Poetry---> "Thoughts From Me Right To Your Heart"

Chapter One: Writing Poetry 
 
"We don't build communities instead of working on academics. We build communities while we work on academics" (Christensen 14).

As mentioned before, I am a firm believer in student centered learning. I would like to reach every student and build a positive community in my classroom. I am not someone who wants to only build community, or I would be more interested in topics such as psychology, sociology or something else. However, I chose education. I chose to be a person to also focus on academics. To better not only the student as a person, but also to educate them to succeed in school and in life. It is our job as teachers to find a way to intertwine these two.

Through poetry, I believe this is a great way to merge building community while also focusing on academics such as vocabulary, similes and metaphors, and structure. The different structures of poems is important, but there are also many different types of poems or even free verse that can be practiced.The many different types of poems is important to be reaching all students. While some students may be better and enjoy haikus, others may practice slam poetry better. Especially students who are highly interested in music. I like the idea of building community, reaching every student, while also focusing on education.

"She said, "It helped to know that I wasn't the only one with problems. When you shared your stories, I could see a teacher who made it out." Students--  and teachers-- who don't face these struggles gain compassion by listening to their classmates' stories."

I also loved this passage by Christensen. I think it is important to show your struggles. I remember in high school, I was in 12th grade-- I was struggling with family at home, I had senior project, I had a terrible break up, I wasn't getting along with one of my teachers, and I was stressing about colleges. I walked into my English class and my teacher had no makeup on, puffy eyes and just was not her cheery self. We could all tell something was wrong. So she told us her situation... she was telling her high school class her adult life situation. And at first, I was confused. Why would she be telling us this? Of course, we were there for her. Most students thought of her as their favorite, I did too. But this not only let her vent to us, but also let us understand that not everyone has a perfect life. But you get up, you go to work, you move forward and its okay not to be okay once in a while. It's important to be yourself and it's even more important to let your students know you aren't perfect.



Forgotten Items
Similarly to Christensen, Macaluso discusses how poetry can tell about an experience. The poem Forgotten Items draws a picture in your mind of the couple she saw in the supermarket, it uses descriptions that could not just be accurately told in a conversation. The analogy with the orange juice really puts you in the shoes of this elderly woman to feel how she feels. I think the best part of poetry is that the writer can show their experience using the sounds, lighting, scents and it can be beautifully written and spoken out loud.

"Poems can alter the way you see the world"(Macaluso).
This quote stuck out to me and really reminded my of Christensen's reference to gaining compassion. Even if you have not experiences this lonely feeling that this old woman felt, after reading this poem, I felt this weight. The references were also memorable. After reading this, pouring my glass of orange juice was completely different. The effect a poem has, is typically much more sentimental, much more meaningful than an average essay. The language used and developed will not only create better writers, but also create a compassionate classroom community.

Meaningful Writing and Co-teaching

Co-teaching. So two teachers working together? 
Yes, but Emdin writes about so much more than that. 
He discusses that students can also be teachers.
Students... teachers? Yes. Working with students to not only teach them the content, but also teach them to be teachers. Most of the time when teachers do so, the students don't even pick up on it. Working in groups and partners can help so many students learn. Especially if there is a student that can interpret the content to another student in a way that is easier to understand. In high school I always seemed to know what I was learning or I was able to pick up on it quickly. However, my first semester at CCRI I was completely overwhelmed and the workload was more than I had ever experienced. One of the classes I really struggled with was General Psychology. I tried so hard, but continuously felt like I wasn't progressing. I ended up getting a D, for the first time in my life. I was devastated and knew it wouldn't transfer over so I decided to retake it. This next time, after going over the chapter my professor would have us work in partners and review. I would sit down with a partner or a group of students and we would discuss what would be on the next exam. When talking it over with my peers, they seemed to make a lot more sense and make more relatable analogies so I could relate to the content and understand it on a more personal level. I think it is important to be able to make time for your students to work together and help one another for instances where you may just not have the right words to teach a student and someone else does. I like even more that Edmin looks at it as another example of co-teaching placing the students at the same power level as the teacher.


Both Christensen and Gallagher discuss the most meaningful writing.

Specifically, Christensen writes about Narrative Writing. Being able to write about your own life, your own situations or something that is most meaningful to you is important. Narratives may seem like informal writing pieces to some, but the student is able to develop the same writing skills as if writing an essay. One of my favorite high school writing pieces is my college essay that I wrote my senior year. This was all about my life and goals as a student. I think the reason why colleges ask for these personal writing pieces, not only to see what your background is, but also so they can see your best and most meaningful writing skills.

Similarly, Gallagher discusses "The Power of Choice". I immediately thought of our everyday quick writes in class. We are given two questions with the option to write about something else.I also thought about our first writing assignment, we were all able to write about our personal histories. Like Gallagher states, two benefits of choice are:
1.) ownership in the writer, which in turn creates a stronger work ethic and
2.) Drives revision because the student is more likely to care about the paper
I have to admit I am definitely more likely to carefully revise a paper that I am interested in than a paper I know nothing about and will never use again in the future. If I would not take the time to revise it, why would any other student?
It is important to give students the choice of prompts to help build them as meaningful writers, allow them to share about their life, and build a trusting student-teacher relationship.

"My Child Is Not Common"

I took an ideology test in my SED 406 class and I "passed" as learner centered. (If you'd like to take the test, here you go! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oWzwLDM4w_SL55xo-iGUEytNYrcLySiFoFa4A0GYjLA/edit?usp=sharing ) 

To start, I can somewhat agree with the NCTE and Common Core Standards for English/Language Arts, however they do not come first to me. I am all for the student. Each individual student.  

Don't get me wrong, I think it is important to have guidelines and requirements so teachers have an idea of what the students needs to be taught, and they are able to be held accountable for what they teach the students. I also like how in the NCTE Standards Book, Defining the Standards, it is said, "Although the standards focus primarily on content, we also underscore the importance of other dimensions of language learning. In particular, we believe that questions of why, when, and how students grow and develop as language users are also critical and must be addressed by those who translate the standards into practice". It is important that these standards mention this because the students can not just be thrown the content and expected to memorize for testing. Each and every student is different and will learn and understand the content being taught at different times and through variations of teaching. 

Regarding the Core Standards, I learned in my SED 406 class it is easier to write the lesson first, then pick the standards that follows along. I had to write these standards in my lesson plan for this class for the first time, it was basically just like picking out numbers and letters. Lesson is meaningful and to help students succeed, standards are just what happens to be in the lesson designed.

I think it is important to look at the differences between the 9-10 grade levels and the 11-12 grade levels. Like I said I agree with setting guidelines, maybe the word "goals" would fit better because each student is different and their goal should be set, but if not everyone completely reaches their goal at the exact same time, that's okay. Also, a student at the 12 grade level, if their reading level is at a 9th grade level, their standards are not going to be the same. Despite whether they are in the 12th grade, does not mean they should be expected to mirror the student sitting next to them. Their are many different learning disabilities, different mental illnesses and different home environments which effect learning. Therefore, the "standards" should not be the same for each and every student.

And of course, I've saved the best for last.

PARCC SUCKS!
And I don't have many other words for that.

If I were a student, I would opt out. Parent- Opt my child out. Teacher- Under the radar, urge my students to opt out. However, I've heard from my sister and her friends that they don't allow students to opt out anymore. I am working on looking in to this, but I find that crazy.

I enjoyed reading Rhode Island Teachers Respond to PARCC and I was able to connect with how the teachers felt obligated to urge their students to take the test. I completed my field work for the CCRI version of FNED at Shea High School during test week. The teachers there were stressed. As much as they tried to prepare the students and put some food in their stomachs, they had been told that their jobs were at stake depending on these tests. While half of the students in the classes I was in had some type of IEP. I worked alongside a Special Education Teacher who floated in and out of classes to work with the teachers so her students were at a high risk of failing. Especially, since like this article states, they could barely even read the test questions properly, never mind answer them correctly.

More than 50% of the students went to the library or computer lab during the test times, but the other students were stressed, coming in to grab a granola bar from the teacher for breakfast and on the verge of tears for fear of failure. The students I observed and worked with were in grades 10 through 12 and all of the students I talked with were against it, some upset that their parents never got around to signing the opt out form.

Most of the charts and graphs in this article, I was not shocked by. However, I was surprised by the comparison between the rural and urban school student responses to PARCC. It seemed that more students in the urban schools agreed that there is a positive response. It did not seem to me that Shea High School, an urban school, had any positive responses. The only thing I can think of is if the school is trying to create a more positive environment during this time and trying harder than usual. I'm not quite sure I've figured this out or have any ideas on it. Do you have any ideas? Anyone that has been in an urban and rural school during testing? I would love some feedback on this!

 

"I ain't all bad"

 The Deficit Ideology

"As a simple but representative example, most of us have taken a paper-and-pencil test in our schooling, one on which the teacher marks answers wrong with an X and then calculates our grade at the top of our papers- as in '100-30=70.'" -P.L. Thomas

Thomas discusses how this is the deficit ideology, where it focuses on the weaknesses rather than strengths. Although the specific term is new to me, this idea takes up half of my heart. I once watched a Ted talk "Every Kid Needs a Champion" by Rita Pierson and it came to my mind as soon as I began reading about these different ideologies. Pierson makes a similar remark to her audience, "I gave a quiz, 20 questions. Student missed 18. I put a +2 on his paper and a big smiley face." At first I laughed at this idea... because how can a plus two actually be taken seriously? I certainly wouldn't take that serious. I'd be like "UGH. I failed..... WTF!" However, her attitude towards it was positive, "you ain't all that bad" and a simple 😊 on the top of the paper can keep the students confidence going. Focusing on what the student has already learned and understood can also help you as the teacher to work on the areas that still need progress. In order to help the student work to get a better grade, it is important to keep their levels of confidence and motivation at a high.

Just because I think every one who will ever encounter a child should watch this video, here's the link! https://youtu.be/SFnMTHhKdkw

Literacy

Reading. Spelling. Grammar. Full Sentences. Run ons. Punctuation. Writing.
Is that all there is to Literacy?
That's what I thought until my last SED 445 class.

 I quickly realized during this class that I had been so closed minded the the definition of the word literacy. I'm assuming this is because of my love and interest in reading and writing, or maybe I was just never taught? I guess I don't really know. Do you know how full the word literacy is?

Karen Cordeiro-Kaplan discusses the  different Literacy Ideologies in the schools and society. A new literacy that I learned about in particular is Cultural Literacy. This literacy focuses on the teaching of culture, beliefs, values and the classic books. I learned that making connections between your own life and the society around you with the text read is an example of a cultural ideology. Not only is the reading and writing involved in this ideology, but also a component of discussion. The students can then create a network of knowledge and see the relations between the texts and the different cultures in society.



Practicing Writing

 Often when thinking about past writing assignments, I can see that the assignment was more-so for the teacher to verify I completed the reading assignment and evaluate understanding.There are so many other types of writing, not only reflective papers.

 The NCTE discusses that writing grows out of many different purposes, not only an evaluation of knowledge. Different writing assignments that are important, for example, are notes, resumes and cover letters, business reports, interpretive statements, lab reports, etc. Learning these different types of writing is not only important for the students education to prepare them for future classes and careers, but to prepare them for effective social networking, improving society and getting to know who they are as a person.


"The future of the world is in my classroom today." -Ivan Welton Fitzwater

Ongoing learners

 "Resist teaching so that students acquire fixed content and instead foster students as ongoing learners."-P. L. Thomas, EdD

Students should be taught more than one citation in secondary schools. Were you exposed to more than one way of thinking? More than one way to write? More than one way to cite your work? I know in high school I was taught MLA. MLA only.

 

In the library there was one version of MLA, probably about 5 years old. Don't quote me on this, but MLA changes almost every year and a new version is released. This led the entire student body to be falling behind. As mentioned by Gallagher in Chapter 1, I was often told to practice using MLA but never formally taught it. Student's should be taught the material they need to learn more, rather than having them practice without instruction. Too many times I was told "Go to the Library, there's a form with examples and instructions".

 "Recently one of my teacher candidates attended a course in which fellow English teachers were adamant they needed students to learn to cite using MLA by memory."-P. L. Thomas, EdD

In addition to the constant changing of format, there are also many different types of citations. For example: APA, Turabian and Chicago. Only being subjected to one version of citation limits the knowledge that should be being taught for the future. 

 Because of this lack of knowledge, I went into my first college science, looked at the syllabus and thought to myself, I'm screwed. All of my lab reports and papers were to be in APA format. At that point I had to teach myself how to do it... believe me, when you teach yourself how to do something, it doesn't come out very well.

Teachers need to start teaching the material students need to succeed in order to expand the students' growth of knowledge.