2-25-13

Date 2-25-13 Grade 9 PLG

Present: Donna Irish, Brenda Grenier, James Black, Chad Brackett, Jeremy White, Maura Smith, Stephani Sawyer-Main, Rosemary Fecteau, Kathleen Lynch, Mike Jones, Barb Toner, Ken Nadeau

Our PLG’s follow-up discussion on Type I writing is on hold. T__ype 2 Writing Discussion__
 * The format is similar to Type 1, but should we modify to stick to MLA format, which we teach and expect students to use?
 * Not deducting points for mechanics—good for kids who struggle with this. However, there should be a “natural limit” to how many mechanical errors are overlooked.
 * Concrete details required—giving a multiple choice test without giving a multiple choice test.
 * Can a Type 2 quiz be a list?
 * Can you give a quiz that is three or four Type 2 writings in a row?
 * Can Type 2 be the essay portion of a test, or must it stand on its own?
 * It doesn’t seem that Type 2 is asking for critical thinking—asks for specific numbers of answers.
 * If you can give any number of Type 2 assignments but selectively grade only some of them, how will students and parents respond?
 * A plus of Type 2 is that there is a clear, right or wrong answer expected; it’s not vague.
 * Is this setting the stage to introduce Type 3 next year?
 * Type 2 seems less about the format than Type 1 is and more about correct information.
 * Is the long-term goal of this to have all four writing types used in all classes? Answer: The goal is for this year to have Types 1 and 2 in place as strategies to use in the classroom, so as to incorporate more writing in all classes. Beyond that, we don’t know.
 * Do people write daily in their classrooms?
 * Students are starting to expect writing in all classes and are not as resistant as they were initially. They also are beginning to know, automatically, what “Type 1” and “Type 2” mean.
 * Should we have different formatting expectations for different grade levels? Ninth graders are much more concrete and narrowly focused than are older students and cannot shift format-to-format as easily as older students.
 * Starter questions from the Collins book are really helpful to help us frame better questions.
 * May we please have department time to discuss how we will integrate this as departments?
 * It should be our option how to best implement this in our classrooms.
 * How can we document that we are collectively doing more writing?