The Article of the Week concept was developed by Kelly Gallagher, an English teacher and author. He believes that, in order to become better writers, individuals need to make interesting connections between a variety of topics. In order to pull on a variety of ideas while writing, students need to read broadly - we will read and discuss informational articles and opinion pieces throughout the year in order to provide students with opportunities to both discover what is happening in the world around them and analyze the rhetorical moves those writers make. I hope to teach students how to read for nuance, bias, and perspective.
I have incorporated AOWs into my teaching for the last decade. This year, I'd like to expand the "of the week" offerings to include different media. I hope this will allow students to grow in new ways and make connections between different items. We will explore and learn to "read" in a variety of ways, and then share out our understandings, confusions, and questions in classroom discussions.
They may be articles, TED talks, podcasts, YouTube clips, etc. I will introduce the text at the start of the week, students will complete an AOW chart, and the class will discuss the text at the end of the week. This will become a standing routine for the year.
Note: you can view Gallagher's AOW page here; also check out Dave Stuart Jr.'s page
I will assign an OTW "text" once per week (typically at the beginning of the week).
You will "read" the text and complete a Sketchnotes (for a Prep grade).
We will discuss the article in class using items from your chart and/or the prompts located at the end of the text (for a Classwork grade).
After we read four (ish) texts, I will assign an OTW written response.
Choose one of the OTWs and compose a personal response to the topic using the criteria below (based on Dave Stuart Jr's assignment). You will use the prompts at the end of the text to create this response.
Write a 250+ word response an OTW text. There are two response options:
After reading the text, what is one main idea that you find most remarkable (meaning, “most worthy of a remark” - so it can be interesting, concerning, confusing, alarming, offensive, etc.)? What is it that you find so remarkable? Explain.
After reading the text, what additional questions do you have? Research these on your own and write about what you find.
Grading Focus Areas:
Response is 250+ words
Response is on topic
Response attempts to be professional and respectful.
Tone and word choice are appropriate to the topic being discussed
Response is free from grammatical errors (TBD in class)
When having a discussion on a political/sensitive topic in this class, the rules are:
Be respectful - we don’t mock people.
We focus on ideas, not superficialities (e.g. someone’s appearance).
We aim to improve our understanding of a topic - not to “win.”
We are curious about those with ideas that differ from our own. We want to understand them.
Documents
Sketchnotes (or, if you prefer a more text-based response: OTW Chart)
These are some of the sites I plan to mine for content. I hope to learn about additional content from my classes this year.
Film Club (NYTimes)
Essay of the Week - Matthew Johnson
Intelligence Squared (debates)