Dates: August 2-6, 2010

Location: LAPDA Meeting Room, Montpelier, VT

Cost:
$575 for members
$ 720 for nonmembers
* Additional $ 294 for 3 graduate credits from Union Institute and University

Registration: www.lapdavt.org
or Call (802) 224-9110
for more information

Appropriate for teachers of all grades

Down Load the PDF here

About the course:

Most student research papers are “dead on arrival”: competent at best, but too often a dreary chore to write - and to read. It is possible, though, to help students bring life to this most dreaded (and most inevitable) of academic writing tasks. This course will offer teachers a menu of techniques to help students craft the lively and sophisticated research essays we long for, devoid of “essayspeak ,” that anonymous, stilted non-voice which students habitually adopt for purposes of the research paper. Participants will learn how to help students produce research writing that crackles with the animation and clarity of intelligent conversation but goes beyond the “I-Search” approach widely used in middleschool projects. Course participants will learn to guide students systematically through a research and writing process that encourages engagement and success for all students.

Summary of Topics:

• The starting point: a compelling question
• Using a research log for step-by-step support and communication
• What is an arguable thesis?
• Techniques for adding voice (scenarios, site descriptions, personal
• interviews, finding the local angle, anecdotes, case studies, site visits)
• Helping students evaluate sources
• Using sources effectively
• Creative research, unusual sources
• Using the multi-draft process effectively
• Effective argumentation
• Documentation
• Editing and format issues
• Understanding and avoiding plagiarism

Expectations of Participants:

• attend all sessions and participate actively
• prepare brief daily assignments during class sessions
• produce a final mini-research paper demonstrating use of acquired techniques 
• complete nightly reading assignments and reading response log entries

 

About the Instructor  

Nancy Disenhaus has taught English at the high school and college level for over twenty–five years. She is currently an English teacher at U–32 Jr.–Sr. High School.  Nancy has taught students ranging from low-skilled readers and writers through the students of Advanced  Expository Writing and UVM’s Written Expression course. She has served as Teacher Leader/ Collaborating Teacher in Writing for the Washington Central Supervisory Union and as a member of the Vermont Institutes and Vermont Department of Education benchmarking and portfolio validation committees for high school writing. Nancy’s other work with high school writing in Vermont includes participation in the establishment of Grade Level Expectations for high school writing, the NECAP Item Review and Standard-Setting committees, and professional development work with local high school faculties. Recently Nancy has served on the standard-setting and item review committees for the NECAP assessment.