Assignment Template

When reading this article, I found myself reflecting on my own lessons and teaching ideas, which made a few things in this article stand out to me more than others.  This first part that really stood out to me was having the students write in the margins as they read. The first part I believe asked students to label in the left hand margin the summary, introduction, issue or problem being addressed, the author’s main arguments, the author’s examples, and the conclusion. Then the second part asks students to write in the right hand margin their reactions to what the author is saying. They list some possible reactions as personal connections they can make, reflection on the quality of evidence the author offers, and any questions or contradictions they have with what the author is presenting. The first thought that came to mind was that a lot of students cannot write in their textbooks and so this may be something that is hard for them to do. But then I thought that they could do something similar on a piece of notebook paper, creating two columns and using page numbers to show where they got their info. But the main reason I liked this idea is it gets students to think while they are reading, and not trying to just reflect on what they have read afterwards. I think that it is an interesting approach and would be an interesting way to switch things up and get students thinking in a new way.

The next thing that really jumped out to me in the article was the section about ethos, logos, and pathos. I remember touching on these in junior high but then we never really talked about it again. I know it was something that was helpful to me when we were learning about it, and so that is something else to think about when I am teaching…make sure that I continue to use things like this, not just teach it once and then move past it.