Reading, Writing, and Rising Up Ch. 4, 7
Christensen discusses the same concepts regarding proper use of English grammar that Christenbury did in the last posting. Christensen writes, "It wasn't until a few years ago that I realized grammar was an indication of class and cultural background in the United States and that there is a bias against people who do not use language 'correctly'" (100). Because of this, schools that have a high population of ethnic students often struggle with teaching the "basic skills" needed for students to perform well on standardized tests. What educators don't often realize, though, is that students from a variety of cultures feel ashamed of their own voices. "Students must be taught to hold their own voices sacred, to ignore the teachers who have made them feel that what they've said is wrong or bad or stupid" (Christensen 101). Teachers have the unique job of not only teaching skills and writing strategies, but also making students realize the importance of their "inner voice" and how it can affect who they become as writers. Asking students to recount experiences and write about them in the voice they are familiar with is one way to encourage a sense of self with students, but another is to teach beyond the standardized test. Much of the time, administrators, and thus, teachers, are too focused on high-stakes testing. Christensen cautions, "Teaching the rules without reflection also underscores that it's OK for others - "authorities" - to dictate something as fundamental and as personal as the way they speak. Further, the study of Standard English without critique encourages students to believe that if they fail, it is because they are not smart enough or didn't work hard enough. They learn to blame themselves" (103). This puts many teachers in a tough position: teach for the test, or teach for the student. I think educators often find a common ground between the two.
Christensen advises that students should be given ample opportunity to write what they know, and that often involves their culture. "As we discuss language and culture, students write pieces about themselves, their homes, thir family saying, their language" (Christensen 106). This type of writing is important for personal growth and a sense of self through the writing that students complete. Christensen points out that she could ask students to write critical essays about novels, but offering opportunnity for students to write about social injustices they experience offers a more meaningful writing experience (112). It is with this writing that students may begin to understand themselves and turn their anger to action.
Image Grammar Ch. 1-4
This was my first introduction to Harry Noden and his grammatical strategies. I'm not sure how to summarize or reflect on his text since it's more of a users guide to grammar, but I'll try to highlight some points I enjoyed reading about. First, the basic brush strokes that Noden describes are really interesting concepts. The way he describes the various brush strokes make a lot of sense when it comes to adding details and "color" to a sentence.
Many of his teaching strategies are sound as well, which I'm sure comes from his experience in the classroom. The question that comes to mind for me is, how are these strategies best utilized within a given curriculum? I could spend an entire year working on details in writing, but I wouldn't accomplish much else. Noden gave numerous examples of literature that he uses as a jumping off point when his students are writing creatively, but I'd like to see how to best incorporate these strategies into what I teach.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Blog 4: Word Play
Making the Journey Ch. 6, 7
It's kind of ironic that Christenbury devotes an entire chapter to making English teachers feel okay about the fact that we can't be experts at absolutely everything. It does take practice and patience to decipher lines of poetry or prose, and linguistics is a whole different ballgame. I once made a bet with my husband about the words "ain't" and I lost miserably. I couldn't imagine that a slang term such as this one would exist in any respectable language book, such as the dictionary. Oops. Just because "ain't" is a word that I obstain from using doesn't mean it isn't a word. I'm still living that one down. The point that Christenbury makes is that language is ever-evolving. She makes two points: first, that language never stays the same and second, that variations in language do not make language wrong or bad (180). That's where I got myself into trouble with "ain't". According to Christenbury, "ain't" was standard usage in Dickens' time in England, though I can't imagine my grandma, who was an English teacher in her own right AND descent of pilgrams from England, ever using the term.
There is a lot to be learned from how teachers correct students when it comes to spelling, grammar, and pronunciation. Christenbury states, "I know of no study that shows a correlation between intelligence and correct spelling. And yet many people equate misspelled words with stupidity and certain ignorance" (183). I find this to be very accurate and find that most people make judgments based on how another person speaks, spells, or writes. The most important part of this section, however, dealt with isolated vocabulary and spelling lists. Christenbury is not a proponent of them, and neither am I. "Letting students participate in their own spelling/vocabulary lists and encouraging them to expand those lists can not only give students more control over this aspect of English language arts but also show them that they, too, live in a world of language" (Christenbury 185). If I allow my students to find meaningful vocabulary terms for them, they are certain to gain much more from the reading than if I had assigned 20 "good to know" terms.
There are good and bad ways to incorporate grammar into a curriculum as well. Christenbury follows four guidelines for teaching grammar: connected to units of study, small doses, relation to student writing, and when needed (187). This is another thing I'm working on - and it's a true work in progress. Numerous studies show that teaching grammar out of context is useless. I agree, for the most part. I do find that many of my students are unfamiliar with parts of speech other than having heard the terms in the past. I do use some worksheet pages to introduce parts of speech, but then I connect that knowledge with student writing. I guess I'm following the rules for the most part. I'm working on shortening the worksheet pages though and increasing the written work to have a better balance. I just can't give up a few worksheets, however, because I find that my students are at such different points in their understanding of grammar and usage. My goal for this school year is to give them all a "pre-test" so I can better focus the learning; perhaps that will help me cater the information a bit better than in the past. This past year, I started using grammar books, such as Eats, Shoots, and Leaves, and several other parts of speech books by Brian P. Cleary, to introduce various items to my students. They seemed to enjoy the short clips of rhyming words, and even asked to borrow them to read during study hall if their homework was done. As with anything else, 7th grade is all about keeping it fresh and interesting.
Another idea that Christenbury mentions is a need for more word play. I couldn't agree more. She cited several examples, some of which I was familiar with and others I had never heard of, but all that my students would find fun and entertaining. I agree with Christenbury that there should be more fun with words and that it can't be all about writing essays and perfecting poems. There are so many ways to draw students into a particular piece of writing, like the "Scars" personal narrative. My students write personal memoirs, but many of them really struggle to come up with a specific event that changed their young lives. If I allow them to focus their work into a personal narrative, I think they'd really come up with a quality product. Christenbury also had some thoughts about revision, editing, and proofreading, all of which my students are still novices at. I use a particular method called "CRAM" for editing and revising, but I think it does exactly what Christenbury talks about - it focuses each activity into a separate part to get the best written product.
It's kind of ironic that Christenbury devotes an entire chapter to making English teachers feel okay about the fact that we can't be experts at absolutely everything. It does take practice and patience to decipher lines of poetry or prose, and linguistics is a whole different ballgame. I once made a bet with my husband about the words "ain't" and I lost miserably. I couldn't imagine that a slang term such as this one would exist in any respectable language book, such as the dictionary. Oops. Just because "ain't" is a word that I obstain from using doesn't mean it isn't a word. I'm still living that one down. The point that Christenbury makes is that language is ever-evolving. She makes two points: first, that language never stays the same and second, that variations in language do not make language wrong or bad (180). That's where I got myself into trouble with "ain't". According to Christenbury, "ain't" was standard usage in Dickens' time in England, though I can't imagine my grandma, who was an English teacher in her own right AND descent of pilgrams from England, ever using the term.
There is a lot to be learned from how teachers correct students when it comes to spelling, grammar, and pronunciation. Christenbury states, "I know of no study that shows a correlation between intelligence and correct spelling. And yet many people equate misspelled words with stupidity and certain ignorance" (183). I find this to be very accurate and find that most people make judgments based on how another person speaks, spells, or writes. The most important part of this section, however, dealt with isolated vocabulary and spelling lists. Christenbury is not a proponent of them, and neither am I. "Letting students participate in their own spelling/vocabulary lists and encouraging them to expand those lists can not only give students more control over this aspect of English language arts but also show them that they, too, live in a world of language" (Christenbury 185). If I allow my students to find meaningful vocabulary terms for them, they are certain to gain much more from the reading than if I had assigned 20 "good to know" terms.
There are good and bad ways to incorporate grammar into a curriculum as well. Christenbury follows four guidelines for teaching grammar: connected to units of study, small doses, relation to student writing, and when needed (187). This is another thing I'm working on - and it's a true work in progress. Numerous studies show that teaching grammar out of context is useless. I agree, for the most part. I do find that many of my students are unfamiliar with parts of speech other than having heard the terms in the past. I do use some worksheet pages to introduce parts of speech, but then I connect that knowledge with student writing. I guess I'm following the rules for the most part. I'm working on shortening the worksheet pages though and increasing the written work to have a better balance. I just can't give up a few worksheets, however, because I find that my students are at such different points in their understanding of grammar and usage. My goal for this school year is to give them all a "pre-test" so I can better focus the learning; perhaps that will help me cater the information a bit better than in the past. This past year, I started using grammar books, such as Eats, Shoots, and Leaves, and several other parts of speech books by Brian P. Cleary, to introduce various items to my students. They seemed to enjoy the short clips of rhyming words, and even asked to borrow them to read during study hall if their homework was done. As with anything else, 7th grade is all about keeping it fresh and interesting.
Another idea that Christenbury mentions is a need for more word play. I couldn't agree more. She cited several examples, some of which I was familiar with and others I had never heard of, but all that my students would find fun and entertaining. I agree with Christenbury that there should be more fun with words and that it can't be all about writing essays and perfecting poems. There are so many ways to draw students into a particular piece of writing, like the "Scars" personal narrative. My students write personal memoirs, but many of them really struggle to come up with a specific event that changed their young lives. If I allow them to focus their work into a personal narrative, I think they'd really come up with a quality product. Christenbury also had some thoughts about revision, editing, and proofreading, all of which my students are still novices at. I use a particular method called "CRAM" for editing and revising, but I think it does exactly what Christenbury talks about - it focuses each activity into a separate part to get the best written product.
Blog 3: Literature Selection and Crafty Questions
Making the Journey Ch. 5, 8
My favorite text thus far is this one, by Leila Christenbury because it reminds me how far I've come in the six years I've been teaching. Although her text is written to help and encourage the new teacher, it holds many good reminders to me as an experienced teacher as well. For example, Christenbury says, "All of us are haunted by the worry that we are ill prepared, underread, insufficiently educated, ignorant about a number of crucial areas. And the fact is, we probably are" (122). Even though I've been around the educational block a few times, these are worries that I still feel at the start of each new school year. I'm able to supress them most of the time by reminding myself that I'm teaching 7th grade and not senior English, but there are always a few students each year that really challenge my knowledge, and those are the ones that cause that stint of anxiety.
Luckily, Christenbury continues with, "You will also have the pleasure of watching your own tastes change and expand as you add to your storehouse of learning authors and ideas and techniques...you will, as the years go on, become far more accomplished - and education - than you can really imagine right now" (123). My thoughts? Bingo, Ms. Christenbury. As I sit here today, working on my LAST Masters class, I've overcome with a sense of accomplishment and...knowledge. I've spent countless hours expanding my mind as an educator as well as studying various ways to help my students succeed. I've changed lesson plans, unit plans, introductory activities, culminating projects, and what I deem "necessary" vocabulary on an almmost yearly basis, but it's all for the good of the system. I look a summer's worth of work three years ago and think, "This job will never be done." I think THAT is the basis of a good teacher: one who rolls with the punches, complies with the latest district initiatives, all the while working to help each student learn to the best of his or her ability level. For this year, I'm working on my reader response approach to the literature I teach.
Christenbury describes the reader response approach as one where the emphasis is on what the reader brings to the piece. I'm not going to lie - I've spent many a lesson introducing a text with historical background, life of the author, etc. just to see my students lose interest. I've played around with reader response and I think I'm getting better at it the more time I devote to it. For example, I still move my students through a bit of history about a piece to help set the stage, but then as we're reading, I may ask them to write three to five questions they have about the piece, as broad or narrow as they desire. As we read, we stop to discuss some of their questions or I may point out important points that I feel they need to understand. At the end, if they have questions remaining, they pair up and share and discuss briefly before we talk about their questions and answers as a whole class. It's not a perfect model of reader response, but I'm trying. My concern is that 7th graders are a bit too young yet to bring everything they need to a piece of literature without some guidance from me, but I'm working to foster that type of discussion in the reading we do in class. Christenbury warns against this when she says, "Pay attention to the literature you choose and try to resist trotting your students through every literary element" (140). Well, that's all fine and well, but if we don't hammer home literary elements in middle school, we'll never hear the end of it from the high school teachers. It's an interesting balance - something that I play around with and change a bit every year to see what works best. That, too, is still a work in progress.
Reader response opens the door to the craft of questioning and how to best use discussion in an English class. "In its proper context, the craft of asking and answering questions can be the heart of a lively and learning class" (Christenburg 239). I found it fantastic that although Christenbury discusses the various sequential questioning schematas, she enforces that rigidly organized questioning is not always the best plan of attack. I agree, wholeheartedly! I may start with a list of questions that I deem important, but as the class discussion continues, we may move in a different direction completely (there's that reader response stuff). I've found that I'm okay with that, as long as I can bring the class back to a focal point before the class period ends.
Two of the questioning behaviors that I found especially useful to remind myself of were wait time and student repetition. Wait time is my nemisis...well, maybe a thorn in my side. My classes are often very fast-paced, which suits me, the material and age level of students who I teach, but wait time is still something I have to actively remind myself of each year. It's my tendency to want to "bail the student out" if he or she is stuck on a question, but really, I need to just stay quiet and give wait time. I'm much better now than I used to be, but I think I'll still need to remind myself of that even after I've been teaching 20 years. The second behavior that I want to include more of is allowing students to repeat their answers instead of me repeating them. Oh, how I tire of hearing my voice repeat answers after five classes a day. It only makes sense that students become attuned to listening to their peers, and I like that Christenbury says allowing students to repeat their own answers keeps possession of them. It just makes sense to me and I'm definitely going to try it more this coming year.
My favorite text thus far is this one, by Leila Christenbury because it reminds me how far I've come in the six years I've been teaching. Although her text is written to help and encourage the new teacher, it holds many good reminders to me as an experienced teacher as well. For example, Christenbury says, "All of us are haunted by the worry that we are ill prepared, underread, insufficiently educated, ignorant about a number of crucial areas. And the fact is, we probably are" (122). Even though I've been around the educational block a few times, these are worries that I still feel at the start of each new school year. I'm able to supress them most of the time by reminding myself that I'm teaching 7th grade and not senior English, but there are always a few students each year that really challenge my knowledge, and those are the ones that cause that stint of anxiety.
Luckily, Christenbury continues with, "You will also have the pleasure of watching your own tastes change and expand as you add to your storehouse of learning authors and ideas and techniques...you will, as the years go on, become far more accomplished - and education - than you can really imagine right now" (123). My thoughts? Bingo, Ms. Christenbury. As I sit here today, working on my LAST Masters class, I've overcome with a sense of accomplishment and...knowledge. I've spent countless hours expanding my mind as an educator as well as studying various ways to help my students succeed. I've changed lesson plans, unit plans, introductory activities, culminating projects, and what I deem "necessary" vocabulary on an almmost yearly basis, but it's all for the good of the system. I look a summer's worth of work three years ago and think, "This job will never be done." I think THAT is the basis of a good teacher: one who rolls with the punches, complies with the latest district initiatives, all the while working to help each student learn to the best of his or her ability level. For this year, I'm working on my reader response approach to the literature I teach.
Christenbury describes the reader response approach as one where the emphasis is on what the reader brings to the piece. I'm not going to lie - I've spent many a lesson introducing a text with historical background, life of the author, etc. just to see my students lose interest. I've played around with reader response and I think I'm getting better at it the more time I devote to it. For example, I still move my students through a bit of history about a piece to help set the stage, but then as we're reading, I may ask them to write three to five questions they have about the piece, as broad or narrow as they desire. As we read, we stop to discuss some of their questions or I may point out important points that I feel they need to understand. At the end, if they have questions remaining, they pair up and share and discuss briefly before we talk about their questions and answers as a whole class. It's not a perfect model of reader response, but I'm trying. My concern is that 7th graders are a bit too young yet to bring everything they need to a piece of literature without some guidance from me, but I'm working to foster that type of discussion in the reading we do in class. Christenbury warns against this when she says, "Pay attention to the literature you choose and try to resist trotting your students through every literary element" (140). Well, that's all fine and well, but if we don't hammer home literary elements in middle school, we'll never hear the end of it from the high school teachers. It's an interesting balance - something that I play around with and change a bit every year to see what works best. That, too, is still a work in progress.
Reader response opens the door to the craft of questioning and how to best use discussion in an English class. "In its proper context, the craft of asking and answering questions can be the heart of a lively and learning class" (Christenburg 239). I found it fantastic that although Christenbury discusses the various sequential questioning schematas, she enforces that rigidly organized questioning is not always the best plan of attack. I agree, wholeheartedly! I may start with a list of questions that I deem important, but as the class discussion continues, we may move in a different direction completely (there's that reader response stuff). I've found that I'm okay with that, as long as I can bring the class back to a focal point before the class period ends.
Two of the questioning behaviors that I found especially useful to remind myself of were wait time and student repetition. Wait time is my nemisis...well, maybe a thorn in my side. My classes are often very fast-paced, which suits me, the material and age level of students who I teach, but wait time is still something I have to actively remind myself of each year. It's my tendency to want to "bail the student out" if he or she is stuck on a question, but really, I need to just stay quiet and give wait time. I'm much better now than I used to be, but I think I'll still need to remind myself of that even after I've been teaching 20 years. The second behavior that I want to include more of is allowing students to repeat their answers instead of me repeating them. Oh, how I tire of hearing my voice repeat answers after five classes a day. It only makes sense that students become attuned to listening to their peers, and I like that Christenbury says allowing students to repeat their own answers keeps possession of them. It just makes sense to me and I'm definitely going to try it more this coming year.
Blog 2: A Question of Justice
Reading, Writing, and Rising Up Intro, Ch. 1, 2, 3, 8
As I began to dive into Linda Christensen's text, I had two thoughts that plagued me. First, I was reminded of my time teaching inner-city students. Secondly, I kept searching for ways to make Christensen's philosophies and practices applicable to the students I teach now (who are mostly upper-middle class and mostly white). Christensen begins by "building a community out of chaos" - which immediately returned me to my first year of teaching in York City. It was mass chaos, even though I tried my best. My students faced all of the same issues that Christensen's students faced, but she had the experience to dig a bit deeper and force them to use language to their benefit. A large part of what she did was make her students angry - angry at their situations, angry at their social injustices, and thus, able to pull anger from the literature they studied and the writing they completed. Christensen taught me that it's okay to upset students as long as there is a way for them to express it and a lesson that can be learned from it. In order to counter the anger, Christensen had to build a sense of community within her classroom. She did that by allowing her students to vent their frusterations, and thus, allowing them to open up and search for answers together in their uncertain world.
I really liked some of the activities that Christensen used to get to know her students - the name analysis and childhood narratives both seem like activities that I could incorporate into my own classroom. I begin the year with a multiple intelligence quiz and an "All About Me" collage that details seven aspects of each student's life. I also found the read-around-the-room sharing strategy useful and might try this instead of the typical "presentation in front of the class" when it comes time to share collages. I'm wondering if this strategy could be used to share what students learned about themselves after the multiple intelligence discussion and then perhaps again to share their finished products, the collages. It certainly might foster more discussion in that first week of school and allow me to set the tone of my classroom for the year.
Christensen writes, "I want my students to question this accepted knowledge and the secret education delivered by cartoons as well as the canon" (40). Because middle school students need a change in pace about every ten minutes, I really liked the idea of incorporating more outside sources (like cartoons, movie clips, poems, and short stories) into my regular lessons. To open the door to discussion about social injustices, as Christensen did, I'd probably use some of the same sources and ask similar questions. My students, while learning about themselves and each other, are prime to discuss why societal norms exist. For students to make a difference though, their culminating projects should extend beyond the classroom. Christensen encouraged her students to think about their audience as reaching past the school walls and by doing so, her students were able to actually have their voices and opinions heard. It's another aspect of teaching social injustice that could impact even those students who are not limited in their means.
Another interesting project that caught my attention was the praise poem. My school has a focus on bullying prevention, so I thought that might be an avenue to use when introducing this type of writing. Most of my students don't struggle with issues of race, language, or even gender, but there are always a few who have been bullied in the past and have strong feelings. For those students who have not been victimized, it could be a good opportunity to remind themselves of their worth and that creativity in expression is welcomed in my class. In order to foster creativity, I'd probably also start using the Essay With An Attitude criteria sheet for longer works. As I teach each essay, I find that my students often end up with introduction and conclusion paragraphs that closely mirror my examples for the sake of wanting an "A" on the essay. If I take some more time and encourage them to express themselves differently with the structure of their essays, I think everyone will end up happier.
Chapter 10 discussed the tracking issues, which was my research topic for another class (perhaps Adolescent Literature?). Christensen has many solid thoughts about the woes of tracking students and I can clearly understand her point, but I'm still on the fence myself. My students are not tracked when they enter my classroom and I have the job of tracking them for the first time in their English careers when I divide them into two levels of English for 8th grade. It's a bit of a daunting task, but when I consider the workload of the upper-level class, it's difficult to imagine some of my struggling students surviving, much less thriving, in that environment. Maybe detracking involves a change in teaching philosophies, as Christensen states. I'm sure that's true, but I'm still not sure that getting rid of advanced placement classes AND lower level classes is the right answer either. I shudder to think what my senior year of English would have entailed if not for AP English class - a place where I could exchange thoughts with my brightest peers and prepare to become an English major in college. How would my education be changed if that AP class didn't exist? Would it have hindered my own academic ability? I'd like to think not, but it's these thoughts that make me question the concept of detracking all together.
Cultural Reflections Ch. 3, 4
John Gaughan begins chapter 3 by talking about names; something that Christensen also spoke about at the start of her text. Gaughan says, "How we 'represent' ourselves to ourselves and each other can empower us, marginalize us, or subordinate us" (64). Gaughan expresses how students begin by discussing their given names and then move into societal names that they were given, both positive and negative in context. Students are constantly searching for the attention and respect of their peers, which makes the name game an interesting topic. "Revealing ourselves through our writing is like standing naked in front of a mirror. Our peers' reactions reflect our evolving self-image" (78). The example that Gaughan gives is from Fried Green Tomatoes and the way that Evelyn Couch crumbles when negative names are tossed her way. This is similar to how students react to negative aspects in their school lives and thus, why a discussion about names could be a positive step.
In dealing with names, Gaughan moves his students into a discussion of bias and how they judge each other based on several different concepts, such as height, weight, and intelligence. Gaughan states, "Examining the assumptions that underlie the language we use is one of the primary goals of my classroom" (105). Instead of keeping bias outside the classroom, Gaughan searches for ways to incorporate it into his classroom to open a discussion with his students. In order for students to completely understand bias, they have to generate responses to writing based on their own thoughts and opinions. Once again, Gaughan has proven that turning the exploration over to students is best suited for all involved.
As I began to dive into Linda Christensen's text, I had two thoughts that plagued me. First, I was reminded of my time teaching inner-city students. Secondly, I kept searching for ways to make Christensen's philosophies and practices applicable to the students I teach now (who are mostly upper-middle class and mostly white). Christensen begins by "building a community out of chaos" - which immediately returned me to my first year of teaching in York City. It was mass chaos, even though I tried my best. My students faced all of the same issues that Christensen's students faced, but she had the experience to dig a bit deeper and force them to use language to their benefit. A large part of what she did was make her students angry - angry at their situations, angry at their social injustices, and thus, able to pull anger from the literature they studied and the writing they completed. Christensen taught me that it's okay to upset students as long as there is a way for them to express it and a lesson that can be learned from it. In order to counter the anger, Christensen had to build a sense of community within her classroom. She did that by allowing her students to vent their frusterations, and thus, allowing them to open up and search for answers together in their uncertain world.
I really liked some of the activities that Christensen used to get to know her students - the name analysis and childhood narratives both seem like activities that I could incorporate into my own classroom. I begin the year with a multiple intelligence quiz and an "All About Me" collage that details seven aspects of each student's life. I also found the read-around-the-room sharing strategy useful and might try this instead of the typical "presentation in front of the class" when it comes time to share collages. I'm wondering if this strategy could be used to share what students learned about themselves after the multiple intelligence discussion and then perhaps again to share their finished products, the collages. It certainly might foster more discussion in that first week of school and allow me to set the tone of my classroom for the year.
Christensen writes, "I want my students to question this accepted knowledge and the secret education delivered by cartoons as well as the canon" (40). Because middle school students need a change in pace about every ten minutes, I really liked the idea of incorporating more outside sources (like cartoons, movie clips, poems, and short stories) into my regular lessons. To open the door to discussion about social injustices, as Christensen did, I'd probably use some of the same sources and ask similar questions. My students, while learning about themselves and each other, are prime to discuss why societal norms exist. For students to make a difference though, their culminating projects should extend beyond the classroom. Christensen encouraged her students to think about their audience as reaching past the school walls and by doing so, her students were able to actually have their voices and opinions heard. It's another aspect of teaching social injustice that could impact even those students who are not limited in their means.
Another interesting project that caught my attention was the praise poem. My school has a focus on bullying prevention, so I thought that might be an avenue to use when introducing this type of writing. Most of my students don't struggle with issues of race, language, or even gender, but there are always a few who have been bullied in the past and have strong feelings. For those students who have not been victimized, it could be a good opportunity to remind themselves of their worth and that creativity in expression is welcomed in my class. In order to foster creativity, I'd probably also start using the Essay With An Attitude criteria sheet for longer works. As I teach each essay, I find that my students often end up with introduction and conclusion paragraphs that closely mirror my examples for the sake of wanting an "A" on the essay. If I take some more time and encourage them to express themselves differently with the structure of their essays, I think everyone will end up happier.
Chapter 10 discussed the tracking issues, which was my research topic for another class (perhaps Adolescent Literature?). Christensen has many solid thoughts about the woes of tracking students and I can clearly understand her point, but I'm still on the fence myself. My students are not tracked when they enter my classroom and I have the job of tracking them for the first time in their English careers when I divide them into two levels of English for 8th grade. It's a bit of a daunting task, but when I consider the workload of the upper-level class, it's difficult to imagine some of my struggling students surviving, much less thriving, in that environment. Maybe detracking involves a change in teaching philosophies, as Christensen states. I'm sure that's true, but I'm still not sure that getting rid of advanced placement classes AND lower level classes is the right answer either. I shudder to think what my senior year of English would have entailed if not for AP English class - a place where I could exchange thoughts with my brightest peers and prepare to become an English major in college. How would my education be changed if that AP class didn't exist? Would it have hindered my own academic ability? I'd like to think not, but it's these thoughts that make me question the concept of detracking all together.
Cultural Reflections Ch. 3, 4
John Gaughan begins chapter 3 by talking about names; something that Christensen also spoke about at the start of her text. Gaughan says, "How we 'represent' ourselves to ourselves and each other can empower us, marginalize us, or subordinate us" (64). Gaughan expresses how students begin by discussing their given names and then move into societal names that they were given, both positive and negative in context. Students are constantly searching for the attention and respect of their peers, which makes the name game an interesting topic. "Revealing ourselves through our writing is like standing naked in front of a mirror. Our peers' reactions reflect our evolving self-image" (78). The example that Gaughan gives is from Fried Green Tomatoes and the way that Evelyn Couch crumbles when negative names are tossed her way. This is similar to how students react to negative aspects in their school lives and thus, why a discussion about names could be a positive step.
In dealing with names, Gaughan moves his students into a discussion of bias and how they judge each other based on several different concepts, such as height, weight, and intelligence. Gaughan states, "Examining the assumptions that underlie the language we use is one of the primary goals of my classroom" (105). Instead of keeping bias outside the classroom, Gaughan searches for ways to incorporate it into his classroom to open a discussion with his students. In order for students to completely understand bias, they have to generate responses to writing based on their own thoughts and opinions. Once again, Gaughan has proven that turning the exploration over to students is best suited for all involved.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Blog 1: The Makings of a Teacher
Because I'm a chronological type of girl, I wrote about the first week's assignments in the order they were assigned. Here are some thoughts on Making the Journey...
Chapter 3: Planning for your Teaching
I enjoyed this chapter because planning = order and I love order. I love organization and pattern and reason and this chapter allowed me to reflect on my own planning styles as a tenured teacher. I was able to recall back to my first year of teaching, when I struggled to write good lesson plans, all the while knowing that I would be breaking up fights more than educating students. If I could get them interested in ANYTHING, the battle for that day would be won, but I was certain I would lose the war. Christenbury discusses the importance of reflection on the lesson, and that's something I find myself doing more and more of now that I have several years of successful teaching under my belt. I almost never lecture, and rarely speak more than my students do in any given class period. Although I keep my seventh graders on a short leash, I do foster a discussion-based classroom. Pairs and small groups are often utilized after brief written work is completed so everyone has an opportunity to decipher his or her own thoughts independently. Christenbury says on page 68, "it is time for students to take the information and use it, question it, incorporate it, illustrate it, something it so that the knowledge does not become someone else's point but their own." I couldn't agree more, and that's why my focus for this year is to offer more culminating activity options to my students.
Chapter 4: Those Whom We Teach
This chapter discussed the importance of building a relationship with students in order to better serve them. Christenbury said on page 95, "getting into an instructional rhythm with these students, trying to take their perspective about assignments and grades, understanding their motivations to work - or not to work - were crucial to my teaching success." I've known many students who fall into categories based on the grading scale. The A students always do their work, try their best, and often stress about maintaining the A. They drive me a bit nuts, but are genuine in their pursuits. The B students are the salt of the earth; they either are capable of A work and don't reach to obtain it, or are truly adequate B learners. I try to light a fire under some of them who I know can do better; sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. The C students are truly average and again, some come by it honestly, and others are not working up to potential. The D and F students struggle for many reasons, but even if I can't convince them to try harder, I make it my job to make sure they aren't doing poorly because they don't understand. This is where the relationship comes in. If my students don't feel they can trust me and open up about their academic journey, then we've all failed. Christenbury talks about several types of students: the apathetic student, the violent student, the alienated student and the best way to get in touch with these students in by building a relationship with them. If they know that I care as their teacher, they may start to care also.
Chapter 10: A Question of Ethics
Although I know of cases where student/teacher relationships were questioned (such as one young man in my pre-service teaching placement), I've never been involved in such situations and honestly don't spend much time worrying about "crossing a line" because the thought of an innapropriate relationship has NEVER crossed my mind (yuck). Christenbury makes a good point though when she says, "One of the hardest things for beginning teachers to do is to draw a line between their roles as professionals, teachers, and their understandable desire to be friendly, even friends, to students" (278). I think this falls under acceptable classroom management strategies. It's effective and appropritate to learn about your students, be kind to them and understanding of their place in life when they enter your classroom, but there is always a line. Every new, young teacher wants to be liked by his or her students. I've found the best way to be liked is to be a role model more than a friend. My students talk to me about things going on in their lives because they trust me and they appreciate an adult's perspective. If ever something they told me seemed a bit outside of the normal zone for interaction, I'd certainly take it to a higher authority to deal with, such as a counselor or administrator.
And now, some thoughts on Cultural Reflections...
Chapter 1: Constructing a Teaching Life
On the same note as building relationships with students, Gaughan mentions how our professional lives are shaped into categories of teachers, scholars, or mentors. In order to achieve these goals, there must be a strong relationship between teachers and students. Gaughan calls it harmony. He describes his first year of teaching and his ninth-period group of boys that were his largest struggle. "I didn't know how to teach them. I didn't know how to control them. How would we ever achieve harmony?" (Gaughan 10). I was again reminded of my own first year of teaching in the inner city and day after day how I was perplexed by the same exact question. What happened was Gaughan kept trying and eventually made it through the first year. He took the lessons he learned from that toughest group and made himself a better teacher. My mom's favorite saying is, "the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time." Although the first year of teaching is a huge elephant, it's worth getting through each bite of it to gain the wisdom one does after completing a year in the trenches.
Chapter 2: Teaching Thematically: The American Dream
Gaughan says that teachers must learn what will work with their own students. I find this to be especially true with middle schoolers. For example, I have a fantastic literature circle unit that culminates the year and gives my students the freedom to work in small groups to analyze and discuss novels. The problem with this unit is that someone long before me decided that the novels should be medieval historical fiction to coordinate with history content. That's all well and good, but my students complete four projects that are built in a cross-curricula fashion with history and by the end of the year, they are not only tired of history and English, but to add insult to injury, the novel choices we offer are pretty terrible. What is a teacher to do when the district has invested a lot of money in novels that are no longer interesting to students? Develop a new unit. In the near future, it is my hope that we can use novels that are higher-interest and multicultural in nature. It's something I'm working on, but I think we're still stuck for a few more years with the old novels until our budget can allow more choices. Just as Gaughan developed his American Dream projects, I hope to expand literature circles to better suit the needs of a diverse population of learners.
Chapter 10: Constructing a Curriculum
Speaking of a new curriculum (see last entry), I agree with Gaughen about using teacher portfolios as an evaluative tool. Lucky for him that all PA certified teachers must complete an in-depth portfolio to receive their permanant certification. When I completed my own portfolio a few years ago, I was able to review what I had done, how I had taught various lessons, what student results occurred, and how I could improve as a teacher. Gaughen states, "We may never compose a product we can't revise, but that's what makes our chosen profession so dynamic" (212). I agree wholeheartedly with him - the ability to constantly change is what makes teaching so great. I still look back on my lessons at the end of each year and search for ways to improve them. My unit binders are covered in multi-colored post-its based on what color was available when a brain surge occurred. If I didn't seek to improve myself, my art would be dead. It's my only hope that after 20 years of teaching, I'll stilll be looking for ways to improve myself and the way I reach my students.
Chapter 3: Planning for your Teaching
I enjoyed this chapter because planning = order and I love order. I love organization and pattern and reason and this chapter allowed me to reflect on my own planning styles as a tenured teacher. I was able to recall back to my first year of teaching, when I struggled to write good lesson plans, all the while knowing that I would be breaking up fights more than educating students. If I could get them interested in ANYTHING, the battle for that day would be won, but I was certain I would lose the war. Christenbury discusses the importance of reflection on the lesson, and that's something I find myself doing more and more of now that I have several years of successful teaching under my belt. I almost never lecture, and rarely speak more than my students do in any given class period. Although I keep my seventh graders on a short leash, I do foster a discussion-based classroom. Pairs and small groups are often utilized after brief written work is completed so everyone has an opportunity to decipher his or her own thoughts independently. Christenbury says on page 68, "it is time for students to take the information and use it, question it, incorporate it, illustrate it, something it so that the knowledge does not become someone else's point but their own." I couldn't agree more, and that's why my focus for this year is to offer more culminating activity options to my students.
Chapter 4: Those Whom We Teach
This chapter discussed the importance of building a relationship with students in order to better serve them. Christenbury said on page 95, "getting into an instructional rhythm with these students, trying to take their perspective about assignments and grades, understanding their motivations to work - or not to work - were crucial to my teaching success." I've known many students who fall into categories based on the grading scale. The A students always do their work, try their best, and often stress about maintaining the A. They drive me a bit nuts, but are genuine in their pursuits. The B students are the salt of the earth; they either are capable of A work and don't reach to obtain it, or are truly adequate B learners. I try to light a fire under some of them who I know can do better; sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. The C students are truly average and again, some come by it honestly, and others are not working up to potential. The D and F students struggle for many reasons, but even if I can't convince them to try harder, I make it my job to make sure they aren't doing poorly because they don't understand. This is where the relationship comes in. If my students don't feel they can trust me and open up about their academic journey, then we've all failed. Christenbury talks about several types of students: the apathetic student, the violent student, the alienated student and the best way to get in touch with these students in by building a relationship with them. If they know that I care as their teacher, they may start to care also.
Chapter 10: A Question of Ethics
Although I know of cases where student/teacher relationships were questioned (such as one young man in my pre-service teaching placement), I've never been involved in such situations and honestly don't spend much time worrying about "crossing a line" because the thought of an innapropriate relationship has NEVER crossed my mind (yuck). Christenbury makes a good point though when she says, "One of the hardest things for beginning teachers to do is to draw a line between their roles as professionals, teachers, and their understandable desire to be friendly, even friends, to students" (278). I think this falls under acceptable classroom management strategies. It's effective and appropritate to learn about your students, be kind to them and understanding of their place in life when they enter your classroom, but there is always a line. Every new, young teacher wants to be liked by his or her students. I've found the best way to be liked is to be a role model more than a friend. My students talk to me about things going on in their lives because they trust me and they appreciate an adult's perspective. If ever something they told me seemed a bit outside of the normal zone for interaction, I'd certainly take it to a higher authority to deal with, such as a counselor or administrator.
And now, some thoughts on Cultural Reflections...
Chapter 1: Constructing a Teaching Life
On the same note as building relationships with students, Gaughan mentions how our professional lives are shaped into categories of teachers, scholars, or mentors. In order to achieve these goals, there must be a strong relationship between teachers and students. Gaughan calls it harmony. He describes his first year of teaching and his ninth-period group of boys that were his largest struggle. "I didn't know how to teach them. I didn't know how to control them. How would we ever achieve harmony?" (Gaughan 10). I was again reminded of my own first year of teaching in the inner city and day after day how I was perplexed by the same exact question. What happened was Gaughan kept trying and eventually made it through the first year. He took the lessons he learned from that toughest group and made himself a better teacher. My mom's favorite saying is, "the only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time." Although the first year of teaching is a huge elephant, it's worth getting through each bite of it to gain the wisdom one does after completing a year in the trenches.
Chapter 2: Teaching Thematically: The American Dream
Gaughan says that teachers must learn what will work with their own students. I find this to be especially true with middle schoolers. For example, I have a fantastic literature circle unit that culminates the year and gives my students the freedom to work in small groups to analyze and discuss novels. The problem with this unit is that someone long before me decided that the novels should be medieval historical fiction to coordinate with history content. That's all well and good, but my students complete four projects that are built in a cross-curricula fashion with history and by the end of the year, they are not only tired of history and English, but to add insult to injury, the novel choices we offer are pretty terrible. What is a teacher to do when the district has invested a lot of money in novels that are no longer interesting to students? Develop a new unit. In the near future, it is my hope that we can use novels that are higher-interest and multicultural in nature. It's something I'm working on, but I think we're still stuck for a few more years with the old novels until our budget can allow more choices. Just as Gaughan developed his American Dream projects, I hope to expand literature circles to better suit the needs of a diverse population of learners.
Chapter 10: Constructing a Curriculum
Speaking of a new curriculum (see last entry), I agree with Gaughen about using teacher portfolios as an evaluative tool. Lucky for him that all PA certified teachers must complete an in-depth portfolio to receive their permanant certification. When I completed my own portfolio a few years ago, I was able to review what I had done, how I had taught various lessons, what student results occurred, and how I could improve as a teacher. Gaughen states, "We may never compose a product we can't revise, but that's what makes our chosen profession so dynamic" (212). I agree wholeheartedly with him - the ability to constantly change is what makes teaching so great. I still look back on my lessons at the end of each year and search for ways to improve them. My unit binders are covered in multi-colored post-its based on what color was available when a brain surge occurred. If I didn't seek to improve myself, my art would be dead. It's my only hope that after 20 years of teaching, I'll stilll be looking for ways to improve myself and the way I reach my students.
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