EMILY VALAITIS: Hi, I'm Emily Valaitis, an AP English
Language and Composition teacher from Naperville North High
School in Naperville, Illinois.
In today's session, we're going to be talking
about how you can use the sources for the synthesis
prompt to really aid your position
and use them to your advantage.
If you want to work through the sources and the student sample
we're looking at today, you can click
on the link you see over the video right now.
And you can download the PDF of the question
that we'll be working with.
In the previous video, we focused
on how to break down the synthesis prompt thinking,
first, we have to identify the task, turn into a question.
We have to think about what are the various positions provided
within the prompt itself.
And then what areas are being impacted according
to the prompt by this issue.
If you did not watch the previous video,
take 5 to 7 minutes now to pause the recording, breaking down
the prompt so you're able to move forward with our lesson
today.
All right, so now that you have an idea about the topic itself,
STEM education initiatives and how it can increase interest
in STEM-related fields, our point,
our main focus is how do we turn that
into a complex, nuanced position.
Just a reminder with the sources,
you should have between 6 and 7.
As you can see here, two of them will be visual,
one will be quantitative, and the rest
will be text-based that are about 500 words per source.
The sources are there to really help inform your position.
It should not just be use summarizing sources
and what they are saying about the topics.
Instead, you should be using them
to develop your own position.
Don't hunt for quotations to use in your paper,
instead think about these sources as a way
to help you understand your position itself.
So let me give you three tips that we focusing on today
on how to use these sources.
First, when you're reading the sources,
identify the areas that are being impacted
as described by the source.
Then start to look at a relationship that
might exist between multiple sources that use the same areas
impacted, which should walk you into how
to develop a complex position.
I'll talk about each of these in more depth
and explain them to you with some samples.
First, I think it's natural for a lot of students
to take a source and just say yes or no,
positive or negative.
Yes, it supports the impact, the positive impact
of a STEM education initiative.
Or negative, meaning it's opposed
to STEM education initiatives.
I think a lot of students do that because it's just
a quick way to catalog the sources.
But I'm going to encourage you to avoid that.
The sources that you'll be provided on this synthesis
prompt are nuance.
It's not going to be a strict yes or no.
You'll see layers within each.
So instead, I think a smarter move
is to annotate which areas are being
addressed in the source, which areas are being impacted.
If you're taking the exam on a digital platform,
you might just have notes written out
to the side where you can jot down which areas you see
being addressed in each source.
Reminder, the prompt is going to give us three areas--
the global competitiveness, the workforce, and the curriculum.
So if you are a digital, might even write down something
like education on your piece of paper and then A,
B, D, and F. So whenever you see one
of those sources speaking to that area,
it's an easy way to go back to it.
Otherwise, if you are taking the paper copy of the exam
in the margins of each paragraph or as a whole with the source,
take one to two words to describe
the area that's being impacted as described by the source.
The prompt did tell us global competitiveness, workforce,
and education but you might see other areas emerging
beyond what the prompt has given you.
Remember that the key is to think
about what is the issue or the topic, in this case,
STEM education initiatives.
And then ask yourself, what does it
suggest about this area about our social fabric?
Or how does it impact us culturally?
So don't be limited to the prompt use as a springboard,
but you might see other areas being brought forth
by the sources themselves.
So then after you've annotated your sources for those areas,
you can start to see certain commonalities that are merged.
Group common areas.
In this case, if I were to take notes on the areas impacted
and how those were discussed in each of the sources,
I see there's a commonality that exists between these two--
equity and cultural.
So I might say, I'm going to use these two sources together
and have one paragraph about the cultural significance of a STEM
education initiative.
I've already walked myself into my first body paragraph.
One tip that I want to provide is
that when you're looking at the relationship among sources,
try not to separate them or keep them in two separate boxes.
Like well, I believe this and I believe that.
In that case, they're not really being synthesized.
They're really just kind of existing in tandem.
Instead, try to think about if they
were to engage in a conversation like,
well, when it comes to STEM education, I believe this.
I see that, but what about when?
Then, that's true but maybe that's because of this.
Or that also makes me think, you want your sources
to engage with each other and you
want one source to help you understand the next source.
I love the quotation model that says,
I see that, but what about when?
It's getting you to think about the limitations that
exist within the topic itself.
I think a lot of us are inclined to say, oh well, these
have similar arguments.
I'm going to put them in a paragraph together.
And I think that makes sense.
Usually when you're providing that second source
because, remember, you should have
two sources in each paragraph, you
would use a transition like similarly or in addition
or again or another that what you're really doing
is just reinforcing a claim
I've given you this visual here of a square
because I think that that's how you might visually
represent it.
It is a static idea.
It's the same thing being proven over and over again.
And this is absolutely fine.
If done well, you can still earn a 4 in that row beat,
so this is great.
However, if you're looking to push yourself,
you might start thinking about how can I
take two distinct sources?
Meaning, they're both about the same area of impact
but they aren't arguing the exact same thing.
In that case, you'll see that your paragraph is going
to evolve, that it's going to be more gradient,
and it's going to be more complex and more
nuanced because the idea itself is going to grow.
That you'll give the first source
an example or a quotation or reference
from the first source.
And then you might use a transition like,
although this may be true or even so or though,
in spite of this.
And that's when you're really thinking
about the relationship between the sources
and how they influence each other.
That's what's going to give you a more complex body paragraph.
So let's look at a student sample.
I will tell you in this sample, the student
is using two sources, which is what's desired.
And I think the student does a really nice job
of making sure the sources build off
of each other and not simply repeat
what has already been said.
I'm going to ask you to pause the recording
and take about 3 to 5 minutes to read
through this thinking about how well is
the student synthesizing the sources
and what traits might you want to mimic in your own writing.
All right, as you probably noticed,
this body paragraph is focusing on
underrepresented populations.
The student picked one area of impact
more of this like cultural diversity perspective.
The student read through all the sources,
taking notes of when they saw an impact that area being
impacted.
And then thought, now that I'm looking at source A and B,
they're helping me shape my understanding of the larger
significance here.
If we were to go through and highlight,
you'll see the student started with source A, then reference
source B, and then provided citations or references
to source A twice after.
Just from a physical landscape perspective,
going A, B, A, A, helps me see that the student isn't just
saying, here's what one believes,
here's what the other believes but really
trying to mesh them together.
I also think the student does a great job using transitions
to show the nuance of the idea itself.
I love this transition so after giving source A,
the student says, however, the deficit
felt from not being offered adequate STEM classes is
felt far beyond the classroom.
The student is recognizing the larger significance
and the ultimate limitation that source A is
providing, saying it's not just the classroom, it moves beyond.
I think the student by saying it essentially
excludes minority students who haven't been
able to foster this interest is looking
at what might happen if the initiatives weren't in place.
And then by referencing how having a STEM education
initiative levels the playing field not just in Classroom
but in life the student is taking it to context,
taking it outside of the STEM world,
and thinking about what does this ultimately signify.
This is a really sophisticated paragraph
because it's thinking about the relationship between source A
and B and not just saying, here are two things that
agree with the same position.
But they're looking at how they impact one another.
The students rethinking their understanding of A
because of what source B has to provide.
All right.
So now, it's your turn.
Let's take that existing student sample,
the one that's focusing on the larger cultural significance
of adopting more STEM education initiatives.
But I'm going to ask for you to look at a new source.
What if-- hold on to your seats--
we added a third source to that paragraph.
And we looked at this one, source D. Pause the recording
and take a few minutes to think, when you look at this graph,
how does that help you think about the cultural significance
more?
Specifically, in what way does this source extend
the idea that a more diverse STEM workforce is important?
How might it build upon what has already been said?
Essentially, what is this data suggesting
about the way in which STEM education initiatives have
a cultural impact?
All right, for me, I'm really drawn to the second statistic,
that 63% of employees value being comfortable working
with colleagues, customers and their from diverse backgrounds.
If I had to annotate this, I would have put
cultural in the margin here.
But I also really like this fact, too, that 16%
want to have knowledge of global cultures, histories, values,
religions, and social systems.
Essentially they value having a more tolerant perspective.
I think that's really going to fit in nicely to our body
paragraphs when you think about how a STEM education
initiative is, yes, going to provide more
access to underrepresented populations as source A said,
which, as source B said, will prevent discrimination
in the workplace, which, according to source D,
is going to create a more diverse and empathetic
workforce that employees and employers value.
So it's not just as simple as having more STEM education
and classes, it's ultimately going
to provide a more diverse and tolerant work
experience later in life.
OK, so final reminders before we go today.
We've already looked at the prompt,
so now let's look at when approaching
the prompt through the lens of the sources.
You should begin by looking at what areas are impacted.
Avoid this, this source positively
supports STEM initiatives, and this one negatively.
Instead, try to think about when I look, at the source itself,
what areas are being addressed through each source?
Then try to think about what relationships
exist between those sources because of those areas
impacted.
So I might see cultural, and cultural
and think, how do they play off of each other.
And then that will help you ultimately
develop a complex, more nuanced, and sophisticated position.
All right, at this point, you've had some great tips
to help you for the synthesis prompt.
You're almost there.
I know you're going to do grade on the exam in May,
especially on the synthesis question.