<p>So the problem description here is how to get students to reliably produce 8-9 essays? And you are dealing with indifferent students?</p>
<p>I still think that you may be faced with the problem of “helping” these kids into academic situations beyond their abilities. </p>
<p>Assuming that they are willing to put in practice, 8-9’s should be doable.</p>
<p>jkjeremy Have you posted anything on this forum before that I could read that details your teaching approach? I would be extremely interested. </p>
<p>As I think I said to argbargy I have been generally following that advice. With that said, there is still some struggle to come up with one example, let alone 2-3, and in some cases I cannot do much better. </p>
<p>I do not want to sound harsh, but you are right that your advice of redefining what an example would be was not helpful. But that’s only because you did not explain what you meant by that so I have no idea what you meant.</p>
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<p>Only in private messages to interested students.</p>
<p>However, I can summarize it in one sentence:</p>
<p>Look at what’s happening in most (though not all) high school English classes (and certainly “test prep” classes) and basically rule it out as a valid teaching tool.</p>
<p>Go into an English classroom. Take notes for an hour. (If you’re still in HS or if you’re young enough to remember it, then think back to those days. What happened on a day-to-day basis in those rooms? Decades of observation revealed to me the answer: not much.)</p>
<p>argbargy Yes that characterization is somewhat on par. I’d say that some have the potential to be in the solid 10 range, if not 11-12, while others a solid 8-9. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t say they are entirely indifferent, but if I tell them to go read a book that will not happen. They are ok practicing on their own math problems, writing multiple choice, or reviewing unfamiliar vocab words that came up on sentence completions drills. Brainstorming essays does not seem to be happening. </p>
<p>They have solid writing abilities, but left to their own devices, I will never see an example beyond stories about their mothers and fathers. And like I’ve said, I cannot do much better in most situations. </p>
<p>We will probably have to discuss some U.S. history, but nobody minds that. They seem to rather learn history from me than from school. I’m not going to go through books with them or non-U.S. history; I know that’d be mostly a waste of time based on what I know and what my students know.</p>
<p>jkjeremy Did I understand you correctly that I should go to an english classroom, try to understand how english teachers teach, and then do the opposite?</p>
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<p>Oh no…not necessarily.</p>
<p>What I meant was to go into an English classroom, see what’s being “taught” and how, and then do something different.</p>
<p>I didn’t necessarily say “do the opposite” (although to do so would occasionally be in order).</p>
<p>NOTE: This isn’t true of every English class, but I’d say it applies to more than 90% of them.</p>
<p>jkjeremy but no hint on what that different direction might be and what sort of things are alright about the 10% of them? </p>
<p>Any suggestions on the prompts I listed above?</p>
<p>Should books portray the world as it is or as it should be? (January 2010)
Do people put too much emphasis on winning? (May 2008)
Is there value in celebrating certain individuals as heroes? (June 2007)
Are photographs straightforward representations of real life, or are they artistic creations reflecting the photographer’s point of view? (March 2011)
[The Dust Bowl comes to mind potentially for this one . . . but I myself would probably flip out if I got this prompt even knowing about Dorothea Lange ]</p>
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<p>I’d rather not go into that in this public an arena, but tell me… </p>
<p>What do you remember about your HS English classes?</p>
<p>Tell me via PM if you’d like.</p>
<p>I’d be very curious to know.</p>
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<p>My suggestion, which applies to each of these, will come in the form of a question:</p>
<p>What would you do if the instructions forbade examples from history, literature, or current events?</p>
<p>"Should books portray the world as it is or as it should be? "</p>
<p>Reasoning: Books portraying possible futures are more powerful because they can warn us about dangers to society or move us to progress.
warning examples: “Brave New World”, “Atlas Shrugged”, “Gulliver’s Travels”
positive examples: HG Wells, Milton, maybe the “Dream Speech”</p>
<p>"Do people put too much emphasis on winning? "</p>
<p>Reasoning: How might people put too much emphasis on winning? If the focus on winning overrides other human considerations or if the cost of winning becomes too great. </p>
<p>examples: (overlooking) MacAurthers determination to drop the atom bomb in Korea. The commanders remark in Vietnam that it was necessary to destroy a village to save it.
(excess cost)Picket’s Charge, Charge of the Light Brigade, the Battle of the Somme</p>
<p>“Is there value in celebrating certain individuals as heroes?”
Reasoning: Why might hero’s be useful? Because the offer a shared perspective or because they stand as an exemplar. </p>
<p>examples: Chesty Puller because of his bravery, swagger and honor is seen as pinnacle of who the US Marine tries to be.
Ronald Reagan tried to model his administration of “less is more” after Calvin Coolidge
Hillary Clinton used to talk to the ghost of Eleanor Roosevelt when she was feeling down about the Clinton presidency. </p>
<p>“Are photographs straightforward representations of real life, or are they artistic creations reflecting the photographer’s point of view?”</p>
<p>Reasoning: All information is a “snapshot”- some things made the focal, some cropped out. Things that endure are because its the focal that resonates. </p>
<p>examples: “The Star Spangled Banner” is about a minor skirmish in an inconclusive war. But the focus on the bravery and defiance of the country is what made it so relevant that it was adopted as the national anthem.
The famous picture of the flag raising on Iwo Jima was actually the second flag to go up. The the strain and the triumph were so perfectly captured that it became the most iconic picture of the Pacific campaign.
There is a famous picture of 4 year old JFK Jr saluting his father’s casket bravely at the funeral procession goes by. In reality seconds before Jackie Kennedy learned down and told him to do so but what was captured became part of the Camelot myth.</p>
<p>"Should people know the source of information before using it? "</p>
<p>Reasoning: Why not? Someone could be trying to gain undue influence by pretending their pet information is neutral for their own gain.</p>
<p>examples: The TANG controversy with George Bush. Documents showed up to ‘prove’ what people suspected. In reality they were exposed as forgeries because the type fonts didnt match and CBS News was discredited and Dan Rather lost his job. </p>
<p>Endorsements from physicians in the 1950’s that smoking was healthy for people. </p>
<p>Morgan Spurlock made a career out of the film 'Supersize Me" and actually caused McDonald’s to discontinue use of the term. However other people who repeated the 30 day McDonald’s diet actually lost weight.</p>
<p>jkjeremy I’ll be honest and say that I’ve blocked out much of high school english. Just feelings of nervousness that I did not read enough of the book by class or that I did not read it carefully enough. Teachers assigning essays, often times in which I did well and had no idea why; likewise when I did poorly, no idea why. </p>
<p>How would I answer those questions? Frankly, I do not want to answer some of those with or without examples from history. As I said before, some of those are just crazy questions, things I don’t normally think about, and would probably draw a blank alongside my students. I am not claiming to be the best writing instructor on the market . . .</p>
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<p>Ah but herein lies the issue…</p>
<p>The prompts are created such that a kid who knows almost nothing about history CAN score a six if he knows how to think and write. It happens quite frequently.</p>
<p>Remember—the essay is not a history test; it’s not a test on The Hunger Games or Apple Inc. or the Vietnam War.</p>
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<p>In order to really teach a kid how to write, you need to be able to tell him why he’s doing well or poorly.</p>
<p>Don’t take it wrong, as my goal is to help.</p>
<p>I feel comfortably assessing an essay and I give a lot of feedback to the students. </p>
<p>You might have missed what I wrote earlier. I said even without history I have no idea what to write for some of those prompts. I said earlier, I found some prompts to be ridiculously easier than other, and I don’t find this to be as highly correlated with when they where administered. In fact, I found some of the recent ones to be no problem, with some of the older ones to be incredibly difficult. </p>
<p>I do not know how someone on earth could answer some of those questions, thanks to argbargy I do know!</p>
<p>argbargy – That smoking example is brilliant! I knew that aspect of history too. Wow. That’s exactly was I was looking for. Things like that just to get my juices flowing. And then I can work with that. </p>
<p>If you didn’t know, alcohol was the same way too. In fact, late-nineteenth century women were encouraged to drink alcohol during pregnancy!</p>
<p>Wow. I am just in awe. Thank you so much for all of these other examples!!</p>
<p>“I do not know how someone on earth could answer some of those questions”</p>
<p>Start by asking yourself questions- how could this be true? How could it be false?</p>
<p>Many times it is easier to take the non-intuitive side of the prompt if you are stumped. </p>
<p>What if people shouldnt know the source of information before using it? Why would that be true? “Hmm, maybe a Muslim country wouldnt use a vaccine that a Jewish person had developed. Hey that reminds me of the English King who wouldnt use quinine because it had been discovered by Catholic Jesuits.”</p>
<p>argbargy Are you saying that it’s perfectly fine to write a one-reason essay? Have only one point, then do two or three body paragraphs each with an example that illustrate the same exact point?</p>
<p>Well the goal is to write a strongly reasoned response to the prompt and depending on the prompt I might just need one good reason to be convincing. </p>
<p>Lets take “Is there value in celebrating certain individuals as heroes?”. I’ll take the thesis that we shouldn’t take individuals as heroes because we only see the public part of their personal- the bad is repressed and the good is elevated beyond reality and it is impossible for an observer to tell the true situation until it is too late. </p>
<p>Examples: Mussolini, Hitler, Lenin, Mao, Huey Long, Jim Jones, Charles Manson. </p>
<p>Those are all examples of the same reasoning but it is fine is proving my position.</p>
<p>ETA: If you are aiming for a 4/5 you dont need to try to swing for the fences.</p>
<p>Yes I agree that aiming for a 4/5 one doesn’t need to swing for the fences. I do have a few students who would easily be a solid 8-10 without academic examples so I’m trying to think about them too. Regardless, all have the same issues with examples, and how to respond to some of these seemingly challenging prompts.</p>