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.)