Emmalea Couch

Class Evaluation – Emmalea Couch June 25, 2009

Most of the material that was provided in this class I plan to use in the future. As a Secondary English Ed major with minors in math and physics, the langauge arts websites as well as the math and science websites intrigued me. I did not realize that there were so many resources for teachers on the web that are so easy to access.

I really loved the Read, Write, Think web-site and a lot of the lesson plans it provided. It was very easy to navigate, and it’s layout is visually pleasing as well as user-friendly: http://www.readwritethink.org/

I, of course, bookmarked the NCSCOS homepage. I have used this in previous classes, but never really thought about having to justify my own lessons according to it before.

I also found the PBS website, PBS.org, and the BBC website, BBC.com, easy to navigate and to have good resources.

There are many more websites we used that I have bookmarked, but these were a few that I now find essentials.

One of the most useful parts of the class for me was the articles we read. A lot of the ideas presented in them are ideas that have been vaguely floating around in my head for a long time. But I have never found the concise articulation for them before. In general, the ideas presented make good common sense. And seeing it spelled out for me, right next to resources that can help me use those methods myself, has made life easier.

Finally, just being introduced to blogging in general has changed my future as a teacher. I really think that blogging is going to be a wonderful tool to use in the high school classroom. I like this wordpress.com website, but I will probably do some digging and research to find a blog site that will best fit my classroom needs. Some controlled environment like the AsULearn website might be necessary for the classroom setting in a public secondary school.

I am definitely going to continue blogging, in and outside the classroom. I have not posted to it yet, but this class inspired me to make a personal blog: Burning Both Ends. If you’re bored, check it out: http://burningbothends.wordpress.com/

Hopefully I’ll get some content on there soon!

Subordinating Clause Poetry Lesson Plan – Emmalea Couch June 25, 2009

link: http://www.lessonplanspage.com/LAPoetry9.htm (Hotchalk’s)

This lesson takes a grammar unit on subordinating clauses and turns it into a day of writing poetry. I really love this lesson because it engages the students in multiple parts of the English curriculum at once. A student is not just writing a poem so that I can say I taught poetry. And he’s not just filling in a worksheet on subordinating conjunctions so that I can say he got his daily dose of grammar. Instead, a student is seeing how a particular part of speech actually functions in real language use, and engaging in producing that function. When you engage a student’s mind in multiple ways, when you do something interactive, they are much more likely to retain what they learn. The poetry here could be applied to something we discussed recently in class or a book we are currently reading. Or the poetry could be allowed to be completely open-ended making it very personal for the student. Either way, learning this grammatical structure and to recognize it through an active process, being the producer of the clause rather than just the identifier, is likely to result in most students actually remembering the definition and being able to apply it to their own writing (and to those silly standardized test) later.

I would most likely use this activity in conjunction with a book, mimicing something like the “I” poem activity, having students pick a character, object, or place in the book that they write the poem about or from the perspective of.

Harlem Renaissance Lesson Plan – Emmalea Couch June 25, 2009

link: http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=252 (Read, Write, Think)

This lesson explores the Harlem Renaissance by exploring jazz music, poetry, and art. It engages students analytical skills, requiring them to make connections between these three art forms. It enables student creativity, because one of the final products they produce is a museum exhibit, for which they have choice and which will involve artistic production. And it fosters cooperation skills, because much of the work is done in groups.

I like that the lesson involves a lot of interactive activities. Students get to see art, hear music, read poetry. And if the school has good technology resources, these activities can be done as a group using an LCD monitor, so it will not feel like a lecture lesson to the students, but rather like an engaging day at an interactive museum.

Using this lesson in my classroom I would make a few modifications. For one thing, this lesson is designed to take five 50 minute sessions. I think that is too much. I would require that some of this group work be done outside of class. Most schools I know of now have block schedules, so I think I might begin this unit right before beginning a good Harlem Renaissance novel. I would spend one day on it at the beginning of the unit, doing all the interactive activities. Then I would give the time of the unit (probably two weeks), to the students to work on their group projects outside of class, assigning limited homework during that time. I would finish the unit with a “Day at the Museum” to present what they have done.

Also, since I liked DED-journals so much, I think I would incorporate that into this lesson. I would have DED template pages set up for students, and ask that they fill them out at they hear and see the art I present to them.

Finally, I really liked this website in general because the lesson plans are very thorough. They give perfect instructions to teachers, right down to what materials to have gathered when and what days to reserve a computer lab or monitor for the classroom.

“Professional Development Initiative” – Emmalea Couch June 24, 2009

When we started this semester, we read some articles about the use of textbooks above the reading level of students and how such textbooks inhibit learning. It was suggested in many of our readings that the texts are too hard and that the solution may lie in finding better ones. Other suggestions included the teachers providing more scaffolding in helping students understand material and relying less on texts themselves. I liked that second suggestion better, and think that in addition to that it would be nice for teachers to help students understand the texts themselves as well. This article on teaching vocabulary seems relevant to that. If a good understanding of vocabulary is present for a particular course, the textbooks generally should not be too hard to understand.

The beginning of the article discusses how vocabulary is often developed in “highly controlled conditions” and poses the question of how to foster vocabulary growth. Linguistics is a personal hobby of mine, and as I read this I thought about speech communities. If most art majors were to walk into a physics classroom, they would be at a loss as to understand what was going on, because physics students have a unique jargon specific to their field–and vice versa. Similarly, as someone who grew up Protestant, when I started attending Catholic services, I felt lost for a while, because the speech was different. I did not have a working definition of liturgy or missal. I had never heard of Thomas Aquinas or the Immaculate Conception. As I continued attending Mass regularly however, I began to learn the language specific to Catholics–I became part of the Catholic speech community. A small amount of this change took personal effort. But for the most part, it happened naturally as I engaged in Catholic activities and paid attention in service.

I tell this story to show that I picked up on language fairly naturally just by being around it. So, I think one important think to do as educators is to use language and vocabulary frequently that will help our students engage in our specific content areas. This idea is somewhat echoed in the article, which argues that for students to effectively learn new vocabulary, they need to encounter it in a variety of uses.

The article says that research reveals little scaffolding for vocabulary development in courses other than English in secondary schools. While my teachers were wonderful in high school and I believe I received a top-notch education, my experience reflects this, too. I remember wishing someone would make me learn certain terms from my readings in high school. I knew when reading difficult texts that I should look up words I didn’t know, but I was too lazy to do it without an incentive. And most times, none was given.

One important finding that the article highlights is that students tend to learn more and retain more about new words if the list of words they are leanring has some sort of theme or connecting element. A list of unconnected words with little relevance to what is being taught will rarely yield good results. However, a lits of words centered around a theme or directly tied to the current experiences within the classroom will result in students making associations that enable them to better learn and apply new vocabulary. Making ties between words can be very useful. For instance, Ms. Hash, the math teacher, would provide deifnitions for the roots of words she wanted her students to learn, and then she would teach them words outside of math with those same roots. Studying the roots and how they were applied in various language situations seemed to reinforce what students learned about their use in math specifically.

As a future English teacher, I felt I got a lot out of the section about Mr. Pasley, the English teacher. I really liked that he aligned his assessment of vocabulary with his instruction of it and that he stayed away from too much standardized testing of what students learned. The activities he did with vocabulary tended to be lively and engaging. I hope to model his techniques in my own classroom some day.

“The multigenre paper” – Emmalea Couch June 24, 2009

In Adolescent Literature we discussed how incorporating multiple genres of literature into our classroom will probably lead to creating more avid readers. The more types of reading kids encounter, the more likely they are to find one they consider to be worth pursuing. Thus, to create lifelong readers, a good idea is to teach multiple genres of literature. Perhaps the way to create lifelong writers, is to teach multiple types of writing.

Multigenre papers can be useful alternatives to traditional research papers; they allow students to convey research through a variety of writing styles genres from poems to letter to birth certificates. Moulton’s article discusses how a class of college students (future teachers) reacted to this assignment. It had complications, but in the end seemed to be a very rewarding experience for most students. One problem encountered was that the documents produced themselves showed little research and did not provide a vehicle for in-text citations. However, the students and professor decided that footnotes could be provided, and often a lot of research was obvious in these. In all, students seemed more engaged in this experience than they would have been in writing a regular research paper. One other benefit that came from this assignment was that students tended to use more technology to produce it than they would for a standard research paper, so they learned more about hardware and software in addition to their topic of research.

One concept the article discusses was keeping learning logs throughout the experience. I really this idea. I envision something along the lines of a double-entry journal where researchers log the facts they find and then brainstorm how they could present this information.

I think that using a tool like this will be effective in my classroom, but I will definitely tweak it some. I have some reservations about the model presented here. For instance, in a standard paper, students must learn to tie in their different pieces of research to a cohesive piece of literature that flows. In doing so, they learn the skill of transitions. By allowing students to present their research in lots of different formats, they will not necessarily have to link their facts. I think this skill of transitioning is an important one to learn. Thus, I think I would want my students to do this multigenred paper in conjunction with a shorter research paper. I still think it’s important to teach students to write a research paper, but taking them through this process will hopefully make the paper itself more engaging. One idea I have is to have students present this paper in some form of “zine.” Zines allow for many styles of writing. Sidebars and poetry are often included. However, longer pieces of literature run for pages. The format of a zine would require students to use technology, but it would still allow for some long writing.

One other problem I have with the way the project was done in the article is that I feel like some students might would cop out and pick eight “easy” genres. I do not want eight lists and two-line poems. While these can be effective pieces, I would make a requirement that some of the pieces have to be certain lengthier writing styles.

“I” Poems- Emmalea Couch June 24, 2009

This article about the use of “I” poems to deepen students’ reading comprehension states that both reading and writing are cognitive activities and that when readers revisit a text, their understanding of it deepens and they are able to catch details that they overlooked on their first encounter. By transforming what they read into a different format (for instance, taking a story and creating a poem from the point-of-view of a character, object, or place in the story), students get inside a text. This helps them learn and retain what they have learned. The article also points out that educators of future teachers tend to model the teaching methods they hope their students will use in their own classrooms.

As a future English teacher, I may not have a classroom full of future educators. But I hopefully will have a classroom full of future thinkers. Could I apply this to thinking? Perhaps I can model thinking for my students the way I hope they will think (analytical, engaged, deep, etc).

As the article says, constructing “I” poems can be used as a pre-reading and post-reading activity. When done before reading, it provides students with background that enables them to better interact with the text while reading, which in turn helps teach the skill of activating previous and relevant knowledge when interacting with texts. Completed after reading, “I” poems help students interact with texts and retain what they read. “Poets sift experience.”

We saw examples of “I” poems used as pre- and post-reading activities. Could we extend this and use “I” poems as a guided reading activity for novels? Are there examples of this being done?

The article gave a few different variations of “I” poems: one, a very specific format to be filled in by students, arguing that imitation often accommodates innovation.

Imitation definitely inspires innovation at times. I read a Shakespearean sonnet, and I want to go out and write my own. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact, it’s a good thing. But when and where does imitation border or cross the line of plaigerism? Clearly here we are imitating a style, and that’s okay. But as future educators, we need to make sure that we know the rules about what can and cannot be mimicked so that we can help our students understand that, too. While reading this, I kep thinking about the movie Finding Forrester. I remember that in it Forrester, a writer, allowed a young man to use some of his writings to begin new stories. But the young man got accused of plaigerism when he turned in his work. So where do we draw the line? What is the actual rule?

Learning Strategy IV – RAFT June 17, 2009

Name of Strategy:

RAFT-Role, Audience, Format, Topic

Source (Where did this come from?):

Reading Strategies: Scaffolding Students’ Interactions with Texts

Link to the Strategy:

http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/6-12/Reading/Reading%20Strategies/RAFT.htm

Give a thorough description of the strategy and how it will be implemented. This should be a summary of the strategy according to the original source:

This is a post-reading activity. After reading a text students are assigned (or can pick) a role, audience, format, and topic through which to write a response to the reading. The roles can be anything like another writer, a judge, or an adventurer. The audience can be fictional characters, historical people, peers, a jury, etc. The format can be anything: a cartoon, a video, an article, a journal entry, a poem. And the topic can be related to the reading by a historical event, a personal reason, or a tie to an important topic or theme from the reading. The student chooses or assigned one from each of these four RAFT categories and then composes their own work.

Explain what part of the standard course of study is addressed by this activity.

5.01 Read and analyze various literary works by:

• using effective reading strategies for . . . reflection.
• explaining how point of view is developed and its effect on literary texts.
• determining a character’s traits from his/her actions, speech, appearance, or what others say about him or her.
• explaining how the writer creates character, setting, motif, theme, and other elements.
• making thematic connections among literary texts and media and contemporary issues.
• understanding the importance of cultural and historical impact on literary texts.
• producing creative responses that follow the conventions of a specific genre and using appropriate literary devices for that genre.

5.02 Demonstrating increasing comprehension and ability to respond personally to texts by selecting and exploring a wide range of genres. 5.03 Demonstrate the ability to read, listen to and view a variety of increasingly complex print and non-print literacy texts appropriate to grade level and course literary focus, by:

• demonstrating comprehension of main idea and supporting details.
• making inferences, predicting, and drawing conclusions based on text.
• identifying and analyzing personal, social, historical or cultural influences, contexts, or biases.
• making connections between works, self and related topics.
• analyzing and evaluating the connections or relationships between and among ideas, concepts, characters and/or experiences.
• identifying and analyzing elements of literary environment found in text in light of purpose, audience, and context.

Explain why you think this strategy will work. How does the strategy help your students learn?

I think that this activity would be a really useful post reading activity. In trying to teach poetry, I could use this in two ways: first, it could be a method through which to react to a poem. Second, I could require the format to be a poem even if the original text was not. Rather than just analyzing a text or regurgitating what they have heard, this activity requires students to really think about what they have read and create something of their own that fits with it. To do this, they will need to try and understand the original RAFT characteristics and then recognize their own as well. It should help them see connections and realize that poetry can cover topics and feelings that other genres can as well. But it will also reveal that through the particular format an author chooses, they generally have different intentions. In choosing their own format, they will grow to understand the process an author uses to choose his/her format and audience.

Learning Strategy III- Observation Chart June 17, 2009

Name of Strategy:

Observation Chart

Source (Where did this come from?):

Education Place

Link to the Strategy:

http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/pdf/observe.pdf

Give a thorough description of the strategy and how it will be implemented. This should be a summary of the strategy according to the original source:

By the looks of this graphic organizer, I would guess its intended use is with a younger audience than high school English students. But on thing that has always bothered me about education is that we have these really great methods for instruction in early years and then, inexplicably, abandon those tried-and-true methods as our students get older.

This is a while-reading activity. Basically, this method is a chart of the five senses, and as students read they are to record any phrases that utilize that sense in their reading.

Explain what part of the standard course of study is addressed by this activity.

5.01 Read and analyze various literary works by:

• using effective reading strategies for . . . engagement. . .
• interpreting literary devices such as allusion, symbolism, figurative language, flashback, dramatic irony, dialogue, diction, and imagery.

5.02 Demonstrating increasing comprehension and ability to respond personally to texts by selecting and exploring a wide range of genres. 5.03 Demonstrate the ability to read, listen to and view a variety of increasingly complex print and non-print literacy texts appropriate to grade level and course literary focus, by:

• providing textual evidence to support understanding of and reader’s response to text.
• analyzing and evaluating the effects of author’s craft and style.

Explain why you think this strategy will work. How does the strategy help your students learn?

I think this is a perfect tool for interacting with poetry. Most good poetry appeals to at least a few of the senses, but sometimes students rush through the reading and don’t take the time to realize how the words appeal to their sense of sight, smell, taste, etc. Having them chart these things specifically during one reading of the poem should help them understand it better on the next reading.

Learning Strategy II – Story Impression June 17, 2009

Name of Strategy:

Story Impression

Source (Where did this come from?):

Pennsylvania Department of Education

Link to the Strategy:

http://www.pde.state.pa.us/reading_writing/cwp/view.asp?a=196&q=97996

Give a thorough description of the strategy and how it will be implemented. This should be a summary of the strategy according to the original source:

This is a pre-reading activity. The teacher creates a list of vocabulary words or phrases that will occur in the text in the order in which they will occur. Then, before reading, students create an impression of what they predict the story will be based on these terms. As the students read, they can see how their predictions played out and fit what actually happens into a framework they had already formed.

Explain what part of the standard course of study is addressed by this activity.

5.01 Read and analyze various literary works by:

• using effective reading strategies for preparation. . .
• determining a character’s traits from his/her actions, speech, appearance, or what others say about him or her.
• explaining how the writer creates character, setting, motif, theme, and other elements.
• producing creative responses that follow the conventions of a specific genre and using appropriate literary devices for that genre.

5.02 Demonstrating increasing comprehension and ability to respond personally to texts by selecting and exploring a wide range of genres. 5.03 Demonstrate the ability to read, listen to and view a variety of increasingly complex print and non-print literacy texts appropriate to grade level and course literary focus, by:

• providing textual evidence to support understanding of and reader’s response to text.
• demonstrating comprehension of main idea and supporting details.
• summarizing making inferences, predicting, and drawing conclusions based on text.

Explain why you think this strategy will work. How does the strategy help your students learn?

Students, before reading, will already have a footing on a text. So many students really struggle with poetry that doing this activity might make it easier for them to dive into unfamiliar territory. By choosing difficult words and phrases and having students look up and get a handle of their meanings before creating their impression, the teacher provides the students the necessary tools (understanding of new words) to really “get” the text.

Learning Strategy I: Interactive Journal June 17, 2009

Name of Strategy:

Interactive Notebook

Source (Where did this come from?):

Reading Strategies: Scaffolding Students’ Interactions with Texts

Link to the Strategy:

http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/6-12/Reading/Reading%20Strategies/interactivenotebook.htm

Give a thorough description of the strategy and how it will be implemented. This should be a summary of the strategy according to the original source:

This tool is very similar to the Double-Entry Diaries mentioned in an article we read previously for this class. However, instead of writing quotes and passages on the left and analyzing/interacting with the text on the left, this notebook has students takes notes on a lecture, movie, or piece of literature on the right and then interact with it on the left. It can be used as a pre, during, or post reading activity, and students are encouraged to use it in a way meaningful to them personally. If they want to hash out ideas or analyze things, they can do that. If they want to illustrate passages or expand upon them, they can do that as well.

Explain what part of the standard course of study is addressed by this activity.

5.01 Read and analyze various literary works by:

• using effective reading strategies for preparation, engagement, reflection.
• producing creative responses that follow the conventions of a specific genre and using appropriate literary devices for that genre.

5.02 Demonstrating increasing comprehension and ability to respond personally to texts by selecting and exploring a wide range of genres. 5.03 Demonstrate the ability to read, listen to and view a variety of increasingly complex print and non-print literacy texts appropriate to grade level and course literary focus, by:

• selecting, monitoring, and modifying as necessary reading strategies appropriate to readers’ purpose.
• identifying and analyzing text components (such as organizational structures, story elements, organizational features) and evaluating their impact on the text.
• demonstrating comprehension of main idea and supporting details.
• summarizing key events and/or points from text.
• making inferences, predicting, and drawing conclusions based on text.
• identifying and analyzing personal, social, historical or cultural influences, contexts, or biases.
• making connections between works, self and related topics.
• analyzing and evaluating the connections or relationships between and among ideas, concepts, characters and/or experiences.

Explain why you think this strategy will work. How does the strategy help your students learn?

This strategy allows students some choices, and whenever there is choice, I think more learning occurs. For my unit on poetry, I could lecture about a particular type of poem or poet, and students could take notes on that and react to them. Then, they could engage with the poem themselves, and react to it. They could illustrate or create their own poems. After reading, they could react to their own experiences during the poem, which they could have noted. This would be an excellent method for novels as well, allowing meaningful pre, during, and post interactions with texts. I think the notebook would help students organize their own thoughts and visualize their own reactions. By interacting with the text so thoroughly throughout their experience with it, they will be more aware of their own questions or difficulties with it. They will have some structure with which to gauge their own understanding. And once aware of it, they can ask me for help where they may not have known what to ask before.