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Fast Moving Month

Time really flies by when your sick, and your child is sick, and everyone else is snuffling around you... because all you think about is surviving to the next day. For my students it was somewhat of a holiday - they got to watch part of Monty Python's Holy Grail and were disappointed with my return. I felt the love.
 
Actually, despite missing work, this semester has started out fairly well. My regular sophomore classes started working on WASL writing - and I found a way to tie it in to the Writer's Workshop. I did attend a session at the OSPI conference this January about using Writer's Workshop in the high school setting, with many practical ideas and handouts. So far, it's going well... but I'm still waiting for the final products. I have high hopes.
 
Junior classes have to write a research paper this semester - we decided to change up the topic selection this year. We asked the students to take an issue from a book they read in the past. For example, if they really liked "A Million Little Pieces", the student might choose to do a research paper on the effects of drug use on teens or the success of drug treatment facilities. It's made for a wider variety of topics this, at least. I'm still trying to figure out how to explain thesis sentence without falling back on "it's your argument"... because it is, but doesn't always have to quite so confrontational - the students here "arguement" and immediately think "fight".

 

Comments

Julia K. Alexander said…
Your post brought back memories from when I was a student. My English teachers must have hated my papers because I always mistook "argument" for a fight too. I guess the mistake is more common than I remembered.

I liked your idea for broadening research paper topics. I am going to bring that up at the next meeting.

-Sam Merrin
http://sammerrin.wordpress.com/
6:02 PM
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