Assessing and Evaluating Students' Learning

I liked the idea of using informal writing as a way for students to scribble down their thoughts and reactions to what they are reading. I think this is a great way for students to work through their thoughts about things they want to discuss without worrying about being graded on spelling or grammar. This also helps for teachers to really see what their students are absorbing and understanding. I think this is a great idea, but not a lot of kids enjoy writing with pencil and paper anymore. I know so many people who prefer typing on a laptop because they can type faster than they can write, and they feel like it's helps to keep up with how fast their mind works. Hopefully, if I am allowed to, I would like to use a blog like the ones we're using for this class when I become a teacher. I would have them post journals on there, maybe use it for discussions that we didn't get to fully finish in class, or to post on there as questions arise and I can check in the evenings to answer any questions when I can. Blogs are fun, too, the students would get to pick whichever backdrop they want and make it their own (as long as it's appropriate). I really like the idea of using technology as part of the classroom.

California State Standards

I really enjoyed how this article showed how they scaffold the reading and writing process. First, it outlines what it will be talking about, then goes into detail for each section and gives more information and possible things that could help the students. For example, for Prereading, one of the things for that section to help the students is to try to get them to make a connection between their world and the world of the text. I love this because I believe that when you make a personal connection to something you are reading, it makes learning more fun. Another section I really appreciated was the "Noticing Language" section because I honestly am nervous about dealing with language that students will not understand. I know there will be times when I don't have an answer for my students and I hope it can be something we learn together and they don't lose their trust in me whenever I do not know something. However, I really liked the different tips the article gave in this section. It's definitely something I would like to refer back to if I need help with focusing on language that might be difficult for my students.

"Annotating and Questioning the Text."
I was never taught how to annotate or question a text, even in college. I was always told to just make notes whenever things didn't make sense, look up a definition of a word I didn't know and write it down, but this article gives instructions on a possible way to structurally analyze a text. It says to label the different parts of the text throughout it on the left margin; things like, summary, introduction, problem(s) being addressed, examples and conclusion. Then, it tells you to put your own thoughts about the text in the right margin. I think this is a great way to take notes as you are following along with the text, plus it keeps you and your thoughts organized (hopefully).

I think this article is a great resource when it come to the reading and writing process. I think I will definitely refer back to it when my students are struggling with a specific portion of reading and/or writing.

Book Talk #1

Sweep: Book of Shadows

Summary: At the beginning of this book, Morgan Rowlands is described as a typical teenager who is the complete opposite of her sister and parents. Her family has light hair and eyes while she has dark hair and eyes, they are morning people and Morgan isn’t, her family likes to have more of a healthy breakfast together while Morgan’s go-to breakfast is a Pop-Tart and Diet Coke. However, what is similar between them is the fact that she loves going to Sunday morning mass with her family and they always go to lunch afterwards. One day, a new student named Cal starts going to her school and Morgan is immediately drawn to him, along with many other girls. After Cal makes friends, he has a party at his house where he reveals his Wiccan origins by inviting everyone at the party to join in a circle to celebrate one of the Wiccan Sabbaths. Many of the people there are discomforted by the witchcraft and leave, but Morgan and her friend Bree decide to stay. After this, Morgan shows that she has a natural knack for witchcraft and Cal becomes very interested in her. As Cal and Morgan become closer, Morgan and Bree drift apart because of Bree’s jealousy. Later, Cal and his friends form a coven called Cirrus and during another circle, Morgan discovers that she is a blood witch, which is a person who is born with magical powers. She starts to learn more magic using herbs and earth’s elements. Soon, Morgan realizes that she was adopted and everything that makes her different from her family all starts to make sense. As the story goes on, Morgan suspects that Cal is keeping secrets from her that could possibly put them both in danger.

Rationale: I chose this book because it is about a girl finding out her true identity. Although it is a work of fiction and about magic, teenagers can relate to Morgan figuring out who she is along with love and friendships throughout the story. Teens often have problems with finding out the person they are going to be, friendships drifting apart, relationship issues and gaining life experience in general. I also like the fact that it is the first book of a 15-book series. Anyone who loves reading series would have fun with this one as they follow Morgan through her journey of love, friendship and magic. I read this series in high school and it was often my escape when I was dealing with things I wasn’t ready to face.

Teaching Ideas: I honestly don’t think I would teach this book, but I would highly recommend it to my students. However, if we are being hypothetical, I think it would be fun to teach a unit on fiction itself, have students read this and discuss the themes that are relatable to high-schoolers. Another idea would be to have my students read the book, partner up and do a presentation on an idea, topic or theme we talked about during discussions as we went through the book.

Challenges: Some challenges that could arise from using this text would be students not being comfortable with the use of magic, same as parents and if the parents are not comfortable with their kids reading about magic that could be more realistic than the magic that is in Harry Potter, then the administration will have a problem with me teaching it at all. Again, I honestly would not want to teach this in my classroom because I feel it is more of a series that is good for reading for pleasure and not analyzing.

Common Core State Standards for ENGL 6-12

Before reading this article, all I had ever heard about the Common Core State Standards was that they taught to the standardized tests that were given every year. I also heard how much my teachers didn't like Common Core because of this same reason. However, I like how this article explains the pros and cons of the Common Core State Standards and how they are supposed to work. What I personally like about the CCSS is that they are laid out for you, but you as the teacher (along with your fellow colleagues and districts) get to decide how to go about teaching to those specific standards depending on what grade you are teaching. I loved how this article emphasized that the CCSS is for setting high expectations and not standardizing. 

One of the sections I found interesting was "Learning in the 21st Century" because it gave an example of how students were given the option to choose what issue they wanted to discuss that they felt strongly about, concerning learning in the 21st century. They wanted to talk about how the school blocked certain sites on the internet and how some of those sites prohibited their research process sometimes. Their teacher then gave them roles as students and administrators, and they all had to talk on an approved site about why there shouldn't be a block on the internet and why the block should be required because of the possibility of students looking at pornography. Using the internet this way was an awesome way of using technology in the classroom and I thought it was a great idea because the students learned how to use counterarguments through role playing on an issue that they felt strongly about. It always makes learning more fun when the students actually care about what they are talking about. 

Other than this, I felt that this article was more cons than pros for CCSS. The examples they gave that could make the CCSS seen as a bad thing. The examples that stood out to me were homogenization, fragmented curricula and teaching to the test. Although these are ways not to teach, I feel like as long as you are a teacher who truly cares about learning and is excited about it, then the CCSS really shouldn't effect the way you teach, but just guide you and you do the rest. 

Graphic Novels

I personally haven't had very much experience with graphic novels. However, I am extremely excited about The Graphic Canon! After looking through Dr. Sean's copy of it, I was fascinated by all of the stories that were in them. I am still waiting to get them from the bookstore, but I can't wait to permanently have them for my classroom someday so that those who have a hard time understanding stories by just reading them, hopefully they will have fun reading them out of The Graphic Canon.

I tried looking up information about graphic novels, and pretty much what I found was that graphic novels are pretty much just book-length comics. When I kept looking, I thought it was cool that there are all types of different ones to choose from. The range of the novels go from books for boys and girls and by grade level just like regular books and I think that's amazing. I hope that when I have students who struggle with reading, I can see if a graphic novel would work better for them so that they have a visual of what is going on in the plot and they don't get bored just reading a regular book. I know so many people who have trouble getting through books because they lose their train of thought or get bored because they don't enjoy reading. I hope I get the chance to introduce graphic novels to my high schoolers someday.

Discussion as a Way of Teaching

At the very beginning, I really liked how the article made you think back to the different discussions you have been a part of, what made those discussions good or bad. When I thought back to the different group discussions I have been a part of, one of the things that always made it more fun was when everyone was involved, listening and responding to each other and a professor who knew how to guide the discussion when the conversations or topics died down and we didn't know where to go from there. I feel like group discussions would be hard to facilitate sometimes because you can prepare and prepare for all different kinds of directions that the discussion could go, but you never know where it will actually go. So I guess it would be good to be prepared for those times when the discussion trails off, you can have multiple points ready to get the discussion back on track. I used to be very uncomfortable with group discussions because I was shy and I felt that my thoughts and opinions weren't good enough or wouldn't sound smart enough and that can hinder a group discussion if everyone feels that way. After being part of different classes where discussion was a major part of the class, I grew more confident in speaking my mind when I had a different opinion than others. It's nice to hear different opinions and different sides. I think discussion can be very helpful with certain things, like poetry or trying to analyze Shakespeare. With things like that, I feel it would help students to hear what others think when they are struggling to understand what is going on. However, discussion isn't always helpful, so I think it is good to keep in mind when a good time for discussion is and when not.

 This article was awesome and I definitely plan on looking back on it someday when I'm a teacher for tips on how to lead good discussions when I feel I am struggling leading the discussions.