Writing with Citations Skill List

In order to smoothly snythesize your ideas with multiple research sources you must:

• know differences of fact and opinion
• determine common knowledge
• determine when to quote, paraphrase, or summarize based on purpose
• paraphrase 
• create own language
• create own sentence structures
• blend with own ideas
• summarize
• find main idea
• condense ideas
• blend with own ideas
• blend quoted words within otherwise paraphrased sentences
• know conventions of quotation marks
• generate parenthetical references
• generate properly formatted works cited page
• support assertions with evidence / research
• formulate a way to keep track of ideas found in research
• devise a system to keep track of sources
• organize ideas
• embed quotations
• use in-text citations
• know conventions for long quotations
• understand conventions for unusual quotations (poetry, quotataion within a quotations, etc)
• know how to find information on citing
• 
  

Where and When for Quotation Marks

Still a little rough, but I'll publish it anyway.  :)

The goal of this lesson is to look carefully at word choice and sentence structure to avoid plagiarism when adding information from sources into one's own writing.  This is the root of a lot of accidental plagiarism; students simply aren't looking carefully enough to notice what they are using from the original piece, or they might think using sentence structures and word choice are alright if they cite. 

Distribute and review rules for quotation marks. (See bottom for a couple links). The amount of time you spend on this information will depend on your class's skill level.  You might choose to stop here and do some traditional practice.  If you do, I suggest using real texts and / or student writing to help keep it relevant. 

Read a short article together.  Keep it interesting or relevant.  Examples might include excerpts from school or local paper or a topic related to a full class text, such as author bio or historical background. Or it could be an article on a class joke.  I've used passages on Rubix Cubes, Slinkies, Magic 8 Balls, and animal crackers in the past.  Riveting? No, but better than the dry passages found on standardized tests. 

Together, look at 4 - 6 passages restating the information from the original article.   Determine where quotation marks are needed. One way to do this might be highlighting the words that are identical. 

Next, in groups or pairs, revise sentences to eliminate need for quotation marks.  Have students write them directly on overhead sheets.  Share.  Further revise as necessary. 

Repeat with an identical set up in groups of 2 -3.  Share and discuss.  

If students have already generated writing using research, have them read and revise it using the ideas from this practice.  Keep in mind that students will need access to the original source document to do this properly.  

Take the process further by now looking at the sentence structures.  Did the new passage simply swap in a few synonyms?  Discuss thoughts on if that is plagiarizing.   Can one really call it their own writing in these circumstances?  With gradual release of control, revise passages to alter sentence structures. 

Remember to include:  Do we still need to site it?  Even if its our own words and structures?  YES, because the ideas are not our own. 

Grammar Book Quotation Mark Rules
Purdue OWL Quotation Mark Rules
Purdue OWL Paraphrasing

Best Movie Ever: Fact vs Opinion Lesson

My goal for these lessons is to drive home the point about facts versus opinions, but to keep the topics interesting, relevant, and short.  It is very important to me to devise short assignments that will help build essential skills for larger essay assignments.  Instead of assigning perhaps ten essays over a year, I'd like to design many, many short assignments which can be shared in class or returned to students within a couple of days providing meaningful feed back to both student and teacher.  Then the longer assignments can be less frequent and used as to show mastery versus practice.
 
The Basic Lesson:
Students write a paragraph or two about their favorite movies.  Depending on the situation, you can provide an example, possibly even modeling how you write it in front of the students.  Make sure your example uses facts to support opinions. 

Once done, use highlighters to color facts and opinions in different colors.  If possible, model the highlighting on your example paragraph.  Students could do this independently or in partners.  Students could highlight their own paragraphs or a partners.

Share some of the facts and opinions highlighted.  Discuss why each are fact or opinion.  

To take this lesson further: 
Each of these can be used with the specific assignment described above or adapted to work alone.  

• Repeat the assignment with a different topic.  Ideas include: favorite song or band, favorite book, favorite sports team, why your best friend is awesome, why your pet is awesome. 
• Discuss using facts to back up opinions.  Using your example, show how the color for fact follows the color for opinion.  Have students examine their writing for this pattern.  Revise by reorganizing or adding to support opinions with facts.  
• Some students have trouble with the opposite.  Their writing contains all facts and fails to make an assertion.  I used to see this often when a student would just retell the plot of a story for a whole essay and never state or defend a thesis.  These students should look at the colors in their highlighted paragraph and revise to add opinions. 
• Research the topic quickly and print the article. (You could use this to as an opportunity to work on some other researching skills if you like).  Highlight the research using the same colors for fact and opinion.  Again, modeling with an article about your own topic can be helpful.  Discuss the patterns seen in the article.  Does the author back up opinions with facts?  If one color is seriously missing, talk about the validity and reliability of the source. 
• Work on adding research to a piece of writing. Do you need to add facts from the article?  How does adding someone else's opinions help the writing?  Once material is added to the paragraph, insert citations.  When applicable, discuss how opinions must always be cited, but facts might not if they are considered general knowledge.  (This would be a great bridge into that lesson if not already covered). 

Using Picture Books with Older Students (Work in Progress)

Here is a brainstormed list of ways to use picture books with older students.  My goal is to add some specific examples for each idea.  


A fast way to create a full class experience with a text

• If you make a good choice, you can read one picture book and use it over and over for many different lessons.  This is especially useful when you have students reading all different texts (reading workshop structure or lit circles), but you still have to come together as a full class for some content lessons.  

Activating or building prior knowledge (about a time period, a place, a science topic, theme for a novel). 

• This is an awesome way for teachers in the other subject areas to bring literacy into their classrooms.   A picture book is often more accessible and lively than a textbook and yet doesn't take long to read together. 
• Frederick Douglass: The Last Days of Slavery is a text I use prior to starting The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.  It really sets the stage both in theme and setting. 
•  The Spinner's Daughter is a picture book about Puritans.  It actives and builds prior knowledge about the time period and culture.  I used to use it before reading The Scarlet Letter. 
• I often used The Sneetches before dystopia sci-fi novels such as Feed or Anthem.  This one builds knowledge about a theme of individuality and conformity versus setting. 

Modeling a new skill, especially reading related (reading strategy, analyzing, identifying literary terms)

• The Butter Battle Book and The Lorax are two of my favorite Suess books and I love to expose students to them when I can.  So, I often use them for mini lessons on reading strategies.  I'll read it out loud and model my thinking about connections, predictions, or theme. 

A fast full class read to use for a practice skill (reading strategy, writing a thesis statement, identifying literary terms, analysis of theme or character, summarizing, paraphrasing, citations, plot diagramming, identifying setting)

• In the past, I've read a picture book to a class and asked them to write a paragraph identifying a literary term of their choice or create a thesis statement topic.  Then, I have them pass the book around and correctly cite a line from the book.  Afterwards, we can share and everyone knows the text.  

Examples of excellent writing (time shifts, creative vocabulary, sentence variety)

• The Very Busy Spider is a great example of a book with a repetitive structure that still keeps the vocabulary interesting.   Each animal has a different verb. 
• Mr Gumpy's Outing is another wonderful example of expressing the same idea over and over, yet saying it a different way each time.  Each animal asks to come on the boat ride, but asks in a slightly different way by varying word choice and sentence structure. 

Easily accessible examples of punctuation and grammar (punctuating dialog)

• Mr Gumpy's Outing and Frog and Toad series are great ways to show a student how to correctly punctuate dialog.  
• I'll be on the look out for other examples as I read to the kids. 

A way to remind students of the simple pleasures of reading

• Grab some pillows and sit on the floor and recreate those elementary school memories.  The kids usually love it.  

Examples for students writing children's books in writing workshop

• I've used a writing workshop structure and one option for the kids was to write a children's book.  That is hard if you don't have some picture books on hand as examples.  

Examples of creative text formatting (especially good for students writing poetry)

Fun examples of rhythm and rhyme

• Dr Suess
• Llama Llama Red Pajama

Easy examples of different genres (non-fiction, fiction including genres within this category, poetry)

• Put out a whole stack of picture books and have the students work in small groups to sort them.  You can make it harder or easier by providing the genre categories or making the students generate them.  

Retellings

• You can read many different versions of the same story in picture books.  You might choose a fairy tale.  (Such as reading Three Billy Goats Gruff by Paul Galdone and a different version by Lucy Cousins along with a lighter version like Three Billy Goats Fluff by Rachel Mortimer).  Or you could choose a non-fiction text about a famous person or event (Abraham Lincoln, Betsy Ross, or the first Thanksgiving for example).  This provides a way to look at the choices writers make.  

Synthesizing multiple sources

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Newbery Checklist

49 as of May 2014.
✓ 2014: Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo

✓ 2013: The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

✓ 2012: Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos
✓ 2011: Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool
✓ 2010: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
✓ 2009: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, illus. by Dave McKean
✓ 2008: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz
✓ 2007: The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron, illus. by Matt Phelan
✓ 2006: Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins
✓ 2005: Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata
✓ 2004: The Tale of Despereaux: Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread by Kate DiCamillo
✓ 2003: Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi
✓ 2002: A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park
✓ 2001: A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
✓ 2000: Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
✓ 1999: Holes by Louis Sachar
✓ 1998: Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse
✓ 1997: The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg
✓ 1996: The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman
✓ 1995: Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
✓ 1994: The Giver by Lois Lowry
✓ 1993: Missing May by Cynthia Rylant
✓ 1992: Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
✓ 1991: Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
✓ 1990: Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
✓ 1989: Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices by Paul Fleischman
✓ 1988: Lincoln: A Photobiography by Russell Freedman
✓ 1987: The Whipping Boy by Sid Fleischman
✓ 1986: Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
✓ 1985: The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley
✓ 1984: Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary
✓ 1983: Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt
✓ 1982: A Visit to William Blake's Inn: Poems for Innocent and Experienced Travelers by Nancy Willard
✓ 1981: Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson
✓ 1980: A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal, 1830-1832 by Joan W. Blos
✓ 1979: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
✓ 1978: Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
✓ 1977: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
1976: The Grey King by Susan Cooper
1975: M. C. Higgins, the Great by Virginia Hamilton
✓ 1974: The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox
✓ 1973: Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George
✓ 1972: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien
✓ 1971: Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars
✓ 1970: Sounder by William H. Armstrong
1969: The High King by Lloyd Alexander
✓ 1968: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg
✓ 1967: Up a Road Slowly by Irene Hunt
1966: I, Juan de Pareja by Elizabeth Borton de Trevino
1965: Shadow of a Bull by Maia Wojciechowska
✓1964: It's Like This, Cat by Emily Neville
✓ 1963: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
1962: The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare
✓ 1961: Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
✓1960: Onion John by Joseph Krumgold
✓ 1959: The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

My goal is to get through the ones from about the last 50 years, so these are just bonuses:
1958: Rifles for Watie by Harold Keith (Crowell)
1957: Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen (Harcourt)
1956: Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham (Houghton)
1955: The Wheel on the School by Meindert DeJong (Harper)
1954: ...And Now Miguel by Joseph Krumgold (Crowell)
1953: Secret of the Andes by Ann Nolan Clark (Viking)
1952: Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes (Harcourt)
1951: Amos Fortune, Free Man by Elizabeth Yates (Dutton)
1950: The Door in the Wall by Marguerite de Angeli (Doubleday)
1949: King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry (Rand McNally)
1948: The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois (Viking)
1947: Miss Hickory by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey (Viking)
1946: Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski (Lippincott)
1945: Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson (Viking)
✓ 1944: Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes (Houghton)
1943: Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray (Viking)
1942: The Matchlock Gun by Walter Edmonds (Dodd)
1941: Call It Courage by Armstrong Sperry (Macmillan)
1940: Daniel Boone by James Daugherty (Viking)
1939: Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright (Rinehart)
1938: The White Stag by Kate Seredy (Viking)
1937: Roller Skates by Ruth Sawyer (Viking)
✓ 1936: Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink (Macmillan)
1935: Dobry by Monica Shannon (Viking)
1934: Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women by Cornelia Meigs (Little, Brown)
1933: Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Lewis (Winston)
1932: Waterless Mountain by Laura Adams Armer (Longmans)
1931: The Cat Who Went to Heaven by Elizabeth Coatsworth (Macmillan)
1930: Hitty, Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field (Macmillan)
1929: The Trumpeter of Krakow by Eric P. Kelly (Macmillan)
1928: Gay Neck, the Story of a Pigeon by Dhan Gopal Mukerji (Dutton)
1927: Smoky, the Cowhorse by Will James (Scribner)
1926: Shen of the Sea by Arthur Bowie Chrisman (Dutton)
1925: Tales from Silver Lands by Charles Finger (Doubleday)
1924: The Dark Frigate by Charles Hawes (Little, Brown)
1923: The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting (Stokes)
1922: The Story of Mankind by Hendrik Willem van Loon (Liveright)

This list was adapted from the ALA's web site list of award winners.

Adpot a Classic

Adopt a Classic was by far my favorite assignment I ever assigned.  I am so upset that I can not find the handouts I created for it.  (Between my pregnancy and packing up my classroom, they somehow weren't filed, though I hold out hope I'll come across them one day).  But the awesome thing about Adopt a Classic was that it was a cumulative assignment that I used for the final exam of the year.  It is very adaptable beyond the basic premise, so its probably for the best that I misplaced the originals because it would be at least a little different each time it is assigned.

The Basic Outline of Adopt a Classic:

1. Each student picks a classic to read, research, and write about.  Not every student needs to have a different text, though you want to encourage the students to pick something to their individual tastes and abilities.  
2. Students are given 4 - 6 weeks to read the text.  
3. Because it is not reading for entertainment, they need to track their thinking.  
4. Students should be given the opportunity to discuss their texts together and with the teacher several times over this time period.  
5. At the end of the reading period, students research the author and text during class time, preferably with the help of the librarian.  
6. Students next begin crafting their thesis statements.  I recommend work shopping them as a class.  
7. Then, they draft an analytical essay incorporating their research and going through the full writing process.  
8. I suggest requiring at least one teacher writing conference in addition to collecting and reviewing a draft.  I worked with a reading and writing workshop structure, so we spent most of our class time on this assignment allowing lots of opportunities to collaborate, which I highly recommend.  
9. Ideally, this should  not be the first time students have covered any of the skills being assessed, but even so, offer mini lessons throughout the process on key skills such as citing, thesis writing, or paraphrasing.  
10. I also recommend time to share their essays to further "publish" them at the end of the assignment and time to reflect on how the assignment incorporated the skills of the whole year. 

Some specific skills Adopt a Classic covers:

• Purpose of reading
• Purpose of note taking
• Reading strategies
• Analysis of literature
• Thesis writing
• All steps of the writing process
• Writing conferencing
• Introductions
• Conclusions
• Body paragraphs
• Either using or breaking from the five paragraph essay
• Textual evidence
• Summarizing and paraphrasing
• Using quotations (including formatting)
• Citations (both in-text and works sited page)
• Plagiarism
• Research skills (using database, keywords, etc)
• Synthesis of multiple sources
• Any specific grammar covered over the year (i.e. compound sentences, semicolons, etc)
• Any specific writing skills covered over the year (i.e. transitions, powerful language, etc.)

This assignment is highly adaptable to your needs.  The rubic you create to assess the final product will be geared directly words the skills you have worked on with your students throughout the year and the level of mastery you expect of them.  Here are a few examples of differences between the assignment when I assigned it to high school freshmen and sophomores.

• Sophomores adopted an author and were expected to include a second text (poem, short story, essay, or even a second long work).  
• Freshmen were expected to use a five paragraph essay format whereas the sophomores were expected to break away from that structure as their ideas dictated.  
• Sophomores were expected to have greater flow and subtlety in their writing versus freshmen who were working on linking ideas even if transitions were awkward.  
• For freshmen, analysis was acceptable if it address themes or literary elements and was not restatement of facts.  Meanwhile, sophomores were expected to have deeper and more creative topics for analysis.  

Areas to differentiate:

• Essay organization
• Textual evidence (how much, how detailed, how thorough, how presented)
• Number and type of research sources
• Ways to show thinking about text as read
• Time given for the assignemnt
• Classroom supports for specific skills
• How creative and unique thesis / topics
• Overall quality of the writing
• Use of the writing process

Other considerations:

• I HIGHLY recommend that you go through the whole process with your students and model everything.  I chose to read Kate Chopin's Awaking for the first time with my class.  I took notes as they did and made my book available for them to browse.  I researched as they did.  I shared how I focused my thinking into a topic and thesis.  I modeled drafting and revising in front of them.  
• Do not expect students to work on any long term project over time unless you require frequent check-ins.  For this assignment, I made a checklist and provided the dates certain steps needed completion including: book selection, last day to change their book, completion of reading, research in library day, completed thesis, completed draft, workshop day, and final assignment due.  
• Provide the students with the rubric at the start of the assignment and refer to it often. 

Final Thoughts:
Over the five years I taught, I learned that for the students to write the type of essay described above by June, you need to start working on the skills in September.  In the time I've had to reflect the last three years, I've really come to see that certain understandings are at the core of a student being able to complete the traditional analyitical work of an ELA classroom. The biggest of these are: Purpose and Plagiarism. 

When students arrive in my classroom, they  have firm beliefs about themselves as readers.  Very often, none of them really like to be told what to read or enjoy doing "stuff" with what we read.  This comes down to the most fundamental understandings of the purpose of reading.  Why do we read?  How do the reasons differ?  How do we modify our behaviors to fit the purpose?  Students need to be taught that reading an assigned novel for English class is not like staying up late reading a beloved novel.  In fact, its more like reading your Science or History textbook.  How enjoyable it is really depends on how good a fit the novel is to the student, much the same as the content of all the other content areas.  To read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and write a truely outstanding essay one either needs to be gifted in the literary intellegence arena or one needs to know that it is not the same as picking up YA novel while sunbathing at OOB.

A real understanding of plagiarism is also necessary for writing any essay that synthesizes multiple sources.  My students struggle with plagiarism.  Now, I don't just mean the five to ten cases of deliberate plagiarism I need to bring to the administration every year.  I'm referring to really understanding the the difference of fact and option and what can be owned as intellectual property.  When I was a high school and college student, it was very easy to print a source, annotate it, and then copy those highlighted sections directly into my work.  Today, with the ability to cut and paste from the internet directly into a document, it is even easier to plagiarize without truly intending to "steal" or "cheat."  Students often don't understand they are restating someone else's ideas with no credit.  It is a real moment when a student says, "But won't every sentence be cited then?" as it dawns that the way she has been writing has not included any of her original ideas.  Or, that time every year as one student will ask, "But what if my idea is the same as someone else's published and I didn't know?"  Students need a solid understanding of the difference between fact and opinion, and then how to form their own opinion based on the facts and opinions found in research.  This skill is necessary for really understanding analytical essay or research paper writing, and for being an truly educated adult. 

I think about these too topics so much that I'm strongly considering starting with them on the first day of school when I return to teaching.