Writing Project 2/Investigation Project

We’ve been involved in a number of different projects so far this quarter. You’ve just completed writing your own literacy narratives about a significant reading or writing experience you’ve had. You’ve read guidelines on how to work with young students in Helping America Read. You’ve been reading about Sam Swope and the students he worked with in Queens. And last, but maybe most important, you’ve begun connecting with Medary Elementary School, visiting the school and working with your literacy partners.

All of this work has been to help prepare you to work with individual Medary students.The journal due on Monday is a first step in beginning this second writing project. Think back over all the work you’ve done so far. What have you learned that will prepare you for that work? What else do you think would be useful to know? We’ll share these journals today and make a class list that we can all use as a resource.

The next step for Writing Project 2/Investigation Project, then, will be for each of you to choose one topic that you think will provide useful background for your work with Medary students. You might want to find out about the proficiency testing system in Ohio, what the tests require, how they operate. Or you might want to find out more about Medary Elementary School. You might want to interview other OSU students who have done tutoring at other Columbus public schools. Or there may be other questions that you have or that we talk about in class that will provide the focus of your investigation. Once you are done with these projects, we’ll collect them for the whole class to use as a resource. They may also be useful next quarter for students who may work with Medary students. You can look at the list we generated in class on Wednesday, October 20 as a reference.

A.For class on Monday, October 25, please write a journal, one that proposes a plan for this project. Please answer the following questions:
1. What do you want to know?
2. Why do you want to know it? How does it connect with the work we are doing this quarter and next at Medary? What does your investigation of this subject help you understand about your own educational process?
3. Where can you find this out?
Interviews
Web
Books
Materials from other classes

B. For Friday, Ocober 29, you will exchange and then turn in your first drafts of WP #2. Unlike the WP #1, where your first drafts might have been an overall picture of the entire esssay, WP#2's first draft will be limited to particularly information. This first draft should include at the very least the full introduction to your investigation. It should also include a specific list of sources that you have looked at already.

C. For Friday, November 5, you will turn in your second draft of WP #2, a draft that covers the entire investigation essay.
D. For Monday, November 22, you will turn in your final draft of WP #2.

Questions for WP#2