For this week's reading I found a few points worth explaining:
1. Variations of Imitation
2. Keeping a Writer's Sketchbook
3. Paint from a Family Photo
4. Search for a Personal Voice
5. The Visual Scaffold of Double Negatives

To start I want to start with a quote from Noden about Imitating Without Plagiarizing when he states "Used properly, imitation internalized writing techniques that students can later apply in infinite ways. However, imitation is a dangerous precipice above the abyss of plagiarism" (79). However, as Noden explains, it is very important for students to realize the difference between imitation and plagiarism. The Nora Roberts' example in the text fascinates me... first off that anyone would even think to duplicate Nora Roberts' work like that and think that they could get away with it and secondly, Janet Dailey basically COPIES Roberts' work but adds a few more words or changes the action but ultimately says the same thing as Roberts.

This leads me to my first point about the variations of imitation. I liked the idea that Noden presents by reading a passage for students to listen to and give them the important points about the reading. By the next day when the students are instructed to rewrite the passage the original reading is no longer a strong influence on the students. Therefore, by using the given notes the students can come up with their own ideas and effective ways of creating sentences. There are so many ways to rewrite sentences but even I can get caught up relying on the already said text that lies in front of me. Somehow I can't find the right way to reword something when something else says it so much better. It becomes very frustrating and I have to just come back to it later. By the time I come back to it, much like the students used in the example, I am no longer influenced by the original text and my notes help me contrive a new sentence.

I liked the strategy of keeping a writer's sketchbook. I know it sounds lame but I always find myself on bright sunny days wanting to write or read something inspiring. Even when it snows I find the beauty in nature and want to express myself about it through writing. I'm not sure what I would come up with in the end, but just as Noden explains "[artists] capture moments of inspiration for future reference" (92). I may not be able to finish a novel about the weather or how I am feeling on that particular day but the little moments that I write down may inspire me down the road and bring me back to that day and that feeling.

To further emphasize this point, my next point about the strategy, painting a family photo also can be used to inspire writing. From what I have learned in my Creative Non-Fiction Writing class, we have been taught all semester to choose ONE scene from our life. We are not to go off in a tangent about what this scene means to us or the history behind it. Rather, we are to explain through details and emotions this one scene in a creative way that even our readers can imagine themselves there in that scene as well. One activity that we did in my class that relates to this strategy was to explain a time  time that was no longer than five or ten minutes where something drastic happened. We were not to introduce any background information or what we look back at this scene now as. For example I write about the day my boyfriend asked to officially date. However, I did NOT explain the whole day or even where we went on our date. I simply described my emotions and the SHORT build up to the ultimate question.

This guides me to my fourth point; Search for a personal voice. Again, another strategy I have learned from my non fiction writing class. Personal voice helps the reader relate better to the reader by what Noden says the "conversational tone" (97). By the example from Cathleen Conry, the reader can tell that she is very dramatic. Her use of dialogue shows a conversation between friends while also inviting her own interpretations of the conversation.

Moving on to my final point about Anderson's visual scaffolding of double negatives. First of all, I did not realize that "barely" and "hardly" are considered negatives. However after coming up with an example such as "The food is not barely there" it in fact does not sound correct. Something that I found interesting from this chapter is when it talks about how "Some languages, such as French and Spanish, use the double negative" (Anderson 77). I took a French class and that always confused me because I am so used to NOT using double negatives that now I had to, but only because that is how French is structured. As Anderson adds "This is an opportunity to teach students about the formal and informal registers of language, and how they are handled differently in other languages, without disrespecting student dialect" (77). And just as Anderson goes on, he begins to explain these different registers and the uses of language between family in one way and how we are expected to talk in school as the other. Which is correct and what does this mean about how we are being taught?