10-second review: Teaches students to respond in writing while they are reading, leading to questions that can become researchable topics.
Title: “Investigative Reading and Writing: Responding to Reading with Research.” BT Petersen and JN Burkland. College Composition and Communication (May 1986), 236-241. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: Authors teach students to respond in writing to what they are reading—associations, question and thoughts. “From these initial responses, students develop questions by sharing responses with other students and with their instructor. They then seek to answer their questions by asking their peers, interviewing experts, performing an experiment, conducting a survey or doing research in libraries.” Thus, from their reading, students develop research questions.
Comments: In my experience as student, teacher and supervisor, I have not seen an emphasis on annotating reading, which will improve comprehension and lead to extended reading and application of the ideas gained from reading. I think every student in secondary schools and college should be taught to annotate their reading. Annotation is one key to active reading. RayS.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Topic: A Research Sequence
10-second review: The research sequence begins with a non-researched opinion piece and develops through a series of documented papers to the final research paper.
Title: “The Research Sequence: What To Do Before the Term Paper.” James Strickland. College Composition and Communication (May 1986), 233-236. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: The author’s “research sequence” consists of a non-researched opinion paper, a letter to the editor, proceeds through identifying dubious points, conducting research to resolve these points, formulating the thesis and writing a documented essay, conducting more research and concluding with the final researched paper.
Comment: Taking students through a sequence in research can give them a procedure, reducing the apparently complicated procedures to a series of steps. It is a sequence I would most certainly try myself first before trying it with my students.
Many of the techniques suggested in professional articles need to be tried by the teacher personally in order to learn the difficulties students might encounter unexpectedly. Another way of learning how successfully these techniques work is to set up action research in which the students become your collaborators. RayS.
Title: “The Research Sequence: What To Do Before the Term Paper.” James Strickland. College Composition and Communication (May 1986), 233-236. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: The author’s “research sequence” consists of a non-researched opinion paper, a letter to the editor, proceeds through identifying dubious points, conducting research to resolve these points, formulating the thesis and writing a documented essay, conducting more research and concluding with the final researched paper.
Comment: Taking students through a sequence in research can give them a procedure, reducing the apparently complicated procedures to a series of steps. It is a sequence I would most certainly try myself first before trying it with my students.
Many of the techniques suggested in professional articles need to be tried by the teacher personally in order to learn the difficulties students might encounter unexpectedly. Another way of learning how successfully these techniques work is to set up action research in which the students become your collaborators. RayS.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Topic: People as Resources for Research Papers
10-second review: Don’t overlook the interview with experienced people in researching a topic: finding them, preparing for the interview, recording the interview and incorporating the interview into the research paper are necessary steps for the successful use of the interview in research.
Title: “Research Outside the Library; Learning a Field.” T N Trzyna. College Composition and Communication (May 1986), 217-222. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: Students need to find resources outside the library for completing research. People experienced in the field of the research will have more timely information on the topic than will be found in published—and probably outdated—material. This article was written before e-mail became a popular method for conducting interviews, but students still must be able to find sources and organizations, prepare interview questions and incorporate the information into the research paper.
Comment: Including interviews in the research paper will also add a deterrent to plagiarism, since the student’s contacts and information can be checked with the source(s). But that’s not the main reason for including interviews in the research process. Timeliness of recent information is. The interview will also add interest to the research. RayS.
Title: “Research Outside the Library; Learning a Field.” T N Trzyna. College Composition and Communication (May 1986), 217-222. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: Students need to find resources outside the library for completing research. People experienced in the field of the research will have more timely information on the topic than will be found in published—and probably outdated—material. This article was written before e-mail became a popular method for conducting interviews, but students still must be able to find sources and organizations, prepare interview questions and incorporate the information into the research paper.
Comment: Including interviews in the research paper will also add a deterrent to plagiarism, since the student’s contacts and information can be checked with the source(s). But that’s not the main reason for including interviews in the research process. Timeliness of recent information is. The interview will also add interest to the research. RayS.
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Topic: "Be Specific"
10-second review: The command by teachers on students’ written compositions to “be specific” is simplistic. Student writers do not know how to put that command into action.
Title: “Specificity in Context: Some Difficulties for the Inexperienced Writer.” SP MacDonald. College Composition and Communication (May 1986), 195-203. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: “Students…need to learn to use specifics, but merely enjoining them to do so will not produce the transformation in their writing we desire.” One device that does not help is to use examples from literature, because students are engaged in learning academic writing, not literature. The author tries to analyze the process of adding specifics, but her explanation is complicated and abstract and will probably be impossible for students to follow. So the question remains: How can we teach students to “be specific”?
Comment: One way is to show them: teachers add the specifics to the student’s composition and explain how and why they did it. RayS.
Title: “Specificity in Context: Some Difficulties for the Inexperienced Writer.” SP MacDonald. College Composition and Communication (May 1986), 195-203. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: “Students…need to learn to use specifics, but merely enjoining them to do so will not produce the transformation in their writing we desire.” One device that does not help is to use examples from literature, because students are engaged in learning academic writing, not literature. The author tries to analyze the process of adding specifics, but her explanation is complicated and abstract and will probably be impossible for students to follow. So the question remains: How can we teach students to “be specific”?
Comment: One way is to show them: teachers add the specifics to the student’s composition and explain how and why they did it. RayS.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Topic: The Role of Textbooks in Teaching
10-second review: Textbooks are tools, not crutches.
Title: “Textbooks and the Evolution of the Discipline [of Writing].” RJ Connors. College Composition and Communication (May 1986), 178-194. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Comment: Just a reminder that teachers need to think about how to incorporate the textbook into their teaching. As a student, I have purchased expensive textbooks that were rarely if ever used by the teacher—a waste of valuable money. I have also purchased textbooks that were the course; the teacher’s lectures were irrelevant to the tests. You had to figure that out. The teachers never told you.
Did the teacher think about how to incorporate the textbook into the course? Why was the textbook chosen? Ever think to tell the students why it was chosen? Did the teacher explain to the students how to use the textbook to help them learn the ideas in the course? What does the textbook do that the teacher doesn’t?
Most college students sell their textbooks after the course because they have little value to them. Perhaps that would not be so if teachers thought about the role of the textbook in their courses. RayS.
Title: “Textbooks and the Evolution of the Discipline [of Writing].” RJ Connors. College Composition and Communication (May 1986), 178-194. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Comment: Just a reminder that teachers need to think about how to incorporate the textbook into their teaching. As a student, I have purchased expensive textbooks that were rarely if ever used by the teacher—a waste of valuable money. I have also purchased textbooks that were the course; the teacher’s lectures were irrelevant to the tests. You had to figure that out. The teachers never told you.
Did the teacher think about how to incorporate the textbook into the course? Why was the textbook chosen? Ever think to tell the students why it was chosen? Did the teacher explain to the students how to use the textbook to help them learn the ideas in the course? What does the textbook do that the teacher doesn’t?
Most college students sell their textbooks after the course because they have little value to them. Perhaps that would not be so if teachers thought about the role of the textbook in their courses. RayS.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Topic: Why Do We Write?
10-second review: Although college teachers gripe about the need to publish, their satisfaction in doing so has nothing to do with royalties, which rarely come to those who publish. The satisfaction is internal.
Title: “One Writer’s Secrets.” D M Murray. College Composition and Communication (May 1986), 147-152. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: “The true rewards [of writing for publication] are internal—the satisfaction of asking your own questions and finding your own answers.” p. 153.
Comment: I have always been intimidated by those who criticize writing teachers like me who do not make the writing “real,” i.e., for real audiences for read purposes, whose audience is only the teacher. I find my approach hard to defend as other teachers’ students transform communities with their writing.
But maybe the relevance of students’ writing for the teacher, beyond learning to write, lies in this article in which Donald M. Murray suggests the real rewards of writing for publication are internal—the satisfaction of asking your own questions and finding your own answers.
Perhaps this inner satisfaction, which occurs in any number of circumstances, justifies students who learn to write by writing for the writing teacher. That writing might be of interest to other people—friends, parents, relatives and even the audience at large—and therefore I try to find ways to publish that writing, but its real significance and reward still lies in the inner satisfaction of asking one’s own questions and finding one’s own answers. RayS.
Title: “One Writer’s Secrets.” D M Murray. College Composition and Communication (May 1986), 147-152. A publication of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Summary: “The true rewards [of writing for publication] are internal—the satisfaction of asking your own questions and finding your own answers.” p. 153.
Comment: I have always been intimidated by those who criticize writing teachers like me who do not make the writing “real,” i.e., for real audiences for read purposes, whose audience is only the teacher. I find my approach hard to defend as other teachers’ students transform communities with their writing.
But maybe the relevance of students’ writing for the teacher, beyond learning to write, lies in this article in which Donald M. Murray suggests the real rewards of writing for publication are internal—the satisfaction of asking your own questions and finding your own answers.
Perhaps this inner satisfaction, which occurs in any number of circumstances, justifies students who learn to write by writing for the writing teacher. That writing might be of interest to other people—friends, parents, relatives and even the audience at large—and therefore I try to find ways to publish that writing, but its real significance and reward still lies in the inner satisfaction of asking one’s own questions and finding one’s own answers. RayS.
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