Before you begin teaching, help students identify something in
their experience to which they can connect the material you intend
to present. In eduspeak, this is called activating the knowledge
base. The knowledge could be facts, attitudes, experiences,
or assumptions.
Informal writing provides a good way to get all students
involved in activating their knowledge. Having everyone write lets
all students demonstrate to themselves that they know something
relevant to what is to be taught. Studies show students who
write prior to class discussion are more likely to participate in
oral discussion.
For example, you could have students write for 1-2 minutes on what
they remember about the setting of Twelfth Night to get them
thinking about setting before you introduce Pride and Prejudice.
Or you might have them write for 1 minute about what they found
was the hardest grammar rule to apply in last night's homework.
If you have struggling writers who need some incentive to master
factual material, like definitions or rules, perhaps ProProf
Quiz Master could help. Anyone within the education community—including
students—can use the site to create an online quiz. (The free
service is ad-supported.)
Students, working individually or in small groups, could create
multiple-choice quizzes (including correct answers) for the class
and public to use. Crafting a clear question with reasonable choices
requires more knowledge than just asking, "Who wrote Of
Mice and Men?" And unlike oral drill, creating a quiz requires
some writing: clarity, including correct spelling, standard grammar
and punctuation, and precise word choices matter.
Quiz creation won't improve writing, and it won't appeal to all
students. However, for some students struggling with aspects of
your curriculum, it may prove a useful tool.
If you need college texts for a homeschool student or to customize
for a class you are teaching, check The
Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources.
The CCC provides links to more than 450 college texts that are either
free for viewing or open for customization or both.
The site also gives a link to copyrighted digital textbooks.
Writing Points presents: new
pages
Critical thinking & research paper pages
Here are topics for new pages posted since last month:
What
is critical thinking, and what does it have to do with writing?
Reference shelf materials on developing
critical thinking skills selected especially for writing teachers.
Critical
thinking strategies must be taught to struggling writers.
The working
research paper outline developed from a writing skeleton gets
students off to a good start.
How to prepare a formal
outline to be included with a research paper.
Also since last month, I updated the site's About
page, my
bio page, and added a page detailing my work
experience and education.
If you spent any time in the education-social media arena in the
last two weeks, you undoubtedly saw references to the July 4 Boston
Globe article by Keith O’Brien, "What
happened to studying?"
O'Brien reports that the amount of time college students study
has dropped from 24 hours a week in 1961 to 14 hours a week today.
The top reason for the decline, students say, is that they don't
know how to study.
If you are an educator, that should worry you.
My e-book Grammar
Abusers Anonymous was written in response to my college
students' request for help learning to study grammar. Some of those
students were college seniors, and they were begging for someone
to teach them how to study. How are students to be prepared for
the cycle of continuous relearning required in the workplace if
they don't know how to study material that they have to use on the
job?
You don't have to buy my book to teach study skills, but you had
better be doing something to teach students how to study. They are
going to need those skills.
The next issue of Writing Points should be released
August 15, no providence preventing.
Until then, keep your pencil sharp.
Linda Aragoni
