Writing Assignment
EDUC247-010
DUE DATE: MAY 8 (in class)
Please write a 5-6 page paper (double-spaced, standard margins) on one of the following topics.
This paper should be a well-organized analysis of several historical perspectives. Your argument should be based on historical reasoning and evidence. Students are encouraged to use the evidence and insights from all readings in the course, not just those specifically referred to in the question. However, this is not primarily a research paper.
1) Using the Lassonde and Dorn articles on drop-outs, compare and contrast the reasons students left schools early in the early-twentieth and late-twentieth century. What is the historical relationship between the changing nature of work and the perceived need for school attendance? What is the function of race and gender in the way society has defined the problem and solutions for dropping-out?
2) In the Progressive Era, Americans turned to experts to define problems, gather evidence and monitor solutions to social problems. Assess the consequences of this on education policy, curriculum, and student learning in the pre-WWII era. (Note: the articles by Westhoff, Zimmerman, Johnson, and Grant and Murray will be particularly helpful.)
3) Despite altruistic rhetoric about learning and democracy, schools have primarily served as institutions of social control and cultural hegemony. Discuss. (Who controls education? For what purposes? How have women and minorities fared in educational institutions?)
PLAN AHEAD.
DO NOT NEGLECT YOUR READING FOR THE WEEK OF MAY 6/8
If you wish to use sources other than those assigned in class, please clear them with me first before you begin. ALL quotations, paraphrases and references must be properly footnoted. Students are welcome to submit a first draft and would be VERY wise to do so. I will accept drafts as email attachments up to Saturday May 5 at 6 p.m.
Grading
rubric [Thanks to Sherman Dorn for this framework.]
I will use this rubric to evaluate the perspectives paper, as long as it meets the edited written English standard (for which I reserve the right to deduct up to 20 points). Please note that crucial differences among grades involve use of course materials.
|
Points (Grade) |
Description |
|
10 (F) |
Not a social foundations perspective. Paper does not use course concepts or readings. It is a paper that someone could have written without enrolling in the course. |
|
40 (D) |
Does not demonstrate understanding of course material. Paper inadequately or incompletely uses one or more sources. Descriptions of perspectives might severely distort a source's argument or fail to provide any detail or explanation. |
|
60 (C) |
Demonstrates minimal understanding of course material. Paper partially uses course readings and other materials to address the issue. It might inadequately or incompletely describe the perspectives of authors and may inadequately evaluate authors' perspectives. |
|
75 (B-) |
Demonstrates basic understanding of course material. Paper
uses several sources to address the issue but does so with insufficient
detail or accuracy. Descriptions of
perspectives might distort a source's argument in minor ways or fail to
provide concrete detail or explanation. |
|
85 (B+) |
Demonstrates solid understanding of course material. Paper uses several sources accurately to address the issue with detail. In a rare case a paper will earn 85 points for basic understanding of sources but stellar evaluation of some. |
|
93 (A-) |
Demonstrates
above-average understanding of course material. Paper reasonably uses several sources to address the
issue. It demonstrates more than
solid understanding in the skillful use of detail, evaluation of sources, or
some other manner. |
|
100 (A) |
Demonstrates superb understanding of course material. Paper reasonably uses several sources to address the issue. It demonstrates more than solid understanding in the skillful use of detail, evaluation of sources, or some other manner, and the analysis has extremely forceful writing. |
Formal writing in college should conform to a standard of edited written English acceptable throughout academic and professional life. Edited written English is different from spoken English in that it has fairly rigid conventions that readers use to help understand the written word. Some of the conventions (such as spelling) are admittedly arbitrary; other conventions of argumentative essay-writing (such as a linear sequence, in contrast to other structures such as the parable) are culture-bound even while they have a logical rationale. Nonetheless, the writing of edited English is an expected skill of college graduates and future teachers and is part of the "code of power" Lisa Delpit describes in her book Other People's Children (1995). Deviating dramatically from readers' expectations interferes with smooth reading, and one can use the following as a rough guidelines for what will interfere with [your professor’s] reading:
· A paper without a clear sequence a reader can follow: Unplanned and rambling writing is difficult to understand.
· More than one error in sentence formation (such as a sentence fragment, run-on sentence, or comma splice) for every two pages of text. (Please note any deliberate fragments for effect with a brief penciled comment in the margin.)
· More than one error per page in what one might call word formation, including any of the following: inappropriate apostrophe use or plural formation, subject-verb or pronoun-antecedent disagreement, incorrect verb or pronoun form, inconsistent tense, or substitution of a homonym for the correct word (such as "they're" for "their")
· Repeated misspellings (and typographical errors) count as misspellings
· Gross errors in citation mechanics. Students may use any reasonable and consistent format for citation that would allow a stranger to find the source for information in a library.
I reserve the right to 20 points from any perspectives paper that does not meet this standard. (For a similar example see Barbara Walvoord and Virginia Anderson, Effective Grading, Jossey-Bass, 1998, p. 77.)
Avoid using on-line material that cannot be corroborated on paper. Websites are not permanent, are often of dubious quality, and are not yet considered appropriate for citation by standard style guides such as Chicago or the MLA. If you desperately want to cite a website, print out the pages, make sure there is a time and date stamp on the printout and that the web address is clearly visible because it may be the last time the material appears on-line.