Excited about English blog

Ch. 3 DZS

What I really liked about this chapter is that it helped me to look at activities that I have been familiar with in new ways. For example, I had never thought of using exit slips before as a way for students to evaluate how they are learning and what they are struggling with or what they like/dislike about class. I like how they suggested using them to evaluate class processes and not just content… I think that could be really effective especially if they are kept anonymous. I also liked how they suggested that students use clustering as a review strategy. I think that this is something that would be really helpful since students should be making connections between topics in preparation for a test and also will help them retain what they are thinking about since they will be visualizing it.- this is something I wish I had thought of for my own use! I think another thing that is important about these activities is that most of them can be used across all levels of learners in the classroom, which is something that is really important for keeping the class on track as a whole in order for everybody to make progress!

Ch. 2 & 21 Visual scaffolding and Imaging

I think both of these activities could be really helpful tools for assisting students in developing their own critical thinking skills. I liked the idea of using the scaffolding for vocab words and I think that could be a unique and modern change to the old ‘memorizing a list of vocab words and their definitions.’ Instead, students could find pictures that match up to their list of words that are found in a novel or text we are reading in class. They could even pick out words they find difficult for them, find the definition, and then find corresponding pictures wherever they want. The imaging I also liked too and I think could be especially useful during a poetry unit since that is usually a tough unit for most students. I really like the idea of modeling how to imagine each line of a poem for students and then letting them do it on their own. They could even sketch poems first and later on just visualize them when they get used to this kind of activity!

D, Z & S Ch. 1 & 2

These two chapters focused mostly on how important writing is for students across the curriculum. Chapter one really excited me because I have often thought over and over that curriculum should be narrowed down so that students can engage in deeper learning with less material rather than skim a great deal of information and only retain facts. My experience in college has especially helped me to come to this realization when a professor assigns 100 pages of reading a night and then does not come close to covering all the information in class. It is not necessary for students to cover so much difficult material that is not discussed in depth as a class. I think students then only leave the material more confused than when they started it and also do not develop the skills they would if engaging with a smaller amount of material. If needed, teachers could assign extra credit readings or additional readings that are available to students who are ahead or have more free time and want to be challenged. While reading this chapter I just kept thinking, finally people who think the way that I do! I loved the idea about picking out the important and essential ideas in each content area although I think this might be tougher to do in an English classroom than a history or science classroom. I wish that they provided a suggestion about how this could be done like they did for history classes. Chapter two helped me to realize how important informal writing can be for students to develop their formal writing skills. I realized these informal skills should be guided as well formal assignments which is something I have definitely overlooked and think I can pay more attention to in preparing my future lesson plans.

D,Z & S CH. 10

Reading this chapter was really interesting for me because it presented some real life and very unique ideas of how to connect and use writing to support student’s abilities in other areas which makes my heart beat fast (haha). There were so many different ideas that supported the three goals John and I came up with it was hard to choose just one to focus on… It almost felt like they were writing the chapter to me! One thing that I really liked was the design of the rubrics that they used for students to assess their essays. I am so used to looking at rubics that just don’t seem to mean anything or matter much and end up ignoring them that it was great to see a rubric that was designed so interactively. I really think that this promotes one of our goals (fostering critical thinking skills) because it shows kids how to look at their essay in a very real way and allows them to actually find out what they need to improve on for the next essay. I think this would really engage students because many are self concious about their writing and never really get the tools they need to know even why their writing is bad or how to improve on it. If I had a rubric like this in high school, I really think I would have taken advantage of it and I think other students would as well because they are only helping themselves and at the same time learning to think critically about their own writing skills! I also think that since they suggest focusing on a few aspects of the writing process at a time, it is realistic and can assist students in improving their writing gradually and therefore, effectively.
For the most part, I really enjoyed reading the chapter because it provided suggestions about how to approach essays and writing projects in unique ways that seem really engaging and different. Though I really liked almost all the ideas in the chapter, I think what I really took away from it is the importance of approaching writing not as something that we have to teach students how to do by painfully drilling skills, but as something that if supported and nurtured, can be used to support the other aspects of learning that are going on within the classroom.

Anstey & Bull 4-5

I found these chapter to be particularly helpful in realizing how and why visual literacies are important. I remember when I was writing my literacy story for my podcast, one of the things I thought was most important for teachers to remember is that with our changing times and progressing technologies, our educational styles and literacy techniques also need be reformed. Another main idea I took from these chapters is that these visual literacies that we use as teachers such as picture books, film, and video should be understood and used in a way that makes various meanings available in order to get students to think more critically. I think this is one of the biggets problems that the educationally system in our country currently faces– our students are not encouraged to think in a problem solving way that is relevant to real life. I think when visuals are used in classe today, they are often just used as “time-fillers” because teachers are not educated in how they can actually be used as tools to increase critical thinking and support meaning making strategies.
Another thing that I was wondering about while reading these chapters is the idea of how much print text to use in the class versus how much visual text should be used? I know that one of the chapters mentioned using diaries to try to determine this ratio of outside school visual vs. text and try to relate to that but it seems to me that less and less students today are at home reading and are rather sitting in front of a tv or playing video games. I wonder how this ratio could be appropriate in a world where printed texts seems to be more and more rapidly dissapearing in our society. It also makes me wonder how we can keep students interested in the actually printed texts when it is clear that most would rather be working with visuals.

I read an article “Life Without Parole for Officer’s Killer” by Michael Brick about 29 Allan Cameron who was convicted and sentenced to life without parole for shooting and killing a police officer during a car chase in Flatbush, NY. Interesting things about this article are that during the hearing Cameron stated the only things he is guilty of are being “Young, black, and poor”. Cameron continually denied the charges against him, suggesting that the shot was fired from a fellow officer during the chase. I think it was interesting how the judge handled the case. In presenting the verdict he stated that in a world of technological advancement, “when it comes to humanity and the way we treat each other, we are still in the dark ages.” This was really striking to me beacuse though its extremely prevalent, I had never actually thought about society in those terms. It makes me realize how mean kids can be to each other in classes and for no reason at all, taking most things for granted that they are lucky to have. I think that being a teacher, one of the many jobs we will have will be trying to change this about our students. It might seem simple on the surface but I think it’s much more complicated than we can really imagine and is not something that can ever be changed completely. I think one of the best ways to go about this is by being a good role model for students and treated each of them with an equal amout of respect in order to try to inspire the same thing between them. (that probably sounds much easier than it acutally is)

This week we went to the Frankenstein Lives conference where we saw 6 students present a paper that they wrote about the book Frankenstein. I think the most interesting thing about the conference was seeing how many different perspectives each of the students took. I think they all were actually really good presenters which made it easier to listen to. I realized that different students presented different ways from using power point to preparing shorter papers which I think was a good option for them to have because they all presented their own way and did it really well. Thinking about the conference from a teachers perspective, I realized that it will be important to give students the tools to present in different ways and then let them have the option of choosing which way to present for projects and other activities in class. This way, by the time they reach college or their careers, they will know what they are good at and what works best for them.

I read an article this week in NY Times called “Classroom of the Future is Virtually Anywhere” by Joseph Berger which was about a professor Duck who teaches online classes at Pennsylvania State University. The article discussed how online classes are on the rise and have doubled in size in just five years. The article also discussed the pros and cons of having online courses available to college students. I think that online courses may be convient for first year classes that are basic nuts and bolts but I really don’t believe that the level of education recieved in an online class can compare to the interactive learning that goes on in an acutal classroom. I have never taken an online class but I think it might be easier for students to slide through without doing much but reading each others blogs and taking tests at home. I do think there are positives such as shy students feeling more comfortable in expressing their thoughts online however I really don’t think they should be offered past 200 level classes. I also think the social interaction that occurs inside a classroom is crucial for students to expereience in order to prepare for real life interactions with coworkers and employers. I think that theres a lot a person learns about themselves through social interaction and it’s scary to think that people are growing more and more comfortable with hiding behind their computer screens.

I found these readings from Daniels and Zemelman really significant because at my field placement in Red Jacket, I have seen the teacher use both the in class reading workshop discussed in chapter 8 as well as a form of the book club mentioned in chapter 9. While I was reading these chapters I realized that I have acutally encountered most of these activities either in my education classes or by observing in schools and it made me feel comfortable and assured for once that I am really on my way to becoming prepared for teaching!
The in class reading workshop that my mentor in Red Jacket uses is alloted time for the students to read a book of their choice from the in-class library he has created. (Since it’s and English classroom it is not used to teach anything specific). While the class reads they take notes using post it notes and the teacher walks around the room and checks the notes or has one on one conferences with the students to discuss main points about the books and if they like what they are reading or not. He also uses this time to maintain relationships with the students and often checks that they are caught up in other areas as well as other classes. I feel that he uses this time really effectively and it functions well within the classroom. He assigns his students dates for when the books should be completed. At the end of their books, there is a project assigned for each of the students. Daniels and Zemelman seem to be against this system of projects because it takes away from the autonomy of the workshop but when he showed me the list of projects he offers for the students I was really shocked to see how different they were form any project I remember doing in high school. He provides several different choices of projects and that vary from something as simple as a typed paper that can be of any approved topic to creating a game, poster presentation, movie, podcast, or even acting the book out. Therefore, although D&Z might not agree with the “project” to assess, I think the teacher really provides a great amount of choice in order to maintain his students interests and I have really learned alot from watching him teach.

He also uses a form of the “book club” activity mentioned in chapter 9. It varies in that students are to take notes on the novel they are reading as a class. He lets the students know that on a certain day they will be engaging in a “fishbowl” activity where the students form a small circle in the middle and a larger circle surrounding the little circle. Students who have good notes for that day volunteer to sit in the middle of the fishbowl and lead the discussion of the book, talking about anything they want for a short period of time. While they do this, the students on the outside takes notes of the discussion in order for the teacher to evaluate their participation and the notes are handed in. When they run out of things to say, other students volunteer to be in the fishbowl and they begin their own discussion. This activity really caught my eye because the students were allowed to talk about whatever they wanted to and seemed like they actually had a lot of fun doing it. Another thing I note is that he only does this activity with his honors class because he is not sure other classes would be capable of creating a discussion that would stay on track or if they would end up touching on important and significant things from the reading. I would suggest that if this discussion was run for other classes, their homework for the previous night would be to provide students with a list of discussion questions— maybe 20 and have them answer 5 or 10 that interest them. This way they have the ability to choose what they want to talk about and still have some needed guidance from the teacher.

This week I read a rather random article on NYTIMES.COM: “She’s Famous (and So Can You)” by Guy Trebay about the new reality show on MTV “A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila.” I decided to read this article because I have seen the show and when I was at Red Jacket, I overheard 10th grade girls discussing the show in one of their classes. The article discusses how our country’s obsession with fame which has made it possible for people to become recognized and “famous” although they have no actual talent. The TV show is about a girl “Tila Tequila” who is a bisexual female and is in search of “love.” The catch to the show is that, there are both men and women competing for her love. When observing the 10th grade girls discuss this show with the most excitement I have seen in my observation thus far, It made me realize how much time kids will make for TV and not for reading. I think another thing it points out is the adolescent obsession with “forbidden” or scandalous topics. If somehow students could have available to them literature that acutally caught their attention (obviously not as radical as Tila Tequila’s bisexual adventures) but some young adult literature that is more real-life, I think alot more reading would be done in and outside of the classroom, and at least it would be reading!

Although I have to admit that I initially thought writing this self-assessment paper would be annoying, it actually was really thought provoking for me. I realized a lot of different things that I think are important about teaching while writing my paper and I think the aspects that I focused on in my paper are generally the things that I find to be the most significant things I have taken from class this semester. I think that while writing the paper I made several connections between my own learning and how they can be utilized in teaching which will be extremely helpful in real life situations in the classroom and if I was not forced to write this paper, I would most likely have never realized them. Having to actually sit down and think about what I need to do better as a future teacher was really interesting because this took me the longest amount of time to think about probably because it is hard to analyze myself when I have no actual experience yet as a teacher. Despite this, I definetly realized areas in which I am in need of some serious growth and I plan on paying attention to these areas throughout the rest of the semester.

 I read an article on NYTimes.com about an interracial couple and the obstacles they overcame regarding their race. http://www.nytimes.com/pages/style/index.html

This article was about Deneta Howland, an african-american woman and Bryan Sells, a white male who had chemistry when they first met at Harvard College but never decided to persue the relationship becuase of their different skin colors and the problems they knew they would encounter if they decided to make their relationship official. When reading this article it made me think about the listening passage we did in class about the first African American girl to attend a white school. It makes me realize that though sitatuations of racism don’t seem to be as prominent in our country as they used to be, they definately still exist and can absolutely influence the actions of citizens in our society. Because of the color of their skin, Deneta and Bryan postponed their relationship for years because they were afraid of what people would say or do. I think this is important to realize as a future teacher because it is important to promote a safe classroom environment in which students feel equally valued and are less concerned with what others will think about them. I think it is also important to celebrate culture within the classroom and also discuss topics like these openly instead of hiding from them which many teachers seem to do.

This weeks readings really caught me off guard. I have been made aware of this crisis in our country through other classes I have taken and it was really brought to light last year when I spent some time in one of the poorest schools in Rochester. I think the film clip about budgeting while living at the poverty line was really interesting because it made me realize that this is a serious problem that needs to be handled somehow. I can not imagine trying to support my family by making 20,000 a year and what scares me even more is that one out of every eight people in the country are doing exactly that or are children that have to live under those conditions. What is even more disturbing is that the children have the highest rate of living in poverty and that is what really makes me sad because they are the ones who have the least amount of control over their situation. Overall, these articles really made me want to do something or help someone…. I wish there was some sort of classes we could take that were aimed at teachers who are planning to teach in poverse conditions.

The article about rigor and support actually did provide me with a little bit of hope that things will change in our country. I definetly think our goals as a country should be reevaluated and evidently we have a lot to learn from other countries about how to improve our educational systems. I think what is most important to realize and what is pointed out in almost all the things we read is that if we neglect our educational system and those that are underpriveleged, we are ignoring our country and jeapordizing the future of our nation as a whole.

Ch. 1 of Teacher Man caught really caught my eye because the author was not some arrogant know-it-all teacher trying to lecture future teachers on what theories and strategies are right and which ones are wrong. He really seemed down to Earth and I connected with him because at the begining of his teaching career he acted so human, had such nervousness at his interviews and had trouble defining who he was in the first days of teaching. I can identify with all of these feelings and when I think about interviews and my first day of classes, I envision the experiences to be quite similar.

The podcast about the No Child Left Behind issue was really interesting to me because Friday I was at Red Jacket completing some of my field hours and I went to a faculty meeting where they were filling out paperwork for no child left behind and my mentor was telling me that this is how they “determine” if it is working or not. He and one of his collegues sat at a table and argued about the tests for about an hour, discussing many of the same issues that were discussed on the podcast. My mentor at Red Jacket High Shool is greatly opposed to the tests because they have taken away so much from curriclum such as music, music, physical education and other classes that students actually enjoy. I really think this is sad because class after class of drills and skills for students with no classes to enjoy can really be detrimental instead of beneficial. I remember in high school that I would count down the hours until art class and it is sad to think that things like this are not available to kids anymore because of the mandated tests. It seems to me that these tests are being implemented very wrongly and are taking away from the sumative learning and well roundedness of students instead of bettering their overall learning.

So far this semester these chapters (4 & 7) from Daniels & Zemelman were my favorite because they discuss things that are really important to any classroom, but to an English classroom especially. Chapter four consisted mostly of ways to balance a textbook with supplementary materials that will ensure students learning and meaning while keeping them interested. I really like that they stress going deeper into a smaller number of topics and showed how their school went about doing this in a realistic way. They also address the issues in a realistic manner with examples as easy as letting students have some choice about what their reading as well as allowing them some quick easy reads to keep them interested. Mainly I think what Daniels and Zemelman promote is a healthy balance between two extremes in the classroom so that the students remain engaged but are not cheated from any of the curriculum. The class library idea was also a really realistic way of incorporating literacy into the classroom and encouraged me to start saving my magazines and books now for my classroom!

In chapter seven, the focus on creating a classroom atmosphere that is accepting as well as comfortable and cooperative really struck home to me. When I think about my high school teachers I can recall being nervous to raise my hand in class and now realize how much or how little I participated in my classes was directly related to how accepting my teachers were to their student’s responses. I can recall a very strict teacher that often snapped at students and another teacher that was not mean but often disregarded responses from students that didnt agree with her ideas. This really encourages me to become more accepting of my students in the future in order for the class to be productive and discussion based.