.

Most importantly, I want to stress the underlying principle of Rules of Notice as a unifying theory for reading and writing. Rabinowitz's position is that Rules of Notice work because they're like a contract between readers and writers: writers know where to put the good stuff, and readers know where to look for it. In my own classroom, I first introduce the rules as a reading strategy, but it is when students apply them to their own writing that they sink in. They become the language we use for both reading and writing, and that application to writing deepens their reading comprehension and analysis.

Ken Martin
207-255-1440
Distance Learning Director
Washington County Consortium
for School Improvement
27A Kimball Hall
University of Maine at Machias
Machias, Maine 04654