[quote]Mufasa wrote:
Something I’ve been wondering about…
I haven’t written a paper since College (when you had to do “ancient” things like “go to a Library”; “research”; “think”; “analyze”; etc…
Question:
With the advent of things like “Google”; and the ability to Cut and Paste ANY article and/or paper on ANY topic imaginable…
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Do you guys even have students “write papers” anymore?
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How do you even grade something that was most likely Cut and Pasted? Can you spot when that is done?
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Are papers a “relic” of the past, and you evaluate students knowledge of a subject in different ways?
Hey…I have to admit my own reading, writing and research skills have taken a hit!
Just curious!
(By the way…that’s a pen and paper in the pic above…!)
Mufasa
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I’m a Dutch, History and Math teacher here in Belgium(rated among the top 2 of best education systems in the world - ahem ;-), and I know what you’re saying.
The most important thing as a teacher is to get children more INTERESTED in reading.
I do this by holding a group conversation about the book in question, and perhaps work on their expression by letting them act out some of the scenes in it.
Very recently, I made them read a book(“The Hour Zero” by Dirk Bracke - I think it’s underway to being translated, since it’s a real good book for all ages, and deals with sex, drugs, aids, friendship and love among 13-16 year olds - real good read, can highly recommend it to ANYONE), and after the group conversation(for which we had 3 hours btw), they were allowed to prepare “scripts” and make ready what they needed, because they were gonna film a “trailer” about the book the next day(for which we also had 3 hours).
This worked great, and everyone was enormously enthousiastic.(you wouldn’t believe the ideas some came up with … some came to school with all the attributes for shooting up heroin - the girls in miniskirts to act out as young hookers)
Now, about the writing …
When you know your students personally, you can usually see by the writing that it’s not their own. But even if they DID got it from somewhere, they know they need to put it in their own words for me to not notice.
I notice it(I optimistically assume)most of the time if they do, but I generally prefer them adapting to their own style rather than copy-and-pasting it.
But really, it all comes down to how enthousiastic you make them about reading, and how good the choices are what concerns reading material.
If you don’t choose something that floats your own boat, don’t expect it to float your students’.