the importance of structure & expectation in comprehension

Why do we organize writing in conventional ways? Partly so readers know how to interpret it, how to anticipate what comes next and how it fits with what they've read already.

This concept is essential both for readers and writers.

One possible way to convey that: blues songs.

Blues songs often repeat a line about an ordinary event or occurrence, and only at the end of the stanza (wc?) do they hit you with the significance of the event.

Like this one from Robert Johnson:

I'm gointa get up in the mornin
I believe I'll dust my broom
I'm gointa get up in the mornin
I believe I'll dust my broom
Girlfriend the black man you've been lovin
girlfriend can get my room

People who are familiar with the structure know that the first few lines are a setup, and they wait for the knockout punch in the last line.

If you didn't know anything about blues, you might get bored after the first few bars, thinking, "this song is just about cleaning."

Somehow, I can use this to teach about writing structure....... this is the part that always stumps me. I get a good analogy, but then how do I show students how to transfer it over to their own writing and reading?

I think usually I'm too impatient. I need to spend more time with the analogy first.

You only need one good idea per lesson. But you need to stick with that good idea til it really sinks in.

May Day history

May Day, which has an ancient history as a spring holiday, is today celebrated in much of the world as a holiday honoring workers and workers' collective action.

Ironically, this newer meaning for May Day began here in the U.S., but few in this country celebrate it or even know about it.

On May 1, 1886, hundreds of thousands of workers nationwide went on strike for an eight-hour workday (twelve- and fourteen-hour workdays were common at the time). In Chicago, 80,000 people marched down Michigan Avenue. It was a peaceful event, and most of the strikers won their demand. Many others had won the eight-hour day in the weeks prior, as their employers capitulated for fear of a strike.

You can read more about it here, here, and here.