As many of you know, I moderate a Facebook group (Teachers Making Better Writers) as well as curate a YouTube channel (Teaching Teachers How to Teach Writing).
Over the summer months, a number of us will be sitting down to collaborate on building synthesis units.
This effort stems from a comment an AP Language student left on my yearend evaluation.
In brief, he stated that the manner in which synthesis gets taught is closely akin to giving a novice juggler seven flaming bowling pins in the hopes of being the best circus clown – we instead need to begin with a couple of tennis balls, for example.
I love the analogy – and I think that the student is 100% correct.
So, our first unit is going to tackle a timeless essential question:
“Mr. Owl … How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop?”
At the moment, we are gathering sources – everything from the literal behind the scenes physics of the question to theories of impulse control …
Once the sources are gathered and agreed upon, we are going to meet in Zoom so that I can demonstrate how to “Bob Ross” the instruction.
In other words … illustrate for teachers how to construct the essay while incorporating my templates. Together, we will write exemplars and models for our students so that we can demystify the writing process for them.
If you would like to join us, drop me a line and we can catch you up to speed.
Ideally, we’d like to make 3-4 synthesis units this summer.
Happy teaching and happy writing!
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