A Method for Reading and Understanding Things Well Enough That You Can Write Simply and Accurately |
Need to rebuild this with the content from the Ayers book
on Peace Policy and Dawes Act—the set where I had a class break all of the Good
Habits for Evidence. Have to do
1. Reading
one link I have to with old content and an old powerpoint video with that content.
2. The reading
content then used to fill the 5 W’s in two columns –this one
Trait |
Peace
Policy |
Dawes
Severalty |
Who? |
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|
What? |
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|
When? |
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|
Where? |
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|
Why? |
|
|
How? |
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|
Something
unique not covered |
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3. From
that single chart I can take some existing papers that were OK at B or C plus 1
A level paper build2 different A level papers
Reminder
of the goal for writing in this course: One
of the most powerful ways to learn something is to try to teach
it. If you follow the Good Habits for Evidence and if you try to understand
what happened so you can teach it as simply but as accurately as you can, you
will have something worth writing. If you then write in a common sense way as
though you were teaching your cousin history that he or she needed to
understand, you will succeed in these assignments. |
What do you do for each Question?
Click the method for reading FOR evidence. If you prefer a face-to-face meeting or a phone conference, let me know. Notes to students: The videos are not public videos at YouTube. They are all things that students repeatedly asked for how to do. This one is on my list for redoing. I will also provide examples of the method applied to content in US History II. If you do not see it soon, a reminder is appreciated. Tips:
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- If you are having trouble thinking of what you need to teach about anything, the old fourth-grade tip of using the Reporter’s Ws can help. Honorable reporters are expected to cover at least these things:
§ Who?
§ What?
§ When? (for this class, not a specific date but a period of time)
§ Where?
§ Why?
§ and sometimes How?
§ Do not write your speech. Students who write the speech ahead believe their own errors.
§ Close
your book before you write. If you must check on something, open it briefly but
close it again before you write a word.
Why? If you have your book open when you write or you took extensive notes (see the tip with step 1), in almost
all cases you will have both these
errors:
- Plagiarize or do a “half-copy” version of plagiarism (to use the term in The Bedford Handbook)
- Be factually inaccurate
Example of Using the
Reporter’s Ws
with a Table to Understand More Than One Things
All of the rules above about writing only a few words apply to this table. This example shows what you would do if you were asked to examine Calvin’s influence on a colony in New England. You would not type this but just make a sketch on a piece of notebook paper using a pencil with a good eraser (because you are going to erase things a lot).
You write a word or two answers for each W in the column for John Calvin. In
deciding on a colony in New England, you might try Plymouth and Massachusetts
Bay first because they have the most coverage in the textbook on the New
England colonies. Using that last row, you also write down a word or two for
anything that is unique about the column but is not covered by the Ws.
When you write a word or two answers for Plymouth, you find Plymouth does not show in our textbook much that matches Calvin. You try Massachusetts and you will find much in common.
Trait |
John Calvin |
Plymouth |
Massachusetts Bay |
Who? |
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What? |
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When? |
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Where? |
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Why? |
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How? |
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Something unique not covered |
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All of the rules above about writing only a few words apply to this table. This example shows what you would do if you were asked to examine Grant’s Peace Policy and the Dawes Severalty Act to notice what happens to Native Americans. You would not type this but just make a sketch on a piece of notebook paper using a pencil with a good eraser (because you are going to erase things a lot).
You write a word or two answers for each W in the Peace Policy column and then in the Dawes Severalty Act. Using that last row, you also write down a word or two for anything that is unique about the column but is not covered by the Ws.
You can tell what is alike and different this way and therefore what you need to teach your smart cousin.
Trait |
Peace Policy |
Dawes Severalty |
Who? |
|
|
What? |
|
|
When? |
|
|
Where? |
|
|
Why? |
|
|
How? |
|
|
Something unique not covered |
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Copyright C. J. Bibus, Ed.D. 2003-2014 |