Learning Letter

This quarter has been one of the busiest quarters I have ever had. I think having to spend nine hours at my high school then having to come to EWU for classes added to the busyness of this hectic quarter. However, I learned a great deal of how to manage my time wisely and accomplish all I needed to do to stay successful. This class has been a tremendous help for me as a future teacher. I felt challenged by this class and so I definitely grew as a student. Having to do a 20 minute mini-lesson on a literary text helped me. I walked away after completing this assignment with great constructive criticism from both my instructor and peers. I really enjoyed knowing my peers were willing to both tell me what I did great, but they also told me what I could improve. That kind of feedback is extremely helpful for anyone, especially future teachers.  In addition, I loved having the opportunity to choose a young adult text and prepare a short talk to introduce the text to the class. All my peers chose interesting books to present to the class. I really enjoyed that no one from my peers chose a boring book. All the books my peers presented were books I would want to teach in my future English class.

            The one assignment that stood out like Mount Everest: The Literature Unit Plan. When I began this assignment, I was extremely nervous. However, towards the end of it, I felt like a Holocaust survivor being liberated from Auschwitz. I was FREE! Nothing felt better. But I am grateful for doing this assignment because I learned so much along the way. I discovered how to write better TPA lesson plans and I enjoyed learning how I could teach my text in a fun and creative way.  Overall, I am grateful for taking the amazing Dr. Agriss and my phenomenal peers who made English 493 a class that I won’t soon forget. We had many discussions and the ideas we bounced off each other are ideas I hope to soon implement in my classroom.

TPA Lesson Plan #___1____

1. Teacher Candidate	Elijah Mikheyev	Date Taught	3-8-15
Cooperating Teacher	Dr. Agriss	School/District	Eastern Washington University
2. Subject	English	Field Supervisor
3. Lesson Title/Focus	Japanese and American Relations before Pearl Harbor	5. Length of Lesson	20 minutes
4. Grade Level	10

6. Academic & Content Standards (Common Core/National)	CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
7. Learning Objective(s)	Given the article about Japan’s and the United States relations before the bombing of Pearl Harbor, students will read the article together and be able to analyze what they read, by writing three reasons why Japan became angry with the US.  I can analyze a text by using thorough textual evidence to support my analysis about why Japan became angry with the US.
8. Academic Language demands (vocabulary, function, syntax, discourse)	Great White Walls, Fascism, Great Depression,  and Social Darwinism This vocabulary will be clearly addressed during this lesson. The students will write down what they think these words mean. Then students will be given a paper with the definitions of these words with the reading,

9. Assessment

Students will be asked to write three reasons why they believe Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. This will be a form of formative assessment. Then students will share their responses with their classmates. In addition, I will asks students to start reading out loud—to the class—the article. After the reading, they will be asked to write down three reasons what made Japan angry with the US. The assessment connects to the standards by helping me understand that the students can read and analyze what they have read.

10. Lesson Connections

This lesson is part of a two week unit on the novel Under the Blood-Red Sun by Graham Salisbury. This lesson is drawn from research and theory from the book Readicide, Gallagher (2009). Gallagher mentioned the book In the Middle and he discussed how the author advised teachers to “come out from behind their desks to write with, listen to, and learn” from young readers and writers (Gallagher 2009, 90). Writing the three reasons why Japan became angry with the US, after reading the article, will be a form of formative assessment during this lesson. This connects to previous lessons and builds on to the foundation for the rest of the unit.  Students will have to have had some basic knowledge of WW2 history. Teaching this lesson will allow students to understand the importance of why Japan attacked the US in 1941. The learning of this lesson will build on to previous knowledge of what was taught yesterday. I am teaching this lesson because this lesson will help students better understand the book Under the Blood-Red Sun.  Learning about why the Japanese attacked the US will help broaden the students’ understanding about this tragic event in human history. At the start of this lesson, students will write down three reasons on the whiteboard why they believe Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. This lesson will further be built upon in future lessons by having the students continue reading Under the Blood-Red Sun in our next lesson.  Also, students will be given a quiz in the following lessons.

11. Instructional Strategies/Learning Tasks to Support Learning
Learning Tasks and Strategies Introduction In order to communicate the learning objective to my students, I will have the objective in my PowerPoint. I will introduce the lesson by asking a question about why Japan bombed Pearl Harbor.–What made the Japanese do it? Was the US partially to blame for this attack? Learning Tasks Students will be learning to cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. Students will take turns reading the article during the in class reading. I will ask students to write down three reasons why Japan became angry with the US.  Conclusion After finishing reading the article and writing three reasons for Japan’s anger toward the US, students will finish viewing the PowerPoint and respond to the prompt: “Was Japan’s anger toward the US justifiable? If no, why not? If yes, why?” Sequenced Instruction
Teacher’s Role Teacher will orally state the learning objective of the lesson to the students and have it written posted on the PowerPoint. Teacher will make sure every student has the article and is ready to read. Teacher will introduce why Japan bombed the US and define the vocabulary words. Teacher asks student to respond to the article in writing.	Students’ Role Students will write three reasons why they believe Japan attacked the US and students will write what they think the definitions of the vocabulary words are. Also, students will listen to the teacher explain why Japan became angry with the US. Then students will receive an article and will begin to read the article, the article will have the definitions of the vocabulary words. (10 min) Students will write down three reasons why the Japan became angry with the US after reading the article. (5min) Students will answer PowerPoint prompt: “Was Japan’s anger toward the US justifiable? If no, why not? If yes, why?” (4min) Students turn in prompt and the writing assignment. (1min)
Student Voice: Students engage in explaining the Learning Target and the definitions by having the instruction call out on different students during the class period. Students show their understanding of the reading of the article by writing down three reasons why Japan became angry with the US. Students will be able to ask questions about the article and any other questions pertaining to the topic. Students will be able to express the importance of the learning targets during the reading of the article. The PowerPoint prompt and short writing assignment should help students see the importance of the learning targets.

12. Differentiated Instruction

Plan Students with a disability such a low vision or bad hearing will be seated in the front rows of the class. In addition, any other student with a disability will be given proper accommodation in the class to meet his or her needs. All of these learning styles will be incorporated in this lesson: auditory, visual, kinesthetic, and tactile. Students will be given the article, which is visual. Students will be given oral instruction, which is auditory. Also, students will be use tactile and kinesthetic learning when they use their pencil to fill out the writing assignment and prompt questions. In addition, students who need more time, during their time filling completing the prompt, will be given it. And students who cannot read fluently or have a hard time reading orally will be exempted from reading, during the open class reading.

13. Resources and Materials

Plan Gallagher, K., & Allington, R. L. (2009). Readicide: How schools are killing reading and what you can do about it. Portland, Me.: Stenhouse. Rise of Fascist Japan. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://thejapaneseexperience.weebly.com/rise-of-fascist-japan.html Salisbury, G. (1994). Under the blood-red sun. New York: Delacorte Press. I will need a whiteboard and a black marker and Internet access. Students will need an article and writing utensil.

14. Management and Safety Issues

Plan When the students writing, I will walk around the room to answer any questions the students may have and monitor them. If a student is acting up, I will make sure the student isn’t disrupting other students’ learning. He or she may have to be excused from the class if they do not listen to my warnings. I will do my best to make this lesson educational, yet exciting at the same time. I will do this by allowing the students to ask questions during our reading. Hopefully this will help keep students from falling asleep during this lesson. Before we have a class discussion, I will make it clear to the students that they need to respect each other and not fool around. I will award good student behavior by giving them bonus points.

15. Parent & Community Connections

Plan Students will be encouraged to ask their grandparents if they were alive during the bombing of Pearl Harbor. What kind of emotion did they feel? Did they know any Japanese people? In addition, students will be asked to have their grandparents write down the answer to these questions. Students will bring in the writings of their grandparents. The next day, students will be encouraged to present their information to the class; this will be optional.

Worsening relations between Japan and the West from 1919 to 1939. There's were incidents like:

American expansion in the Asia-Pacific region threatened Japanese plans to control the region.

Ever since 1853, when Commodore Matthew Perry opened Japan to American trade, American businessmen had taken an increasing interest in doing business in the Asia-Pacific region. The United States took control of many tiny islands that were rich in guano, a natural fertilizer.  It also took control of other islands and used them as bases for American trading ships. By the 1930s, the area under American control had expanded to include islands such as Hawaii and the Philippines. Japanese militarists believed that Japanese and American economic and military interest would bring them into conflict over who would control the Asia-Pacific region.

Washington Naval Conference, 1921-1922.

The Washington Naval Conference aimed to reduce the naval forces of the major naval powers. Many Japanese felt that this was an unfair treaty. They felt that is was an attempt to restrict Japanese power. Tension grew between them as they felt being treated unfairly.

Immigration laws in the USA in the mid-1920s.                                          

In 1924, the government in the USA tried to prevent Asian immigration as part of its isolationist and protectionist policy. The USA forbade the entry of all Asian immigrants (expect Filipinos), including Chinese, Japanese, Koreans and Indians.  Immigrants could not become citizens of the USA even if they had been there for a long time. Asians also could not marry Caucasians or own their own land. Some state enforced laws to segregate the Asians who were living in American. California for example, enforced the California Alien Law in 1913 ruling that all Asian children, including those born in America, had to attend separate schools. There was also a widespread fear that Asians would take jobs away.

Before the strict immigration laws were passed, many Japanese migrated overseas. The new America immigration policies of 1924 angered the Japanese. They saw the policies as a sign that the Americans considered the Japanese to be inferior to Americans.

These events combined with the protectionist policies of the West during the Great Depression, caused many Japanese to turn away from Democracy and support an expansion of Japan's empire.

Great White Walls: From the 1880s onwards, the white settler countries of the Pacific Rim all implemented restrictive immigration policies designed to keep their populations white.

Fascism: a way of organizing a society in which a government ruled by a dictator controls the lives of the people

Great Depression: the economic crisis and period of low business activity in the U.S. and other countries, roughly beginning with the stock-market crash in October, 1929

Social Darwinism: Now largely discredited, social Darwinism was advocated by Herbert Spencer and others in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and was used to justify political conservatism, imperialism, and racism and to discourage intervention and reform.

3 Question Assignment Rubric

This checklist-rubric is designed to give the instructor some form of objective feedback when formatively assessing students’ completed questions.

1-5 Rating 5 being meet standard

1) Wrote in complete sentences

2) Has three answers

3) Answers reflect student using article to justify answers

Secondary Standards-Based Grading and Reporting Handbook

 Secondary Standards-Based Grading and Reporting Handbook

 The handbook: Secondary Standards-Based Grading is helpful at understanding standard based grading. I found the section talking about the negative impact of zeros to be the most intriguing, in my humble opinion. I have always felt that giving a student a zero was somewhat not fair. After all, what does a zero score even mean? I wholeheartedly agree that a zero is a depressing grade. What student would want to continue to learn if they say got more than one zero score? I know that I wouldn’t want to learn, and I consider myself an optimistic person. I know that giving students such a score is not effective at all. Teachers need to understand this, and that is why I agree with the handbook: Zeros have such a powerfully negative impact on the average that they can have a debilitating effect on student motivation (effort optimism).

 I believe our students need to be assessed in a way where they can understand their grade and what it means. This seems like what this handbook is trying to say. Teachers need to be assessing students in a way where the student understands what her or she knows or doesn’t know. Because, all too often, our students have no idea why they received an F or a C. Some students think F stands for FANTASTIC! Another section which stood out to me was section 5. The section about homework was spot on: Homework – although a useful tool for learning – should not have an impact on a student’s academic grade within a Standards-Based Grading and Reporting system because it is practice aimed at increasing the student’s capacity to meet standard. I strongly believe this. I think that we need to stop making homework such a big deal when it comes to grades. Because homework, after all, is practice. Thus, I agree with the Standards-Based Grading and Reporting system: Homework should not be graded. Overall, this handbook helped me to understand what Secondary Standards-Based Grading is all about.

Assessing and Evaluating Students’ Learning

The article Assessing and Evaluating Students’ Learning:  How Do You Know What They Have Learned?  is basically about how a teacher of  literature can assess and know—know for sure—students are understanding what they are reading. I found it interesting how the article mentioned it all depends on what a teacher believes it means to “learn literature.” After all, every teacher has a slightly or even drastically different idea of what it means to learn literature. The article provided an example of what somebody could view as learning literature: acquiring facts, knowing the difference between a simile and a metaphor, etc. Thus, people who are teachers of literature can teach by what they think it means to learn literature. I found this to be an eye-opener because I always felt like there were teachers that I had who seemed to teach literature in different ways. Know I understand why this is the case. Teachers have different notions of learning literature.

In addition, the article did a great job of describing why focusing on “knowing that” aspect of learning literature has its downside. As teachers of literature, the article argued that what was more important than just “knowing that”, students need to know the “knowing how.” Knowing the how aspect of literature is critical for students because, as the article mentioned, “While a student can demonstrate that she has can define the difference between a metaphor and a simile doesn’t necessarily mean that she knows how to apply that knowledge to the texts.”  Therefore, as future teachers of literature, the article wanted the reader to understand this.

Something else that stood out to me in this article: teaching peers to give feedback. I found this interesting because I always thought teaching peers to give feedback to one another was a good idea. Now, this article reaffirmed my idea. I also liked how the article gave examples of what this approach to feedback should look like: provide descriptive comments, praise the writer, make positive comments, etc. All in all, I enjoyed reading this article because of its great insights and tips for teachers of literature.  

Readicide

Readicide by Kelly Gallagher is an eye-opener. I already knew that the US (and the world) had a problem with younger people not being interested in reading. However, some of the statistics Gallagher sprinkled throughout this book were incredible. For example: 3,000 students who are poor readers drop out of school daily in the US (Readicide, Gallagher, 3). I was completely floored by this statistic. I love statistics and this one just seemed to nail it. For me, as a bookworm, I always found it odd that some people don’t enjoy reading. I grew up devouring books like there is no tomorrow. Gallagher’s book Readicide helped me understand that maybe it’s because teachers of reading are killing the love for reading. I especially enjoyed how he brought this to light: students in kindergarten loved reading, but with each passing grade interest in reading waned significantly. By the time students reached high school, students would hate reading and some would hate it with a passion.

Thankfully, Gallagher didn’t just point out the problem: students are no longer reading and many teachers fail to teach the love of reading. He gave suggestions for teachers of readings on how to instill the love and passion for reading into students. One suggestion that I found to be of great advice: teach students to recognize the value that comes from reading academic texts. I couldn’t agree with him more. Many students today fail to see the great importance of reading academic texts. Thus, these students miss out on information that is priceless. Gallagher mentioned how important it is for teachers of reading to get this point across to students of reading. Reading academic texts helps students glean wise and practical information from the text that they can apply to their everyday lives. Overall, I found Readicide to be an incredible book; I will defiantly be using its practical and sound advice in my future classroom.  

"edTPA Support Guide: A Support Guide for edTPA Candidates"

I greatly enjoyed reading the edTPA Support Guide: A Support Guide for edTPA Candidates. This packet had a wealth of information about what the edTPA is all about. Prior to reading this packet, I kept on hearing the word: edTPA. However, I had very little clear understanding of what the edTPA was about. I kept hearing side comments from people who completed it, and they were negative, for the most part. People complained how it was difficult, painful, time consuming, etc. I actually was quite afraid of the edTPA. But this article helped me see the edTPA for what it really was all about. I really enjoyed the section where the article talked about video tips. I found it hopeful that the article mentioned specific things we could not do with the video, i.e., share it on Facebook, YouTube, Google, etc. I heard of stories where teachers would share their videos and they would face the penalties. I was glad that the article warned us—future teachers—not to share our edTPA video with anyone, but only for those whom it has been designated for.

Besides offering great tips for the edTPA, I also discovered that I enjoyed the section: “What should include in my lesson plans?”  I discovered that in my lessons I should address all lesson plan components described in my edTPA handbook: standards, lesson objectives, assessments, instructional strategies and learning tasks, and instructional resources and material. In addition, I also learned that I should take into consideration my class demographics. I need to design lesson plans that meet the needs of my classroom demographics. I knew this to an extent already. However, this article did a great job of making me understand just how vital this part of the edTPA is. All in all, I found this packet about the edTPA Support Guide: A Support Guide for edTPA Candidates useful and extremely insightful. 

I Read It, but I Don't Get It: Comprehension Strategies for Adolescent Readers

Cris Tovani's book is an eye-opener! I was more than impressed with the ideas Tovani presented for helping reading teachers help their students. I have suspected for a long time that there are students who can read and do read, but they fail to understand the concept of what they have read. Tovani herself admits that she struggled with reading. Many people can read; however, the things they have gleaned from their reading is hard for them to dissect and analyze. Also, many high school students in the US are graduating, yet they have only read several books (many of them not even finishing the entire book they read). With so many students faking their way through reading, this should be a concern. Reading and being able to read critically are two different things. (It’s like someone being able to speak a language fluently, but not understanding what they say.) I think that is a problem. Tovani wants teachers of reading to understand that they need to help their students. After all, reading is used not only in an English class, but in math, science, history, and etc. 21st century students need to not only be able to read, but they also should be able to analyze what they have read. Now having read this book, I want to incorporate her strategies for helping students become readers who read it, and they get it. I found it insightful how she would make a connection with her students by being humble. She made sure her students would understand, she also struggled with being an analytical reader. I think that is key for a reading teacher. Many students may feel like they are “stupid” and not “born” to be good readers. I found that to be sad. I know that I have had encounters with students like that. Students who say they are not born to be good readers. They fail to understand that it requires practice. Nobody is born a “good” reader. Therefore, as a future teacher of reading, I want my students to know that any person can become a “good” reader.

What is Social Justice?

           Response to "Social Justice":

            Many people wonder what Social Justice is and for good reason. While researching and browsing the web I couldn’t find the exact definition for Social Justice. Everywhere I looked the definition of what Social Justice is was somewhat different. However, the website for National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) offered a great definition, in my opinion. “Social justice is definitionally complex; it ignites controversy, is not neutral, and varies by person, culture, social class, gender, context, space and time.” In addition, the NCTE website stated: “A grounded theory for social justice presupposes that all students should be treated with human dignity, that all are worthy of the same educational opportunities, and that the contract they enter into with schools must honor their sociocultural advantages and disadvantages.” I found this to be a great grounded theory of what Social Justice is. As humans, we all crave love. If students feel like their teacher doesn’t respect or show them love, they may distance themselves and completely shut down (not do any work). I have noticed that when I show respect to all of my students, they are more engaging in classroom discussions, and the class as a whole has an exuberant atmosphere.

Thus, as teachers we need to constantly be incorporating Social Justice in our classrooms. All of our students need to be treated equally, this is sometimes easier said than done. I remember being treated differently by some of my teachers in high school. The teachers who treated me with respect were the teachers I enjoyed learning from the most. As a result, I want to be an educator that uses social justice, in my class, to the fullest. Because I want students who are engaged and learning to their utmost potential. Therefore, I believe Social Justice is a key ingredient to making students succeed academically. 

Critical Pedagogy in an Urban High School English Classroom

Jeff Duncan-Andrae's and Ernest Morrell's essay, "Critical Pedagogy in an Urban High School English Classroom," helps the reader understand how to use make students who are in an urban high school English class succeed. Our schools are becoming more diverse with each passing decade. Thus it is important for teachers, especially English teachers, to find a way to connect with the students. I liked how the authors pointed out that by trying to make minority students connected, we actually disconnect them. Students of color can feel disempowered by so-called multicultural texts. I liked the quote: “An oppressive rendering of culturally diverse text is still oppressive.” I agree that as teachers we need to make sure our students are getting the multicultural experience. However, we need to make sure that the multicultural texts we are using don’t alienate our students even more. I know that I had classes where the teacher tried to make the class cultrally relevant. However, just the opposite was achieved.

 

While the authors did acknowledge teaching diverse texts, they did mention not “shying” away from traditional tests. After all, some of the traditional texts are of extreme benefit to students. I know that as a future English teacher. I want my students to be exposed to an array of different literature. But, I also want to make sure—like the article mentioned—not to forget to use texts that connect to everyday life of my students. Students need to see the relevance of what we are teaching them. I know that when I was in high school I always appreciated the teachers who tried to connect with our everyday reality. Helping students see this is I believe vital for them to succeed as English students. All in all, I found this article to be informative and a great help on how to teach urban high school English students. 

Critical Pedagogy: A Look at the Major Concepts

Critical Pedagogy: A Look at the Major Concepts by Peter McLaren examines: the importance of theory, critical pedagogy and the social construction of knowledge, forms of knowledge, class, culture, dominant culture, subordinate culture, and subculture, cultural forms, hegemony, ideology, prejudice, etc. He does an incredible job of bringing to light the major concepts of critical pedagogy. Like listed above, he breaks this down into categories and does an incredible job of explaining his beliefs. Ideology is the one category of these terms that stood out to me. I found it intriguing how he brought to light how ideology permeates all of social life. I agree with his statement. So much of what we do as educators can be directly or indirectly be linked to our ideology or as he puts it, the ideology we have is a result of our culture upbringing. McLaren, towards the end of this category, goes on to pose a few questions for his readers. These questions are for teachers and they are not simple questions. He wants the teacher to ask the why question, why do we teach this way or that way? Why are we following this way of thinking? In the end, it all boils down to: our ideology.

McLaren wants educators not to be afraid of asking questions. Just because we (teachers) have been teaching a certain way for many years and every other teacher we knows has too, this doesn't mean we shouldn't question why we are doing these certain practices. The teacher needs to open themselves up to the reality that many of these teaching practices are not carved in stone, but are, in reality, socially constructed. Here I agree with McLaren wholeheartedly—teachers need to be critical thinkers. No teaching practice should be taken for granted. I know that—as a future educator—I want to question every teaching practice and ask the why question. I have always been interested with asking why. Therefore, this article was somewhat of a dense read because it had lots of information that made me stop and think deeply. 

Pedagogy of the Oppressed

The excerpt from Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed looks into the relationship between teachers and students from a somewhat outdated worldview. According to Freire, “Education is suffering from narration sickness.” Freire believes the teacher is nothing more than a tyrant. The teacher talks, talks, talks, and drills and grills the poor, helpless student—this is what Freire thinks of teachers. I kind of see where he is coming from—given the fact this article was written in 1993—but I don’t think that teachers today are like this anymore. Traditionally, teachers lectured 90% of the time and students were able to ask questions the reaming 10% of the time. However, today, teachers can and do allow students more opportunity to converse with the teacher and each other. I believe the ration now is 40% lecture time for the teacher and 60% of the time is for the students.

At the end of his long rant on education, Freire makes a bold statement: “No oppressive order could permit the oppressed to begin to question: Why?” I think that sums up his beef with education and educators. He must have been traumatized, as a child, and now feels obligated to tell the world, we need a revolution in education. I think if he would have written this in 2015, he would reconsider his argument because teachers no longer are supposed to be that tyrannical dictator who cracks out the ruler on his or her subservient students. Also, in my experience, teachers allow room for discussion in the class, like never before. Students are expected to talk and share ideas. No longer is it acceptable to pick on the same students over and over again. Therefore, Freire today would—most likely—not be so harsh on teachers because teachers don’t rule with an iron fist any longer. Today, teachers seem to be blamed for everything because many students come from homes that set no boundaries for their kids. Thus, Johnny deserves an A regardless of whether he actually earned it. I actually think teachers are the “oppressed” these days and they need to be encouraged more by society and NOT discouraged. Teachers are truly working with America’s future: the students. 

A Response-Based Approach to Reading Literature

The article A Response-Based Approach to Reading Literature by Judith A. Langer opened my eyes to different ideas on how to better educate students when teaching them literature. Langer helped make it clear what is to be done in the classroom to make students be able to: negotiate their own meanings by exploring possibilities, consider understandings from multiple perspectives, sharpen their own interpretations, and learn about features of literary style and analysis through the insights of their own responses. She wants students to have an experience in the classroom--that teaches literature--in such a way that compels the student to learn in freedom. Many of us have had classes that taught literature through the eyes of the teacher. We knew what the teacher viewed as "right" and "wrong". Langer helps her reader understand: we need to allow room for the students to develop their own ideas and interpretations of the literature. I think this is a great idea. 

When we allow students to interpret literature from their own personal and cultural experiences, they can make a connection. This connection--in essences-- excites them. Literature then comes ALIVE! I know from personal experience: literature—most certainly—comes alive when I connect my readings with my own personal experience. When I connect with the literature, I learn more.  In addition, Langer offered a great guideline for instruction concerning the teaching of literature. She suggested class meetings should be a time when students explore possibilities and develop understanding instead of recounting acquired meanings. This tip—I believe—is one I think that resonates with me the most. I know I learn best when I’m challenged to explore possibilities and develop my own understanding of literature.. All in all, this article helps the reader understand how a teacher can help their students achieve maximum success in a literature class by offering sound advice.

SIOP

The Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) was developed to make content material more comprehensible to English Language Learners. The model was developed by Jana Echevarria, Mary Ellen Vogt and Deborah J. Short. After reading about SIOP, I believe the authors did an incredible job of helping me understand the importance of educating English Language Learners in a way that is simple but not “watered down.” America is becoming increasingly more bilingual and I agree—as educators—we need to know how to teach ELL students in such a way where they actually understand what they are being asked.

I’m bilingual and I remember the frustrations—growing up—I had learning English. I remember having to read the word island. I could not understand why we pronounced it with a silent s. When I would read the word island, I would pronounce it as izland. I also like how SIOP mentioned, “Concepts must be directly related to the students’ background experiences, when possible, whether personal, cultural, or academic.” I believe this is key to helping ELL students; they need to feel connected to the language, so to speak. I remember reading an article which mentioned, we learn best when we can connect something new with something we already know. Thus, when we are teaching—for example—Russian ELL students, we need to take into account their culture, experiences, etc. Also, if we are teaching Spanish ELL, students we need to do the same, every ELL student will be different and so we need to make that cultural connection, if we are to be successful ELL teachers. Therefore, SIOP is an incredibly important tool which educators of ELL students need to take into account. The ideas and practical information offered are—most definitely—something every ELL teacher should consider with his or her students.        

Response to "The Common Core State Standards"

Response to "The Common Core State Standards"

Chapter 1 from, "The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts Instruction in Grades 6-12," helps the reader understand what these state standards are all about. The chapter explains how—as an educator—curriculum will be shaped by the Common Core State Standards because most states in the US have adopted them. In addition, this chapter helped explain the origins, goals, and challenges CCSS face. CCSS has both positive and negative aspects to it. CCSS were created to help the US have better achieving students who will be ready to face the competitive 21^st century. Having high standards for America’s students helps them meet the high expectations of the 21^st century. But there are negative aspects to CCSS as well.

By 2030—in just 15 years—Americas’ students will be very diverse. Many of today’s ethnic minorities will be the dominant face of America’s future classrooms. No longer will only “white literature” be acceptable and normal to teach. Thus, one negative aspect of CCSS is it can in some ways hinder diversity (the chapter mentioned how this could happen). I felt like I really could identify with the lack of diversity in today’s literature. I went to a predominantly white school and language arts teachers seemed to pick literature that wasn’t diverse enough. I’m glad this chapter mentioned how books need to reflect America’s great growing diversity. I can only imagine how awkward it must be for students who are non-white to read—all day long—about dead white men. Therefore, it was great how this chapter addressed the issue: cultural diversity.

It was also interesting to read about one of the teachers experience in her classroom. The teacher overcame what seemed like the impossible: lack of diverse literature. Although she was teaching a class that was predominately white, she did find a creative way to get around teaching her students diverse literature. I found it intriguing how the majority of the class wanted to learn about different cultures. This was telling. All in all, this chapter helped me better understand the history, positives, and negatives of CCSS. 

Discussion as a Way of Teaching

I found this article to be insightful and full of common sense type of stuff. I enjoyed the tips the author provided on how to teach discussion and why it is beneficial for the teacher and students. I especially enjoyed reading “Practicing the dispositions of democratic discussion” part of the pamphlet. Practicing the nine dispositions mentioned: hospitality, participation, mindfulness, humility, mutuality, deliberation, appreciation, hope, and autonomy will definitely benefit a classroom discussion. The disposition which stood out to me was: humility. Humility seems to be missing in many discussions today. Because we live in the Information Age, people assume they know it all. I know I have to stop myself and remind myself—often during discussions—that my knowledge is limited. I liked how the article mentioned, “Humility helps us remember that learning is always an uncertain, even uneasy quest.” This puts it all into perspective. At the end of the day, humility is—in my humble opinion—the key ingredient to having a successful and engaging discussion.  I want to always remember this because when I forget humility, I forget what it means to truly have a democratic discussion.

Chapter 2 of the pamphlet was an interesting read as well. This chapter discussed the fifteen benefits of discussion. There was one benefit which stood out to me: discussion develops new appreciation for continuing difference. I found this benefit to be very insightful. I thought the author hit the nail on the head when he wrote, “An airing of differences can stimulate more discussion and provide an opportunity to clarify one’s views in relation to another’s. This is exactly why I found this benefit of discussion to be the most eye revealing for me. Therefore, as a future teacher, now I understand more clearly the great benefits of discussion and how to make great discussions take place in the classroom—thanks to this great read.