They Say I Say Summary

“They Say, I Say” Introduction Reflection In the opening pages of the book “They Say, I Say”, Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein introduce the readers with the use of writing templates. As a way of hooking their audience and making the material relatable to all readers, they give a comparison. They instructed the reader to think about a complex task such as basketball, cooking, or driving a car. The reason behind this movement was to prove that writing is no different and is simply a matter of practicing routine movements of wordings. Thus, they introduce the reader with templates. Graff and Birkenstein argue that writing is a more than stating smart or true facts, and great writing is a conversation, or discussion of which the writer should
have a established argument. I agree to the point that writing only has purpose if its argument is controversial. For example, it would no longer be useful to write about the theory of our solar system’s arrangement because it has been accepted by everyone already. If there is no counter arguments to a writing, the author has wasted their time writing it. However, there is a place for purely scientific writing that is designed to simply inform a reader of true facts. In the book “They Say, I Say” there is an illustration that displays a scenario where a teacher simply tells a class a fact, and beside it there is a sketch that shows the same teacher giving a reason for telling them the fact. Graff and Birkenstein make it clear that writing has to connect to the reader and show them how what they are reading can affect their lives. I believe humans nature is designed to only pay attention to things that can directly affect our lives. If a writer simply gives obscure facts, it is only natural for a reader to zone the information out. The most important point that Graff and Birkenstein try to display is the ability of successful writers to incorporate what others or “they” say and how to include what the writer, “I”, has to say about it. Incorporating quotes in writing is something that often comes as a challenge to high school students, and Graff and Birkenstein do a phenomenal job of explaining and teaching how to complete said task. In addition, they argue that a writer has three options when saying what they think about what “they” say: agree, disagree, or both agree and disagree. I agree that, although in the past we have been taught to take one side or the other, it is possible to sit on the fence and have a compelling viewpoint at the same time. However, it is important that, if a writer chooses to sit on the fence, they must have convincing reasons as to why they do. No one wants to write about a viewpoint that is undecided or wishy-washy. The introduction of “They Say, I Say” has already changed my view on writing, and how a great writer writes. I believe Graff and Birkenstein have very convincing thoughts and they back all their points up with examples and arguments that were strong enough to sway my view. It is the main goal of a piece of literature to change a reader’s view of something, and Graff and Birkenstein not only instructed their readers how to, but they did the very thing they were teaching in their own writing.