After last week's frustration, I've been over-hauling a lot of lesson plans for the next few weeks. This has lead to me reordering a couple of sessions and a ton of work. I've developed some new activities that hopefully will be interesting and informative, but I have a blight on my horizon for next week that I could use a hand with.
I'm talking, of course, about the bane of all writing teachers. The day of the semester that haunts our dreams, waking us in the night, sweating. The lecture where three simple letters combine to become a migraine-inducing storm of frustration.
The MLA Citation lecture.
Personal disclosure. In my College Study Strategies course I came up with a formula for my students to remember:
Absence of Talent (A topic comes with difficulty) + Ignorance (Not knowing about a topic) + Avoidance (Dodging the topic) = Weakness
Despite years of teaching MLA Citations, I find that my weakness formula applies pretty well to myself. I have difficulty with it, I'm not as knowledgeable as I should be, and I avoid it until I must engage with it. Terrible, I know. It's like a chef who can't make eggs.
Please take this post as my attempts to make amends. I'm asking for any input or insight on how to teach this effectively.
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I usually bring in a variety of sources (a book, an article from a database, from a website,etc) and have them construct a sample WC page using those sources. They work in groups and use their handbooks and I walk around and answer questions. The group that completes the WC first puts in on the board and we use that one as the example. The rest of the groups compare their WCs to the one on the board and then I go through and explain what makes an entry right and wrong.
ReplyDeleteI handle the in-text citations in the same lesson that we go over summarizing, paraphrasing, and quoting.
As far as effective....I think overall students are so overwhelmed and flummoxed by using citations that it takes doing them multiple times to really being to understand.
How many essays do you require research with?
You might also consider collecting their own WC pages as a separate assignment before it is attached to the essay.
Having them practice in groups during class is a pretty good idea, may give that a try. This lecture is being equally complicated by the fact that MLA has updated for 2009 in ways that their text doesn't cover. Rats.
ReplyDeleteThis is a developmental course, so we essentially work on one research paper throughout the length of the entire semester. I have them do the Work Cited before writing and they have a mandatory session with a writing tutor before handing it in.
I may try developing some type of worksheet or something on this for them to compete against one another with. I introduced competition into the class yesterday and it got a very positive response. Or maybe that was just for the candy-bar reward.
ugh...the updates :( Can you do an MLA handout to supplement their text to cover the gaps or the new stuff?
ReplyDeleteI like the competition idea :)