08 February

Weaving: Moving Beyond the Structure One Student at a Time

Posted by Dr. Deborah E. Louis
Categories AP®/IB, Blog, Formulaic Writing, JSWP Advanced
Comments 0 comment

Dear Dr. Louis, How do I teach weaving? Scott Dear Scott: “Weaving” is Jane Schaffer’s integral step of blending concrete details (CDs) and commentary (CM). When a student demonstrates his/her ability to identify and understand CDs and CMs and when …

01 November

Trust Thyself: When to Use and When Not to Use the Schaffer Method

Posted by Dr. Deborah E. Louis
Categories AP®/IB, Blog, JSWP Advanced, JSWP Methodology, Schafferisms

Hi, Dr. Louis: My name is Jaime, and I’m a teacher in Los Angeles. We spoke on the phone about a month ago or so. I’m just sort of in a quandary using the Jane Schaffer Method with my students …

11 June

Inference: Unlocking the Prison Door to Close Reading Strategies

Posted by Dr. Deborah E. Louis
Categories AP®/IB, Blog, Core Literature, Reading Closely, Style, Tone
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Dear Dr. D’, My 10th grade American Literature students just don’t get it. I mean, when they are reading a fictional piece or a non-fictional piece, they don’t know how to infer. They don’t know how to look deeper into …

08 May

“There Are Years That Ask Questions and Years That Answer”: How to Improve Commentary Through the WOW Sheets

Posted by Dr. Deborah E. Louis
Categories AP®/IB, Blog, Commentary, JSWP Advanced, Style, Tone
Comments 0 comment

Dear Dr. D’, The confusion I’m having now that you might be able to help me with has to do with how deep to have [my students] go on the WOW sheet in the bubbles. Some students seem to write …

23 March

Persuasion vs. Argumentation

Posted by Dr. Deborah E. Louis
Categories AP®/IB, Argumentation, Blog, JSWP Advanced, Testing
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Dear Dr. D’, Could you please explain the difference between persuasive and argumentative writing…could it be as simple as semantics? – Gerene Dear Gerene: The difference is semantics, but in its most formal sense: …