I keep writing assignment descriptions for my students in prose–you know good old fashioned sentences and paragraphs? And when I share them with my colleagues, one of whom I respect greatly and am happily planning curriculum with this year, they want to whittle them down to bullet lists and ‘rubricize’ them, for if the students know what we are looking for then they can give us what we are looking for. Thinking that checklists are easy for students and let them know just exactly what it is that we are asking of them, I guess I never really gave it much thought.
Until tonight. Over the last three years, I have slowly been transforming my teaching away from literature units and into non-fiction analysis. I know it sounds boring (and, as an English major, so totally not what I signed up for) but I a) really think it is more important for my students to read an article from Time magazine and be able to understand it and talk about it and shape their view of how they should be in society and b) it’s almost more fun extracting meaning from non-fiction that may have been written yesterday (and in an election year!!) than coercing students to appreciate the blue flowers that Simon finds in Lord of the Flies. They are far more excited reading about drugs at parties, wives, and latino style–at least my students are.
Having had time to think about school this week, I sat back, snow falling down outside my window, trying to decide why I was bothered by the rubrification of my project descriptions. Here’s what I came up with: we are asking students to read and understand pieces of non-fiction text on a daily basis so that they may better understand pieces of text in the future. And yet, when we give them a description essay (ok, maybe not an essay–I’m just trying to make a point here), we take all of the ‘need to analyze’ requirement out of it. Sure it may be more challenging for students to read through 700 words to figure out that a definition essay may use a formal definition, synonyms, negation, etc–but isn’t that what we’re teaching them to do in the first place? I think that, from here on out, I’m going to ask my kids to read the 700 words and make their own darn checklist.
Speaking of making checklists resulting from reflection, I am so, so happy to have submitted a draft of my essay to both Professor Bullock and Kona this week, and am so, so grateful to have recieved excellent feedback from both of them. What a lucky man am I!! I was pretty sure that I had most pieces written, so it was nice to get some affirmation about my progress! I am equally excited about this week-to revise and complete my draft, to get feedback from my peers, and to begin my presentation–I have ordered my spandex body suit and ribbon on a stick and have been practicing such moves as “reaching for butterfly” and “weeping softly while it rains”–shoot, I think I’ve said too much.
Seriously, however, I really ended up having a lot of fun working on my final sections of my paper, and am exited to present in a couple of weeks!
I’ll be happy to write next week, surely with many adventures to share, as our friend from Japan will be here on Tuesday for 2 weeks. We are so excited we can’t wait!! Have a great week everyone, and thanks for reading.
22 November 2008 at 7:59 pm
Luke,
As always, you impress me with your writing. As I read your blogs and reflections I’m always pressed to want to write back and say, “THIS EXACTLY HOW I FEEL!”, though that sounds clingy and a little pathetic as someone who should be more reflective than mere attempts to impress my colleagues, but still, well done.
As for your colleagues looking to implement a series of bullet expectations at the onslaught of every assignment to ensure students are fulfilling all aspects of an assignment, that is something that fits well into the mode of math, science, and the other aspects of school that provide a right answer. I know in our department we have avoided setting up assignments in that format (mainly because of my boss and our head of curriculum for our district) and instead start a prompt with a series of questions that allow the student to come to their own meaning regarding the assignment’s expectations. Not that we don’t talk explicitly about what a clear, specific, argumentative claim looks like but instead a prompt might start out with a series of reflective questions.
For instance, the following prompt is one of three prompts we give our sophomores during their reading of Night:
“3. In Night, Elie undergoes a serious transition from a devout Jew to an adult whose faith in God is “murdered” after his experiences in the concentration camps. How and why does this transition occur? As you write, consider how Elie’s loss of faith directly relates to human nature. In other words, what does Elie’s story indicate about the relationship between faith, traumatic experiences, and the way religious individuals respond to the trauma?”
I admit, however, that when I am writing something (particularly for my co-taught freshman… half of the class being special ed) I will invariably go to a checklist of requirements, because I know that helps them fulfill the assignment. I am guilty. And I know that, while they may be hitting every component of that checklist, real thinking, constructivist-type of learning, isn’t happening unless we open them up to explore multiple answers, not just the one answer we are asking for.
Sorry to write so long, but you have some great thoughts.
Congrats on getting the paper done and on the positive responses, I’ll look at it before the weekend’s over for some inspiration and guidance.
Take care,
Brendan