This week has been great and mind numbing all at the same
time. My students seem to lose intelligence while doing research and I can
completely understand why. Yet at the same time it is a little frustrating.
Students have been in the library all week doing research.
The topics we let them choose from were social topics we pulled from the texts
we have read. So some of the topics include: abortion, police brutality,
militias, gangs, war on drugs, mental illnesses, human trafficking, food
safety, and smoking. We pulled popsicle
sticks and allowed students to pick a topic. Each student has a different topic
however, students in one of our other classes could have the same topic. While
figuring out what topics to et our students choose from we went to the library
to see what resources were available. Luckily the library had books on the
topics we wanted and the librarian was kind enough to do a presentation on how
to use Galileo .
I found myself frustrated as we covered MLA citations and
proper sources in about a day and a half and then turned our students loose.
How many days do you normally spend on teaching MLA and research paper stuff?
We have gone over and over what a good source is yet
students still constantly return to Wikipedia.
What do you think the best way to teach MLA is? We’ve used
graphic organizers and handouts as well as worksheets and putting examples up
through projector.
Unfortunately MLA is one of those things you just have to learn by doing. Teaching good sources is just as difficult and sometimes arbitrary. If you want to make sure they understand you could include sources in the rubric--you could say if it doesn't come from Galileo with the peer reviewed box checked, have a .org or .edu source, or come from a reference book then it cannot be used. This might narrow the sources down a bit.
ReplyDeleteI share your confusion about how to teach MLA it is baffling and unfortunately it takes most people several years to get down pat. Be patient and keep redirecting them to the resources you have provided. When in doubt tell them to seek the librarian or an MLA style guide such as those found on Owl or the MLA website.
Sorry this isn't more helpful. I had the same trouble in my second placement. Ultimately the teachers used a query program that asked them questions in MLA formats and they had to figure out which ones were correct. It was torturous but it was the best solution they had.
Katie! Reading this was complete deja vu. I feel like I wrote this post. When I was at home my persuasion unit culminated in a written (and oral) researched speech. I had not planned to discuss MLA but at the last minute my host teacher decided that it was something they needed to try. I had only allotted six days to research, write, and present the speeches. All of a sudden I had to find time to teach them MLA as well. Fortunately a few (maybe ten) of my tenth graders had at least been exposed to MLA before and my host teacher agreed that showing them EasyBib.com was enough as far as how to format a citation. I think the most helpful thing I did was to give them each a copy of one of the papers I had written during my undergrad. This gave them an example of how to incorporate quotes, what in-text citations look like, and how to format a works cited page. Ultimately, I learned that MLA takes practice. They need exposure to it and they should have more than one opportunity to get it right. If I could go back and change that unit I would give them more time. I would ask that they turn in a draft on which I would give them suggestions and then turn in a final copy. It was a stressful time and like you, I felt they were digressing rather than learning. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised at the end of the unit. Of course, no one turned in a perfect paper, but there was plenty of evidence that they had learned a thing or two about MLA.
ReplyDeleteTo my knowledge (or at least judging from their writing), my students have not even had a crash course in MLA. You're right, a day and a half is not nearly enough time to cover citations. When I mentioned "citations" in class, I got a blank stare. I did this during our reading of the play Trifles; out of my five blocks, maybe two groups out of twenty-some-odd groups even thought to cite a page number, let alone an actual piece of textual evidence, such as a "quote" to back up their claim. In hindsight, I probably should have stopped there and went over what I was looking for, perhaps modeled it a little better, but it just happened to be on my observation day and I didn't feel comfortable scrapping the plan. They had finished a "writing unit" when I first came in, but I do not think they actually had a section on "research" and to my knowledge, I do not believe they will be doing so once I leave. It's kind of a bummer; I'm not sure how I feel about it, otherwise. Personally, I think students should be required to take a full class solely on research methods outside of the English curriculum.
ReplyDeleteI think research is always something hard to teach to kids. It has a preceding reputation for being a mind-numbing, boring process that will only be used in classes. However, I think this is when you have to pull in those real life experiences. Show them that research is something that you do everyday but they just don't realize it. Then, once they see the importance of know how to do 'general' inquisitive research, bring in textual research and explain that this is just one of the many ways in which we need to know how to research.
ReplyDeleteAs for MLA, I think that is something that will always be a struggle until it is actually put in use. I know whenever we learned it, it was just this big dark cloud over my head waiting to be used. So, I think you should just be waiting for questions and the real explanations will come out whenever they first try and put MLA into play.
I agree with Erin, reading this is deja vu. My students had a very difficult time with their research papers and MLA format. When we were in the class they were able to regurgitate facts on MLA and I'm pretty confident they could pass a multiple choice test over MLA. However, they are not able to actually apply MLA format into their papers.
ReplyDeleteI agree that learning citations is important and that they will use MLA in the future. That being said, I'm not sure if spending class time on how to create a bibliography is important. I haven't created a bibliography by plugging in the information myself since high school. I always use sonofacitationmachine.com. Everyone I know uses a website to create their works cited pages. I think the time would be better spent working on the paper itself and in-text citations rather than how to plug in info to create a bib.