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.