Memo #3 for I-Search Project

I have several people that I am planning on interviewing and using them as my Primary Sources. I am planning on interviewing my next door neighbor, and her two children. She is a teaching assistant for mentally handicapped students, and the questions that I was thinking of asking her are, "Do you and/or the teacher practice writing with the children?", "If yes, how exactly do you practice with them, are there certain activities that you do?"

  An then her oldest child is in High School, and her middle child is in Middle School. I would like to interview both of them just to get a deeper understanding of how children are learning about writing now. I would try and interview both boys at separate times, but the questions that I would ask each of them are, "Do you enjoying writing?", and then ask them, if their answer is yes, why? And if it is no, then why? Another question I would ask them is, "In what manner does your teacher practice writing with you? Does he/she do any types of activities?" "Does your teacher help the children that seem to be having difficulties more? How does the teacher put extra time to help these students?"

Another person I would interview is my former Middle School teacher, I would as her, "When you taught writing to your students, how did you do it, where there any special techniques that you used?" "How did you help the students that seemed to be struggling with their writing?" "Did you find it difficult to teach students writing if not all the children where on the same academic levels?"

And finally, I am planning on interviewing a teacher in a local middle school near my house. I meet her recently, because I have to interview her and her teammates for another one of my classes this semester. I will ask her on Tuesday, if she is okay if I interview her for this class as well, and then set a day that I can interview her. The questions that I would like to ask her are similar to the questions that I would ask to my former teacher, "How do you teach writing to your students, do you use any special techniques?" "How do you help students that are struggling and that are on a different writing levels then others in the class?" but on top of asking her those similar question, I would also ask her, "How long have you been an English teacher and do you enjoy it?" I feel like this question could be an important question because it sometimes seems that when people like their jobs they try their hardest to be the best at it.

I am excited to interview all of my Primary Sources but I have to admit that I am most excited to interview, the teachers, I say this because I feel that I will learn the most about how to help and what techniques they feel should be used for children that are not on the same level as others. I would also like to find other people to interview, but for right now I think I will learn a lot from the Primary Sources that I have planned now.

Memo #2 for my I-Search Project

I have used the library database for several semesters now, and it has been an amazing tool for all types of research papers that I have done. But even though I have been using it for a while, learning about it in more detail during Wednesday’s class, opened up my eyes to even more new things. Before then I never knew that I could watch an educational video from the library database, or that I can check to see if local public libraries have the book that I need. Also I learned how to navigate through the physical library and not just its website. I never went through the library looking for books before, I would always just look up articles for certain topics online. So now that I am able to find my way around the library, which will only improve my research for this project, because not only do I have an abundance of information available to me from the articles on the libraries database, but I also can search through full length books that have been writing specifically for my particular topic.

Memo #1 post for my I-Search topic.

I-Search Research Proposal: Teaching Writing to Students that are on Different Levels. I would like to talk about how Teachers can teach writing to students that are on all different levels. This topic is significant to me because, school was always very difficult for me, I struggled in almost every subject, and I had to work hard all my life when it came to academia. At first writing did not come easily to me, it took a lot of practice and hard work, but over time I eventually became better at it. Sometimes teachers tend to teach in the ways that they learned best. But the most successful teachers incorporate all different modes of communication to help a range of learners. Teachers should have many different ways to teach the same material, because not all students will learn in the same way. A way that I would consider teaching students that are on different writing levels might be that I would give the children having trouble more writing, so that they have more practice with it. Or I could try and separate the class into groups and give each group a different writing assignment that would be at the different levels. That way children wouldn’t feel singled out because they would be in groups. I want to have my I-search project focus around this topic so that I can become the best teacher that I can be, and help all of the students become the best they can be. I want to try and teach the children how to enjoy writing, even the students that have trouble academically, I want to show them that writing can be a wonderful escape. While also showing them how important writing is. Teachers should have a deep understand of their students and their needs. The way that I am planning on finding more information about this topic is to read scholarly articles, I am also planning on interviewing a student or two, my neighbor has two sons that are currently in school. One of her sons is in the seventh grade, and the other is a freshman in high school, so I think that getting both of their opinions about writing will benefit me with my project. I feel that way because even though they are only a few years apart teaching in a middle school environment can be totally different then teaching at a high school level. I also thought that it would be good to interview their mother, she is a teacher’s aid for mentally handicapped students. I would like to learn the best way to go about teaching these students what writing is, so that they are able to reach and achieve the best of their ability. I feel like it would be a good idea to get her opinion, because I know that usually in Elementary and Middle schools they don’t always have the ability to separate the mentally disabled children. Finally, I am also planning on interview my old middle school teacher, to get a professional opinion. After I start my project I would also like to interview other people, just to widen my perspective. I will contact my old teacher, and talk to my neighbor and her children once the interviewing part of the project begins. I am excited to start my I-search project. By using primary and secondary sources, I will learn many different views about this one topic. Interviewing people in the field will help me learn the technique that teachers are practicing in classes today, and reading the secondary sources will also show me the past techniques that teachers used to use. Interviewing/talking to my neighbors son's and maybe even a few of their friends will help me understand if these writing techniques are working for them. Learning about this topic will broaden my knowledge about the ways to teach writing to children that are on different academic levels.

Teaching Writing to Students that are on Different Learning Levels

Teaching Writing to Students that are on Different Learning Levels