Final 724 Reflection

Lesson Sequence Reflection

I distinctly remember reading this specific excerpt from Kittle's book on page 8, which I feel has been the catalyst for how I planned for this project and for how I currently plan my lessons. Kittle states the following: "Important things will not change in your classroom until you do (Kittle 8)." This quote really resonated with me because in my first year I would often go to the teacher's lounge until I realized that everybody in there was extremely negative about the profession and their craft. I did not realize this right away, but I do feel that this negative energy kind of made me more pessimistic about my students and their actual abilities. Kittle was 100% right with this quote, I needed to change myself and my energy before my classroom could ever change. From the moment that I decided to make this change, I started to have success. 

Another quote that really stood out to me when planning these lessons was when Kittle stated the following: "I believe that you can't tell kids how to write you have to show them what writers do" (Kittle 8). I strongly agree with this, which is why I really tried to model and scaffold the first three lessons within this unit, being that the end goal was so ambitious (students were expected to create their own spoken word piece). Within this unit I chose to model songs and poems that would reflect what would be expected of their own piece. Students were also given consistent scaffolds with sentence starters throughout the unit to help them better understand the literary devices and elements within these works. In addition to that, I also made a consorted effort to give students consistent opportunities to produce written responses, via quotes and prompts so that I could assess what they have learned throughout the unit. 

I think that after you have spent so much time in carefully crafting a unit you must go to page three of Kittle's book and read the following: "Trust the process, if the process is sound, the product improves," (3). This really stood out to me because I believe that in order for any lesson to work you need a plan, but you must trust and follow this plan with some allowed flexibility. This will allow you to adapt to your students needs as you go through the process, but at the end of the day you must trust the process that you laid out and not question every single do now and/or mini lesson. Confidence, a solid plan and delivery plays a huge factor as to how your lessons are received, so don't be a nervous wreck, listen to Kittle and trust the process that you have carefully laid out!

Sum it up

As a writing teacher we must always know that we are teaching human beings. Our students have feelings so we should always aim to give them feedback not criticism. We also need to focus on progress and how to keep achieving progress while keeping kids invested. 

Personal Reflection

I think that the greatest challenge as a writing teacher is to understand that every student is different and thus, every student will need a personalized plan for how to improve their writing. I think that initially as a first or second year teacher this could be overwhelming because you may not have all the proper tools to best serve your students, but with time, hard work and experience I think you will become more well-versed on different scaffolds and techniques that will work for whatever population you need to serve.

Feedback to Tiffany

Thank you for an amazing semester! I really enjoyed coming into class every Tuesday and can't wait to take your summer class. Your energy and creativity really kept everyone engaged and on their toes, I am glad that professor Gulla signed me up for this class. 

Blog Post #9- Kittle: Chapter 12 and Chapter 13

I love and really connect with the way that Kittle starts off the chapter by saying: “writers need feedback not evaluation.”

I feel that the statement is 100% accurate because as soon as you give kids a final letter grade it almost seems like the work they put in becomes secondary. I also really like her recommendations for how to give constructive feedback throughout the writing process to counter this fixation on the final grade. Although some of these strategies may seem taxing for a first year teacher, I can vouch from first hand experience that using these strategies (feedback on drafts, feedback in conferences, ongoing revisions, etc.) are extremely helpful. The most effective one that I tend to use during the writing process is giving students feedback on their drafts. The way in which I go about this feedback is through conferencing with students as they continue to master their final product. During this conference I would be extremely specific as to what the student is doing well (you did a great job citing evidence) and what the student need to improve on (you need to explain the evidence that chose with a little more detail, reasoning).

One thing that I loved about this chapter was the example on the Feedback on Drafts example that Kittle talks about on page 121. That night particular they were doing a peer editing activity and one of Kittle’s classmates gave her some "constructive feedback." The feedback, as you might imagine was truly not helpful in anyway, which unfortunately can be the case for some classrooms. The person who evaluated Kittle’s work had crossed out a ton of words and had splattered her paper with black ink. That black could have easily been a knife, which assaulted Kittle’s confidence and any enjoyment that she might have had for writing that day. Unfortunately, I have seen this type of "help" given to students from some of my peers. When teachers give students feedback they have to be conscious of the writer's feelings, as we have even seen in college-level classes that most adults are insecure about their own writing, so imagine how a teenager would feel about sharing something that he or she is already insecure about and then being bombarded by a red pen.

Overall, the most important concept that I can take away from these chapters is that we as teachers should always view our students as human beings. Students put effort into their writing, so we should take that into consideration when we give them feedback and when we ask them to write because writing should always aim to help not hurt us as a society and it all starts in the classroom.

Blog Post #8- Shifting Perspective About Grammar: Changing What And How We Teach

An amazing quote that really stood out from this article was when Ms. Dean said the following on page 24:


"This talk, essential to language learning also requires me to bring some use of grammatical terminology back into my classroom. It's difficult to explain to students why subject-verb agreement creates credibility in an online response to a news article for example if you don't know what it mean by subject or verb."

I couldn't agree with this quote much more. I think that the problem that many English teachers run into is the execution of teaching this grammar and understanding what is truly useful when doing it. 

I found what that the author hit the nail right on the head when she stated that learning grammar's verbatim is not useful. Rather, it is useful to present these grammatical terms in contexts. The author gives an amazing example of how she introducing pronouns when doing "To Kill a MockingBird," which is a grammatical term that would be extremely relevant when analyzing this text.

Overall, this article does an amazing job of enlightening teachers on how they need to to attain a broader perspective on how to use grammar creativity and in context so that it is truly effective in the classroom.

The Skin that We Speak

I really enjoyed reading this chapter because the author addresses a topic that is rarely discussed through a unique perspective. I thought that her solution in having the dominant language compromise it's power to those who haven't inherited it was so powerful. The most powerful quote that I related the most to was the following:

"The war will be won when she won is comes to speak more in her own language, and people accept her communication as valid and representative."

I thought that this quotes was the essence of a well thought out argument. This statement got me to think about how I often find myself teaching students the value of code switching, having students understand that they can't talk a certain way around certain people. I guess you can say that I am trying to teach them how to play the game. However, as the author states and alludes to, I think the greater victory would be for us as a society to change the game so that it reflects the diverse world that we live in instead of the language that a few powerful people have chosen to impose on us.

This thought sort of aligns with what Lisa Depit discusses on page 283 when she states the following:

"the rules of culture of power our a reflection of the rules of the culture of those who have power. This means that success in-institutions, schools workplaces and so on is predicated upon acquisition of the culture of those who are in power."

Blog Post #6 (Write Beside Them, Planning Lessons, Composing a Curriculum: How to Plan a Unit of Study)

Burke's Composing a Curriculum opens up with a very efficient metaphor on how one should not get in a car without knowing where they are going, which resembles how a teacher should not teach without planning. I feel that this is an excellent metaphor that captures how teachers should have a solid plan on where they plan to take their kids, as teaching should not be an improvisational show.  Rather it should be a carefully planned show that allows for improvisation. Burke does a great job of capturing this on page 8 when he states the following:

"If I were to translate this image into the language of music I would comparative improvisation a list pianist Keith Sarah, with one hand but establish a sound, regular Melody while the other hand he began to Andrew traduce the layers of complexity over that Melody. Such a model allows for the organic of all the nature of curriculum we shouldn't be seen or at least treated as a living organism that responds to the world around it.”

Burke's article also does a great job of writing about the need of incorporating content standards, while marrying these standards to the following considerations: "connections to previous and future skills and concepts, graphic organizer's, no taking strategies, visually aids etc.”

I find this portion of planning to be very accurate because when you come up with an assignment or a unit, you should always look to answer:

“What are students going to learn and how are they going to learn it?”

Kittle goes a step further in this need for planning when she discusses vertical alignment, which is planning on a granular level, referenced in chapter chapter 9, on page 154:

“We have adjusted more of the writing work in courses taught to freshman and sophomore. We made a list of all the writing students were doing in a quarter then in a semester, than a year. It is called vertical alignment and it is smart work for any high school English department.”

The high school that I previously worked at always made it a point to gather all of the English teachers in order to vertically align our curriculum. This proved to be essential in our planning so that we did not overlap our material, while also giving us a point of reference to reflect on at the end of the year on what students were able to learn, based on what we had aligned and what students still needed to learn moving forward.

“Planning Lessons,” by Milner & Milner was an excellent article that made the initial planning strategy seem more real through a truly honest perspective, all the while giving great recommendations for planning. This can be seen on page 453:

"Go home," she said, "and write down all of your ideas. Don't monitor your writing, just get it all down on paper. When you've finished, take one of those ideas and, on a separate sheet of paper, write as much as you possibly can about that particular concept. Do the same for all of your ideas. Each sheet of paper represents one lesson."

I find this strategy to be a very successful strategy, as I have routinely done this with my coat teacher and then will often get together and share ideas in order to come up with a unit.

Overall, Planning Lessons, Composing a Curriculum and chapter 9 and 10 from Kittle's Besides Me all due a great job of illustrating the need for thorough and thoughtful planning in order to give students a truly useful and unique experience inside of the classroom.

Reflection for 3/13

Reflection for 3/13

    I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Kittle's podcast, I found her to be as honest and open a person could possibly be.  One thing that I love about kittle is how self reflective she is. She is able to identify herself as a writer and the key factors that have inspired her to be the person that she is today, which requires lot of analytical self reflection. I feel that this is essential for a teacher to be able to do because in essence we are asking our students to do the same thing as they write. All good writers must reflect and analyze their work.

I also find it funny how she talks about how words were so difficult for her to use in order to produce what was in her mind, which is the complete opposite of what she is today, as Ms. Kittle is extremely articulate and masterful with her words.

  I consistently see myself connecting to Kittle because of how honest she is. She does not portray herself as the perfect person or perfect teacher, rather she captures her vulnerabilities and her aspirations. Often times I feel that authors or theorist try to put themselves on a higher moral and intellectual ground then their readers, which leaves the reader disconnected or feeling bad about themselves, but not Kittle. I am so happy that I have been introduced to her, as she makes me feel more normal about my profession and more normal as a person.    

       

Elinor Fuchs Visit To A Small Planet Post #4

Elinor Fuchs Visit To A Small Planet

      I like how Fuchs describes the balance that is necessary for good writing within a play. I thought that she captured this beautifully when she stated the following:

  

  "If too tight a focus on language makes it hard to read plays, too tight a focus on character creates the opposite problem: it makes the reading too easy."

     

   I also think that analyzing the way an author writes something and creates this "world," that she talks about, which allows aspiring writers and fans of literature to think critically on the emotional journey that an author takes us through. I also love the section entitled: "don't forget yourself." I feel that this section really captures how we should critically analyze how we take in literature by posing questions like:

• What has this world demanded of me?
• Does it ask me for pity and fear?
• Does it ask me to reason?

  Overall, I feel that the concepts within this article could be used in a classroom. They would be essential when understanding author's point of view, author's purpose or when understanding  how to replicate what an author produces across different genres (Memoir writing, play-writing etc.)  

Who am I as a Writer Reflection & Reflection on course readings for the week 2/28

Who am I as a Writer Reflection:

          I really enjoyed this project. I think that it gave other classmates a window into what I was thinking, while giving me a better understanding of what they were thinking about the writing process. I also found it super interesting hearing about other people’s frustration through the writing process, it let me know that I am not alone. However, what I enjoyed the most about this project was the creative process, which I found a lot of fun because it really allowed us to think deeply about who we all were as a writer.
         In the future, I really see myself using Animoto in the classroom, either through poetry or when I do characterization. I think that the physical images combined with text and music really brings a project to life and I think that my students would really enjoy it.

Reflection on course readings for the week:

         I thoroughly enjoyed reading Kittle, I found her writing style to be honest and easy to read because she takes into account many different facets that effect our students in the classroom. I also really connected with her when she wrote about her free writing activity and how years later one of her students still remembered these writing activities.
        Kittle also had so many amazing quotes that I honestly just found myself nodding my head in agreement throughout. One that I really enjoyed was when she said the following:
     
       "Important things will not change in your classroom until you do. I believe that you can't tell kids how to write you have to show them what writers do (Kittle 8)."
   
        I find this to be strongly to connected to Bomer's concepts on "The teacher is a co-learner" and "incorporating Students participation in selecting and evaluating materials."  I find these viewpoints to be extremely effective because I truly feel that if you make students feel like we are all a part of the creative process, then they become more invested in the material.  I also particularly enjoyed reading this line from Bomer, which illustrates another benefit of incorporating students participation in selecting and evaluating materials:

        “Seeing what students bring in allows me to assess their conceptions, values, and tastes about the genre we are studying (Bomer 124).”

        I feel that this assessment is only made possible because the teacher is collaborating with his/her students, rather then didactically teaching the class on what he/she feels is of value.  

       As I read Hicks' writing I found it to be very useful because he takes into account the entire writing process, while also acknowledging the different forums and resources that writers now have available to them, which is clearly illustrated when Hicks introduces his writing workshop approach: 

• Student choice about topic and genre
• Active revision (constant feedback between peer and teacher) 
• Author's craft as a basis for instruction (through mini lessons and conferences) 
• Publication beyond classroom walls 
• Broad visions of assessment that include both process and product

      Another point that I really enjoyed from the Hicks writing was how he made it a point to stress that students need adequate time to go through the writing workshop successfully.       

     "The writing workshop, at its core, centers on students as writers and provides them the time and space to engage in writing (Hicks 5).”

       Overall, I felt that all three authors did a great job in describing the writing process.

Can you Relate?

The greatest days of my life

Coveted with clever words and a unique perspective

The most therapeutic experience

Release the stress of a long day

Capture the raw emotions of an adverse situation

This is why we write

Now I can relate to that

Why we write?

I think that writing can be the most therapeutic experience that a person can have. It can release the stress of a long day or capture the raw emotions of an adverse situation. Either way a written piece let's the world know that we are and were here.

Often times writing can give people a voice or represent a group of individuals that are not heard. As a person who loves writing and teaching the writing process, The thing that that I love hearing the most is: "Wow I can relate to that" or "That piece took me back to a specific time in my life."

As a teacher I love incorporating music and poetry into the classroom. I feel that music and poetry is rich with literary devices and is often coveted with clever words and a unique perspective. Some of the songs that I always use in my class are:



Michael Jackson- Man in The Mirror



  Alicia Keys- Butterflies

                             

                                                                     

       
Lastly, I want to share with you all one of the greatest days of my life. The day that my students performed their spoken word pieces in front of a sold out Barnes and Noble crowd. Enjoy :-).

AMS Poetry Slam