Once again, I have been less faithful than I intended to be in blogging. September has been a bit of a crazy month for me. Between weddings and travel and traveling for weddings, it's been all I can do just to keep up with basic work, much less write a blog post. Alas, I will press on.
Today I would like to introduce the topic of writing essays. Or rather, having students write essays. Before this year, the thought of having students produce a piece of writing longer than a paragraph seemed overwhelming. When would I have time to grade one hundred or so papers AND plan lessons for multiple class, AND keep up with all the other grading and paperwork I inevitably accumulate from my students? I've always believed that it is important for students to write in order to demonstrate what they know as well as to support other disciplines like English/Literature, but I just never felt like I had the time to do it justice. But this year is different! Because of the many benefits of being at the same school as last year, I was able to prepare well in advance. Also, since I was able to get a feel for what worked and what didn't work last year, I have been able to modify the way I conduct class to significantly reduce the amount of paperwork I collect from students. This has freed up considerable time for me to focus on having my students write essays in class, as well as time for me to actually grade them without being completely overwhelmed.
Once I had the time for students to write and me to grade essays, I had to figure out how to introduce it in a way that would not be too confusing for students. I FAILED. Sure, they have written essays before (or at least I hope they have by their junior year of high school), but many have never written an essay for a history class. Here is a brief list of the things I did WRONG in introducing the first historical essay many of my kids have ever written.
1. Over simplify the guidelines/instructions. I thought it would be a good idea to make the instructions as simple as possible so as not to overwhelm my students with what I thought would be nit-picky details. I was WRONG. I made it so simple that when I actually set kids to work, there were several who were still confused over the purpose of writing the essay. As moved around the room, I noticed several kids who seemed to be under the impression that they were expected to research their topic. I explained to each one that this was supposed to be an exercise for them to demonstrate what they ALREADY know and to incorporate primary sources that we have ALREADY discussed in class. Many began to understand, but when it was time to turn in their essays, several kids were STILL confused about what the expectation was and were concerned that they had not done it correctly. And this is my fault. It could have been prevented. Or at least minimized if I had just been specific when I wrote my guidelines.
2. Allow students to choose their own topic. Now, this doesn't sound like it would be a bad thing. Students generally do better and are more interested in what they are doing if they get to have a say. This is proven and documented by teachers all over the world. However, They didn't know HOW to pick a topic. And, because the instructions weren't clear (see point above), some students were trying to choose topics that had nothing to do with history let alone the time period we were studying. I did provide a several topics for them to choose from, but I also allowed them to adapt a topic or create their own. So many kids picked topics that they thought were interesting but were really difficult for them to write about. Others picked topics that required them to research and find new information, which was not the point of the assignment. In fact, students doing research on a difficult topic in many ways detracts from the point of the assignment. I wanted them to demonstrate what they know by referencing primary sources we used in class. If I had narrowed the focus FOR them, they would (hopefully) have begun to work faster and more efficiently. There would have been no time wasted pondering what subject to write on or what opinion to have or what sources to use. I could have helped given them this structure, but I didn't. Next time I will.
3. Provide unstructured time for students to work independently. I also thought it would be a good idea to allow students some independent time to work on their essays in class. I hate giving homework, so I wanted to make sure I provided them with time in class. Great, right? No. Very few students had a clue where to start. Once I gave them the very specific instructions for the essay and provided them with a narrow list of topics from which to choose, I should have modeled for them how to begin. We could have brainstormed together; created a sample thesis; provided them with a blank outline for them to fill in with their own information; demonstrated how to appropriately reference sources. So many things I could have done differently to provide them more structure, but I didn't. Next time I will do ALL of these things. And hopefully, it will result in better papers.
Now, most of these mistakes I can chalk up to the fact that I've never had my students write full length essays before. I do think I should have known better, though. Or at least anticipated some of the struggles. In my experience it is always better to start with low expectations. It's nice to be pleasantly surprised when your students surpass them, but it's far worse to have high expectations that are not or cannot be met. I think I have overestimated my many if not most of my students on this assignment. I don't doubt that I have some bright kids who probably did a very good job. At this point, though, I do expect most of the essays to be less than what I expect. Alas, I must learn from my mistakes without penalizing my students too much. This essay will set a baseline and the good news is, the next essays can only better!
