Set your Students on Fire - Do an I-Search!

Set your students on fire! Do an I-Search Project! Doing an I-Search Project with your students could save your battered middle school teacher's soul. Why? Because an I-Search Project incorporates so many standards, so many real, usable skills, and necessitates so much expository reading and writing. Because an I-Search easily differentiates for all learners--GATE, Special Ed, ELL, high and low readers, and every kind of learning style. Even more importantly, because students choose a topic that truly interests them, the I-Search Project motivates and inspires students like nothing else I've ever seen. They work harder to find information and read at higher levels because they are genuinely interested, and the final product is a well-researched piece of expository writing with an authentic voice. So you're inspired, they're motivated, standards are met, and real learning takes place. Your dream of creating lifelong learners in your classroom really can be realized!

The concept of the I-Search paper (as opposed to the research paper) is based on the work of professor Ken Macrorie (who wrote The I-Search Paper after collaborating with many teachers on curriculum for searching writing), and has been widely adapted nationally at all grade levels. Macrorie's premise is that the traditional textbook and traditional research paper "embalm" the subjects they hope to educate readers about. In order to resuscitate the genre of informative writing, the I-Search paper is written in first person (no hidden author) and includes a journal about the searching process. In my version of the I-Search Project, students:

• Choose a topic that really, truly interests them and sustains their search
• Determine what they already know about their topic
• Establish at least 5 interesting questions about their topic
• Find sources (at least 3 print sources) on their topic questions
• Conduct an interview or survey with real people
• Write and organize notes from their sources and interview
• Keep a daily log on their searching process
• Write an I-Search paper which includes answers to at least three of their questions and a reflection on the searching/reporting process

The I-Search Project can be modified for students with special needs by adjusting the number of questions expected to be answered, adjusting the number and type of sources used, and adjusting the rubric on an individual basis for individual students. The I-Search process naturally differentiates for different reading levels because the sources students select must be accessible to them, whether they're at a 3rd grade level or a college level. Therefore, students work on various language arts skills such as paraphrasing, summarizing, note-taking, etc. with text at an appropriate level. Once established as a process in the classroom, the I-Search process can be transferred to more teacher-directed research on a wide variety of subjects.