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From "Why?" to "How?"
"The proper study of mankind, is man." Alexander Pope
From "Why?" to "How?" - Intro to the Restoration & Thesis - Partner Work: Originally designed to give students more help in developing their thesis for their Research Paper - this Partner Work was reworked to help students with the idea of what exactly a thesis is, in any case. I found over the years that having a strong thesis was just about the most important aspect of writing any good essay - and I also sadly found that it was one of the most lacking skills in my students. This exercise - designed to be completed in one class period by a hard-working, focused set of partners, uses the reading that they did on the Introduction to the Restoration Period. The handout and questions can be adjusted for any text book background reading on the Restoration Period and most of the over-arching ideas should apply. And that leads us to the other point of this assignment - to show, to demonstrate - or better yet, to have students discover for themselves, just what it was that made the Enlightenment (Restoration) different from what came before.
Lesson Overview
Lesson Overview
As I've mentioned earlier - this handout was originally designed to go at the start of the Research Paper process, but has been adapted to give students practice in developing any kind of a thesis. The students work with a partner, and they need to both write (I really found that to help with accountability immensely), and they need to each turn in their work at the end of the period. When students work with partners and they are both writing - they will find (unlike with the usual group work) that they don't have to agree - they just need to be focused on getting the assignment done and helping each other do just that.
In addition to helping students with developing (and recognizing) thesises - the assignment also goes over the Introduction to the Restoration (that they have read for homework) and gives them an opportunity to see what set that time period apart from what came before - and after.
Here are some of the ideas and points that the Group Work attempts to cover - see the actual Group Work handout for more.
What is the difference between "How" and "Why" and why did those questions exemplifly their respective time periods?
What is the purpose of a thesis and how does it differ from a summary?
Getting them to look at sections of their reading - and identify the thesis for each of them.
Using that idea of "how" and "why" to an earlier reading, Grendel.
Getting them to think about the idea of "Is reading background on a text" always useful.
Bringing in "A Child's Christmas in Wales" to the "how" and "why" discussion.
Handout - Partner Work
Handout - Partner Work
See above for a detailed explanation of the handout. Students should begin this after they take the quiz. Given the nature of this assignment (and the fact that it does not depend as strongly as usual to having done the reading), I would allow students to do this - and work with partners even if they didn't do their homework (the reading). The fact that they (the partners) are each turning their own copy of what they do today - is even more reason to allow them to work in class on this assignment.
However, as is often the case with in-class works of this particular nature (that are not as dependent on having done the reading beforehand), I will put students who did not do the reading, together. That is, to my mind, much fairer - and again encourages students to do their homework.
Intro to the Restoration Reading
Intro to the Restoration Reading
My reading was from the Holt Rinehart Winston textbook - Elements of Literature (course 6). Any textbook (or other sourced) introduction to the Restoration/Enlightment will work - though you will have to modify the questions accordingly.
Remote Enhancements
Remote Enhancements
This can all be done remotely of course - I've actually had great success with Partner Work remotely - it does take some planning though.
Thoughts on the Lesson
Thoughts on the Lesson
It is not often that I allow students who haven't done the reading to do the work in class (group work, partner work) that is based on that reading. However, sometimes the activity is not as dependent on that reading, but instead uses that reading as the basis for the assignment. In those cases, I will allow students who didn't do their homework to work with a partner or a group - however, I will try to put those students who didn't read, with those who also didn't do their homework.
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