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.

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.

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

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

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

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?

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?

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?

Survey 1: How much did explicit instruction or modeling idea generation help you choose a topic?

1) It was invaluable (9)

2) It helped me greatly (4)

3) It gave me some ideas, but I already knew what I wanted to do (3)

4) Barely (0)

5) Not at all (2)

Survey 2: How much did explicit instruction or modeling research question formulation help you compose your research question?

1) It was invaluable (13)2) It helped me greatly (1)3) It gave me some ideas, but I already had a question prepared (0)4) Barely (0)5) Not at all (3)

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)

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).

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) .

Goals for the students:

To be able to generate ideas prior to writing

To become comfortable with freewritngTo enhance revision and editing skillsTo incorporate revision suggestions from

others into their work….

To learn effective modeling strategies and incorporate them

into my teaching

Miss Piggy sure understands effective modeling.

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.

For example, via modeling, the students learned idea generation, thesis statement formulation, conclusion composition and editing and revision techniques

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2QFl93Vt5Y