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For this unit I collected stories at large and worked on developing methods for analysis, synthesis, evaluation,and application to the stories collected. Students need to be made aware of the value of the oral tradition and the purpose it has served for Black people historically and currently.
Keeping the culture alive and preserving the folk system of a group is an important reason for folk stories.
Black Americans have an oral tradition which is a historical and social phenomenon. The oral tradition of the African societies and the necessity for oral traditions as a result of the slave system has helped the Black culture survive.
Dialect is an important aspect of a folk system. The presence of a dialect is one of the elements that confirms and maintains the folk system. It is important, when collecting folk stories, to keep this dialect intact.
The problem of maintaining the dialect can be enormous when attempting to collect folk stories. When people are first asked to tell stories their initial response is usually disbelief. People tend not to believe that: 1. the request is straightforward 2. the stories should remain in the form that they are normally told with the dialect and with the language that would normally be used and 3. the type of story that is told could be appreciated by any group other than their own, and that the story is inappropriate for others.
Inquiry creates the possibility of contaminating the story. Therefore, while collecting these stories it is necessary to make people believe what they have to offer is valuable for what they say and for how they say it because each storyteller is preserving the culture, and to change any part for the sake of making it more “acceptable” spoils the story.
The idea of the orality of Black people needs to be stressed to the storytellers as well as to the students. The orality of Black people mirrors socioeconomic conditions, place, and experience.
For this unit folk stories from several sources have been collected. Urban, rural, young and old people were asked for stories. For classroom use it was necessary to have some examples from a variety of sources, and to include stories told by young people so that the students can see how they and their peers are able to fit into the scheme of the oral tradition.
Once the student realizes their importance to the continuation of the oral system, they can perhaps begin to empathize with people who are older or live in a different place.
The stories contributed by the young people were done in the form of raps, the talking rhythms that young people listen to today. These raps are sometimes memorized by young people and sometimes they are ad libbed. This ad libbing and memorization are important aspects of the larger matrix of the black folk tradition because as the stories are told and retold they are changed and made slightly different by the storytellers.
The stories collected have some of the same general ideas that are part of the raps. They are memorized, and altered as told or they are made up from another known story.
Each storyteller, like each rapper, makes the story his own in the telling of the story. The use of these two kinds of oralities is very important for the use of this unit in the classroom. One has the possibilities of teaching historical lessons from the past, and the other teaches some of the folk culture of today.
There are several classroom goals and activities that can be achieved and used in conjunction with the stories collected and the stories to be collected.
Although stories were collected at large for use in the classroom, that does not satisfy the need for a method of exploring what is collected for use in the classroom.
The stories need to be used for practical purposes as well as for academic purposes. The student as well as the teacher need to feel that they are in a process of developing and integrating the classroom with the real world, particularly to the student’s world. These stories can provide this, however, that does not necessarily happen without some structure, and an outline and method for investigation.
The student as well as the teacher need assistance in determining what to do with the folk stories after they have read and collected some of them. The stories should be used, applied to different situations, evaluated, and closely examined for the purposes of combining the student’s school life with real life.
Methods for examining the folk stories collected and read was developed which included several activities to help students learn how to make inquiries and how to apply them to both a school situation and to life situations. These methods include synthesis, analysis, application and evaluation of the stories collected as well as the stories read in class.
An example of how to use a story following the methods prescribed is also included.
Students need to synthesize what is intended for the course, and in order to achieve this goal, students will tell stories themselves, rearrange stories they have heard, and compile the folk stories that they are collecting themselves.
Students in the classroom probably already know a few raps. They should be encouraged to begin collecting for the folk tradition with themselves. Each student should “perform” a rap for the class. This performance should be recorded as the beginning stage of collecting folk stories. This activity gets the student personally involved.
Once students have placed their own raps on tape they should move out and begin to collect stories from their community. Their community should include family and friends. Once the students have collected these stories they should return and retell the story to the class, Wherever possible they should use tape recorders. If recorders are unavailable, they should be encouraged to use the “voice” of the story teller.
Students will analyze the stories they collect by recognizing unstated assumptions about black people and their folklore and determine whether the assumptions are valid or not. One assumption is that all folk stories are rural and told strictly by old people. When they realize their own contribution through the raps they will see that this is not a valid assumption.
In the second step of analysis, students will distinguish between facts and inferences. This should be enjoyable for the student when they think of how real or unreal the stories are.
At this point, students need to make distinctions between what are facts and what are inferences. Students should be asked whether the stories that they have collected thus far are true, and if not, what purpose do they serve. Each story they collect should have this distinction made about it.
There are several good writing assignments that go along with collecting and retelling folkstories and these need to be done with the class. Suggestions will be given later in the unit on these assignments.
The application of the stories can be demonstrated in several ways. Students will be able to modify what they have learned in other areas to help other students discover how to learn.
A classroom activity which will help students apply another level of the power of the oral tradition is a way of being successful in school by learning facts. Students can prepare educational or informational raps that would stimulate other students. These educational raps can help students demonstrate how to learn history, biology, math, a foreign language, or they can teach them or give them information on more contemporary issues like the use of drugs.
The students who worked with me composed a rap about the use and abuse of marijuana, the last line of the rap was:
“don’ choke, don’ smoke, everybody’s smokin’ chokin’ on dope.”Students who are artistic and able to use puppetry can do storytelling for elementary school students. These stories that are disseminated to the elementary schools should be the stories that the students collected, read, and the raps they composed. This visual method, the puppetry couples easily with the oral tradition. However, before the student’s use the puppets for the younger students, they should evaluate the use and the purpose of the stories they have collected to see which would be most appropriate.
Another method of getting students interested and working hard on storytelling is by incorporating stories told by Black comedians like Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, or Eddie Murphy. Many of the students already listen to these comedians, but don’t realize that they (the comedians) like the other storytellers used in this unit are preserving the Black oral tradition of storytelling.
These comedians use a similar style of many black urban folklorists. They combine humor and enliven the stories with the realism of everyday events and are able to tell stories that entertain, explain, or teach.
Students might evaluate what they have researched by comparing the stories of the storytellers to those of the comedians, summarizing the differences and similarities and report to the class and finally judge the value of the stories by use of internal criteria.
Much of the evaluation becomes subjective because it involves judgment without the necessity of external criteria.
There are several sources of Black folklore; the stories collected by Julius Lester in Black Folktales, is an excellent source and is available within the school system. This is one book chosen for that reason particularly since acquisition of classroom materials is at times a problem. The Lester book and the folklore collected by Langston Hughes in The Book of Negro Folklore should be used to assist students in developing methods for analysis, synthesis, evaluation and application in the classroom. Newer collections that might also be used are Mother Wit From the Laughing Barrel by Alan Dundes, and Harld Courlander’s A Treasury of Afro-American Folklore.
The folk story chosen for synthesis, analysis, evaluation, and application was the stories about Stagolee. This character is familiar to students, information about the character is familiar to students, information about the character as well as several versions of the story exist, and even though the stories have been fashioned by the community over time it is not so out of synch with time that the urban student of the 1980s cannot relate to the information covered and given about the character.
Everything that Stagolee (to Stackolee) does is bigger and bolder than any ordinary man could or would attempt to do. In the Lester version there are several inferences made as to the prowess of Stagolee. Whenever someone gets in his way or does him wrong, Stagolee shoots and kills the person. Obviously students should be made to realize that this is not a way to handle a problem or a person.
Stagolee has more affection for his hat than any person, and when Billy Lyons spits on his hat, Stagolee shoots Billy and moves in with Billy’s wife.
Stagolee also could not be killed by ordinary methods; he was hanged and did not die. Another inference about Stagolee and death was that he was so fierce that death would not touch him, and it took a thunderbolt sent from God to kill him. This would seem to be the end of the story, but the final part of the legend is that once Stagolee did die and went to Hell, he ruled Hell.
This folktale is full of inferences, to help students sort out the facts represented in this story the Stagolee story of the Lester book should be compared to the stories about Stagolee in the Hughes book on Black folklore, The Book of Negro Folklore.
In the Hughes book there are two versions of the story of Stagolee, “Stackolee” and “Stackalee”2 By comparing the three stories it can be assumed that: 1. there was a man named Stagalee 2. that he possessed a violent streak 3. the character probably did wear a stetson hat and 4. the character met with a violent end 5. it is usually assumed that he went straight to Hell and ruled over Hell.
This story is excellent for establishing the probabilities of truths as opposed to the exaggeration of legends; it reaches the student where the student lives, teaches practical and moral wisdom, and is a good example of a popular legend, and has been reinforced by word of mouth.3
A similar use of traditional stories of the purposes of analysis, synthesis, application and evaluation can be done for other stories in Black Folktales by Julius Lester and The Book of Negro Folklore by Langston Hughes.
The use of dialect in folk stories as mentioned previously is one of the important aspects of maintaining the folk system. In the Hughes book there are two short story/poems which students can read aloud to practice what dialect sounds like and how one author writes what is said. The stories are “Tad’s Advice to his Son” and “Old Sister’s Advice to her Daughter”.
Both stories deal with similar themes and are short enough so that students can practice and “perform” the stories for class.
Since the theme is not to trust a member of the opposite sex, the boys can perform “Tad’s Advice to his Son” and the girls “Old Sister’s Advice to her Daughter.”
There are several other sources of Black folklore that use dialect, The Book of Negro Folklore is full of stories with dialect; another excellent source of stories written in dialect is Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurston.
There should be as many different ways of retelling the story as there are people telling the story. This is an excellent way of helping students understand that stories change from person to person according to what each person defines as important.
1. Have each student read “High John the Conqueror” from Black Folktales. 2. Select five students who will retell the story of “High John. The five students should be as diverse as possible with male and females and also with different interests. Also some of the students who did not like the story should be chosen. 3. Students will take notes on the various stories so that they can refer back to them for information during discussions. Some of the reasons for variations of the story are that some will see John as a hero and others will see John as a trickster, some will focus in on the feats as opposed to the facts. 4. Discuss with the students the reasons for the different versions of the story. 5. The fact that John was a slave is an important part of the High John stories. He was seen by slaves as a hero who could not be subjugated by his master because he was smarter than his master and able to control his master by his wits more than the master was able to control him. 6. After the discussion choose another three students to retell the High John stories. Students should again take note of the differences. The differences should again be discussed keeping in mind the previous discussion.
1. Student groups will choose a narrator and the parts of master, missy, and the children. The narrator retells the story of Dave and also acts the part of Dave. He describes the events as though they were his own memories.
- As Dave nears the end of his story, he keeps on stepping as the master tells him “Dave! The children love you. I love you, and Missy, she like you. But remember Dave! You still a nigger!”4
2. The class will discuss the significance of what it means to “keep on stepping”. The class will apply this story to a modern day situation where a person in the public eye has to “keep on stepping”. 3. Students who do not wish to be part of the dramatization can help make small props. For example in “Keep on Stepping” they will need a boat, a hoe, and a picture of a plantation house.
Examples of the quotes that might be used are:
1. Ask students if they know any aphorisms or proverbs. Whatever they know list on the board. After the sayings are on the board, ask the students if anyone knows what any of the sayings mean; they should give examples. This helps the student become involved in the class especially when their “sayings” are on the board. 2. Give students aphorisms from the Book of Negro Folklore or the Treasury of Afro American Folklore plantation proverbs. 3. Students choose from the aphorisms in the Book of Negro Folklore one quote and write short stories with the title and content suggested by the aphorisms.
It’s hard to make clothes fit a miserable man. De price of your hat ain’t de measure of your brain. Buyin’ on credit is robbin’ next year’s crop. De cowbell can’t keep a secret.5
This exercise allows the students to be creative and also to share what each person has gotten from the assignment; it serves as a reward for some and an incentive for others.
4. Make copies of the best student stories excluding the titles, and hand out to the class. 5. Have students title the compositions written by their classmates.
1. The day before using this lesson ask students if they have ever heard of Stagolee; if they have not have them as a homework assignment ask someone either at home or in their neighborhood about a man named Stagolee. Ask them also to see if someone has ever heard the song from the fifties about Stagolee. 2. On the next class day, ask who has found out any information about Stagolee. Play the record “Stagolee” by Lloyd Price. 3. Read the “Stagolee” stories from The Black Folktales by Julius Lester and The Book of Negro Folklore by Langston Hughes. 4. List the activities that Stagolee does in the stories that probably could have happened. For example the place he was born, his way of making a living. 5. Discuss why legends have the real occurrences combined with the fantasy. Could any of the fantasy have some explanations. 6. Compare the recording to the stories. Which seems more logical, and what appeal does the story have that the record does not? What appeal does the record have that the story does not?
Materials: Tape recorder, blank tapes, and records of rap music.
This particular lesson should be done in a team or group effort. Perhaps one student to read the rap, and another to make the beat or rhythm.
1. Listen to one of the rap songs. 2. Ask the students what is a rap; and what are the various components of raps; for example, repetition, beat, and ad libbing. 3. Students will record raps that they are already familiar with that are done by groups that do rap music. Same of the groups should be mentioned for example Grand Master Flash, Run Dee MC, Sugar Hill, the Funkadelics, etc. This should not be difficult because most students have probably already memorized several raps. 4. Students will take the rhythms of their raps and rewrite the story of Stagolee to a rap rhythm; they should be reminded to keep in mind the various components of rap music. 5. Students will record the raps that they have written and share the results with the class.
1. Ask students what playsongs they did as children, and write these on the beard. 2. Ask for a volunteer to perform one of the playsongs. 3. Have students write playsongs they already know. 4. Students should record the playsongs of the children in their neighborhood and report back to the class on how they are different from the songs they read and know and how the songs of the children are similar. 5. Students should record the differences and similarities. The differences need to be explained. Some reasons for change might be that songs deal with more current issues or that the same songs are being done but they have been altered or modified in time.
1. Students should fill out the work sheet on the analysis, synthesis, evaluation and application of the stories they collected.
Heroes are made not born; they became legends before they die. They come to be heroes because contemporaries have come to have standards of heroic actions. “When a particular figure represents the heroic virtues for a whole people, we call him a culture hero.”6
Culture heroes differ from real heroes in many ways; these are:
High John and Stagolee are culture heroes. Students have read the High John and the Stagolee stories.
1. Miraculous birth 2. Rapid maturation 3. Virtuous (brave, strong and intelligent) 4. Confront and overcome enemies of malevolence and power, and obstacles of insurmountable difficulty 5. Teach their peers practical and moral wisdom 6. Usually die young promising to return.7
1. They are to write the examples for each character to determine if Stagolee and John are culture heroes.
Analysis, Synthesis, Evaluation, and Application of Stories Collected
I. Analysis 1. What kind of person is the main character? (young, old, city, country, real or legendary) 2. Can this person live in the city as well as the country? 3. What were the facts about the person who is the main character and what inferences were made? II. Synthesis 1. Categorize the factual events from the exaggerated events. 2. Rewrite the important events of the story and revise the conclusions of these events. III. Application 1. Compare the positive attributes the folk hero has to be a modern day folk hero. 2. Compare the negative characteristics of the folk hero to the modern day folk hero. IV. Evaluation 1. What important lessons might be learned from the story? 2. How could the hero have changed the situations that he was found in.
2Hughes, Langston, The Book of Negro Folklore, p. 359-363.
3Dorson, Richard, American Folklore and the Historian, p. 158-160.
4Lester, pg. 153-157.
5Hughes, pg. 120.
6Edmonson, Munro S., Lore An Introduction to the Science of Folklore and Literature, p. 150.
7Ibid., p. 150.
Courlander, Harold. A Treasury of Afro-American Folklore. New York: Crown Publishers, 1976. A collection of oral literature, legends, tales, songs, religious beliefs, customs, sayings of people of African descent.
Dundes, Alan. Mother Wit From the Laughing Barrel. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. 1973. Selected readings and interpretations of black folklore topics, such as: folk medicine, folk stories, folk heroes and folk traditions.
Dance, Daryl Cumber. Shuckin’ and Jivin. Bollmington: Indiana University Press, 1978. Folklore from contemporary black Americans; a good survey of black folktales can be used in the classroom.
Edmonson, Munro S. Lore An Introduction to the Science of Folklore and Literature. New York: Holt Rinehart, Winston, 1971. Information Of how the origins and intentions of folklore.
Emmons, Martha. Deep Like the Rivers. Austin: Encino Press, 1969. Stories told to Martha Emmons by friends over many years.
Goldstein, Kenneth S. A Guide For Field Workers in Folklore. Pennsylvania Folklore Associates, 1969. The purpose of the book is to help guide people in the collection of folklore.
Hughes, Langston and Bontemps, Arna. The Book of Negro Folklore. New York: Dodd, 1958. Collections of Black American folklore which consists of stories, aphorisms, sermons, poems, folktales. Very extensive.
Hurston, Zora Neale. Mules and Men. New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969. Collection of rural tales from Ms. Hurston’s home in Florida. Good for use on dialects, collecting stories, and the stories of Black Americans.
Lester, Julius. Black Folktales. New York: Grove Press, 1969. Collection of Black American folktales. Excellent for use in the classroom.
Dance, Daryl Cumber. Shuckin’ and Jivin’. Bollmington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1978.
Dundes, Alan. Mother Wit From the Laughing Barrel. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1973.
Hughes, Langston. The Book of Negro Folklore. New York: Dodd, 1958.
Hurston, Zora Neal. Mules and Men. New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969.
Lester, Julius. Black Folktales.
Contents of 1984 Volume IV | Directory of Volumes | Index | Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute


8.3 Different Types of Communication and Channels
- Understand different types of communication.
- Understand how communication channels affect communication.
- Recognize different communication directions within organizations.
Types of Communication
There are three types of communication, including: verbal communication involving listening to a person to understand the meaning of a message, written communication in which a message is read, and nonverbal communication involving observing a person and inferring meaning. Let’s start with verbal communication, which is the most common form of communication.
Verbal communications in business take place over the phone or in person. The medium of the message is oral. Let’s return to our printer cartridge example. This time, the message is being conveyed from the sender (the manager) to the receiver (an employee named Bill) by telephone. We’ve already seen how the manager’s request to Bill (“Buy more printer toner cartridges!”) can go awry. Now let’s look at how the same message can travel successfully from sender to receiver.
Manager (speaking on the phone): “Good morning Bill!”
(By using the employee’s name, the manager is establishing a clear, personal link to the receiver.)
Manager: “Your division’s numbers are looking great.”
(The manager’s recognition of Bill’s role in a winning team further personalizes and emotionalizes the conversation.)
Manager: “Our next step is to order more printer toner cartridges. Would you place an order for 1,000 printer toner cartridges with Jones Computer Supplies? Our budget for this purchase is $30,000, and the printer toner cartridges need to be here by Wednesday afternoon.”
(The manager breaks down the task into several steps. Each step consists of a specific task, time frame, quantity, or goal.)
Bill: “Sure thing! I’ll call Jones Computer Supplies and order 1,000 more printer toner cartridges, not exceeding a total of $30,000, to be here by Wednesday afternoon.”
(Bill, a model employee, repeats what he has heard. This is the feedback portion of the communication. Feedback helps him recognize any confusion he may have had hearing the manager’s message. Feedback also helps the manager hear if she has communicated the message correctly.)
StorytellingA narrative account of an event or events. has been shown to be an effective form of verbal communication that serves an important organizational function by helping to construct common meanings for individuals within the organization. Stories can help clarify key values and also help demonstrate how certain tasks are performed within an organization. Story frequency, strength, and tone are related to higher organizational commitment.McCarthy, J. F. (2008). Short stories at work: Storytelling as an indicator of organizational commitment. Group & Organization Management, 33, 163–193. The quality of the stories is related to the ability of entrepreneurs to secure capital for their firms.Martens, M. L., Jennings, J. E., & Devereaux, J. P. (2007). Do the stories they tell get them the money they need? The role of entrepreneurial narratives in resource acquisition. Academy of Management Journal, 50, 1107–1132.
While the process may be the same, high stakes communications require more planning, reflection, and skill than normal day-to-day interactions at work. Examples of high stakes communication events include asking for a raise or presenting a business plan to a venture capitalist. In addition to these events, there are also many times in our professional lives when we have crucial conversationsDiscussions in which the stakes are high, opinions vary, and emotions run strong., which are defined as discussions in which not only are the stakes high, but also the opinions vary and emotions run strong.Patterson, K., Grenny, J., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2002). Crucial conversations: Tools for talking when stakes are high. New York: McGraw-Hill. One of the most consistent recommendations from communications experts is to work toward using “and” instead of “but” when communicating under these circumstances. In addition, be aware of your communication style and practice being flexible; it is under stressful situations that communication styles can become the most rigid.
OB Toolbox: 10 Recommendations for Improving the Quality of Your Conversations
- Be the first to say hello. Use your name in your introduction, in case others have forgotten it.
- Think before you speak. Our impulse is often to imitate movies by offering fast, witty replies in conversation. In the real world, a careful silence can make us sound more intelligent and prevent mistakes.
- Be receptive to new ideas. If you disagree with another person’s opinion, saying, “Tell me more,” can be a more useful way of moving forward than saying, “That’s stupid!”
- Repeat someone’s name to yourself and then aloud, when being introduced. The form of the name you use may vary. First names work with peers. Mr. or Ms. is common when meeting superiors in business.
- Ask questions. This establishes your interest in another person.
- Listen as much, if not more, than you speak. This allows you to learn new information.
- Use eye contact. Eye contact shows that you are engaged. Also, be sure to smile and make sure your body language matches your message.
- Mirror the other person. Occasionally repeat what they’ve said in your own words. “You mean… ?”
- Have an exit strategy ready. Ideal conversations are brief, leaving others wanting more.
- Be prepared. Before beginning a conversation, have three simple facts about yourself and four questions about someone else in mind.
Source: Adapted from information contained in Gabor, D. (1983). How to start a conversation and make friends. New York: Legacy; Post, E. (2005). Emily Post’s etiquette advantage in business. New York: Collins Living; Fine, D. (2005). The fine art of small talk. New York: Hyperion.
In contrast to verbal communications, which are oral, written business communications are printed messages. Examples of written communications include memos, proposals, e-mails, letters, training manuals, and operating policies. They may be printed on paper or appear on the screen. Written communication is often asynchronous. That is, the sender can write a message that the receiver can read at any time, unlike a conversation that is carried on in real time. A written communication can also be read by many people (such as all employees in a department or all customers). It’s a “one-to-many” communication, as opposed to a one-to-one conversation. There are exceptions, of course: A voice mail is an oral message that is asynchronous. Conference calls and speeches are oral one-to-many communications, and e-mails can have only one recipient or many.
Normally, a verbal communication takes place in real time. Written communication, by contrast, can be constructed over a longer period of time. It also can be collaborative. Multiple people can contribute to the content on one document before that document is sent to the intended audience.
Verbal and written communications have different strengths and weaknesses. In business, the decision to communicate verbally or in written form can be a powerful one. As we’ll see below, each style of communication has particular strengths and pitfalls. When determining whether to communicate verbally or in writing, ask yourself: Do I want to convey facts or feelings? Verbal communications are a better way to convey feelings. Written communications do a better job of conveying facts.
Picture a manager making a speech to a team of twenty employees. The manager is speaking at a normal pace. The employees appear interested. But how much information is being transmitted? Probably not as much as the speaker believes. The fact is that humans listen much faster than they speak. The average public speaker communicates at a speed of about 125 words a minute, and that pace sounds fine to the audience. (In fact, anything faster than that probably would sound unusual. To put that figure in perspective, someone having an excited conversation speaks at about 150 words a minute.) Based on these numbers, we could assume that the audience has more than enough time to take in each word the speaker delivers, which actually creates a problem. The average person in the audience can hear 400 to 500 words a minute.Lee, D., & Hatesohl, D. Listening: Our most used communication skill. Retrieved July 2, 2008, from the University of Missouri Web site: http://extension.missouri.edu/explore/comm/cm0150.htm. The audience has more than enough time to hear. As a result, their minds may wander.
As you can see, oral communication is the most often used form of communication, but it is also an inherently flawed medium for conveying specific facts. Listeners’ minds wander. It’s nothing personal—in fact, it’s a completely normal psychological occurrence. In business, once we understand this fact, we can make more intelligent communication choices based on the kind of information we want to convey.
Communication mediums have come a long way since Alexander Graham Bell’s original telephone.
Most jobs involve some degree of writing. According to the National Commission on Writing, 67% of salaried employees in large American companies and professional state employees have some kind of writing responsibility. Half of responding companies reported that they take writing into consideration when hiring professional employees, and 91% always take writing into account when hiring.Flink, H. (2007, March). Tell it like it is: Essential communication skills for engineers. Industrial Engineer, 39, 44–49. Luckily, it is possible to learn to write clearly.
Here are some tips on writing well. Thomas Jefferson summed up the rules of writing well with this idea: “Don’t use two words when one will do.” Put another way, half the words can have twice the impact. One of the oldest myths in business is that writing more will make us sound more important. The opposite is true. Leaders who can communicate simply and clearly project a stronger image than those who write a lot but say nothing.
Putting Jefferson’s Rules Into Action: Five Ways to Communicate More With Fewer Words
- Picture the receiver in your mind before you begin to write. After all, a written communication is a link between people.
- Choose simple words. When in doubt, choose the shorter word (“Automobile or car? Car!”)
- Be polite and clear. Your message will make a strong, clear impact.
- Make your message brief and direct by trimming redundant words or phrases. “Having thus explored our first option, I would now like to begin to explore the second option that may be open to us.” versus “After considering Option 1, I would like to look at Option 2.”
- Choose strong, active verbs. “I suggest…” instead of “It would seem to me that we might…”
Remember, concise writing equals effective communication.
What you say is a vital part of any communication. Surprisingly, what you don’t say can be even more important. Research shows that nonverbal cues can also affect whether or not you get a job offer. Judges examining videotapes of actual applicants were able to assess the social skills of job candidates with the sound turned off. They watched the rate of gesturing, time spent talking, and formality of dress to determine which candidates would be the most socially successful on the job.Gifford, R., Ng, C. F., & Wilkinson, M. (1985). Nonverbal cues in the employment interview: Links between applicant qualities and interviewer judgments. Journal of Applied Psychology, 70, 729–736. Research also shows that 55% of in-person communication comes from nonverbal cues such as facial expressions, body stance, and tone of voice. According to one study, only 7% of a receiver’s comprehension of a message is based on the sender’s actual words, 38% is based on paralanguage (the tone, pace, and volume of speech), and 55% is based on nonverbal cues (body language).Mehrabian, A. (1981). Silent messages. New York: Wadsworth. To be effective communicators, our body language, appearance, and tone must align with the words we’re trying to convey. Research shows that when individuals are lying, they are more likely to blink more frequently, shift their weight, and shrug.Siegman, A. W. (1985). Multichannel integrations of nonverbal behavior. Hillsdale, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates.
A different tone can change the perceived meaning of a message. See the table below for how clearly this can be true. If we only read these words, we would be left to wonder, but during a conversation, the tone conveys a great deal of information.
Don’t Use That Tone With Me!
Changing your tone can dramatically change your meaning.
|Placement of the emphasis||What it means|
|I did not tell John you were late.||Someone else told John you were late.|
|I did not tell John you were late.||This did not happen.|
|I did not tell John you were late.||I may have implied it.|
|I did not tell John you were late.||But maybe I told Sharon and José.|
|I did not tell John you were late.||I was talking about someone else.|
|I did not tell John you were late.||I told him you still are late.|
|I did not tell John you were late.||I told him you were attending another meeting.|
Source: Based on ideas in Kiely, M. (October, 1993). When “no” means “yes.” Marketing, 7–9.
Now you can see how changing the tone of voice in a conversation can incite or diffuse a misunderstanding. For another example, imagine that you’re a customer interested in opening a new bank account. At one bank, the bank officer is dressed neatly. She looks you in the eye when she speaks. Her tone is friendly. Her words are easy to understand, yet professional sounding. “Thank you for considering Bank of the East Coast. We appreciate this opportunity and would love to explore ways that we can work together to help your business grow,” she says with a friendly smile. At the second bank, the bank officer’s tie is stained. He looks over your head and down at his desk as he speaks. He shifts in his seat and fidgets with his hands. His words say, “Thank you for considering Bank of the West Coast. We appreciate this opportunity and would love to explore ways that we can work together to help you business grow,” but he mumbles his words, and his voice conveys no enthusiasm or warmth. Which bank would you choose? The speaker’s body language must match his or her words. If a sender’s words and body language don’t match—if a sender smiles while telling a sad tale, for example—the mismatch between verbal and nonverbal cues can cause a receiver to actively dislike the sender.
Following are a few examples of nonverbal cues that can support or detract from a sender’s message.
A simple rule of thumb is that simplicity, directness, and warmth conveys sincerity. Sincerity is vital for effective communication. In some cultures, a firm handshake, given with a warm, dry hand, is a great way to establish trust. A weak, clammy handshake might convey a lack of trustworthiness. Gnawing one’s lip conveys uncertainty. A direct smile conveys confidence.
© The New Yorker Collection. 1991. Robert Mankoff from cartoonbank.com. All rights reserved.
In business, the style and duration of eye contact varies greatly across cultures. In the United States, looking someone in the eye (for about a second) is considered a sign of trustworthiness.
The human face can produce thousands of different expressions. These expressions have been decoded by experts as corresponding to hundreds of different emotional states.Ekman, P., Friesen, W. V., & Hager, J. C. The facial action coding system (FACS). Retrieved July 2, 2008, from http://face-and-emotion.com/dataface/facs/manual. Our faces convey basic information to the outside world. Happiness is associated with an upturned mouth and slightly closed eyes; fear with an open mouth and wide-eyed stare. Shifty eyes and pursed lips convey a lack of trustworthiness. The impact of facial expressions in conversation is instantaneous. Our brains may register them as “a feeling” about someone’s character. For this reason, it is important to consider how we appear in business as well as what we say. The muscles of our faces convey our emotions. We can send a silent message without saying a word. A change in facial expression can change our emotional state. Before an interview, for example, if we focus on feeling confident, our face will convey that confidence to an interviewer. Adopting a smile (even if we’re feeling stressed) can reduce the body’s stress levels.
The position of our body relative to a chair or other person is another powerful silent messenger that conveys interest, aloofness, professionalism, or lack thereof. Head up, back straight (but not rigid) implies an upright character. In interview situations, experts advise mirroring an interviewer’s tendency to lean in and settle back in a seat. The subtle repetition of the other person’s posture conveys that we are listening and responding.
The meaning of a simple touch differs between individuals, genders, and cultures. In Mexico, when doing business, men may find themselves being grasped on the arm by another man. To pull away is seen as rude. In Indonesia, to touch anyone on the head or to touch anything with one’s foot is considered highly offensive. In the Far East and some parts of Asia, according to business etiquette writer Nazir Daud, “It is considered impolite for a woman to shake a man’s hand.”Daud, N. (n.d.). Business etiquette. Retrieved July 2, 2008, from http://ezinearticles.com/?Business-Etiquette---Shaking-Hands-around- the-World&id=746227. Americans, as we have noted above, place great value in a firm handshake. But handshaking as a competitive sport (“the bone-crusher”) can come off as needlessly aggressive both at home and abroad.
Anthropologist Edward T. Hall coined the term proxemics to denote the different kinds of distance that occur between people. These distances vary among cultures. The chart below outlines the basic proxemics of everyday life and their associated meaning.Hall, E. T. (1966). The hidden dimension. New York: Doubleday.
Distance between speakers is partially determined by their intimacy level.
Source: Hall, E. T. (1966). The hidden dimension. New York: Doubleday.
Standing too far away from a colleague (public speaking distance) or too close to a colleague (intimate distance for embracing) can thwart an effective verbal communication in business.
The channel, or medium, used to communicate a message affects how accurately the message will be received. Channels vary in their “information-richness.” Information-rich channels convey more nonverbal information. Research shows that effective managers tend to use more information-rich communication channels than less effective managers.Allen, D. G., & Griffeth, R. W. (1997). Vertical and lateral information processing; Fulk, J., & Boyd, B. (1991). Emerging theories of communication in organizations. Journal of Management, 17, 407–446; Yates, J., & Orlikowski, W. J. (1992). Genres of organizational communication: A structurational approach to studying communication and media. Academy of Management Review, 17, 299–326. The figure below illustrates the information richness of different channels.
Information channels differ in their richness.
Sources: Adapted from information in Daft, R. L., & Lenge, R. H. (1984). Information richness: A new approach to managerial behavior and organizational design. In B. Staw & L. Cummings (Eds.), Research in organizational behavior, vol. 6 (pp. 191–233). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press; Lengel, R. H., & Daft, D. L. (1988). The selection of communication media as an executive skill. Academy of Management Executive, 11, 225–232.
The key to effective communication is to match the communication channel with the goal of the message.Barry, B., & Fulmer, I. S. (2004). The medium and the message: The adaptive use of communication media in dyadic influence. Academy of Management Review, 29, 272–292. For example, written media may be a better choice when the sender wants a record of the content, has less urgency for a response, is physically separated from the receiver, and doesn’t require a lot of feedback from the receiver, or when the message is complicated and may take some time to understand.
Oral communication, on the other hand, makes more sense when the sender is conveying a sensitive or emotional message, needs feedback immediately, and does not need a permanent record of the conversation.
Figure 8.11 Guide for When to Use Written versus Verbal Communication
Make sure to match the medium to the task. Trying to accomplish a visual task such as choosing colors is more challenging on the phone versus in person.
© 2010 Jupiterimages Corporation
Like face-to-face and telephone conversations, videoconferencing has high information richness, because receivers and senders can see or hear beyond just the words that are used—they can see the sender’s body language or hear the tone of their voice. Handheld devices, blogs, and written letters and memos offer medium-rich channels, because they convey words and pictures or photos. Formal written documents, such as legal documents and budget spreadsheets, convey the least richness, because the format is often rigid and standardized. As a result, the tone of the message is often lost.
The growth of e-mail has been spectacular, but it has also created challenges in managing information and increasing the speed of doing businesses. Over 100 million adults in the United States use e-mail at least once a day.Taylor, C. (2002, June 10). 12 steps for email addicts. Time.com. Retrieved July 2, 2008, from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1002621,00.html. Internet users around the world send an estimated 60 billion e-mails each day, and a large portion of these are spam or scam attempts.60 Billion emails sent daily worldwide. (2006, April 26). Retrieved July 2, 2008, from CNET.UK: http://www.cnet.co.uk/misc/print/0,39030763,49265163,00.htm. That makes e-mail the second most popular medium of communication worldwide, second only to voice. Less than 1% of all written human communications even reaches paper these days.Isom, D. K. (updated October 19, 2005). Electronic discovery: New power, new risks. Retrieved July 2, 2008, from the Utah State Bar Web site: http://utahbar.org/barjournal2000/html/november_2003_2.html. To combat the overuse of e-mail, companies such as Intel have even instituted “no e-mail Fridays.” During these times, all communication is done via other communication channels. Learning to be more effective in your e-mail communications is an important skill. To learn more, check out the OB Toolbox on business e-mail do’s and don’ts.
OB Toolbox: Business E-mail Do’s and Don’ts
- DON’T send or forward chain e-mails.
- DON’T put anything in an e-mail that you don’t want the world to see.
- DON’T write a message in capital letters—this is the equivalent of SHOUTING.
- DON’T routinely CC everyone. Reducing inbox clutter is a great way to increase communication.
- DON’T hit send until you’ve spell-checked your e-mail.
- DO use a subject line that summarizes your message, adjusting it as the message changes over time.
- DO make your request in the first line of your e-mail. (And if that’s all you need to say, stop there!)
- DO end your e-mail with a brief sign-off such as, “Thank you,” followed by your name and contact information.
- DO think of a work e-mail as a binding communication.
- DO let others know if you’ve received an e-mail in error.
Sources: Adapted from information in Leland, K., & Bailey, K. (2000). Customer service for dummies. New York: Wiley; Information Technology Services. (1997). Top 10 email dos and top ten email don’ts. Retrieved July 1, 2008, from the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical Center Web site: http://www.uic.edu/hsc/uicmc/its/customers/email-tips.htm; Kawasaki, G. (2006, February 3). The effective emailer. Retrieved July 1, 2008, from How to Change the World Web site: http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2006/02/the_effective_e.html.
An important although often ignored rule when communicating emotional information is that e-mail’s lack of richness can be your loss. As we saw in the chart above, e-mail is a medium-rich channel. It can convey facts quickly. But when it comes to emotion, e-mail’s flaws make it a far less desirable choice than oral communication—the 55% of nonverbal cues that make a conversation comprehensible to a listener are missing. Researchers also note that e-mail readers don’t pick up on sarcasm and other tonal aspects of writing as much as the writer believes they will.Kruger, J. (2005). Egocentrism over email: Can we communicate as well as we think? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 925–936.
The sender may believe that certain emotional signifiers have been included in a message. But, with written words alone, those signifiers are not there. This gap between the form and content of e-mail inspired the rise of emoticons—symbols that offer clues to the emotional side of the words in each message. Generally speaking, however, emoticons are not considered professional in business communication.
You might feel uncomfortable conveying an emotionally laden message verbally, especially when the message contains unwanted news. Sending an e-mail to your staff that there will be no bonuses this year may seem easier than breaking the bad news face-to-face, but that doesn’t mean that e-mail is an effective or appropriate way to break this kind of news. When the message is emotional, the sender should use verbal communication. Indeed, a good rule of thumb is that more emotionally laden messages require more thought in the choice of channel and how they are communicated.
Communication can occur without you even realizing it. Consider the following: Is your e-mail name professional? The typical convention for business e-mail contains some form of your name. While an e-mail name like “LazyGirl” or “DeathMonkey” may be fine for chatting online with your friends, they may send the wrong signal to individuals you e-mail such as professors and prospective employers.
Is your outgoing voice mail greeting professional? If not, change it. Faculty and prospective recruiters will draw certain conclusions if, upon calling you, they get a message that screams, “Party, party, party!”
Do you have a “private” social networking Web site on MySpace.com, Facebook.com, or Xanga.com? If so, consider what it says about you to employers or clients. If it is information you wouldn’t share at work, it probably shouldn’t be there.
Googled yourself lately? If not, you probably should. Potential employers have begun searching the Web as part of background checking, and you should be aware of what’s out there about you.
Direction of Communication Within Organizations
Information can move horizontally, from a sender to a receiver, as we’ve seen. It can also move vertically, down from top management, or up from the front line. Information can also move diagonally between and among levels of an organization, such as a message from a customer service rep to a manager in the manufacturing department or a message from the chief financial officer sent down to all department heads.
Organizational communication travels in many different directions.
There is a chance for these arrows to go awry, of course. As Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of best-selling books such as Flow, has noted, “In large organizations the dilution of information as it passes up and down the hierarchy, and horizontally across departments, can undermine the effort to focus on common goals.”Quotation listed on Inspirational Business Quotes. Retrieved July 1, 2008, from http://www.woopidoo.com/business_quotes/effort-quotes.htm.
The organizational status of the sender can impact the receiver’s attentiveness to the message. For example, consider the following: A senior manager sends a memo to a production supervisor. The supervisor, who has a lower status within the organization, is likely to pay close attention to the message. The same information conveyed in the opposite direction, however, might not get the attention it deserves. The message would be filtered by the senior manager’s perception of priorities and urgencies.
Requests are just one kind of communication in business. Other communications, either verbal or written, may seek, give, or exchange information. Research shows that frequent communications with one’s supervisor is related to better job performance ratings and overall organizational performance.Snyder, R. A., & Morris, J. H. (1984). Organizational communication and performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 69, 461–465; Kacmar, K. M., Witt, L. A., Zivnuska, S., & Gully, S. M. (2003). The interactive effect of leader-member exchange and communication frequency on performance ratings. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 764–772. Research also shows that lateral communication done between peers can influence important organizational outcomes such as turnover.Krackhardt, D., & Porter, L. W. (1986). The snowball effect: Turnover embedded in communication networks. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71, 50–55.
Figure 8.14 How Managers Spend Time Communicating at Work
Source: Adapted from information in Luthans, F., & Larsen, J. K. (1986). How managers really communicate. Human Relations, 39, 161–178.
External communications deliver specific businesses messages to individuals outside an organization. They may announce changes in staff or strategy, earnings, and more. The goal of an external communication is to create a specific message that the receiver will understand and share with others. Examples of external communications include the following.
Public relationsProfessionals who create external communications about a client’s product, services, or practices for specific receivers. professionals create external communications about a client’s product, services, or practices for specific receivers. These receivers, it is hoped, will share the message with others. In time, as the message is passed along, it should appear to be independent of the sender, creating the illusion of an independently generated consumer trend, public opinion, and so on.
The message of a public relations effort may be b2b (business to business), b2c (business to consumer), or media related. The message can take different forms. Press releases try to convey a newsworthy message, real or manufactured. It may be constructed like a news item, inviting editors or reporters to reprint the message in part or as a whole, with or without acknowledgement of the sender’s identity. Public relations campaigns create messages over time through contests, special events, trade shows, and media interviews in addition to press releases.
Advertising places external business messages before target receivers through media buys. A media buy is a fee that is paid to a television network, Web site, magazine, and so on by an advertiser to insert an advertisement. The fee is based on the perceived value of the audience who watches, reads, listens to, or frequents the space where the ad will appear.
In recent years, receivers have begun to filter advertiser’s messages. This phenomenon is perceived to be a result of the large amount of ads the average person sees each day and a growing level of consumer wariness of paid messaging. Advertisers, in turn, are trying to create alternative forms of advertising that receivers won’t filter. The advertorial is one example of an external communication that combines the look of an article with the focused message of an ad. Product placements in videos, movies, and games are other ways that advertisers strive to reach receivers with commercial messages.
A Web page’s external communication can combine elements of public relations, advertising, and editorial content, reaching receivers on multiple levels and in multiple ways. Banner ads, blogs, and advertiser-driven “click-through” areas are just a few of the elements that allow a business to deliver a message to a receiver online. The perceived flexibility of online communications can impart a less formal (and therefore, more believable) quality to an external communication. A message relayed in a daily blog post, for example, will reach a receiver differently than if it is delivered in an annual report. The popularity and power of blogs is growing, with 11% of Fortune 500 companies having official blogs (up from 4% in 2005). In fact, blogs have become so important to companies such as Coca-Cola Company, Eastman Kodak Company, and Marriott International Inc. that they have created official positions within their organizations titled “chief blogging officer.”Chief blogging officer title catching on with corporations. (2008, May 1). Workforce Management. Retrieved July 2, 2008, from http://www.workforce.com/section/00/article/25/50/77.html. The “real-time” quality of Web communications may appeal to receivers who might filter out traditional ads and public relations messages because of their “prefab” quality. Despite a “spontaneous” feel, many online pages can be revisited many times in a single day. For this reason, clear and accurate external communications are as vital for online use as they are in traditional media.
Customer communications can include letters, catalogs, direct mail, e-mails, text messages, and telemarketing messages. Some receivers automatically filter these types of bulk messages. Others will be receptive. The key to a successful external communication to customers is to convey a business message in a personally compelling way—dramatic news, a money-saving coupon, and so forth.
Types of communication include verbal, written, and nonverbal. Surprisingly, 55% of face-to-face communication comes from nonverbal cues such as tone or body language. Different communication channels are more or less effective at transmitting different kinds of information. In addition, communication flows in different directions within organizations.
- How aware are you of your own body language? Has your body language ever gotten you in trouble while communicating with someone?
- In your experience, how is silence used in communication?
- If the meaning behind verbal communication is only 7% words, what does this imply for written communication?
- How could you use your knowledge of communication richness to be more effective in your own communications?
- What are the three biggest advantages and disadvantages you see regarding technology and communications?


|Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute||Home|
Jessie O. Sizemore
Students will read stories and novels containing the themes listed above. Innocence is man’s beginning in a new land where he dreams and strives to be free, but is tormented by his religious background. Tradition is inner conflict between the old and the new. Salvation is man’s battle to save his soul. Industrialism is the great machine and its role in the loss of innocence. To help explain why these ideas are a part of American literature, I have included folklore and witchcraft stories which will give students insight about their beginning and will be interesting reading.
Before I can get students interested, I must help them understand what a writer is saying. Most skillful writers construct sentences full of subordinated thoughts but place the main ideas in the main clauses. Students must be able to tell the difference between the lower-ranking idea and the independent idea. They must understand that the main clause is the basic structure of a sentence, and that modifying clauses and phrases add details or explain conditions which define or limit the meaning of the main clause. I feel that most of the students I teach are not aware of the importance of sentence structure. Most of them become confused when I talk about coordination and especially subordination. I believe that this causes their poor comprehension and their lack of interest and keeps them from being able to follow ideas and directions. Therefore, my second objective is to get students to understand the thought process in sentence syntax. This will be done through diagnostic testing and reviewing sentences taken from various forms of literature (excluding poetry, which will be discussed later). We will identify all kinds of sentences: simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex.
Students will learn about various sentence patterns and be able to identify subjects and predicates. They will know the difference between clauses and phrases, and remember that the important thought is always found in the main clause.
Since creative writers use figurative language to heighten expression, students will familiarize themselves with symbolism, imagery, irony, allusion, allegory, and archetypes found in American literature. The following literary terms will be covered: short story, novel, drama, poetry, essay, biography, autobiography, plot, journals, characterization, setting, plays, conflict, protagonist, antagonist, point of view, tone, metaphor, analogy, mood, satire, foreshadowing, coincidence, climax. This list will grow as we progress because the works we read will contain unfamiliar references to myths and historical events. To give an example of defining the terms: the short story is one of the most popular and oldest literary forms. The short story is a brief narrative. Since primitive times, fundamental human instincts have been talked about using fiction.
Not unsimilar to these tales of old is the folklore of today. Contributions to our American literature have been made by Blacks, lumberjacks, cowboys, sailors, and others. A good example of the incredulous yarns which circulate about the fire in loggers’ camps is the Paul Bunyan Saga. Many of these tall stories have been gathered and written down by James Stevens.—H. C. Sheikert, Short Stories (New York, 1934), p. xxv.My fourth objective will be to teach four genres of literature in the following order: short stories, novels, plays, and poetry. Essays, biographies, autobiographies, personal letters, notebooks, sketchbooks, and diaries of authors will be explored in order to give students insight into the author’s background and to point out to students that art and form are very much a part of the author. We also will use slides, artifacts of the author’s times, filmstrips, recordings, and films. We will use as many different types of work by a single author as we can so students will get to know and understand him. We will get to know how the writer creates his or her art through style, characterization, setting, plot, point of view, theme, and tone. I want to get the students to respond to point of view and tone, and to think critically about the implications of the work. I hope to achieve these goals through this multiple approach.
Short stories and novels will be compiled from such authors as Hawthorne, Melville, Faulkner, James, Wright, Ellison, Jesse Stuart, James Baldwin, Toomer, Shirley Jackson, and others if time will permit. These stories will be taught not only as examples of art, but in order to increase students’ awareness of the variety of human experience. All aspects of the short story and the novel will be taught. Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter will then be studied in class to help students recognize the ideas of innocence and salvation which are found in other American novelists’ works. We hope to view the film Scarlet Letter in class. I chose the short story to teach first because students have a big adjustment to make upon returning to school. I have included rhetorical thought exercises and literary terms because students must be equipped to understand what they read.
The unit on short stories will last for eight weeks. One week will be spent testing and reviewing exercises to develop sentence sense. After students have grasped these exercises, homework assignments will be made, and one day each week will be devoted to discussions on homework and to answering any questions students may have. Some exercises have been included to develop understanding of syntax. Mimeographed sheets of literary terms will be given to students. They will keep these in their notebooks, identifying the terms they know and looking up the others in literary dictionaries which are in the school library. We will spend two class periods discussing these after the class has been given time to look the words up.
Four class periods will then be spent on Hawthorne and his background. Students will view slides and pictures of artifacts dating from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, and will learn about the influence of historical customs and traditions on the works they will read. Each student will research a topic relevant to the period discussed, and will present an oral report to the class on what he or she has learned. (Two or three class periods will be devoted to these reports.) Students will pool their knowledge of historical topics to make a class scrapbook. Along with this activity we will read Hawthorne’s stories “The Ambitious Guest” and “Young Goodman Brown,” using the questions and exercises that accompany this unit.
Two of the five weeks left will be spent reading other short stories by Hawthorne and the other authors. During the last three weeks students will read The Scarlet Letter in class and at home. Class discussions will deal with Hawthorne’s personality, style, point of view, use of symbolism, and ideas about innocence, tradition, salvation, and industrialism. Finally, we will view the movie and compare it with the novel. Class activities will include a “question box” for which everyone will write questions about characters and scenes; writing projects about characters, setting, and incidents in the novel; and a “newspaper” about important events that occurred in the stories or in The Scarlet Letter.
In the first writings, we see evidence of the writers clinging to nature because of its order and purity. Man’s inability to cope with nature created many problems for him. So literary craftsmen used these human experiences to design fictional plots. Frontier life provided a setting for many fictional stories about man’s purging himself to fit in with his new and pure surroundings. Innocent characters were featured in beautiful garden settings. The real encounters people had in the westward movement and Indian wars brought people back to their traditional ideas; failure to understand their new experiences led to superstition and witchcraft. Ancestral beliefs created many problems for the Puritans. So a battle to save themselves from evil laid the foundations for literary art. Growth in America brought about a great change. Railroads, shipping, mass production, foreign trade, and a change in political ideas are responsible for industrialism and the loss of innocence. So American authors used these ideas to create stories which present characters with points of view and moods woven into plots. These plots developed in settings from America’s beginning through America’s industrial age. We may derive the author’s meaning through his use of symbolism. We will strive to discover artistry in American literature.
Hawthorne’s second period was his self-imposed retirement from the world after graduating in 1825 from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. This period lasted about twelve years. Hawthorne continued to live apart from normal existence in a world of dreams, spending most of his time in a dismal room on the third floor of the old house in which his family lived. In 1828, his first short stories and sketches appeared anonymously in gift-books and magazines. In 1837, these stories were collected and published as Hawthorne’s Twice-Told Tales. His injury and his self-retirement did not make him a recluse but made him a modest, reticent, imaginative man. His contact with nature and his devotion to the past can be found in all of his works.
During the early years when Nathaniel was recuperating from his foot injury, his mother, Elizabeth, took him and his sisters to visit their uncles in Raymond, Maine. While there, Hawthorne enjoyed the backwoods.
Along with developing the habit of reading, he enjoyed hunting, fishing, swimming, skating, and walking. Legg’s Hill, Rattlesnake Mountain, Thomas Pond, and Sebago Lake were places that Hawthorne dreamed of all year round.
Hawthorne destroyed all known copies of his first novel, Fanshawe (1828). He married Sophia Peabody in 1842, and they moved to Concord and lived in a house called the “Old Manse.” These were the happiest years of his life. He worked at the Custom House as a measurer of salt and coal. He invested in the Brook Farm Experiment, in the hope that the community would provide a good place to begin married life. Realizing its lack of privacy, he moved back to Salem where he worked as a surveyor. He was removed from office by scheming politicians in 1849. His best friend was the fourteenth President of the United States, Franklin Pierce, who appointed Hawthorne as consul at Liverpool and Manchester, England. After living abroad for seven years, Hawthorne returned to Concord in 1860. He died in Plymouth, New Hampshire on May 19, 1864, and was buried in the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.
He was a country gentleman, a product of the past because his ancestors interested him greatly. He was obsessed with the nature of sin. His first American ancestor, William Hawthorne, arrived from England in 1630 and was remembered for having given orders to have Quakers whipped in the streets. William’s son John was one of the judges at the Salem witch trials and was said to have drawn a curse from one of the victims upon himself and his descendants. Hawthorne read much Colonial history and delighted in old documents. He studied the psychology of the Puritans and peopled his stories with characters who are either outright Puritans or who possess Puritan traits.
His theme is “unpardonable sin” found in the presumption and bigotry of the Puritans. Aspects of his local community and local people are used in most of his works. Hawthorne’s other preoccupation was the use of the literary symbol, the significant object which could be manipulated to reveal ever-deeper sources of meaning. Most of his successful works concentrate on the forces of conflict in a single, often ambiguous object— a flower, a statue, an embroidery symbol. His use of symbolism greatly influenced later American fiction.
- 1. Why does the author begin the story with the fireside scene?
- 2. How is the cheerfulness of the inside emphasized?
- 3. What does the author mean by saying that the family had found the “herb, heart’s-ease?”
- 4. Describe the White Hills.
- 5. What picture does the word Notch suggest?
- 6. Where does the story really begin?
- 7. Give a brief sketch of the young stranger
- 8. How does the young man’s enthusiasm affect the father; the mother; the grandmother; the daughter; the children?
- 9. What is the “unutterable horror” of the catastrophe?
I am hoping to get my students to understand the narrative technique of developing character and plot.
- 1. Give a brief summary of the story in your own words.
- 2. Prepare a newspaper story of the tragedy.
- 3. Write a biographical sketch of the young man.
- 4. Write a short, short story from one of the character’s points of view, assuming that the accident had not occurred.
- 5. Write a paper telling about a related personal experience using a theme from the story:
- ____I. Explain the situation.
- ____II. Describe as effectively as you can your thoughts and feelings while involved in the experience.
- ____III. Explain the outcome; what people, event, or conditions helped you?
- ____IV. After the above assignment, write a character sketch about the person who might be involved in the situation you created. Be honest and objective, give personal qualities and background, important influences and experiences, and physical appearances.
- ____V. Take the character you have developed through the event you created by giving a full description of both, using dialogue and point of view.
The American history teacher and I will work together to get students to understand the context and source of the materials we will be using. I will work to show how the form is the author’s vehicle for presenting his or her artistic creation.
- 1. Have students study the highlights of the times in which the author lived or lives. Better groups will be assigned entire stories; slower groups will be assigned parts, and I will read orally the beginning of the story to clarify different references and to introduce characters.
Questions of this kind should help students recognize Hawthorne’s style. Students will write character sketches, discuss and write about characters’ points of view, and describe settings.
- 1. Trace the background of Goodman Brown.
- 2. What are the story’s main themes? Give a full explanation of each.
- 3. Write a sentence or two which tell the story of Goodman Brown.
- 4. What might the names symbolize: Goodman, Faith, etc.?
- 5. How is the devil presented?
- 6. How is the idea of tradition presented?
- 7. How is the idea of salvation presented?
- 8. Who might Goodman Brown be?
- 9. How does the author present the past?
- 10. How does Hawthorne present good and evil in his characters?
These reports will be reviewed in class.
- 1. New England Witchcraft.
- 2. New England Indians: history and traditions.
- 3. The Salem Delusion.
- 4. The Puritan Stereotype.
- 5. New England Towns in the late seventeenth through early nineteenth centuries.
- 6. A school during these times.
- 7. Law in New England during this period.
- 8. Customs during this period.
_____ written by _____ is a(an) _____ story about _____ a _____ . The story, which takes place _____ during _____ is _____ .
- 1. The name of the story.
- 2. The author and something about him or her.
- 3. A description of your favorite character.
- 4. A short paragraph about an interesting minor character.
- 5. Describe the opening or closing setting.
- 6. Write a summary of the story in no more than six sentences.
- 7. Describe or be able to discuss three of the following:
- ____a. The major character’s problems in growing up.
- ____b. The type of housing in the story.
- ____c. The clothing worn by the characters.
- ____d. The ideas of the major characters.
- ____e. The personality of a character.
- ____f. The education of a character.
- ____g. Your opinion.
The most important character(s) in the story is(are) _____ .
He/she/they is/are _____ who _____ .
His/her/their most important decision is when _____ .
The problem is finally solved when _____ .
I liked/disliked _____ because
The lessons that _____ teaches is that _____ .
I approve/disapprove of the ending because _____ .
The only change I might want to make in the story is that _____ .
I would recommend this book to other students who _____ because _____ .
- 1. Have students research comments in American writers’ diaries, sketchbooks, notebooks, letters, etc.
- 2. Have students discuss parallels to actual history.
- 3. Try to get students to put characters into comparable roles in real life.
- 4. Have them write descriptions of characters.
Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short stories
- 1. “The Gray Champion”
- 2. “The Minister’s Black Veil”
- 3. “Mr. Higginbotham’s Catastrophe”
- 4. “The Great Carbuncle”
- 5. “David Swan”
- 6. “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”
- 7. “Rappaccini’s Daughter”
- 8. “The Great Stone Face”
- 9. “The Custom House”
- 10. “Endicott and The Red Cross”
- 11. “The Maypole of Merry Mount”
- 12. “Peter Goldwaite’s Treasure”
- 13. “Drowne’s Wooden Image”
- 14. “Roger Malvin’s Burial”
- 15. “The Snow Image”
- 1. Twice-Told Tales
- 2. Tales of the Province House
- 3. Mosses from An Old Manse
- 4. Snow Image and Other Twice-Told Tales
Individual reports will be given in class from this list.
- 1. Hawthorne’s Letters
- 2. Edgar Allen Poe’s Review of Hawthorne’s Twice-Told Tales
We will get to know how an author reveals character. He may do so (1) by what a character says, (2) by how he says it, (3) by physical description, (4) by psychological description, (5) by probing what he thinks, (6) by what he does, (7) by what others say about him, (8) by his environment, (9) by his reaction to others, (10) by the reaction of other to him.
We will stress the importance of observation of surroundings and objects in the background and how important these things are to our reactions and responses. This will help reveal character in stories. Geographical locations, topography, and scenery will strengthen students’ awareness of physical settings. They will see how the author relates character to setting.
To get students to understand plot, we will start by finding out where and how they have heard the word “plot” used. I will let them plan things step by step. Then we will follow the chain of events in stories. We will follow character development through one episode after another to a climax and a conclusion. Some emphasis will be placed on how to identify a change of episode. I hope to get students to see how much unity can be given to human experience through the author’s plot.
Students will learn to associate fictional characters with human behavior. They will compare themes in the different genres we study. They will learn to contrast pastoral and mechanical, repose and tension, simple and complex, tranquillity and anxiety. We will look for other themes as we work with the unit.
Drama will help students realize how the power of language portrays human conditions. Students will see how playwrights create many-faceted characters as well as stereotyped ones. Students will get to know dramatic organization, the purpose of dialogue, climax, variety, human understanding, proportioning by the playwright, and humor and emotional warmth. Students will study transitions between scenes and settings, live action, the difference between comic and serious issues, and tragic consequences. We will discuss the division of plays, and they will create new dialogue and new scenes for a given play. I will review with them various techniques used by playwrights to reveal character. Some of the questions to be asked: What personal qualities do the characters reveal through conversation? Is there a change in character? What foreshadows a certain event or action? We will look for symbolism and imagery.
Students will learn how to do role-playing before classmates and will act out scenes they like. This will help them understand human beings and also themselves. They will realize that scripts are for the stage. Examples of class activities: Take a line or your favorite line and write a complete scene; divide class into troupes and rehearse scenes and present each to class; audition for character roles; direct a scene; write out the directions for a character to follow which correspond to the dialogue, including inflections, movement, gestures, lighting and sound; listen to dramatic recordings; and see live plays when possible.
Because the form is the meaning in poetry, the skill of reading poetry will be developed. We will discover imagery, symbols, metaphors, paradox, irony, metrics, rhythm, and patterns. Students will work to paraphrase poems and make judgments about them, and to recognize various forms. Working with poems will stimulate their imagination, stimulate their creative ability with words, and help them to understand life. We will collect the best in poetry that contains the ideas of innocence, tradition, salvation, and industrialism and the loss of innocence.
Students will get to know how poets use language to achieve a certain stylistic effect. After analyzing style, they should use alternative ways of expressing ideas, construct better sentences, and create a variety of sentences for the right occasion. Various forms of poetry will be studied, such as lyrics, sonnets, narratives, poems, and ballads. We will also touch upon the American hero in American folklore.
Writing will be a part of the entire course. Because of the immaturity of students’ construction and interpretation of sentences, I hope to see growth in these areas. I will get students to write all kinds of sentences; simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex. This will help them become aware of the form of their language. Topics will be given which they will develop as fully as possible in one sentence. Sentences will grow into paragraphs, compositions, and themes. Well-constructed sentences from literature will be used. An example from The Good Earth:
“All through the late spring and early summer the water rose and at last it lay like a great sea, lovely and idle, mirroring cloud and moon and willows and bamboos whose trunks were submerged.”
We will write paragraphs after students’ knowledge of sentence sense has increased. After they can write all kinds of sentences well, we will practice writing topic sentences and developing these topic sentences by using details, examples, comparisons, contrasts and summaries and conclusions. We hope to develop unity and clarity of thought. Besides emphasizing the presentation of ideas, we will give attention to the mechanics of writing. Class discussions will be held using the opaque projector to focus in on constant errors made by students. Persistence in errors will be dealt with in individual conferences.
During this year’s work, students will practice reading and writing about the best there is in American literature. We will continue to search for the best writings and a variety of styles, forms, and sources. I feel that before I can get my students to read and think critically about American literature, I have to use all the techniques 1 have included. I am expecting to get them to realize that American literature is a definite part of their heritage. I hope to see a change in their attitudes towards reading and in their choices of reading. I am sure students will gain insight into why America is America.
|What is talked about in a sentence.||What is said about your subject.|
|Simple Subjects||Simple Predicates|
|Talk about nouns and pronouns.||Use verbs and verb phrases to talk about nouns and/or pronouns.|
|Subjects Modified||Predicates Modified|
|Adjectives before and after nouns||Adverbs before and after the verb|
|and pronouns.||and/or the verb phrase.|
|Subjects with Prepositional||Predicates with Prepositional|
|Prepositional phrases used as||Prepositional phrases used as adverbs.|
|Noun Clauses as Subjects||Noun Clauses in Predicates|
|Gerunds as Subjects||Gerunds in Predicates|
|Infinitives as Subjects||Infinitives in Predicates|
|Participle Phrases in Predicates|
- 1. Subjects are made from nouns and/or pronouns and can have modifiers.
- 2. The verb or verb phrase introduces the predicate; everything after the verb is a part of the predicate.
Kinds of Sentences
- 1. A phrase is a group of words used together.
- 2. A clause is a group of words with a subject and a verb used together.
- 1. Someone discovered that the building was on fire.
- 2. The trouble was that she had the pills, but no water.
- 3. The idea that matter and energy are different forms of one reality occurred suddenly to the young scholar.
- 1. Noun clauses are units of words which are used as nouns: subjects, direct and indirect objects, objects of prepositions, predicate nominatives, objective complements.
We streamed with perspiration.
We swarmed up the rope.
We came into the blast of cold wind.
We gasped like men.
We plunged into icy water.
Streaming with perspiration, we swarmed up the rope, and coming into the blast of cold wind, gasped like men plunged into icy water.
Identify each sentence as simple, compound, or complex.
Make a sentence for each of the kinds of sentences.
- 1. The rear tire needed no air, but the front tire did. _____
- 2. The ball circled the rim of the basket and finally slipped in. _____
- 3. Unless Henry can obtain a scholarship, he may not go to college next fall. _____
- 4. Dad is unhappy about his golf score, which has not been improving lately. _____
- 5. On this tour, you can take a side trip to Disney World at no extra cost. _____
- 6. At the end of the season, the team was given a banquet and was presented with trophies. _____
- 7. The campers said good-bye with regret; they would not meet again for a long time. _____
- 8. The motor sputtered and then stalled. _____
- 9. The motor sputtered before it stalled. _____
- 10. Did you know that the onion is a lily? _____
Booth, Wayne C. The Rhetoric of Fiction. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1961.
Brockway, Wallace, and Keith Winer. A Second Treasury of the World’s Greatest Letters. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1940.
Brown, Sterling, The Negro in American Fiction.
Buell, Lawrence. The Design of Literature. West Haven, Ct.: Pendulum Press Inc., 1973.
Burton, Dwight L. Literature Study. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, Inc., 1959.
Dorson, Richard. America Begins. 1954.
Dorson, Richard. American Folklore. 1959.
Earle, Alice Morse. Customs and Fashions in Old New England.
Frye, Northrop. On Teaching Literature. New York: Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich Inc., 1972.
Goldberg, Gerald J., and Nancy Goldberg. The Modern Critical Spectrum. Englewood, N.J.: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1962.
Howard, Jane, Families. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1978.
Kumar, Shiv K., and Keith Mckean. Critical Approach to Fiction. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1968.
Lewis, R. W. B. The American Adam. Chicago: The University of Chicago, 1955.
Marx, Leo. The Machine in the Garden. London: Oxford Press, 1972.
Puckett, John. Folk Beliefs of the Southern Negro. 1926.
Schuster, Lincoln, A Treasury of the World’s Great Letters. 1941.
Seynour-Smith, Martin. Who Is Who in Twentieth-Century Literature.
Starling, M. The Slave Narrative: Its Place in American Literary History. 1946.
Speller, Sharp, Johnson, Canby, Ludwig, and Gibson. Literary History of the United States. New York: 1974.
The English Journal 56 (Jan. 1967).
Big Woods. New York: Random House, 1953.
Who Am I?: Essays on the Alienated. Edited by Ned E. Hoopes, 1969.
Snakes. Al Young. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1970,
The Secret Sharer and Others: A. H. Lass and Norma L. Tasman: Mentor Book; New American Library.
Advanced Skills in Reading. Gainsburg; R. C. Library Book 3.
American Literature: 4 Representative Types; R. C. Library.
The Early Years of American Literature: Wachner et al.. R. C. Library.
Invisible Man; Ralph Ellision
Of Mice and Men; John Steinbeck; R. C. Lee’s Library.
Native Son; Richard Wright; R. C. Library.
My Antonia; Willa Cather; R. C. Lee’s Library.
The Old Man and the Sea; Ernest Hemingway; R. C. Library.
Bloodline; Ernest Gaines.
American Hunger; Richard Wright.
Childlife in Colonial Days; Alice Morse Earle
Gone With The Wind; Mitchell
Scarlet Letter; Hawthorne
The Auto-Biography of Mrs. Jane Pittman; Gaines
Montgomery Ward & Co. Catalogue & Buyer’s Guide, No. 56. 1894-1895.
A Literary Tour Guide to the United States; Northeast: Emilie C. Harting; William Morrow & Co.
American Art, 1750-1800; Towards Independence (1976); Yale Publ.
Contents of 1978 Volume I | Directory of Volumes | Index | Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute