I know, I know.
It's only the end of June, but I'm already thinking about being back in the classroom. And with a July 29 start date this year, I need to be.
Most of the great teachers I know constantly think about what they will do differently next year. It's just like revising a piece of writing. How can I make it better? How can I tweak it for a different audience? What elements can I skip or replace?
So, that's what I am doing this week: revamping my formal writing assignments.
Here's what I have come up with so far.
This year, I need to cover the plagiarism policy sooner and more thoroughly. Probably right when I introduce my formal essay rubric and essay proposal forms. That way, there is no question about my expectations for citing sources.
Last year, my new students, even the AP level ones, were pretty fuzzy about citing sources. As a result, they and I were pretty grumpy about their lack of knowledge, and about our subsequent after school remediation during the entire first grading period.
Once they settled in, both my students and I appreciated the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) and www.citationmachine.net, although I always reminded them that formatting errors can happen with such programs. We also talked about the three common page errors: double spacing, hanging indent and alphabetizing.
Next year, I need to pretest early, cover the basics of what plagiarism means and how to avoid it, and then spend our time working on finding and following the rules for each format as we go. That should reduce the stress on all of us.
So, my keys for the coming year are to begin early and make no assumptions!
Check out my TPT store for a preview of what I'll be using to help students and parents understand plagiarism as we begin writing our formal essays.
Resources for formal writing
It's only the end of June, but I'm already thinking about being back in the classroom. And with a July 29 start date this year, I need to be.
Most of the great teachers I know constantly think about what they will do differently next year. It's just like revising a piece of writing. How can I make it better? How can I tweak it for a different audience? What elements can I skip or replace?
So, that's what I am doing this week: revamping my formal writing assignments.
Here's what I have come up with so far.
This year, I need to cover the plagiarism policy sooner and more thoroughly. Probably right when I introduce my formal essay rubric and essay proposal forms. That way, there is no question about my expectations for citing sources.
Last year, my new students, even the AP level ones, were pretty fuzzy about citing sources. As a result, they and I were pretty grumpy about their lack of knowledge, and about our subsequent after school remediation during the entire first grading period.
Once they settled in, both my students and I appreciated the Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) and www.citationmachine.net, although I always reminded them that formatting errors can happen with such programs. We also talked about the three common page errors: double spacing, hanging indent and alphabetizing.
Next year, I need to pretest early, cover the basics of what plagiarism means and how to avoid it, and then spend our time working on finding and following the rules for each format as we go. That should reduce the stress on all of us.
So, my keys for the coming year are to begin early and make no assumptions!
Check out my TPT store for a preview of what I'll be using to help students and parents understand plagiarism as we begin writing our formal essays.
Resources for formal writing
