Writing 3 Class Notes -- Week 2 (September 1)

Greetings!

We are off to a good start here in Writing 3.  One aspect I noticed last week is that it is hard to enter into class discussions when you don't know your classmates very well, so we did the Quick Write this week in a collaborative manner.  After putting the students into small groups, I asked them to make lists about their favorite parts of the State Fair or about their favorite "fair food."  They were then to share their lists with one another; when we came together as a whole class, they were to share what someone in their group had said.  They did really well with this activity.

We took a long time this week to discuss the process of writing a long research paper.  I've attached the worksheet that we used, but here is the process in outline form:

Brainstorm the topic and thesis

General Reading

Choose the specific topic

Decide the thesis

     Develop leading questions

Make a plan

     Research Proposal

     Writing Plan

     Preliminary Outline

Research

     Taking Notes

      Evaluating Sources

     Citing Sources

     Informal Outline

Putting it together

     Detailed Outline

     Rough Draft #1

Edit & Revise

     Rough Draft #2

     Proofreading

     Grammar & Mechanics

Polish

     Final Draft

Present

     Evaluate

     Reflect

After we went through this timeline, I asked students to come up to the board and make a marks on the line where they thought they would have the hardest time and to mark the part that would be easiest.  For many, the middle section, somewhere between the Research portion and Putting it together, seemed be the  part that they felt would be the hardest.  We talked a lot about giving yourself time.  Every year that I teach this class, the students say that the number 1 thing that they would do differently would be to start early and not procrastinate.  Very good advice!

Following our discussion about the process, we talked about the topics.  Students paired to get feedback from one another about the ideas that they were considering.  I overheard them asking one another good questions and giving good, positive feedback.

Assignments for Next Week

--Write a 1 page response for the assignment, "Why I'm Interested."

-- Read steps 7 - 10 of the 30 Steps

-- Finalize your topic and think about leading questions

-- Start collecting resources

Links for this Week

Class Notes

"Why I'm Interested"

Research Paper Process Timeline

Enjoy this beautiful weekend!

Blessings,

Mrs. Prichard