MGRP - Just say YES!

After working on at Multi Genre Research Paper I can say with certainty that it is something that I would use in my classroom.  I found that since I was able to select the topic and research it on my terms, I was engaged and excited about every nugget of information I discovered about my topic.  One of the most freeing parts of the paper was the encouragement of finding more questions that I could answer.  Without the pressure of answering every point I discovered, I was able to broaden the scope of my inquiry and questions became exciting, instead of drudgery.

The genre pieces became a creative way in which to express all the exciting nuggets of information that I discovered.  It also reinforced the idea that literacy goes beyond the restriction of books.  While working with the different genres I found that I started looking for literacy everywhere.  Although I wasn’t able to use all my ideas do to time, technology restraints and personal ability, I still came up with at least twenty different genres.  From seasoning salts to obituaries, from candy wrappers to crayon boxes, every trip to the grocery story or walk to class became an exercise in different genre spotting.   What an innovative way to get students looking at their world around them through the eyes of a “literacy spy”.