Writing a report is like going on an exciting trip. Start by
planning
where you are going. After you get started, make
notes
along the way about what you have seen and done. Finally at the end of the trip,
tell
your friends about what you have done. But how do you get from the
beginning
of your report . . . to the
end
of your report? My unit will explain this in five simple steps.
The unit I have developed can be used with seventh and eighth grade foreign-born students. The instructions will be clear and straightforward since the students are foreign-born. It will last approximately four to five weeks. Each child should be provided with two folders. One folder will be for all the activities done as practice exercises in this unit. The other folder will be for keeping all the steps the child has completed in the actual writing of the report.
The students will be introduced to each step. First they will be given exercises to practice the objective of the step. Then they will be required to complete that step for their actual report. At the end of the unit they will have had practice at each step and an actual product for their report at that step.
The classroom should also look inviting. A bulletin board should be decorated and displays should be set up in the classroom. A display of all types of research materials could be placed in one corner of the room. A bulletin board with a blank outline on it could be displayed. On the side all the parts of the outline could be scrambled up. In the students free time they could try to unscramble the outline. Many other motivating boards and displays could be arranged.
THE FIRST STEP: CHOOSING A TOPIC
My unit begins with how to choose a topic. When given a report to write, the teacher may suggest several general subjects to write about. But students will have to narrow down the subjects and choose a related topic. This will keep them from writing about subjects that are too broad and too complicated.
If the teacher suggests
travel
, as a general subject, the students can narrow this down to writing about a trip they have taken or that someone else has taken.
Many practice activities can be done to help the students narrow down a topic. The teacher can give the students a list of words and have them choose which are general subjects and which are related topics. For example:
An opening lesson could be to have the students
underline
the general subjects and
circle
the related topics in the following list:
exercise
|
automobiles
|
pansies
|
flowers
|
Ford cars
|
jogging
|
Another activity could be to set up the following chart:
Topics
|
|
General Subjects
|
bicycling
|
Travel
|
Hobbies
|
Professions
|
Erie Canal
Doctor Jonas Salk
guitar playing
gardening
The student is to look at the general subjects listed. Then look at the related topics at the left. Each subject can be narrowed down by listing related topics beneath it. Two of the topics can relate to more than one subject. After the student has done this, he continues to narrow down each general subject has done this, he continues to narrow down each general subject by listing one more related topic.
Many More of these activities should be given as practice exercises. Once they have had enough practice on narrowing down topics then the teacher can set up a real situation as follows: Ted must write a report about a country in South America. He has chosen a main topic. It is Brazil. Now Ted is thinking of some subtopics that relate to his main topic. He must decide what subtopics to write about in his report. Your task is to help Ted narrow down his topic. Ted has listed the following:
lumber
|
Indians
|
northeast
|
manganese
|
ranchers
|
Amazon
|
tobacco
|
miners
|
oil
|
centralsouthern
|
sugar cane
|
coffee
|
tin
|
cacao
|
diamonds
|
rubber
|
government workers
|
Each of the words listed relates to one of the following subtopics. You must write each word from the list under the subtopic you think it best relates to. Some words may be written under more than one subtopic.
Natural Resources
|
Crops
|
People
|
Regions
|
_____
|
cacao
|
_____
|
_____
|
_____
|
_____
|
_____
|
_____
|
_____
|
_____
|
_____
|
_____
|
_____
|
_____
|
_____
|
_____
|
_____
|
_____
|
_____
|
_____
|
The students should work on this activity independently. After they have completed the list, it should be reviewed in class. Do not do this activity until they have had enough practice exercises.
When this activity has been completed the teacher should give the class the topics for the report they are going to write. They must now choose their own main topic and list some subtopics they would like to cover in their report and play the same game again, but this time “for real”.
Approximately three days should be spent on this first objective. Don’t make it boring. Keep it quick and to the point.