What Source Analysis Looks Like
Because good notes lead to good final projects
Quick follow-up on my last post about graphic organizers that I've created for AP Seminar: I wanted to show you guys what they look like completed and also give you a little glimpse at what my prettified versions look like if you want to toss me a few bucks for my effort.
Below, digitally ripped from the digital pages of my students' notebooks, are two examples of completed Think Outside the Author graphic organizers. I love how in the first example the student is prompted to ask questions as they critically think through the implications and limitations of the article they found in their research. For the second, I would call your attention to the conclusions. Though they are just bullet points (I usually nudged them towards a paragraph, but I thought this was one still excelled) the student is clearly beginning to refine their own opinion about their topic and come up with points that bear more study and research.
Even if you aren't developing full research notebooks right now as part of an ongoing project, performance task or mock performance task, I would encourage you to have your students complete one of these graphic organizers the next time you read and breakdown a source in class. Think Outside the Author is particularly good for arguments.
Two Student-Completed Think Outside the Author Graphic Organizers
And below is a simple one for looking at any source, even one that isn't an argument. If you're in the middle of a unit and a need a notecatcher for a TED talk or research article, Ideas, Connections, and Extensions is a fabulous way to move students from low-level notetaking to bridge building to critical thinking in a single page. See below for examples!
I like seeing how the vocabulary from the top of the page becomes part of their own thinking and reflecting by the bottom.
Finally, and I feel this is a simple one, but it can be used to reinforce important course vocabulary, are the LiL' notes which stands for Line of Reasoning, Implications, and Limitations. The students below took different approaches in their responses, but with both I can see that they clearly understand the key concepts. This gives students great practice for the EOC and it's really easy to grade.
Can't wait to see how these notes manifest in their papers! I love it when students don't know how to write commentary and I flip to their graphic organizers and show them that they already have.