Synthesis Essay Thoughts

Today students turn in their synthesis essays.  It has taken us almost four months to get here. And what I am seeing so far is amazing.  Which is, of course, support for the argument of slowing down, digging deeper. With the exception of a few days of Shakespeare, this has been our only focus all semester.  And I honestly feel like I completely taught this thing.  There isn't one thing that I am thinking, "Ugh, I really should have included this thing..."  Which isn't to say that there aren't some things I would change.  For example, this was my first year using a source grid, and there are definite changes that need to be made to that. Additionally, I need to write a better model of the rhetorical precis than the one I've found on line.  That one sucks.  Also need to do a little more with patterns of development.

For posterity, and because wouldn't it be nice to have a laid out plan next year that I could for once in twenty one years repeat, let's trace the history.

•  We started by reading exemplars which I used to teach the rhetorical precis which is an amazing exercise in thinking, reading and writing and rhetorical analysis.  Most kids think they are really good readers until they have to write a rhetorical precis.  And then they learn what the deal is.
• Exemplar One:  David Foster Wallace's, Consider the Lobster.  Students wrote the precis as a group for this one.  It was a struggle. But in a good way.  Expectations for the calibre of writing were clearly set.
• Proud to say that every other exemplar we read has been published since August 2017.  
• Siddhartha Mukherjee's, Invasion Equation Again group writing of the precis.  Brutal.
• Then I gave students a choice of essays for their first individual precis in order to promote student engagement.  The choices were:
• Accidental Killers (Psychology), Is Health Care A Right?, Strawberry Valley (an essay about the produce industry) and Feathered Glory (Fashion Industry). Students wrote individual rhetorical precis on the essay of their choosing. They were allowed to revise this one if they didn't get the grade they wanted
• After conducting one-on-one conferences to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the precis and strategies for revision, students were offered another opportunity to revise again on the essay of their choice.  Choices were:
• The Exercise Pill (Science and Fitness), The Disrupters (Sexual Discrimination in the Field of Technology) and Getting On (Ageism) Again students wrote on their own
• Again I met with each student and then offered one more opportunity to revise.  The essay:
• Schools of Thought (Education).  The revision is due after the break.
• Meanwhile, students have been writing their own essay on the topic of their choice using the above models as exemplars.
• The first step was to spend a little bit of time freewriting each day in their djournals to document the stuff they notice in the world and then to formulate questions based on those noticings.  All good researched writing seeks to answer a question.  They needed a good one.
• Step Two: Watch Ethan Hawke conduct research in the documentary "Shakespeare Uncovered" during which he utilizes questioning to investigate playing the lead in Macbeth.
• Next:  Allow students time to, as Hawke says, surround themselves with really smart people during a week long research reading period.
• Introduce the source grid which allows them to organize their quoted material.
• Assign the annotated bibliography for the sources which contains precis for each source. Require them to print their sources for Timed Synthesis Activity below
• Teach them about effectively blending quotations. (return to exemplars for analysis)
• Teach them about writing good transitions. (return to exemplars for analysis)
• Give them time to write
• Spend two days peer conferencing for content
• Spend one day peer editing for grammar usage and mechanics.

*Note: create a handout titled "What you should notice every time you read something in AP Lang"

*follow up: students create a timed synthesis prompt for their peers using their sources and their research question.  Everyone writes someone else's.  The author scores it.

On the day they turn in the essay I made them write a rhetorical precis on their own essay and a reflection.  Then asked them to label the modes of discourse in their essay and then ring the bell.

Lesson Plan 12/8

Context: Students have been working diligently on a variety of skills all connected to the writing they will be expected to do in college and to the various standardized tests they face this year. We've read multiple exemplars of the synthesis essay (aka the researched argument/research paper/term paper) and we are now in the middle of writing one. Students have worked to create a checklist/rubric against which their finished essays will be compared for assessment. https://docs.google.com/document/d/131AVqd0KZvd6_fO7cF2yKKqD1Kz4cKPt9UGgNvwP898/edit   They've learned about organizing multiple perspectives from a variety of sources with the use of a  "Source Grid " which they've already turned in.   With a resource from a little gem of a book called They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, they've learned about the methods writers use to effectively blend quoted material into their essays.  We are now focusing on writing the lead for the essay.

 Of course, this is AP.  So, when I say "lead," I am not talking about one sentence, but rather about the development of an entire narrative or analogy or idea that will draw their readers into the bulk of the essay.  This lead will be referenced multiple times throughout the body of the "copy" and then will be returned to at the paper's conclusion to draw the reader back full circle to the beginning of the essay.

The exemplars we've read (five total) have demonstrated a variety of lead techniques.  Now students simply need to choose one and emulate it. We've also discussed the importance of the first sentence referencing this handout https://nwscholasticpress.org/2012/10/09/write-great-leads-that-will-grab-your-readers-attention-by-knowing-these-9-effective-strategies-2/.

Common Core Standards:

W11-12.2
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.

11-12.2A
Introduce a topic; organize complex ideas, concepts, and information so that each new element builds on that which precedes it to create a unified whole; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., figures, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.

11/12.3A
Introduce a topic; organize complex ideas, concepts, and information so that each new element builds on that which precedes it to create a unified whole; include formatting (e.g., headings), graphics (e.g., figures, tables), and multimedia when useful to aiding comprehension.

11-12.4
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.)

AND SO MANY MORE 11-12.5, 11-12.6, 

Process:Students will spend three class periods writing this lead with the understanding that the draft they turn in on Friday may change as they develop the body of the paper.  Because writing is like that, a frustratingly beautiful recursive process. Writing in class gives them the advantage of being able to as education guru, Penny Kittle, "write (right) beside" a teacher meaning any questions or difficulties that arise can be dealt with immediately.

What You Will See:

The first 15 minutes will be devoted to taking a Membean vocabulary assessment.

For the rest of the hour you will see the teacher as facilitator helping students navigate lead writing through informal peer conferencing. Because the leads are only drafts at this point, students will be looking for feedback from their peers on content, organization and level of engagement.

Each student will read his or her lead aloud to one or two other students.  Students will listen without interrupting and then offer feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of the draft answering the following two questions:

• Is the lead clear and coherent?
• Does it provoke interest in the subject matter to follow?

Students will take turns sharing their feedback and then it's "back to the drawing board" for revisions.

Trying Something Different: Lesson Plans 10/23-27

Goals

Students will understand the characteristics of an effective synthesis essay in preparation for writing one of their own.

Students will demonstrate their ability to write a rhetorical precis.

Students will learn to work through difficult text using Shakespeare's, Macbeth.

Standards

• Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
• Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
• Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact
• Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text. (Include at least one play by Shakespeare and one play by an American dramatist.)
•  Analyze and evaluate the effectiveness of the structure an author uses in his or her exposition or argument, including whether the structure makes points clear, convincing, and engaging.
•  read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poems, in the grades 11–CCR text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.
•  Determine an author’s point of view or purpose in a text in which the rhetoric is particularly effective, analyzing how style and content contribute to the power, persuasiveness, or beauty of the text
• Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. 
•  Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. 
•  Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others

Background

Students began the year writing the synthesis essay.  We have spent the last (almost) two months now reading model essays and clarifying understanding of what makes an excellent synthesis essay.  Skills needed involve the ability to develop a good line of inquiry, close and critical reading of sources and clear and concise expression of ideas.  To cover these skills, we have been working with the rhetorical precis.  Students have written precis for each of the essays they have read and have completed a comparative metacognitive reflection on their own process and product.  Students also witnessed an actual inquiry by watching Shakespeare Uncovered, during which Ethan Hawke investigates the question (among others): What would an actor who was going to play the role of Macbeth need to understand in order to be successful?  Students are reading Macbeth intermittently and watching the PBS video (analyzing directorial choices) as a break from the heavy work of the precis and inquiry.  Find below a skeletal plan of activities this week.  AP Lang is a living, breathing entity and subject to change and develop daily.

Monday: Membean Vocab Practice, Preparation for Parent Teacher Conferences (Reflective Writing) and Independent Reading (Book Love).

Tuesday:  Rhetorical Precis Due. Reflective Writing.  Act I Macbeth Questions Corrections.

Wednesday: View Act I.

Thursday:  Research Question Feedback. Reading of Macbeth Act II.

Friday:  Act II questions and video.

Pre-20th century prose

Every year our students do well on the AP test.  Every year I get a score report back that lists skills I can practice with my students to help them do even better.  Every year the only skill listed on the report is “understanding pre-20^th century prose.”  It’s difficult: understanding pre-20^th century prose.  The vocabulary is archaic and complex.  The syntax is beyond complex.  So kids struggle.  Adults struggle.  So, we practice.

And we did.  With three different prompts this week and they report--according to the scales--that theya re feeling more confident about tackling this part of the test. We used three separate prompts which I believe was just enough with out beating it to death.  In addition we ended up working on thesis statements and I was able to individualize instruction with those helping students eliminate wordiness and redundancies in their prose.  

What would I do differently?

Probably this focus should come earlier in the year so that we can most consistently practice our skills  of reading comprehension throughout the entire year.

lobster shared folder

https://docs.google.com/a/fhps.net/document/d/1TfeYbEH8doMgXg1X7Cm7IFN9Iy9_mM98UGMNMbrWNuM/edit?usp=sharing

Where to start?

Second semester.  A new beginning.  Another chance to light a fire. Thrilling and terrifying all at the same time.  And I'm not thinking about students when I write this, but rather of the teacher.   That's me.  For a global thinker, it is all so overwhelming because I see all the possibilities and the way each plays out and they are all simply swirling in my head.  And for a teacher like me, pinning them down into a linear fashion that anyone else can follow is the biggest challenge of all. So, I get out yet another notebook and try, try, try to catch the tails of all those balloons floating around in the sky. I spend 20 minutes just looking for the right pen to use to begin to line it up. What do they need to know how to do to be successful?

Here's what I know:

• This semester is the semester of ridiculous testing.  SAT and AP.  It is my job to prepare my students.  It is also my job not to step every day on their souls by inflicting myriad reading passages accompanied by brain draining multiple choice questions. How to balance this? What's true for AP is that after all of the AP reading passages we've done, the SAT passages are like kindergarten.  So, they don't need that.  English 11 on the other hand does need that but wants it the least, for the most part.
• This year's AP students, and actually many English 11, come in with strong rhetorical analysis skills because of the new SAT essay and the tremendous job that English 10 teachers have done in introducing and covering those skills....which means that we can spend less time there and more time on authentic writing.  First semester was all about real and expressive writing and inquiry and the personal essay.  Second semester should focus on reviewing the rhetorical analysis stuff, but should also move on to what will be especially important for college: synthesis writing a.k.a "the research paper."
• What I want my goal to be with the synthesis writing is to turn the old "term/research paper" on its head and make it waaaaay more meaningful for students.  Waaaaay more authentic. I believe it is the big essential learning that is left. When I say that, what is implied is that there are a hundred tiny essential learnings that take place all at once that can't help but be part of what leads students to be able to write the synthesis writing.  
• This is where it gets muddy.....there is the timed one that they will be required to do for the AP test and then there is the real stuff where they get to actually engage in the process of inquiry.  It feels to me as though what must come first is the real one and then we practice the fake timed one.
• If that was muddy, this next part is like trying to wade through clay.  At the same time, I must figure out a meaningful way to teach vocabulary and also read as a class (shoot me now) at the minimum one novel, at the most three. To what end?  Exposure?  Okay?  What works better for me is to probably read and incorporate the writer's notebook during that reading and the independent reading so that they can find a "seed" idea upon which they can formulate a question upon which they can engage in authentic inquiry. And that is good for all kids, AP or not.
• So I'm back at my same question: where do I start?
• Maybe I start by Considering the Lobster (David Foster Wallace) with all students, AP or not.  But for English 11, I break it into manageable chunks. And I pull vocab from there.  And I incorporate the writer's notebook thinking piece.  So, we do this with something small.  And then with Brave New World.  And we examine the question(s) that Wallace and Huxley probably began with. All the while doing the same with independent reading.  And then, and then, and then ......

Reflection: Teaching the Personal Essay

I still believe that this is the most meaningful teaching I do all year.  And now, I've cut out a lot of other non-essentials in order to free time and space for students to engage authentically in the process.  Always, teaching this involves high highs and low lows.  Sometimes I have conversations with students during the writing process and during conferencing that I believe truly help them help themselves reach the next step.  Other times, I read a student essay and I'm at a complete loss for words.  The only thing to do at that time is to shut up and listen to the student.  If I can get the student talking about why they chose a particular topic, what led them to write an entire essay about "Ants"--true story--then I can usually get them to reveal what it is that they are really trying to say.  The next step is to follow with a simple question, "What do you think you'll do next?"  The great thing about this job is that most of the time, the student has the answer about how to make his writing better.  I don't have to come up with it.  I just have to ask the right questions to help him discover what needs to be done next.

Stuff I struggle with during the "teaching" of writing:

• Shutting up and letting students write.  Well, okay, that isn't exactly true.  I do shut up and let them write.  But then I sit back at my desk or I walk around the room and feel guilty about earning my paycheck.  Intellectually, I know this is guff.  What do students lack today?  Time.  And good writing takes a lot of time.  I want good writing, therefore I am willing to give them time.  Did I just write a syllogism? Probably not. 
• Not taking loads of paperwork home.  Totally not true.  When the writing conference is at the center of writing instruction, no one has to sit home and write comments that will mostly be ignored on compositions that usually require something more for improvement....something more like a conversation.  In this conversation, the student brings the pen to the conference.  The student takes notes.  And I go home and make squash soup. 

That's all for this time.

Something Strange Is Happening

And I am not sure if it is good.  There is a tiny revolution taking place in my head.  It is manifesting itself in a purge. I have started getting rid of anything that feels extraneous in my classroom: handouts, file cabinets, tables, old educational theory books.

Here's the deal:  I don't need all this crap in order to help students improve their writing.  All I need are some well-written exemplar texts and some devices. This is quite contrary to the beginning of my career when I hoarded everything.  But I'm kind of scaring myself.  People are asking me if I'm retiring.  I'm not.  I just feel this compulsion to have less around me so that I can focus on what is important: reading, writing and talking about reading and writing.  And that's it.