Education Commons^™

Impact Of Schema On Students' Writing, Hali-Ana Harvey

Honors Theses

All too often, students perform poorly on their writing assignments, and it seems that teachers have difficulty understanding where the problem comes from. This study seeks to prove that the issue begins with the students’ lack of background knowledge that students possess about the topics they are being asked to write about. To begin, the author emphasizes the importance of background knowledge in students. The study also describes ways in which teachers can check for background knowledge before assigning writing, and explores how teachers can build background knowledge in students. To improve students’ overall writing, teachers need to first recognize …

20 Things, Reann Parker

Honors Theses

20 Things is a short young adult novel that explores a variety of topics and themes, from mental health, recovery, and self discovery to race, love, and friendship. Beginning with a high school girl named Halle waking up in a hospital after a suicide attempt, the novel is a coming of age story about the help Halle receives and what she goes through in trying to find reasons to keep living. The novel is divided into ten chapters: “Waking Up,” “Going Home,” “Arriving,” “Being Honest,” “Keeping the Faith,” “Soul Searching,” “Willingness,” “Maintaining,” “Checking In,” and “Living.” Each chapter represents the …

Newswriting For Beginners: A Suggested Lesson Plan, Gene Adair

Honors Theses

This lesson plan accompanies a set of transparencies illustrating various aspects and problems of newswriting. I feel that this type of presentation, with its use of visual aids, will make a greater impression on the student than a straight lecture approach.

The three lessons detailed in this project are concerned strictly with basic newswriting. Hopefully, the student will already have had some introduction to newsgathering before being exposed to this presentation.

The focus of this project is on fundamentals, and little attention is given to the more advanced problems one encounters in writing interview, speech and feature stories.

Included with …

Manuscript Writing, Kathy Bittle

Honors Theses

Teachers influence the writing of children by example, planned lessons, and by establishment and maintenance of standards. To do this teachers need to be able to use acceptable manuscript writing, diagnose the individual needs of children, and plan experiences to meet those needs. Teachers do this by understanding the nature of the task to be done, the materials and tools, used and current procedure and philosophy, acquiring the personal skills needed, and understanding the range of individual differences among learners.