SABBATICAL
REPORT, MERRILL WATROUS
SABBATICAL
TAKEN FALL OF 2005
I am writing a book (WRITING IN COLOR) which is a
guide to teaching art and writing (Grades 3-8) across the curriculum via the
student-authored picture book. I began this book on sabbatical in the Duke
University community in the fall of 2005. I wrote the second draft in the
summer of 2005 and am now working on the third revision.
I began my research at the Brandywine museum in
Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania last fall and then moved on to the Eric Carle Museum
of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts. The topic of the ninth chapter
of WRITING IN COLOR concerns using the museum as a resource in the teaching of
writing.
When I returned from sabbatical, I became involved
with teacher inservice work via a Wyeth Foundation grant through the Jordan
Schnitzer museum at the University of Oregon. I spoke there in the spring about
using the Modern Contemporary Regional collection as mentor art in teaching art
and writing. I will present a similar talk to teachers in October on the
statewide inservice day though the focus will be on the Japanese art collection
at the JSMA.
I am including my table of contents in this report.
The book is currently 250 pages in length. Any faculty member wishing to read more
of the book is invited to contact me about it personally. I welcome feedback
and response.
WRITING IN
COLOR
Teaching
Students to Write and Illustrate Picture Books
Across
the Curriculum (Grades 3-8)
Table of Contents
Chapter
Two - The Picture Book Workshop
Chapter
Three - Writers and Artists Read
Why We Read /
Reading Aloud / Picture Book SSR / Mentor Titles / Reading for Beginnings and
Endings / Connecting to Authors / Specific Structures / Art History Connections
/ Scaffolding
Chapter
Four - Writing
Memoir
Then
and Now / A Larger Truth / Biography and Autobiography / Starting Small / What
to Leave out / Patterns and Themes / Predictions
Chapter
Five
- Imaginative Writing, Hardest to Do and
Hardest to Teach
A
Sense of Place / Conflict / Characterization / Superheroes / Pacing / Writing
Fiction for and about Specific Children / Young Readers’Favorite Fiction /
Resources
Chapter
Six
- Understanding Science through The
Science Picture Book
Topic
Choice / Mentor Science Picture Books / Observation Skills / Stories of Younger
and Older Science Writers / Concept Learning / Advice from John: Narrowing the
Scope of Inquiry, Teaching the Science, Doing the Art / Relationships / Subject
Expertise: Science, Writing, Art / Barriers / Planning
Chapter
Seven
- Understanding History through The
Social Studies Picture Book
Heroes
/ Close Reading and Viewing / Retelling Stories of Our Own History/ Mentor
Titles / Ben and Molly
Chapter
Eight
- Doing the Art, Discovering Ourselves
Basic
Principles / Co –Teachers / Guidelines: Comic Book Style, Marriage of Art and
Text, Collaboration, Templates, Tools, Copying / Learning to Observe / Feedback
Chapter
Ten
- Museums and Museum Websites as
Resources for Writing and Art
An
Active Life / The Museum as Refuge / Mentor Art / N.C. Wyeth / Eric Carle /
Your Local Art Museum / Picturing Learning