Greetings!
Today was a good day in class. Since it is 9/11, I had the students write a short
Quick Write titled
"Patriot Day." In 2009, September 11 was named Patriot Day as a means
of memorial and as an encouragement to Americans to offer volunteer
service to others. I asked the students to write about some way they
give service or would like to give service to others. I appreciated the comments that they shared.
Following the Quick Write, we took some time to talk through thoughts and ideas about one of the ACT/SAT prompts:
"Discipline"
is a negative word for many people because it is associated with rigorous
training, strict rules, and strong self-control. But we fail to realize that
freedom comes only through discipline. Discipline compels us to sacrifice
immediate rewards and pleasures, but it also gives our lives structure and
prevents us from making costly mistakes. It keeps us from being subject to our
impulses and weaknesses and thus frees us to achieve our true goals.
Assignment: Do people need discipline to achieve freedom? Plan and
write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support
your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies,
experience, or observations.
As we worked through this test prompt, I pointed out some
specific strategies for taking this part of these tests. Some key
points that were brought up:
-- Sometimes absolutes are expressed in the quotes, and students should feel free to disagree with these statements.
--
Sometimes it's important to define terms as you understand them or from
the perspective that you will be discussing the assignment.
-- Make clear the perspective from which you will be writing.
-- While looking at pros and cons of the situation, be open to taking a middle ground.
Following
our discussion, we discussed the process of our papers. All of the
students need to be at a place where they are confident about their
topics. After reviewing our topics and the importance of the thesis, we
talked about research and sources. For the most part, the findings of
any research will be either data (factual information) or ideas
(opinions, theorems, perspectives). We can find this information in
books, reference material, non-print media, interviews, experiences, and
websites. We can look at primary sources and secondary sources.
Another important step is to keep track of all the resources you use in
your research. I encouraged the students to use their library cards to
access the internet search engines.
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