ASSIGNMENT: FINDINGS INSTRUCTION SHEET
DESCRIPTION:
This assignment beckons you to interact with your readings in this class and to prepare yourself to teach about your readings to others who have not read them. You will produce a set of "Findings" from your readings which will be shared with your peers. These Findings will force you to summarize the article; pull out key terms, arguments, and conclusions; record key quotations; and articulate questions which will lead to discussion with your peers. You are preparing these Findings for two major reasons:
(1) To help you interact with the readings and to prepare yourself to talk intelligently about them during class discussion and when you are teaching each other about the reading
(2) To help your peers to access the reading better-like a CliffsNotes or SparkNotes for your article(s)
(3) To provide us with a way to assess your reading and critical thinking skills.
INSTRUCTIONS:
• Method of turning it in:Post on Canvas under the Assignment Description AND print off the completed Findings Form and bring copies to class-one copy for each member of your Jigsaw Group as well as one copy for your Instructor. You will want to write on it during class and allow instructional staff to review it before you leave class.
• Formatting:
o Use the Findings Template and the guidelines listed below. However, if something doesn't fit under one of those headings, then make up your own headings.
o Use 10 or 12 point font, single-spaced.
o Your Findings should take as long as they take, but they should be approximately 1/4 to 1/5 of the original document-which means a 20 page article will turn into a 4-5 page Findings. Too brief of a set of Findings will result in unwanted attention.
o If you are reading more than one article for your Findings (which you will do periodically during the semester), prepare two separate Findings-one for each article-but submit them as one document onto Canvas.
o Do not include this instruction sheet in your Posting on Canvas or when you Print it out for class.
• Requirements: Follow the instructions in the Guidelines (below), taking into account the following:
o Use bullet points rather than paragraph-form statements. Don't paraphrase. Instead, quote directly from the text-so your Jigsaw Group members get a real "feel" for the original text.
o Include your Name.
o Include your Section Number (four digit number-e.g., 1001, 1002, 2004, 2006).
o Provide a full citation for the article-author, date of publication, title, page numbers, etc.-in APA style.
o You choose what to include in your Findings. You decide what is a key term, what is a significant argument, what is a quotation worth quoting, etc. However, you need to consider what will help your other Group members access this article-what will help them to get the key points. And, what you choose to include or to not include demonstrates your reading and analysis skills.
o If something doesn't "fit" into one of the categories in the Findings Template, then include notes to the Instructor and your Jigsaw Group members, telling them what you're doing in your Findings. You can bend this Template to your needs, but just tell us what you're doing.
o Your questions can be wide-ranging-whatever questions the article brings up. However, you need to create a couple questions which will generate discussion in your Divvy Groups. Your questions may be rather long-taking multiple sentences to describe why you are asking the question in the first place (perhaps quoting something from the article).
o Your questions should also include an attempt at an answer: what do you think the answers to your questions might be?
o You will print off your Findings Form and bring it to class each week. Make sure they are stapled together, so you don't have random pieces of paper flying around.
Article: Poverty and Potential: Out-of-School Factors and School Success by David C. Berliner.