Spring_2012_Blending_Genre

= **Blending Genre, Altering Style** = = **Writing Multigenre Papers** =

**By: Tom Romano**


====**BIOGRAPHY** --Tom Romano is the author of several bestselling books with Heinemann, including Clearing the Way (1987); Writing with Passion (1995); Blending Genre, Altering Style (2000); and Crafting Authentic Voice (2004). His latest is Zigzag (2008), a memoir of his teaching and learning lives. Tom has taught high school and college students for more than thirty years, and he currently teaches writing and language arts methods in the department of teacher education at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. In summer he often teaches in the New Hampshire Literacy Institutes at the University of New Hampshire.==== []

**Other Books**
== = = =** Book Summary **= In this book, Tom Romano examines genres, subgenres, writing strategies, and stylistic maneuvers that students can use while writing multigenre papers. He uses students’ writings to demonstrate each topic. He also provides full examples of multigenre papers. He discusses key genres such as poetry, fiction, and dialogue. Multigenre papers are not the typical paper. Throughout the book Romano gives helpful hints on the side of the pages to help teachers while presenting certain aspects of the project. He discusses how multigenre writings should incorporate choice, voice and passion in the writing. Romano helps writers see the importance of blending together multiple types of writings and styles in one fluid coherent paper.
 * Crafting Authentic Voice
 * Writing with Passion
 * Clearing The Way
 * Zigzag
 * Birds of Prey

= = = = =media type="custom" key="13571096"= = = = = = = = = =** Handout **= Blending Genre, Alternating Style Writing Multigenre Papers

Written by: Tom Romano

Summary: In this book, Tom Romano examines genres, subgenres, writing strategies, and stylistic maneuvers that students can use while writing multigenre papers. He uses students’ writings to demonstrate each topic. He also provides full examples of multigenre papers. He discusses key genres such as poetry, fiction, and dialogue. Multigenre papers are not the typical paper. Throughout the book Romano gives helpful hints on the side of the pages to help teachers while presenting certain aspects of the project. He discusses how multigenre writings should incorporate choice, voice and passion in the writing. Romano helps writers see the importance of blending together multiple types of writings and styles in one fluid coherent paper.

Found Poetry -- Mini-Lesson: A a component of Blending Genre, Altering Style, Romano discusses the genre of poetry and the many forms that it can take. The following is a mini-lesson that can be used to introduce the idea of “Found Poetry”.

Purpose: This activity encourages students to discover poems that may be hidden in the text of prose including: novels, children’s books, magazines, textbooks, letters, and pamphlets, etc. With the arranging of text from its original order, a new rhythm, imagery and message can be uncovered.

Procedure:
 * • Model the Found Poetry strategy for students with text reserved for teaching use.
 * • Arrange students in small groups (4-5 students per group).
 * • Provide students with a short excerpt taken from a prose passage.
 * • Students are to use the presented text to discover a hidden poem.
 * • The following may be done to “rescue” a poem:
 * • Break sentences/phrases to create a new rhythm
 * • Arrange text into stanzas
 * • Insert/omit punctuation
 * • Manipulate language to change intended meaning of text