Friday, March 18, 2011
#14 "Slip-slidin' Away..."
You have been given an inordinate amount of time in the computer lab to research your topic and begin your paper. Is this structure worthwhile? Would you rather be given the framework and then go work independently (ie outside of school, at home, etc.)? The "opportunity cost" of such time could possibly be another piece of literature, a more extensive poetry unit, or perhaps further grammar study. What are the disadvantages to this setup, knowing that in college these types of projects will be solely independent?
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61 comments:
I much rather be doing a poetry unit but I do enjoy the research paper. I like working in the lab everyday because I know it'd be much harder to work on my own. So in that case maybe working in class is negative. If I don't experience writting a paper like this on my own, then I will never learn how. But since this is my first paper I think its much better that I do it in class so I learn the correct way to do it, rather than adapting bad habits and bringing those to college.
Well, as thrilling as grammar study and a more extensive poetry unit sound to me, I must say I would rather work in the Computer lab. However, I would have rather worked in the computer lab only for specific things, such as the bibliography, MLA formatting, and researching. When it comes down to actually writing the paper, I know that at least for myself, I will do most of the work at home. Sadly the main reason is because i despise the school keyboards, they are shotty and awkward, allowing for a less than desirable typing experience. At home I can enjoy my earl gray, type on a better keyboard, listen to my music WITHOUT HEARING FRIDAY by Rebecca Black, and I do not have to protect my backpack from being sacked.
Although, after some thought, I must say I rather would enjoy taking a look at another piece of literature. For me anyway, i know any additional time in the library will probably be spent re-reading research and wasting time. t least in class, reading something will keep me engaged as well as offer more grades (quiz wise) which would also be beneficial.
I like the way we have it set up in class. I think spending a lot of time on the paper will really help us. I think this time on the paper will benefit us more in the future then if we did more poetry or something similar. Hopefully this class time we spend on the paper will make us good essay/paper writers. I think that will be more important in life then learning about poetry.
-Nick G.
I value the time given in the computer lab. It makes it impossible for anyone to make up excuses, like their computer broke. Also, there is a teacher in the same room to help you.
I like that we've been given time in the computer lab to do our research projects. It makes it almost impossible to procrastinate, and we have a teacher to help us.
Having time in the computer lab is helpful becuase if we have any questions or we dont understand something we can just ask the teacher or a friend sitting next to us and it would be much harder to get answers that quick if you were at home doing the paper by yourself. I would rather be in the computer lab then be doing poetry and grammer. The disadvantages of this setup is that we dont have to always figure things out for ourselves becuase we can just ask someone right there.
i really like that we have been given all of this time in the computer lab to do our research paper and the deadlines for the each parts of the research paper have help people spread out the work so they are not all doing it the night before the deadline but if you don't use the lab time appropriately it feels even worse when you don't do the work that your assigned because you have so much time and resources and you don't even utilize them; but this pacing yourself skill will hopefully help you in collage because in collage you just can not do a project like a research paper the night before its due
Working in the computer lab for our research paper really helps. I think its a great idea to help us get on our feet and really learn how to write the perfect research paper, so soon we will be able to do it on our own. This will definitely benefit us in the future. Its good to have more then one help you and give you advice on your paper.
Danielle period7
I think the time in the computer lab is worthwhile. I like doing my research or citations in school and writing and putting together by paper at home where I can concentrate. I appreciate the time in the computer lab because I manage my time wisely so I will not save my work to the last minute if I was working on the paper at home. Having this time in class is forcing me to work on my paper and not procrastinate. The disadvantages are I can not focus in the lab as well as I can at home.
Danielle W
I prefer working in class in the computer lab because it would take me longer to do the same amount of work at home because I find it easier to concentrate in school than at home.
I like to work both in school and at home. If I was only required to do the paper at home, I think I'd get even more distracted than I do in the computer lab. However, if I feel like I'm behind in the lab, I like to catch up and write some of the essay on my own time. In my opinion, spending the time in class to do this research paper is worth it because we learn more about the structure. If I was to do the entire project at home, I would easily get confused. I think we do enough of poetry, literature and grammar and learning about this paper is necessary for future papers. I think the disadvantage is simply that we won't be able to ask the teacher questions as we are writing. Other than that, this is a good preparation for when we do have to write independently.
I am happy doing this paper in school because i dont have enough time to do it out of school with all the things i do. I feel that i would also get to distracted at home. But i feel almost behind in the computer lab. I understand that we have to write them on our own in college, which i wil;l dread because i need criticism to write a good paper.
I like to work in class because it is less stressful, but I get a lot less done than if I would if I was at home. Yes there is no Facebook to distract me, but I seem to lose track of time and realize there is only 5 minutes left of the period when I have only written down one sentence. It may not help that the topic I chose for my essay is difficult and is very opinionated.
Although I liked doing the initial research and bibliograpy in class, I woulld rather be working on another piece of literatre in class now becase I do most of the writng at home.
i personally like the time we have in the computer lab, its keeps me focused. if iwas at home i would be very distracted and it would take me forever to complete this assignment
If I had to choose between working in the computer lab and working at home on my research paper, I would probably go with the computer lab. I feel there, you are able to get more work done, if you have any questions on any specific topics in regards to anything, there is someone almost always there who can answer it. Also, at home, there is just more distractions I feel with YouTube, cell phones, television, etc., that the focus tends to drift away from school work and onto other things. The disadvantages would probably be: just chatter with friends during the period where you are supposed to use your time wisely to get a portion of your project done.
Period 8 English
I really enjoyed having time in class to go to the computer lab because we were able to ask question right then and there. When we have to do work at home, I normally just do it at the last minute, but not in class. I would have liked to do poetry but I think it was a lot more useful to go to the computer lab. This is high school, not college, so I won't worry about that until the time comes. So for right now, I think it was great to be able to work on it in class.(:
Working in the computer lab really helps since i'm busy during the week, i get most of the work done during the school week, and whatever wasn't done gets done during the weekend. it really helps me a lot. I just think it's bad because then people will start to expect an excess amount of time on essays in college, which wont be given.
I think that the computer lab is just one big distraction and i really prefere just doing it at my house independently.
i like working in the computer lab. I get work done faster than i would be at home since facebook and other websites are blocked. I find it easier to work independent, i believe projects and papers are easier that way. I can work well at home too it just takes a bit longer.
While I believe that the Time we are given in class doesn't help us for future papers of the same nature, I have a firm belief that it is crucial to any person's grade to have a certain amount of time where they are less distracted in a controlled environment.
I thought working in the computer lab during class time was really helpful. It gave us time to really begin to research our topic and help us understand the right way of writing a research paper. Having a friend or the teacher to ask for help was good too because it made it easier for us to ask questions and make sure we're doing everything the right way. It will definitely benefit us in the future when we have to actually sit down and write a paper by ourselves.
I think we were given too much time in the computer lab because some people didn't do anything and they just did their paper at home. I would've rather worked on this at home because I would've had more time at home rather than forty minutes in the computer lab everyday for about two weeks.
I like the amount of time we get in the computer lab it allows me to get everything I need done but I think I would rather have done my paper at home where I feel I can work Better
Honestly, I would rather be working on a more extensive poetry unit than the paper. I enjoy writing and reading poetry.
Time in the computer lab can be helpful sometimes, but for me it is not. It is harder to concentrate in a loud enviornment while I am trying to think and carefully choose my word choice. I prefer working at home in a quiter, comfortable, and peacefull area. It is an advantage to have the teacher in the same room for any questions, but I would usually email the teacher or speak with him/her after or before class.
I think we were given a good amount of time to complete our papers. doing it in the computer lab was benefical because you were able to give us enough guidance to make this paper turn out well.
This structure is wothwhile because it allows you to not have to do all of the work at home. I would much rather do it this way because it means less work. Traditionally, english has been one of my least favorite subjects. However, I look forward to english every day this year because we do little work and still learn a lot. If I were to run school, I would make it consist of learining and tests that don't contain essays or extended writing pieces that require more than a few sentences to answer. I would abolish homework and projects and if there is time after all of the curriculum is covered, then class discussions and relaxing can constitute the rest of the year. Other than that, the school year would be just learning and tests with break time and more relaxing forms of learning occuring less the more the curriculum is, or more the less the curriculum is. However, there would only be a lot of tests if the curriculum is fairly large. Since the english 10curriculum seems rather small, it is good how our class is run because there is not enough curriculum to have a lot of tests anyway. Since there is not a lot of room for tests, we need some projects, which we do have. And since we have an entire school year to cover such a small curriculum, read a few pieces of literatue, and do some projects, why not make the class relaxing and fun? Therefore, I think spending a lot of time on the research paper is good because it just takes away unecessary time for doing an unecessary project that we're not doing anyway because we're spending a lot of time in the computer lab. The only disadvantage to spending a lot of time in the computer lab is that we may not be prepared for not being able to do this in college (this is why I plan to go to a math-based type of school, so I will have to do less of these writing type of assignments, even though I will still have to do a lot of them regardless).
i think me another many other people in your classes valued the time that you gave us in the computer lab because if they had any questions about the paper they could just ask you
To be honest, I didn't think the weeks in the computer lab benefited for me. I like to work in my room where its quiet and I have no distractions. I find it hard to write some things on the school computer and then finish them at home. Although, I did like how we had to fill out index cards because that really helped. I wrote most of my information out so when i went to write my essay, it was very easy. I also liked how you had us hand in the introduction because it got me started and kept me on task. If we didn't spend so much time in the computer lab, I would have probably liked to have read another novel.
Kaitlyn Period 9
I much rather work in school on my essay and in the computer lab in school because I find it much easier to concentrate. But I dont think this goes for everyone because it is more distracting to work around their friends. But it is worthwhile for me.
I liked being able to work in the computer lab, because it allowed us to ask you for help and have you explain difficulties we were facing. The problem is I feel like most of us get distracted by our friends in the class or just don’t focus on our work like we should. I feel like I get most of my work done when I’m at home, because I’m alone and I can focus without getting distracted. The only problem about working at home is that when I come across problems I don’t have help right off the bat. Although I faced those problems I would much rather work on that then do poetry or study grammar.
Eh, in all honesty poetry puts me to sleep. I really liked the research paper because I learned more about my topic than I did before. I think I work better at home because it was too distracting in the computer lab.
I like being in the computer lab because people cant make up excuses for why they couldnt hand in their papers. Also if you need help the teacher is right there to help you.
As much as I liked going into the computer lab to do the research paper, I did get distracted very easily. I thought it was productive at some points in the computer lab, but I would much rather us not spend two whole weeks in the lab.
I think the time that we spent in class is time well spent and i got a lot of research and web sites during this time. Even though those their were a few people that didn't do research and just fooled around their wasting THEIR time. However, there were many others that got some work done.
I think the time I spent in the computer lab working on the research paper was worth it. I was able to concentrate more on the paper instead of writing most of it at home where I would have been distracted. I would have liked doing a unit on a book instead of the research paper. The disadvantages in this kind of setup is that when I have to write more of these papers in college I won't have as much help from the teacher. I will be more experienced in writing these papers by the time I'm in college.
I thought that the computer lab time was very worthwhile. If I was just given the framework to go work independently, I probably would have ended up doing the whole essay last minute. The time in the computer lab definitely helped me get things done. I would also like to do more of a poetry unit, but I would rather use this time for the research pape than that. The disadvantages are that I'm going to have to learn how to make time to write things on my own in college and the years to come.
While I did appreciate the time we were given in the library for our research, I think maybe we were given a bit too much time. The main reason behind this is because I find that I can do research at school, but I prefer to do the actual writing process at home where I can relax and have less distractions. If we had shortened the time in the library I would most likely prefered we read another piece of literature because I enjoy reading and I would'nt want a more extensive grammar unit because I find that after a while grammar in school seems less like learning and more like busy work.
Kyle O. Period 8
I think the computer lab was a very distracting place for us and whne i needed to i could really pull out the information there because i was off focus. Not even talking to others just being in there gave me a feeling of unfocused energy. I feel when im home i am home and i can handle my paper better because i can get into a groove and just write without distractions of the bell or other people or the heat in the labs. It seems more efficent to give us a month to do that and in the mean time work on another book. I wouldve prefered that.
I like being in the computer lab because my teacher can help me. Besides if you are working in the computer lab then people can not make up stupid excuses like my printer broke.
I did not like the overal set up of this project. I felt that the computer lab was unescary because all it was, was a distraction due to the constant distractions and people talking. I think a better way to do this is to set up conferences with the students to discuss there topics and pappers before they are due
I like all the time we were given in the computer lab to write the paper. When I am at home I am easily distracted and wouldn't have gotten as much work done. I would rather work on the research paper than spending time on the potery unit.
i like working in the computer lab. I get work done faster than i would be at home amnd i have to do work in school or we get in trouble i perffer to do the whole thing in school other wise it will not get done.
i cant make a decision whether or not to have done a project at home or in class because at home i feel like i can concetrate more but in class because i can get more help from people.
Yea i liked working in the computer lab. The disadvantage to this is when your in the computer lab there is so many ways to get side tracked on the computer. Another way it is a disadvantage is when you get older and your teachers don't give you time to work on it and then you have to work on it by yourself and you might not be ready.
I did not like the way we went to the computer lab everyday. I would of much rather done it at home independently because I feel that in the computer lab I am more easily distracted because there are other people around me talking.
I like having time in the computer lab because if we have questions we can just ask you insted of emailing you and waiting for the response the next day. My computer has been broken for a month and with my parents work hours I have to be hme for my family so doing the project in school really helped. But if we didn't use the lab, I would of enjoyed extending the poetry unit because that is one of my favortie units in English.
I think that having time in the computer lab to work on pur research paper is very good idea because it would help the students with their paper since Mr. Gunsel was right in the room and could assist and suggest to the students in need of help. personally this is not for me because I do tend to get distracted on writing assignments while in school. I need to sit alone behind my computer without anyone talking or any background noise because I have a hard time remaining focused. If most students have problems keeping focus than I would have liked to do the poetry unit however, that did not seem to be the case so giving students independent time in class to work on these essays was a smart choice. As far as having these types of projects being assigned in college doesnt bother or consern me because I feel like I can manage working independently well, perhaps even better. I just hope that in college we will have more assignments to do at home so it would be easier for me to consentrate and faster to accomplish.
I like that you gave us time to do the paper in the computer lab during class. Even though I did not do a lot of my paper during this allotted time, as you already know, I do think it is helpful. I feel it gives students a chance to ask you questions and utilize the various resources our school has to offer. I personally can not focus on the task at hand while in the computer lab with my class, but i feel it really does benefit students in many ways. I probably would have benefitted more if we went to the lab two to three times for specific things. I feel I would have been more compelled to focus if we went one day for the bibliography, one for the research, and one day for the outline. I feel it would have benefitted me personally because I would not have kept pushing off the assignment and saying "Oh, we are in here tomorrow so I will do it then." The extra quizzes from reading another piece of literature would not have done anything to my average except help it.
I think the time in the compute lab did not matter to me at all. I did my work both at home and in school so it did not really matter to me. The grammar study had helped me and the poetry unit was alright none of it made that big of a deal to me as long as I got my research paper in on time and I did it correctly with everything.
Given the inordinate time in the computer lab was better for me because I could ask the teacher questions while writing the paper. The structure was worthwhile because I didn't have to worry about doing it at home, but also had the opportunity to do it at home. Also with that, it gives you a lot more time to work on it. There wasn't many disadvantages to this setup.
I believe that the amount of time we had in the computer lab was a lot and it really helped. Because I don't have a lot of time after school to do an entire essay because every day I have badmitton and every other day I have soccer. I believe that their were no disadvantages to this setup.
Mike B
The time in the computer lab was very useful because I had much less to do at home. I have things that I want to do in my free time, so the computer lab was very convenient for me. But, as was mentioned in the question, colleges do not allow class time to work on the research paper. Students have to do the paper in their own time. The time that we had doesn't necessarily prepare us for future research papers. I think it is good to ease us into the process, though.
I feel like the time I spent in the computer lab was more of a success than a failure. I say this because I would rather have class time spent on doing on a project, then going home and doing the project their, because it is more efficient to contact Mr. Gunsel during the period and moving than waiting till the next day. I feel like the opportunity cost in this project was spent well because we aren’t taught how to write a research paper in other classes and this is going to help us write future papers and other documents.
i think it was important for you to teach us how to write the paper and to some extent watch us get the basics as we are going to have to write more of these papers in college but i do think that it would have been time better spent on another unit, but it's not my decision to make.
I think that being in the computer lab for the amount of time that we were was very helpful when working on my paper because I would not have had time at home to work on it and do a good job. The only disadvantage of this structure that I could think of is that i took time away from learning about other things during our short class time that we are provided. Although we will have to work independently in the future this helped us learn skills that we would not have been able to learn with out you ( the teacher) being with us step by step.
I like that we were given time in the computer lab, it gives you an opportunity to ask any questions you might have while writing the essay since there is a teacher in the room. A disadvantage is it can be distracting since there is a lot of people in the room.
I like that we can work in the computer lab. It'll give us time to complete our bibliographys and note cards. Also, my friends can help me if I need it. Even though the time in the computer lab is appreciated, I will be compelting my paper at home so I can fully focus.
Jarred C
I think its good that you gave us a month to do the research paper.I guess the disadvantages is we wont normally have this much time to do essays in the futures, its bad to get used to having a lot of time when in the future you wont.
I valued the time that was given to us in the computer lab. Having a teacher in the same room as me when writing my paper also helped me. A disadvantage to writing most of the paper in the computer lab is that we normally will not be given that long of a time to finish it.
I only enjoyed the computer lab process due to the fact we were not in the class room doing the same thing as the last.....READING. I would have rathered gotten the outline in lcass ansd have gone home and do the paper because it wouldnt have had jill and mike sitting next to me distracting me. I think if we did it at home it would have been good practice for what we will have to do when we are in colleg.
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