Lessons Taught, Lessons Learned Vol. I
The English language
curriculum of many high schools includes a term paper which
students complete during their senior year. Seniors in village
high schools often find it difficult to select a topic for their
paper that can be sufficiently researched with the limited
resources available in the village. in addition, many students,
especially those not wanting to continue their education, find it
hard to become interested in the project. However, recently the
teacher for Native studies in our high school, who is also the
general manager of the local Native corporation, introduced mc to
the I-search concept of the writing consortium for this
assignment. This innovation has not only changed the nature of the
term paper, but has also produced amazing results.
The research/I-search project was
originally meant to focus on skills in researching, organizing,
and writing a term paper. However, in implementing the concept, I
found that the students also acquired new skills in many areas of
verbal communication. For example, they learned how to conduct
interviews and telephone conversations and how to cooperate with
each other. In addition, the students expanded their computer
skills as they revised their term papers. Yet, the area in which
the students gained the most is the realm of personal growth as it
relates to the students' self image and to their future plans. in
a way in which no teacher could have done it, the
research/I-search paper opened a completely new world of careers
to the high school seniors.
I believe that every course taught
during the senior year of high school should emphasize the
question, "What are you going to do with your skills in the
future?" All seniors are worried about the future, and many Native
students are concerned about the fact that non-Natives hold most
of the important and well-paying jobs in their village. However,
most students take no steps toward ending their community's
dependence on outsiders. This problem is directly addressed by the
senior I-search project.
During the first semester,
students focused on developing writing skills, exploring career
opportunities (e.g. talking with successful Natives) and
familiarizing themselves with Native issues including ANCSA. At
the beginning of the second semester, I assigned the research
project as follows: (1) Make a list of all non-Natives who work in
the village, (2) determine what qualifications are necessary for
Natives to attain these positions, and (3) develop a plan for
yourself or Natives in general to gain the skills, experience, and
attitudes necessary to assume these positions. The result of this
project was to be a ten-page, typewritten paper with documentation
in the form of footnotes and a bibliography.
Even though the students were
initially overwhelmed by this assignment, many were aware that the
topic addressed an issue that of deep concern to their cultural
pride and heritage. The seniors worked on the assignment for two
months during which I instructed each student in the specific
steps he or she needed to follow. Especially, I pointed out that a
term paper must be approached with planning and time management
and cannot be thrown together in one night. The first task of this
project was for the students to list the jobs held by non-Natives
in the village. When the students were working on this task, I
asked them to also find out what qualifications are necessary for
these jobs.
Most seniors are well aware of the
presence of non-Natives in the community's cash economy. However,
when questioned about qualifications for wage-earning jobs, the
students often responded by referring to generalities about
education and training. Therefore, I talked about work habits such
as punctuality, dependability, and politeness. I kept emphasizing
that these qualities may be expected of the students by their
future employers, a fact of which only a few were aware. The
students organized the information they acquired during this first
step of the project by discussing it with others and through "mapping" and "bubbling." Then
they utilized these ideas to develop a tentative outline for the term paper.
After completing this first task,
the seniors needed to research the topics included in their
outline. Very few of the resources necessary for carrying out this
step were in the library. Career encyclopedias were helpful and I
encouraged their usage. Sometimes the students discovered that the
information they found was outdated. For example, several students
listed the average teacher income as being $8,000 to $10,000. Whey
they updated these figures they learned a valuable lesson about
the changing nature of society and about the myth that all
information in a book must be true. However, most of the
information for this assignment could not be found in books.
Therefore, the students had to go around the village and interview
adults.
The students took different
approaches to this task. For example, some grouped together and
divided the total number of necessary interviews among group
members. At first the interviewing process was slow. The students
were reluctant to call village adults and discouraged when people
were too busy to talk to them immediately. However, eventually
most students were successful in scheduling interviews and were
well received in the village. During and after the interviews, the
students took notes which they then compared with the notes of
other students who had interviewed different people with similar
occupations.
The benefits of this interviewing
process were manifold, especially when the exercise was carried
out in groups. The cooperation among the students created an
atmosphere of "positive peer pressure" which seemed to reduce
stress and anxiety. Questioned on the thoroughness of their
research by peers, most students developed skills in note taking
and in stating information accurately. The interviewing process
also contributed much to increasing the students' self-confidence.
In addition, the task opened new channels of communication between
the school and the village and between younger and older people in
the community. While all this took place, I tried to interfere as
little as possible.
This research part of the
assignment brought the students more into the world of work and
higher education than any lecture could. The students learned
about a variety of work-related topics, such as the difference
between a bachelors and a masters degree, jobs that require
academic or vocational training, and relationships at the work
place. Most students commented on how much training was required
for many jobs. While many seniors had been considering future
education, they became more motivated and better oriented in their
future plans by completing this assignment.
While these research activities
can greatly contribute to stimulating student interest, one has to
keep in mind that they are very time consuming and that deadlines
are necessary to keep the students from procrastinating. Two weeks
seem to be an ideal time frame. A simple method for the teacher to
keep track of student progress is by asking the students to record
interview data on note cards. These note cards become a very
helpful tool during the next step of the project- the actual
writing of the paper.
After the students had
become interested in the project through conducting the
interviews, they found the writing task less intimidating. Since
there was no shortage of facts, the students could plunge into
writing a rough draft with only minimal help from the teacher.
However, most of the seniors were confused about how to write
introductions and conclusions. Therefore, it seemed advisable to
review the essay structure after the research part of the
assignment had been completed. This review helped the students to
avoid one of the most common weaknesses of research papers, which
is a simple listing of facts without analysis.
I began this essay review by
reminding the students of the original assignment, emphasizing
that the third part consisted of the question, "What would it take
for Natives to replace non-Natives in village jobs?" This reminder
helped the students to develop a notion of purpose and a direction
for their writing. Some began to write by presenting an overview
of current village conditions. Others focused on Native pride.
Still others outlined a Utopian vision of village life. Many
students unconsciously developed a thesis statement as they
analyzed their information in the process of writing. By the time
the students handed in their rough drafts, they had analyzed and
organized their data and only needed to refine the structure to
accomplish the final draft of their papers.
It must be pointed out that it is
important that the students complete this assignment. Some may
take as much as two weeks to write the rough draft and another two
weeks to edit the paper and to add the bibliography and the
footnotes. However, this process introduces the students to
important aspects of college-level training that they will need if
they want to take over the jobs about which they are writing. As
the students restructure their papers for the final draft, they
learn new computer skills such as moving paragraphs, adding
statistics, and using proper formats. The result is a piece of
writing any senior can be proud of.
The final step in this project would be the
publication of the student papers. However, it is very difficult to publish
such a large amount of writing. On the other hand, publishing only a few papers
would mean singling out individual students and exposing both the strengths
and weaknesses of their work. An alternative approach is to ask a teacher
who has not been directly involved in the project to choose the best parts
of several papers and combine them on a computer fite. The students can then
edit and organize these excerpts and submit the final result to the local
newspaper with a cover letter. In this way, the seniors will have not only
their individual papers as an outcome of the project but also a final group
paper which will have been published as a newspaper feature.
This research/I-search paper is an
ambitious project. It can only be attempted after students have
developed confidence in their writing skills and a wide range of
writing abilities. I would suggest implementing the project during
the final semester of senior English, when the assignment can
represent both a culmination of high school education and a beacon
directing students toward future goals. The project tries to
relate the students' education in school to their lives in the
village. Viewed as an English project, the assignment produces the
tangible result of a paper. However, as much of rural education,
this project also contributes to the accomplishment of a more
intangible goal: graduates who can be competent adults,
contributing to the betterment of Native village life.
