TEHT... Problem Solving (2)

Teaching English, How To.... By Raymond Stopper
Essential Ideas: Problem Solving

From the book:

Question: How did I help students learn to solve problems in English class?

The second method I use to help students learn how to solve problems is the research paper. I remember my own experience with research papers as being terrified of not citing sources correctly. Getting the "op. cit.'s" and "ibid.'s" correct seemed to be the most important part of the research paper to my college teachers. Never mind the quality of the thought or research. Having the correct form was the most important issue.

I insist that students begin their research with a question. What do they really want to know? Then they plan how they will do the research, the sources they will use, people as well as books and other printed material, and, of course, the Internet. The answer to the question must be important to the student. In a sense, the question is a problem and the research is the way in which the students solve the problem.

As for the citations, modern systems of citing--the MLA or Modern Language Association and the APA or the American Psychological Association--make the citation of sources almost easy. The big issues are making sure that students complete research that is worth doing, that students do cite sources, that they don't plagiarize, and that they develop the report of their research in readable, well-organized prose, using information from their research to support their ideas.

I believe that questions are the keys to problem solving. Through discussing questions about what they do not understand in interpreting a literary work and through research that focuses on answering a question, the students really want to answer, I attempt to show students the value of posing good questions in order to solve problems.

TEHT.... Problem Solving (1)

Teaching English, How To....
Essential Ideas: Problem Solving (1)

From the Book:

Question: How can I help students establish a method for solving problems?

Literature, Shared Inquiry and Problem Solving

I have to give the Great books Foundation a lot of credit. Their method for discussing a piece of literature begins with questions to which the group leader does not have any certain answer. Therefore, teacher and students are truly involved in "shared inquiry" as they try to answer the questions. However, I took the Great Books method one step further. Instead of the teacher's originating the questions, I have the students ask the questions about what they do not understand. It is very important in this approach that the teacher let the students try to struggle with what they do not understand and not to impose a "correct" answer.

Students become more comfortable in reading when they are relieved of the feeling that they are dumb if they encounter phrases or ideas that puzzle them. Knowing that they can formulate their puzzlement into a question that others will discuss gives them a sense of anticipation about working toward a resolution of the problem with the literary work's meaning. By extension, what I am trying to show students is that an effective way to deal with a problem is to ask questions. Asking questions helps to clarify the problem and leads to possible solutions.

RayS.

TEHT....: Communication.

Teaching English, How To.... By Raymond Stopper
Essential Ideas: Communication.

Question: How does one teach students to communicate through writing and speaking?

Answer: Most inexperienced writers and speakers, I have found, simply start to write or to speak, and conclude with their major point at the end.

A very simple formula reminds writers and speakers how to organize their ideas in order to communicate clearly:

Tell them what you are going to tell them.
Tell them.
Tell them what you told them.

It's an old formula, borrowed from itinerant preachers in England and America, but perhaps even a cliche in today's business world that wanders and bores aimlessly with PowerPoint. But the formula is followed by professional communicators: TV news and KYW News Radio list the leading headlines before going into depth in developing the details of the stories. Really good reporters do an excellent job of summing up the story in a memorable way.

1. You state your point clearly in the beginning. 2. You give the details in the middle. And 3. you sum it up at the end.

One of my college students put it succinctly, when he said, "It's like hitting your reader or listener over the head three times," in the beginning, in the middle and in the end.

TEHT.... Critical Thinking (2)

Teaching English, How To....
Essential Ideas: Critical Thinking


Topic: Critical Thinking


Question: What is a good technique to use to introduce students to critical thinking?


In my last blog, I reprinted an essay from an article in the English Journal published in 1966. The essay attacked teen-agers. After reading the essay, most students responded with vehement anger, and I usually let them vent their fury before beginning a discussion of the propaganda techniques used by the author.


The essay is a "gold mine" of propaganda techniques, including "card stacking," (only that information presented which favors the writer's point of view); name calling ("misguided left-wing organization"); attacking the individual and not the argument ("He is so worried about keeping his job as a psychologist...."); loaded words ("obnoxious," "disrespect," "foul language," "cliquishness," "rubbish," "idiots"); glittering generalities, broad phrases that sound good, but have little substance ("Any human being who loves mankind and dignity...."); false analogies ("Teen-agers are like movie sets..."); and many others.


Propaganda techniques are designed to manipulate readers or listeners, to substitute technique for substance. They evoke emotion, not rational thought. Analyzing this essay is one way to help students begin to form the habit of questioning what they read or hear. Having identified and discussed the techniques in the essay, students next read the editorials, opinions and letters featured on the editorial and op-ed pages of the local newspaper to see if they can find the same techniques. They will.


When I have used this essay to introduce critical thinking skills, I have encouraged students to respond in a reasonable tone, rather than with bitterness and anger, to use facts and statistics whenever possible to support their points of view, and to suggest more positive methods for dealing with the problems of teen-agers. I urge the students not to employ the same techniques used by the author of the essay in responding to his opinion about teen-agers. I suggest that using the methods of the writer of the essay will inflame emotion. A moderate and reasonable tone, on the other hand, together with supporting facts, will defuse emotion and will invite moderate and reasonable discussion. The students' written responses to the author of this essay provide an excellent opportunity to practice adjusting expression to the audience.


RayS.

TEHT....: Critical Thinking

Teaching English, How To....
Essential Ideas

Question: What's a good technique to use when introducing students to critical thinking?

Answer: Give the students a copy of the following essay--or read it to them.

The following essay was taken from an article by Michael C. Flanigan entitled, "Semantics and Critical Reading." English Journal, September 1966, pp. 714-719. Reprinted with permission from the National Council of Teachers of English.

Teen-Age Corruption
By Mentor

One day as I was walking through the halls of our school, I saw a young girl standing at her locker swearing quite loudly because her lock was stuck. I walked over to her and asked her if she could refrain from using foul language in the halls. Just as I made my statement, two other students approached and came to the defense of the girl. All three students were obnoxious in their attitude and were in every way disrespectful. It is this kind of disrespect, foul language, and cliquishness that typifies the low moral tone of the teen-agers of today.

Teen-agers are probably the most corrupt segment existing in our society. Most of this corruption is due to the fact that spineless, ill-informed, and irresponsible adults who pretend to be educated coddle these sickening children. In our schools, churches, homes, courts and businesses, so-called well-meaning idiots say that teen-agers must have a chance at free expression and must be dealt with kindly because they are going through a difficult period of life. They say teen-agers are socially maladjusted because of problems that disturbed these children when they were infants and because our world is insecure. These statements are rubbish.

Teen-agers must be dealt with in the same fashion as any other criminal or immoral group in our society. They must be shown firmness and must be shown that our democratic society will not tolerate their corruption. We must not try simply to understand them, but must deal with them swiftly and efficiently. Psychologists, such as E. P. Thompson of the Committee for Teen-Age Guidance, state that teenagers are basically moral and that the crime and immorality that they demonstrate is but an expression of their insecurity. Mr. Thompson had better wake up. His statement is completely false because he follows the policies of a misguided left-wing organization. He is so worried about keeping his job as a psychologist that he cannot face the question directly. He is a poor authority because he has no children who are teen-agers and he lives in the ivory tower of the academic world. If he would ever leave the confines of the library and walk out into the truth of day, he could see the evil that spreads over our country.

Any human being who loves mankind and dignity, and is able to think objectively or for that matter, anyone who is able to think at all, can see that teen-agers have reached the lowest ebb of human existence. They are human only in name; they are surely not human in the sense that the great Greek philosophers conceived it.

The real shame is that the violence exhibited by teen-agers turns our streets into a paradise for evil. Our older citizens are afraid to walk the streets at night. Our highways have become the slaughterhouse of the world. We citizens who really care about goodness and love must band together as an immovable unit to force teenagers back into the mold that their Creator established for them. We must move before it is too late. We cannot stand by while our world falls into oblivion.

Copyright (1966) by the National Council of Teachers of English. Reprinted with permission.

Next: How I used this essay to introduce students to critical thinking.

TEHT....: Thinking

Teaching English, How To.....
Essential Ideas


Question: How do English teachers help students learn to think?


From the book: Probably the most frequent criticism of students I have heard over the years is that "our children can't think." I took the trouble to look up the word "think" in the American Heritage Dictionary and I found a number of key words used to define thinking: formulate, reason, decide, judge, believe, expect, remember, visualize, invent, concentrate and consider. As you can see from this definition, "thinking" is not easily defined and is a complex activity.


Fields in which English teachers help students learn to think include instruction in writing and in literature.


When they write, students must organize their thoughts on paper for others to read. When students write, they are discovering what they are thinking and they are shaping their thinking. As E.M. Forster is quoted as saying, "How do I know what I think until I see what I say?"


Students learn to think when they relate the literature they read to their own experience and compare one literary work to another. Students learn to think critically when they analyze and question what they read. In my classes, students raised questions by previewing the literary work, and discussions focused on the students' questions that the students tried to answer. Their questions included questions of fact, interpretation and criticism. This approach contrasts sharply with the usual approach of the teachers' asking questions to which they already know the answers and the students' relying on the teachers for the answers.


Organizing thoughts in writing and raising and answering questions in literature are two activities that help students learn to think.

TEHT...: Learning How to Learn

Teaching English, How To....

Essential Ideas

Quotes from the Book

Purpose of Education is life-long learning. The purpose of schooling is to prepare students for life-long learning.

Question: How can I help students learn how to learn?

From my book: "Independent study helps students learn how to organize their own learning. They plan and complete projects on topics about which they want to learn.

"Independent study requires students to plan and complete personal projects. They formulate goals and objectives, list possible activities and materials, and propose methods of evaluation. The teacher meets with each student to help plan the project. The student gives reasons for wanting to make the study; lists activities to be completed, materials needed, and people with whom to consult; outlines an estimated schedule; and suggests methods for the final presentation of results.

During the course of the project, the student meets with the teacher to discuss problems, difficulties and needs, many of which can be resolved by the teacher. For example, if the student needs to talk with certain individuals who are knowledgeable in the subject of the student's project, the teacher can make the arrangements."

Independent study projects help students formulate plans for learning.

Essential Ideas (26 - 31)

Teaching English, How To....
Essential Ideas (26 - 31)

26. Literature: Involving Students in Reading Short Stories. Students are plunged into the story by reading one sentence a page or column from beginning to end. They raise questions. Students read one paragraph a page or column from beginning to end. They raise questions. Finally, students read the first sentence of each paragraph from beginning to end and again raise questions. Students now read to answer questions not already answered during the preview.

27. Literature: Discussion. Students raise questions from reading literary works. Discussion should begin with their questions, their suggested answers and their tentative conclusions. Teachers should not ask and answer their own questions unless they truly are not sure of the answers. After discussing, the students' questions, teachers and students should check the questions at the end of the chapter not brought up by the students, or the teachers should raise questions not brought up by the students. Finally, give students the opportunity to read critical reviews of the literary works they have read and compare their questions and answers with those provided by the critics.

28. Literature: Censorship. Write rationales for literary works to be required reading. Suggested guidelines for rationales can be found in my book or at http://www.ncte.org. As a department, prepare questionnaires for parents and others who object to the literary work. Sample questionnaire will also be found at ncte.org. Form a committee to discuss and to make recommendations for material that is challenged. In my opinion, writing rationales for required controversial reading is essential to dealing with censorship.

29. Language: Having Fun with Language. Develop with the students projects that explore dialects and other uses of language. Encourage reading books about words. Encourage students to complete word games like crossword puzzles. People love to play with words.

30. Vocabulary. Help students develop an extensive vocabulary by pre-teaching unfamiliar words before reading assignments in all subjects. Students should learn roots, prefixes and suffixes and the many words related to them: egoist, egotist, ego, egocentric, alter ego, etc. Have students collect unfamiliar words that they meet in their reading and listening on 3 x 5 index cards, with the pronunciation and concise one-, two-, or three-word meanings. The shorter and more concise the meanings, the better students will be able to remember both
words and meanings.

31. Supervision: The first rule of supervision is to listen. Inservice: use with teachers the skills you want teachers to use with their students. Change should begin by involving teachers, parents, administrators and students who identify problems. Change should not be initiated from the top simply because of prevailing enthusiasms or fads in education. Supervisors are most successful when they have no authority to make changes, but must rely on creative activities in workshops, demonstration lessons and consulting with individual teachers.

Essential Ideas (21 - 25))

Teaching English, How To....
Essential Ideas (21 - 25)

21. Reading in the Content Areas: When assigning reading in all subjects using textbooks, prepare students for the assignment by providing background information on the topic. Pre-teach unfamiliar vocabulary. Set purpose for reading or, better, help the students to set their purposes. After reading, students apply what they have learned from reading the assignment.

22. Either/Or Arguments in English Education: NOT whole language OR basal, but whole language AND basal. NOT writing process OR product, but writing process AND product.

23. Literature Read Aloud. Read literary selections aloud. Students will be more motivated to read on their own. They will improve their own reading skills by observing how good readers read.

24. Literature: Why? Students read literature in school for many reasons, including the skills of interpreting figurative language and images, multiple meanings, the vocabulary of criticism and comparing their interpretations with the interpretations of critics. But never lose sight that they are reading literature to realize life. If they do not better understand and reflect on life from reading literature, what use is the rest of it?

25. Literature: Involving Students in Reading Novels. With novels, have students preview for 5 minutes by reading near the beginning, in the middle, three-fourths through and near the end of the novel, raising questions after each sampling. Students will then have questions to answer as they read the novel. If students become bored while reading the novel, have them read a paragraph a page until they become "unbored" and want to read completely again.

Essential Ideas (15 - 20)

Teaching English, How To....
Essential Ideas (16 - 20)

16. Speaking, Formal: Students should organize formal speeches in the same way that they write expository prose, following the formula of "Tell them what you are going to tell them; tell them; and tell them what you told them." They should write out their opening and closing paragraphs in order to start or close smoothly in case of panic. They should use key words on index cards to help them follow their points.

17. Speaking in Groups: Teach students the roles people play in helping and hindering group activities.

18. Speaking: Employment Interviews. Prepare students for employment interviews by reading and discussing typical questions in employment interviews on Web sites like Monster.com.

19. Speed Reading: Use of the hand with increasing speed down the page can double, triple, even quadruple the reading speed of students who have no reading disabilities.

20. Efficient Reading: Teach students to skim and scan after setting their purposes for reading.

Essential Ideas (11 - 15)

Teaching English, How To....
Essential Ideas (11 - 15)

11. Timed Writing Assessments. Students need to write it right the first time. Begin class with 10-minute essays on topics of students' choice. No requirements to complete the essay in ten minutes. Show students how to correct problems in syntax, style, usage, punctuation; show students how to smooth awkward sentences and clarify sentences with confusing meaning. Students will gain practice in timed writing, will develop the habit of writing, will be shown how to correct problems and will learn to eliminate problems like run-on sentences, sentence fragments, dangling modifiers, parallel structure, etc. Use with one class for three weeks and then use with the second class the next three weeks and so on.

12. Computer. Word processing programs enable students to revise more easily than was true with handwritten essay. Revising with word processing means adding, eliminating and moving words, phrases and even paragraphs.

13. Computer and the Future of Teaching Writing. In the future, students will be able to use pictures, films and sound with their compositions, but these medial will supplement the written text. Students must still learn how to brainstorm, write the thesis sentence, draft, revise and edit.

14. Writing across the Curriculum. Explain to teachers in other disciplines how English teachers teach writing, the research paper and the essay exam. Try to gain unanimity across the disciplines with each of these processes and formats.

15. Spelling. Help students learn to spell by visualizing trouble spots, breaking down multi-syllable words and learning words most likely to be misspelled.

Essential Ideas (6 - 10)

Teaching English, How to....
Essential Ideas (6 - 10)

6. Reading Assignments. Prepare students for reading assignments through providing background information on the topic, pre-teaching unfamiliar vocabulary and setting purposes for reading. After reading students apply what they have learned.

7. Homework. Prepare students for homework assignments by letting them start it at the end of class. They can then clarify directions for when they are on their own at home. Teachers should prepare students for conducting long-term projects.

8. Teaching. Teachers should model, i.e., demonstrate, for students how they expect students to read, write, speak, etc.

9. Writing. Use the formula, "Tell them what you are going to tell them; tell them; and tell them what you told them," to give students the concept of the structure of expository writing. Teach the writing process: (1) brainstorming; (2) thesis sentence; (3) draft, including final, summary paragraph; (4) introductory paragraph; (5) revising and editing.

10. Grammar. Teach students how to polish their writing by focusing on the solutions to problems in syntax, style, usage and punctuation.

Teaching English, How To.... Essential Ideas (1 - 5)

Teaching English, How To.... by Raymond Stopper
Review of essential Ideas in the Book (1-5)

1. The purpose of schooling is to prepare students for life-long learning.

2. Goals for teaching English: learn how to learn; learn how to think; learn how to communicate; learn how to solve problems; learn to interpret, personalize and criticize literary works.

3. Active learning: Students are most frequently involved in learning activities when they know why they are learning.

4. Independent study: Students should engage in independent study, i.e., research , as individuals or in groups, in a major project in every English course. The project should be an "I-Search," Ken Macrorie's suggestion that students explore a topic about which they really want to learn.

5. Professional Research. Reading professional research raises questions and suggests answers. Teachers can learn much about teaching by conducting their own research in their own classrooms. I suggest that people in English education NOT use research to support a political point of view about the teaching of English without being ready to identify clearly the research, its findings and limitations.

Supervision

Teaching English, How To….
Topic: Secondary English
Raymond Stopper
Summary of the Ideas in the Book

Below, I have listed the ideas in chronological order in my book, Teaching English How To…. I am interested in the reader’s responses to these ideas. In all there are 31 ideas about teaching English. I will publish one a day. Please respond, write the number of the item, select your choice and write your comments. Thank you. Here are your choices: (A) Completely agree. (B) Somewhat agree or disagree. (C) Completely disagree. (D) No opinion. Comment:

31. Supervision: (1) Listen. (2) Inservice: use with teachers the skills you want teacher to use with their students. (3) Change should begin by involving teachers, parents, administrators and students who identify problems. Change should not be initiated from the top simply because of prevailing enthusiasms or fads in education. (4) Supervisors are most successful when they have no authority to make changes.

(A) Completely agree. (B) Somewhat agree or disagree. (C) Completely disagree. (D) No opinion. Comment: