In this week's reading from Noden, I found the discussion between imitation and creation, versus plagiarizing and copying to be a great source of potential lessons. I've found that, although students are impressed constantly by their teachers to avoid plagiarism, they are simply told what not to do, rather than given guidelines as to how to write in their own voice, and document someone else's voice when you rely upon it. Furthermore, I've found that plagiarism is only discussed in the terms of research paper composition; as the chapter revealed, falsification or plagiarism has occurred in every genre possible -- not just research. Creative nonfiction and memoirs are two genres with some particularly egeregious examples in recent memory.
This can all be very confusing and frustrating for a student because we conversely discuss the minutia of what makes a work of literature classic or seminal. I think that if it were made clearer how to apply what authors have done again and again to their own writing, but show how to make it uniquely theirs students might understand the difference between imitating and plagiarizing. An example that could illustrate imitation, as well as cause a discussion about literary tropes, is the film Star Wars. As a class, students could pull these tropes and themes out, from the hero's quest to the distressed damsel to the evil empire, to see what makes the film so popular and rewatchable. After some discussion, you could tell them about Joseph Campell's Hero with a Thousand Faces and how George Lucas deliberately used it as a reference, as well as the film serials of his childhood like Buck Rodgers, to explore age-old themes in a new way.
With that illustration fresh in student minds, I think that the next step would be looking at repeated tropes or structures in literature. I liked the illustration of the writing trees because it shows how many ways a sentence can convey information. As a bonus, this activity is helpful for students who struggle to convey their arguments clearly, or who fall in to formulaic patterns while trying to express a particular feeling. The Anderson readings for this week connceted well becasuse they dealt with teaching the sentence. I could see tying many of the concepts from to the writing trees Noden illustrated. For example, you could show how a dangling modifier causes the "branches" in the sentence to state the message of the sentence confusingly.
Regarding the dark side of imitation, I liked the "Explore Plagiarism" activity for its I think that too often, teachers focus on the morality of plagiarism rather than examine why it happens. In short, I think that we can go beyond the obvious, knee-jerk response to plagiarism (BAD! CHEATING! LAZY! WRONG! are some responses that come to mind) with our students, and use some practical examples of it. A debate activity might be a good way to discuss some of the alleged plagiarists; that is, have students pick one of them and debate whether or not there was plagiarism in their work and if there was whether it was deliberate or not. I was certainly surprised by some of the alleged plagiarizers on that list. I'm sure that students will be too. Further exploration into this subject could be looking into what the consequences were, if any, for these alleged plagiarizers. I think that the real-world concequences of plagiarism are much more interesting and nunaced than how teachers make it appear. IMMEDIATE FAILURE! rarely happens, for one. The consequences are usually are the result of allegation, and cause massive amounts of debate, finger-pointing, and are generally much more protracted.
I won't talk too much in depth about Anderson's chapter since I have to teach a Grammar RX lesson on sentences and I want to save the bulk of my ideas for that, but I will say that the clarity of the chapter gives me hope that the methods we're learning actually work. I'm understanding grammar more and more through , but more importantly, I'm understanding how to explain how grammar works more and more.
I enjoyed your discussion on plagiarism.
ReplyDelete"...teachers focus on the morality of plagiarism rather than examine why it happens. In short, I think that we can go beyond the obvious, knee-jerk response to plagiarism (BAD! CHEATING! LAZY! WRONG! are some responses that come to mind) with our students, and use some practical examples of it."
I agree. One thing that your post highlights - and that I applaud - is the very positive approach that the authors assume about teaching things like plagiarism. I don't know about you, but anytime a teacher would say something like: "Well, I have all of the papers graded, but there was one paper that has received a zero for plagiarism. We'll talk afterwards," I would quiver in my seat, thinking of all of the possible accidental, overlooked plagiaristic sins that I could have committed, until I was handed back my paper - without the zero.
The last thing we want our students to feel is fear.