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**Why is WHW better than PEE?**
On the surface the two seem quite similar: they both provide a structure or template for writing about literature
You can scaffold and model a PEE paragraph like you might with a WHW paragraph
But there are, imo, crucial differences...
/1
On the surface the two seem quite similar: they both provide a structure or template for writing about literature
You can scaffold and model a PEE paragraph like you might with a WHW paragraph
But there are, imo, crucial differences...
/1
But first, what is WHW or What How Why?
I’ve tweeted before about how exactly I introduce this idea to students as well as posting an example of WHW being used to analyse a single word
/2 https://twitter.com/__codexterous/status/1312322217968099329
I’ve tweeted before about how exactly I introduce this idea to students as well as posting an example of WHW being used to analyse a single word
/2 https://twitter.com/__codexterous/status/1312322217968099329
The difference to PEE (and any variants) is that WHW is organic to the way in which we already think and write about literature, and how we hope our students will.
It flows out of our disciplinary traditions in a way PEE doesn’t.
/3
It flows out of our disciplinary traditions in a way PEE doesn’t.
/3
When we think about a text we already ask ourselves:
What does it make me feel?
What is happening?
What is it doing?
How is it doing it?
How is the writer using language?
Why does the writer do it in that way?
Why use that word and not another?
Why make us feel that way?
/4
What does it make me feel?
What is happening?
What is it doing?
How is it doing it?
How is the writer using language?
Why does the writer do it in that way?
Why use that word and not another?
Why make us feel that way?
/4
What we don’t ask ourselves, I suspect, is:
What point can I make?
What is the evidence to support this point?
How can I explain or analyse this evidence?
PEE is an artificial addendum, something added to the process of thinking about literature to satisfy an external body
/5
What point can I make?
What is the evidence to support this point?
How can I explain or analyse this evidence?
PEE is an artificial addendum, something added to the process of thinking about literature to satisfy an external body
/5
The best writing about literature is the codified expression of our conceptual working through of what we’ve read.
WHW is part of this conceptual working through, it grows out of it, but PEE doesn’t.
/6
WHW is part of this conceptual working through, it grows out of it, but PEE doesn’t.
/6
In other words, WHW begins with the ideas we have about literature and our reaction to it and finds a way to translate this to written expression.
PEE begins with a desire to produce paragraphs of writing and works backwards
WHW is a conceptual template, PEE an essay template
PEE begins with a desire to produce paragraphs of writing and works backwards
WHW is a conceptual template, PEE an essay template
But more than this PEE only makes sense if you already know what you want to say, in which case how much use is it anyway?
What point? What evidence? What does my explanation contain?
It doesn’t actually provide a starting point for thinking about any of these things /8
What point? What evidence? What does my explanation contain?
It doesn’t actually provide a starting point for thinking about any of these things /8
WHW, on the other hand, does. It’s not an empty procedure to be applied but in itself a set of prompts for working through one’s reaction to a text
Any reader can ask: what does this make me feel? How is the writer making me feel this way? Why might this be?
END
Any reader can ask: what does this make me feel? How is the writer making me feel this way? Why might this be?
END
