Cadet Tahvon Davis

Cadet Shamus Bartmess

02/27/20

ERH-411 Fieldwork

Draft I: Team Expeditionary Unit Pre-Proposal

Driving Question:

How can we spark creativity, interest and passion in a personal research assignment?

Our driving question I think, needs a second visit. We don’t know if the students will receive guidelines for the assignment or what they will choose as topics, so the only thing we can do is hope to keep them on task and interested in what they are arguing.

EL Principles:

Research and Informed Argumentation

VDOE:

SOLs- Geared toward communication, reading, writing and research

Modes:

We need another visit to the classroom in order to have a better idea of what to do for activities that will lead to group engagement. As of right now though, the high schoolers will be starting their research papers soon. As such, we will come up with a plan to show them how to research, what sorts of places they should be researching at. We will show them different websites and ask the class if it is a good place to have a source from. I.e. Wikipedia, national archives, .edu, .gov, .com websites, etc. By doing this we will enhance their understanding of websites and articles which will provide them with better and more accurate information. Another way we can help them is to ask them what their interests are. From there, we can help identify different places they can search. However, we can also help them to make their papers more detailed. How do we do this? We put them through an exercise of reading two different, short essays. Let’s say on the holocaust. These essays will be 2 pages in length. One will be very broad and covering the whole holocaust, whereas the other will be very detailed and cover what happened in Auschwitz. When they are finished reading, we will ask them which is the better essay. To our knowledge, the more specific and detailed essay will be better. This is a way we will show them to really narrow their topics and be more detailed, rather than to write big, broad essays which little to no detail.

Anchor text/Source:

Night -Elie Wiesel

Annotated Bibliographies:

Our first annotated bibliography is a piece done by Stanford. It talks about how to promote active learning. What does this mean? This means, we will be showing the students how to learn actively as they dive into their research papers. We will provide them with tools to learn about whatever topic they choose. By showing them the difference between critical thinking and creative thinking, and encouraging collaboration, we may be able to increase the students buy in to the project. Thus, they will learn more. This piece will help us ensure that the students are taught in effective, critical ways which will enhance their cognitive capacities by furthering their quest into the realm of inquiry.

University, Stanford. “Promoting Active Learning.” Undergrad Main Site,

teachingcommons.stanford.edu/resources/learning-resources/promoting-active-learning.

This second annotated bibliography is about how to help students write a good paper. It is written by the Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning at Yale. It talks about how students can best learn how to write a paper. By going over the small details such as: the purpose of the paper; its argument; the authors style; and what sort of sources will you use. It also covers ways that the students can help learn from each other. From meeting individually with students to peer brainstorming, we can help guide students towards a final product, but they can help each other out as well. It also states to focus on the process of writing rather than the finished product. By doing this, the students will write stronger papers. This will help us teach the students because it gives good, subtle reminders of the writing process and how to make a good, strong, well organized paper.  

Yale. “Teaching Students to Write Good Papers: Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning.” Teaching Students to Write Good Papers | Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning, poorvucenter.yale.edu/teaching/ideas-teaching/teaching-students-write-good-papers.

This final annotated bibliography is probably my favorite of the three. It is a piece done on how to find primary sources. Also, it deals with telling the students how a primary source differentiates from a secondary source. This will help us teach the class how to spot differences, which, will help them in their quest of attaining an A on their research papers. Now, the article also contains worksheets which will allow the students mind to know what the difference is between primary and secondary sources.

“Teaching Primary and Secondary Sources.” Teaching Primary and Secondary Sources- George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum, www.georgewbushlibrary.smu.edu/~/media/GWBL/Files/Education%20pdfs/SecondaryLP_PrimarySecondarySources_Web.ashx.