How reassuring to read about something teachers are doing right! We spent a lot of time in class today talking about changes we ought to make to how we teach writing. I agree with those changes and embrace them. And how refreshing ti read that our effort to have students pre-write and organize their writing actually pay off. We have the statistics to prove this claim.
While we were discouraged today from requiring outlines from students (I agree with this as well) many students surveyed said they like outlines and many actually used outlines as their organizational tool. Some used lists and were lumped with the outline people. Yet the article also states that the outlining didn't help the student much in their score outcomes. What a paradox!!
My favorite quote is on the top of page 4, the entire paragraph at the top right. I look forward to hearing what you ladies have to say, Gabby, Becky and Ashley. See you tomorrow!
Okay, so it's been hit and miss
11 years ago
2 comments:
Sharron, Outlining is good, outlining is bad. It reminds me of the reports that come out. Coffee is bad for you. Coffee is good for you. Egg whites are bad, but yolks are good and then they reverse it. I think we have to look at what works - if outlining works for some, some should do it, but all should learn it so they can make a determination themselves. Nothing you do is going to be 'wrong' if you are teaching them writing. I think this class is just helping us learn better practices, but I don't feel compelled to throw the baby out with the bath water :-). Geri
Sharron, I agree that there is definitely a paradox here that we may never get to the bottom of, simply because kids are so different. I remember teaching my first essay just this past semester to my three sophomore classes. When I wrote my list of requirements, the outline web was really important, but when I saw the spectrum along which kids were responding, I realized that I wasn't going to be able to assign any kind of fair grade to the outline. Some kids filled all the bubbles. They assumed that the requirement was filled when each bubble really just contained vague ideas. Some kids started trying to write their essay in a tiny circle, leaving all the other circles blank. Some kids just doodled. But who knows, maybe the doodling helped them just as much. It is a paradox, and like Ashley mentioned in our presentation, perhaps the best we can do is simply to offer as many different option as we can and then deal with the brainstorming results where they fall. I would love to get an audio file from a kid with a note that said, "I just was thinking outloud about my topic and recorded it but didn't do an outline." I would also enjoy if kids would do a video blog about their topic. We do need to get more creative when approaching the brainstorming situation.
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