Proud Teacher Moments

This week has been great in terms of teaching moments. There are three major ones that stand out to me.

To start off, my classes and I are really starting to gel (after two and a half weeks of awkwardly silent one-sided discussion). They have gotten really involved in the discussions this week. I don't know if the material that we are covering are just more interesting to them or whether my excitement about the material is rubbing off. Hopefully both!

On another fun note, I have a student, X, who has been doing quite poorly lately and seems to be a bit of an self-isolating student. Well after we started Beowulf last week, he has participated in and contributed to every lesson since last Friday. Since he has been participating more and turning assignments in, his grade is now borderline "D" instead of so far entrenched in "F" territory that he won't receive a passing grade for the nine weeks. I found out today from a colleague in the science department and the 11th grade English teacher that student X acts and performs better in my class than he does in their classes. While this confuses me some, I am glad that I have made a connection with this student. Maybe he'll end up passing this semester of English 12.

On my last note for this round, I have taught two lessons back to back that I thought would end up being total flops that have ended up going far better than I thought they would. We looked at two excerpts from John Gardener's Grendel which is a story written from the perspective of Grendel. We used this Wednesday to discuss point-of-view and perspective by comparing the Grendel excerpt to what we get of Grendel in Beowulf. The end of the lesson on Wednesday was used as a primer for yesterday's lesson. We took an excerpt toward the end of Grendel when he bursts into Herot for the last time and analyzed the types of sentences and how they reflected the mood and action being observed in each sentence. I thought that this would be utterly confusing, but I thank my heavenly stars that the students in class got the concepts we were working on without needing much extra assistance.

Overall, this has been one of the best weeks I have had so far. This week helps make the dull, slow weeks worth it.

Creating Dialogue

I’ve never really learned how to incorporate dialogue in narrative stories and I’ve definitely never mastered dialogue punctuation…So I was excited when I discovered that one of this week’s articles focused on teaching dialogue! Not only did I learn some techniques and tips for teaching this in the classroom, but I also learned/refreshed my memory on a lot of the basic info. about dialogue in general!

Takeaways about teaching dialogue:

·       First make the students realize why you need dialogue to begin with (underline examples in a text then ask why specific lines are important, what losing them would take away from the storyline, etc.

·       Make the distinction between INternal MONO-LOGUE and DIaLOGUE

·       Introduce dialogue in the dramatic form before narrative style

·       Set the scene (stage directions)

·       Some great prompts for dialogue creation are included in the article

It never fails to amaze me that the assigned readings for class ALWAYS explain how to teach a specific subject in the classroom in an innovative way AND also models every single other thing you’re taught in education classes. Which is why the articles get published and people read them I guess…

Takeaways about teaching anything:

·       Up-Take: facilitation/discussion technique in which you make the subject of what a student says the subject of further discussion; this emphasizes students’ contributions and makes them feel more involved/invested in discussion

o   This seems like common sense but I’ve never encountered the term before and have never had anyone explicitly say this is useful in the classroom!

·       Scaffolding: introduce concept & discuss as a class, then work through an example as a class, and then assign scenes to small groups

·       If you think you need more time tomorrow, write more time on the bottom of your paper!!!

·       Review student work and determine future lesson plans based upon their performance and needs (not only on the topic being covered but just in general such as how the author suggested an oral reading inventory for students who struggle to read aloud)

·       Standard English vs. Black English vernacular (all of page 64 is just fantastic)

·       Add to ongoing projects/assignments as new information is introduced (added stage directions to dialogue)

·       Encourage students to support/praise one another

First Observed Lesson

So this Monday (9/11) was my first observed lesson where Dr. Crosby came to critique my every last move...Okay, maybe not that intensely, but the point still stands.

I began working and taking responsibility for my classes last week so that I would be more comfortable working with the students and vice versa. Even though I worked on becoming more comfortable last week, I was still pretty timid during that observation. Part of that is due to my being new in the classroom and part of that is due to low participation on a discussion that I had planned on. The students weren't as participatory as they typically are. This was concerning, but I attribute that to Dr. Crosby's being there.

Overall, I felt good about the lesson, but it is a little bit overwhelming looking back at it. I'm sure that all will be well once my scores are posted. One of the things that I've learned a lot about is the power and use of constant reflection. By reflection, I mean reflection both after and during the lesson. This is one of the most useful tools that I have learned to use.

Writing Wrong v. Writing Right

From my student intern (and she is not the first) who questioned why seniors cannot...or do not...write better than they do.  To this observation, I have several responses.

The Argument

1. We teach the "regular" students, meaning that, because of advanced classes, more of the "better writers" may not be in our classes.
2. English teachers are not writers, meaning that we do not practice what we preach; therefore, teachers themselves do not grow as writers and prefer to not model this in front of their students.
3. Teachers continue to teach as they always have, resulting in their students learning (or not) what they have always taught.
4. Teachers do not assign enough writing, and, as the saying goes, "practice does make perfect"...or, at least, more perfect...or not perfect, in this case, as students then do not write much, if any.

Now...take a few seconds, and re-read 1-4.  With whom do lack of writing skills lie?

Your answer?

The answer:  teachers.

Agree?  Disagree?

Pause for a moment and consider...would you write much more for this class than what I have assigned?  Are you writing much now?  Have you grown as a writer because of your college classes?

Now, for the other side of the argument = 

Yes, The Counter-Argument

1. Too many students are happy with a 59.45%.  They truly do not care to learn enough to master any skill being taught.
2. Some students just truly do not like to write.  Yes.  Those beings are really out there.  (Here's where you reply, "Sure glad I am not such a student!")

The Rebuttal

1. Do students truly dislike writing...or have they just not been taught The How?
2. Do these students dislike writing...or have they just not written enough?  Please see #2-4 in The Argument Section.
3. Are we beginning to go in circles?  Not accomplishing much, are we?
4. Accomplishment then becomes the answer.  See below!

The Gillmore Answer

1. Teach the kids to write.  Sentences.  Chunks.  Paragraphs.  Essays.  Just have them write!
2. Find a method that speaks to you, that drives your writing, that helps your students master The Unknown...aka The Land of Writing.
3. This happened for me when I attended my first Step UP to Writing workshop.
4. This continued when I learned about Jane Schaffer's Model.
5. This continued as I read...and read...
6. Are you reading?
7. Interesting, isn't it?  Good writers are good readers.  OR are good readers just good writers?  AND great writers are tremendous readers.  OR are write-beside-them writers absolutely the most ferocious readers? Are we going in circles again...OR are we witnessing a pattern that is true?

The Model

When all is said and done, YOU are the model...every day...from bell to bell.  Your writing skills, with a doubt, directly impact your students.  Every day.  Therefore, be a writer; assign writing; write with your students.  Just write right.

Good luck!

"She's My Teacher"

I've certainly had an interesting past week in the classroom. I was observed by Dr. Crosby for the first time which I feel went well. I've also begun to form relationships with some of my students and learn their unique personalities and tendencies. 

Dr. Crosby observed me last Friday. As it was the first time I would be teaching a full class by myself in the semester, I was a bit nervous to be observed. But, all went off without a hitch thanks to the help of my lovely mentor teacher who always ensures that class will function perfectly. I taught a lesson containing a writer's notebook topic over September 11th. I also covered International Literacy Day before covering Arthurian legends, language, and Sir Gawain and The Green Knight. The students were all so well behaved and cooperative. I couldn't have asked for a better observation. 

As the school weeks have progressed, I've also started to become acquainted with several of my students. This morning, I rounded the corner in the hall to find two students standing outside the classroom door. One was J***N and the other J***O. J***N is a very tall, talkative football player. J***O is another very tall student with a strong presence and tendency to talk and be disruptive. The two students put together are "double trouble" so-to-speak. But, when they saw me walking in their direction, both boys smiled at me and were excited to hear that I would be in charge of class for the day. J***N even announced "Hey, it's my teacher!," and J***O returned with, "She's our teacher." J***N corrected with "She's My teacher; she doesn't even like you." Of course, this was silly banter - no harm intended. I told both boys I was happy to see them and to teach them for the day. Did they continue to be their rowdy selves throughout class? Yes, they did. But, they were respectful and I appreciate their individual, though comical, personalities. 

Overall, this has been a successful first week of wetting my feet. I've become more familiar with planning the lessons for the class and with my students. My only hope is that by my next observation, I will have learned enough to have an ever better report.  

Whodunit?

I think that the assigned reading of the chapter entitled “Whodunit?” provides an innovative method for teaching students to construct arguments that I would love to try in the classroom! The method clearly defines the components of an argument without directly stating that the students are learning how to write an essay, so they just think they’re working together to solve a fun mystery while unknowingly developing the abilities necessary to construct an essay!

By solving mysteries the students learn to analyze evidence that may be used to constitute a rule which is then used to arrive at a conclusion. As I read through the article I was amazed that the teacher did not introduce the activity as a tool for writing arguments, but simply initiated the activity and let the students draw that conclusion later. Because the activity wasn’t prefaced with a statement about the educational purpose of the mystery solving, I think that her students were probably even more intrigued and motivated to play along with the game! When I read the article the first time I focused entirely on the process of building an argument with the mystery solving activity. I was captured by this great idea so much so that I first failed to notice the numerous other pieces of advice that the author provided.

An excellent prompt for initiating classroom discussion is provided in this chapter! The teacher prompts every student to participate, allows adequate time for questions, expertly asks students to rephrase statements/questions to fit the lesson’s purposes, and seems to ask all of the right questions to keep the activity moving forward. The facilitation techniques to be gained from this chapter would provide a first time teacher with everything that she would need to know about facilitating class discussion! Not only that, but the author of the chapter also shows how several mini-lessons can be included in a larger lesson (first/second/third person perspective, grammatical errors/corrections, etc. within the larger lesson of writing arguments). She demonstrates effective assessments for the topic and even displays how to appropriately give useful feedback to students.

I was first pulled into this article due to the creative method that the author used to teach how to write an argument, but I quickly realized that the lessons/advice to be learned from this chapter are nearly endless! I would love to try this activity in the classroom, and I would love to one day be able to facilitate discussion, evaluate student understanding, provide useful feedback, incorporate several lessons into one, and modify my methods/plans for my class in order to best benefit the students as well as the author of this article does!