Reflections: TAG & Multi-Genre Research

My TAG students have completed a 5 week Multi-Genre Research project. I'm really proud of them; I feel like some of the expectations I set for them are comparable to work I did in high school.

The idea to complete a multi-genre research project came from our neighboring school. They complete one every year with their TAG kids with much success and lots of accolades. I will definitely do this again next year with minor adjustments.

From reviewing their final products these are areas of weakness I noticed:

• Some kids continue to struggle connecting their thesis to the rest of their paper. More often than not, they had an awesome thesis, but then the paper was just a list of information about the topic. I think this had to do with the order I taught the process. I should have had them write their thesis statements way earlier.
• Alphabetizing Works Cited (small but important)
• Internal documentation. This is no surprise to me; I didn't teach it, I "covered it".
• Fuzzy graphics. I need to teach the kids how to preserve the quality of a graphic when they copy it. Also need to reinforce citing sources for pictures as well as text.

I was thinking maybe next year of having the TAG class complete a multi-genre project at the beginning of the year as an introductory activity. They could choose any interest they have and research it. IDK, I'll think about it again in the fall.