Picking a Fight

I'm getting the feeling that my classes are a little intimidated by the concept of a lit. review. Not because lit reviews are necessarily harder to write than other papers, but because the students simply haven't written anything like it before. To help them get a feel for what a lit. review really is, I started a premeditated argument with them.

After closing up the Wilson article I brought up the Grammy Awards last week. We talked a little bit, then I said, "I'm sorry, this is a little off the topic, but I just have to say--the music you guys like is horrible. You have really bad music these days," and started an argument on music. I gave the usual cranky-older-generation reasons for why their music sucks: real music isn't made with a computer, current lyrics are nonsensical, band names don't make any sense, that kind of thing. I was lobbing them softballs really, hoping they would argue with me (the best part was bitching about how all the bands today are into drugs, unlike, say, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles).

I arranged with a student beforehand to take notes on everything that was said, as well as who said it, then had that student come up when the argument was over. I then mapped out (in flow-chart form) the argument we had had, asking the general topic (music), my stance (their music sucks), and the different debates and discussions that ensued. We also attributed statements and rebuttals to whoever offered them.

From there I explained how the argument we had just had, as well as its accompanying chart, was the same thing they would be doing in their lit. review. They would need to know what the main topic was, what the major debates within that topic were, who had said what and how they related to each other.

It worked even better than I had hoped. The concept seemed to click with them in a way that other discussions we had had about lit. reviews hadn't, and the students were fully engaged and even excited. Not to mention the enjoyment I had berating their music.

Turns out a lot of Weber students know a surprising amount about Led Zeppelin.

We'll see how the workshopping goes next week. Like Tyler, I'm interested to discuss the best ways to do this on Monday.

Transition to Lit. Review

I've been touching on this by asking them how different articles would respond to each other, but have not done too much as most of the class time has been spent making sure that they all understand each article.

My plan this week is to talk about how to put these articles into camps or points on a spectrum and what those camps/points could be. I'm also asking them to write the summary for Thursday that encompasses all of the articles in this discussion. I'm hoping that they will be able to come up with what amounts to their first page or so of the literature review.

One of my students asked for an example of what a literature review looks like. I had deliberated on if that would be more helpful or confusing, but have decided to show them an example and some resources I found online with guides on how to write a literature review.

I'm interested to hear other ideas for the work-shopping sessions. Most of my students have not been able to give each other much feedback in the group settings because they don't know what is good or bad about each others papers.

Getting Close...

Apologies for canceling class on Monday. It shouldn't happen again. So. We're getting close to the first literature review. How are you making the transition from writing summaries to putting them in conversation? What kinds of activities are you doing in class to address this?

Tips and Tricks

Lately, I've been getting my students to articulate the point of an essay and then assemble a list of supporting points so that we can discuss the relationship between the primary claim and the evidence. How are you getting them to see the relationship between the two?

Simple, direct, and specific

The comments that have been most helpful to me typically have the three following attributes: they are simple, they are direct, and they are specific.

Simple: I'm amazed that, with commenting, less is often more. We discussed this briefly in class the other day. Novice teachers tend to give rambling, long-winded responses hoping it will help the student. Skilled teachers are able to condense those comments into simple phrases. Some examples of simple comments that come to mind would be "Confusing grammar," "Why does this point follow this one?" "Relate to main argument," or even "I don't follow." These get straight to the point without bogging the mind down in excessive detail.

When I grade I try and catch myself writing more than a line or two. If I go over, I reevaluate my comments and simplify.

Direct: Surprisingly, the brusque comments that cut straight through to my weaknesses as a writer are not only the most helpful, but are actually easier for me to accept than the sugar-coated ones. I would rather see a "This doesn't make sense" than a long, timid response filled with phrases like "you may want to look into" or "I can see what you're trying to do here."

Specific: This one is pretty easy, and I've had to catch myself violating it in my own grading. Rather than saying "Good," I want to have it spelled out. Just what was good about it? Saying "You've covered each point well and your paper has a clear, logical procession of ideas" is more valuable feedback to me as a writer than just "good." Same thing goes for "Bad" or "Awk."

I've made an effort to follow these principles when I grade. It is sometimes difficult, as simplicity and specificity can sometimes run counter to each other, but I'm learning.

Commenting

What kinds of instructor comments on your writing are the most valuable to you? How will this influence how you comment on your students' writing?

99 Problems but a Thesis ain't one.

I have been struggling with many things in my classes, but finding the thesis hasn't been a problem that I've noticed too much. I'm having more struggle to get them to stop using quotes and to start using the authors name for each idea that the author writes about.

It is slowly getting better, but I have a few students in each class that are not listening when I say that they need to write that the author states these ideas on pretty much every sentence in the summary or else it is their reaction and opinion of the article and not a summary. I've started getting harsher in my grading for these things that we've discussed numerous times already. I'm steeling myself for how much of that I'm going to deal with on the first literature review.

The other issue that is still happening more that I expect is direct quotation from the text. I've explained that a quote can be used to support your point, but since they are not making their own point, then quotes are unneeded and take up too much space in a short summary.

My experiment to show the class an example of a summary that had some problems so that we could correct it in class met with mixed results. I chose a summary that had too much wrong with it, so they didn't even know where to start. Some students, the better ones, got quite a lot out of that experiment, but the ones who needed the help didn't.

Tues. I'm having them each write a 50-75 word summary and we are going to review them as a class for pretty much the whole class period so that they get feedback from their peers rather than just me.