Learning Letter

Sean-

This quarter has been tough for me to get through everything. Taking this course at the same time as the 90 hour observation quarter was… busy. Between the mini-lesson, article responses, unit plan, book talk prep, lesson prep, and other requirements, I stretched myself pretty thin at times. Overall, though, it was definitely worth it.

I feel like everything we did in class prepared us for the busy atmosphere we’re going to have to get used to for the first years of teaching. My favorite part of the course was the book talks because it provided so many different resources for my future students who want to expand their reading habits. I have already had a few of my students ask me for books that they might be able to read, and having the stack of book talk handouts has proven to be so handy. Another portion of the work load that I enjoyed was the mini-lesson since I was able to get different kinds of feedback for my teaching style. I stayed as true to my usual style as possible during the teaching of my lesson as I am in the classroom, so hearing what my colleagues had to say on improvements and small ways that I could tweak things was awesome. I’m always worried that I could do better, and hearing the positive aspects was also really reassuring.

Some of the theories we covered were recap for me, but others were new to me. I had previously learned what differentiated instruction was in other classes, but it was good to hear about different articles that my peers had found that clear up different ways to incorporate differentiated instruction into lesson planning.

Finally, I think this course helped me overall realize a few things about my teaching tactics. I know that I tend to put stud off until the last minute, but this class thoroughly reinforced my thoughts on my ability to get things done. I did most of my work in a timely manner for the course and it helped solidify my beliefs that I can do what it takes to get things done in time. Granted, there will be MUCH more work in my first years teaching, but getting everything done on time with my schedule this quarter was great.

-DaVena Clark

American Born Chinese

For starters, I ended up really liking this text. I hadn't ever read a graphic novel before, but really enjoyed the different dynamic of it. I was surprised at how quickly I was able to get through it because I expected it to take as along as reading a regular novel. Thanks to the limited text, however, I was pleasantly surprised with the ease in which I was able to finish the book.

Now for the academic aspects--this book could be used to grasp the attention of several non-readers in my classroom. Despite the harsh terms and hyperbole of the "stereotypical" Asian, this is a text that is entertaining and makes you pay attention to the different connections made throughout the text. By having the three stories intertwine, the author provides us as educators with a portal to show connections between seemingly unconnected things. I feel as though that is a great skill to teach students and using this graphic novel to do so would speak to their demographic. Since the main character of one story-line is a high school student, my students would be able to connect with the isolation and conflicting emotions that Danny experiences when interacting with his "cousin" and new friends.

Another reason I like the idea of using this book in the classroom is because of the fact that my students lose focus easily, but this book is easy to look through and understand, even if you don't read the text. By having pictures to tell the story instead of only words, we get to see into the characters' worlds much more clearly and vividly. This could help my students maintain attention and grasp some further concepts of the lesson being conveyed.

Romeo + Juliet = Forever and Always...... kinda

For starters, I don't like this play. I feel like it's gotten way too much focus and that society should expand and enjoy some of Shakespeare's other works. That being said, I do find literary merit in the play. The character development and conflict throughout the play show to be good resources when teaching about plot. There is a lot going on throughout the play, even though it's focused on the two lovers and their families' anger toward each other. I feel as though showing the quickness of budding affection and the drastic measures the two characters took can be looked at through a modern lens and over-the-top and naive. Students, on the other hand, might relate to this naivety and claim their love for their significant other is that strong.

One way to make a connection to the text for the students is to help them realize that the characters in the play were about their ages. If you think about a freshman and a senior in high school making all of these plans to run away and get married, then end up killing themselves. It's pretty twisted to think about, and making these connections with the students could help get Shakespeare's point across even clearer that feuds such as that represented in the play, or even simple petty hatreds, can lead to drastic outcomes and hurt innocent people.

Sherman Alexie Response

This book would be very easy to incorporate into your high school or middle school  classroom. Due to the fact that the main character is dealing with a lot of the same issues that your students are dealing with, it would be very easy to tie in aspects of the book and personalize it with the kids.

The key component that I feel the students could connect with it that of bullying and being the victim of bullied. The fact that Arnold deals with issues with his physical attributes, poverty level, and skin color can mean that there is an array of issues that you can connect with your students’ lives. Along with this concept of bullying, you could pull excerpts and use them for anti-bullying month in October—Central Valley does this recognition every year, I’m not sure what the other schools do. There are some really good pieces of text that could be impactful for students.

Not only do I feel like students can connect with this text, but I also enjoyed reading it and thinking back to my teenage years. I transferred high schools mid-way through my sophomore year from a small town to a school four times the size. I connected with a lot of the isolated and “different” aspects that Arnold went through.

"Things Fall Apart" Response

I've read excerpts from this text before, so some bits of it were familiar to me. In high school, my teacher pulled the text that followed the fate of Ikemefuna and we read several of those pieces. This was my first time reading the whole book, though. That being stated, there were a lot of things that I got from this text. Not many of them were very literature related, but mostly societal norms and character personalities that are different than the majority of the society around me.

First off, Ikemefuna's character became much more developed for me through this reading. It was rather interesting how he stayed in the village so long and became so close with the family. I would have thought that people would have either accepted him into the tribe and let his servitude pay for the death of the young Ibo woman or killed him right away. It was strange that everyone "forgot" about him.

Okonkwo's development also threw me off a bit, and his character pissed me off at times. His constant portrayal of everything strong and manly seemed too over-the-top. I disliked how he let his anger get out of control in some instances and that the village often sided with him. For instance, when he beat his third wife during the week of peace for being out late, why would that demand such a serious beating? Along with his anger, he was a very prideful person. This ended up leading to his downfall because he returned from his exile to find the "white man" having power in his village. By rising up against  them, he earned himself a trial. But he hanged himself instead of proceeding with the trial. I didn't like that Okonkwo had spent his entire life trying to be strong and live a labor-filled life, but shamed himself and ruined his reputation forever by hanging himself. I feel as though this shows him as worse than his father because at least his father was strong enough to deal with his problems and didn't end his own life. This just goes to show that physical strength and endurance isn't all that matters in life; you must have emotional strength and the ability to be patient in order to be truly successful in life.

TPA Guideline Response

Having worked a lot with the TPA format for the past couple of quarters, I am very familiar with the layout. I will admit, however, I am still learning how to best use the format to benefit my planning. What's different about the layout posted on the class blog and the template we get through the education department is that the template provided here has several good prompting questions and highlights. I was completely lost when trying to plan my first couple of lessons during the classroom assessment course about two years ago, and having something that provided these prompts would have been very helpful.

The academic language portion of this prompt in particular is one piece that really sticks out to me. That's the portion I've always had the most trouble with and having several different types of terminology to point out really helps. In fact, I asked my supervisor on Monday what exactly needs to be included in that piece of the TPA. Although talking with her helped me understand it better, this template helps clarify the couple of questions that still lingered.

Another portion that I really liked is that the portion in Instructional Strategies about student voice was in bold. I sometimes forget to put the objectives and tasks into student voice and having it in bold like this is a great reminder to watch for it.

Finally, the differentiated instruction also stuck out to me. Part of this extra notice was because of the fact that this was where I needed the most focus after teaching my lesson on Monday, as well as the fact that we had the discussion in class on Wednesday, but also because it's worded in a more easily understandable way. I always considered differentiated instruction to be meeting the needs of the lower learning level students and making sure your lesson either meets their needs or can be altered for their needs. Until Monday's lesson, I hadn't put much thought into how to accommodate the higher learning level students, or those who simply worked quickly. The wording in this layout really makes it clear that it's supposed to be a level playing field for everyone in the classroom. By stating that we need "equitable learning opportunities," we see that it's not just the lower level students that need focus, but that everyone needs the same opportunities to learn the most they can.

October 23rd Response-Differentiated Instruction

The article I found would have been really helpful a week ago when I was prepping for the lesson I taught on Monday. The article goes into the definition of differentiated instruction (DI) and includes how it is meant for those who are struggling as well as those who excel. I had always just thought of DI as accommodations for those who struggled, not the ones who work fast and produce quality work and proceed to get bored. The main issue I had with my lesson on Monday--which was my first lesson observed by my EWU Supervisor--was that there were a group of student who had finished the assignment 10 minutes before the rest of the class and were causing disruptions because they kept talking too loudly. Had I thought about how to accommodate them in my TPA lesson plan under the differentiated instruction, I could have prepared for that and told Char--my supervisor--how I avoided the disruptions.

The article does a good job of showing the importance of planning for both kinds of students; I like the equal focus it give both types of students. I always simply plan for the IEPs, 504s, or "problem students" and let those who are a more responsible and ahead of the curve slide by. After reading the importance of focusing on those "superb students," however, I plan to focus on them as well as the problems students when prepping for my future lessons.

October 21 Post - Access Tool

I didn't get 5 direct quotes for each of the 5 categories, but I chose to do Access Tool A while reading through American Born Chinese. The following is all of the information I wrote down.


pg # and direct quote--> This reminds me of...
#31 "My momma says Chinese people eat dogs." --> It reminds me of two things: 1. all of the negative stereotypes people have about other cultures and 2. when my aunt told me how to kill and skin a cat because it actually tastes really good--she's from Indonesia, so she has a different take on a lot of things.

#80 "Where can you flee from my presence?" --> It reminds me of lessons I learned in Sunday School growing up about how omnipresent God is.

#102 "But my first day here I met Jin. From then I know everything's okay." --> It reminds me of transferring high school in the middle of my sophomore year. I knew one person in a school of 2,000-ish students and I didn't have any classes with him. But on my first day at the new school, I met one of the people I would continue to have as a close friend all through high school as well as after graduation.

#113 "EN ESTA HISTORIA EL RERRO DE JOSE ES-" ... "BRANCO Y MUY GLANDE!" --> This, in addition to all of the other frames where Chin-Kee blurts out all of the answers, reminds me of the stereotype that Asians are super smart and know everything. I chose this quote in particular because it is in a foreign language and it would imply that Chin-Kee is fluent in at least 3 languages.

#139 "A star shall guide your way." --> It reminds me of the birth of Jesus. I know this is representative of religion, but it's interesting to see it in a transformation process, as well.


pg # and direct quote--> I wonder...
#36 " Something made me want to beat him up." --> Why would Jin want to beat up a new student who is facing similar difficulties that he faced when he transferred to that school? Even though they end up becoming friends, I find it strange that he disliked Wei-Chen right off the bat.

#37 "You're in America. Speak English." --> What made Jin so cold to heritage? Why was he so harsh to Wei-Chen for speaking his native language?

#159 "On this journey... we have no need... for shoes." --> Why such a fuss about shoes? The whole book started because the Monkey King was told he needed to wear shoes to enter the Heavenly party, and now he's being told he doesn't need them for the spiritual growth.... o.O?


pg # and direct quote--> I visualize...
#78 "The five pillars of gold you found at the end of all that is--those were the five fingers of my hand." --> I visualized someone getting an unexpected tattoo on their finger because the Monkey King carved his name in the finger. Also, I knew what the five pillars were because I had seen this metaphor before, but I can't remember what it was from/where I saw it.

#98 "Why is his hair broccoli?" --> This instantly made me envision people who have always told me they wanted hair like mine. Having naturally curly hair, I know the annoyances of having to manage it. People who get tight perms for the first time, however, don't usually realize how difficult it is to manage.

#166 "During the quiet moments I listened to her breathe." --> It made me visualize someone leaning in close and creeping behind someone... just staring.


pg # and direct quote--> I'm confused because...
#20 "He stayed awake for the rest of the night thinking of ways to get rid of it." Why does it bother the Monkey King now? He's been living in it his whole life and he just now decides that the smell of monkey fur is bad. Also, if his senses were heightened, how did he not notice it before?


Interesting details --> Summary of learning
The three different story plots tie into one... Jin's "transformation" into Danny still confuses me.Was he just trying to be "less Asian" and that's how he saw himself?... Wei-Chen changes when he realizes things aren't how they thought they would be... All three main characters (Jin, Wei-Chin, and the Monkey King) have transforming moments of self-realization
-->Not everything is as it seems to be. Although it may seem like a long process and it involves a lot of ups and downs, the journey to find yourself and grow into who you want to become--or are meant to become--is worth it in the end.

Tomorrow's post...

I've been doing my "access tool' on American Born Chinese, but my computer is on its last leg and keeps crashing. I have a lot of the info written down, I'm just transferring it to a word document right now with my roommate's computer. I don't know if I'll have it completed by the time for class to start tomorrow, but I'll post what I have converted to the computer before class starts.

October 18th Response: "I Read It..."

This text covered a lot of interesting points. The portion about student confusion really stuck out to me the most because it reminds me a lot of the AVID process that I go through with my students at Rogers High School every Tuesday. They bring in a Point Of Confusion (POC) and I make sure the other students help the student get to the answer without just straight out giving it to them. This relates to the text because the author talked about how she would answer the students questions about reading and where they get stuck, but she also would just give them flat out answers to problems they had with the material. She helped them work through their issues by having them answer the questions themselves.

Another aspect that I connected to was that of “fake reading.” I know that I did A LOT of this in high school because I didn't like reading. I would skim the pages or rely on my friends who used Sparknotes. As I've grown older, however, I've learned the trouble of this. I still do it sometimes, but it usually comes back to bite me in the ass. When it comes time for discussions or tests, a lot of the material is generally specific and not overarching. I also know that when I write material for my students when covering a text, I tend to write questions that apply to a specific portion of the text purposefully. I want to make sure they’re reading, and that shows who’s been a fake reader.

Overall, there were many good points to consider in this text and I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the author's real-life input and the classroom examples she included to connect to the material.

October 16th Response

The whole concept of a response-based approach to the classroom is something that I've always tried to incorporate into my teaching, but I never had a specific term for it. I want my students to feed off of each other and continue to learn from their peers and own thoughts, as well as from the text. I don't like the concept of just lecturing and I try to get student feedback as often as possible.

Although this article was kind of review for several of my previous classes combined, the concept of creating horizons instead of goals got me thinking a lot. I loved the idea of explaining to the kids that they're continuously learning, just like the horizon of the skyline is continuous and never-ended. No matter how far you go, you'll never reach the stopping point of the horizon. By explaining it to my students like this, i feel like I might be able to more easily give examples of how I have been learning continuously and ask for their input, as well! If some of them like reading, I can ask what they took away from a book they've read multiple times and what little bits of information they catch the second or third time around that they may have missed the first time. Another way to relate this to the students is with video games. When student play the storyline, they overlook certain items and bits of interesting information about the game. When they play multi-player, they have to rely on their friends and learn how to interact with others in the same arena. And when they're single-player, not in story mode, they can sometimes find more information still.

By relating the material back tot he students and showing them how they can continually learn, we give them more power to give input and respond to our information.

October 14th Response: Social Justice in the Classroom

The article I found is an excerpt from a larger text. Aptly titled, Social Justice in the Classroom deals with the idea that there are so many missed opportunities to teach students about acceptance and understanding of others' viewpoints. To begin the article, an example is given of an African American student and a Mexican American student commenting off topic about the concept of what a fluid is. One student comments on how she likes coffee while the other says that's bad because it'll turn her skin darker. The teacher focuses them back to the topic of fluids without addressing the negative concept that was brought up of having darker skin.

There are many times in the classroom setting that are brushed over as unimportant, but several of those missed opportunities could prevent the negative stigma that currently looms over having discussions about race, gender, and other inequalities. Had our students been taught about the proper way to approach these subject at a younger age, there would be much more opportunity for social justice in the classroom. Social justice is "justice exercised within a society, particularly as it is applied to and among the various social classes of a society" (Google). To put it simply, it is the equality and justice of socialization.

This concept of social justice taking place in that classroom is huge! If students feel as though we don't create an environment that allows equal opportunity for everyone in the class, then they will not be interested in listening to anything we say. They will feel isolated and unimportant. By paying attention and righting these social inequalities, however, we allow opportunity for a higher level of learning from all of our students. If we don’t allow this type of environment to exist that puts all of our students on a level playing field and in a comfortable environment, we are failing them as a teacher because we are not teaching them key components to life outside the classroom.

October 11th Response

My favorite aspect of this article was pages 189-191. Although there were great points brought up throughout the article, to portion the authors wrote about reading Savage Inequalities and watching Stand and Deliver in the classroom to compare and contract the attitudes and achievements in similar classroom settings really stood out to me.

It's commonly accepted to say that lower socioeconomic schools produce lower level thinkers than those schools who have more access to higher funds and resources. On the other hand, we've all heard about those rare instances where teachers turn things around and motivate their students to learn at a much higher level, even when faced with poverty. When the author wrote about showing both sides of this spectrum to the class, it got me thinking; why do we as teachers allow ourselves to maintain the mindset that low SES equals low education? We have all of these examples of astounding teachers helping students in terrible situations, yet it's still commonly acceptable to be okay with students "falling through the cracks." The outcome of the lesson in the article clearly shows how much of an attitude shift can occur when showing students the power they have as learners and the impact they can make.

What I loved most about this portion of the article was that the teachers, although they differed in their methods of providing resources, came together to empower their students to excel. They accepted the input from the students, encouraged them to speak up against what they felt was unjust, and saw a change in how things were handled in the school.

Not only was the impact of the teachers amazing, but the initiative of the students was great. I love reading about times when students realize the impact of their voice and pursue change for the better. Reading about the impact a lesson can have on students like this gives me more excitement for this profession.

To touch on another concept I enjoyed from this text, the "Underlying Principles" portion of the article provided several reference points for the remainder of the reading. It helped give definition to some new terms as well as insight on how teachers can work toward the common good without agreeing on much of anything!

Reading Response for October 9th

Honestly, I didn’t think I would get through all of this reading. It seemed a little overwhelming when I printed it off, but I really got into the text. I found it rather easy to read. I think the fact that the author clarified what he was talking about helped a lot. Some of the ways McLaren explained things helped me connect to the content quite easily.

Right off the bat I knew I was going to like this text. By explaining that schools act as a social platform for students in a way other than most people see it, McLaren got the wheels turning in my mind. I enjoyed his comparison of the view of schooling to Marxism. The comparison to an ideology such as that took me off guard. However, once I got thinking about it I realized how right he is. If someone does something or is accused of something that is against the popular norm, they are isolated and cut off in many high school settings, which allows the common ideal to shoot to an even higher popularity. He then says how this ideology “indoctrinates students into becoming greedy young capitalists” (p. 62). This isn’t the view we should have of our students and the structure of the social society in high schools. The liberation aspect of McLaren’s thoughts to contradict this Marxist idea really stuck out to me. We should be, as some teacher are already, teaching out students to be free of these “popular norms.” The liberation they feel when realizing their belonging in a setting that previously shunned them should be celebrated!

Along with the concepts of ideology, I also enjoyed the section in the text on this subject. Mostly, it struck me as interesting that McLaren discussed the positive and negative aspects of ideology. Most people, from the articles I have read in my previous college experiences, tend to seem biased, even when attempting an unbiased text. McLaren, however, goes into discussion on the fact that there are positives and negatives to everything! He states how one good function of ideology includes providing all of the components by which people make sense of the world around them. The negative aspect he mentions in that same paragraph is that is infers that “all such perspectives are inevitably selective” (p. 69). I usually think of either one side of the argument at a time when dealing with heavier material like ideology and prejudice while McLaren jumps both feet in and lets everything run.

CCSS Response

As someone who was lucky enough to teach multiple lessons her first quarter of placement, I've had a good amount of experience with the Common Core Standards. Not only have I had to incorporate them into my lesson plans, but I have also gotten to talk to Chrisy (former professor and current cooperating teacher) about them during classes in both the college and high school settings.

Personally, I love the CCSS. I think it might be a bit more difficult for non-core classes to tie into these standards, but they help hold teachers accountable for the material they're teaching. There won't be nearly as much opportunity for "pointless days" where they just pop in a movie and get caught up on work. I don't feel as though students gain anything from those kinds of days and it's a waste of everyone's time to even be in the classroom on those days.

The CCSS allows for a more uniform look in material nationwide, but still definitely allows for creativity and individualism. I've looked into the standards a couple of times to try to understand them better and have come out of the experience more pumped up about them.



Now, all of this positive talk isn't to say that I don't have a couple of reservations about these standards. The main thing I'm concerned about is the testing that will take place in order to ensure that teachers are providing the information to their students in a way that they understand. I was the "guinea pig group" for the WASL graduation requirements and felt a large amount of pressure with that. The stress that is added on with new requirements of tests takes a toll on our high school students. And from what I hear... this test will be extensive and more stressful than the WASL was.


Overall, I'm stoked for the CCSS. I have a few concerns and reservations, but I love the overlaying concept of the whole system.

Reading Response #1

**Beginning Note: With Makenzie as my witness, I tried for over a half hour to get this posted before class on Monday. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get access to my correct gmail account (turns out I have three set-up for various reasons). That being said, I forgot to post it after class and just went to post my response to the second reading to see that I didn’t already have anything up for this class! Here ya go.**

This was a nice little chunk of reading to do throughout my weekend. I had a very full schedule and am happy to know that I was able to get the assignment done. While reading through some of these sections there were a few things that really stuck out to me.

First off, there was one certain phrase that really caught my attention. The author sites Michael Oakeshott, an English philosopher, in saying that group talking is “an unrehearsed intellectual adventure.” This wording really stuck out to me. The author continues to call conversation an art. I hadn’t ever really thought about conversation as being an “adventure” before and hearing it called such really got the wheels turning about how I can better approach conversation in my future classroom. By learning to sculpt the conversation in the class in a way to help students enjoy it will *hopefully* supply more student input and excitement for learning.

 

Another phrase that stuck out to me was just a paragraph down where the author uses the term "meetingplace of various modes of imagining." This stuck out to me for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the term “meetingplace” doesn’t usually come to mind when I think about conversation and discussion. Hearing about it in this way, however, creates an image of two or more people coming together. I know that’s what happens when a conversation takes place, but I had never actually visualized it before. Secondly, the imagination threw me off a bit. Come discussions I’ve been a part of have been dry and repetitious. But the concept of imagination gives a whole other element to discussions. By being passionate and creative with your word choice and content, you can engage others in very interesting conversation and learn a lot about the people you interact with.

Introductory Letter --> As Well As a Background of the Material in My Blog

To whomever is reading this-

As a few of you know, there are posts on here from the composition class this summer. Most of you, however, were not in that class. For those of you who weren't in that course with me this summer I wanted to provide an overview of what you might find when/if browsing through my former posts.

Most of my postings are reflections on the chapters we read and discussed in class. They're very similar to the posts Sean has assigned us this quarter. What I found interesting, what I found annoying, how I looked at things differently because of the text, etc... Some of the posts, however, come from free-writes that we did at the beginning of every class. I didn't post all of them, but a good majority of them are up here. Sometimes I complained (okay, a lot of the time had a negative aspect to the writing for me) and sometimes I wrote exactly what I was thinking and how it was impacting me. I didn't write a recap or intro for those, so some of them might seem random.

There are also a few assignment that we did in class. Whether it be an aspect to one of the mini-lessons a classmate taught or a draft of an essay, there's a lot of random stuff.


Now, before this summer, I didn't write much. I would occasionally journal or write letters that I'd never send people just to get my thoughts and emotions on paper and out of my head, but I didn't write for publication--ever. That changed this summer. Going through the composition course made me a bit more comfortable writing in a forum for others to see. It helped me gain confidence in my ability to explain my thoughts and random stories by discussing it with some amazing peers. This also helped me with my confidence in writing lesson plans and rubrics--ESPECIALLY rubrics.

I almost just made a different blog under my Blogger account for this course, but I wanted to show previous work and open the thought of writing for fun to the others in this class. Granted, I haven't gotten much writing done in the weeks since summer quarter ended, but it helped get me through a very stressful quarter and opened my mind up to the amount of creativity I didn't think I had.



Now onto the assignment part of this letter:

I would like to take the time to share a bit of my teaching experience thus far and explain where I hope it takes me. I'm currently placed in an 11th grade humanities class that focuses on select students who need more focus and guidance. The class is cap'd at 20 students to ensure that they get the direction that they need to help them succeed. I'm learning so much from this class; I'm getting a lot of good, as well as some bad feedback. I taught my first completely solo, unobserved lesson yesterday and got a taste of how students are when there's a sub. I've been working with them since the first day of school, but they treated me as though I had zero authority. The teacher I work with had meetings all day and she, the sub, and I all thought it would be fine if the sub went and prepared for the poetry class she had later in the day. We were very wrong. This experience showed me just how much I have yet to learn when dealing with difficult students. I was lucky in that I every time I've taught a lesson before, the teacher was able to back me up and validate my authority as that day's teacher. Yesterday's experience, though, showed me just how I am still very much a student in all of this, too. And having the class know this makes me feel vulnerable, but somehow validated. They see me as a student and didn't give me any respect until I pulled them all together from their group work and told them that I wasn't leaving a good report for the teacher to come back to. They've seen me as an assistant to the teacher these past few weeks and it wasn't until that moment that I stood my ground as an authority that they took me seriously and paid attention. The entire day was a hell-hole of a learning experience for me, not just the students.

Hopefully it's apparent, but I feel one of my weaknesses as a teacher candidate is classroom management. It's something that I can deal with in theory, but I feel like a total and complete bitch when putting it into practice. I want my students to respect me, yet feel comfortable around me. I'm trying to learn the proper balance of the two.

One thing I feel confidant about, however, is my planning and preparing for lessons. I like having things laid out before I get to the classroom and that usually helps things flow easily (at least, when the teacher's present if yesterday is an example of everyday teaching).


There are several things I'm hoping to get out of this class. Firstly, I want to build on the material I know how to teach. The graphic novel is the book I'm most looking forward to because I've never read one and I feel as though my students would really enjoy it. Secondly, I want to learn other techniques for handling situations like yesterday and how to best help my students understand the material.

Overall, I'm excited to learn new techniques and get more resources that will help reach my students on an academic level. Feel free to comment any questions you may have about me or my teaching and learning methods!


-DaVena

Weaver Chs 1-3

Overall, I really enjoyed these chapters. I kind of skimmed the last one since I was out of town this weekend, but the content of this book is very easy to follow. The author really lays things out in a way that is easy to follow and the way he breaks the content into sections helps keep my interest.

To start off with, understanding that there isn’t any certain way to do a writing assignment makes a lot of sense. By paying attention to how we teach the writing process, we allow for more attention to be paid to our students and how they learn to write more developed pieces.

I hadn’t ever actually thought about writing to be “surprised.” The concept of writing to figure out more about yourself and imagination was new to me, but one that I like. I liked that the author must continually search within himself to get the information to write about.

By searching for information, both from the author’s own mind and other resources around him, the author is able to build upon the basics he thinks he knows and create a more elaborate piece of writing.

Breaking down the different steps in the writing process was also interesting. I had always thought of the process as brainstorm, draft, revise, finish. But seeing how to deal with writer’s block and the different steps you can take to get past lumps in the writing road will come in handy when I give assignments to my students. I like that the author lays everything out in ways to help our students learn how to write better.

Slowly but surely...

I've got most of these chapter reflections already on my computer, but seeing as it likes to crash every 20 minutes, it's getting irritating to get them all posted. I'll probably have to finished getting them up here after work, but they'll be up nonetheless.

Weaver Ch 6

Quite frankly, I’m getting kind of tired of everything grammar related. I just want to throw it all out windows and down stairs. HOWEVER… I need to finish up this quarter. After saying that, it took me a while to actually get around to reading this chapter. All I kept thinking after reading the title was of prepositions and clauses and verb phrases.

Right off the bat, though, I was interested in the difference between transmission and transactionalism. Just going down the list and comparing the concepts of these two trends intrigued me. Then I got to the part of mini-lessons! I love it.

Taking just a few minutes to touch on something your students are struggling with is an amazing idea and I feel like more teachers should utilize it. Looking back on my days as a student in high school, my teachers didn’t use this concept all that much. They just met with students one-on-one every now and then if there was a really tough portion, but it would have saved them a lot of time and effort to teach the class as a whole.

One small component I really enjoyed randomly in the text was that the authors states that “constructivist teachers know that it is important for the options the offer to be genuine learning experiences that at least resemble the kinds of experiences from which students learn outside of school.” This small component should be remembered by teachers because there are so many times I see or hear of something modeled after something that isn’t relatable to the students. I think that everything we show the students in class should have the opportunity to be related to their lives.

Having the entire constructivist model laid out in this chapter helped me understand the theory and concepts better. Tying it in with the importance of mini-lessons and how to properly and effectively follow the constructivist methods helped even more.Weaver

Weaver Ch 5

First off, I dreaded this chapter the moment I read the title. After spending this summer working my ass off and not having many breaks from a busy schedule, the last thing I wanted to do was read about grammar for anything other than my grammar class. Then I started getting into the text a bit more and realized I actually kind of liked it… sort of. I like that it speaks the truth about grammar. It’s often found to be boring, the way it’s taught is often too complex, and there are instances where it is taught improperly.

I liked the concept of simplifying the terminology to better suite the students. Right from the get-go the author talks about some of the mistakes teachers make. Whether marking every incorrect aspect of a paper or being afraid to do so, teachers need to be able to adjust to help the students learn properly and not do one extreme or the other. We need to, as the subtitle in the chapter states, “narrow our focus and limit the terminology.” But sticking to what needs attention and not going overboard with explaining it in terms the students won’t understand, we need to help them improve their skills without overwhelming them.

One part of this text that I really liked was the list of sentences from Hariston’s study on page 109. Giving this to students at the beginning of the unit and then revisiting them once the unit has been completed may help students understand their development. Not only this, but having basic sentences to work through will help students understand more clearly.

The portion of the text on what we should emphasis in our teaching also helped. Although I feel like this is just one opinion and that every teacher has a right to decide what to teach, just as much as the author. One aspect within this section that I found to be helpful was when the author broke down Hunt's research and showed specifics from different grades. She uses portions of students' writings and explains the significance of each excerpt.

Weaver Ch 4

I was torn about this chapter when I first started getting into it. I didn’t really like the fact that it was using young children’s work as examples until about halfway through. I knew that it was all just to show the development of writing and how we gradually learn to correct ourselves, but it was irritating to have to think of my students as grade-school children.

Once I got past this annoyance I began really understanding the purpose of the chapter. I enjoyed how the author talked about how the “errors” people make are really just them still learning. After having only worked in the classroom once so far, I noticed a lot of “common errors” in my students’ work. After reading this chapter, however, I see these errors as a way to help my students improve their skills. I tend to forget that there needs to be certain steps taken before any aspect is commonplace to a student and maybe my students haven’t been taught those steps yet.

Seeing the development of the children used as examples in this chapter also made me think about how much I can help my students develop in the time that they are in my class. Even though they’ll start out at a higher level than the young students in the book, the 14-18 year old students I have will have a lot of opportunity for development in my class.

I really like the idea that the author gives of “reconceptualizing” the writing process. By showing students that writing is an ongoing process we will allow a more open ally to them as far as how they respond to the feedback we provide. Along with this, the type of feedback we give is also addressed in Weaver’s previous paragraphs. If we supply critique or feedback with a negative tone, our students will not respond positively. We must frame the process and feedback in a way that allows for improvement, not impediment.

Freewrite 7/31

My main goal is to just make it through my classes. I hope that once everything is over and I’m moved in to my new apartment that I can just relax for two weeks. I want to go camping and to the lake—camping at a lake would be preferable—and just have time to myself without the distraction of ANYTHING but friends. Unfortunately all of my friends are either moving away to student teach or will have to work since I will be taking time off of work (most of my local friends are my co-workers) so this won’t be a possibility.

All of that being said, I’m looking forward to getting settled into my new apartment and taking advantage of the wireless internet to watch Netflix. This paired with reading a few book and taking my dog on gloriously long walks will be the extent of my worry for two weeks, until work starts to pick up again in anticipation of the new school year and sports season. I have a full bookshelf of novels awaiting my attention and several t.v. shows I want to watch/get caught up on so there will be a lot of time in those couple of weeks being spent sitting around and doing nothing. I will, however, also be spending A LOT of time outside to make-up for the lost summer rays of the past couple of months. My reading will probably take place at pool-side and, as previously stated, my dog will get much longer walks. I’m just excited to have my only responsibilities be working my two jobs, none of this stressing over homework crap that’s been ruling over my life for the past two months.

Also, I hope to do a lot of organizing within my apartment so I have an easier time moving in 7-ish months. I will be keeping my apartment up here when I do so in order to postpone the need to move EVERYTHING home and to give me a place to stay when I visit, but I’m tired of not having everything together and in its place all of the time. But overall, I just want to do nothing and have at least one day off each week with no responsibilities.

Alcohol, too… there will be several margs in my two week heaven.

Good Argument Paper Qualities

Qualities of a good argument paper:

·        Counter argument and refutation

·        Give strong evidence, not just opinions

·        Uses strong articles/resources (scholarly)

·        Stays on topic

·        Strong thesis

·        Should offer a solution/plan to fix the problem

For pre-writing between now and Monday:

--> create a list of things that I learned while writing the informative paper
--> then choose two or three to briefly expand on <mind-map, maybe?>

--> come to class with detailed outline of argument essay
--> Reflection of informative essay is due
--> response to Weaver ch 6

Freewrite 7/24

I’m not sure what I think others should know about. I’m usually “that person” who learns everything last from their friends. I’m not super involved in much of anything that doesn’t involve common sense.

After putting some thought into it, I think people should know how incredibly different peoples’ lives are from one another and that you shouldn’t expect someone to have the same life experiences as yourself. I know this is usually a common sense kind of thing, but I have come across so many people who think they’re living a “better” life just because they didn’t grow up with some of the difficulties that others have. There are many parents who can help their kids with bills and buy them things even after they’ve moved out of the house, but I know so many people who are struggling and can’t afford to ask for help because they know their parents would try to help them out, even at an expense to their own bills. The ONLY issue I have with this scenario is that those who don’t struggle on their own often wonder why their friends can’t just go ask for money of help so they can do more fun things.

Another instance this fact of different upbringing brings to light is that of people not understanding why some people act or do things in a certain way. I only know a handful of other people who have close relatives in wheelchairs and it takes a little while for my other friends who haven’t dealt with this in their upbringing to understand why I feel so strongly about the Americans with Disabilities Act and equal accessibility to those who are handicapped. It gets even more irritating when people use items meant for the disabled just because they’re lazy or goofing off.

I just wish people would get that there are reasons for diversity and different availabilities for everyone.