Mutligenre+Research+Project


 * Directions:** //As per your dossier, you will be responsible for compiling the information below about your inquiry strategy. Next week, you will provide a 5-7 minute overview of your strategy for the class.//

** Name and Description of your strategy (mention any variations of your strategy as well): ** Multigenre papers or projects involve a student selecting a person, place, or event that forms the focus of their research. After researching their topic, students use a variety (usually at least eight or more) of different genres--poems, short stories, fictitious news clippings, and so on--to create a diverse multigenre paper that is still connected by the subject and an ongoing theme or concept. Variations are as diverse as the genres making up these papers, so some papers could contain any number of creative or fact-based anecdotes. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional artwork, digital media, and other genres are all some of the forms that the multigenre project can take, but they are still connected to a certain subject at the core. Along with their papers, students include bibliographies and records of their work on the papers. This helps to track their efforts and grade their papers, and to provide a solid basis for their work. The multigenre paper is unique in that it asks students to perform typical scholarly research and traditional academic writing, but also to think creatively and from other perspectives to cover their topics from a range of viewpoints. This makes the multigenre paper fun and interesting.

** Inquiry Process associated with your strategy: ** The multigenre paper forces students to do solid research, digging around in their topic and pulling out important information to create a paper around. It also forces them to make considerations about their topic from the viewpoint of others, and often a multigenre paper will include some sort of newspaper article, short story, or other creative piece that explores a situation or event related to the topic that is influenced by the student's research. In doing this, the student is actively evaluating their subject from another perspective, going beyond the biographical information, and thinking about the subject in a new light. This transformation from bystander to active observer and reporter is part of what makes the multigenre paper's inquiry so effective: it allows the author to examine a topic in detail from so many ways that the student naturally gets very close to their topic. Technology plays a couple of important roles in the multigenre paper. First, internet research, a sometimes hazardous endeavor, is a natural resouce for multigenre paper writers. Though the internet must be used carefully, it is a valuable tool for finding research and artifacts to use with a multigenre. Second, digital media and web 2.0 tools are a great way to integrate other genres into a multigenre paper. I used Photostory, a slide show program, to add to my multigenre paper. I was very pleased with the results. There are so many worthwhile tools available, digital media has to be considered for inclusion in a multigenre paper.

** Description of the Product or Products resulting from the inquiry process associated with your strategy: ** Poems, newspaper articles, short stories, essays, artwork, collages, and digitial media are all products of the inquiry that goes into a multigenre paper. Some of the products are fact-based while others rely on facts to shape the student author's creative efforts. A common inclusion in a multigenre paper is a fictitious article or recount of an event about the person or thing the student is basing their multigenre paper on. This is the epitome of the multigenre, since it blends fact and fiction and puts the student in the center of the action.

** Descriptions of Examples and Links to examples when possible (when you include a link to an example, provide a brief annotation / description of the example -- not just a link): ** "Miriam's Song", written from the perspective of a teenager with a frustrating and unhappy home life, includes poems, a double voice poem, a recipe called "Baked Stepfather," a spoof of biblical "Rules," several diary excerpts, a conversation translated from multiple perspectives, letters to the girl's brother, and biblical passages. It is an example of a very powerful, moving multigenre paper that recalls personal experiences.

[|Kyle's Multigenre Paper] This is a link to a Weebly site I created for my Mark Twain multigenre paper. It includes a few poems, short story, newspaper clippings, Photostory slide show, and others. I tried to capture Mark Twain's inimitable humor in my pieces, as well as his rebellious activist spirit. This project was a blast to put together, and it demonstrates how much fun a multigenre project can be.

[|Paul Geldston's Multigenre Blog] Paul Geldston was a classmate of mine this past summer whose multigenre paper focused on tap dancing and the career of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. Paul's concept for a multigenre paper actually blended a multigenre paper with a blog site to create a very unique and interesting format that is professional, easy to read, and full of interesting materials. His embedded videos show how technology can play a big role in the multigenre project, too. Digital media is certainly a great way to add to the multigenre paper, and Paul's blog project shows how.

** Resources consulted related to your strategy: ** Allen, Camille (2001). The multigenre research paper: Voice, passion, and discovery in grades 4-6. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Moulton, M.R. (1999). The multigenre paper: Increasing interest, motivation, and functionality in research. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 42:7. April 1999. Pp. 528-539.

Romano, Tom (2000). Blending genre, altering style: writing multigenre papers. Boynton/Cook Publishing.

** 1-2 additional inquiry-based learning strategies you like (name and describe briefly): ** Webquest: Webquests use internet-based tools (blogs, wikis, Voicethreads, etc.) to synthesize student research and inquiry into a unique project. My own webquest design from a previous course utlized the American Memory Collection from the Library of Congress to help students portray someone from a specific war.