1. Organize and categorize
information
(a) based on personal experiences
(b) on a topic students care deeply about
(a) based on personal experiences
(b) on a topic students care deeply about
2. Organize, categorize, and
compare observations.
3. Conduct guided research.
4. Conduct cold research.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be
looking at each of these steps in detail and suggesting activity ideas.
For Step 1, topics like “My Baby
Brother” or “My Dog” or “My Mom” or “My School” work best. These are topics
kids know about as a result of their everyday interactions. So the struggle
isn’t related to gathering information, it’s related to organizing it into a
piece of writing that flows in a logical way. (As an added bonus, this
assignment might teach children knew about their relationships or family
dynamics.)
This kind of assignment works
better than “write what you know” because young students might think they know
a lot about frogs, but when it comes down to it, there are bound to be gaps in
their knowledge, and that’s a problem at this level.
This assignment also works better
than “write something you could teach” because, let’s face it, rehashing the
rules of soccer is pretty boring.
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