Failure to use all or part of the template
Many students in both my tenth and twelfth grade classes missed turning in assignments, essays and otherwise. As each essay came due, there were always students that found themselves with no work done, despite the extensive class time devoted to working on these templates in preparation for completing the essay.
This category encompasses students that do not complete these assignments at all, as well as those that complete part of the assignment but leave out parts of the template or fail to use the template. Though omission of the template may be due to students not understanding the requirements of the template, misunderstanding of the template is analyzed separately in the next section. |
Screenshot of essay assignment and checklist from Edmodo
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Nay’s Ad Analysis Paragraph (Artifact #3.2), a practice analytical assignment I designed to help students practice applying the feminist lens to an image or advertisement, exemplifies a common way that students fail to complete the template, since Nay wrote most of the assignment but left out a second warrant sentence. This happened frequently; students often complained that they have nothing to write about in this second sentence, which is intended to provide space for them to deepen the analysis begun in the first warrant sentence. I often read students drafts and discover that they have repeated their analysis between the first and second warrant sentence (either word for word, or in paraphrase). When I pressed them to further develop their analysis, they often balked, and sometimes refused all together. This is evident in Elijah's first body paragraph from the feminist perspective essay:
Carter’s Red Riding Hood has a desire for dominance. Carter’s Red Riding Hood had a desire for dominance when she knew “she should never leave the path”, this reveals that she wouldn’t listen to what the wolf was saying because she knew what was right. This shows that she is trying obtained control because she knew what might happen if she was to leave that path. Her getting control was for what she had a desire for which was dominance. (Artifact #7.2)
The corresponding template for this section of Elijah's paper is as follows: Topic Sentence. Sentence starter [EVIDENCE #1] shows/reveals/suggests[argument from topic sentence] BECAUSE Warrant [2+ sentences]…Include a key word or synonym from TS1 and a word or paraphrase from E1 in the second sentence. Though the template, if used without finesse, does encourage repetition of ideas, Elijah's writing here shows excessive redundancy. Issues with this passage include the following: Elijah did not contextualize evidence #1, he refers to the argument of the topic sentence before the evidence rather than after it, as the template specifies, and his second warrant sentence only repeats his argument from his topic sentence. Furthermore, by omitting context for and sufficient analysis of the quote, it is unclear to the reader what this quote means to the story and how it relates to a desire for dominance. He would have needed to explain that the huntsman encourages the girl to leave the path but that she resists his influence in order to show the relationship between evidence and argument.
Ms. Ricci believes that students' failure to use the template is a "common problem of not understanding each paragraph page corresponds to a new paragraph" (Artifact #17). I saw some evidence of this in the twelfth grade essays for the Feminist Perspective Unit. Of the essays that were turned in, two students (Kiana, Trieste) turned in single paragraphs as their final essays rather than the full five paragraphs required for the assignment. One student (Nell) turned in three body paragraphs but failed to include either an introduction or conclusion. All three students seemed confused when questioned about this omission, despite the assignment being labeled in steps and assigned as fill-in-the-blank templates (Step 1 is the outline, Step 2, 3, and 4 correspond to body paragraphs 1, 2, and 3, Step 5 is the introduction, and Step 6 is the conclusion). Examples of these paragraphs were shown in class, the templates were discussed and shown on the Promethean board, and students were nagged by reminders on their course website (Edmodo) to turn in each step at specific due dates during the writing process. Furthermore, students were provided with a checklist to check their work after writing the essay, and they were given the time to review the checklist in class, so it would have been difficult to remain unaware of the requirements of the essay.
Ms. Ricci believes that students' failure to use the template is a "common problem of not understanding each paragraph page corresponds to a new paragraph" (Artifact #17). I saw some evidence of this in the twelfth grade essays for the Feminist Perspective Unit. Of the essays that were turned in, two students (Kiana, Trieste) turned in single paragraphs as their final essays rather than the full five paragraphs required for the assignment. One student (Nell) turned in three body paragraphs but failed to include either an introduction or conclusion. All three students seemed confused when questioned about this omission, despite the assignment being labeled in steps and assigned as fill-in-the-blank templates (Step 1 is the outline, Step 2, 3, and 4 correspond to body paragraphs 1, 2, and 3, Step 5 is the introduction, and Step 6 is the conclusion). Examples of these paragraphs were shown in class, the templates were discussed and shown on the Promethean board, and students were nagged by reminders on their course website (Edmodo) to turn in each step at specific due dates during the writing process. Furthermore, students were provided with a checklist to check their work after writing the essay, and they were given the time to review the checklist in class, so it would have been difficult to remain unaware of the requirements of the essay.
However, after more than two weeks of working on this project, these three students were not the only ones who expressed confusion or ignorance about the assignment. On April 4th, I saw Sid after school and asked him if he needed any help finishing his essay, which was due on Monday, April 7th. He sincerely asked me, "What essay?" in response. The essay he finally submitted one week later was riddled with sentence fragments and was written as a skeletal draft (right). It had not progressed from our meeting two days before, when I stayed after school to help him with the assignment.
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Below: There is evidence that Chris turned in a draft without finishing the template or reading over his work before submitting it. (Artifact #7.19)
The main in the Company of Wolves desires independence. Compared to the main character in “Little Red Riding Hood.” Just like Little Red Riding Hood the… In the story Little Red Riding Hood by Charles Perraut Little Red is portrayed as a helpless girl. Unlike the character in “Company of wolves, written by Angela Carter, where Little Red is confident, strong willed, and courageous. Her desire is for independence but is being blocked by her patriarchal society however, in the end she gets what she done. In conclusion, Little Red lives in patriarchal but is able to escape it by applying confidence to her life. She desires independence…Above: Sid's feminist perspective essay, submitted on Edmodo as a final draft four days after the due date for the assignment. (Artifact #7.12)
Left: Student essay submission rate for the feminist perspective essay in English 4, Period 1 |