Thursday, October 13, 2011
Discipline Specific Writing Assingment
Throughout my college career, the papers written have been argumentative/research based. Pick a position, find supporting arguments and compile it into a 3 page paper. One problem that I would have while writing these papers is I would get into the pattern of narrating my argument. The professors I had would remind me to follow the model for each paragraph (intro, cite sources, explain how those are relevant and support your argument) College professors wanted us to produce papers so there was no alternative way we students could express our understanding. I do not believe a paper is a limiting expression for a History major. It is also interesting to note how much more in depth I understood that which I had written about. As a high school history teacher I will probably have one paper throughout the school year. Group and individual presentations are one way I am contemplating having greater freedom of expression in my class. My tests will be short answer/essay type so those students will use their logic and memory to answer questions, not filling in bubbles.
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Thanks for your posting...I especially loved the part where you said that the writing assignments made you think more deeply about your content area. That's a major strength of writing, and a major reason why you might give many writing assignments as part of your history instruction.
ReplyDeleteThe new Common Core Standards include argumentative writing as a major component of the social studies standards. Consequently, I think it would be a great idea to give at least one argumentative writing paper per quarter, even if it's only level two writing. Just something to think about. :)
Thanks for your posting.