While I was reading chapter 7 of Making the Journey on pages 210 and 211 my wheels started spinning. She was talking about how so many times in class we want students to write the traditional way, but that this is not the way real writers write. She talked about how when she was writing for a deadline and that if the work wasn't up to standard she didn't fail but she had to keep working on it until it was up to a certain standard. I thought she made a good point with this. But my mind kind of went off on its on tangent kind of like what Gallagher talks about. I begin thinking what if I had my middle school students create a brochure instead of write a research project. The students would still be required to research a topic, and cite where they received the information from. But it would be something that they would read or find in real life. The same thing could be done with a magazine article or even a newspaper. I as the teacher could spend time going through kid magazines or newspapers and discuss the different types of genres and what nots each magazine has to offer and then break the students into different writing assignments and topics.
I also really liked the character chart that Gallagher talked about in chapter 4. I could definitely see myself using something like that in reading assignments. I think it could be used for chapters so if it is a book that is read during class students could go back and look at what each character is going through. I think it is a good way to have students recall information.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
I'm an English teach and I just asked myself, "What did I just read?"
I love the overall message that both Kelly Gallagher and Leila Christenbury seem to suggest through Chapters 4 and 7 - Show students that we as teachers have the same difficulties as them when it comes to reading comprehension and writing. I remember thinking in high school that my teachers never struggled with finding the meanings to the texts we read, and that they did not have trouble composing. Now, I'm almost a teacher and I am taking great delight in the fact that I can show my students that these aspects of English are hard, and just because I am a teacher doesn't mean I have it all together (although I will make sure they understand I'm qualified to be their teacher). I think it is important to show students that reading can be confusing and raise a lot of questions, and writing is a process that can be difficult.
I like Gallagher's different techniques to help students with the reading comprehension. I like the idea of having students write 20 questions they have after reading the first chapter. It could easily get the students involved with the text and give the teacher a great idea of where the students are struggling, areas that could easily be cleared of confusion, and provide the teacher with a notice of questions that the students may have later in a reading.
Christenbury is amazing. I think I highlighted just about every page in Chapter 7. I grew up under the traditional model of writing, and it made me excited to get away from that and use different techniques with my own classroom. I loved her ideas and can't wait to be able to put some of them into action. Writing is a process and students should have options when choosing a topic, they should be able to understand how to write and re-write, and they should realize that writing is more than just having a paper with no grammar corrections.
I like Gallagher's different techniques to help students with the reading comprehension. I like the idea of having students write 20 questions they have after reading the first chapter. It could easily get the students involved with the text and give the teacher a great idea of where the students are struggling, areas that could easily be cleared of confusion, and provide the teacher with a notice of questions that the students may have later in a reading.
Christenbury is amazing. I think I highlighted just about every page in Chapter 7. I grew up under the traditional model of writing, and it made me excited to get away from that and use different techniques with my own classroom. I loved her ideas and can't wait to be able to put some of them into action. Writing is a process and students should have options when choosing a topic, they should be able to understand how to write and re-write, and they should realize that writing is more than just having a paper with no grammar corrections.
Keri,
I tried to send an e-mail to you earlier and it came back because your mailbox is full. Just thought you would like to know.
I tried to send an e-mail to you earlier and it came back because your mailbox is full. Just thought you would like to know.
The Doctor is not in.....The LAD Fair
Well, I was in the house at Nixa High School for the LAD Fair. I have to admit, English 405 is a lot of work, but this should be an addition to the class. It only took four hours total. Why you might ask?
We will see so many terribly written papers in our careers, in every genre possible, that it is nice to be exposed to what students and faculty feel to be the best. My group was responsible for judging narration, dialogue, short fiction, original novel, graphic novel, and written work with/without illustration. We found many gems, and some that were obviously still "diamonds in the rough" (Aladdin).
I was pleasantly surprised to find myself grading in a group of three, the other two judges being professors at none other than Missouri State. It was an opportunity to judge and interact with these individuals on a peer-peer level, as opposed to faculty-student. It was also easier because they were only slightly older than me.
I think one of the most amazing things that happened was the final decision about a winner. The groups must select winners in their individual categories and award placements accordingly. The final step is to take the first place in each category and determine a sole winner from the lot.
When it came to this final decision, I had chosen a graphic novel as my favorite and Brian Shawver had chosen a play as his. The bad thing, if it is one, is that we both thought the other had chosen an exceptional work, We couldn't decide. Ah, the beauty of number, we had three in our group! When it came down to Matthew Calihman, he of course, agreed with me....and Brian. We had two winners and we couldn't choose between them.
We decided to make them both winners and submitted the form with both entries on the form. We were unsure of the finality of our decision, and were unsure if it would be overturned, but we gave it a shot.
I liked the experience a lot, and enjoyed the reaction of the other two judges. For them to agree with me on the importance and merit of the graphic novel, instilled me with a renewed confidence and pride in my abilities.
As if I needed an ego boost!
~Stan
We will see so many terribly written papers in our careers, in every genre possible, that it is nice to be exposed to what students and faculty feel to be the best. My group was responsible for judging narration, dialogue, short fiction, original novel, graphic novel, and written work with/without illustration. We found many gems, and some that were obviously still "diamonds in the rough" (Aladdin).
I was pleasantly surprised to find myself grading in a group of three, the other two judges being professors at none other than Missouri State. It was an opportunity to judge and interact with these individuals on a peer-peer level, as opposed to faculty-student. It was also easier because they were only slightly older than me.
I think one of the most amazing things that happened was the final decision about a winner. The groups must select winners in their individual categories and award placements accordingly. The final step is to take the first place in each category and determine a sole winner from the lot.
When it came to this final decision, I had chosen a graphic novel as my favorite and Brian Shawver had chosen a play as his. The bad thing, if it is one, is that we both thought the other had chosen an exceptional work, We couldn't decide. Ah, the beauty of number, we had three in our group! When it came down to Matthew Calihman, he of course, agreed with me....and Brian. We had two winners and we couldn't choose between them.
We decided to make them both winners and submitted the form with both entries on the form. We were unsure of the finality of our decision, and were unsure if it would be overturned, but we gave it a shot.
I liked the experience a lot, and enjoyed the reaction of the other two judges. For them to agree with me on the importance and merit of the graphic novel, instilled me with a renewed confidence and pride in my abilities.
As if I needed an ego boost!
~Stan
Friday, March 14, 2008
Chapter 7
I really like some of the techniques that Gallagher used in Chapter 4. I was almost relieved when I read that you should not expect your students to understand what they read the first time. I feel like I can really relate to this because I often have to read things a couple of times before I fully grasp the concept. By reading this I feel like Gallagher is saying its okay not to fully understand everything you read the first time. If I feel this way, then I won't expect my students to understand everything right away either. This is why I feel that discussion is always good. It allows students to discuss what they don't understand and to interact with each other.
I also really liked some of the activities that were listed in chapter 7. One of my favorite activities was "Text Frames with Gaps" on page 55. It would make the students pay attention to detail while they are reading the text. The outline allows them to look for that missing piece. I think this would be great for any text that we read in class. I also like that you can really use it for any subject that you read in. It keeps things organized, and you can look back on it later for a study guide.
"Twenty Questions" was another activity that I liked. It makes the student read deeper so they can answer the questions they have. It's another very good organization tool. By the end of the text, students should be able to answer all of the questions. If it's a difficult text, you could even use this every chapter, or every other chapter depending on how long the chapters are.
I feel like I could use many of the activities listed in the text. Even if they didn't last the whole period, they are all good organizational tools and are a good supplement to the text.
I also really liked some of the activities that were listed in chapter 7. One of my favorite activities was "Text Frames with Gaps" on page 55. It would make the students pay attention to detail while they are reading the text. The outline allows them to look for that missing piece. I think this would be great for any text that we read in class. I also like that you can really use it for any subject that you read in. It keeps things organized, and you can look back on it later for a study guide.
"Twenty Questions" was another activity that I liked. It makes the student read deeper so they can answer the questions they have. It's another very good organization tool. By the end of the text, students should be able to answer all of the questions. If it's a difficult text, you could even use this every chapter, or every other chapter depending on how long the chapters are.
I feel like I could use many of the activities listed in the text. Even if they didn't last the whole period, they are all good organizational tools and are a good supplement to the text.
Chapter 7 MTJ --Tracy
I really agreed with the things that Whitney had to say about chapter 7. I thought it was very good for me to really sit and think about how I am going to go about teaching writing in my classrooom someday. I think that it is important to remember that each student is different in the way they learn, and that also includes the way they write. Some students might need a very distinct structure to help them get through the writing process, while others might need to freely move through a very messy process to get to the creative product that they want. I think that I will try to give my students a balance of writing instruction. I will teach the proper writing structures and processes but also give students freedom to get to their finished product in their own ways at times. I also think that the topics of what we give kids to write about are often very far from anything they know about or care about. I know that there will obviously be times when students have to do assignments on things they aren't particularly interested in, but I think in order to spark students interest in writing we must allow them to also write about things they are passionate about. I thought this chapter was very interesting and helpful when thinking about teaching writing.
Deeper reading helps make sense of the journey
I got a lot of great ideas from both readings this week in Deeper reading and Making the Journey. Gallagher gave us some great strategies to use in class to help kids perform on the reading to accentuate their comprehension. I'm going to try the Scoring Comprehension and Color Coding strategies with my students. I also think we should always acknowledge to students that everyone has problems with comprehension, like the chapter continually reiterates. Some students will grow more compfortable with pushing their comprehension further by knowing this. I agree with Gallagher that memorization should still have a place in the classroom. Memorizing different poems was a lot of fun when I was a kid and it made learning fun, too, but memorization helps exercize your brain. Gallagher gave a couple of great sponges at the end of the chapter to help familiarize students with new words, also. Besides being used to better comprehension, these are great ways to get students warmed up to learn...you know get their mind set on the class.
Christenbury's concepts of giving students time to write by the management of pacing their writing workshops or assignments was very good. I totally agree that we all need more time to write revise, etc. on papers. This was something my teachers never did. They always used the traditional model of writing. Since I've been in college, I've really enjoyed the writing a lot more because the new process is being used more and more now, and I think it's helped me tremendously to grow, as a writer. The "dealing with time" section tells to give your students practice in timed writing situations. This was an excellent idea. Most of the writing people struggle with are the deadlines, so being able to write quickly and still give good content is a must, so why not prepare your students for this. I think I'll correlate the two of these somehow in my classroom so my students can be ready for deadlilne writing, but also have the opportunity to enjoy the creativity of writing, like actual writers do, as Christenbury points out, in a recursive way, also. I think that was a comma splice!
Christenbury's concepts of giving students time to write by the management of pacing their writing workshops or assignments was very good. I totally agree that we all need more time to write revise, etc. on papers. This was something my teachers never did. They always used the traditional model of writing. Since I've been in college, I've really enjoyed the writing a lot more because the new process is being used more and more now, and I think it's helped me tremendously to grow, as a writer. The "dealing with time" section tells to give your students practice in timed writing situations. This was an excellent idea. Most of the writing people struggle with are the deadlines, so being able to write quickly and still give good content is a must, so why not prepare your students for this. I think I'll correlate the two of these somehow in my classroom so my students can be ready for deadlilne writing, but also have the opportunity to enjoy the creativity of writing, like actual writers do, as Christenbury points out, in a recursive way, also. I think that was a comma splice!
Deeper Reading 4
I've had kind of a hard time getting into Deeper Reading, but chapter 4 was a little bit better than the others (at least to me). This book really seems to go hand in hand with my book for Content Area Literacy, so a lot of the ideas are reiterated to me through both books. This book, however, is a little more entertaining.
One idea I really liked from this chapter was the idea to turn headings/titles into questions prior to reading (pg 57). By having the students do this, they are activating their schema and also incorporating writing with their reading assignment which drastically increases their chance of comprehension. I'd like to use this and see if the students think it helps them.
One idea I really liked from this chapter was the idea to turn headings/titles into questions prior to reading (pg 57). By having the students do this, they are activating their schema and also incorporating writing with their reading assignment which drastically increases their chance of comprehension. I'd like to use this and see if the students think it helps them.
My First Lesson
I got to teach my first lesson completely by myself today and it went over really well. My teacher taught it first block and then allowed me to take over third block. For the most part, I was able to do the complete lesson by myself, but needed Ms. Pelkey to help with the classroom management. It was a simple and fun activity for students because today is the last day before spring break. The students responded really well to my teaching and asked a lot of questions. I didnt get as much respect as i would have liked to...but that doesnt surprise me. My teacher said that I did really well and told me some good points and things to work on before my next lesson. I thought this was some great criticism that will really help me. Overall, it was a great experience and I really enjoyed it. I can't wait to teach another one in a couple weeks!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
I'm in my research meeting, and I just read this. What do you think? What does this mean for you and your future instruction?
In order to help students develop confidence and competence, research suggests that teachers need to provide systematicand explicit instruction in strategies used by mature readers and writers and help students develop declarative, procedural, and conditional knowledge of
these cognitive strategies, thereby building students’ metacognitive control of specific
strategies (Baker & Brown, 1984; Paris, Lipson, & Wixon, 1983; Pressley, 2000).
It is the teacher’s responsibility to make visible for students what it is that experienced
readers and writers do when they compose; to introduce the cognitive strategies
that underlie reading and writing in meaningful contexts; and to provide
enough sustained, guided practice that students can internalize these strategies
and perform complex tasks independently (Langer & Applebee, 1986).
In their analysis of over 20 years of research on comprehension instruction,
Block and Pressley (2002) note widespread agreement among scholars that students
should be taught cognitive and metacognitive processes and that, regardless
of the program used, instruction should include modeling, scaffolding, guided
practice, and independent use of strategies so that students develop the ability to
select and implement appropriate strategies independently and to monitor and
regulate their use. Furthermore, research also suggests that when reading and writing
are taught together, they engage students in a greater use and variety of cognitive
strategies than do reading and writing taught separately (Tierney & Shanahan,
1991).
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Chapter 7 MTJ/why do teachers make writing so lame?
I think I underlined or highlighted just about every sentence in Chapter 7. And here is my question...why haven't English teachers figured out that kids don't care about half the crap they are forced to write about?? Do teachers not understand that if the students are not interested/passionate about a subject then they are not going to enjoy writing a paper about it? In my practicum, the students have been working on one paper since I've been there (going on five weeks now...). First of all, no matter what the subject is, if it takes five weeks to complete then the kids are going to start hating the assignment. Second of all, the paper is supposed to be about a celebrity (lame), but the teacher gave a list of approved celebrities that they could write their papers on. If the kids couldn't decide on someone in about five minutes then the teacher chose someone for them (she usually forced them to write about Poe or Dickinson...not exactly what comes to mind when someone says "celebrities," but whatever). So basically these kids were limited from the very start of this unit. While I was reading chapter 7, the quote from Lori Shacreaw on page 215 seemed to relate to exactly what I'm struggling with right now. She basically says that effective writing blossoms from issues that are current, issues that could affect the students, and issues that could be controversial. These kids need to be excited about writing! And, um, the five paragraph paper over a celebrity didn't seem to excite anybody (shocking...). Are we limiting kids because we're afraid of what they might write? Are we limiting their choices to make it easier on us as teachers? Why won't we let them explore subjects and write about their feelings?
One other thing I loved about chapter 7 was the notion that kids don't always follow the traditional model of completing an outline, completing a rough draft, revising it, completing a second draft, editing it, and then completing a final draft. Writing doesn't happen in these neat precise steps. It's a messy process that goes in a different order every time. Why force our students to follow certain procedures for writing? I wouldn't want someone telling me that I couldn't do a final draft until I had an outline and two previous drafts. I don't write like that and I never have. I just sit down, write, and revise as I go.
I'll finish ranting now. I just really enjoyed chapter 7 because it made me think about what writing process I'm going to have in my classroom next year...it definitely won't be a ridgid or forced process, and it hopefully won't be as lame as some we read about in chapter 7 (ex page 211, 212, and 213).
One other thing I loved about chapter 7 was the notion that kids don't always follow the traditional model of completing an outline, completing a rough draft, revising it, completing a second draft, editing it, and then completing a final draft. Writing doesn't happen in these neat precise steps. It's a messy process that goes in a different order every time. Why force our students to follow certain procedures for writing? I wouldn't want someone telling me that I couldn't do a final draft until I had an outline and two previous drafts. I don't write like that and I never have. I just sit down, write, and revise as I go.
I'll finish ranting now. I just really enjoyed chapter 7 because it made me think about what writing process I'm going to have in my classroom next year...it definitely won't be a ridgid or forced process, and it hopefully won't be as lame as some we read about in chapter 7 (ex page 211, 212, and 213).
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Practicum
I just have an overall complaint about my practicum at this point...I don't feel like I have connected with any of the students AT ALL. The school I'm at is on block schedule which sometimes means I don't see the same students for two weeks. I have found that this really hinders my chances of making a personal connection with any of them. On top of that, the unit we've been covering since I've been there is the (hideously boring) 5 paragraph paper. The only thing they've been working on for the past four weeks are research and bibliography cards. I have seen my teacher actually teach very little, and I have definitely seen very few chances for me to get involved (although I do jump at the chances when they arise). I have observed two other teachers as well, but only for one class period each. Needless to say, I'm pretty sure not a single student in the building knows my name or is even sure why I'm there. My practicum last semester seemed to go so much better...I was involved, the students knew my name and why I was there, and they came to me for help on occassion. I only have ten hours left, and I want to make an impact on these kids...
Is anyone else feeling even remotely the same way?
Is anyone else feeling even remotely the same way?
Title
Rather than simply copying and pasting a piece of another blog I work on to this blog I seldom work on, I am sharing the blog with you. If you want something that might anger or spark a bit of interest in your thoughts, check out this. Look at the latest post entitled Systematical Shutdown and consider yourselves lucky that I didn't post it on here. Feel free to comment on the other blog but be warned that Dr. Franklin doesn't (I don't think) grade comments on other blogs 'cept this one.
So, if you're after the grade and nothing more: read this and comment back on this entry for it... maybe it'll make others read it too.
So, if you're after the grade and nothing more: read this and comment back on this entry for it... maybe it'll make others read it too.
Restating My I-Search
I posted a while back on the I-search but we were told to post again and share what we've learned. I did my project on the Mark Twain novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. It was an attempt to gain confidence in teaching classic literature because I don't like classic literature too much. It was a challenge for me to find different materials and address them within my paper as I went along. Still, I managed.
I found a lot of cool ideas for teaching the story like putting on a mock trial and discussing what makes a successful lie. It was interesting trying to cram all the information into a small paper but I did. I would have preferred a presentation of the material over the paper because I don't think it really matters what the process was for looking for the articles so long as you had found some neat teaching methods. What matters as future teachers is collecting as much items that we can later use in our classroom from other teachers... we just shared ideas with Dr. Franklin and no one else.
It's a pity because I'm sure other students have found great ideas too and the possibilities of open sharing and stealing would have been a wondrous idea.
I found a lot of cool ideas for teaching the story like putting on a mock trial and discussing what makes a successful lie. It was interesting trying to cram all the information into a small paper but I did. I would have preferred a presentation of the material over the paper because I don't think it really matters what the process was for looking for the articles so long as you had found some neat teaching methods. What matters as future teachers is collecting as much items that we can later use in our classroom from other teachers... we just shared ideas with Dr. Franklin and no one else.
It's a pity because I'm sure other students have found great ideas too and the possibilities of open sharing and stealing would have been a wondrous idea.
Monday, March 10, 2008
My I-Search
I did my I-search on George Orwell's Animal Farm. While I was doing my research I found a lot og great activities that I can have my class participate in. Since the story involves political satire, there were a lot of activities that had to do with students performing their own political opinions. Probably my favorite activity involved the students responding to Old Major's big speech by giving a speech of their own on a topic of their choice. The resource had a link to various activist websites for students that couldn't think of a topic. I like the political approach to this novel because I think that's why Orwell wrote it. He wanted to make the reader think about Communism and show more interest in world affairs.
My I-search topic was YA literature and relevence in the classrom. I started researching the topic after my first day of field experience because the students told me they hated the books the had to read for class. It's really amazing how many good books are available to be used for curriculum in English classrooms, but are passed over for the "easier to teach" books that everyone falls back on. Some of my favorite books that are on the lists I had never heard of before I started school at MSU.
I'm developing a lesson plan for my field experience on writing a short mystery story for a creative writing class and we read the story "Sorry, Wrong Number" today in class to prepare for it. It was amazing how excited the kids got while reading it because they were ENTERTAINED! My I-search revolved around the idea of keeping books interesting for the student by relating them to their lives.
I found some really good articles on NCTE's website and encourage anyone thats intereste to go there, it's so simple, just search "Young Adult Literature" and a whole bunch of lesson ideas and articles pop up that really helped me!
As for the reading, chaapter seven is good. It's true that in most high school writing classes there is very litle collaboration, with either the teacher or fellow students. I remember writing papers with nothing to go on for the first draft, getting back the draft with a few marks on it and never changing a thing, just to see if the teacher noticed...they never did. I really like the suggestions of the new model, it's what we follow now and I am amazed at how much my writing has improved, just from taking EGN 520 last semester in which we really focused on the new model.
I'm developing a lesson plan for my field experience on writing a short mystery story for a creative writing class and we read the story "Sorry, Wrong Number" today in class to prepare for it. It was amazing how excited the kids got while reading it because they were ENTERTAINED! My I-search revolved around the idea of keeping books interesting for the student by relating them to their lives.
I found some really good articles on NCTE's website and encourage anyone thats intereste to go there, it's so simple, just search "Young Adult Literature" and a whole bunch of lesson ideas and articles pop up that really helped me!
As for the reading, chaapter seven is good. It's true that in most high school writing classes there is very litle collaboration, with either the teacher or fellow students. I remember writing papers with nothing to go on for the first draft, getting back the draft with a few marks on it and never changing a thing, just to see if the teacher noticed...they never did. I really like the suggestions of the new model, it's what we follow now and I am amazed at how much my writing has improved, just from taking EGN 520 last semester in which we really focused on the new model.
ode to stealing
webenglishteacher.com
This site appears to have a lot of good stuff to steal from. Just thought I'd pass it on.
This site appears to have a lot of good stuff to steal from. Just thought I'd pass it on.
More Than One Way
My I-Search topic was on multigenre writing. Overall, I found it to be something I think will be very useful to use in a class. I also found it overwhelming as well. The multigenre paper allows students to be more creative than just a normal research project. Also as a teacher you can incorporate multiple many lessons to help the students create one big writing assignment.
Depending on what level you are teaching at, you could start out by teaching the students about the different genres and even bring up aspects in their lives that they not consider as genres such as, graffiti, billboards, or even restaurant menus. A teacher could also incorporate the importance of properly researching a topic as well as work with students on writing from different prospectives.
Basically what a multigenre paper looks like for any level is that it is made up of a bunch of short works written by a student. The works must convey a unified message. If a teacher where to use this type of writing assignment in their class it would be cool to tie in GLE’s for writing and I think that it could be used to help students prepare for the MAP in a non traditional way.
Depending on what level you are teaching at, you could start out by teaching the students about the different genres and even bring up aspects in their lives that they not consider as genres such as, graffiti, billboards, or even restaurant menus. A teacher could also incorporate the importance of properly researching a topic as well as work with students on writing from different prospectives.
Basically what a multigenre paper looks like for any level is that it is made up of a bunch of short works written by a student. The works must convey a unified message. If a teacher where to use this type of writing assignment in their class it would be cool to tie in GLE’s for writing and I think that it could be used to help students prepare for the MAP in a non traditional way.
I-Search
Don't get me wrong--I love the classics. But the canon is not the be all and end all of literature, and it annoys me to end when people act as though it is. That's why I chose to do my I-Search on young adult literature. Most of my sources spent the majority of their articles justifying why YA lit should be used in the classroom, and, likewise, most of my paper was spent doing the same thing. It encourages kids to read, they can identify with the age appropriate protagonists, they can relate to the subject matter, YA lit is full of quality material. The same ol' arguments. Yet it irritates me that we have to justify it so much in the first place. Communication Arts is the study of just that communication, and thus, we should study communication in all forms, not just the ones that some privileged group of people chose as the "best" and most valuable.
I also wrote about a few ideas I had for actually using YA lit in the classroom. One of my ideas involved using YA to study genre, reading different examples of genre works, such as mystery, sci-fi, etc.. and then having the students write a story using the genre conventions of those they liked best. Another idea was to use YA lit as a bridge to the classics. For example, I could teach a unit on dystopia using Orwell's 1984 as the classic text and Lowry's The Giver or Scott Westerfeld's Uglies as way to introduce the genre to kids.
I also wrote about a few ideas I had for actually using YA lit in the classroom. One of my ideas involved using YA to study genre, reading different examples of genre works, such as mystery, sci-fi, etc.. and then having the students write a story using the genre conventions of those they liked best. Another idea was to use YA lit as a bridge to the classics. For example, I could teach a unit on dystopia using Orwell's 1984 as the classic text and Lowry's The Giver or Scott Westerfeld's Uglies as way to introduce the genre to kids.
Field Experience
My practicum is at Greenwood Laboratory School. Of course if it weren't for schedule constraints, I would have like to perform my practicum at one of the surrounding public high schools. The reality of a full schedule however has required me to go somewhere close.
I'll admit that I have a bias against Greenwood. I think that it is a failure to the ideas that John Dewey had about what a laboratory school should be. The school's purpose is supposed to be to provide educators with a realistic environment to observe or for educational theories to be put into practice. In my opinion the school does not provide either of these things. The school has basically become a haven for the children of the small portion of wealthy citizens of Springfield and the outlying areas. The ridiculous tuition rates of the school have basically eliminated the possibility for socio-econimic diversity so all the students in the school are statistically more likely to be attentive and successful. It also inferiates me that on an affirmative action university campus, there is only one African American student in the whole school.
Anyway, because of this bias I had some conceptions about the type of students I would be involved with. As I discovered in my first and second weeks of my practicum, some of these concesptions were false. First off, I notice that even though each class is pretty small (around 25 students), there were clicks in the school. One student shared his resentment of one of the uber rich students and shared that there were some division even among the students whose parents held high socio economic status. I also happened to notice that Dennis, the student teacher that I've been paired with had to confinscate an I-phone from a chatty student. After that I looked around and realized that almost all of the students had laptops and were all allowed to listen to there MP3 players at their leizure.
Overall though the students are great. In just two weeks I feel like I've developed personal relationships with many of them. One of the classes that I am observing is a debate class and I've been helping to coach two students C.J. and Arch while they prepare for competitions.
I still have misgivings about Greenwood but I like the students that I've met so far.
I'll admit that I have a bias against Greenwood. I think that it is a failure to the ideas that John Dewey had about what a laboratory school should be. The school's purpose is supposed to be to provide educators with a realistic environment to observe or for educational theories to be put into practice. In my opinion the school does not provide either of these things. The school has basically become a haven for the children of the small portion of wealthy citizens of Springfield and the outlying areas. The ridiculous tuition rates of the school have basically eliminated the possibility for socio-econimic diversity so all the students in the school are statistically more likely to be attentive and successful. It also inferiates me that on an affirmative action university campus, there is only one African American student in the whole school.
Anyway, because of this bias I had some conceptions about the type of students I would be involved with. As I discovered in my first and second weeks of my practicum, some of these concesptions were false. First off, I notice that even though each class is pretty small (around 25 students), there were clicks in the school. One student shared his resentment of one of the uber rich students and shared that there were some division even among the students whose parents held high socio economic status. I also happened to notice that Dennis, the student teacher that I've been paired with had to confinscate an I-phone from a chatty student. After that I looked around and realized that almost all of the students had laptops and were all allowed to listen to there MP3 players at their leizure.
Overall though the students are great. In just two weeks I feel like I've developed personal relationships with many of them. One of the classes that I am observing is a debate class and I've been helping to coach two students C.J. and Arch while they prepare for competitions.
I still have misgivings about Greenwood but I like the students that I've met so far.
Field Experience
My field experience is cooperating teacher is Kyle Wallace at Central High School, and I go 3 hours on monday mornings and 3 on friday mornings. It is Kyle's third year teaching, and he teachers one Senior IB class and the rest of his classes are all English III (Juniors) classes. My first day he told me that he's "not a big fan of classroom discipline" and is "pretty laid back," just to give you an idea of the classroom setting. After getting past the first class or two in which I was simply asked if I smoked pot (to which I said no), and what was the youngest age girl I would date (to which I said college age), my practicum as been a really enjoyable and eye opening experience.
Mr. Wallace likes to let his classes work a lot in small groups or at least partners most of the time when they are doing any kind of 'read and analyze' assignments or projects. Quite often during his class I find myself wandering around the room from group to group and helping students with things like figuring out the meaning of difficult words, or even just prodding them keep on working. I have not taught yet, and because Mr. Wallace is gone all week and then SPS spring break is the following week I will not teach for three or four more weeks still. Even though I haven't actually taught yet, I feel very comfortable with his classes at this point. All of the students are respectful toward me, they have no problem asking me questions, and if I ask (tell) them to do something then they always do so.
Mr. Wallace believes that by not being extremely strict in class lets the students know that you are actually their to teach them and care about them, not simply their on a power trip with a huge ego. He seems to have a very good relationship with his students for the most part.
I think one of the main things I've learned from Kyle is simply that it's ok to be a laid back style of teacher and still get the work done in a high school environment.
When I teach the English III classes in a few weeks I will be doing so on monday and friday mornings of the same week. Right now the plan is for me to teach Langston Hughes poetry on one day, and Zora Neal Hurston "How It Feels To Be Colored Me" on another day. They are just finishing up on Slave Narratives and moving on to the 1850's-1920's now, so these are two important pieces of literature in their texts that I thought were worth looking at (and Wallace agreed). No lie, I'm a bit nervous about teaching those classes (although more nervous that Dr. Franklin will be in their critiquing), but all in all I feel pretty comfortable with the whole process at this point.
p.s. Read or watch the movie "Into the Wild." It's pretty much amazing.
Mr. Wallace likes to let his classes work a lot in small groups or at least partners most of the time when they are doing any kind of 'read and analyze' assignments or projects. Quite often during his class I find myself wandering around the room from group to group and helping students with things like figuring out the meaning of difficult words, or even just prodding them keep on working. I have not taught yet, and because Mr. Wallace is gone all week and then SPS spring break is the following week I will not teach for three or four more weeks still. Even though I haven't actually taught yet, I feel very comfortable with his classes at this point. All of the students are respectful toward me, they have no problem asking me questions, and if I ask (tell) them to do something then they always do so.
Mr. Wallace believes that by not being extremely strict in class lets the students know that you are actually their to teach them and care about them, not simply their on a power trip with a huge ego. He seems to have a very good relationship with his students for the most part.
I think one of the main things I've learned from Kyle is simply that it's ok to be a laid back style of teacher and still get the work done in a high school environment.
When I teach the English III classes in a few weeks I will be doing so on monday and friday mornings of the same week. Right now the plan is for me to teach Langston Hughes poetry on one day, and Zora Neal Hurston "How It Feels To Be Colored Me" on another day. They are just finishing up on Slave Narratives and moving on to the 1850's-1920's now, so these are two important pieces of literature in their texts that I thought were worth looking at (and Wallace agreed). No lie, I'm a bit nervous about teaching those classes (although more nervous that Dr. Franklin will be in their critiquing), but all in all I feel pretty comfortable with the whole process at this point.
p.s. Read or watch the movie "Into the Wild." It's pretty much amazing.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Field Experience
Well, I have definitely had a good time with my field experience so far. I mean, I really can't complain; I haven't had anything thrown at me. I'm with Alyssa Wicklund over at Study Middle School, and she is an amazing teacher. She's been very helpful so far with getting me worked into her classes, and for the most part, she has a decent group of students. There are those few students who like to act out on a daily basis, but for the most part, they are well behaved.
Right now, I go there on Mondays and Fridays, which is a little awkward, because I'm there with them at the beginning of the week and then at the end of the week when they're wrapping things up that they started on Monday. This past Friday was a little different, because they mixed the schedule up a little to accomodate an assembly. I was able to work with students that are in her 2nd period, because they came to her class during her 5th period. They were extreme opposites of her 5th period class; they didn't want to stay in their seats, directions had to be repeated numerous times, etc. I was actually glad that I got the opportunity to observe the opposite end of the spectrum. Her other classes are so mild that I was beginning to wonder where all the energy had gone from the Middle School students of the world.
She wants me to do my teaching after M.A.P. testing, so that will be in April sometime. Until then, I will continue to work with the students in small groups and what not.
Right now, I go there on Mondays and Fridays, which is a little awkward, because I'm there with them at the beginning of the week and then at the end of the week when they're wrapping things up that they started on Monday. This past Friday was a little different, because they mixed the schedule up a little to accomodate an assembly. I was able to work with students that are in her 2nd period, because they came to her class during her 5th period. They were extreme opposites of her 5th period class; they didn't want to stay in their seats, directions had to be repeated numerous times, etc. I was actually glad that I got the opportunity to observe the opposite end of the spectrum. Her other classes are so mild that I was beginning to wonder where all the energy had gone from the Middle School students of the world.
She wants me to do my teaching after M.A.P. testing, so that will be in April sometime. Until then, I will continue to work with the students in small groups and what not.
Chapter 6 and 8
For some reason, I couldn't really get into Chapter 6. It may have been the fact that I was trying to read it at two in the morning while working the front desk of Wells; also, I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that it seemed to be a review of things that we talked about in ENG 520 with Dr. Weaver. Those that have had her know that reading a chapter out of a book just can't compare.
Chapter 8 was much more interesting than Chapter 6, and I feel like I got a lot out of it. I didn't know there were so many ways to mess up a class discussion, and I can see some places where it would be easy to go wrong. I have also seen some of these discussion no-no's in some of the places that I've done observations. I like Christenbury's idea of allowing the students to gain control of the class discussion as opposed to keeping that tight rein on things. You know the students must be interested if they're taking an active role in guiding the discussion. I also liked some of the ideas that she outlined to get students involved in class discussion like having them write their own discussion questions. Overall, it was a pretty enjoyable chapter.
Chapter 8 was much more interesting than Chapter 6, and I feel like I got a lot out of it. I didn't know there were so many ways to mess up a class discussion, and I can see some places where it would be easy to go wrong. I have also seen some of these discussion no-no's in some of the places that I've done observations. I like Christenbury's idea of allowing the students to gain control of the class discussion as opposed to keeping that tight rein on things. You know the students must be interested if they're taking an active role in guiding the discussion. I also liked some of the ideas that she outlined to get students involved in class discussion like having them write their own discussion questions. Overall, it was a pretty enjoyable chapter.
Field Experience Relection
Looking Back...
As I think back on my first lesson I’ve taught, I want to take a step-by-step look at what made the lesson succeed or fail, and what I could change in the lesson and myself to be a more efficient and effective instructor. I want to examine all aspects of the lesson, interactions with the class and my materials to differentiate between what works and what doesn’t.
It may seem conceded, but I loved my anticipatory set. The instructor had not introduced the next unit, dealing with Romeo and Juliet, which my lesson was connected to. This did not deter me and my focus. I wanted the students to draw parallels between the story I had concocted, and the storyline of Romeo and Juliet, whenever they made it there. As I ended up being the introductory lesson, I used the prior knowledge the students had of stories, what makes them successful, and directed their attention to my story, “A High School Tragedy,” and invited them to explore the story with me to examine if it was a tragedy. This enabled them to understand what a tragedy was, and wasn’t, before they even were introduced to Shakespeare’s tale.
The story I produced involved characters from their city, age group, and even their high school. The use of an ice storm from the previous year allowed a strong connection to their locale and present day. I blended humor and elements of tragedy, just as Shakespeare had done in R&J, while not being overly comedic and destroying the dismal mood at the end of the story. The effect was as I had hoped. The students read the final paragraph. The main character awoke
from a four-month coma, his beloved had long since moved, and the sighs and ah’s filled the room. It had truly hit home with these teens.
I noticed that my demeanor with the students was very involved and down-to-earth. They were able to converse easily with me and felt no pressure to hold back comments. The demeanor of the class was truly excitable and engaged. I attempted to continually thank readers, those who commented, and all those that expressed opinions. I tried to question, then allow for students comments to lead to further exploration of points. It was truly an on-topic discussion that turned insightful.
Although there was no shortage of individuals who wanted to comment on the story, I did my best to make sure someone from differing groups was asked to read. Students who wanted to read more than once were thanked, but dismissed for another of offering, or my choosing. I didn’t want it to be a one-man show of certain outgoing students. I varied my choosing readers and raised hands from boy to girl. This was not an intentional decision, as much as one made by trying to get to all of the hands and comments.
I think my best decision regarding this lesson was the story I created. It was very edible to the students, and they quickly devoured every morsel. The story immediately connected them to the characters in time and space and allowed for personal voice. The follow-up top the story was a Power Point presentation that highlighted the key elements of a tragedy; exposition, rising action, climax/crisis, falling action and resolution. I think the slideshow was flashy, colorful, but only enough that it grabbed their attention and made them want to read what was on the page. The additions to the page, animation and such, were minimal so as to not detract from the text and main points.
My downfall, since I have to choose one, would be that I was unable to call on students by name. The school requires name badges, but on my third visit, it was difficult to remember twenty names and the badges were never visible. It would be useful to learn a technique for making this happen quicker, but I’m sure it comes with time. As this area was deficient, I utilized an open hand directed at the student I was calling on, and stated “Yes, go ahead.” I will make sure to learn the students in my classroom quickly.
I noticed that even when I called on the students to read or comment that I managed to reward their efforts with praise for the majority of the class. However, about halfway through the lesson, I became engrossed in how much interaction was occurring and failed to give thank you’s as I should have. I was able to regroup during the individual group presentations at the end. After thanking the students, I had the remainder of the class join me in giving the presenters with a round of applause. Theirs was generally weaker than mine, something I will attempt to work on in the future. I also blended praise, some open-ended, some with affirmation, and some that led the questioning further for the other students to answer.
One of the benefits of the teacher education program was the intense focus on giving directions. I would give the directions, and then allow a short time for questions if there was any confusion. Then throughout the lesson, I would ask again if there were questions at several points in the lesson.
Upon returning to my objectives, I notice that I did not have time to develop one of them. I wanted the students to take a sequence of events that led up to a tragic ending, and re-evaluate and rewrite these for a “happy” ending. I would like to do this in the future, but it might be better used at the end of the R&J lesson. They could rewrite the falling action and resolution and give the readers a “happy” ending to the teen tale of love.
One of the things that I would change would be the time-frame. Instead of attempting to shove all of this material into one lesson, I would develop it over three class period. One to really focus on the story and dividing it into its parts, one to develop a sequence based on a given crisis for a tragedy, and the final class to make our tragedy a “happy” ending. I think this would really ingrain the lesson and the objectives into the students and make it even more unforgettable.
There were two different forms for assessment in this lesson, one individual and one group. The group presentations called for the groups to create characters and rising action for a given video clip. They then had to develop a series of events for the falling action, and wrap the story up, with either a tragic ending or a “happy” ending. It was the choice of the group. They did need to have the events be logical and sequential. Other than that, I gave no limitations as to what they could create. I was very interested in their group presentations and let them know this by my attention. I did not allow interruptions or comments, as I truly wanted to hear what they had created. I asked question, “Why did this happen again? And “So, you’re rider was paralyzed from the waist down, or the neck down?” I wanted them to know that what they wrote was entertaining me as well as their classmates.
The individual assessment plan I had for closure was one of connection. I wanted the students to make a connection between what they had just done, and connect it to R&J. I asked them, based on what they had just studied, to predict the outcome of R&J, knowing it was considered a tragedy. Many of them were correct in their predictions. It truly was amazing to see how much the lesson was a success.
The first block I taught this lesson to was completely engaged. The second block was a different story. Since I had written the teen tale they were reading, I knew where the breaks in the story were, where paragraphs ended, and so on. This allowed me to focus my attention on all the students, those engaged and those doing other things. During the course of the reading, a couple of girls decided to do their nails, one student had his head down, and another was texting below her desk. I was very aware of these individuals, but instead of saying something that might draw everyone’s attention from the reading, I simply walked behind them and asked them to read. This way, they knew I had seen what they were doing, plus it made aware that it could be potentially embarrassing to slack off during my lesson. Moving around the room is a vital tool for a teacher to use at all times.
If a student had asked me, “Why are we doing this?” I would have given the explanation I gave in class, without being asked. I told them the lesson taught us how to analyze our decisions, how one event can lead to another, and a tragedy happen without us thinking about it. Many of the students had their characters become drunk before the motorcycle wreck (which occurred in the video clip), and I used that to demonstrate how one bad decision could lead to the wreck, being paralyzed or possibly death.
Transitions between the activities were somewhat smooth. This is mainly due to the layout of the computer desk, and the remainder of the classroom. The layout made it difficult to address the PowerPoint while moving the slides from the computer desk. I would definitely rearrange this class if it were mine to avoid this interruption in lessons which involve technology. Other than that minor hiccup, I felt that the entire lesson was smooth and seamless.
In my first block, the entire student body was engaged and interested. The second block was restless, but that as I stated earlier, is due to their attitudes. The lesson was thoroughly engaging, but not to a class who doesn’t want to do anything because it’s last block on Friday. I believe you could ask them to watch one of their favorite videos and they would rebel. The individuals who were attentive, inattentive were a blend of all personality types from the teacher’s assessment. She stated that this girl was a loner, but she was engaged in the lesson. Another girl who was of the “popular” crowd was disengaged; doing her nails, but quickly was on-task when asked to read.
The ration of teacher-student talk was about 30-70%. The students did the majority of the talking, both in discussing the story and their group presentations. Most were split as to how much they liked this. Some enjoyed hearing each other’s tales, while others felt this was the most boring part of the lesson. It’s amazing how you can have two extremes on the same topic. During the discussion of the story, the students argued as to the climax of the story, so much so, that I had to tell them what I had determined as the climax. I explained as the author, I had that authority. I also explained that none of them were incorrect. Each one could consider a different event the climax of the story, as long as they could support it. This didn’t seem to satisfy them. They wanted a clear-cut decision and mine was it.
If I was a student in this class I think I would have been interested. The idea of being able to create my own story and events is captivating. I like the freedom this lesson gave the kids and they did too. I’m also a bit of a visual learner and the video, no matter how small, would have been a treat. The exit plan also would have been fun. I love to predict things and see how they
turn out. In the case of this lesson, I predicted they would like it and be engaged and they were. I would have thoroughly enjoyed the entire lesson.
I could have engaged the students by having them create their own list of events, resolution and exposition, but the time constraints were there. If it were my class, this would have been ideal for an individual homework assignment. It is something that is easy to do and would develop differently since each student has different life experiences.
I believe that my interaction and use of technology was a success in this lesson. The presentation in PowerPoint enhanced the lesson, while the video clip excited the students. Technology in this instance was not a distraction from the lesson but added depth and visuals for those learning types. Overall, I was very pleased with the lesson and would change little. I think I might find a better clip for the video portion, but the activities and assessments were a product that I was very pleased with. First lesson = Success!
~Stan
As I think back on my first lesson I’ve taught, I want to take a step-by-step look at what made the lesson succeed or fail, and what I could change in the lesson and myself to be a more efficient and effective instructor. I want to examine all aspects of the lesson, interactions with the class and my materials to differentiate between what works and what doesn’t.
It may seem conceded, but I loved my anticipatory set. The instructor had not introduced the next unit, dealing with Romeo and Juliet, which my lesson was connected to. This did not deter me and my focus. I wanted the students to draw parallels between the story I had concocted, and the storyline of Romeo and Juliet, whenever they made it there. As I ended up being the introductory lesson, I used the prior knowledge the students had of stories, what makes them successful, and directed their attention to my story, “A High School Tragedy,” and invited them to explore the story with me to examine if it was a tragedy. This enabled them to understand what a tragedy was, and wasn’t, before they even were introduced to Shakespeare’s tale.
The story I produced involved characters from their city, age group, and even their high school. The use of an ice storm from the previous year allowed a strong connection to their locale and present day. I blended humor and elements of tragedy, just as Shakespeare had done in R&J, while not being overly comedic and destroying the dismal mood at the end of the story. The effect was as I had hoped. The students read the final paragraph. The main character awoke
from a four-month coma, his beloved had long since moved, and the sighs and ah’s filled the room. It had truly hit home with these teens.
I noticed that my demeanor with the students was very involved and down-to-earth. They were able to converse easily with me and felt no pressure to hold back comments. The demeanor of the class was truly excitable and engaged. I attempted to continually thank readers, those who commented, and all those that expressed opinions. I tried to question, then allow for students comments to lead to further exploration of points. It was truly an on-topic discussion that turned insightful.
Although there was no shortage of individuals who wanted to comment on the story, I did my best to make sure someone from differing groups was asked to read. Students who wanted to read more than once were thanked, but dismissed for another of offering, or my choosing. I didn’t want it to be a one-man show of certain outgoing students. I varied my choosing readers and raised hands from boy to girl. This was not an intentional decision, as much as one made by trying to get to all of the hands and comments.
I think my best decision regarding this lesson was the story I created. It was very edible to the students, and they quickly devoured every morsel. The story immediately connected them to the characters in time and space and allowed for personal voice. The follow-up top the story was a Power Point presentation that highlighted the key elements of a tragedy; exposition, rising action, climax/crisis, falling action and resolution. I think the slideshow was flashy, colorful, but only enough that it grabbed their attention and made them want to read what was on the page. The additions to the page, animation and such, were minimal so as to not detract from the text and main points.
My downfall, since I have to choose one, would be that I was unable to call on students by name. The school requires name badges, but on my third visit, it was difficult to remember twenty names and the badges were never visible. It would be useful to learn a technique for making this happen quicker, but I’m sure it comes with time. As this area was deficient, I utilized an open hand directed at the student I was calling on, and stated “Yes, go ahead.” I will make sure to learn the students in my classroom quickly.
I noticed that even when I called on the students to read or comment that I managed to reward their efforts with praise for the majority of the class. However, about halfway through the lesson, I became engrossed in how much interaction was occurring and failed to give thank you’s as I should have. I was able to regroup during the individual group presentations at the end. After thanking the students, I had the remainder of the class join me in giving the presenters with a round of applause. Theirs was generally weaker than mine, something I will attempt to work on in the future. I also blended praise, some open-ended, some with affirmation, and some that led the questioning further for the other students to answer.
One of the benefits of the teacher education program was the intense focus on giving directions. I would give the directions, and then allow a short time for questions if there was any confusion. Then throughout the lesson, I would ask again if there were questions at several points in the lesson.
Upon returning to my objectives, I notice that I did not have time to develop one of them. I wanted the students to take a sequence of events that led up to a tragic ending, and re-evaluate and rewrite these for a “happy” ending. I would like to do this in the future, but it might be better used at the end of the R&J lesson. They could rewrite the falling action and resolution and give the readers a “happy” ending to the teen tale of love.
One of the things that I would change would be the time-frame. Instead of attempting to shove all of this material into one lesson, I would develop it over three class period. One to really focus on the story and dividing it into its parts, one to develop a sequence based on a given crisis for a tragedy, and the final class to make our tragedy a “happy” ending. I think this would really ingrain the lesson and the objectives into the students and make it even more unforgettable.
There were two different forms for assessment in this lesson, one individual and one group. The group presentations called for the groups to create characters and rising action for a given video clip. They then had to develop a series of events for the falling action, and wrap the story up, with either a tragic ending or a “happy” ending. It was the choice of the group. They did need to have the events be logical and sequential. Other than that, I gave no limitations as to what they could create. I was very interested in their group presentations and let them know this by my attention. I did not allow interruptions or comments, as I truly wanted to hear what they had created. I asked question, “Why did this happen again? And “So, you’re rider was paralyzed from the waist down, or the neck down?” I wanted them to know that what they wrote was entertaining me as well as their classmates.
The individual assessment plan I had for closure was one of connection. I wanted the students to make a connection between what they had just done, and connect it to R&J. I asked them, based on what they had just studied, to predict the outcome of R&J, knowing it was considered a tragedy. Many of them were correct in their predictions. It truly was amazing to see how much the lesson was a success.
The first block I taught this lesson to was completely engaged. The second block was a different story. Since I had written the teen tale they were reading, I knew where the breaks in the story were, where paragraphs ended, and so on. This allowed me to focus my attention on all the students, those engaged and those doing other things. During the course of the reading, a couple of girls decided to do their nails, one student had his head down, and another was texting below her desk. I was very aware of these individuals, but instead of saying something that might draw everyone’s attention from the reading, I simply walked behind them and asked them to read. This way, they knew I had seen what they were doing, plus it made aware that it could be potentially embarrassing to slack off during my lesson. Moving around the room is a vital tool for a teacher to use at all times.
If a student had asked me, “Why are we doing this?” I would have given the explanation I gave in class, without being asked. I told them the lesson taught us how to analyze our decisions, how one event can lead to another, and a tragedy happen without us thinking about it. Many of the students had their characters become drunk before the motorcycle wreck (which occurred in the video clip), and I used that to demonstrate how one bad decision could lead to the wreck, being paralyzed or possibly death.
Transitions between the activities were somewhat smooth. This is mainly due to the layout of the computer desk, and the remainder of the classroom. The layout made it difficult to address the PowerPoint while moving the slides from the computer desk. I would definitely rearrange this class if it were mine to avoid this interruption in lessons which involve technology. Other than that minor hiccup, I felt that the entire lesson was smooth and seamless.
In my first block, the entire student body was engaged and interested. The second block was restless, but that as I stated earlier, is due to their attitudes. The lesson was thoroughly engaging, but not to a class who doesn’t want to do anything because it’s last block on Friday. I believe you could ask them to watch one of their favorite videos and they would rebel. The individuals who were attentive, inattentive were a blend of all personality types from the teacher’s assessment. She stated that this girl was a loner, but she was engaged in the lesson. Another girl who was of the “popular” crowd was disengaged; doing her nails, but quickly was on-task when asked to read.
The ration of teacher-student talk was about 30-70%. The students did the majority of the talking, both in discussing the story and their group presentations. Most were split as to how much they liked this. Some enjoyed hearing each other’s tales, while others felt this was the most boring part of the lesson. It’s amazing how you can have two extremes on the same topic. During the discussion of the story, the students argued as to the climax of the story, so much so, that I had to tell them what I had determined as the climax. I explained as the author, I had that authority. I also explained that none of them were incorrect. Each one could consider a different event the climax of the story, as long as they could support it. This didn’t seem to satisfy them. They wanted a clear-cut decision and mine was it.
If I was a student in this class I think I would have been interested. The idea of being able to create my own story and events is captivating. I like the freedom this lesson gave the kids and they did too. I’m also a bit of a visual learner and the video, no matter how small, would have been a treat. The exit plan also would have been fun. I love to predict things and see how they
turn out. In the case of this lesson, I predicted they would like it and be engaged and they were. I would have thoroughly enjoyed the entire lesson.
I could have engaged the students by having them create their own list of events, resolution and exposition, but the time constraints were there. If it were my class, this would have been ideal for an individual homework assignment. It is something that is easy to do and would develop differently since each student has different life experiences.
I believe that my interaction and use of technology was a success in this lesson. The presentation in PowerPoint enhanced the lesson, while the video clip excited the students. Technology in this instance was not a distraction from the lesson but added depth and visuals for those learning types. Overall, I was very pleased with the lesson and would change little. I think I might find a better clip for the video portion, but the activities and assessments were a product that I was very pleased with. First lesson = Success!
~Stan
oh hai. i has a title.
I figured posting a title in lol-cat speak would get a lot of future English teachers' attention.
So...Practicum. Not half bad - I really like the atmosphere of Central High school - though it may just be my class. My class is weird - I'm in there with a student teacher from Drury and another practicum student from SEC 302, so there's four people walking around wanting to teach. Sometimes the kids must feel like they're in a fishbowl. But I like the classes I interact with, though I know they aren't typical (I'm with an AP English class and a sophomore honors class). I really love her AP English class. At Central, the general makeup of AP classes are the smart kids who aren't supermotivated enough to take IB classes. This week we had a great two-day discussion (and these are hour and a half classes) on essay writing, what the teachers wanted and what the students felt like the teachers wanted. I've never seen high school students get so excited about talking about essays! It was great. I did a think-aloud last week with the same class on a John Donne poem - it was a blast. I really have a lot of fun teaching in a classroom. I love to see high school kids excited. *sigh*
Um...so I-search. I did mine on teaching Grammar in the context of Student Writing. Most of the info in my paper you could find in chapter 6, but I strongly suggest getting this book for some great ideas on mini-lessons. If you're interested in the more theoretical reasons behind it, check out this book. One of the most important things I want to stress on the blog, if not in my paper, is that most schools want you to teach grammar. In fact, most students want you to teach grammar, at least in some fashion. Believe me, when adults perceive their writing as deficient, the first thing they do is blame their English teachers. From the late sixties to early nineties, many theorists decided grammar is intuitive and didn't need to be taught at all. It is true to some extent that kids who read a lot understand innately why a sentence sounds wrong...but that isn't true of most students. We still have a responsibility to teach students how to write "correctly," because if we don't, we are handicapping them in a society that judges them on how they write and speak. We just have to teach it in a way that actually INFLUENCES the way they write and speak.
So...Practicum. Not half bad - I really like the atmosphere of Central High school - though it may just be my class. My class is weird - I'm in there with a student teacher from Drury and another practicum student from SEC 302, so there's four people walking around wanting to teach. Sometimes the kids must feel like they're in a fishbowl. But I like the classes I interact with, though I know they aren't typical (I'm with an AP English class and a sophomore honors class). I really love her AP English class. At Central, the general makeup of AP classes are the smart kids who aren't supermotivated enough to take IB classes. This week we had a great two-day discussion (and these are hour and a half classes) on essay writing, what the teachers wanted and what the students felt like the teachers wanted. I've never seen high school students get so excited about talking about essays! It was great. I did a think-aloud last week with the same class on a John Donne poem - it was a blast. I really have a lot of fun teaching in a classroom. I love to see high school kids excited. *sigh*
Um...so I-search. I did mine on teaching Grammar in the context of Student Writing. Most of the info in my paper you could find in chapter 6, but I strongly suggest getting this book for some great ideas on mini-lessons. If you're interested in the more theoretical reasons behind it, check out this book. One of the most important things I want to stress on the blog, if not in my paper, is that most schools want you to teach grammar. In fact, most students want you to teach grammar, at least in some fashion. Believe me, when adults perceive their writing as deficient, the first thing they do is blame their English teachers. From the late sixties to early nineties, many theorists decided grammar is intuitive and didn't need to be taught at all. It is true to some extent that kids who read a lot understand innately why a sentence sounds wrong...but that isn't true of most students. We still have a responsibility to teach students how to write "correctly," because if we don't, we are handicapping them in a society that judges them on how they write and speak. We just have to teach it in a way that actually INFLUENCES the way they write and speak.
This weeks blog is on our papers, but....
I know that we are suppose to blog about our I-search papers this week, but I just had to share with you the experience I had while grading one of the papers from Casey's class.
I had a paper from a student, who wrote in his letter that he sucked at writing and that I could give him a "written smack in the head" if I felt the need! As I read his letter, it was easy to tell that he had NO confidence when it came to writing. I started reading his paper (which was on how to write a children's novel) and his introduction was good, then starting in the second paragraph of the first page was a cited quote from encyclopedia.com on the history of the children's novel. The cited quote went on for three and a half more pages. Word for word. And there were more paragraphs and paragraphs of cited quotes from different sources. He provided very little of his own words and thoughts and it seemed like he just wanted a good paper, like he didn't want to be embarrassed. (I am, of course, giving him the benefit of the doubt here!!)
So, my question to all of you is how would you approach this situation in terms of the 6 + 1 scoring guide. Any suggestions??? I have given him plenty of written response on what he should do (or not do), but I'm not sure how to score it with the guide, or if I even should. (I'm leaning towards the last one and providing him an explanation on why he didn' receive a 6 + 1 score.) That's the short version of the story....I found the whole experience pretty interesting myself!!
I had a paper from a student, who wrote in his letter that he sucked at writing and that I could give him a "written smack in the head" if I felt the need! As I read his letter, it was easy to tell that he had NO confidence when it came to writing. I started reading his paper (which was on how to write a children's novel) and his introduction was good, then starting in the second paragraph of the first page was a cited quote from encyclopedia.com on the history of the children's novel. The cited quote went on for three and a half more pages. Word for word. And there were more paragraphs and paragraphs of cited quotes from different sources. He provided very little of his own words and thoughts and it seemed like he just wanted a good paper, like he didn't want to be embarrassed. (I am, of course, giving him the benefit of the doubt here!!)
So, my question to all of you is how would you approach this situation in terms of the 6 + 1 scoring guide. Any suggestions??? I have given him plenty of written response on what he should do (or not do), but I'm not sure how to score it with the guide, or if I even should. (I'm leaning towards the last one and providing him an explanation on why he didn' receive a 6 + 1 score.) That's the short version of the story....I found the whole experience pretty interesting myself!!
give 'em what they want
This should have been the title of my i-search paper. My topic was young adult literature and other than the fact that I had to work, I actually doing walking through this topic and paper. I chose it b/c Chapter 1 of Christenbury, when she quotes a student who said, "English class ruined every good book I read," I couldn't get past it. Partly b/c its my story. Partly b/c I have heard that same echo way too many times. And partly b/c if there is one goal that I have as a teacher, its that my students will never be able to make that comment. And somehow I felt as though part of the answer to this dilemma is found in YAL.
Everything I read supports the notion that YAL should be present in some form within the classroom setting. There was some argument as to what that would look like practically speaking, but the truth remains the same - if students are going to enjoy class, feel engaged in what they are reading then we have to do more than just shove Chaucer and Shakespeare down their throats. They need to feel some freedom to choose to read what they want to read, not what we want them to read. And in most cases, students are going to want to read things that would fit more in the YAL genre.
I really didn't find a lot of practical applications other than "use it" but the more I think through it, the more some of those ideas come to me. For example, within the context of a unit plan, I would like to incorporate a classic or a higher-level reading book and then maybe utilize literature circles as students can choose a second book to read in the unit that would fit the theme and give them a choice.
I'm also taking a YAL class correspondence and so I get to choose the books that I read, which I am having a ton of fun with. And I'm finding that the stuff they are reading is way different than the feel-good "Babysitter Clubs" of my days.
Everything I read supports the notion that YAL should be present in some form within the classroom setting. There was some argument as to what that would look like practically speaking, but the truth remains the same - if students are going to enjoy class, feel engaged in what they are reading then we have to do more than just shove Chaucer and Shakespeare down their throats. They need to feel some freedom to choose to read what they want to read, not what we want them to read. And in most cases, students are going to want to read things that would fit more in the YAL genre.
I really didn't find a lot of practical applications other than "use it" but the more I think through it, the more some of those ideas come to me. For example, within the context of a unit plan, I would like to incorporate a classic or a higher-level reading book and then maybe utilize literature circles as students can choose a second book to read in the unit that would fit the theme and give them a choice.
I'm also taking a YAL class correspondence and so I get to choose the books that I read, which I am having a ton of fun with. And I'm finding that the stuff they are reading is way different than the feel-good "Babysitter Clubs" of my days.
field experience
Well, I am a little over half way through my field experience at Springfield Catholic. I am working with one of her senior classes, so every time they meet (they are on block scheduling), I am there, which works out really nicely with my work schedule and allows me to consistently interact with the same group of students. Its been fun - I have had a chance to teach one whole class period and then I get to jump in every now and then with the current civil rights unit they are working through. The students are starting to get to know me and I'm really enjoying that.
However, starting next week, I am going to be transferring over to her mythology class for a couple of weeks. She wants me to lead out in a "Readers Theatre" mini-unit. I honestly know next to nothing about mythology - somehow I skipped that through high school and college so I was incredibly intimidated at first. But I was also jazzed to be able to take the lead in something more than just a single lesson. Thankfully, Zak Hamby helped out a lot last week!! So I have been working with my teacher this week to get everything set and ready and then tada - its all me! I'm nervous b/c its mythology but I'm so excited about getting to lead out. And then hopefully when we are done with that, I'll be able to go back to the senior class and do a short unit there too.
But overall, I feel like its been a great experience and I have learned a lot....which has made all the hassle worth it.
However, starting next week, I am going to be transferring over to her mythology class for a couple of weeks. She wants me to lead out in a "Readers Theatre" mini-unit. I honestly know next to nothing about mythology - somehow I skipped that through high school and college so I was incredibly intimidated at first. But I was also jazzed to be able to take the lead in something more than just a single lesson. Thankfully, Zak Hamby helped out a lot last week!! So I have been working with my teacher this week to get everything set and ready and then tada - its all me! I'm nervous b/c its mythology but I'm so excited about getting to lead out. And then hopefully when we are done with that, I'll be able to go back to the senior class and do a short unit there too.
But overall, I feel like its been a great experience and I have learned a lot....which has made all the hassle worth it.
Education Courses - In general
I went back and posted a comment to Matt's belief that Education courses are not beneficial. I think administration should take a genuine look at how their students feel, especially in light of the recent scandals in one department (Social Services) in particular.
I guess, unless there is something unethical and letigious occurring, the administration chooses not to know or check on these deficiencies. I would continue my education at Missouri State, and attain a Master's in Education, if I didn't feel the department was a complete waste of time, money and resources. The thought of taking one more Education course makes me want to vomit. I plan on teaching for a couple of years and returning for my Master's in Administration instead. Hopefully, that department isn't a joke.
~Stan
I guess, unless there is something unethical and letigious occurring, the administration chooses not to know or check on these deficiencies. I would continue my education at Missouri State, and attain a Master's in Education, if I didn't feel the department was a complete waste of time, money and resources. The thought of taking one more Education course makes me want to vomit. I plan on teaching for a couple of years and returning for my Master's in Administration instead. Hopefully, that department isn't a joke.
~Stan
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