I teach computers at a 440 student Catholic K-8 school. Students have plenty of opportunities in many subjects to research and report on topics that thousands of other students and adults have written about. At best we hope that they read about the events until they have a clear picture in their minds of what happened, and then regurgitate what they recall on paper/screen. This often helps them learn the subject to a greater degree than they would by reading to prepare for a test. Research reports tempt some students to plagiarize by copy and pasting entire articles, however. A few weeks ago I explained to my sixth graders what plagiarism is and what it means to write in your own words. Five minutes later a student raised his hand. I went to his computer and saw that he had copy and pasted an entire page onto his PowerPoint presentation; he asked me, “Mr. Hall, how many words do I have to replace with synonyms for this to be in my own words?” That mentality is part of the reason why I like to have students write based on original research that they conduct themselves. I also know that it forces their writing to a higher level; they have to think it through. They can’t just follow the same writing patterns that they’ve already read on the topic.
Last year I had my 7th grade students interview a veteran and write his wartime/military biography. Their work was submitted as a simple MS Word webpage. They could choose any relative, family friend or neighbor. They could even choose someone who is deceased if their family could supply enough information. I emphasized that they had an opportunity to write an original piece of history. I emphasize that they would likely be the only person to record their family member’s wartime/military biography. Their work would reflect their family and heritage. Kids these days quite often are slackers; many of them never do their best on anything especially when it comes to writing. Most students, however, stepped up and put forth a good effort. Some of my students were even brave enough to read their reports to a gathering of 100 WWII and Korean War veterans; I was especially proud of them.
I had hoped that I could publish these biographies on my school website (
http://www.ihmgradeschool.com/ ). My principal, however, preferred that we follow a common policy to not publish anything online that included student’s names or references to names. Education lawyers strike fear in many principals and administrators. They have endless “what if” scenarios that leaves educators and administrators responsible, jobless and even jailed for the wrongdoing or just plain freaking out of others. Basically nothing that we do is safe; we could get into trouble for anything. We might as well not come to work. We have a new principal now, however. He tends to side with reason and discards the convoluted. He gave me permission to publish my 7th graders veteran reports. Only 1/3 of my students (now in the 8th grade) have obtained permission from their families/interviewees to have their reports published. The remaining students either were not yet sure, or their families leaned toward privacy or caution. Anyway, here are 16 of my students’ veteran reports from last year.
My 7th Graders’ Veteran Reports:
http://www.ihmgradeschool.com/2005_06/student_made/veteran_reports/7th_veteran_reports.htmInterview Questions:
http://www.ihmgradeschool.com/2006_07/teachers/hall/veteran_interview_questions.htm
