Blog 4 - Inquiry Project Post #2

2/27/12 Inquiry Project Post #2
After discussing with my group last week, I decided to shift my focus to pre-writing.
Question:
Why is prewriting important? What is prewriting?

Answer:

Although many students don't like the idea of "extra work," pre-writing before actually writing an essay or term paper helps to better organize thoughts, facts, and paragraphs. Five basic pre-writing techniques are brainstorming (writing down every and anything you can think of on a topic); mapping, clustering, bubbling, webbing; free writing; outlining; and asking questions.

Before you even begin pre-writing, you need to determine the purpose for writing about the topic and how you will achieve that purpose through this paper. Then, start the ideas flowing! Brainstorm by jotting down anything you can think of relating to the topic. Try to think of questions your audience would ask about the topic, then answer them. After this inital brainstorm, it would be a good idea to take a break. Allow all the information you've gathered and/or written down to absorb. Then, summarize your whole idea in about 5 sentences.

A next good step would be to diagram your major points somehow. Use a tree, web, outline, or cluster. Whatever makes the most sense. Then find material that supports your major points and add them to your pre-writing sample.

My next research step will be to dive a little deeper into the five specific pre-writing techniques mentioned above.

References:

Purdue OWL: Prewriting (Invention) . (n.d.). Welcome to the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL). Retrieved February 27, 2012, from http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/673/1/

The 5 Best Prewriting Techniques »  eduify | write faster. (n.d.).  eduify | write faster. Retrieved February 27, 2012, from http://blog.eduify.com/index.php/2010/02/09/the-5-best-prewriting-techniques/

2/20/12
Inquiry Project Post#1 - Teaching Writing to Teens
In my classroom, my students are mainly either writing news articles or expository essays on a particular research topic. They also write a paragraph or essay interpreting a particular piece of literature. My students will first read, re-read, analyze, and interpret a piece of literature. I am always very strict on correct grammar and punctuation in my students' writing so I normally allow one or two rough drafts before they turn in their final essay for grading.

How to organize and develop an analysis on a piece of literature in English class.

The analytical essay helps the student to better understand the literary work and strengthen her information for a discussion on the topic. It expresses the student's thoughts, response, and understanding of the text.

It is important to cite specific passages from the text when writing an analysis, instead of using quotes, to demonstrate a deeper understanding of the text. It is also important to begin the analysis with a thesis or topic sentence. The reader should ask questions and collect information when reading about the most important parts of the text. She examines the strengths and weaknesses of different sides of the text. The main purpose of the analytical essay is for the student to use evidence from the text to support her responses/thesis statement.

A common framework for an analytical essay is as follows:
- Thesis statement
- Introduction including a summary of the original text
- Body - the reader's responses with evidence to support her claims (topic sentences for each paragraph)
            - an analysis of others' assumptions
            - an anlaysis of evidence
- Conclusion

Inquiry Citations:

How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay. (n.d.). www.gmc.edu. Retrieved February 20, 2012, from www.gmc.edu/students/arc/documents/Literary%20analysis.pdf

Keis, D. (n.d.). Writing an Analysis. English Composition 2: Writing an Analysis. Retrieved February 20, 2012, from papyr.com/hypertextbooks/comp2/analysis.htm

Literary analysis guide | English. (n.d.). Goshen College | Healing the world, peace by peace. Retrieved February 20, 2012, from http://www.goshen.edu/english/litanalysis-html/

2/13/12

Two more websites for my class are:

http://www.proquest.com/en-US/ - I can use this website in my class for research. If we are working on a particular novel, they can use this site to look up critiques, essays, etc. for further reading.

http://quizhub.com/quiz/quizhub.cfm - I can use this website as a warm-up in the beginning of class. I would use the SAT Vocabulary section and have my class do a quick 5 minute SAT quiz word activity to begin the class. This is especially helpful since I teach juniors and seniors.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

The following books will be used in a unit on The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. These books will enrich the lesson because they will help my students understand the time period in which the tales were written, and also the language Chaucer uses. This unit is for my juniors, 11th grade, college preparatory level.

 

Schlitz, L. A., & Byrd, R. (2007). Good masters! Sweet Ladies!: voices from a medieval village. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press.

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Good-Masters-Sweet-Ladies-Medieval/dp/0763650943/ref=pd_cp_b_0 

Swisher, C. (2003). Understanding the Canterbury tales. San Diego, Calif.: Lucent Books.

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Canterbury-Tales-Great-Literature/dp/1560067829/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329170892&sr=1-1

Williams, M., & Chaucer, G. (2007). Here bygynneth Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Cambridge, Mass.: Candlewick Press.

Amazon Link: http://www.amazon.com/Chaucers-Canterbury-Tales-Marcia-Williams/dp/1406305626/ref=sr_1_12?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329170974&sr=1-12 

2/6/12
One website I can use for my students is http://www.brainpop.com/english/. This website is very interactive and includes areas such as Famous Authors & Books, Study & Reading Skills, Grammar, and Writing. I can use this in my Journalism class with my students when reviewing the basics of grammar and writing. The grammar section outlines the mechanics of the English language and how they function.

Another website I can use for my students is http://dictionary.infoplease.com/canterbury-tales-the. This website would be a great resource for my students when reading The Canterbury Tales. It gives a daily definition quiz word, frequently misspelled words, frequently mispronounced words, and an analogy of the day. I think my studnents would benefit from this website because it would help them break down some of the harder language and words in the tales.

1/30/12
Here are a couple website's for my content area's (English) professional organizations:

• http://www.ncte.org/
• http://www.reading.org/General/Default.aspx