Create an outline about a thesis
A fast, efficient, morale-boosting trick
I can create an outline a full-sentence outline
for a paper on an assigned topic in two shakes of a lamb's tail.
So can your students.
This is one idea your students will love.
Idea-generating techniques
What techniques for generating ideas do you teach your students?
Brainstorming? Mind-mapping? Free-writing?
All are useful. I use them myself. But I don't use them the way
the English textbooks recommend.
Idea-generating techniques turn up useful ideas more quickly if
the starting point is a thesis
statement than if the starting point is merely a topic.
Let me show you the difference between generating ideas about a
topic and generating ideas about a thesis. If you
need a refresher on the thesis-topic distinction, click
here.
Inefficient idea-generation
Suppose the writing topic is wifflets. Alison might brainstorm
for an hour and come up with a list of topics related to wifflets:
wifflet uses, wifflet manufacturing, laws about wifflet, types of
wifflet, costs of wifflet, latest wifflet technology.
After her hour's work, Alison has created seven more writing topics
from her original topic, but she still has nothing to say about
wifflets. She'll need another session at least before she comes
up with a thesis statement. After that she still has to put in more
time to create an outline before she can begin writing.
That strategy isn't going to go over well with your ADHD kids,
is it?
Efficient idea generation uses thesis
By contrast, Britt starts out by picking a thesis statement more
or less out of the air. Britt picks "Bigger City Schools should
prohibit wifflets on campus."
Then Britt brainstorms about that thesis. She may have only
a superficial knowledge of wifflets, but in a short amount of time,
Britt can come up with several potential supporting ideas
that she can phrase as complete sentences. Britt
can create an outline by putting those sentences in some logical
order.
Try it yourself
To see how this strategy actually works, put yourself in Britt's
place. Take a minute to try writing full-sentence reasons, just
as if you would if you were a student told to create an outline
around that thesis.
Even if you don't know anything about wifflets, I'm sure you'll
come up with at least two or three ideas about why BCS should prohibit
wifflets on campus. If you're a wifflet expert, this ought to be
a piece of cake for you.)
I'll wait while you try your hand at developing those full-sentence points.
Finished? Great.
Your outline will be different than mine, but let me show you the one I developed by brainstorming around the thesis statement:
-
Bigger City Schools should prohibit wifflets on campus because
wifflets distract students from paying
attention in class.
-
Bigger City Schools should prohibit wifflets on campus because
some students use wifflets to cheat on
tests.
-
Bigger City Schools should prohibit wifflets on campus because
wifflets lead to fights and other disturbances.
-
Bigger City Schools should prohibit wifflets on campus because
wifflets are available on campus if students
really need them.
Your list will be different, but you get the idea.
Was that hard?
No.
You and I were able to create an outline in minutes.
Would it be hard for students?
Yes.
Younger students and learning disabled students especially would
have difficulty writing on an invented topic.
Authentic prompts ease difficulties
However, if you give students an authentic writing prompt
related to your course content a topic that they're read
about and discussed in class then they will be able to come
up with a thesis statement and several supporting ideas.
What's more, they will be able to phrase each of them as a complete
sentence. For kids who struggle with writing, this is a breakthrough.
Do you know how great a LD kid will feel coming up with a complete
sentence outline? Wow! That is a real confidence booster.
Having a sentence outline is also a big efficiency booster.
Sentences are complete ideas. When Britt comes back to work on her
essay plan again, she won't have to spent time wondering what she
meant by "test wifflets." The sentence will tell her.
Next steps
Getting three or four sentences on paper is a great first step,
but it's only a first step in the
writing process. Writers have to do some more thinking and digging
to find out whether there is evidence to support those points.
Maybe they'll discover the thesis statement isn't even valid. Oh,
woe!
Despite all that could go wrong, writers who have been able to
create an outline in a few minutes have time to spend on other things.
One of those things may be their other English assignments
but don't count on it. It's more likely to be soccer practice or
MySpace. You can't win 'em all.
created 14-Mar-2008; updated: 07-Sep-2008
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