Moulton Article

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the article on the multigenre paper. I have never heard of this approach to research before. It is such a creative, refreshing alternative to the frequently plagiarized research paper. Students oftentimes detest it, and the instructor spends more time prodding the students along. As I read the piece, I reflected on last week's class discussion on the significance of scaffolding. Students can be successful if the teacher presents well planned lessons which connect to each genre. As a result, this paper will more accurately demonstrate content knowledge by the selected genre. However, I don't know how successfully this paper will work on a high school block schedule.

I would like to see an "experiment" transpire where seniors would do this as an alternate assignment in lieu of the current senior project. However, it would be the responsibility of the ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade English teachers to provide the structure and opportunities for the students to model as many of the genres as listed on page 531. By the twelfth grade, the instructor would simply be performing "mini lessons" and showing completed versions to the students. Students must be exposed to all types of genres prior to entering the twelfth grade.

Without a doubt, the students I have taught in the upper level courses would like the challenge, but would not understand how the piece "comes together." It would take a considerable amount of time to complete the project in addition to covering the curriculum. I am also trying to visualize what the final paper would look like. After studying the examples on 533-536, I definitely see the appeal for the students in Moulton's classroom. I like how students are presented with options. This allows the teacher to easily differentiate within the classroom. The teacher would initially have to help the student select a topic that could easily be represented by a variety of techniques. The endnotes were extremely beneficial to both the students and teacher. I liked how the student has the opportunity to explain why she/he selected the representation.

By allowing students to express their research knowledge through these varied techniques, she/he is actually "immersing themselves" in the content area. This approach will foster an understanding of the topic through genres students use in their everyday life; they will actually experience a connection between the past vs. present. The reflection will also enable the teacher to determine the validity of the assignment.

On a more practical side, the article noted how this was done in an undergraduate course due to the "experimental factor." How does this approach translate into an elementary or middle school setting? Would the options be too overwhelming? I would like to see an article written about how to implement this in a public school setting with students of varied intellect and no prior experience with a project of this magnitude. If college students had conflicts, how can this be adequately taught in a room of 26 fourth graders? As a high school teacher, I see many opportunities to implement this. As a former middle school teacher, I am a skeptic. I am still reading Writing Without Boundaries so hopefully, it will provide some insight to my concerns.