1. The Class: English 112-AKA: The Research Paper Class The Primary Goal: To Demonstrate how to Generate Original, Salient, Thoughtful Research Questions: In other words, to deter students from composing essays that, for example, explore the link between smoking and aging or lung cancer. Modeling Writing In College Composition CoursesMary Downing
2. Methodology The most salient and direct piece of this project included direct example, or teacher think aloud combined with freewriting, followed by individual brainstorming, which was then evaluated in peer groups. I utilized this approach to help students identify areas in which they had background knowledge or a vested or innate interest , to narrow their topic and to frame it as a who, what, where, etc. X correlates with or relates to Y question. I also utilized student surveys following direct instruction.
3. Some Examples: http://screencast.com/t/UhB3bURZBas http://screencast.com/t/5qGx6lzFa Background Knowledge-such as your job-hobbies-papers you’ve previously written Composition Theory; Adult Literacy; Literacy, especially as it pertains to pre-K; South Park; Lutheranism; Music, especially from the early 80s; Political Science, especially at the international level; Education as it pertains to curriculum and policy; Marines; OBX; Iranian politics; Biking; Walking; Folk Music; Swimming; Unitarian Universalism
4. Henry The VIII, The Jersey Shore, Hair care Calculus, Skiing, Law and Order; MIT Hunting, Fishing, Racing, Beer Palestine, Katy Perry, Facebook Lupe Fiasco, 50 Cent, GZA, Method Man The environment, Facebook, Pit bulls, MTV Please note that we also listed topics which directly affect our lives and topics in which we are especially interested Student Examples Abbreviated Random Samples
5. This, of course, includes the “well, what about X?” question. http://screencast.com/t/uzUpUl0uN South Park and…. Its target audience Its commentary regarding religious beliefs Its commentary on the US education system Its commentary on political correctness Its commentary on the US government and its decisions-I think I may go with Margaritaville as an example Narrowing the Topic
6. Student Examples Henry the VIII and....his wives, his ability to still stir the Western imagination, The Tudors Palestine and…. The recent war between Hezbollah and Israel, life under occupation, the US relationship with Israel Pit bulls and….why people are so afraid of them Seriously?
7. http://screencast.com/t/Sc9eLYbB9LE South Park and Margaritaville What does Margaritaville say about the US government’s ? involvement in the US market? What does Margaritaville say about “creative” economics? What does Margaritaville say about the current housing market and how it started a series of events that led to one of the greatest recessions in modern history? What does Margaritaville say about how people respond to economic shifts? Forming the research question
8. Why are Americans still interested in Henry VIII when he was so bad to his wives? What do Henry’s wives have to do with the Church of England? What does Henry’s treatment of his wives tell us about women back then? What does the recent Gaza war tell us about how Palestinians live under Israeli occupation? How has life gotten worse for the average Palestinian? What does the Gaza war tell us about the international community’s stance towards Palestinians? Student Examples
9. Some Student Survey Results Survey 1: How much did explicit instruction or modeling idea generation help you choose a topic? It was invaluable (9) It helped me greatly (4) It gave me some ideas, but I already knew what I wanted to do (3) Barely (0) Not at all (2) Survey 2: How much did explicit instruction or modeling research question formulation help you compose your research question? It was invaluable (13) It helped me greatly (1) It gave me some ideas, but I already had a question prepared (0) Barely (0) Not at all (3)
10. Literature Review I One comprehensive study presented in the literature indicated that modeling higher level thinking skills correlates strongly with enhancing literacy skills, even with severely disadvantaged students (Bitter, O’Day, Gubbins, & Socias, 2009). Another piece of literature indicated that allowing students to witness their instructors make common mistakes and then correct them facilitates better editing (Stewart, 2009)
11. Much of the literature indicates that despite the trend towards moving “the sage off the stage,” students have a better chance of mastering complex literacy skills when the teacher assumes the lead role (Rupley, Blair, & Nichols, 2009). Literature Review Part II
12. An important suggestion weaved throughout the literature is that explicit instruction bolsters students’ confidence levels regarding their ability to complete their assignments successfully, and that translates to higher levels of motivation (Kaufman, 2009) . Literature Review III
13. Description of all of the Project’s Goals and Procedures Goals for the students: To be able to generate ideas prior to writing To become comfortable with freewritng To enhance revision and editing skills To incorporate revision suggestions from others into their work….
14. To learn effective modeling strategies and incorporate them into my teaching Miss Piggy sure understands effective modeling. Personal Teaching Goals
15. Findings and experiences Even at the college level, students still desire explicit instruction, especially in writing For example, many students asked me to explicitly model annotated bibliography composition, even though written models were available online. I also was recently asked to model writing around quotes by an Eng 112 class; their faces changed from a collective furrowed brow to a wide-eyed “ah-ha” moment.
16. For example, via modeling, the students learned idea generation, thesis statement formulation, conclusion composition and editing and revision techniques Modeling is an effective way to teach specific writing elements or essay pieces
17. I learned that college students required more explicit modeling than I imagined, and I plan to include it in all of my writing courses. Moreover, I plan to frequently ask students if they would like me to model a concept or technique http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2QFl93Vt5Y
