Wow. Here was a great little essay about teaching students to use the first person narrative in their academic writing. The author makes a good case for letting students refer to themselves in their papers.
I've been teaching my middle school students to take out all references to themselves in their essays, explaining that I know who the author is and I don't want them to "muddy" their theses with regular references to themselves.
After reading this essay, I'm wondering about that.
I'm curious to hear what other teachers think about this.
The view of the backyard from my mom's house
That light fixture is now gone, sadly.
2 comments:
I have to admit that I encourage them to use the first-person. It helps them avoid the passive voice, makes their writing more engaging, and helps them connect and take responsibility for their writing. I can understand, though, teaching them other styles of writing, so I can see why you encourage them not to do it.
I find that I enjoy their essays more when they put themselves into it, rather than trying to maintain an artificial distance. Quite obviously, the better writing students are more successful at it than the poorer students. I guess I'm in it for the entertainment value!
But, seriously, I think they can and should learn both styles.
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