Learning Letter

I consider my book talk on Ishmael Beah’s A Long Way Gone, Memoirs of a Boy Soldier a success because I managed to convince at least two classmates to read it. Beah’s memoir is in the top five of the most important books I have ever read, I am excited to find a way to integrate into my future curriculum at my first opportunity. While I will probably never teach In the Name of God by Paula Jolin, I will never forget trying to do a mini-lesson on that piece. Hands-down, mini-lessons are more difficult than 50-minute lessons. I learned that trying to cover all bases in a fraction of the usual time takes a tremendous amount of efficiency and practice.

My unit plan was based on a novel I dislike but am fairly certain I will have to teach in the fall at my placement: A Separate Peace by John Knowles. Although I did not find the text itself interesting, I enjoyed the challenge of trying to get the most out of a necessary evil. I did all of the lesson plans back-to-back over the course of a few days, which helped create and cement good lesson-planning in my brain. I recognize the value of creating a daunting unit plan, it is like walking through the valley of the shadow of death and coming out the other side a new person, stronger, smarter, and exhausted. If I can do THAT, then I can teach certainly teach middle school.

I love integrating pop-culture into the classroom; not on a daily basis, but maybe once a week. Good teaching begins with building relationships with the students, and bringing part of their personal life into the classroom shows them you are paying attention to them as a person. Plus it’s fun! Done effectively, it can propel students toward critical thinking exercises. In every class my last couple of quarters, great emphasis is given to increasing student critical thinking skills. Beefing up student’s cognitive processing makes them better learners across disciplines.

My participation in this course has shown me how good teachers consider a dozen elements when designing an effective lesson, constantly molding instruction to fit the diverse needs of every student. Asking students to write two words on a sticky note seems small, but when done correctly it significantly contributes to their learning process. As I move forward in my education and my career, I aim to keep my eyes wide open in an ongoing effort to take advantage of learning opportunities.

Response #14 Shakespeare

Knowing the high probability of teaching Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (R&J) in my future classroom, I have been gleaning as many brilliant ideas involving that future unit as possible. What I aim to avoid is making every student read every word of the play in old English and dissecting every line. One particular introductory activity involves Shakespearean insults, providing a fun way for students to familiarize with the language and culture. I don’t think R&J can be taught without studying the elements of tragedy and iambic pentameter, but even those literary devices can be fun, engaging, and meaningful. Presenting the play as a tragedy, some teachers have the students decide which character is the most at fault for the tragic ending and do a final essay or project supporting their opinion. When teaching students about iambic pentameter, a parallel should be made to rap music. Students should also be shown at least two different interpretations of the same scene, to illustrate how much work Shakespeare did as the director. Trying to produce a Shakespeare play from the written text involves a lot of interpretation because there are so few directional notations outside of “Tybalt draws his sword” or “enter the Capulets”.

Because Shakespeare’s plays were meant to be performed, a visual element should always be included as part of the student’s final project/assessment. I think a jigsaw would work for the entire play. Let the students watch a 5-minute summary video of the basic plot (spoiler alert!), then assign groups to different acts from the play to study more in depth and present to each other. Each group would be required to provide a minimum amount of vocabulary words, character analysis on two assigned characters, connections to how their act aligns with the tragic plot line, key lines, quotes, or sonnets, and a visual representation of the plot. These visuals could be acted out live or on a video, presented as a comic, puppet show, or whatever else they can think of that would be appropriate.

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Response 13: Spiegelman

I don’t remember which year of secondary school typically addresses WWII, although Maus would be appropriate regardless. Even though it deals with suicide, murder, and a little language, students from sixth grade through twelfth grade would benefit from reading Maus. Few pieces of literature are appropriate for such a wide span of students, but Spiegelman’s graphic novel makes the grade (lol). I would LOVE for someone who either has or can imitate a “jewish” accent read some of Vladek’s lines for the students (I have tried and am nowhere close) so they get a more animated sense of the way he talks. As I read, I imagine the Jewish dad on the movie Independence Day.

In the fall when I student teach, I have to do A Separate Peace, but I wish I could do Maus instead. I might see if the history teacher at my placement has read Maus and lend it to him/her if they haven’t. I really think students learning about WWII would get more from this than any of the boring movies and other literature out there. However, I do think a WWII unit should be supplemented with pieces from the cannon.

In the novel, Vladek is “cheap”: finding a use for almost anything tangible (chunk of phone cord in the trash), but not valuing anything frivolous (weekly appointments to the salon). While Jews get a bad rap for similar values, many people from that generation remained frugal even if their financial burden lifted later in life. One part that horrified me was how German soldiers dealt with small Jewish children who were too noisy when they separated them from their parents. I guess because I am a parent, every instance having to do with kids stands out to me; from the one lady poisoning herself and the three kids to the way non-jewish children were taught to fear and hate the Jews.

Response 12: Poe

I have been a Poe fan since my first exposure to the Pit and the Pendulum in ninth grade, although it was my college career that sealed the deal. In my intro to Poetry class at EWU, we delved more deeply into the devices Poe used and his theory behind good writing. With that foundation, I am even more receptive to enjoying his works.

I had the privilege of working with both The Tell Tale Heart and The Raven in my placement last quarter, the middle schoolers really got into The Tell Tale Heart. They were a little more reluctant about The Raven till I exposed them to a YouTube video with Jamel Earl Jones as the narrator and the Simpson’s acting it out.

Fall is always an ideal time to use Poe in curriculum, since many of his works are in a setting of cold and decay… which supports the declining progression of several of his poems and stories. In my opinion he is the king of tone, whether it has to do with foreshadowing or changing the tone within the piece. Despite his personality quirks, his dedication and passion for writing is inspiring. However, his quirks and conspiracy theories surrounding his death make him intriguing as an author. Poe is so dynamic, he can be used to teach literary devices and connections to human nature.

Of all the works featured by my classmates, The Bells is the only one that was new to me. Because Poe was SO invested in his work, I wonder if we did him a disservice by publishing it after his death. I would hate for us to read something of his before he was ready to release it. As I read it, I appreciate the genius of transforming bells from symbols of joy and hope to the complete opposite of doom and despair.

Response #11: Sherman Alexie

Alexie’s writing style feels intimate and raw, as you are reading along it feels more like he is talking with you instead of writing for you. I think he has a very important story and perspective to tell, and the geographical references make it more personal for me. My daughter was born in the same hospital as he was, and I have been inside his high school in Reardan. His writing is colorful, witty, full of analogies, and OH! the doodles! While he doesn’t pretend to be tender about some serious issues, he manages to keep the novel light-hearted.

I was reading this on a slow night at work, and apparently Alexie used to date a girl that lived next door to one of my regulars! My customer thought Alexie was a pretty decent guy, but doesn’t care much for his writing (lol). In one of my previous English classes at EWU with Flinn, we read all or part of Alexie’s Because My Father Always Said He Was the Only Indian Who Saw Jimi Hendrix Play "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Woodstock. This was my first exposure to Alexie, and to the clip of Jimi Hendrix playing the anthem. We also watched an interview with Alexie on the Colbert Report, and it was one of the few times one of Steven’s guests got the upper hand of the conversation.

This will definitely make the shelf in my future classroom, and maybe I will be able to use at least excerpts in my curriculum. It could be the gateway to topics such as social justice, racism, or coming of age. I am always interested in people who have not only survived insurmountable obstacles, but also managed to shine afterwards. Students need to know about the inspiring Alexie’s and the Beah’s (my book talk author) in this world.

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

Response 10: Readicide

I am relieved to hear Gallagher support state standards while remaining critical of them; I like how he does not point out a critique without offering solutions to fix it. His main point on the subject of state standards are that there are too many of them; and teachers sometimes ruin valuable texts by beating them to death with every possible standard available. I like how he explains the taboo phrase “teaching to the test” as a positive teaching method: that is what all good teachers should do, provided the test is a good one. This speaks to the alignment we talked about in class, between what is being taught and what is being assessed.

Reading the section on the Paige Paradox, I am reminded of Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity: “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. Why would schools with low test scores be monetarily punished when it is those schools that need the most help, financially and otherwise? While I value the use of well-designed standards, I am totally against high-stakes testing, both for the students and the districts. The section on the Texas Miracle/Mirage is interesting...wasn’t George W. Bush, founder of No Child Left Behind, FROM Texas? Weird. Another text I read this quarter (cannot remember which one) pointed out how after the implementation of NCLB over 10 years ago, college applicants have shown no improvement on placement exams.

The word poverty concept reminded me of when my sister got my son a joke book for his birthday. It was at or just above his reading level, and I thought it would be a fun way to get him to read more. However, as I thumbed through it, I was grossly disappointed to realize most of the jokes would go right over his head. Being able to pronounce them was not enough, he also needed to understand the vocab and the contextual relationships.

Reading Response 9: Tovani

I agree that one of the first steps in  helping students become better readers is by redefining reading. By the time I get them in secondary school, they may be operating on an oversimplified and inadequate definition of what effective reading really is. I will be sure my students know that good reading does not magically happen on it’s own, but rather developed very intentionally.  Tovani’s book will be an excellent resource for instances when I think my students need a reading comprehension boost.

I like what Tovani said about her experience in her book club: “these readers had not come to book club knowing all the answers. They were depending on one another to construct meaning” (8). When I encourage my future students to model what good readers do, I want them to understand good readers do NOT equal people who know everything. Good readers read with a purpose, make connections between the text and their own lives, draw inferences, and ask questions. She expands on this idea later, pointing out that good readers do not remember every single thing they read, but they “use tools to hold onto their thinking so they can return to it later” (34). If I can get my students to realize reading is a process requiring tools and strategies, they will see how accessible effective reading is to everyone. Giving each student better access to strong reading skills will break down their negative pre-conceived notions of reading. Breaking down that barrier and following it up with practical lessons from this book will help me produce classrooms full of successful readers.

My son is a very reluctant reader, and I am always trying to show him examples of why reading is important. When he first began playing video games, he would not read any of the tips and prompts and would get lost or stuck and frustrated. I would help him out and he would say “how did YOU know that?!” and I would answer “because I took the time to read it”. He did not like being helpless while playing his games so he started forcing himself to stop and read when necessary. Around the same time he started noticing words he recognized around the grocery store or on road signs, and I tried to show how impressed and proud I was when he did. This worked wonders for his reading confidence, which was a huge roadblock for him.

RESPONSE #8 SOCIAL JUSTICE

Social justice is anything that affects human welfare, advocating for fairness and equality for every person. Many topics fall under the social justice umbrella: gay rights, human trafficking, pollution, homelessness, genocide, access to education or clean water, just to name a few.

It is important for secondary students to become aware of social injustices on a small and large scale, and various points in between. Students may be outraged over a closed campus during the lunch break or a double standard for teachers checking their cell phones during class. Students may know about gay marriage getting approved in some states and not others. Students may not know the disturbing statistics about child slavery on a global scale. Before a student enters the world as a young adult, they should know what’s really out there, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

However, I do not think students should be frightened or fanatical by the time they graduate high school. Great care should be taken to expose students to the exciting new possibilities in discovery, invention, technology, and extraordinary volunteer and human relief efforts happening locally and abroad. Sheltering students from blatant and subtle injustices is not protecting them, it’s disarming them. Very cliché, but knowledge is power. Teachers should be careful to support concepts of social injustices with strategies for battling them. Students should be informed about how the world works, which includes both the injustices and avenues for thwarting them; balance the heartbreaking realities with some hope.

Students make excellent activists because they still feel invincible, do not have children or careers demanding the majority of their energy, and are anxious to be taken seriously. Using social injustice in a classroom widens the student’s scopes to the world, and challenges them think bigger than who they are trying to avoid in the hallway. I can see doing either an informative or persuasive essay unit for my future classroom themed around social injustices. I could let the students pick social injustice topics that they feel passionate about and maybe their conclusion or reflection could be something specific they plan to do towards alleviating their particular social injustice topic.

Response #7: CRITICAL PEDAGOGY IN AN URBAN HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH CLASSROOM

I love the idea of making the classic texts meaningful for the students. The authors of this article list several methods towards the goal of complimenting canonical literature with elements of pop culture, all of which I plan to utilize at some point in my teaching career. We can justify the importance of classic literature by linking them to timeless concepts present in modern devices (music, film, etc.). Educators cannot ignore pop culture, so why not use it? Capitalize on it! For example, when I studied Beowulf and Harry Potter at EWU, we addressed gender roles and possible sexism issues present in the text. An effective teacher will be able to help the students draw upon their personal experiences with gender roles (maybe by tapping into social media) to make meaningful connections with ancient and modern texts. This would also require teachers who value what students can bring to the academic table, building upon the concepts from last week’s article: chapter two of Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Freire is expanding upon John Dewey’s theories about the backwards educational structure, advocating “that the school curriculum draws from the lived experiences of the child to expand into broader horizons”.

It is important for students to learn about people who are different from themselves, and realize those people lead lives that are equally as meaningful as their own. This concept from the article reminds me In the Name of God by Paula Jolin that I am reading for class. Halfway through the book I am convinced that every American teenager needs to be exposed to this perspective.

I agree with the authors of this article that when we expose students to harsh realities of injustice, we need to support them with opportunities and tools to change and rise above those circumstances. Students will only feel more helpless and demoralized if they are made aware of oppression without the power to change it. That power begins with critical pedagogy.

Response 6: PEDAGOGY OF THE OPPRESSED

I have written before about the pedagogical crime of teachers acting as the knowledge depositors and students acting as the account in which the knowledge is deposited. This article speaks to the ineffective banking style of education. One layer deeper on this concept I gleaned from Mr. Freire is how the banking style rests upon the assumption that the teacher knows everything and the students know nothing...which is entirely untrue! I see how banking-style teaching also places a monopoly upon knowledge itself, making it seem inaccessible to students directly. Knowledge should be accessible to everyone, and students should be encouraged to access it. The goal of teaching should be to create lifelong learners, which is impossible under the banking pedagogy style.

Indirectly, banking style teaching perpetuates individuals who follow the status quo, right or wrong. While authority is important and rules and laws matter, we do not really want a society that blindly follows whatever was done before them. Humans are capable of so much creativity and innovation, it would be a shame to discourage one of the coolest elements of our nature.

I really like the idea of changing the classroom climate to one of mutual respect, where both teacher and students have opportunities to teach and to learn: “the teacher's thinking is authenticated only by the authenticity of the students' thinking”. Classrooms modeled this way will appropriately prepare students for life in the 21st Century. People will need to be collaborators, team players, and synthesizers; all of which require higher order thinking skills. The modern world is all about making connections with each other, with different pools of information, with ideas. Our students need classrooms that encourage making meaningful connections.

Overall, I felt this article almost had a hippie Ralph Waldo Emerson vibe to it, with the whole consciousness rant. While I totally agree with the main idea of the article, I am not really a “philosophy” person so it hurt my brain a little to work through it.

Response #5

"ASSESSING AND EVALUATING STUDENTS' LEARNING"

I found this chapter helpful in a couple of ways: providing ideas and specific tools I can implement in my future classroom, and confirming good teaching practices I have experienced.

I really like the idea of providing my students with a variety of ways to write in my class: informally in a journal or blog where the emphasis is on their ideas and connections instead of mechanics, and more formally where they apply the conventions relevant to the learning objectives. I think the most important concept in assessment is to "clearly articulate to students what is expected and how it will be evaluated" (231-2). I think two important components of that goal are well-designed rubrics and providing examples of exemplary work. I could use a rubric similar to the example on evaluating classroom discussions as either participation or extra credit points. I think using template writing assignments is more appropriate in middle school to help lay foundations for what they should be able to do on their own in high school.

Some big pedagogical concepts I have learned recently at EWU that were echoed in this chapter include: having the students be more responsible for their learning (doing more of the work than the teacher), using reader-based descriptive responses on drafts (from teacher and from peers), and moving away from "covering" material and towards fostering life-long learners.

When teachers focus too much on fact-based literature learning and assessments, the teacher takes the role of the knowledge-giver and the students simply receive it and try to spit it back out later. The students have a much richer learning experience if the teacher assumes more of a facilitating role in the classroom. My ENGL 408 instructor at EWU modeled the reader-based responses outlined on page 229. On our first paper she conducted individual conferences with each of us on our rough drafts, encouraging our strengths and asking for clarification on other aspects. She struck the difficult balance of challenging us without overwhelming us. Then on our next papers we held conferences with each other, doing our best to imitate her example. "Covering" a chapter or key terms and the like seems to be turning into a taboo concept in modern pedagogy. This points back to the teacher as the knowledge-giver and the students as mindless robots regurgitating information. Memorizing is only the basic form of learning, dogs can do it. Meaningful learning requires use of the higher end of Bloom's Taxonomy.

Response 4: Assignment Template...

ASSIGNMENT TEMPLATE: ALIGNED TO CALIFORNIA’S COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS AND LITERACY

Looking ahead to fall quarter when I will be student teaching, I realize I will need to use some introductory techniques to gauge student ability before I launch them into the first novel of their curriculum. They will need to practice some pre-reading exercises and close reading techniques on some short relevant articles before tackling a novel.

In an attempt to satisfy the language CCSS, I could do a 10-15 minute segment every Friday on pertinent vocab and/or other relevant language components that popped up throughout the week. These language recaps could address definitions, pronunciations, origins, and any other language-based digressions. I could pick my own words the first couple of weeks then turn it over to the students; requiring each of them to submit a vocab word or language question each week or every other week.

I really like the “Mapping the Organizational Structure” technique on page 8: determining the introduction, body, and conclusion of a given article. This technique will help prepare them to write effectively in the future. The questions posed on page 11 under “Analyzing Stylistic Choices” strikes me as particularly useful during an Edgar Allan Poe unit. When thinking about the writer (ethos) of a text, I am reminded of my Global View Children’s Literature class. One of the most important ethos questions we raised was whether the author had to personally experience something in order to write legitimately about it. Page 16 echoes a tool I snagged from my English 408 class last quarter: every draft of every paper must identify topic, focus, purpose, and tone. Students must always know what they are writing and why they are writing it. Another nugget I gleaned from that class relates to “Composing a Draft” on page 19; first drafts must be more about writing and less about editing. Natalie Goldberg’s Wild Mind refers to it as turning off the editor brain and allowing oneself to write freely.

Response 3: Team Teaching

Team teaching is modeling the group and partner work we require from our students; it’s probably a good idea that we practice what we preach. Both team teaching and student group work share the same characteristic: although the planning may take longer when more people are involved, the end product is richer. Student group work is not supposed to be divide and conquer, and neither is team teaching.

   

Team teaching opens more opportunities for teachers to model desirable academic behavior for their students, like a respectful intellectual debate and valuing a colleagues ideas. I like the strategy Anderson and Landy used to grade papers: divide and conquer the strong ones, solicit partner teacher on the rest. Team teaching automatically helps the student/teacher ratio, providing more opportunities for individualized attention.

If a teaching rotation model is used for a course, it’s success would largely depend upon the consistency of assessments. Listening to 5 different teachers is difficult enough, without throwing in different types and amounts of assessments along the way.I can see how team teaching is the most effective type of co-teaching when executed properly. I wonder how mainstream this trend will become.

My first placement was in an alternative middle school in Spokane called Eagle Peak, and my mentor teacher co-taught her class. Because this school is specialized, every student has a 504 and half of them also have an IEP for reading and/or writing. She is the special education teacher and her partner is the English teacher. They do spend a considerable amount of time collaborating and checking in with each other, but the co-teaching method has been working for them for the last couple of years. Because every student struggled with behavior, it was even more important to display respect for the other teacher at all times (which they did beautifully).

Response 1: Discussion in a Democratic Society

Laura Gemmill

Dr. Sean Agriss

ENGL 493

05 January 2016

Response 1: Discussion in a Democratic Society

In agreement with the authors of this article, an ideal discussion models an ideal democracy. While the ideal in either realm is unattainable, effective discussions and democracy are imperative for a meaningful human existence. Discussion is part of our humanity, and democracy is the vehicle for discussion. We are curious, social beings who crave interaction and knowledge. In a society built upon freedom of speech, we are invited to discuss ANYTHING. (Can I just point out it’s funny that a guy with the last name Lipman is writing about conversation?)

Because people are curious we like to be stimulated. Walking the conversational line between seriousness and playfulness is no fun unless you dabble on both sides along the way. Most people will not dwell in either camp too long before attempting to change it up. Considering the relationships between the three terms (dialog, conversation, and discussion), I would say dialog is structured and has a specific purpose, but no conclusion is required. Conversation has little structure or purpose, but usually has a conclusion. Discussions are less structured than dialogs but more so than conversations, begin with a purpose but could without one or with a different one, and may or may not produce conclusion(s) for those involved. I really liked discussion being described as an “unrehearsed intellectual adventure”. Humans are unique and organic, and everything we produce shares those characteristics. Every discussion is brand new, distinct from anything before it.

 Critical discussion requires some vulnerability, allowing your ideas to be challenged. If you are not vulnerable, it is a speech, not a discussion. I may display this quote from the text in my future classroom: “admit that one’s knowledge and experience are limited and incomplete”. Discussion is valuable for people who feel like they are alone in their experience; allowing people to connect while maintaining their identity. Without exposure to variety we would never grow. A great discussion fosters our similarities and our differences.