English 309W
Summer 2007 I-Search Proposals
Eng309:
I-Search Proposal
I
am planning on writing my I-Search paper on the I-Search method itself. I have never heard of the I-Search before and
see intriguing possibilities for its use, so I am eager to find out more about
it. I plan to do research on the web, at
the library in order to locate some scholarly articles, conduct at least one
interview and possibly a survey. I also
plan to read Ken Macrorie’s book, The I-Search Paper. I want to read the student sample as well,
but I don’t want to be influenced by the student’s writing, so I am in a bit of
a quandary. To read or not to read—that is the question. Maybe I’ll read it after I’ve settled on my
own thesis. So far my working thesis
is: The I-Search paper provides an effective way for students to express
themselves in a personal and meaningful manner, which encourages valuable and
viable research techniques and promotes active student involvement. I want to investigate the intrinsic and
extrinsic value of the I-Search paper for the student, and I also want to look
at the level of involvement for the teacher.
How much more or less work is required of the teacher in order for the
process to be successful for her students?
Does the value outweigh extra time and effort both in and out of the
classroom for both the teachers/students?
Eng309:
I-Search Proposal
Prior to taking this class I had
never conducted freewriting. I found freewriting
to be beneficial in developing my ideas in order to begin writing. It would be interesting to learn more about freewriting and its uses in education. More specifically I would want to understand
how freewriting can be applied in social
studies. Therefore I would like to write
my I-Search research project on the use of freewriting
in the Social Studies classroom. I would
assume that guided freewrites could be of particular
use in social studies, so will examine how to use freewrites
in social studies and the benefits they provide to the students. Conducting my I-Search on this topic would
not only fulfill the criteria for the assignment, but also demonstrate
usefulness as I could later put this information to use in a classroom when I
become a teacher.
Eng309:
I-Search Proposal
For my I-Search
paper, I was planning on looking at how writing can help special needs children
achieve in other areas. When I started
researching the topic, all I could find was information on writing and
children with ADHD. Since the topic of ADHD does not particularly interest me,
I decided to couch the idea. Taking Elbow’s advice, I turned to free writing to
possibly explore another topic. The new
topic that I am currently researching is, how writing
can help a shy student gain confidence to achieve in other areas. Studies have shown that shy students are
considered less competent. Although shyness is not related to intelligence,
shyness affects a student's overall educational experience negatively. Shyness
becomes an important issue when students are graded on in class
participation. Many children that suffer
from shyness have anxiety attacks and fear talking out loud in class. How can teachers help their shy
students? By finding other ways to have
the shy child participate (besides orally).
For example, writing activities often help shy students with getting
their feelings down on paper. Keeping journals are one way that teachers can
keep track of their shy students competence levels and
feelings. Since it is often hard to talk
in class, the journals will give the shy student a place to feel secure, and
release emotions. Teachers need to figure out what the shy students are
interested in, so they can encourage them to talk or write about their
interests. Furthermore, children can become more social, by
writing books about themselves and sharing them with teachers or peers. Writing can be very therapeutic, and often
makes people feel important. I have
found several books at the library on this subject, and plan on using the web
to conduct further research.
Eng309:
I-Search Proposal
I
would like to do an I-search paper on journaling in the English Language Arts
classroom. I am interested to learn the
history of the journal within the English class. I may be wrong, but it seems like a
relatively recent phenomenon. I’m
guessing this is because education today calls for a student-centered learning
environment. The journal is important
because it does give the student a large amount of freedom. Any questions or concerns that are not
addressed during class time can be brought up within the journal. It is an insightful writing exercise. However, I also have questions about
journaling: When is it most
effective? How do you know when it is
not working? How open ended should it
really be? Hopefully I can answer these
questions in the I-search paper.
Eng309:
I-Search Proposal
Blogging
I plan on
writing my I-Search paper on blogging as a writing utensil in the classroom
because it can be used as a positive aspect in the classroom if used right.
More specifically, I will write about why teachers should incorporate blogging
into their lessons as opposed to writing on plain paper. I will use both the pros and cons of blogging
to prove my case. How will blogging benefit students’ writing? Writing through
a blog will be my focus. My outline for my paper is still a work in progress;
therefore, I know I need to put more thought into what I would like to cover in
my paper. Because I am attempting to incorporate blogging into my mini-lesson,
I hope to thoroughly think about my opinions about the subject as well. …This
should be an interesting I-Search paper.
Eng309:
I-Search Proposal
I’m beginning this I-Search Paper
with the title: “Using Poetry to Discover a Sense of Self.” It’s something I
started to think about during oor first free-write.
At the time, and even still, it encompasses my aim as a future teacher. I want
students to think about the literature or poetry they’re reading and discover
things they never knew about themselves. I’m not sure if there’s a tangible
assessment for such a thing, or whether or not these discoveries have been
documented. I guess that’s why it makes for a perfect I-Search Paper—there is a
hypothesis that I want to investigate further. I want to know whether it’s
valid in the eyes of other educators, whose hopes were the same as mine.
Eng309:
I-Search Proposal
I would like to complete my I-Search
paper on incorporating “style” into
writing in the
social studies classroom.
“Style” from what I have read already
incorporates vocabulary, tone, the use of uncommon words and passion.
I believe style has a strong place in
the social studies classroom and in writing historical papers, essays and
research papers. In addition, style can
flourish in assignments pertaining to commentary, journalism and letters to the
editor.
I am a bit uneasy as the direction I
will look to find supporting documents, but I have already purchased a book on
implementing personality into writing pieces.
If students are encouraged to infuse
their assignments with more colorful language, expressions and tone or
inflection, I believe writing can be more exciting for students.
Eng309:
I-Search Proposal
Topic: Writing for Therapy
I
will be doing my I-Search paper on the topic of therapeutic writing. I find this idea to be very interesting and
have already begun my research. I will
be focusing mostly on the benefits that come from writing for therapy. If I can, I would also like to interview a
therapist to see if he/she encourages the use of this technique for healing
purposes.
Eng309:
I-Search Proposal
Personal Biases Brought to Writing
History
is not an objective. Rather it is a
subjective topic. Of course there are
facts that are undisputed, but it is the way these facts are presented to
students that is the issue. Even if the
topic that is being written about is the same, all authors are different. Each author has a different background, a
different knowledge base, as well as different opinions and perspectives. At times it is common for two students to
have conflicting ideas about a topic, and the sole reason is because of the
type of literature and by whom the works were written. This, in essence, will affect the writing of
those students. I would like to look more
into the similarities and differences of works written on the same topic, and
examine the authors in order to come to a conclusion as to why different
accounts of certain events may be unlike or based on conflicting viewpoints. I
would also like to examine how textbooks have changed over the years, thus
changing viewpoints to match the political and social mindset at the time it
was written. A textbook written in 1970
will undoubtedly have a different perspective and tell history differently that
one written today.
Eng309:
I-Search Proposal
For my I-Search paper I want to look
at effective ways to teach writing and learning through writing to English
Language Learners. I am planning on
interviewing my current student who is adult intermediate level and Korean. Here are some websites I found that will be
useful:
http://proxy.buffalostate.edu:2123/view/00398322/ap060063/06a00060/0
“Teaching ESL Students to Read and
Write Experimental Research Papers”
http://proxy.buffalostate.edu:2123/view/00138274/ap030730/03a00260/0?currentResult=00138274%2bap030730%2b03a00260%2b0%2c07&searchUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fsearch%2FBasicResults%3Fhp%3D25%26si%3D1%26gw%3Djtx%26jtxsi%3D1%26jcpsi%3D1%26artsi%3D1%26Query%3Dwhat%2Bunskilled%2Besl%2Bstudents%2Bdo%26wc%3Don
“Research in the
Classroom: What We Already Know about Teaching ESL Writers”
http://proxy.buffalostate.edu:2123/view/0010096x/ap020210/02a00100/0?currentResult=0010096x%2bap020210%2b02a00100%2b0%2cFFFFFF&searchUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fsearch%2FBasicResults%3Fhp%3D25%26si%3D1%26gw%3Djtx%26jtxsi%3D1%26jcpsi%3D1%26artsi%3D1%26Query%3Dwhat%2Bunskilled%2Besl%2Bstudents%2Bdo%26wc%3Don
“Composition
Studies and ESL Writing: A Disciplinary Division of Labor”
http://proxy.buffalostate.edu:2123/view/00398322/ap060074/06a00040/0?currentResult=00398322%2bap060074%2b06a00040%2b0%2cFFEFFE3F&searchUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.jstor.org%2Fsearch%2FBasicResults%3Fhp%3D25%26si%3D1%26gw%3Djtx%26jtxsi%3D1%26jcpsi%3D1%26artsi%3D1%26Query%3Dwhat%2Bunskilled%2Besl%2Bstudents%2Bdo%26wc%3Don
“What Unskilled ESL Students Do as
They Write: A Classroom Study of Composing”
Eng309:
I-Search Proposal
I would like to do an I-search paper focused on using the craft
of writing screenplays in the classroom.
Screenplay or script writing is a great way for students to explore
their literature in a more in-depth way.
When writing a screenplay based on their readings, students need to pay
attention to not only dialogue, but characterization, symbolism, setting, tone,
etc. In addition to being an excellent
tool for examining literature, script or screenplay writing is very useful in
creative writing and drama (both very important elements of English Language
Arts). Students would have to focus on
plot development, character development and dialogue when studying script
writing in a dramatic sense. To write
the I-search paper I would want to research how to write a script and/or
screenplay, examples of “great” adaptive screenplays in the past, elements of
drama, how movies and drama are beneficial to students in ELA and writing
classrooms, etc.
Eng309:
I-Search Proposal
For my I -Search paper, I am going to focus my attention on free
writing. Being a writer I find myself
sitting down quite often and just writing. Whether it is about the day I just
had or something that came to mind about a great new story. Anyone that knows how to write can and should
free write. Free writing can be used
many different ways and for many different purposes. In schools teachers at times will use free
writing, as their prewriting activity.
With the writing of this paper I would like to see the different ways
free writing is used in the classroom, and if used at all. I would also like to know whether students
use free writing as a form of therapy, and a way to release some aggression and
anger. I enjoy free writing and would like to find out more ways in which it
can be incorporated into the classroom.
Even if students are free writing they are still learning. I would like to see the progression of
students work because of everyday free writing.