Learning Letter

This is a bittersweet final post to write.  At least a final post concerning my English 493 Class.  I have spent this quarter immersed in theory and practice that I have not gotten in any other class before.  I've gone from aspects that I am familiar with to ones that it took me a moment to wrap my brain around.  Pedagogy of the Oppressed was a difficult text for me to understand, for example.  And SIOP is something I've gotten in depth instruction on.  All of it placed together had created a new section of my brain that didn't exist before.

I actually did mean to say a 'section' of my brain, because it isn't just ideas.  It's more than just knowledge.  The entire course was planned to scaffold us into the mock trial of the mini-lesson and the grueling task of the Unit Plan.  It was a step-by-step process that I didn't fully understand until it was finished.  My own first experience with scaffolding a student was a surprise to me too.  It wasn't until later that I realized what I had done.  This course was like that.  The funny thing is that we were informed that it would be scaffolded at the beginning of the course.  But it wasn't until the end, until now, that I realized the extent of it.  I don't know whether or not the course would have worked if it had not been formatted in this way.

The course also helped me realize that I had begun to look at myself as part teacher and part student.  I have been assessing my own professors for quite a few quarters now.  And I have been compiling books and ideas for lessons on a small bookcase.  I find myself smiling indulgently at people who mock my choice of career or call me crazy.  This course helped me to see that this was just my way of accepting and stepping into my future role as an instructor.  I am, of course, still a student.  I have been drowning in finals and worried about grades and dragging my feet to campus in sweat pants.  But the change has begun.  My change has begun.

I saw this in the mini-lesson I taught.  I was a nervous wreck before it began and at the start I stumbled and forgot the order of my lesson.  Then, I'm not even sure why, I felt my shoulders relax and my smile was real and I was enjoying myself in front of the class.  The change was stark to me in reflecting on it afterwards.  There was no mention of it, so others may not have seen the change.  But it was like a freight train to me.  And I just thought ... "I can DO this!"  And that is a wonderful thought to have.

I'm still a little unsure about the intensity that comes out of Pedagogy of the Oppressed.  I can pick out the theories it holds that make it such a well quoted text.  I even agree with some of them.  I am just not as well versed in the ravaged and oppressive world that this work was written in.  It's hard to swallow the energy behind this text without having experienced the devastation first hand.  I try to come as close as I can, but I don't know that I will ever get there.

I also believe that I will be struggling with the Common Core State Standards for a while to come.  They are so specific and in some ways so vague that I struggle to find what they are actually asking sometimes.  This statement might need a little more clarification.  It's not the standards themselves that are vague, instead it is the connections that I will have to make to my lessons to cover them.  If I'm not teaching a a novel, but poetry, how do I teach the way that the author creates tension and mystery?  That is a very specific type of poem I would have to find, because it is difficult to parlay some poems into this aspect.  I understand that not all standards must be covered at one time, but repetition is always a good idea.  The standards are very specific to what it should cover in that grade level, but it is up to me in some respects to figure out how to apply it.  That will be my struggle.

Teaching will always be a struggle in some respects.  The field is always evolving.  The students are never the same.  The answers I receive could be shocking.  Some students will struggle no matter how hard I try (but I will never stop trying).  And some schools will be uncomfortable to work in.  I know this.  I understand this.  I accept this.  And I am looking forward to every moment of it!

Mini Lesson on The Complete Persepolis

TPA Lesson Plan #____12___

1. Teacher Candidate	Tara Halvorson		Date Taught	3/11/2015
Cooperating     Teacher	John Smith		School/District	District 81
2. Subject	English		Field Supervisor	Katie Higgins
3. Lesson Title/Focus	Exploring the Impact of Color on The Complete Persepolis		5. Length of Lesson	20 minutes
4. Grade Level		11

6. Academic & Content Standards (Common Core/National)	CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.3 Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed). CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.11-12.5 Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.
7. Learning Objective(s)	The students will be able to analyze the author’s choice to use only contrasting colors and how those choices affect the development of story elements, meaning and aesthetic impact of the text.
8. Academic Language demands (vocabulary, function, syntax, discourse)	Aesthetic - design choices which are meant to give pleasure through beauty Graphic Weight - describes how some images draw the eye more than others, ex: the use of light or dark shades, dark-toned images, or high-contrast images Space - refers to the area between, around, above, below, and within objects Negative Space - spaces surrounding shapes or forms Positive Space - shapes or forms

9. Assessment

Observe students’ participation in discussions. Check for their comprehension of how the author uses contrasting colors to create meaning and aesthetic impact. Assess student made comics for understanding of story development and aesthetic impact

10. Lesson Connections

Schwarz, G. E. (2002). “Graphic Novels for Multiple Literacies”. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 46. 262-265. By providing direct instruction on the art and craft of the graphic novel, students develop an appreciation for how visual elements such as color, perspective, and point of view manipulate the viewers emotions and influence their comprehension of various subjects. Lesson occurs during the reading of the text.  Lessons on the realities of the war in Iran in the 1980’s and war in general have been discussed.  The author’s background and the fact this is a biography has been covered. Students have been taught that the first thing they do in class in to copy the Learning Objective down in their notebooks. Students have class experience in calling out their answers and being courteous and polite and taking turns speaking. Students have shown in previous assessments that they are not taking the art into account in how the story is told.  This lesson will help them to analyze the novel not just for the words, but also for the impact that the art itself has on the story.

11. Instructional Strategies/Learning Tasks to Support Learning
Learning Tasks and Strategies
Teacher’s Role Teacher will display the Learning Objective and take role.                      Teacher will call on a student to read the Learning Objective out loud.  Teacher will ask the class to try to explain what the learning objective means.  Then teacher will transition into the lesson. Teacher will lead students in creating lists of what they think of when they see/read/hear White/Light and Black/Dark. Teacher will introduce specific vocabulary and tie it to the list that was made.  Teacher will mention that these are terms she will be looking for on the upcoming essay. Teacher will show two images of a child soldier from the Iran war in 1980.  Teacher will remind students of the previous lessons on the war and child soldiers.  Teacher will ask the students to define how the differences in color change or do not change the impact of the image. Teacher will direct students to look specifically at pages 138-142 of The Complete Persepolis.  She will ask them to study the use of graphic weight, positive and negative space, and how that affects the impact of the action. Teacher will ask the class why they think the author may have chosen the black or white negative space that she did.  Teacher will focus on the difference between panels 4, 5, and 6 on page 139 and panel 7. Also focusing on panel 1 on page 140, not just the contrasts by why the author may have placed the graphic weight where she did in accordance with the contrasting color halves.  Then finally discussing panel 5 on page 142 and why the author would chose to end on just black and how that affects what is said in the panel. Teacher will ask students to pair up and pass out materials to each group (a bag of paste-able images, glue sticks, and comic frames).  Teacher will instruct students that they will be creating their own comics using the idea of graphic weight, space, and contrasting colors.  Each student will make their own comic, but each pair will share the supplies.  Teacher will explain they students can draw their own comic instead of using the supplies if they wish, but that there must still be a representation of contrasting colors in the comics to help tell the story.  Students may also ask other groups for extra cut-outs if they need more.  The story may be about any topic the students wish to choose, even a fictional story.  Comics must include a beginning and end to the story.  Teacher will circulate around the class to answer and questions and to also keep all students on task. Once comics are done, or most students are done, teacher will ask for volunteers to share their work.  Teacher will inform students to not just tell their story but why they chose to use/not use contrasting colors and graphic weight. Teacher will return to the slide with the Learning Objective while she asks the students if they feel the class had achieved the objective. Teacher will assign pages 155-188 to read for the next day.	Students’ Role        Students will copy the Learning Objective into their notebooks to keep objective for later use. Student who is called on will read the Learning Objective out loud to reinforce memory. Students will individually call out what they think of when they see/read/hear White/Light and Black/Dark, taking turns speaking and being courteous to others. Students will copy down the vocabulary and definitions in their notebooks for later use, such as on the upcoming essay. Students will study the two images shown and tie them back with the memory of the previous lesson on the Iran war of the 1980’s and child soldiers.  Students will call out their opinions on how the differences in color change or do not change the impact of the image and why.  Students will take turns speaking and be courteous. Students will individually study pages 138-142 and assess them using the idea of graphic weight, positive and negative space, and how that affects the impact of the action. Students will take turns calling out why they believe that the author chose to use the black or white negative space that she did.  Students will focus on panels 4, 5, and 6 on page 139 and compare it to panel 7 and explain the difference and the impact.  They will also do the same for panel 1 on page 140.  Finally they will discuss why they think the author chose to end the chapter with a completely black screen and how this affect what has happened and what was written in the panel.  If a student had not spoken in the previous discussions, the teacher will call on them to include them in this one. Students will choose a partner and move to sit together if necessary.  Students will listen to the instructions on how to create their individual comics using the materials that the teacher hands out to them.  Students will choose the story they wish to tell and decide how to place that in the four panels.  Students will work individually on their comic, but may ask their partner or the teacher for clarification as they work.  Students will make sure that their story includes a beginning and end and they it uses contrasting colors and graphic weight to help tell the story. Students will volunteer to share their comics with the class.  They will not only tell the story, but also why they made the choices they did in regards to contrasting colors and graphic weight. Students will compare the knowledge they had about the learning objective at the beginning of the class with what they know now and ask any questions about the learning objective that they are still unclear about.
Student Voice At the beginning of class, a student will read aloud the learning objective and the class will try to explain what it means.  At the end of the class, the teacher will again show the learning objective and ask the class if they have question about it or if they feel they have accomplished the objective.

12. Differentiated Instruction

Listening, speaking, writing, and reading will all be used.  This will help auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners gather their information.  The comic assignment will also help kinesthetic learners and introverts and ELLs prove that they understand the information.  The use of partners will also help introverted and ELL students to feel more comfortable asking questions and creating understanding, as well as the teacher circulating will allow students to ask questions they may have and did not want to ask in front of the class.  The vocabulary will also be printed and available to those students who read and write too slowly to copy in the time allotted.

13. Resources and Materials Prezi Presentation Dry erase marker Glue sticks Comic format Bags of comic characters/black negative space Printed vocabulary lists from certain students Notebooks (students) The Complete Persepolis (students and teacher)

14. Management and Safety Issues

Class discussions can become hectic if students do not respectfully take turns speaking.  This class will already have experience with this technique.  If they do not courteously take turns speaking, the teacher will resort to calling names and having students raise their hands. Students may lose focus as they choose partners and become off task.  Teacher will give a warning that they only have thrity seconds to find their partner and have a seat.  Should the students not listen, the teacher will clap her hands in a rhythmic manner and the students will releat the clap.  This will happen again and again until everyone’s attention is on the teacher.  Then she will remind the students to immediately find their partners and take a seat.  The clapping will be an experience that the students are already familiar with. Sharing supplies can be a problem with some students.  If a problem should arise, teacher will calmly approach the group and try to calmly mediate the problem.  If the problem continues, the two students will be asked to step outside of the classroom and the teacher will join them to mediate the problem in a quieter and more private setting.

15. Parent & Community Connections

The stories that are created are of the student’s choosing.  The teacher will encourage the students to share their wonderful work with their parents. Page 140, which is being discussed in class, concerns the imagined loss of the author’s family.  This will be included in the discussion of why the contrasting colors were chosen.

The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid’s Tale

Written by: Margaret Atwood

Summary:

            The Handmaid's Tale is set in the near future in the Republic of Gilead, a theocratic military dictatorship formed within the borders of what was formerly the United States of America.

Beginning with a staged terrorist attack (blamed on Islamic extremist terrorists) that kills the President and most of Congress, a movement calling itself the "Sons of Jacob" launches a revolution and suspends the United States Constitution under the pretext of restoring order. They are quickly able to take away all of women's rights, largely attributed to financial records being stored electronically and labelled by gender. The new regime moves quickly to consolidate its power and reorganize society along a new militarized, hierarchical, compulsorily Christian regime of Old Testament-inspired social and religious ultra-conservatism among its newly created social classes. In this society, almost all women are forbidden to read.

The story is presented from the point of view of a woman called Offred (literally Of-Fred). The character is one of a class of women kept as concubines ("handmaids") for reproductive purposes by the ruling class in an era of declining births due to sterility from pollution and sexually transmitted diseases. The book is told in the first person by Offred, who describes her life during her third assignment as a handmaid, in this case to Fred (referred to as "The Commander"). Interspersed in flashbacks are portions of her life from before and during the beginning of the revolution, when she finds she has lost all autonomy to her husband, through her failed attempt to escape with her husband and daughter to Canada, to her indoctrination into life as a handmaid. Offred describes the structure of Gilead's society, including the several different classes of women and their circumscribed lives in the new theocracy.

The Commander is a high-ranking official in Gilead. Although he is only supposed to have sex with Offred during "the Ceremony", a ritual at which his wife is present, he begins an illegal and ambiguous relationship with her. He reveals to her hidden or contraband aspects of the new society, such as fashion magazines and cosmetics. He takes her to a secret brothel run by the government, and he furtively meets with her in his study, where he allows her to read, an activity otherwise proscribed for women. The Commander's wife, Serena Joy, also has secret interactions with Offred, arranging for her secretly to have sex with Nick, Serena's driver, in an effort to get Offred pregnant. In exchange for Offred's cooperation, Serena Joy gives her news of her daughter, whom Offred has not seen since she and her family were captured trying to escape Gilead.

After Offred's initial meeting with Nick, they begin to rendezvous more frequently. Offred discovers she enjoys sex with Nick, despite her indoctrination and her memories of her husband. She shares potentially dangerous information about her past with him. Through another handmaid, Ofglen, Offred learns of the Mayday resistance, an underground network working to overthrow Gilead. Shortly after Ofglen's disappearance (later discovered to be a suicide), the Commander's wife finds evidence of the relationship between Offred and the Commander. Offred contemplates suicide. As the novel concludes, she is being taken away by men from the secret police, the Eyes of God, known informally as "the Eyes", under orders from Nick. Before she is put in the large black van, Nick tells her that the men are part of the Mayday resistance and that Offred must trust him. Offred does not know if Nick is a member of the Mayday resistance or a government agent posing as one, and she does not know if going with the men will result in her escape or her capture. She enters the van with her future uncertain.

The novel concludes with a metafictional epilogue that explains that the events of the novel occurred shortly after the beginning of what is called "the Gilead Period". The epilogue is a "transcription of a Symposium on Gileadean Studies written sometime in the distant future (2195)." According to the symposium's "keynote speaker" Professor Pieixoto, he and colleague Professor Knotly Wade discovered Offred's story recorded onto cassette tapes. They transcribed the tapes, calling them collectively "the handmaid's tale". Through the tone and actions of the professionals in this final section of the book, the world of academia is highlighted and critiqued.[5] The epilogue implies that, following the collapse of the theocratic Republic of Gilead, a more equal society re-emerged with a restoration of full rights of women and freedom of religion.

Why choose this text:

            When I was in my junior year of high school the time of year came when the class needed to choose a book from the approved list.  I was unsure what to choose and asked my teacher for advice.  She smiled at me and told me she knew the exact book that I should read.  The next day she brought me this book from her own library.  It changed my view on women’s rights in a way nothing had before.  To this day I still hold onto this book in my mind with the hope that one day I will be able to recommend it to one of my students.

I was a proficient reader and I would not recommend the use of this book with struggling readers.  I would also suggest that the students who study this sort of material are of a higher grade level or are in AP classes.  The discussions that must arise from a book which tackles the subjects of religion and oppression may not be suitable for a younger audience.  Whatever class uses this text should be prepared to tackle this subject area and the classroom culture should feel safe for the students.

How to use this text:

The topics of this text include religious and gender oppression and the environment.

·         Current events in multiple corners of the world are encompassed in these factors currently.  This book could easily be tied to the study of the current war in the Middle East. 

·         Gender oppression can also be tied easily with the history of the United States.  Discussions of women attaining the right to vote would tie in well with this story.

·         The use of handmaids in the text came to be because of pollution and sexually transmitted diseases.  This could be tied to current world events as well.  The AIDS epidemic in Africa, global warming, the aftermath of the tsunami in Japan, or the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico are all changing and affecting our world and can be discussed.

Obstacles:

This is a controversial text.  Its topics are hotly debated in current events.  The oppression of women and their fight for some sort of agency is a difficult subject when taken into context with the struggles in the Middle East.  There is always the chance that your class could include students from a culture where women are a separate class from men.  This could make those students and their families uncomfortable.  The administration shouldn’t find fault in the discussion of women’s rights or the right to vote for women wouldn’t be taught in school.  There could be a far greater amount of backlash from the dark portrayal of religious extremists.  Even though it is clear that the dictatorship IS the work of extremists and not the average Christian, Christianity is the politically prominent religion in America.  Certain schools will not allow the teaching of a book which smears the Christian religion and certain parents will not allow it either.  This is something that will need to be discussed with the administration and a decision made on whether or not to send a note home to the parents.

An Extra Note:

The idea of a subjugated dystopian society is nothing new.  1984 has been taught and debated since it was created.  The difference in this work is that the subject is wrapped in religion and focused on the plight of women.  It is up to you as instructors if those are topics you wish to attack.  They are hotly debated. 

It should also be noted that the basis of the Gilead society is wrapped up in the Old Testament.  The use of handmaids as concubines has a biblical origin.  Jacob took his two wives handmaidens as concubines when his wives were unable to have children.  Abraham also took his wife’s handmaid.  It was believed that since the handmaids belonged to the wives that they were a suitable substitute; the baby would still come from the wife, instead it would be born of her property rather than her body.

 If you decide to speak on these subjects, this is a well written and engaging book to use.

Assessing and Evaluating Students' Learning

The idea of assessment is a tricky one in many ways.  Assessment can be something as simple as listening in to group conversations to gather knowledge on who is participating and how much they understand the topic.  It could be an in depth portfolio covering work from the entire school year compiled and reflected on.  Or it could be an entrance or exit tag where the student comments on something they learned or something that confused them.  This particular article focuses on way to assess learning in regards to literature.  This can be an even more tricky subject to tackle.  I agree with the text's assumption that how a teacher assesses her students depends on what she expects them to take from the text.  If she values facts and specific literary devices than she would probably use a test which would reflect that.  She might have multiple choice or fill in the blank or matching or short answer.  She could even include an essay which deals with how exactly the work uses similes or metaphors.

I do not want to teach my students to regurgitate facts; at least not when it comes to literature.  I understand that it is difficult sometimes for teachers not to "teach to the test" in the storm of standardized tests that students must face.  And those texts are largely a regurgitation of facts.  But I believe that it is important to grow beyond that and to take your students with you on the ride.

In a previous work I read, it said that students who learn to really understand and analyse literature are actually better prepared to take on the mind-numbing standardized test.  I agree with this assumption.  As a student I was always good at dissecting a piece of literature.  I was also prone to higher scores on standardized tests when it came to reading and writing.  I believe that these things go hand in hand.  And I hope that all of my students can find that connection as well.  It will be my greatest work and my greatest honor to lead my students into critical thinking and all of the help it will give them in life (not just on tests).

In line with that point I want to speak on a specific paragraph in the text being discussed.  On page 237 near the bottom is a quote from the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English which, summarized, states that testing should be based in how people actually acquire language.  There is not one right way to persuade someone of something.  There are different tactics and language involved with selling a house or asking someone on a date or persuading a boss as apposed to a subordinate.  Because persuasion does not come in a single form, it makes very little sense that a persuasive essay would be the same for every topic.  Knowing this, instruction and assessment should reflect it and trying to assign a single meaning to such a concept is unacceptable.

At the current time, being in school as I am, I find myself torn in my classes between these two poles.  I have been taught to take multiple choice tests and I'm good at them.  I know test taking strategies and I can apply them easily.  But I LOVE discussions about a text.  I love debating and hearing new perspectives.  I love expanding my view by trying to see someone else's.  I love that I can write an essay about a topic that interests me and pour my passion onto the page.  I am more alive when I am being challenged by a counter point to something that I believe in.  And all of this lets me know that there is not single way to approach something, especially literature.  I wouldn't be happy if there was.  And I hope that I NEVER fall into the trap where I start to expect autonomy from my students!  Because I certainly don't expect it from myself!

Spokane Regional ESL Conference

A great opportunity is happening in about a weeks time.  Next Saturday, February 28, Spokane will host the 26th Annual Regional ESL Conference.  It is open to teachers, future teachers, and anyone interested.  The price is $30 if bought online before the day of the conference.  Online the day of it's $40 and it's $45 at the door.  This price includes an entire day of presentations (of which you get to choose which you would like to attend), a light breakfast, and lunch.  It runs from 8am-4pm and I suggest showing up a little early if you wish to find a good parking spot.  It is held at the Mukogawa Fort Wright Institute and the presentations are held in buildings all across the campus.  In other words, wear sensible shoes.  If you would like to go, and I suggest every teacher or pre-service teacher in any subject go at least once, I'm placing the website address here.

I look forward to seeing anyone who attends!!

http://spokaneesl.com/

Readicide

This book is worth a read to any English teacher either in-service or preparing to be.  I admit that it does read a little obsessive in places.  Mr. Gallagher is very passionate about his position and this is obvious throughout.  This being said, his points are highly valid and useful. 

His advocation for ingraining a love of reading in students through a press towards recreational reading and a lessening of focus on test taking is a golden image that I would love to see happen.  Even he admits it is a difficult road to travel though.  Current and pre-service teachers are already aware of the politics and budget constraints of schools and districts, so I won't go back into that here.  What I will say is that I agree it is worth the struggle to create proficient readers who actually enjoy the task.

I appreciated how Mr. Gallagher interspersed his position with quotes and figures to back in it.  One such interesting fact, beginning on page 39 and continuing to be used throughout the book, describes the scientific effects that reading or the lack there of causes in the adolescent brain.  Basically the study that is quoted states that if a child is not adequately stimulated through varying type of reading and information acquisition, then the frontal lobes of their brains will not properly develop.  It is not simply schema that is left in the dust from the lack of reading, it is also the physical development of the brain.  This is something I will be chewing on for quite some time.

But thankfully, as the book continues, Mr. Gallagher gives the reader options on how to avoid this problem.  I appreciate the appendix in the back of the book that includes a list of books that his actual students have found interesting and worthwhile.  These are books that adolescents have actually read, will actually read, and that I am glad to have listed for me to use in my future classroom.

edTPA

I readily admit that as a future teacher the edTPA terrifies me.  This is an assessment which must be passed by all Washington education students.  It includes written lesson plan units with in depth commentary, a self assessment at the end with a focus on how to better instruction should you teach the same lesson again, and a video of specific clips of the actual instruction within the classroom.  The scope of the project is vast and daunting to someone who is just starting out.  Though I have been assured that I will be thoroughly prepared for this assessment by the time it comes around.  The text I'm speaking about today is a support guide for the edTPA so that candidates can make better choices.  I admit that it is helpful to receive a pamphlet like this one, where specifics of what the assessors will be looking for in judging the edTPA are given.

I am aware that there are more in depth aspects to the edTPA that are simply implied in this particular text, but I still feel a little better prepared.  A perfect example of this is the fact that this text answered at least one of my questions about what would be required of a student teacher who was restricted by a school which specified lessons and how they should be taught.  This containment that I have heard of being used by some school and/or districts left me to wonder how a student teacher was to prove their own teaching skills on the edTPA.  This text informed me that it is still possible.  That in the commentary I can address how I "selected or modified curriculum materials with [my] students' background and needs in mind, and how [I] adapted a lesson to meet [my] students' learning needs, and/or how [I] made accommodations for particular students' needs."  I have not yet been placed in a school, so I am unaware if I will need to worry about a set curriculum or not.  It was simply nice to know that if I should come across it, I have options.  These options can also apply to my future and the chance that I might find a teaching position in a school which has a set curriculum.  Even in an environment such as that, a teacher still has some autonomy to make sure the material is suited to her class.

I also appreciated that advice that when it comes to the video portion of the edTPA an expensive video camera is not actually necessary.  And the best way to know if the camera you use will record a clear enough picture and sound is to test it.  I had not considered this before.  The text's claim that a trial run will not only help me to understand the mechanics of the picture and sound, but will allow my students to become more comfortable around the equipment is a brilliant idea.  I know how I react when I'm faced with a camera, even when I've been warned.  If my students are anything like me, they would feel shy and become far more quiet than they normally would.  This would be counter productive to my needs in the edTPA.  A trial run is simply a good idea all the way around!

I read it, but I don't get it

I really appreciated this text for the practical uses it supplies.  Yet what stuck out the most to me, for the first time in all of the previous texts I've spoken of here, wasn't the practical side.  Instead I was struck by the constant need for explicit instruction.  I admit that somewhere inside of my brain I had already adopted the idea that by the time a student reaches high school, they should be capable of reading.  Page 20 says that "it's not that children haven't been taught to read in elementary school ... rather, reading instruction needs to continue after elementary school.  Reading instruction at the primary level focuses on decoding and reading with fluency.  Intermediate instruction emphasizes meaning and ideas in both literature and nonfiction."

This is a very new concept to me.  And throughout the book even the author admits that she is constantly being reminded that students do not enter her class with the knowledge that she thinks they should have; more aptly, they enter with only the information that they have been directly taught in the past.  These two ideas do not often parallel each other, or at least that is what Mrs. Tovani found in her years of teaching.

I admit to having laughed when Mrs. Tovani spoke of there being voices in her head, much like her students did.  Then I thought about it while I continued to read the text.  I heard the words as they were written on the page repeated in my mind.  Then I saw the movie that it created just behind that first voice.  And every so often a third voice would interject with an inference or question that I had about the text I was reading.  It was a unique experience for me to notice these aspects of my own mind.  I have always been a good reader.  I memorized books before I had actually been taught to read.  And I remember trying to read every single sign that I passed while driving in the car with my mother.  I got so good that I almost could read every sign.  And while I remembered this experience, I applied it to the subject of this book and realized that I was also making connections and inferences while I practiced.

In particular I remember a sign that we use to pass all the time.  I loved that sign.  It was a business called Baby Bumpers, Beds, and Britches.  And I thought it was a wonderful tongue twister.  When I first tried to read it, I would get all jumbled up (even just reading it in my head).  Then I got good at it.  Then I got fast at it.  And I would compare it to the tongue twister "Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers."  I remember thinking the sign was a better tongue twister and I would look forward to going past it and reading it as quickly as possible.

I share this story because that is the premise of this book.  To go from sounding out words, to making connections with yourself and your knowledge, to understanding what exactly is happening within your thought processes.  I have a new appreciation for what exactly it is that I, as a good reader, have done all these years.  And though I have never really struggled with reading, I hope that I can still find a way to deal with the sullen "This is stupid"s and "I don't care"s in such a way that can nudge my readers forward into enjoying and understanding the art of reading.

Social Justice in the Classroom

Defining Social Justice is a difficult thing to do. As I've looked over a multitude of articles, blogs, etc, that is what I keep reading. But is think the simplest definition I found does in fact work. That the idea of social justice is to address the injustices of society. It is backwards and files almost neatly into a logical fallacy, but it is correct. Societies throughout the world are struggling with issues that are destructive to their ways of life. Famine, war, genocide, disease... People are suffering. There is also the idea of racial injustice/inequality that can hit a little closer to home for people in the US. The disparities of the socioeconomic system - that's another good one. But a definition isn't enough. It's not nearly enough. As educators (or future educators) it is our job to move beyond informing future generations that bad things happen and into a special place where we drive them to ACT.

Every person can make a difference.

This is a hard fact for many to swallow. Sure, the idea has been thrown at us on a regular basis. Sure, we talk about wanting to help others when we hear about some disaster. But how many of us have actually done anything? Even a small anything? That is what educators need to strive for in their classrooms.

Shelley Wright is a teacher and blogger from Canada who waits with baited breath for the portion of the year where she can teach her students about social justice.

Everything about this semester is intricately crafted. As a class we’re going somewhere. I teach the Holocaust for a reason beyond the fact that my students find it interesting. I teach the Rwandan genocide for reasons other than to show them that genocide has happened, and continues to happen, repeatedly. The truth is I teach both of these to show my students that the bystander effect is lethal, often on a scale beyond our imagination.

She quotes Bono

We can be the generation that no longer accepts that an accident of latitude determines whether a child lives or dies — but will we be that generation? Will we in the West realize our potential or will we sleep in the comfort of our affluence with apathy and indifference murmuring softly in our ears? Fifteen thousand people dying needlessly every day from AIDS, TB, and malaria. Mothers, fathers, teachers, farmers, nurses, mechanics, children. This is Africa’s crisis. That it’s not on the nightly news, that we do not treat this as an emergency — that’s our crisis.

Future generations flipping through these pages will know whether we answered the key question. The evidence will be the world around them. History will be our judge, but what’s written is up to us. We can’t say our generation didn’t know how to do it. We can’t say our generation couldn’t afford it. And we can’t say our generation didn’t have reason to do it. It’s up to us.

And this is just the point I am hoping to make. Social Justice is a broad and convoluted topic, but teaching our students to ACT is not! We can review the racism is Huckleberry Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird As Wright did. Or we can attack more recent issues in the world as another teacher by the name of Johnathan J. Cavallero did in 2011 when the earthquake and tsunami ransacked Japan. He offered an alternative to his normal research paper to students who would like to do a service learning project. This project would still require research and writing, so he did not give up on those skills. But the students were also able to create and enact an extra step where they actually set up a fundraiser for those affected in Japan. They may have raised $320, but one of the student's journal entries sums up what Cavallero hoped for them to take away from the project.

"The money was not the most important part of it for me. I learned that people can change the lives of others, even ones all the way across the world."

I am a passionate supporter of teaching social justice in schools. By this I do not mean the intellectualized and separated-from-self regurgitation of information that has been taught in the past. I mean teaching the students to be empowered by their own ability to influence the world. With the Internet and our global connectivity, all current and future generations have a distinct advantage in acting to better the world. As educators we should all be striving to instill the drive for this action within our students!




Credits -

Shelley Wright - The Power of the Connected Classroom: Why and How I'm Yeaching Social Justice
http://plpnetwork.com/2011/05/23/the-power-of-the-connected-classroom-why-and-how-im-teaching-social-justice/

Cavallero, Jonathan J. "Engaging Millennial Students In Social Justice From Initial Class Meetings To Service Learning." New Directions For Teaching & Learning 2013.135 (2013): 75-80. Education Research Complete. Web. 4 Feb. 2015.