Modification to the template
Modification of the template often occurred in student writing. It was especially evidence in the vocabulary assignments in my 10th grade classes. Two phrases correctly using a vocabulary word were provided, and students were asked to use one phrase in a sentence that demonstrates the meaning of the word. Students would often change these phrases to fit the sentence they had in mind if the phrase did not fit their needs.
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Tito's vocabulary assignment, in which he modified the phrase to fit his needs.
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This also occurred with the essay writing template, though it is difficult to distinguish in some cases between misunderstanding of the template and modification of the template. I thus include student writing in this category if the modification appears to be successful; unsuccessful modification is delegated to the categories of failure or misunderstanding. If they incorrectly use the template and their work is also grammatically incorrect or does not conform to the end goal of the template (for example, they did not write a thesis statement in the form of the template or another generally accepted form for a thesis statement), then this is considered a misunderstanding. If they incorrectly use the template but their work conforms to an accepted standard of writing (for example, they do not format their evidence sentence and warrant according to the template but they do successfully quote and analyze evidence), then this is considered a modification of the template.
Body paragraph #1 (Step #2) from Cheri's feminist perspective essay (Artifact #7.11)
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Cheri, a twelfth grader, was one of the only students to speak negatively about the template. In her pre-writing reflection (completed before writing the feminist essay), she wrote the following things in reference to the template:
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As evidenced in the paragraph above, Cheri's essay demonstrates an understanding of the spirit of the template but also consistent modifications to its form. For instance, the template asks students to introduce a quote, analyze it in two sentences, then introduce a second quote and repeat the analysis, building on the first argument. Instead of using this strict format, Cheri integrates four small pieces of the text into the flow of her analysis. She breaks up the sentences differently than is specified in the template; some grammatical errors occur, but her organization of ideas demonstrates intent and understanding. The template asks students to construct long, unwieldy warrant sentences, which often leads them to get stuck bouncing back and forth between cause and effect, as described in the section on misinterpretation of the template (especially Rae's never-ending sentence/paragraph). Here, Cheri avoids this problem and constructs clear, concise statements. She also consistently uses the evidence to support her claim that the main character seeks independence. Further, she demonstrates an understanding that this story has an author who constructed the narrative, an orientation we worked on previously in reference to bell hooks' writing but one I did not require in this essay. She shifts fairly fluidly between paraphrase, quote, and analysis, which many students struggled with. Though her analysis fails to explain exactly how this evidence shows that the main character wants rather than has independence, I consider her writing a modification to the template rather than a failure to adhere to it because she has successfully developed a claim from topic sentence to concluding sentence through adequate discussion of textual evidence.