Hi,
This week a question of priorities when you can't find time. In English 7 we are preparing to write a research paper. We will be researching and writing next week. Every time I teach a paper, I struggle to fit in information about the Works Cited page in and it is always rushed. I realize that it is something that I need to teach, but I never feel I do a very good job of it. I tried to make it a focal point in my honors class by teaching it earlier, and I think that will help, but I think what ultimately stops me from teaching it well is my lack of care about the works cited page. I am not very concerned about if the commas are in the right spot or if there should be a colon. Does it really matter if the title is underlined or italicized? My apathy translates into my priorities in the classroom. However I know from college that it does matter to some instructors, so teaching the process is important.
My larger question is are there things in your subject area that you find simply procedural? Do you struggle to give this the priority that other teachers might? How do you motivate yourself to teach it? What are some strategies you use to teach very procedural topics?
I can understand your "slighting" the Works Cited page because heck, they are in 7th grade, and this is likely the first time they have done this. I think it is good that we make them do it, so that they know what one is and know that it is an important thing to do. Also they need to know that there is a form to it, and that following the form is important. HOWEVER--again they are 7th grade--it felt like it was an entire class period to teach them to do it and it felt cumbersome because citing a Website is so darn complicated and contradictory--Yes, you need this, but oh there is no date so just skip it, etc. So it is an awkward thing to teach--so I think that spending some time on it is good, but really being nitpicky will just neglect what most of them need to focus on--getting the notes they need, and the paraphrasing done--so they can do their graphic organizer. Then from there--get their final paper done. So I applaud your balance!! I think you hit it just right.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of being procedural--andnot really noting the importance--I think in some ways the process of writing the paper is procedural in itself. We can't expect them to write college papers--but we can have them attempt to include everything in them. We were teaching a procedure. Were we asking them to really learn about their subject--or just write about it?? So learning about the subject could perhaps be emphasized more before the writing even started--so an extra day or so to just organize who this person was is important! then it wouldn't feel like we are just having them automatically take notes! Hope that helped.