See Saw

Most of us would agree that writing is complex. Katie Wood Ray, a writing educator, unravels some of the complexity by breaking writing in two ways -  common structures and way with words. Most of us understand the basics of way with words, but maybe not structure as much.  First, what is a structure?  Structure is what gives the passage a sense of wholeness; in other words, its structure that helps the passage hang together.

Authors use different structures to build a passage.  One very common text structure is what Wood Ray calls sea saw – she says it this way “it’s a very predictable balance of information that moves back and forth, back and forth – when you get one side of the relationship, you come to expect the other side will follow directly”.

I decided to give this sea saw structure a try.  I’m a new homeowner and recently had to call on one of the gifted tradesmen we easily take for granted; most recently I hired a plumber. I am in awe of the talent and know-how of the man who showed up and tore into my pipes, unclogged the line and put it back together in under an hour.  Katie Wood Ray and others would tell us that our students can write about everyday common place happenings – like a plumber’s visit. 

So below is a simple little passage of three paragraphs using the sea-saw structure to develop my simple overall message – “The skill and service of tradesmen should be appreciated.” 

I admire plumbers.  Can I do my own plumbing?  One time I successfully reinstalled all new plumbing under my kitchen sink, and I thought I heard a triple alleluia playing in my head.  But, in the spirit of total disclosure - I’m in over my head real fast with the likes of sweating and cutting a copper water line.

I admire carpenters, too.  You ask, what can I build?  Not much.  I can use a table saw to cut a 4’ X 8’ sheet of wainscoting.    I know my way around power tools. It’s a man thing, I figure.  But, in the spirit of coming clean - I’d be hard put to put together a rudimentary tree house.

I admire roofers as well.  You’re thinking, can’t he even put on a roof?! I know a little more about roofing.  Important stuff like – starting out the bottom row of shingles first, staggering the next row of shingles on top of the preceding row, and building the top cap with single shingles.  But, I’ll bare my soul here.  I have some roofing experience and roofing isn’t all that hard to do.

Pretty simple little piece of writing, right?  Look at the first sentence of each paragraph. The same – right? Look at second sentence – all the second sentences are questions.  Then each sentence thereafter is examples. I end each paragraph with a confession of sorts.  

A published author wouldn’t produce anything this contrived.  But I’m not a published author – but hopefully by overdoing the sea-saw you can see how you might help your young writers learn this structure.  Wood Ray would advise us to turn to children’s books – published authors who use this sea-saw structure.  Keep the books in a tub and label the tub “Sea-saw structure”.  Once students successfully write a passage using the sea=saw structure, place those papers where students can access them and study them.  It makes sense that helping our young writers learn what good writers do is empowering and will pay off in terms of engagement and writing skills. 

Seesaw Texts:

It’s Going to Be Perfect (Nancy Carlson)

No One Told the Aardvark (Deborah Eaton)  

Tough Boris (Mem Fox)

The Seasons and Someone (Virginia Kroll) 

Say Something (Marty Stolz) 

Do Cowboys Ride Bikes? (Kathy Tucker) 

The World is Full of Babies (Mick Manning)

When I Was Little Like You (Jill Payton Walsh)  

Lost (Paul Brett Johnson)  

What’s Alice Up To? (Harley Jessup)   

Grandad Bill’s Son (Jane Yolen)