Goals: Students will complete research for their next set of paragraphs
Materials needed: sources, notebook paper, pens
I didn’t post last week because I missed class. Two of my kiddos were coughing terribly, and we didn’t want to share RSV with the rest of our co-op. The mom who filled in for me did a wonderful job (Thanks Liane!) with the plans I typed out.
One of the problems I have consistently when I allow the students to choose their topic and sources is the students don’t. They don’t choose a topic. They are unable or unwilling to do the work to locate sources from the library. Inevitably someone’s library card is missing, the internet wasn’t working, or they couldn’t get a ride to the library. Home educated students (and us moms) are just as guilty of coming up with excuses as the public school students we are so fond of critiquing. Several students complained to me today that they don't like the library database system, that they can't find anything, and they prefer to simply use a Google search. I reminded them that the purpose of the class is to learn new things. I figure most of them know how to use Google. I want them to push themselves to learn an additional method of research. I've finally learned, however, that they won't thank me for this, or even acknowledge the value of it. Oh well.
Today, for week 6, the students had been instructed, via checklist and reminder last week in class, to be sure to bring their sources to class this week. No one did, except my son who has me to remind him. That completely blew my plan which was to have them work on note-taking while I edited their papers they had completed.
While I didn’t try to pretend, I did keep pretty calm. Instead of working on note-taking, I gave us 15 minutes to read completed work out loud. I don’t do enough of this, but today I hoped for two results:
- Their intense dislike of hearing their work read aloud would remind them to bring their sources next week.
- Some editing would happen.
Once we finished reading papers, I decided to spend some time introducing essay writing. My first inclination was to simply put a topic on the board and have them write for 25 minutes. Most of these students, however, are not close enough to the SAT to have it mean much. They are also all inexperienced with that kind of writing from the brain. Instead, I read a portion of Mark Twain’s “Whitewashing the Fence” from Tom Sawyer. At the end of the chapter, he says,
If he had been a great and wise philosopher, like the writer of this book, he would now have comprehended that Work consists of whatever a body is OBLIGED to do, and that Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do.
After putting this on the board, I asked if they agreed. It was pretty unanimous. Next, we worked on examples, of which they had plenty. My favorite was, “To me, cleaning my room is work, but to Monk, it is play because he likes order.” Ah, the connections being made from this topic to the student’s personal experience to a cultural figure—so cool!
In the end we decided we could arrange the essay like this:
Obviously, we’d need additional examples, but this was a great start for this class.
I'm so thankful to Andrew Pudewa and Teaching Writing: Structure and Style. Without those materials, I probably would still be teaching writing using some canned text and not know what to do when students didn't follow through. Because IEW's materials have taught me how to teach writing, I'm able to put together a lesson on the fly and feel confident about it.
Homework for next week is to complete their next set of paragraphs and to bring their sources next week. We’ll see what happens. I’ll be ready with a new quote just in case.
