Learning Letter

This quarter was particularly difficult, as the work load seemed to be significantly higher than it has been in previous quarters. I was still pleased with the work that I was able to put forth, including the book talk, the mini-lesson, and the unit plan. I really loved listening to everyone's book talks and feel like I'm walking away with many more tools up my sleeve. However, I do wish that I had picked a different book. I took a chance on the book that I read, having never read it before, and it didn't bring me the benefit that I was hoping from it. While it was good, it was really geared towards only creative writing students. So, I wish I would have found something to offer the class that had a wider audience. I am still disappointed about the mini-lesson. We should have tried talking through the whole thing before doing it in class to see just how long each activity would take. I have a horrible habit of overplanning my lessons, leaving me cutting chunks out during the lesson or having to scramble to fit everything in. That is my goal for next quarter -- to work on my time management. The unit plan was insanely stressful. I say insane because there were definitely moments where I was definitely pushing the crazy side of the sanity spectrum. However, I am extremely proud of the work that I put in and I think it came out to a very cohesive, well-scaffolded lesson that I actually get to teach in the fall -- YAY. The one piece that really stick out to me that we read were Readicide. I knew that there was somewhat of a reading epidemic going on, but I suppose I had no idea how bad it was. Readicide made that very clear by quantifying it and giving some suggestions regarding how we can fix it. I definitely want to make sure that I start gathering my classroom library and surrounding my students with books so they learn to love reading. I will definitely be incorporating SSR into my daily lessons, and sharing with them the love that I have for reading to be a strong model for them. I think this course definitely made me a better teacher. I liked that it forced us to think not only about what we were teaching, but why we were teaching it. I had never realized the important of rationale before. I appreciate the readings that we were given in this course as well, as many of them are resources that I will use forever. I feel like I have a more broadened understanding of methodology and concepts that are important to teaching, and I think that's truly essential to being a good teacher. I certainly feel better prepared to be a teacher than I did ten weeks ago, and I'm thankful for that.

Shakespeare

While I do very much enjoy Shakespeare, I don't love Romeo and Juliet. In my experience as a student, it was only approached in a very dramatic, serious manner. If I am ever in the position of teaching this play, I will definitely use a more humorous approach, as a large majority of the plot is pretty ridiculous, especially to modern standards. The play I would most like to teach of Shakespeare's is The Taming of the Shrew. That play is funny, witty, and it makes a comment about the role women play in marriage, which is certainly not entirely irrelevant today (wait--what do you mean teenage suicide for love struck reasons isn't relevant?! Sorry Romeo). As a teacher, too, I've found the language to be quite daunting for lower level readers. In my experience with Macbeth, I had many students who wouldn't even look it because they were already convinced they couldn't understand it before we had even started reading. However, I had a lot of success when using the graphic novel version of the text along with the Shakespearean language, as the graphics seemed to give them the visual that they were unable to form in their mind. I also had the students try acting out the play as they read it to give it a visual, though the graphic novel was more successful. I do think that it is important that students read Shakespeare, of course. However, I just wish there was more flexibility with the texts that we could teach. Ideally, I'd like to focus more on his poetry and sonnets in 9th and 10th grade, and use 11th and 12th to tackle his most important plays, perhaps more than one each year. He works are very important, but I think they are better suited for a higher level audience.

Maus

I am slightly ashamed to admit that I have only been introduced to graphic novels within the past year. Okay, month. I had no idea how versatile, widely encompassing, and supplementary they can be. Just last week, I used a graphic novel in my English 10 classroom. The students were really struggling to understand the plot and events in Macbeth by simply reading the text aloud. When I brought the graphic novel in, however, the visual aspect engaged the students and brought them to a whole new level of comprehension. Never again will I doubt the graphic novel! I really enjoyed reading Art Spiegelman's Maus. Beyond just the beneficial visual aspect of the novel, I love the characters that he incorporated as well as the dialogue. A class using this book could look simply at the animal choices that he uses in his book and discuss why they think he chose the ones he did to represent the different people. I love that Spiegelman also incorporated his father's accent into the dialogue. It makes his character much more realistic. I also really like that the reader can see the aftermath of the war and the concentration camps in the relationships in the book, such as art's father with his new wife, art with his father, art with his late mother, and so on. The students could look at the various relationship dynamics that take place throughout the book. I think this book would be extremely effective in the classroom. Not only would the students be engaged and interested in reading it, there are also almost endless possibilities for teaching, all of which incorporate both history and literature. This book would be awesome to use in a history course -- a subject where students are often used to reading only out of the textbooks. I would love to use this novel in my future English courses, as well.

Edgar Allan Poe

In my experience, I have found Edgar Allan Poe's works to be an irreplaceable tool in the classroom. Not only does he use and demonstrate countless literary techniques, he also manages to captivate his readers. Even in classrooms where there may be a higher rate of resistant readers, Poe still manages to capture everyone's attention. He creates an element of surprise, suspense, and mystery in all of his works. The suspense keeps readers hanging on until the very last word. Poe's works are also easy to combine with popular culture, especially with example, such as the episode of the Simpsons that reenacts "The Fall of the House of Usher." His biographical information in itself is a mystery, as well, drawing the students in once more. While "The Raven" isn't my favorite work of his, I do love "The Fall of the House of Usher." I think it's an outstanding example of what someone can do in just the limited space of a short story. I would love to use this in a creative writing classroom -- reading it before asking my students to craft their own short story while trying to employ the technique of suspense. I would also love to use it when discussing characters and character development in order to show the students how a character in a story can signify more than just the people. In FHU, the house really becomes its own character with all of its personifying qualities. I love bringing Poe into the classroom just as I can hear the students start groaning about "yet another classic," as students always seem to be surprised about how much they enjoy reading his works. He is one writer that I don't think will ever be replaced by a more modern piece, as his techniques, tone, and literary elements are irreplaceable in the world of literature.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

With the amount of academic reading that I am asked to complete for school, I haven't had the opportunity to sit down and read a light, enjoyable book in a while. However, I found that much-needed fun, easy read in Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. I sat down to start this book, only expecting to read a few chapters. Two hours later, I found myself on the last few pages. I was hooked! His narrator is so genuine and relatable, I didn't want to stop reading. I would love to teach this book in a classroom setting. Not only would it engage readers through humor and relatable characters, it discusses many social and cultural experiences that our students have likely seen or experienced, such as racism, alcoholism, poverty, ostracism, bullying, etc. Better yet, these events are told through a narrator who is would be so relatable to the students. I'm sure that all students at one time or another could connect to the feelings of loss, of being different, of not belonging that the narrator describes. I also love the use of drawings throughout the book. With the pictures, the book appeals to a wider range of students -- both auditory and visual learners. Like the writing, the pictures are often humorous and very well represent what Alexie describes in the chapters. I love the inclusion of the awkward, often hormonal love story, and the narrators rise to fame and popularity. Between the pictures and the humor, Alexie manages to include many useful and timeless lessons that could benefit students of all ages. He displays the importance of friendship, tolerance, and understanding, as well as perseverance, encouragement, and the power of expectations. He shows his readers that it is okay to create one's own path, even if it's one that nobody has been down before. If taught in the classroom, this book would captivate the students while teaching them important lessons that would last a lifetime. If not taught, in the very least, it's an essential book to keep as part of a classroom library.

Readicide

While reading Kelly Gallagher's book Readicide, the only thought running through my mind was this: how did we get here? Why are there so many people pretending like our current education system is working? Why are we stooping to their level? It seems that it all boils down to one thing -- money. How sad that we've prioritized money before the wellbeing of our students. I became a teacher so that I could help students experience the same joy that I found in reading. How did we lose sight of that? I am pleased to know that the answer is simple. Our students need to read more. They don't need to be reading more academic texts, informative texts, novels, or anything in particular -- simply, more. We need to encourage them to find a place where reading is enjoyable again. In my classroom, it's very important to me that my students see how much I enjoy reading. We need to be reading alongside them, being the model of a good reader. More importantly, we need to provide them with opportunities to read not just academic texts, but recreational ones, too. I didn't realize the impact that SSR can have on students engagement and success. The school where I am placed requires that all English teachers require ten minutes of silent, sustained reading at the beginning of class every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. However, I don't think it's being effectively implemented. Students who have forgotten to bring an SSR book are allowed to work on homework quietly. This has greatly increased the number of students who do not participate in the reading every day. There are a handful -- probably two handfuls -- of students who conveniently forget their SSR books every single class period. While the teacher will occasionally require those students to go retrieve their book from their locker, the students will simply spend enough time in the process of getting the book to once again miss the ten minutes. SSR needs to be taken much more seriously, and it certainly will be in my classroom. I really want to start my library of books that will fill my classroom so that students may just grab a book when they have conveniently forgotten theirs. Many of the books in Gallagher's selections were ones that I grew up reading and loving. I just want my students to experience that feeling, too. I am looking forward to implementing Gallagher's 50/50 approach with my students. They seem to have forgotten that they can read books without a 50 page study guide and a packet full of response questions. We need to remind them once again why we read. It is certainly not only about their scores on a multiple choice test.

I Read It, But I Don't Get It

Our reading selection of Cris Tovani's I Read It, But I Don't Get It could not have come at a more opportune time. Last Friday, I was teaching a lesson on the first act of Macbeth to a sophomore English class. While we read the first act aloud, with each part assigned to a different student, I could sense that the students were only reading the words on the page, not interacting with the text, forming any inferences, or following the plot. While I had guessed that this gap in student comprehension was due to the students' inability to form connections with the text, I wasn't at all aware of how to remedy the situation and get the students to a place of understanding. I kept finding myself simply feeding the students the information that they needed to know, and left at the end of the day feeling defeated and disconnected from my students. After reading Tovani's book, I realized that my class consisted of mostly Word Callers, who "have altered decoding and, as a bonus, also choose to read. However, they don't understand that reading involves thinking" (15). The students weren't thinking about what they were reading. I think the students are overwhelmed by the language in Shakespeare's works, not bothering to read closely and interactively, so they go on autopilot and wait for the explanation. I really enjoyed all of Tovani's strategies to not only monitor one's own reading, but also remedy the issue independently if possible. I certainly plan to use many of the worksheets included in the appendix in order to show the students how they can start making connections to the text. Rather than bombarding them with a whole act at a time, I also plan to break up the text so as to not overwhelm them with vocabulary. I will give them a few quotations at a time and prompt them to identify a connection they share with that text. Tovani's book allowed me to think methodically about how to best help a class of word callers who have grown up in a generation often uninterested in reading.

Introduction: Creating Classrooms for Equity and Social Justice

For this week's reading, I've chosen the introduction to Rethinking Our Classrooms Vol. 1, which I believe very well sums up the definition of social justice, its place in the class, and why it needs to be there. As the selection states, "too many schools fail to confront the racial, class, and gender inequities woven into our social fabric." Social justice is, then, the incorporation and acknowledgement of the diversities that exist within our cultures. In order to attain social justice within the classroom, we much have relationships with the students in which we are familiar with their backgrounds. We must be able to incorporate areas of each student's life and culture into the classroom. The classroom should also encourage students to critique their society and see areas of inequality and injustice. Students should be encouraged to ask "why." As I've mentioned before, classrooms must be accepting of all cultures. To do this, many different cultures and perspectives must be analyzed in order to help the students create connections. Finally, students need to be challenged and affirmed. They need to be challenged in the work that they encounter every day, giving them opportunities to participate in hands-on activities that help them to experience the content being studied. They need to be affirmed by teachers in a way that shows them that they are able to make a change, and thus makes them hopeful to do so. The students should learn to identify problems, ask why the problem is in place, experience (whether vicariously or truly) the problems, then know that they are capable of doing something about them. This classroom experience aims to develop pro-justice, worldly, hopeful individuals and prepare those individuals for a life outside of school that often encounters injustices. In an environment like this, a mutual respect exists between the teachers and the students in which the students recognize that the teacher does not really know everything and the teacher recognizes that the students are respectable, individual thinkers. 

My text selection can be found at the following link:

http://www.rethinkingschools.org/publication/roc1/roc1_intro.shtml

Critical Pedagogy in an Urban High School English Classroom

Duncan-Andrade and Morrell's selection "Critical Pedagogy in an Urban High School Classroom" very closely describes the English classroom that I've always imagined having and will always hope to have. In my opinion, the students shouldn't have to inquire about the relevance of material and content. Rather, I hope that I can constantly be showing its importance to them and the connections that it bears to their own lives. In order to do this, it is imperative that we bring the culture of the students into the classroom to show them how to form those connections. Soon, the students will begin making those connections on their own. By incorporating student backgrounds into the classroom, we are giving them reason to care, reason to try, and a reason to succeed. While we are  preparing them for life after school in areas such as language skills, literature analysis, and critical thinking, we are also providing them a window to the world with the various perspectives that are displayed through a wide range of multicultural texts. As stated, "we are encouraging the creation of meaningful links between the worlds of the students and the worlds of canonical texts." With their time in the classroom, we should be showing them many different perspectives from many different cultures, which will give them opportunities to make connections and experience empathy. This approach will help students develop into adulthood with respect and acceptance for the world around them. I think Duncan-Andrade and Morrell made an important point by saying that simply offering students a variety of texts written by people of color is not enough. Students need to comprehend and connect with many different situations and perspectives of life. The materials covered in class should provide this opportunity for them. It is our responsibility as teachers to broaden the horizons of our students and help them make connections that they may not have seen on their own.

Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Hidden within the thesaurus explosion that was Paulo Freire's "Pedagogy of the Oppressed," there were some very important and valid points. Like Freire, I also strongly disagree with the belief that children are simply receptacles to be filled, as knowledge can never be fully finished or obtained. I like to think of children as fires to be fed. As teachers, it is up to us to inspire the fires of creativity and critical thinking within each of our students. I also very much agree that mutual respect and mutual learning must exist in every classroom between the students and the teacher. The vast majority of students take every word uttered in the classroom as the truth, likely because that's how most teachers present it, when they really have the opportunity to question whatever they please. It is vital that we not only allow but also hear the doubts and thought processes of each individual. All perspectives and values are different, and it is very true that we can learn just as much from our students as they learn from us. There were also a few areas of this excerpt that seemed a bit exaggerated. The majority of the article felt a bit like Dumbledore was bestowing upon me his golden nuggets of knowledge in well-rehearsed, riddle-like phrases. It also gave me the impression that I was going to burn in the fiery depths of hell for assigning my students a section of required reading. I don't think that by implementing a banking approach within a classroom that a teacher has doomed her students for all of eternity as this article made it seem, though I do think that the teacher would be wise to alter this approach. The classroom should be a conversation in which students and teachers who share a respectful and valued relationship with one another than discuss and solve problems relevant to both the content and their lives.

Assessing and Evaluating Students' Learning: Coping with the Issues of Assessment

As I think about my years in the classroom as a student, I remember my English classes consisting only of essay or writing assessments. While we had a quiz every once in a while on the content of a novel that we were reading at the time to prove that we had read the material, we demonstrated our learning as students only in writing. When we learned grammar, we showed our comprehension through our use of proper grammar in our essays and papers. So, I was shocked when I began observing classes as a teacher and saw only multiple choice tests being given to assess the students in English courses. While it may be true that "students remember things better and they learn more when they are tested on the detail of the novel," testing only on content concerns me. In my own classroom, I hope that my students will be showing what they know in their own writing rather than filling in a bubble on a piece of paper. What is the point of learning it anyway if they don't know how to use it? Sure, semicolons are great, but show me how you will apply it to your own writing. I am concerned though. Now that the current generation of students has been raised in a test-based ELA environment, I am worried that the shift to a writing-based assessment will be quite a shock, making them hesitant to adapt. I have experienced this a bit in my current placement, as the students only display their learning through multiple choice tests, which are intended to evaluate the students' knowledge of the content as well as ability to analyze. When I first started teaching in this classroom, I created lessons for the English classrooms that I was accustomed to, where students talk and write about their interpretations of the texts. However, the discussion was painful and the writing was nearly as painful as the discussion. The students haven't ever been asked to formulate their own ideas about a text before, they've only had to choose a theme of a text from a), b), c), or d). I have since been using my time to encourage them to make connections with the text, as I think that the first step into thinking analytically about literature. Without allowing students opportunities to write and discuss the literature that they're reading, we are undermining the value of our students' ideas. They deserve to think as respected individuals. Their ideas benefit us as teachers just as much as they benefit the other students.

Reading Rhetorically

As I am in the process of creating a unit in which students will be asked to read both literature and informative texts, the reading in the "Assignment Template" aligned very closely with my own needs. To wholly grasp the context and content of the novel that I will be covering, it is important that students are offered texts that detail the various societal perspectives during the historical era of the novel. Students will be offered argumentative pieces in which the readers are intended to be persuaded by one way or another. I will certainly be asking the students to analyze the organization and language of the articles, as well as annotate and respond to the readings. By using these reading strategies, the students will be able to better grasp the points that each side tries to assert. When looking at informational texts about and from WWII era, I want students to be able to understand why populations of people were so quickly and easily persuaded. By breaking down the articles in ways suggested by this article, then students can see the effect of each word and phrase to better understand this often perplexing time in our history. 

In connection to other readings we've done this quarter, students can best prepare for discussion about a text by completing these steps prior to the discussion. If the text is actively read and annotated, students will be reminded of questions and comments that arose during the reading, offering more content to contribute during the discussion. As I hope to make discussion a common tool in my classroom, these pre-reading activities will be particularly helpful for me as a teacher to prepare my students. 

Finally, another benefit of reading actively that I found is the attention that will be drawn to what is and is not effective in the writing of others. If the students are able to pinpoint exactly what persuaded them, then they can implement these persuasive tools into their own argumentative writing. 

Co-Teaching Thoughts

While reading Melissa Levitt's article on the benefits and challenges of team teaching, my curiosity urged me to create a list of advantages and disadvantages mentioned in the article. Though I had already expected the list of advantages to outweigh the disadvantages, I had not expected the list of disadvantages to be so lengthy. The numerous advantages seem to imply that co-teaching is superior to individual teaching. However, it also sounds like it must be done with someone that shares similar educational methodologies and practices. Being able to reach a level of understanding and agreement between two highly educated individuals can be difficult. Respect and flexibility must surpass opinion to reach a mutual ground -- much easier said than done for those who have been practicing for many years. I imagine the planning time would take much longer, as it once again must be mutual. However, the hard work will be worth it, as they say.

Co-teaching would be a great tool for new teachers just entering the field. The experienced teacher would continue (hopefully) to share his or her experiences and those things that may not have worked well in the past. The new teacher could (hopefully) bring many new, inspiring ideas to the table to reinvigorate instruction. It would also allow a new teacher to take on more responsibility than is given during practicum, while still maintaining a support system. I believe I would also benefit from undergoing the planning with an experienced teacher to see if perhaps he or she has a more efficient or organized way of doing it.

I was in a multiple-teacher classroom during 2nd-5th grade. As a student, I really enjoyed the variety that this situation allowed. Though the article mentioned that varying teaching styles can make it difficult for students to adapt, I didn't have any trouble. The varying teachers broke up the day. In each situation, the teachers would only teach his or her own expertise. We were divided into two groups in which half of us would learn English while the other did math, for example -- then, switch. In my fourth and fifth grade years, we had a very large multi-age classroom with three teachers. We would be divided throughout the day, coming together every so often as a whole group of fifty students. I enjoyed this format at the time because I was given the opportunity to participate in the more advanced math class without any issue. The teachers all worked very cooperatively. Though, I'm sure it wasn't perfect when they began, they worked as a well oiled machine when I was in their classroom, which lead to very efficient instruction for the students.

Given the opportunity to co-teach, I'd love to do so. I find that the best lesson ideas come from an intellectual discussion in which teachers are bouncing ideas off of each other. Imagine how great a curriculum could be if every lesson was like that. The extra time, work, sweat, tears, and certainly coffee would surely be worth it as long as respect and flexibility is mutual.

Common Core State Standards

Reading the first chapter of Teaching to Exceed the English Language Arts Common Core State Standards by Richard Beach, Amanda Haertling Thein, and Allen Webb drastically changed my perception of the Common Core State Standards. As a student of education, I was introduced to the Common Core with an air of skepticism and negativity. Teachers, perhaps unintentionally, have suggested the cookie-cutter-ness of this approach, which unfortunately had planted similar seeds in my mind. After having read this selection, however, the misconceptions are glaringly evident. More importantly, they are avoidable with proper, well-informed practice. I had fallen victim to the misconception that standards = standardization. However, as the article states, the common core standards "do not specify what or how to teach." The curriculum allows for much more creativity and freedom than most let on. We must rely on our own experience and creativity to decide when and how we teach each standard. Further, what and how we teach must cater to the experiences and needs of the students. While I read this selection, one message continued to arise throughout. In order to most effectively teach the Common Core Standards, we must know -- truly know -- our students. We, as teachers, need to have formed a relationship and a connection with our students so that we have an understanding of their backgrounds, their experiences, and their needs. Based on this knowledge, we can then decide the timeline and approach that will be most effective for our students. The standards are not simply about content. The standards, when taught based on the needs of the students, may also serve to prepare the students for life after school. Our curriculum should expose our students to life in the twenty-first century. While my only experience with the Common Core thus far does feel a bit fragmented because of the sporadic lessons that occur during the obversataonal portion of the student teaching program, I am excited by the idea of crafting a curriculum that will bridge the gap between the objectives and the real-life experiences of my future students.

Discussion in a Democratic Society

Having been part of many stimulating discussions as a student in a variety of courses, I had eagerly awaited my opportunity to be part of one as a teacher. Discussion, particularly in an English classroom, is truly an irreplaceable tool, as "Discussion in a Democratic Society" asserts. Students lead each other to differing viewpoints, and even new lenses altogether in a respectful, engaging environment. I soon found, however, that this is much easier said than done. As of late, discussion in my classroom has been quite a difficult area for my students. Prior to having our literature discussion, I discussed the importance of open-mindedness, respect, and equality that must be present to lead a beneficial discussion. Many of these same dispositions are discussed in the article, which mentions, "hospitality, participation, mindfulness, humility, mutuality, deliberation, appreciation, hope, and autonomy" (8). In my first attempt to hold a literature based discussion in my English classroom, the majority of the students were silent and avoided participating. Those who did participate limited their answers to few words, usually unsure of an answer when I asked the question "why."I left that day feeling quite sullen, unsure of my mistakes. Looking back now, I realize that while most of the students in my class knew how to present their ideas respectfully, they hadn't yet learned how to navigate literature in a way that they could present their ideas with textual evidence. They also hadn't yet been asked to form arguments and opinions about the literature that they've read. Many of my discussion questions centered on the Boo Radley character in To Kill A Mockingbird. But, the majority of the students claimed that they didn't know anything about the character because he hasn't spoken or been seen in the book yet. I had spent time ensuring my students could interact maturely and respectfully to the opinions of others in a discussion format, but I had not prepared them to create their own opinions about the literature. Finally coming to this realization, I was able to take one step -- okay maybe several steps --  back and reevaluate. This selection highlighted for me the importance of preparation. As a teacher, it is my duty to prepare students to not only know how to participate in a discussion effectively and respectively, but also to help them realize their own opinions beforehand. Having done these successfully, though, will certainly pay off as our students will begin to bring new light to the literature that the class reads together.