Learning Letter Post

This quarter has been a very fulfilling one. I was happy to share my book talk with the class, over John Green’s Looking for Alaska, a great coming of age novel that could be used in literature classrooms from grades 7 through 10 based on the Lexile level and mature themes. Then in my mini-lesson I taught a literary devices lesson over Edgar Allan Poe’s The Black Cat. And finally, I created a three-week unit plan that covered John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. I put in a lot of work for each project, and I think that I did a very good job with each one.

I really enjoyed the readings and discussions over the pedagogical materials we explored this quarter. They gave insightful techniques that could be used in my future classroom. I particularly enjoyed the using class discussions as a teaching practice because I think that discussion enhances the learning process for students. I agree with that practice because when discussion is used effectively, students share ideas and interpretations of texts and they do the majority of the learning. I think it is important to incorporate the different ideas that we learned about this quarter and try each one to see if they work in future classrooms.

I have learned a lot as far as my abilities are as a curriculum maker, and I have learned to collaborate with peers to help share ideas. I have been participating in my practicum for two quarters now, so I have been able to interact and teach my own lessons for a while now, but what I have learned is that you can always teach more lessons to learn and become better at your craft. I am more comfortable with the idea of being a teacher now more than ever and I know I will get better as I continue to practice and work on my craft. I look forward to learning more and practicing my pedagogical skills. 

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Post

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, is a powerful story telling the tale of a young boy named Junior who is growing up on the Spokane Indian reservation. The story deals with Junior’s quest to get a better education than what he was getting on the reservation.  He enrolls and attends an all-white school in the neighboring community, Reardan. At the school, Junior is made fun of for the way he looks and is bullied incessantly. A star athlete named Roger makes a racist comment to Junior and so Junior hits him. Roger is bewildered that Junior fought back and walks away, having a new-found respect for Junior. Junior eventually makes friends and even makes the varsity basketball team.

Junior undergoes tremendous adversity while trying to get his education. He is an outcast amongst his tribe, he loses his best friend when he goes to the new school, his family is very poor, and he has to deal with tremendous loss as loved ones around him either leave or are killed in alcohol related incidents. But despite the problems Junior must face, he makes friends at his new school, he does well in sports, and he does well in his classes.

I think that students should read this novel because it allows for students to see into the world of a culture they may or may not be familiar with. This novel is particularly important due to the culturally relevant setting that students in the area can connect with. I think a great way to teach this novel is to include it with other coming of age stories or to use it in a culture unit. Another way to teach the book could be in a Native American Culture unit, so that if students were learning about the different tribes they could have a story to match with a tribe. It is a great story that students should read. 

Night Post

Night by Elie Wiesel is a novel that every student should read. It is an autobiographical account of the events leading up to, during, and after the holocaust. It is a powerful story that every student needs to experience. It touches on important themes and ideas that many students don’t experience in books today. When I read the novel my sophomore year of high school, I learned a lot from what Wiesel had to say. The experiences that he went through were unimaginable and inhumane and no one should have to go through that. It touches on a piece of history that many people do not know a lot about.

The holocaust is a time in history that is shrouded in mystery. It is only from personal account stories that students can learn the truth. Just like with The Diary of Anne Frank, Elie Wiesel’s story tells of what he went through and for some it can be hard to fathom. With reading this novel, my class also watched a documentary of when Wiesel visited the death camp that he had be jailed at during the war. He told of what happened to his family, his friends, and himself.

There are many ways to teach this novel, whether by itself, exploring it as an autobiographical text, in comparison to other holocaust survivor stories, in contrast to the aggressor’s point of view, or as a historical unit within social studies, but the list goes on and on. When I was taught this book, it was during a war unit, and we had read All Quiet on the Western Front before we read Night. It was interesting to see how the stories compared to one another.

All in all, this book needs to be taught. Students need to know the survivors’ stories and they need to know the historical background behind it. 

Teaching with the Graphic Cannon

I think that the graphic cannon is a great addition to any classroom curriculum, and is a great way to differentiate instruction. There are many pieces of literature that students tend not to comprehend because during the periods that many pieces of literature were written, the English language was different from what it is today. Pieces like Beowulf or the Canterbury Tales are transformed in such a way that students can actually see what is going on in those pieces of literature, instead of stumbling across words that they cannot understand, completely missing the meaning or themes behind the words.

Presenting novels and other pieces of literature in different ways such as in the graphic cannons, films, or music can connect older material to students in a greater way. I know when I first read Pride and Prejudice I struggled with the words and way the characters spoke because it was a different time. It wasn’t until the second or third time when I read the novel that I began to understand what they characters were saying because I was familiar with the language, and could make out the meaning of words or phrases that I hadn’t before. The graphic cannon version captures the characteristics of the Bennet family well, and so you gain a deeper insight into their characteristics.

I think it is very important for students to have multiple mediums to study literature. The stories contained within the graphic cannon are illustrated beautifully, and so students not only are exposed to great artwork that is engaging, but they are also exposed to literature in a new way. Teaching novels with a graphic novel cohesively can allow for students to have greater interest in the “dated” literature of the past. Plus, who doesn’t love a good picture book anyways?

Readicide Post

Kelly Gallagher’s Readicide book is something that all future (and current) teachers need to read. Today, we have an alarmingly high number of students who do not want to read. In fact, if students were given the choice, they would probably prefer to go to the doctor or the dentist rather than ever looking at something that they have to read. We are teaching students that all they need to do is pass a standardized test to reflect their intelligence, and sending them off into the world with no ability to perform literary tasks. We are doing it to ourselves, and if we do not correct how we teach reading now, then the future looks bleak.

I remember when I was younger, that I didn’t like to read. I would rather have had my teeth pulled out than to pick up anything to read. It wasn’t until I was in middle school that I found a love of reading, and since then I haven’t wanted to stop. Sure, there were some setbacks from teachers and professors who wanted to talk about books to death, or an excessive amount of reading material that needed to be completed in a short period that made me take a break from reading. But I always come back because I love to read.

Right now, we are killing students drive to read. And we need to stop. We need to go back to the practices of having students being held accountable for their reading, and cultivate their desire to continue to read. Students need to have materials that they are interested in, and they do not need to be taught just how to pass a test. If students are being taught the right way, then they will be given the tools to pass tests without being taught to the test. We need to help our students because we are not doing them any favors with them not having to read. 

I Read It, But I Don’t Get It Post

It can be so frustrating for people when they do not understand something. It is even more discouraging when a person thinks that they will never gain that understanding. I remember when I was younger, I struggled with reading. I couldn’t remember what was important from the overall story, and I would get so bogged down that I almost gave up reading all together, and this was by the age of ten. I would get so frustrated when I would read a chapter book, and I couldn’t make sense of what was happening. I wasn’t engaged and I faked reading, a lot.

It wasn’t until I was in middle school that I became a better reader. I was in the seventh grade, and we had to pick a book to read during reading time, and I decided to read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling. As I was reading that book, I read slowly, and I discovered that when I took my time I could better visualize what was happening in the book. I stopped fake reading and I became interested in reading books. I found a love of reading, and I found a love in literature.

Cris Tovani’s I Read It, But I Don’t Get It gave so many helpful tips to help improve student’s reading comprehension. What I really liked was the section on connecting new information to what a student already knows. If a student can find something that they relate to in their reading, I think it can make the reading more personal to them and increase their interest in the material. Not only do the connections increase student interest, but it also increases the comprehension for the readers. If a reader can make a connection, then they are more likely to remember the information.

Cris Tovani made me understand why I had reading struggles when I was younger, and with reading this book, I think I will be able to help my future students who struggle with reading as well. 

Critical Pedagogy in an Urban High School English Classroom post

Critical Pedagogy in an Urban High School English Classroom gives very insightful tips for when teaching in an Urban school district. I loved how this paper emphasized the need to give students reading materials that will challenge their critical thinking skills and make them analyze texts. I also liked how they chose literary texts that students can experience through a different lens, and look at the texts from different perspectives of those who were involved within the piece. I think it is so critical for students to experience these old texts where they should explore the different themes that they may not be familiar with.

All students are entitled to an equal education, but that is not always the case. The difference between poor schools and rich schools are drastic when compared to the materials and the resources that are available. Schools in urban school districts for the most part do not have access to the new materials and textbooks available because these schools are usually underfunded and have limited resources. I don’t think that it is very fair for students in urban areas to have to suffer such inequalities that they have to go through, but what was presented in this article really gave great ideas on how students can be inspired to go above what they have available to them and excel academically.

I liked the unit that compared contemporary hip-hop music with canonical poetry texts. It was very beneficial for the students to see how in both they use literary techniques in the different styles of texts. Because hip-hop culture was so important to the students in the class, they could incorporate something that they were interested in into the curriculum and they were able to make those connections to what they know to something new and unexpected. 

PAULO FREIRE: CHAPTER 2 OF PEDAGOGY OF THE OPPRESSED post

In so many of my past classes, I have had teachers and professors use their lecturing time as a chance to speak from their soap boxes. They tried to paint the world as they saw it without taking into consideration how their students felt about their opinions or how their students saw the world. For many of those classes, I felt that I was being talked at, and I wasn’t active in the learning process. Needless to say, in those classes, I did not learn much and I felt that they were very much so a waste of my time. And I know that I am not alone in feeling that way.

What’s worse is when teachers spit out facts and expect us to remember them without any context. I can remember that “Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492” because of the rhyme we had to memorize in elementary school, but the historical aspect of Columbus’ journey is lost on me because it was never taught in context, there was no “why” explanation to fill the void and to do this day I have very little recollection on Columbus’ journey, other than the fact it was during 1492.

The classes where I learned the most were in classes where the teacher was active in the learning process; we as a class thought, and experimented, and hypothesized, and analyzed together. It wasn’t just a one-sided experience. We all learned from each other, and I always did better because they were engaging and insightful. In those classes, I found a love of learning. I hope that I will be able to instill that same kind of practices into my future classroom. As a future teacher, I hope that I will be able to learn with my students and be surprised every day. I want to continue to be a learner and not just a lecturer at a podium.

Assessing and Evaluating Students' Learning Post

Learning literature is more than just being able to regurgitate information about the text, the author, or the literary elements that are being used. While knowing that information is helpful to comprehending texts, I think it is more important to be able to demonstrate your thinking about how you tried to understand a text. What were the questions that you asked about a complicated text? How did you think critically about the text to gain better understanding of the text? How did you demonstrate your thinking? Did you write down your thoughts on the text? Did you make comparisons between similar ideas or thoughts presented in other examples? How did you demonstrate that you knew what the text was trying to say?

I think it is important, when trying to learn literature, to put texts into context for students. If a student knows the period when the piece was written and the historical connections in a text, they are already one step further than students who just read the text and answer questions on a test. Students need to read texts slowly, pausing to think about the text and what it is trying to say and then express their ideas and interpretations on a text, and how they came to those conclusions. I really like informal writing when trying to understand a text; I ask questions when I am confused about an idea, and then look further in the text to see if I can find the answers. I also like class discussions because discussions are a great way to get other students input on texts, and see how they interpreted an idea presented in the text. Discussions can be insightful and add clarity to texts, and they can also present different interpretations that one might not have thought of themselves.

There are multiple ways to demonstrate ones understanding of literature, and so many different assessments that teachers can use to gauge student comprehension. I personally think that using a variety of assessments is better to gauge a student’s understanding and challenge their thinking than just sticking with the same routine of reading and taking a test. I want my students to be able to think critically, analyze texts, and demonstrate their ideas and interpretations in more than one medium because I think it will help make them better learners. 

Assignment Template Aligned to California’s Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy post

I really enjoyed reading this template that follows California’s Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy because it gave simple and easy to follow tips for any future or current teachers. It can be very difficult for students to know where to begin when they are assigned a reading that they will respond to. Depending on the topic that is being introduced, or the genre of the text, there are multiple ways to tackle and respond to the text, and this template gave some really great guidelines that students can use to gain better understanding of the overall text. Then, with the prewriting tools, students could even begin their prewriting process by marking their texts for better understanding so that they can know what they are going to discuss in their paper. When I have worked with students during their prewriting process, I have found that it is hard for them to understand that writing is in fact a process and that everything doesn’t have to be polished right away. When students begin to understand this fact, they begin to relax a little more and begin to plan out what they want to focus on, and actually begin writing. I really liked the emphasis on revision, and how important it is. A student’s paper should be read multiple times by the writer, peer editors, and teachers alike to give students the right kind of feedback that will help their writing style improve. There are so many different kinds of revision practices, and the template gave some good tips that teachers and students can focus on when they are editing and revising a peer’s paper. But overall, my favorite take back from this template was the emphasis on teacher modeling the behaviors and practices that they want their students to do. Modeling reading and writing practices will help students perform better with their assigned readings and writings. 

The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts Instruction in Graded 6-12: Origins, Goals, Challenges post

Common Core State Standards seem like a good idea in theory; if all students across the country are being taught to these same standards, then the students who have to move to different schools across town, across the state, or across the country will be on the same page as far as what they are going to be learning. Each student will know what is expected of them, and each teacher will know what they need to prepare to help their students reach those standards. But each program, in each district is different according to how the teachers and administrators interpret the different standards. Each student is different, and they have different needs. “In the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts Instruction in Graded 6-12: Origins, Goals, Challenges” I liked how they noted to the pros and cons of Common Core, but what they really highlighted was the gap between students who live in poverty compared to those who live in the middle and upper class. Students who live in low SES districts do not have the same access to materials like computers, internet, or other forms of technology to enhance their learning experience and access learning materials. Another thing is so often people who plan curriculum are planning on what students need in order to pass a test, but standardized tests do not reflect intelligence, and they do not reflect student learning. The emphasis that standardized tests are the only way to reflect intelligence is ridiculous. There are so many students who learn differently and to have them all be tested by one test is unfair and not a true representation of their comprehension of learning objectives. To have any student have to learn to one specific teaching practice doesn’t work, and neither do one set of standards.

But like I said, Common Core State Standards are a good idea in theory.

DISCUSSION AS A WAY OF TEACHING post

Class discussions can be difficult to start, especially when students are unwilling to share. After reading DISCUSSION AS A WAY OF TEACHING by Stephen Brookfield, I found there are more ways than one to initiate classroom discussions. My favorite discussion exercise was the circular discussion where students share there thinking and positions on a chosen theme. I think it is important for the students to know going in to a discussion what their expectations are. I can recall many times during high school and college discussions where there was no direction whatsoever, and I would leave the class without any greater understanding of the topic we were discussing. I like how with the circular discussion there are ground rules that each student must follow; there is a timed aspect on how long each student has to speak on the discussion topic and how there is a specific order on who speaks after the first student begins speaking. The round-robin style of discussion makes sure that each student participates in the discussion and has the chance to share his or her thoughts, and there is no second guessing as far as to who goes next. Once everyone has had the opportunity to speak, the discussion opens up to allow for students to freely express their thoughts on the topic. I think it is important for all students to participate freely in a class discussion because there are so many times when shy or introverted students do not share their ideas and the discussion lacks insightful input. I know from experience that when students refuse to participate ideas will continue to be repeated and discussions come to a standstill. I liked how the participation in discussions grading was emphasized in the reading, and I think that all students should be held accountable to similar standards. Discussions are important to enhancing student learning, and I think that all teachers should incorporate more discussions into the classroom.