[LM_NET] VENT: Term Papers and Why Don't Teachers?

[Kay Goss <goss.kay@GMAIL.COM>]

Dear Great, Wise, and Patient Ones:

Term papers drive me crazy. First of all, teachers give students way too
much time to complete papers--especially the research phase. And they do not
guide the research. They do not have me present the research process and
they just turn the kids loose to Google their topics.
I do have a research lesson on using print resources, the reader's guide,
ebscohost, and the best websites for various subjects and topics. I have a
planning your library project handout for teachers. I have a research
rubric. But only one teacher takes advantage of these.
And the assigned paper is usually all that is being done in those classes. I
remember when I taught term papers to seniors, we went ahead with our
literature, grammar, spelling, and writing in class. Very little time was
given to research or typing during class time.
They send the same kids day after day to goof off. And those are the kids
who have 10 overdue items. Why are the teachers not asking to see copies of
their research materials or what they wrote/typed that day?

Ugh!


-- 
Kay Goss
Mansfield Secondary Library
316 West Ohio Ave.
Mansfield, Mo. 65704
417-924-3236 Ext. 311
goss.kay@gmail.com

"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel,
must be intolerably stupid."
Jane Austen

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