Keep giving me ideas...

Gallagher is giving me so many ideas that I am afraid I am feeling a little overwhelmed by them all.  They are all great ideas and I definitely hope that I can bring these into my own classroom.  I hope to start out by implementing one of them in my practicum lesson next week.

What does it say?

What does it mean?

What does it matter?

These three questions are so great and sometimes I forget that going beyond the point of What does it mean? to What does it matter? is the essential direction our conversations and discussions need to go.  I am doing my lesson on satire and I think that these three questions could fit so well into this topic.  I'm excited to use them and hear the responses of my students.

I also loved all the ideas Gallagher gave in his metaphor chapter.  The iceberg is such a great visual and really gets students to have a deeper comprehension and understanding of characters.  I even liked how he had one sentence about letting the students draw the metaphors - I was thinking, "Why?"  But then I made it personal and thought about how I love art and love to draw (I think I was being selfish because I wanted to draw the metaphors), but then I thought a little harder and concluded that it was a great idea because then it captures the attention of the artists and visual learners of the classroom.  Let students have their creative touch and that will give them more interest and involvement in the activity.

Testing Talk with Mr. Wittmer

While the students at Kickapoo high school take the MAP tests, my practicum teacher, Mr. Wittmer, and I discuss the end of the MAP and what should be put in its place instead of another foolish test. I thought the idea Wittmer had was great but probably wouldn't be established without a lot of push. This is the push.

There has been talk of dropping the MAP this year and starting something new next year and I asked what they would put in its place. He just stated that it would probably be another semi-worthwhile test that is more focused on minuet qualities of what you have to know about the main subjects. Wittmer suggested that instead of these types of tests, the schools should use a test that does more good: the ACT.

Think about it. The schools have to pay to have their students take the MAP right now so why not pay to have their students take a more essential test? The students don't get the results for the MAP so they feel like they're preparing for this test all year for nothing. They take it and forget about it. However, with the ACT, a lot more is riding on it. The test could be given with all juniors or seniors at the end of the year and the students would take it more seriously. The ACT is what colleges look for to get into college and we would be preparing them. Plus, if the students want to take it earlier, they can but they'd have to pay for it (the same as if they want to change their score from after high school).

To me, it seemed like a really good idea and one that could help schools in the long run. State and Federal school personal could take the results from the test like they do with the MAP but the students get their results back.

I like the idea. What do you think?

What Does It Not Say? Everything!

Honestly, what does it not say? Have you ever asked your students or friends this question? Yes, papers, reports, charts, articles, etc always share a lot of information, but never mention the things that are relevant. This happens in real-life situations, as well as lesson in a classroom. It is important for students to understand that there is other information relevant to the topic that may not be directly stated in a text or assignment. I think that this section on inference is important for students to recognize because they need to recognize this early in their reading and studying. I still have problems with this at a college level because I recognize all the facts, without seeing the missing information. A good lesson for this would be in politics. Incorporating this inference mini-lesson around a political debate would be interesting for students and teachers. By having students ask themselves the three questions (say, mean, matter), they will have a deeper understanding of the information presented to them.

The next important thing that I noticed in this reading was the way that layers are used. I thought this part was interesting because I am contemplating doing a lesson on idea maps. Using this lesson, students will pick a character from To Kill a Mockingbird and examine specific characteristics and qualities of them and create an idea map for this specific character. I thought this was similar to Gallagher’s layering section or even the domino effect. One characteristic leads to another, which leads to another, which then leads to the rest of them. Teaching it like this would be interesting to the students I think they would enjoy it. Maybe I will try that next week in my lesson!

Chapter 5 & 6

I really liked the "Three Key Questions" that Gallagher discusses on pages 86-91. It really allows students to futher examine the reading and get them thinking. On page 87, Gallagher uses Lord of the Flies as an example. Since all I could think about for 2 wks was Lord of the Flies ( I did my I-Search on this) I could relate to the example that he gave. By rereading the text, the student's discover certain things like "fair" used 9 times in the first 2 pages which all describe Ralph. It's amazing what you discover when you read for detail. Why the author does this has the students asking 2 of the three key questions- What does it say and what does it mean?
I also liked how Gallagher uses "What does it matter?" to talk about why we read. When he asked why were still reading To Kill a Mockingbird so many years after it has been published, it really made me think. I think that it shows students that it does relate to the real world and the issues that were going on during that time period. It always seems like Gallagher somehow relates whatever he is talking about to the real world, and thats what I like so much about this book.
I found the first part of the colloboration chapter (6) very interesting. It caught my eye because we just talked about some of the same issues in my ENG 520 class. Under the "No Hitchhiking" section on page 106, Gallagher talks about group work. I've discussed how many students you should place in groups in some of my other classes before, but I've wondered if a group of 2 or 3 will really work best. What he was saying though, made sense. There is always one person that is the leader of the group that is doing all the work, and most of the others are just talking and not contributing. I found the tips on seperating the groups by size, gender/ethnicity very interesting and I am ready to try them out in my classroom.

The Real Essential Teacher Questions

As I venture into this vast world of philosophical thought and diverse teaching, I find myself running into a lot of difficult questions. How do you teach something that's both worthwhile and educational to the students? How can you teach good morals if you are forced to teach toward tests like the MAP? What are morals?

Teachers and professors alike have been attempting their futile efforts of pouring wisdom and knowledge down the throats of students for a very long time and I wonder which methods are most effective. It seems as if the attempt to shove ideas in front of students and make them think a certain way is the only True way to teach. Kids come into the school environment with only the ideas their parents or close relatives have given them (some come in with their own creative ideas as well) and are pressured to act a certain way and become a certain thinker.

Like this picture I found from above, it appears that the rainbow of creativity and great imaginary ideas are crushed underneath the powers of the teacher hammering their own perspectives into the students head. This falls onto, in my opinion, the art of behaviorism. If someone is disrupting a class, the teacher silences them or makes them seem a fool. The kid's creative ideas are promptly halted and the teacher may never hear a witty remark or brilliant idea from them again. They have been forced to act a certain way.

Why in our society do the most energetic people get put down so much in the classroom and in work environments? Why are those who sit alone and don't interact with other students deemed the weakest link and subject to failure? Why do teachers focus on having the perfect student instead of admiring those who talk out of turn or do something different that may or may not benefit the class? Why does this country, which states that difference is the way to be, attempt to create a society of people who do the same things? How can we help those who are different learn and keep their own identity?

These are the questions going through my head as I think about essential questions. What are your answers?

Spring Break Enlightenment

I taught my first lesson in the class this week and it was amazing. We started a unit on "Of Mice and Men" and I'm going to be able to develop what we do in class into my conceptual unit plan. I had never read this novel before, so it's going to be a new experience to analyze it. I'm really excited about it because when I was in High School I went to a Christian School that didn't allow us to read novels with rough language, such as this one, that portrayed a different lifestyle of a culture, so I'm broadening my horizons, also. The Metaphors in this novel will allow interpretation to be developed in the classroom, such as Gallagher talks about in Deeper Reading. Whereas, some people view this as a right or wrong choice of reading.
It was exciting to start the unit with a vocabulary exercise that implemented group collaberation with terms from the novel. When we went through the answers to the quiz I gave them about the first chapter, I lead them into a discussion about the language, metaphors, and their interpretations as we went over the answers. It went really smooth. I'm looking forward to working other exercises in that will lead me into a unit great unit plan on this novel for my own class as well as correlate it to things I've learned in my training, such as I did with this weeks reading.

Propaganda

I thought the section in Deeper Reading about propaganda was interesting. In fact, when i was in middle school, we actually watched several commercials and had to decide which type of advertising the products were using. It was effective in understanding the commercials and i can still remember the types. I think it is important to point out these issues with media to our students so that they understand the manipulations of the commercial world. Being able to analyze these commercials is interesting for students because they will be able to deeper their close reading strategies and apply these skills to their schoolwork. Just like Gallagher suggests, using interesting articles that grasp the reader's attention would really make them enjoy this lesson. I found some of the articles interesting and i know that these types of articles can be found nearly everyday on the internet or in the newspaper. I think the closing of this chapter is interesting. I know that we are English teachers, but we are more than just that. We have to teach our students about media literacy because it is so important in our subject and the rest of the curriculum. We can keep traditional lessons in our unit plans, but incorporating these mini-lessons is also important. It get students involved and will really help them relate information to their real lives. Also, the research aspect of it on the internet and in print articles will help their literacy. This was a great chapter!