Curating to Counter by Jackie Frederick

Linda Denstaedt, Jackie Frederick (Library Media specialist at Turtle Mountain High School), and Dawn Hawkins (L to R)

Here’s the Issue: Teaching writing is difficult.  Teachers can be very creative at finding ways and excuses to avoid teaching writing, due in part to a lack of confidence in their own writing, and/or the lack of quality writing instruction they received while preparing to teach.

First I thought argument writing was picking a stance on an issue, providing evidence to further support my view, strategically selecting a counter that I could easily bury in a fight, so that I could further prove my position as the “right” one, then finally, summing it all up to again support my view in a dramatic final sweep.

Then I learned from the "Curating to Counter" mini-unit session led by Linda Denstaedt and Dawn Hawkins that curating is the gathering of information demonstrating all sides of an issue without bias for students to learn from.  Unlike curation in a museum, the students will not merely look at the information, they will use the information to share the varying sides of the issue for their reader to make a choice.  The counter will not merely play "devil’s advocate;" rather, it will continue to present information for the sake of informing the reader. If students are given the proper tools, modeling and support, they will be able to present a claim, select solid evidence and a counter for their reader to decide on their own, what position, if any they would take without judgement from the writer.

Now I think my department will have a quicker and more solid buy-in to teach writing using this model of instruction, and the students will have a broader and more successful approach to argument writing.