research papers and webquest

I felt the points brought to light in this chapter are great in laying out the expectations of a research paper versus an essay. While I understand the point Benjamin attempts to make stating “writing is not speech on paper” I fell that statement in itself discourages the writer to have a voice. He does detail that a research paper demands more structure and stronger language but there still needs to be a clear “voice” avoiding the use of euphemisms and commonly spoken terms and phrasing. In reading through his checklist of the categories, focus of the paper and the styles of writing, feedback was an idea expressed that I feel needs to be used more. Since entering Graduate school I’ve yet to receive much feedback from professor in regards to my writing or my ideas expressed. The first was the abstract for an education course this semester; it was an outline for my research paper but I honestly have no basis for how well my research paper writing is at this level and if I need to improve of not. Granted I can proof read it myself and or by another person but it’s not the same as having feedback from the instructor from which you receive your grade. I understand on this level of education we should already be equipped with all the necessary writing and related self assessment skills but I have no idea where I stand as a writer, on this level, as all my research assignments are collected, graded and never returned.

Frames, Clusters, and Stems

I was a bit confused a first reading through this chapter; I was used to more thorough examples of the previous chapters. After reading the paragraph again and letting the information marinate it made much more sense. Also, in reading the chapter, I realized this was yet another skill I was not taught in my English classes. Being able to ask the appropriate questions, identify, organize and categorize information helps students to be more skillful readers and writers.
Identifying patterns and clusters is a skill I was not taught I many of my English courses. I feel I would have benefited having a more discerning eye approaching text. Being able to assess a text and respond to the presented information specifically is another tool to help de-mystify the entire process. Now I know to actively search and determine if a paragraph is classifying, comparison/contrasting, descriptive, chronological as in a procedural report, support an assertion etc.
Identifying a pattern helps readers to ask the appropriate questions of a text aiding in the creation of a word bank of key words. Asking certain questions of a text can lead to the formation of more questions that need to be answered according to the prescribed or a decided pattern. Writing focused on answering questions is stronger and provides more depth on the subject. Creating a list of key words in relation to the pattern adds variety as well as keeps the writing more focused on the topic and idea presented. Having a clear focus, variety in words, depth along with a clear voice all help I producing well written work.

Word For Word

Like any good book these chapters are progressive and increasingly more concise after setting the stage and laying out the major ground rules. I liked the idea Right brain/left brain specific sentence structure feeding both halves strong clearly worded and visually relative information. More senses stimulated positively, a better response is elicited and the mind/body is able to better retain the information over a longer period of time. That idea also reminded me of a lesson i had last semester in how to structure an effective lesson plan leading it with a good anchor. Creating an anchor that stimulates both the right and left halves of the brain, and other senses as well, allows for a more relatable and memorable learning experience. The book touches on the importance of verbs in relation to languages. Having a solid "verb bank", as I've coined it, is key to better understanding and being very proficient with any language learned. As neglected as I often feel as a physical education major in these education courses, i browsed the content specific verbs and found a good relation to biology as those verbs are commonly used verbs in my content area of physical; all those "prefixes, suffixes and roots."

In Fifty Words or Less...

This is my favorite chapters so far because of the tips it presents for writers to be specific and clear with the ideas they want to present.   While I like to think I am a good writer, or at least I know how to present my ideas well enough with minimal grammatical and a good voice I know there is room for improvement; When writing research papers, while the goal generally is to "meet the quota" I'd much rather be more concise with my writing.  I think the "budget of fifty words" is a good trainer to weed out the main ideas of the topic to be written about to lessen rambling and inclusion of empty words and unnecessary information.  The use of action words/key words and connectors are points to keep in mind while writing as an introductory lesson for beginner writers or a refresher for more experiences writers.  Questioning the event is also a good way to list out the main ideas and be used for evaluation to help determine the usability of the facts.  Overall it's a solid breakdown of word and grammar usage to create more effective sentences.

Making the case

As I read this chapter I found myself laughing at the examples the author gave in relation to writing and the impact spelling has on the structure. There definitely time when I will restructure a sentence or “dumb it down” if I am unsure of the correct spelling or meaning of a word I thought of using. In cases like that I often look up the word for reassurance but if I don’t have access to a dictionary or thesaurus, either physical or digital, I find myself simplifying my sentences. If I do that this a moderately trained writer I’m sure younger writers adopt similar habits if not more. I agree when assigning a paper, a student should create an outline but they should also create a Pre-Writing Spelling List to practice writing words, topics and ideas they want to include. The pre-writing spelling list also is a great addition if not a starting point to a good outline. Students can create a pool of words and ideas to choose from to expand on in their paper; each word can be the topic for a paragraph. Along with spelling “terminology” was another point made that goes well with creating a word list. “Talk the talk” as the author states. Using the appropriate terminology in a paper provides more depth, credibility.

Concise and to the point: Framing and evaluating the task

Reading chapter 2 gave me a flashback to my first college English class or I think it was a Literature class.  After receiving or first or second papers, my professor held a class solely on "eliminating unnecessary words. While I was good at writing, I would often follow similar padding tactics on papers if I was rushing or uninterested in the topic.  It was usually because they only assessed my knowledge of the subject and nothing more.  After my professor talked to us about being more efficient with our writing, it gave me a better approach and understanding as to how to express my thoughts.  My second flashback was of an assignment I was given to create a lesson plan utilizing the 3^rd and 4^th levels of Bloom’s taxonomy.  I created a draft of the plan, discussed it with my professor and while he thought it was good and interactive it only satisfied the 1^st and 2^nd levels.  I was a bit of a challenge to create a thorough 20 min lesson that would give the students knowledge and comprehension of the material but also ask them to apply and analyze the information they received.  Teachers often get lazy and don’t put the effort into creating thorough lessons either after years of teaching, just in general and or they simply don’t realize they aren’t including those higher levels or learning.  I wish this simplification of the process was taught more and or better taught as early as middle school so many enter high school and college with better preparation and also with more confidence.  Granted my content area is physical education and rarely assign lengthy written assignments, like was discussed in the reading from last week I feel once students have a better understanding of how to express their thoughts and words on paper, they are better at expressing themselves verbally as it is connected.  It’s a skill that benefits all content areas.

Errors and Guiding Principles

"Errors"reminds me of my conflict when I comes to speaking and writing in Spanish and now Portuguese. As I'm still learning both languages, I struggle to find and arrange words to get my thoughts and intentions out or to be grammatically correct which resorts to me having to look it up using a translator or dictionary. In talking to friends who were going through a similar issue learning English it seemed more important to create what they wanted to say to simply use the language and then after making that attempt criticize it correcting the errors made not to interrupt and discourage communication . This reading also reminded me of a conversation with another friend, on the topic of differentiated learning, whereas I'm a visual learner while he is more auditory. When I'm learning things especially another language I need to hear the words, speak them but more importantly write and see the word; Seeing the word is what 'ties it all together' for me.
Guiding principles speaks of a time and place for types of writing especially as it relates to different content areas. It also encouraged and gave examples of positives teaching strategies to encourage learning and maintain eustress. Like a trainer was discussing with me in at my trapeze training session earlier, she said "I find it better to tell people why they should do it a certain way. They usually forget it anyway but I made the effort and for most eventually it'll stick. We were talking about how to use concise and efficient instruction in classes with new students.