This semester was really unique for me. Student teaching/observing really allows you to get out there and put to practice everything you have been learning, but in a way that you are expected to still be learning. I hope that makes senseJ. One of the biggest things I learned about myself was that I can do it. I have a lot of experience in classrooms for various reasons. However, I had always been there for one or two days at a time, teaching someone else’s lessons. This semester, I really got to see what I could do. My CT allowed me to have a lot of input and interaction in the classroom, which helped to build my confidence as a teacher. I could stand in front of a classroom all day, and not be nervous, but I was able to gain confidence as a teacher. I also learned how important it was to build relationships with the students. I genuinely cared about the students, and I think I was able to portray that too them, without having to be extreme. They knew that I wanted them to succeed, and that I cared about what sports they were in, or what activities they were a part of. I wanted to be that type of teacher, and I saw that I can be, and without really thinking about it, I was. Even if it wasn’t something I wasn’t particularly interested in, I still tried to be excited for the students. Finally, I learned that I want to be a teacher that makes English exciting, when I really have my own classroom hopefully next year. There is just so much you can do, especially in English, that is meaningful learning, but that the students can have fun with, and showcase their many talents. I want to try and push myself to find ways to make my future classroom like this, so I’m not complacent, and my students aren’t complacent.
With the confidence I gained this fall, I feel a lot better about the process in the spring. I feel that if I am confidant in what I’m doing, then the students will respond better to me. They will see that I care about their learning, and what they are doing outside of school. I am trying to work with them, not against them, in making it an enjoyable experience. I also think that knowing the type of teacher I want to be, will make me want to create lesson that the students can find more relevant to their lives, and unique styles. If I am able, I know the types of things that I want to experiment with in the spring. Hopefully, I can accomplish all of these goals this spring.
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Writing
Writing, I feel, is the element of the English classroom that makes it crucial to every student. Almost every student in the classroom is probably going to have to do writing in some sort-of capacity when they leave high school. For that reason, it should be on the top priority list in the classroom.
Unfortunately, I don’t feel that many teachers approach writing in the right way. First of all, students really tend to write the same boring essays, over and over for each unit. The students never learn to experiment with anything. Then you have the issue of a teacher who wants it exactly their way. I experienced this during my schooling, and it has really taken me a long time, to both find and portray my own voice through whatever type of writing I do. I agree with the book, that the students really need to work with multiple genres, so they can learn to develop that voice, comfort, and confidence in their writing from early on.
Another thing I would like to do differently in my classroom is the actual writing process. First of all, I don’t know how helpful writing workshops truly are in the average high school classroom. When I was in high school, we took that as gossip time, and we would make our few comments, and then talk about what we were going to be doing that weekend. Students are still like that today. Does anyone have any effective ways to ensure that the students are getting the most out of this activity? I guess maybe they could each mark it up with a different color, so I could see how much effort they were putting into the helping process. We did this in a college class, and it worked pretty well, so maybe it would work on the high school level. I also like the idea of ownership in Milner and Milner, as well as the physical arrangements, but I still don’t know if it will make students take the writing process seriously.
One other thing I don’t understand is the way we turn in writing, and then we never visit it again. I really feel that students should turn something in, and then go back to it a month or two later, to work with it again. Would this type of exercise be feasible, or even worth it in a high school classroom? Just a thought.
I think writing is a great skill, and I hope I can really help my students to write in genres that will help them later in life.
Unfortunately, I don’t feel that many teachers approach writing in the right way. First of all, students really tend to write the same boring essays, over and over for each unit. The students never learn to experiment with anything. Then you have the issue of a teacher who wants it exactly their way. I experienced this during my schooling, and it has really taken me a long time, to both find and portray my own voice through whatever type of writing I do. I agree with the book, that the students really need to work with multiple genres, so they can learn to develop that voice, comfort, and confidence in their writing from early on.
Another thing I would like to do differently in my classroom is the actual writing process. First of all, I don’t know how helpful writing workshops truly are in the average high school classroom. When I was in high school, we took that as gossip time, and we would make our few comments, and then talk about what we were going to be doing that weekend. Students are still like that today. Does anyone have any effective ways to ensure that the students are getting the most out of this activity? I guess maybe they could each mark it up with a different color, so I could see how much effort they were putting into the helping process. We did this in a college class, and it worked pretty well, so maybe it would work on the high school level. I also like the idea of ownership in Milner and Milner, as well as the physical arrangements, but I still don’t know if it will make students take the writing process seriously.
One other thing I don’t understand is the way we turn in writing, and then we never visit it again. I really feel that students should turn something in, and then go back to it a month or two later, to work with it again. Would this type of exercise be feasible, or even worth it in a high school classroom? Just a thought.
I think writing is a great skill, and I hope I can really help my students to write in genres that will help them later in life.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Media
I really enjoyed this chapter, and the advice they gave. I especially like how they showed the four different ways to approach media in the classroom, and how effective and engaging it can truly be. I personally have observed my CT use this in the classroom, and I have been pleasantly surprised by the work the students have created.
One thing my teacher likes to do, is have the students create a c.d. for various books, or literature that we read. They can approach it in multiple ways. They can just list songs, and the lyrics. They can add a c.d. jacket they created. They can actually burn the c.d., and include the lyrics. Or, the bravest of the brave can write their own lyrics. I’m sure many of us have experienced how students really don’t consider lyrics as poetry, and so they might be more expressive, if they write under the label of lyrics. We had two students like this, and they wrote songs for The Crucible, and actually played their guitars and sang them in class. They were Awesome! The songs really captured The Crucible, and the other students were in awe. It is something I would really like to incorporate in my classroom one day.
Another thing they talked about was the use of comics. I had my students use toon- doo to create cartoons, and except for the technology issue, the students really liked working with the tool. They seemed to actually have fun with it, and by doing something interesting, they were able to understand “A Knight’s Tale,” and the characters really stuck in their brains.
In another lesson, we incorporated paintings. The students were writing poetry during our Romantics unit. We had plenty of paintings available in case they were having trouble with inspiration. If I had more time, I would have liked to do more with the paintings, but again it is another idea for the future. Another idea, I really like is the use of newspaper/magazine articles in the classroom. My CT tries to incorporate articles written about the piece of literature we are studying. I feel that it really helps the students make connections between when the book was written (usually a long time ago), and modern day. I know that Lauren and I are working with Animal Farm for our unit plan, and it would be cool to incorporate media to help with propaganda, or other ideas in the book.
You can really find a use for media in the classroom almost anywhere. It helps students connect school to their personal lives, and makes things more interesting. The internet has made things a lot easer, and you can really find ideas for using media in multiple places. For example, my CT found a great lesson incorporating media for a unit on transcendentalism at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Website. Who would have thoughtJ
One thing my teacher likes to do, is have the students create a c.d. for various books, or literature that we read. They can approach it in multiple ways. They can just list songs, and the lyrics. They can add a c.d. jacket they created. They can actually burn the c.d., and include the lyrics. Or, the bravest of the brave can write their own lyrics. I’m sure many of us have experienced how students really don’t consider lyrics as poetry, and so they might be more expressive, if they write under the label of lyrics. We had two students like this, and they wrote songs for The Crucible, and actually played their guitars and sang them in class. They were Awesome! The songs really captured The Crucible, and the other students were in awe. It is something I would really like to incorporate in my classroom one day.
Another thing they talked about was the use of comics. I had my students use toon- doo to create cartoons, and except for the technology issue, the students really liked working with the tool. They seemed to actually have fun with it, and by doing something interesting, they were able to understand “A Knight’s Tale,” and the characters really stuck in their brains.
In another lesson, we incorporated paintings. The students were writing poetry during our Romantics unit. We had plenty of paintings available in case they were having trouble with inspiration. If I had more time, I would have liked to do more with the paintings, but again it is another idea for the future. Another idea, I really like is the use of newspaper/magazine articles in the classroom. My CT tries to incorporate articles written about the piece of literature we are studying. I feel that it really helps the students make connections between when the book was written (usually a long time ago), and modern day. I know that Lauren and I are working with Animal Farm for our unit plan, and it would be cool to incorporate media to help with propaganda, or other ideas in the book.
You can really find a use for media in the classroom almost anywhere. It helps students connect school to their personal lives, and makes things more interesting. The internet has made things a lot easer, and you can really find ideas for using media in multiple places. For example, my CT found a great lesson incorporating media for a unit on transcendentalism at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Website. Who would have thoughtJ
Monday, October 29, 2007
Grammar-Part Two
These articles really put some more perspective on grammar in the classroom. The Anderson article is really the approach I was looking for. I really feel that it is important to be able to approach grammar in this way. As I mentioned in my last post, I feel that we are caught in the middle. Some teachers are stuck on the same old grammar instruction. Then, you have the other extreme, which doesn’t really teach it at all. I feel that this zooming in and out does a great job of merging the two in a non-boring or overwhelming way. A couple things really stood out about this article. First of all, that examining grammar should be “part of the meaning-making process,” instead of an interruption. If you approach it this way, then I think the other parts will fall into place. I also like how they point out that the best place to start is listening. Once you listen, and know your students, then you can pick subtle ways to teach the grammar, where the students don’t even realize it’s grammar instruction, and they actually might find somewhat fun. The article shows that with a little bit of guidance, you don’t have to be at the front of the room lecturing on the “rules” of grammar. Rather, the students are figuring out how to write well, and correct their own mistakes. The reason I liked this article the most, however, is because of one sentence and idea, “whatever it takes to move students toward correctness, reminding myself that students have to make errors to improve.” I feel that so many teachers feel that students should just know these things. So, they get out their red pen to write wrong to this, and wrong to that. However, these mistakes in the right environment, are what help students to learn individually and as a class. They should be used as tools, rather then confidence and grade downers.
The long article seems to be a great reference. I didn’t receive a lot of grammar instruction, so the quick little clarifications about the common mistakes were quite helpful. The Anderson article was my framework, but the other articles helped to complete the way I feel I want to incorporate grammar instruction in my classroom.
The long article seems to be a great reference. I didn’t receive a lot of grammar instruction, so the quick little clarifications about the common mistakes were quite helpful. The Anderson article was my framework, but the other articles helped to complete the way I feel I want to incorporate grammar instruction in my classroom.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Grammar
Grammar is a very interesting topic for me. I feel that our generation is kind-of caught in the middle of a grammar debate, and how much, or even more, how important it is, in comparison to the other subjects in the English classroom. Personally, I didn’t receive a lot of grammar instruction in school. It was just something that I picked up along the way. I don’t know the names of a lot of different characteristics of grammar. However, I can usually tell you if something looks or sounds right. I have met people my age that received a lot of grammar instruction in school, and can spout it off. It leads me to wonder, which school of thought is better? Is it best for students to be drilled and drilled on grammar, in what I would consider a very boring English classroom? Or, is it best to almost let students figure it out on their own, and just teach the characteristics that are truly important. Is it crucial for a student to know the name of an aspect of grammar, if it’s not an issue in their writing? As I have said, I don’t feel that I have a very strong background in the complexities of grammar of the English language. I have done some teaching of grammar during my observation, and I just had to teach myself it, before I taught the students. But, there have been one or two questions that I couldn’t answer. Does a lack of grammar knowledge make me an incompetent English teacher? I don’t think so, but I have heard that statement before. I just kept my mouth shut at the time, but I’m not so sure how important grammar drills are to the everyday student. As a more experienced teacher, I probably would’ve said so. I think that a good teacher can assess the students writing, and go from there, to see what needs to be taught, and what isn’t an issue, in an effort to not have the same old boring English classroom, which some students don’t even find applicable to what they want to do with their lives. It’s hard to figure it out, when we are caught in the middle. I guess I need more experience before I make my final decision.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Poetry
The Milner and Milner readings really helped me out this week. I am teaching poetry for the first time this week. I was kind-of nervous about it, because I feel like responses to poetry are very personal, so besides the technical terms, I wasn’t quite sure how to approach it. It really bothered me in school, when a teacher would say that my interpretation to a poem was wrong. I really feel that poetry is one of those things that needs to be personal, so our responses to it shouldn’t be wrong, because each of our personal experiences, will shape how we interpret the poet’s meaning. I found some strategies in M & M that made me feel a lot more comfortable about the lesson.
Poetry, as these articles show is something that is so important to the English classroom. I feel that students either love it or hate it. However, with some of these techniques, I think it can become something that more students love, and really walk away with a lot from. It is one of the few times in the classroom where most rules go out the window, and students can just worry about connecting with a piece of writing. They don’t really have to have correct grammar, and they can express themselves. I really like in the wordplay article how they show it can help your bilingual students feel more comfortable in the classroom, because they can combine all of their strengths in poetry. I agree with this, but I had never thought about it before. I also think its cool how the article shows that students can make up words. Sometimes, I feel that students get frustrated, because they can’t find the perfect word. The ability to make up a word would really show some deeper thinking, as I would have them explain how they came to that word.
The Exphrasis poetry can be really helpful as well. I’m doing something similar with this in the poetry lesson I’m teaching this week. Some poems seem so random, and out there, but seeing the inspiration helps students to feel more comfortable in unlocking the poem. I feel that activities like this really do make students more confident in their poetry reading skills. I like activities like this, because it shows students that they can understand things like this, and they are capable.
Switching gears a little bit, I just have a few comments about the ipod article. I love this idea in the schools. I feel that if the school provides the ipods, and they stay in the schools, you can assure that the material on them is appropriate, and educational. I think that this is a trend that will spread to all schools that can afford them, and they really can be a great resource. In the school system I want to teach in, they have laptops that teachers can sign out, so the students can do work in the classroom. For example, in science they can have the computers as a supplement to the activity. Ipods will probably be quite similar. They really help students get more excited about learning. I think that it’s a great way to bridge the gap between school and their personal lives, so students are more eager and interested to learn.
Poetry, as these articles show is something that is so important to the English classroom. I feel that students either love it or hate it. However, with some of these techniques, I think it can become something that more students love, and really walk away with a lot from. It is one of the few times in the classroom where most rules go out the window, and students can just worry about connecting with a piece of writing. They don’t really have to have correct grammar, and they can express themselves. I really like in the wordplay article how they show it can help your bilingual students feel more comfortable in the classroom, because they can combine all of their strengths in poetry. I agree with this, but I had never thought about it before. I also think its cool how the article shows that students can make up words. Sometimes, I feel that students get frustrated, because they can’t find the perfect word. The ability to make up a word would really show some deeper thinking, as I would have them explain how they came to that word.
The Exphrasis poetry can be really helpful as well. I’m doing something similar with this in the poetry lesson I’m teaching this week. Some poems seem so random, and out there, but seeing the inspiration helps students to feel more comfortable in unlocking the poem. I feel that activities like this really do make students more confident in their poetry reading skills. I like activities like this, because it shows students that they can understand things like this, and they are capable.
Switching gears a little bit, I just have a few comments about the ipod article. I love this idea in the schools. I feel that if the school provides the ipods, and they stay in the schools, you can assure that the material on them is appropriate, and educational. I think that this is a trend that will spread to all schools that can afford them, and they really can be a great resource. In the school system I want to teach in, they have laptops that teachers can sign out, so the students can do work in the classroom. For example, in science they can have the computers as a supplement to the activity. Ipods will probably be quite similar. They really help students get more excited about learning. I think that it’s a great way to bridge the gap between school and their personal lives, so students are more eager and interested to learn.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
A Few Thoughts....
Last week, I had some interesting interactions with technology. I was substitute teaching in a different school, and I just happened to be in the workroom while some different conversations were going on. I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but it was kind-of hard not to listen, and it ended up being useful information. First of all, the issue of ipods in the school came up. I was just sitting there thinking they were going to talk about music that wasn’t appropriate for school and stuff like that. However, the teachers started talking about how students use ipods to cheat. I was stunned. I had never thought about ipods in this way. They were talking about how they download books to listen to, or I guess are able to somehow record themselves, and put answers to the test on them. One boy, even strategically sat near the wall, so he could have one headphone in, without anyone seeing. I felt so naive. I had never thought of ipods in this way before. Has anyone had experience with this? I know about the use of cell-phones, but I just didn’t think a student was so bold to just put their headphone on. I guess, though, if they know that the teacher isn’t really paying attention, then they know it’s not a big deal.
My other issue arose with notes online. In two of the classes, they had set-up a place where students could print off packets online. However, the teachers were very confused, because one girl was really upset about it. Also, they had planned for the students that didn’t have computers, to pick up theirs in the library. This caused another level of concern for the teachers, because other students took those packets, leaving the librarians to make a bunch more during school. I just wonder, if for something like notes, and homework assignments, if this is really fair to the students. I know, for me, in highschool, my computer always froze, or would mess up, and I was the type of student that would get really upset if I didn’t turn something in on time. This type of system would have really aggravated me. Does anyone have a more successful story about these types of classes, where all materials are online, and you are held responsible for them? My other problem was that the students were ninth graders, and they were thrown into this system that was causing a lot of frustration. It’s not like they were a.p students. They were just getting used to highschool, and they were almost being treated like college students. It was just interesting, and something I hadn’t really seen before.
My other issue arose with notes online. In two of the classes, they had set-up a place where students could print off packets online. However, the teachers were very confused, because one girl was really upset about it. Also, they had planned for the students that didn’t have computers, to pick up theirs in the library. This caused another level of concern for the teachers, because other students took those packets, leaving the librarians to make a bunch more during school. I just wonder, if for something like notes, and homework assignments, if this is really fair to the students. I know, for me, in highschool, my computer always froze, or would mess up, and I was the type of student that would get really upset if I didn’t turn something in on time. This type of system would have really aggravated me. Does anyone have a more successful story about these types of classes, where all materials are online, and you are held responsible for them? My other problem was that the students were ninth graders, and they were thrown into this system that was causing a lot of frustration. It’s not like they were a.p students. They were just getting used to highschool, and they were almost being treated like college students. It was just interesting, and something I hadn’t really seen before.
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