I, Writing Scholar

During the second half of the semester you will take the theory work youve already done and develop
meaningful classroom practices with them. To begin this work you will each locate, read, and annotate
three journal articles. Research is something teachers need to do often to keep up with ever changing
educational practices. The focus of our research will be to look at how to best serve otherwise underserved
populations in the reading/writing classroom. It is up to you to decide how you want to interpret
underserved populations which can, I believe, truly encompass a vast diversity of students.
Once youve completed your annotations, youll write an introductory cover letter to your bibliography
that highlights what you find to be the most important things to know from your readings. Then,
in a small group with others who researched your same, or similar, topic, youll put together an
overview of the major issues involved. Additionally, youll look (as a group) at what
information/help is available to you on the web. I will turn the bibliographies into a handout for the entire
class. You will present your findings to the rest of the class along with your groups ideas.
Why this focus on underserved populations? Because the classrooms you will enter into will be filled with
diverse students that will most likely not be the student you are (because a lot of folks who want to
become teachers found solace and comfort in school and, thus, imagine that school is that same thing for
most studentsand are often flummoxed at why it is not). Further, students who begin to fall behind in
literacy as early as 4th grade are statistically more likely to drop out of high school. Thus, it is important to
consider the diversity of student needs because much is at stake.
Here is a more detailed explanation of each part of the project:
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Locate three journal articles on your chosen topic.
2. Read your articles, of course.
3. Annotate your articles. Annotation typically means a very briefsometimes three sentences
summary of an article. I would like for your entries to approximate something more like a half page,
double-spacedbut, seriously, no more: there is an art to good annotation; part of the skill of it is to be
brief but potent. Think of these annotations as a briefer version of your reading journal: your
annotations should include two or three sentences of summary, two or three sentences of
review (how helpful or not helpful the article/chapter is), and two or three sentences that
say something about what you might or might not try in your classroom because of
something you read in this article (application).
4. Assemble your annotations with APA or MLA style.
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY COVER LETTER
1 .Take some time to consider what you are learning about your topic in these three articles. What seems
to be the central concerns of your topic? If you can tell, who are the important theorists or practitioners?
Are there any debates among scholars going on about different aspects of the topic? In what ways do the
articles seem to be in agreement with one another? In what ways do the articles seem to take different
directions?
2. Write an introductory cover letter for your annotations. This cover letter should consideration the
thinking work you did in Step One. Your cover letter should be about two pages double-spaceduse the
same guidelines as for all of your other pieces of formal writing.

3. Bring your complete text to class for a workshop. Well focus on things like tightening sentences,
punctuating for meaning, word choiceall the things that matter when you are writing in such a brief
space.
4. Turn it in to me for feedback. Ill give you advice on the art of annotation and your introduction. Youll
revise this for your final portfolio based on my feedback and your own rethinking of your work.
GROUP WORK
1. Once youve completed the individual bibliography and cover letter, youll get together with the other
people in the class that researched your topic. You should expect to share your cover letter to your
annotated bibliography with everyone in your group. Discuss in your group the answers to the same sorts
of questions that I asked you above regarding your individual annotated bibliography, this time
considering what all of you had to say about your articles and your topic. Youll share what you found out
individually and put together a handout for the class which you will use to give a presentation.
4. Prepare a bochure for the rest of the class. You need to create a brochure that brings together
important information and ideas about your topic that you think would help your classmates if they were
walking down the street and suddenly got asked their opinion on, for example, assessment. This brochure
should be something that they could whip out of their pockets and use as a cheat sheetand look really,
really smart doing it. It should be visually pleasing, organized, and useful. Perhaps it goes without saying
but the work youve done reflecting on your own articles should inform your brochure. Your brochure is
due on the day of your presentation.
ON THE DAY OF YOUR PRESENTATION
Youll have 15 minutes to present. Ill keep you to that. This presentation should include the
following:
1.

An overview of your topic. By overview, I DO NOT mean a recapitulation of each of your

articles. I mean, rather, for you to help your classmates understand your topic. You are the
experts. For the 15 minutes you are presenting, this is your class. You are teaching us what you
know.

2. Your brochure, with an explanation of why youve included what youve includedwhat is
important about your topic.
3. Your opinions about your topic.
As you present this information, you should find ways to engage your classmates in the experience. You
can ask your classmates to write, to move around, to talk to one another. You can give them quizzes,
sample assignments to do. As long as you are not risking the safety of your classmates, you can and should
make the presentation as engaging and useful as you possibly can.
I want to say a few more words about the presentation. By the time you will do these presentations, well
have been in class together for some time. At this point, youll have some sense of what I like to have
happen in the class, because I will have made you do it nearly every day that we meet. I try not to be a
boring talking-head at the front of the class. You shouldnt either.