Genre Reflection #2: Rough Cycles

"Hey, Mr. Smith! Guess what?"
The rubber door-stop goes between the acient lackered wood and linolieum.
The bell, having rung, heralds the onslaught, I great the students all by name.
One, two, three at a time.
Then, big as life, bounding in at the beginning of the semester, all smiles, the talker comes...
"Hey, Mr. Smith! Guess what?"
I hand out papers, compliment changing hair-dos and favorite t-shirts.
Your essay was great. I loved that short story. Good morning. How was you weekend?
"Guess what?"
What?
Stories about concerts, questions about an assignment, aparently small-talk, played up for drama
The rubber door-stop goes between the acient lackered wood and linolieum.
The bell, having rung, heralds the onslaught, I great the students all by name.
One, two, three at a time.
Then, slow, not bounding, head hung low, the same student comes...
"Hey," I say.
"Hey, Mr. Smith."
"I something wrong?"
"My grandfather's in the hospital."
And then another day...
"Hey," I say.
"Hey, Mr. Smith."
"Is it your grandfather?"
"No, my Uncle. They say its Cancer."
And then another day...
"Hey," I say.
"...Uhgh."
Work turns out of a lower quality.
The talker is now the quiet kid.
He broods. Others shun
A couple words overheard have me worried.
"We should probably contact his counciler."
"Yeah, he's a creepy kid." The words make me wince to hear them. They aren't mean words to the person saying them.
Another day...
The rubber door-stop goes between the acient lackered wood and linolieum.
The bell, having rung, heralds the onslaught, I great the students all by name.
One, two, three at a time.
Then, dark and dismal, stuck in the rut of early November, he trudges up...
"Hey," I say.
"What?" he says.
"Your grandfather doing alright?"
"Well," looking down. "I guess. He's out of the hospital."
"And your uncle? In junior-high I lost a favorite teacher to cancer."
A nod. "He's fine, Mr. Smith."
"Are you?"
A shrug.
"I know," I nod. "It's tough. But I'm glad your here...
He nods and smirks a bit, goes in, takes a quiz and does alright.
The days go by...
The bell, the rubber stop, "hellos" handed out at the door with the proper names attached.
And then, big as life again, grinning a bit as he walks, the talker comes...
"Hey, Mr. Smith! Guess what?"

Putting It All Together Reflection #4

The University I attend has not prepared me for teaching. For the past two years I've engaged in the Bachelors Program and I've perhaps had a half-dozen classes that were of real benefit. I know how to steer kids away from Yes/No questions. I know how to be welcoming, interested, and available to my students.

However, I've learned more about teaching philosophy and theory than actual practice.

I'm not bad-mouthing my university. They've actually put me into classrooms and they've given me the opportunity to see where what they teach ends and "the real world" of the classroom begins.

This post is a short one, typed hurriedly as I grab my morning coffee and rush out the door.

I've learned that Statistics was a waste of time and money. Most districts have modernized to the point of using computer software that calculates and standardizes scores for the teacher. Granted it's good to keep a back up in case the system crashes (which can happen) but doing all the math by hand with just a scientific calculator is pretty much an exercise in inefficiency. I was taught how to make test by a woman who hadn't made tests in ten years. I am learning how to translate Old English into Standard English on the off chance I have a transfer student from Northumberland, circa 6th Century A.D. I've been given templates called "lesson" plans and told to fill them out based on examples offered by instructors.

Couldn't we build one as a class? Then build a weeks worth in groups? Then build a semester plan on our own? I feel so inundated with deadlines that I'm finding it hard to meet them with any enthusiasm.

I'm making lesson plans I cannot at present teach, as many schools now have pacing guides and reading lists upon which the novels I've read for this class are not yet to be found.

Again I'm not badmouthing my University. They've put me in not just one, but a series of classrooms of various types with teachers of various skill and experience. I've learned not to listen to the lounge-lizards. I've learned to introduce myself to the APs and the Janitorial Staff. I've learned to always wear a suit to distinguish myself and show my respect for the institution I serve.

At the end of this Pre-Student Teaching run, I'm looking forward and not back as much as possible. I see boxes to check and forms to fill out of the benefit of graduation and certification. However, in terms of practical knowledge, I feel I've learned everything this University can teach both useful and useless. The time has come for me to actually learn the bulk of the practicle things. I do not know if I'm as prepared as I should be for the departmental politics, the policy shifts with each new administration, the shifting standards and ever-challenged curricula. I don't know if I'm prepared for that parent that accuses me, that student who challenges me, that principal who will not be my "pal" and have my back. I don't know about unions accept that I'm urged to join them.

*Sigh... I have to go now. I don't want to be late for my students. They've become a source of great comfort to me. They make me laugh, they challenge me, they get me thinking about how to explain the minutia of daily learning. "How do you start an essay?" "Where do I find that evidence in the book?" "What page was that on, what chapter?"

I don't think my University has prepared me, but I feel I am finally getting something useful from being in classrooms everyday, working with students at various levels on daily work. If I have to check boxes and meet requirements for another semester, so be it.

Pouring coffee. Adios!

KATE conference: A really tought post to write.

I've left this post down to the wire, not because I am procrastinating, but because I'm not sure where to start. I feel as though I've been suffering from conference overload in a way that is at once frightening and good. As I was commenting to a fellow student in my PST course, I've gone over and over my semester plan assignment updating it to incorporate some of the awesome and "head-slappingly" good lessons and strategies shared by the presenters.



But, of course, I must start with how extremely awesome it was for me as an aspiring writer and future educator to hear both Newbury Award Winner, Claire Vanderpool, and Bestselling author, Jay Asher, speak on the first day of the conference.


Ms. Vanderpool affirmed my suspicion that I should push Moon Over Manifest up higher on my re-reading list, and brought to life some of the great issues faced by writers when undertaking a project. Mr. Asher was a humorous speaker who engaged his audience in a way I found inspiring. Likewise, I was thrilled to learn he holds The Monster At the End of This Book in as high esteem as I do. I now want to dig through my boxes and boxes of old children's books to find my copy starring lovable Grover to incorporate in a lesson about a writer working to build suspense while driving the reader on to a satisfying conclusion.


But those were just the keynote speakers...


I received marvelous advice and extremely helpful handouts on surviving a first year as a teacher. I learned how to incorporate fun and engaging writing activities that are challenging and incorporate thinking skills that serve the development of Voice, Word Choice, and Ideas & Content. Dr. Mason, gave a great talk on LGBTQ literature in the classroom and again, I found myself wishing I still had spare time to just devour more than just a few chapters from textbooks each week.


One of the more challenging and admittedly scary realizations that came out of this conference was the lack of emphasis placed on non-fiction writing and literature. I was moribund for a good two hours when I went home Thrusday night to find I had not used one single non-fiction text in my semester plan. A complete tool to fiction and poetry, I have scoured my memory for engaging, age-appropriate content that serves common core standards and might serve as a spring board for a spring-semester research project.


Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, might be an interesting non-fiction graphic novel that serves my over-reaching questions about conformity and rebellion in society. The two books are written from the point of view of a girl who was in her early teens during the Iranian Revolution in the late 1970s.

I've begun toying with using another small unit centered around Dr. King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" and the letter from the clergymen calling for him to tone down his non-violent protests could also help to stress organization and sentence fluency as well as word choice and ideas and content. This lesson could immediately follow the first half of the creative writing project I've devised in response to Pam Bachorz's Candor. Dr. King's letter of rebuttal could then help to inspire the second half of the creative project that calls for students to make an underground video or tape recording for broadcast to the fictional citizens of Candor.


Finally--and I'm not saying there wasn't a tone more I learned and still need to digest--I learned that I have been committing the repeated mistake of introducing the texts I teach instead of simply letting the students dive right in and digest the text. A worthwhile text is perfectly capable of speaking for itself without a teacher's lecture taking time to turn kids off with a long boring lecture at the very beginning of reading. 

I need to be mindful of the fact that the most vital minutes of class are the earliest 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes. If I waste time talking, my students will be more likely to tune out and turn off before we've even begun reading. (I know, duh, right?)


Anyway, I'm holding my head over the now 12 pages of legal sheets filled with my scrawled notes revising my semester hand. Brewing the coffee, preparing to go at it all with a sledge-hammer and a chainsaw.


I'm glad I attended KATE, and hope to have more opportunities to mingle and mix with such helpful and innovative teachers from surrounding communities.


Hope everyone else had as much fun as I did. I've snagged a lot of handouts, so I'm willing to copy anybody anything I have that they find they might be able to use in their own placements.

Semester Plan

I apologize for the late post. My wireless network decided to crash for a day and I've just managed to get back up and running.

Semester Plan Title: Rebellion vs. Conformity, the pros and cons of each.

SP Designer:  Benjamin Smith

SP Overarching Essential Questions:

• Who am I?
• Who do I wish to become?
• What prevents me from becoming what I want to become?
• How do conflicts with society (and my response to them) shape my identity and perspective?
• Over what parts of my identities do I have control?  Over what parts do i not have control?
• In what ways are aspects of my identities celebrated?  Disparaged?  How do I participate in both celebrating and disparaging my own and others’ identities?
• What aspects of society to I like and what aspects do I dislike?
• How can I voice my dislike?

Semester Plan Understandings (not required):

Students will understand that ...

1. We may not be able to choose some aspects of our existence, but we always have a choice in how we respond to people, events, and circumstances.  How we choose to respond can shape who we are and how others perceive us.

2. Literacy provides us with opportunities to survive and thrive within our communities and the world beyond them.

3. Our understandings of the world around us arm us to combat or work to improve the status quo should we wish to do so.

4. Honing and sharing our natural and learned talents/gifts as well as that of those around us rewards both us and those with whom we share.

5. Love can drive nobility of character through the understanding that selflessness and selfishness are to different concepts.

6. Authors and poets purposefully select form/genre and language and arrange text to create a specific tone/mood while conveying their intended meaning.  At the same time, we as readers come to the text with our own background knowledge and experiences, which allow us to interact with and make meaning from the text—which is unique to us and which evolves with each reading.

7. One need not agree with someone in order to appreciate (and learn from!) his/her perspective.  Careful listening and thoughtful inquiry allow us to do this.

8. Critical self-reflection can reveal our own participation in prejudiced thoughts, actions, events, and institutions.

9. The will of society at large may or may not always be a good thing in terms of how we view ourselves as individuals and how we view the rights of others.

Unit #1 Surviving Hardship:  How Challenges Make Us Stronger

Stage 1 – Desired Results
Established Goals (NCTE/IRA and Common Core State Standards): Reading Standards for Literature: Grade 10 RL.8.1 Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. RL.8.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text, including its relationship to the characters, setting, and plot; provide an objective summary of the text. NCTE/IRA Standards 1-8 and 10-12
Understandings: Students will understand that. . . ·         Different critical lenses allow different points in texts to become more prominent. ·         Narrative is an effective, compelling way to depict historical and current events, but they are limited by perspective/bias—and we must be critical in our reading of these texts in all their forms. ·         Historically accurate novels can allow readers to connect more deeply with historical events and people than some non-fiction texts, although no single text can possibly capture the whole “truth” about an historical event. ·         As evidenced throughout history and today, sometimes “hard work” is not enough to achieve the American Dream (e.g., comfortable home, satisfying job, supportive community, etc.). ·         Ones perceptions of society dictate ones responses to society. ·         The consideration of others in society outside our own can bring about notable and perhaps laudable change of character.	Essential Questions: ·     What does it mean to survive?  Is surviving the same as living? ·     Are some people’s lives more important than others’? ·     What are the limits of humans’ endurance—physically, mentally, emotionally? ·     How do the challenges we face shape our identity and impact our perspective? ·     What can literary characters teach us about surviving hardship? ·     What steps can I take to face and overcome challenges in my life?  What advice can I give others? ·     What is the difference between fighting for our own survival and fighting for the survival of others. ·     Is survival the same as defending individuality?
Students will know. . .  ·         Literary devices related to sound: alliteration, onomatopoeia, rhyme scheme, and meter. ·         Figurative language: simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, symbolism, imagery, irony, and how to classify texts by their literary genre(s). ·         Brushstrokes: vivid nouns and verbs, participial phrases ·         The values of both rebellion and conformity in moderation working toward an established sense of self and a duty toward the community. ·         Effects and causes of illiteracy on a large scale and for individuals	Students will be able to. . . ·         Compare and contrast motivations of literary characters in different dystopian novels. ·         Analyze character traits w/ textual support. ·         Evaluate structural elements of plot. ·         Trace the development of an author’s argument. ·         Compare and contrast genre characteristics. ·         Evaluate organizational structures and textual features in informational texts. ·         Read aloud with rhythm, flow, and meter, while self-monitoring and self-correcting. ·         Acquire and use new vocabulary in the context of our readings and discussions. ·         Write clear, coherent text that develops a central idea or tells a story, with consideration of audience and purpose, using a process approach to writing. ·         Reflect on reading in free-writing assignments. ·         Deliver original dramatic interpretations that use language for dramatic effect and show appropriate change in delivery (e.g. gestures, expression, tone, pace). ·         Listen carefully and critically and respond appropriately to oral communication. ·         Revise sentences to correct errors in usage during Daily Oral Language activities. ·         Create their own words to illustrate their knowledge of the particles of speech and grammar. ·         Read all three major texts with a Reader Response and Marxist lenses. ·         Plan and conduct research. ·         Identify Aristotle’s three rhetorical appeals (ethos, logos, pathos) in expository texts.
Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence
Performance Tasks: ·         As part of their Multigenre Research Projects, students will design their own conformist utopian society and then, after presenting their society to the class in a PowerPoint or Oral Presentation with illustrative media materials, they will have to “change their perspective” and rebel against the society as “non-conformists with a cause.” Evaluation Criteria: ·         Content of presentation features creativity and interesting details/anecdotes that engage and welcome the audience. ·         Content shows weighty contemplation of the moral dilemmas inherent in utopian and dystopian societies. ·         Students and teachers will be invited to participate in assessing the pamphlets for their content, organization, voice, clarity, conventions, and presentation.	Other Evidence: ·         Quizzes and test over texts ·         Multigenre Research Project ·         Observation during small-group and whole-class discussions ·         Tickets Out the Door (student self-evaluation; revisiting of daily EQ’s, assessment of prior knowledge of tomorrow’s EQ’s) ·         Monologue –Mr. Bank’s Mind ·         Conversations scripts and performances ·         D.O.L. Chapter Reflection Journals
Stage 3—Learning Plan
Learning Activities: ·         Value Line Discussion: Moral issues in Candor by Robb White ·         Chapter Reflection Journal:  Reflective consideration of each reading section in terms of “Your impressions as a reader” of characters, events, conflicts, resolutions, or questions you find yourself asking at the end of each section. ·         KWL (What do you Know?  What do you Want to know?  What have you Learned?):  Desert survival research in computer lab ·         Word wall (and discussions about key terms) related to texts and “Brainwashing, Conformity, Rebellion, Individuality, Identity, Obligation, Compassion, Love.” ·         Open Writing Journals: Students can write about anything and turn in journals at the end of each week for analysis by the teacher. No assignment, just writing for the sake of writing. ·         Plot diagram for Candor ·         “Mr. Bank’s Mind” monologue. Students are encouraged to perform a monologue detailing the thoughts of Mr. Bank’s, Oscar’s father, the founder of Candor. They do not have to perform if they don’t want to, but they must turn in a formal, typed monologue for full credit. Performance of the monologue guarantees a bonus of 5 percentage points on any grade. ·         Reading Check Essay Quizzes for every 3 chapters. Major Texts (print and non-print): Novels Candor by Pam Bachorz The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Attwood Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn Short Stories The Lottery by Shirley Jackson Poems “Deployment: A Series of Haikus” by Christopher P. Collins (English Journal) Videos/Film (clips)  1984 Equilibrium

Unit #2 Locating Ourselves within Various Communities                       

Stage 1 – Desired Results
Established Goals (NCTE/IRA National and Common Core State Standards): NCTE/IRA Standards:  1-7 and 9-12
Understandings: Students will understand that. . . ·         Collaboration with people from diverse backgrounds and with diverse perspectives strengthens the final product (whatever it might be) as well as individual members of the group. ·         Fear and lack of knowledge and understanding (perspective) often contribute to negative feelings toward and violence against people who represent various cultural groups, sexual orientations, and gender identities. ·         Writing provides opportunities to think through (re)actions and consequences, track our evolving perspectives, and share our identity with the world. ·         Our language and actions have power and can be perceived differently by different people, depending on their background and prior experiences.  We need to be thoughtful, purposeful, and reflective in both our language and our actions.	Essential Questions: ·     In what ways do my actions and the way I treat other people and the world around me shape my identity? ·     When and in what ways do I feel like an outsider?  When and in what ways do I feel like I belong? ·     In what ways does my membership in various communities impact my identity? ·     What labels do we use to describe ourselves and people around us?  ·     How do labels/stereotypes help us to categorize and make sense of our world?  How do labels and assumptions limit our understanding? ·     What traditions shape my identity? ·     What does it mean to be “American”? ·
Students will know. . .  ·         Figurative language: simile, metaphor, personification, hyperbole, symbolism, and imagery. ·         Brushstrokes:  vivid nouns and verbs, participial phrases, appositives, and absolutes ·         Challenges faced by immigrants and children of immigrants in the U.S. ·         Contributions of immigrants to U.S. culture, economy, and progress ·         The role code-switching plays in oral speech patterns and written text ·         Characteristics and qualities of living in a big metropolitan city (particularly New York City) ·	Students will be able to. . . ·     Explain the literal and figurative meanings of idioms and how they can be confusing for non-native English speakers. ·     Compare and contrast motivations of literary characters from different historical eras. ·     Analyze character traits w/ textual support. ·     Evaluate structural elements of plot. ·     Trace the development of an author’s argument. ·     Compare and contrast genre characteristics. ·     Evaluate organizational structures and textual features in informational texts. ·     Read with both Reader Response and Marxist lenses. ·     Read aloud with rhythm, flow, and meter, while self-monitoring and self-correcting. ·     Acquire and use new vocabulary in the context of our readings and discussions. ·     Write clear, coherent text that develops a central idea or tells a story, with consideration of audience and purpose, using a process approach to writing. ·     Identify brushstrokes in texts and explain how they contribute to the writing. ·     Incorporate brushstrokes into own writing. ·     Deliver original dramatic interpretations that use language for dramatic effect and show appropriate change in delivery (e.g. gestures, expression, tone, pace). ·     Listen carefully and critically and respond appropriately to oral communication. ·     Revise sentences to correct errors in usage and misplaced/dangling modifiers during Daily Oral Language activities.
Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence
Performance Tasks: ·         Both From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun and Call Me Maria feature protagonists who write in multiple genres to express themselves and their identities.  My performance task will somehow relate to this … (Feather Circles, anyone?)	Other Evidence: ·         Responses to Seedfolks – conflict, characterization and point of view, and notable quotation ·         Quizzes and test over texts ·         Observation during small-group and whole-class discussions ·         Tickets Out the Door ·         Student self-evaluation ·         Conversations scripts and performances
Stage 3—Learning Plan
Learning Activities: Major Texts (print and non-print): Novels Shared novels: Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun by Jacqueline Woodson In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord Call Me Maria by Judith Ortiz Cofer Short Stories selections from Local News by Gary Soto “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson Poems   Videos/Film (clips) “I am who I am.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxg7DvRVaTc   Essays and Expository Texts   Periodical/news stories “In New York City, Poverty Defined In New Terms” by Pam Fessler http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112641330 – text and audio   Resources to consult in planning: