Learning Letter

Each student is required to complete a course reflection in the form of a learning letter blog posting. This final blog posting should fulfill three major requirements:

1. Reflect on the work you’ve completed in the course (book talks, unit plans, etc.)

2. Reflect on the theories and concepts we explored in readings and discussions

3. Reflect on how you think your participation in this course has influenced your thinking about yourself as a teacher

The process of continual reflection is essential to your growth as a teacher.

 

     The book talks are going to be great for me for the rest of the quarter. I now have a great list of books to read from and enjoy thanks to everyone doing this assignment. The resources we got helped me in the unit plan, but will also keep helping me as I continue to develop into a teacher. The unit plan itself helped me realize that I can actually develop a unit and hopefully implement it successfully. The material we received this quarter will be extremely helpful to me moving forward. There were a lot of teaching strategies and ways to help struggling readers, which was my biggest concern about teaching. How do you get a student to read if they don't love it as much as you? The Tovani book is going to be a resource I will always go back to in the future. The books we were assigned were great YA novels that I also cannot wait to assign and see students engage with a book without much effort. This course has made me think of every aspect of creating a lesson plan. This is a large step for me in designing lessons and units to have a cohesive feel to them. This quarter I also did standards based grading for my unit, so the research into that has made me a stronger teacher that can adapt to different grading systems.   

Night

• 1.      Please include a detailed description of the text. Take into consideration that your colleagues might not be familiar with the text that you have chosen. A detailed description will include everything necessary for your classmates to gain an understanding of the text without reading it. Your job is to introduce the text in a complete way so that it is possible for others to decide when, where, and how this text might be appropriate.

This is the story about a young Jewish boy who was taken along with his family to a Nazi camp. This story is a harrowing account of what the Nazis did to people during the Holocaust. The young boy is a very observant practicing Jewish person that eventually wants to become a rabbi. His family is very religious as well. The account is about them being captured as a family and seperated, as was the procedure for the Germans. He travels to various camps as the war is being won by the Allies. Throughout the experience, everything that is important to Elie is questioned by him due to the extreme torture he is going through.

• 2.      Please explain why you chose this text. What was your rationale? For whom is this text appropriate? Please consider age, ability, and any other factor you find important. Why is it appropriate for this group of students?

If I did indeed choose this text, I would want to teach it to show students how horrible this experience is. I believe everyone should know the history of the event and how terrible humanity can be. Any highschool grade can benefit from this. The read itself is easy and short, but the background knowledge needed to fully grasp this text is an obstacle that can be removed with some help from history class.

• 3.      Please include some teaching ideas. How do you envision this text being used in a secondary classroom? Provide at least 3 specific ideas for what is possible with this text.

The most common one would be to include it in a Holocaust lesson package with the history teachers at your school. With most historical events, I believe the double dose of literature about the event and the details provide students with a lot of background information and leads to more understanding about the event. A second one would be to explore the "crazy" man and how the people ignored his repeated warnings of the danger that was approaching the town. How would the student react to the crazy person yelling at them? Or, how can we parralel this to our own lives? Lastly, maybe track the travel that the characters had to do on a map. In novels, I feel like poeple do not grasp the extensive amount of travel that the characters go through.

• 4.      Please consider some challenges to using this text. What are the potential issues that may arise from using this text? Predict an administrator’s response to the use of this text. Predict parents’ responses. Predict students’ responses.

Some challenges are the graphic nature of some of the scenes. It can be a touchy subject, but the historical significance should outweigh the bad parts of doing a unit off of this book. It should be taught to give the students perspective from someone around their own age.

The Round House

    

• 1.      Please include a detailed description of the text. Take into consideration that your colleagues might not be familiar with the text that you have chosen. A detailed description will include everything necessary for your classmates to gain an understanding of the text without reading it. Your job is to introduce the text in a complete way so that it is possible for others to decide when, where, and how this text might be appropriate.

"The Round House" is told through the eyes of a young boy named Joe. His father is a tribal judge and his mother is a tribal record keeper. She is a brilliant and beautiful woman who is a good mother to Joe. That changes with the first events in the book when she is raped. Geraldine, the mother, is changed forever. She is a shell of her former self. She becomes jumpy and due to the severity of the rape, her physical form is scarred. Geraldine tries to heal physically and emotionally and does not leave the house for sometime. This change in herself effects everyone around her. The father, Bazil, and Joe especially have to work through this and try to improve Geraldine and her spirit. Life for her and her family is changed forever. Joe throughout the story tries to work the case and Bazil, being a tribal judge, does everything in the law's power to find and convict the rapist. Joe has to grow up quickly and does so with the help of his close friends.

• 2.      Please explain why you chose this text. What was your rationale? For whom is this text appropriate? Please consider age, ability, and any other factor you find important. Why is it appropriate for this group of students?

This book is not for the light-hearted. It was intensely sad and frustrating, which is the point. The author, Louise Erdrich, made a great effort in highlighting the problems of tribal life in regards to sexual assault. The husband being a tribal judge further proves the point. The book deals with a lot of heavy hitting topics and should really only be used after asking the class their comfort level with these concepts. The material can be triggering especially for anyone who has personal connections to sexual assault. But this text also shows the effects of sexual assault and the tribal law system. 

• 3.      Please include some teaching ideas. How do you envision this text being used in a secondary classroom? Provide at least 3 specific ideas for what is possible with this text.

I can see this text being used for a look at sexual assault and the negative effects it has on women. The seriousness of the issue can be brought up. It is a coming of age story for Joe, who has to grow up fast. So a character tracking development assignment. Lastly, a lesson on Native American tribal life. There are a lot of references to ceremonies and the daily life of Natives.

• 4.      Please consider some challenges to using this text. What are the potential issues that may arise from using this text? Predict an administrator’s response to the use of this text. Predict parents’ responses. Predict students’ responses. 

lThere are a lot of challenges. As I stated previously, the events that happen can have a lot of triggering responses to most students. The subject matter is very difficult. It also does not end happily, so it is a text to be used with a mature class. It is important, but administration might have some pause and parents especially would be upset about using this text. The subject matter is still important despite its difficulties.

Tovani’s I Read It, But I Don't Get It

    This book is amazing. I started reading it right when I got it before the quarter started and it helped me with the first few weeks of teaching 10th grade. I am so glad I bought this book outright so I can continue to use it and keep improving as a teacher. The book even has a section that are assignments and activities. On top of the double entry journals, there are a good bit of assignments to draw from and help students gain comprehension in reading. I enjoy that Cris Tovani has first hand experience and implemented all of these ideas into her own classroom. This first hand experience really sold me on the idea that these methods can work in any classroom. The instances where she included her own struggles and students who made her think differently about what she was doing made the book feel real to me. They are almost like built in testimonials. But instead of these testimonials trying to sell me something, they are testimonials to good teaching and students improving their reading skills. The improvement of comprehension skills are extremely important to me as a future English teacher and to my students who are living in an age where comprehension is becoming increasingly essential. I have already used some things in the book and I cannot wait to continue using it as a resource. What also sold me was her writing style and overall construction of the book. All of the ideas were really simple, made sense, and did not seem like a gimmick. The book was without the complicated language that is present in most other education books I have read. The simplicity made the book an easy read and easy to comprehend what you as a teacher should be doing and gives concrete ways to improve. 

EdTPA

     The two materials that we read today, edTPA lesson plan guidelines and "Making Good Choices" were both extremely helpful. I am going to save both of these for when I am preparing for my own edTPA in the spring. The lesson plan guidelines are helpful in getting the edTPA filled out and help in knowing what information needs to go where. It is a document that is helpful for first timers and for people who have been doing it for awhile. I had it open on my second screen this weekend when I was writing edTPA's to keep me on track and to provide support when I needed it.
     "Making Good Choices" focused on the actual assessment of the edTPA. This document is one I am always going to reference due to how informative it is. I believe this article will help anyone trying to pass the edTPA and keep the person focused on the task. Also, the advice it gives applies to general lesson planning as well. In lesson planning it is important to not lose focus or get off task away from the lesson. This article has do's and dont's as well regarding certain sections and it is especially helpful in the assessment portion. Coupled with the different forms of assessment article we read earlier in the quarter, this should help all of us with assessment planning for the unit plan.

Pop Culture in Secondary Ed.

     The part of having the student researchers be "underachieving" in GPA or AP placement made this article really interesting to me. The students had more interest in this particular project, which was the hip-hop project. It is incredibly important to have a subject the student is interested in to have that student do their best work. This is said in the article, and it is still true regardless of when and where the student is taught. I love the seven guidelines the article has pointed towards teachers, administrators, and researchers. It was an easy way to get teachers involved and even gives examples of how teachers can integrate hip-hop into the classroom. I wanted to do something similar to this last quarter when "This is America" by Childish Gambino came out, but I was not sure how to approach the administration on a subject like this. I do believe it is important to bring in this culture into the classroom, because it is a large part of students' lives. This particular song had a lot to do with social injustice and had many references that took deep analyzing in the lyrics and music video to get the most meaning out of it. The other important factor is realizing that media and the music industry is not a neutral entity. By knowing what is being marketed and how, students can get a better understanding of the world around them, which I believe education in secondary should be about anyway. Linking curriculum to the happenings of the world around them is paramount for students to grow as people, not just sending them off into the world with some skills. The research of main stream media was also a great lesson. It made the points of finding credible sources and purpose seem important, which they are. This lesson is honestly needed for education advancing forward. We need more informed people and voters. This article just really spoke to me and made me feel better about my decision. I also hope to get this kind of flexibility at some point in my career to make these lesson plans a reality.

Philosophy of Education

     This article went DEEP. The philosophy Paulo Freire put forward made one think of every teacher that was a part of the "banking" system of education. The language, jargon, and even a small amount of Portuguese was a little clunky and made it hard to get through. After reading it a few times however, the lesson he was putting out made complete sense. The surprising thing to me was that this was published in 1993! This type of forward thinking 25 years ago is incredible, and makes this even more outstanding. The writing itself made perfect sense and this is something that we learn today in education classes. That to "fill" students with information is not something education should be aiming for and instead go more towards the critical thinking aspect. This type of "narration" education also diminishes the creative aspect that some students thrive in.  The narration type of education is something that is oppressive, which when reading the title at the beginning, I thought was an extreme word to use. But, after reading and thinking back to my education and some of the teachers that were this way, I can say that it is a perfect word. The better students were the ones that had a good memory, since these classes were part of this banking system that praised obedience and being able to repeat what teachers say. I do not understand how teachers like that, I love when students bring up a point I did not think of, even if it is opposite of mine. The answers that repeat or are just reworded versions of mine are the ones that are less memorable or stimulating for discussion. By the end, it reads as a manifesto of sorts that has a strong call to action for education in the future. The need for revolutionizing is still in the process, and I hope to continue that revolution for education.

The REAL Assessment

     First of all, does every school district have as great of a grading handbook as Spokane? The homework and the negative impact of zeros are my favorite sections in it. But the whole thing is a very useful and helpful document aimed at informing parents and students of the expectations that are present for grading. The impact of zeros is so eye-opening. I love how the author breaks down what a zero actually does to negatively impact the grade and uses math to help see the difference. At first, I was skeptical of the no-zero policy due to a recent news story about a teacher who refused to comply with a no-zero policy and was fired. I did not see the usefulness of giving a student a grade that they did not earn. But, with this math and section of no-zero policy, it opened my eyes to see it from a different angle. The metaphor with weather was especially persuasive and really hit the concept home and I can see the usefulness for parents and students alike. The homework section is only a page, and it is the last item talked about. The view on homework is one I appreciate, especially the grading part. Something assigned as extra practice should not be graded, since not everyone needs it. Also, this avoids wasting the students' time and for the students that do the homework, the feedback is very useful. This type of feedback helps the student feel like they are getting somewhere and learning the material without the anxiety of a grade. Overall, as a teacher, this handbook is incredibly helpful in guiding their assessment and how to show parents that what they teach is helping. I would include this link in the syllabus for the parents at home as well. This type of understanding is needed for parents to know how their kids are being assessed, and provides the teacher with a resource to keep taking out off and referring to when planning assessments and lessons. The step by step instructions for parents on the online grade book is also helpful to keep parents engaged in their childrens' academic life.

Assessment

     One of the things I was nervous about coming into student teaching was not knowing the what students know. In other words, I did not know what skills or knowledge that say a sophomore had compared to a freshman. What I was not expecting was for them not to know how to actively read or read with a purpose. I guess I forgot that at that age, I did not know how to do that either. So, I had to think back on how I learned to read complex text and how to apply that for the assignments I was given. I had to do this before I assessed them on a text, since doing it before they learned this skill seemed unfair to me. I wish I had the assignment template beforehand, but for now, it is a great resource for reference in teaching future lessons on reading rhetorically. And at least I have it now to continue helping me out. Anyway, these reading skills do not come naturally to most, so it is important to have a resource like this to continue developing reading skills not only for school life but for afterward. The complex text never goes away, and by developing these skills you can help students read other complex and difficult texts. When it comes to assessing these new skills, the handout, "Assess and Evaluating Students' Learning", gives multiple ways to assess and get data from these assessments that are not "correct answer" tests. This is really important to me since I personally do not like giving multiple choice tests, since these tests only give me raw data, and not how the student thinks about these problems or questions. That is where the other assessments that were given help. Also, there are usually peers involved, which helps tremendously when learning about literature. The chapter itself is extremely valuable, I plan to keep it when planning not only the unit for this class but for future use in my classroom.  

CCSS

     When it came to CCSS (Common Core State Standards) and first hearing about them in the education program, I went "Oh great, the government with its all-reaching power has its hands all over the classroom." I despise being micro-managed, especially in this situation with an entity that is not even in the classroom to see the different types of students there are that present different challenges. Coming in with this negative attitude, I did not expect to find much for me to like about the CCSS. However, reading about it on the website under Myths and the other page, What Parents Should Know, and lastly the handout given to us have left me with a better outlook on adhering to CCSS.
     The website was helpful by providing me with information that I previously did not have. The premise of the standards always made sense, to have a uniform set of standards that every state should adhere to ensure that each student gets an equal education that helps them throughout life. However, I always thought that this uniformity was ensured by making educators teach a certain way or only certain things, while the administration, in turn, were just wardens to this grand plan. The other concern I had was actually the top myth, where the standards were set to the lowest common denominator and thus progress was halted and eager learners were held back. Instead, I was delighted to find out that it is, in fact, the higher achieving standards that are set, so that there are goals to reach and it does not grow a sense of complacency.
     The article itself was helpful with the case study since it was a thought-provoking exercise. It also deals with the ELA section and provides insight into how to approach these standards without being a robot. The learning in the 21st century is especially helpful since it promotes critical thinking skills, which are always useful in any setting, especially including outside of school. This is the area I want to focus on in my own classroom, so having it in this article is a great boost of confidence.

Graphic Novels in the Classroom

     I personally do not have any experience with graphic novels in the classroom, and I think that is a shame. I believe it would have helped me during my middle and high school years to understand the more complex text and it would have given me another route to digest the information that the teacher was trying to get me to remember. Also, illustrations coupled with words help the reader gain more understanding and builds that connection to being a good reader. An article I read online from weareteachers.com (which is a great resource for the aspiring teachers that we are) "Graphic Novels Should Play a Bigger Part in Your Classroom. Here’s Why." by Lindsay Barrett lists three major reasons why they help in the classroom. A point that Barrett brought up that I did not think about was the application to ELL students. The illustrations help with word recognition and the action in the comic itself helps with building vocabulary, since the actions are taking place right on the page. Aside from ELL's, regular students can also benefit from graphic novels. In the more complex text that we start getting into at the secondary level, it is important to not stop teaching reading. Graphic novels are a good stepping stone into complex text, since it helps the reader visualize what is happening without the added stress of making sense of the words. This will aid them to become better readers when the transition to novels is made, since the students now know how to decipher the complex text and make sense of the action happening in the story. This then aids the teacher by making it easier to get to the content and discussion of the text, instead of getting a bunch of "I don't know what's happening".  As for my future classroom, I would love to incorporate graphic novels as a stepping stone or part of an extended workshop type deal with teaching readers how to comprehend complex texts.

Discussion as a Way of Teaching

This article does a great job at describing and providing ways to make classroom discussion meaningful. Come to think of it, I have never been shown how a discussion should go. I knew the "golden rule" basics and that speaking over other people does not help anyone, but the article describes how a discussion should look in depth and I love that. I like the discussion that involved everyone, this gets all students to speak and discuss which in turn helps more shy students open up and feel safe. I already bookmarked this article because I feel it be very useful for my classroom. This would have helped me immensely a few weeks ago when I tried to lead a discussion for Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher". A few of these activities are definitely for smaller classrooms. I do like the time amount given in these activities however, it gets one in the habit of doing that in the classroom which is needed. Also, having students get up and move around is a common theme I find helpful throughout these activities. I also enjoy the set roles that some students can take as well. These roles give guidance and a direction in where they should go with their own ideas. The 15th assignment is helpful in guiding the teacher in their instruction and gives critical feedback needed to continue improving the classroom discussions. The case study highlights what can go wrong and how to avoid that. I hope we go over this in class to provide more details and clarity.