Reading the four chapters assigned from, “The Multigenre Research Paper” I learned a lot about how to assign a research paper to elementary students and how to follow through with it. Originally, I thought it to be near impossible to have elementary students conduct a research paper. I realized through this reading how to make a research paper a fun project for elementary students. I was actually very shocked with how the book portrayed these 5th graders as being so immersed in this project that they lost track of time. I think this is absolutely wonderful, but I know that I never had one of these experiences myself going through the elementary and immediate grades.
I really enjoyed how this project was consistent over a three month period and how weeks were designated to instruct certain topics of instruction. I also found it interesting how much different genres were used as examples through the text. Since I am currently writing my own research paper, and trying to think of pieces of genre work that I can incorporate into it, it was very helpful to see examples such as award certificates, obituaries, interviews, poems, diary entries, etc.
I love how the text described how emotionally involved the students were throughout the course of this project. By students becoming emotionally invested in this project they strived to do their absolute best in all areas. I love the quote in the text, "We know emotion is important in education - it drives attention, chick in turn drives learning, and memory." I thought giving the students freedom to select a topic of their own choice was a great idea because it let students explore an area that they were interested in. This aspect of the project in general helped get students emotionally involved in their topic.
After reading “The Donut House” article I was very inspired. I found it very liberating in some ways to see how excited the children were about this very fun, creative activity. I realized how important real world literacy is in some student’s lives. I was surprisingly shocked at how much these kindergarteners were able to understand about real life occurrences. I realized when reading this article how much I may underestimate the abilities of children. I thought it was very clever that they were able to go to an actual donut shop and take notes on all of their observations, I also thought it was very interesting and fun that they were able to see inside of a back and her about loans and stockholders. I definitely think that I would have been very excited to participate in an activity like this one as a kindergarten student. I feel like this activity made them feel empowered, like they had the capabilities to make a difference in the community. This activity also proved how much literacy is present in everyday life, and in everyday places. By doing activities such as “The Garage” their teacher was able to present literacy to them in unusual, fun ways so that students didn’t necessarily view it as learning. By taking part in these activities, students were able to roleplay, one of children’s favorite playtime activities. They were so caught up in their actions, that they subconsciously were learning all different types of literacy skills. The most empowering piece of information that I gathered from this article was how literacy can have a huge impact on students that come from high-poverty families. These children need to know that their words and their lives can make a difference—that literacy, their literacy, can be used for transformative ends.
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