Getting the lesson to sink in...

I recently finished a 5 week research paper unit in my 8th grade Language Arts class. I have been teaching this same basic unit for the last 8 years. I have always enjoyed it because it is such a systematic, step by step process that yields great results, until this year.

The final results of this paper were lacking in almost every area. It seemed as if most of my students were either absent or asleep during each of my lessons. Things that I remembered going over in class were missing or incorrect in so many essays.

I did everything I have been taught about modeling, guided practice, scaffolding, you name it. The only thing I did not do was edit each entire paper before the final drafts. But, I did provide very structured peer editing workshops and edited their first paragraphs. I even incorporated a lesson after the initial first paragraph edit where students had to record the comments and corrections I made in order to draw their attention to their own mistakes.

So the question I pose is: How do I help my student become more active participants in their learning? The apathy that most of them approached their research paper with bleeds into most of their other work. Basically, if it is too hard, they just "hope" their way through the assignment.