With
something that people talk about in many different ways (such as the word writing), sometimes it helps to state what
is not the goal.
With
writing in this course, you:
·
Are
not summarizing the textbook or a primary.
·
Are
not paraphrasing the textbook or a primary.
·
Do
not need to repeat every fact or word in the textbook.
·
Are
not showing your personal writing style while stating your feelings or
your opinions or your assumptions.
Writing
in this course is closer to the goal of writing in business or about science or
an investigative reporter (one with high standards for truth):
·
You
have to know everything you can learn about the subject, but you aren’t writing
everything.
·
It
is useful to know this because it helps you understand how things will probably
work in the real world.
·
It
is practical and the skills to write apply to many fields.
Instead,
in this course, the goal of all writing assignments is for you to
do activities that help you learn the history of our nation. One of
the most powerful ways to learn
something is to try to teach it so
the goal is for you to pretend to teach another person—such as your smart
cousin. You can also pretend you are teaching a class of freshman students who
are like you.
That’s
a multi-step skill—one skill that is also useful for most jobs you may do. You
do 4 things:
1.
Read
carefully the required content (and I tell you what you need to read or you use
the index if you are answering a Unit written question).
2.
Understand
that content.
3.
Choose
carefully what anyone—such as your smart cousin—needs to learn.
4.
Teach
that content in a common sense, practical way.
·
You
are probably comfortable with your cousin.
·
In
helping your smart cousin, you will spend:
- More time trying to help your cousin learn
the content
- Less time trying to say it in fancy words
Copyright C. J. Bibus,
Ed.D. 2003-2016 |
2016 |
|