Learning Letter

1. Reflect on the work you’ve completed in the course (book talks, mini-lessons, unit plans): the book talk was an enjoyable experience because I was able to share with my peers a book that I really enjoyed reading myself in high school. It was fun to learn about different books as well that my peers introduced. The mini lessons were helpful because I got to practice teaching a lesson for the first time. It was also helpful to be able to create my own lesson and put my own work into it.
The unit plan was very difficult but it was worthwhile. There are a list of things that I wish I had done differently that I talk about in my reflection. I will continue to work on those things and make sure I get it down. The unit plan was also very enjoyable especially when we got to share a little bit with the class what our unit plans were about and the kinds of things we included in them.

2) The theories and concepts that we explored in readings and discussions were very helpful and interesting. We talked about theories that had to do with critical thinking, pre-writing, pre-reading, etc. The most helpful was the Cal State reading we had. There was also Readicide and Pedagogy. It was my first experience learning about Pedagogy. I think all of the readings and discussions we had about the different techniques of teaching were very helpful. It will be worthwhile and valuable to use these skills in future classrooms.

3) My participation in this course will help me as a teacher because of the discussions we had. I think being able to talk in extent about specific subjects or topics is a good skill to learn and have. Being able to stay engaged and involved in the discussions will help me help my future students. Showing the students how to participate in discussions will also help them with their learning.

Sherman Alexie Blog Post

What I really like about this book, "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie, is the message that it sends to readers. It may have some difficult subjects like alcohol abuse, poverty, racial injustice and death but the inspiring aspect of this story is the themes hopes and dreams. These themes are shown through the main character himself, Junior. He has a dream to become a cartoonist and he holds onto that dream. Junior's struggles to find himself and live above the hardships that he encounters through his life. To live above the poverty and try to become the person he wants to be.

The other aspect of this book that I enjoyed is the humor that the author adds in. Specifically, the pictures that the author added in. I enjoy his illustration of his grandmother on page 69. I also liked the drawing on page 168 after his grandmother passed away from being hit by a car. He drew a door to heaven with balloons that say "Welcome, Grandmother Spirit" and "Heaven".

I also enjoyed reading about friendships in this book. Junior depended so much on the friends that he made. They helped him get through school and the hardships. The one friendship that stood out for me was the one he had with Rowdy. On page 24 in the book Junior says, "Rowdy might be the most important person in my life. Maybe more important than my family. Can your best friend be more important than your family?" I think this is very important to realize because Junior sees Rowdy more as a member of his family than his father, mother, or anyone else. He talks about how much time they spend together and because of that he says "Rowdy and I are inseparable" (24). I have certainly had friendships like Junior's and Rowdy's so this helps make the characters feel very relatable in that aspect.

Night by Ellie Wiesel blog post

Instead of writing about what I found interesting, I decided to write about why I think this book is a good book to teach to students. First of all, the author provides first hand experience. In the synopsis of this novel, it mentions  that he was a teenager when he was taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp and then to Buchenwald. Reading a novel about a teenager that went though all of these horrible events and tells us about his memories of losing his family is very sad to read about but it also gives the reader a different perspective on what people like Elie went through. I think the reader will be inspired by Elie's journey because of what he survived through. I also think this book would be very useful to teach to a history class. It can easily take place of just watching a movie about the holcaust and also take place of "the Diary of Anne Frank". (Although the novel about Anne Frank is also a really good read and inspiring as well.  "Night" is simply another choice for a teacher to use rather than using the same famous novel over and over.). A teacher could also pair the two novels together and compare the two characters and what they both went through.

Blog Post - The Black Cat

I chose to write my blog post on the Black Cat by Edgar Allan Poe. I mostly concentrated on the speaker's love for animals and then the overall treatment of his animals and how it changed as the story went on.

Like most of his other pieces of works (poems, short stories, etc) it starts out with a sorrowful tone. The speaker says he will be talking about some horrible events that occurred in this story. They open with the line: "most wild yet homely narrative" (203). The speaker also talks about how the speaker is especially fond of animals at a young age. He grew up loving house pets and his parents bought him lots of pets. His love for pets continued into his young adulthood and when he got married they bought their own pets. The one pet that he seems to have adored the most is a black cat. "Remarkably large and beautiful animal, entirely black, and sagacious to an astonishing degree" (203). He named the cat Pluto and he did everything for the cat. The cat even followed him everywhere, except when he left the house, which he felt was difficult to prevent himself from allowing the cat to follow him.

The sorrowful tone continues with "But to-morrow I die, and to-day I would unburned my soul" (203) What is the speaker unburdening his soul from? As I read the story, I learn he wants to unburden his soul from the events that "have terrified--have tortured - have destroyed me" (203). The first horrible event that occurred was when he cut out the eyeball of his beloved cat, Pluto, out of its socket. The man did this when he came home drunk one night and grabbed the cat viciously and the cat defending himself by biting his owner's hand.

I found it interesting that a man who loved his pets so much would do this; especially to the cat whom he loved so much. That is what makes this piece of work so interesting by itself. I think it mostly explores the mind; how our minds can be easily persuaded; especially when a drug such as alcohol is involved.

Eddie and the Blue Man

Book Talk - the five people you meet in heaven

Kelsey Bergman

ENGL 493

Agriss

Book Talk

February 27, 2017

What is this book about? In this novel, an old man and war veteran named Eddie works as a maintenance man for the local amusement park. Eddie learns about the connections with his earthly life in the afterlife. He dies trying to save a little girl from one of the rides and learns what heaven is really like. Eddie’s life is explained to him by five people, all of whom he meets in heaven. These people were a part of his life in one way or another whether he knew them or not. Eddie wakes up in the same place he died; at the amusement park. The first person Eddie meets is a Blue Man. The Blue Man explains that Eddie is in heaven. He soon learns that he is in the Blue Man's heaven. Throughout the rest of the book, when Eddie meets all five people, he is visiting their personal heaven. Eddie learns that he will soon be in his own personal heaven.

Why I chose this text: the first reason is because the first time I read this book I really enjoyed it. The second reason that I chose this text is because it deals with one of the big questions of life: what is the afterlife like and what is heaven like? I read this book my junior year of high school and it really made me think more about how we live out our lives and what we do with our time. That is how the book so interesting. It makes the reader question what they are reading about and question what the author brings up. I think high school ages are the best years to introduce this book because it is an easy read. It is also not too long so it is not one of those books that will take weeks for you and your students to get through. I think many students would find this book interesting like I did because it is one of those page turner books. Once you start the book, you can’t put it down. You must find out what happens to Eddie next.

Please include some teaching ideas. How do you envision this text being used in a secondary classroom? Provide at least 3 specific ideas for what is possible with this text.

Some teaching ideas would be utilizing group discussion. This would be good especially in a secondary classroom. The book does raise a variety of questions and it would be a good idea for the students to talk about the questions they have about the book. This book also brings up a topic that may or may not be difficult for some students to talk about. It is a topic that challenges the norm but at the same time provides learning experience with how we live our life and what we do with our life.

Another idea for teaching this book is simply to read! This book is not very long and the chapters and sections are also on the short side. I think having a book that does not contain so much detail but enough to tell a story and for the reader to enjoy it is a good idea especially for a secondary classroom. Students who do not enjoy reading that much may find this book easier to read. The chapters are short so the students won’t feel like they are trying to remember so much material at once.
This book would also be a good tool to create a writing assignment. I think it offers up enough ideas for students to be able to write a paper. Students can either do research on this book or simply write a paper stating what they learned from the book, what they thought about the book, or what specific detail or moment stood out for them in the book. Being able to express your thoughts is always a good thing, especially in school.

Please consider some obstacles to using this text. What are the potential issues that may arise from using this text? Predict an administrator’s response to the use of this text. Predict parents’ responses. Predict students’ responses.

Some obstacles may be that students’ parents may not like their child reading about a topic like death. They may also be against their child reading about heaven. It all depends on if they have a religious background or not. As a teacher, you must be careful when picking a book for your students. I think these are the only potential issues that might arise but letting the parents know what books you are planning to have the students read for the year is a good idea. That way parents have a heads up on what material is going to be provided. I think an administrator’s response to this text may be more on the positive side as long as you have an appropriate goal for the use of this text. As for students, it is always a hit or miss. Some may enjoy the story and some not so much. But the short chapters in this book could potentially play a positive factor in the students liking the book.

Anything else you think is important for us to know and understand about this text and its use with students.

I think it is important to keep an open mind when you are reading books. Every book you read must be given a chance. This book teaches lessons about life, death, and afterlife. It causes us to think about our life and if we are living it in the way we choose to. Are we doing the things that make us happy? Are we surrounding ourselves with the people we love? I believe it is important to live life with an open mind and can experience everything you want to experience. I think this similar message could be sent to students. They may learn something from this book but as a future teacher, I do hope that every student learns something from every book they read.

Blog Post: "I Read It, But I Don't Get It"

Since this was a text rather than an article, I decided to just focus on what stood out to me the most when I read this text. I really liked the way Tovani discusses good reading and learning how to be a good reader. I like how he uses examples with his own experience as a teacher. In part one, he begins with fake reading. I like that he starts with this because there are many students who have mastered this. While reading this section, I like that he almost gives the reader a guide to what to do when students are fake reading. In his own experience, he relates to the students and shares with them that he used to do the exact same thing as a kid in high school: fake reading!

I also enjoyed reading about his experience with teaching himself how to read! He joins a book club and he not only teaches himself how to read but he learns how to examine what he has read. Tovani talks about strategies too with his class. He says that a "strategy is an intentional plan that readers use to help themselves make sense of their reading" (5). Tovani also states that "good readers use lots of strategies to help themselves make sense of text" (5). This is so true, especially when you are using a text for a class. Teaching students how to analyze a text and understand what they have read is very valuable.

In part 1.2, Tovani talks about the realties of reading. He says that people often have a perception of reading being "simplistic" (13) and that reading is just "sounding out words" (13). I believe this to be true because sometimes people who are not in school think it is an easy task. But that is not always the case; especially for kids and even older students who struggle with reading. There are different ways of struggling with reading, too. The obstacles that some students have to go through are tough. There are usually teacher assistants who take select students who need extra help into the hallway so they can help those students with their reading.

Blog Post #6: Critical Pedagogy in an Urban High School English Classroom

In this article by authors Jeff Duncan-Andrade and Ernest Morrell, they talk specifically about different theorists and important scholars. They talk about how the proponents of critical pedagogy drawn upon these important scholars and theorists (1). There is an argument for an "approach to education that is rooted in the existential experiences of marginalized peoples" (1). Or, trying to find a way to teach all students from all areas with use of critical pedagogy.

Our authors also talk about how they have been "investigating classroom interventions that are built upon the core principles of critical pedagogy" (1). The different tasks and lessons that they have used in urban high school english classrooms. One example is the curriculum that they taught to students at East Bay High school which has a diverse population (5). Their curriculum had texts such as Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, Othello, Macbeth, Hamlet, The Odyssey, Romantic poetry, and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Our authors stated that they believe "literacy educators could encourage a multicultural reading of any text even if the text is several thousand years old (5).

I really liked reading what Duncan-Andrade and Morrell had to say about critical pedagogy and I also liked that they talked about other scholars and theorists and not just Freire. When they talked about the lessons they taught to students they had differing and varying reasons as to why they chose the texts they did and why they decided to teach these texts as lessons. This reading also made critical pedagogy easier to understand not only from the way Freire describes it but having it relate to new media helped a lot. It also helped understanding critical pedagogy in a different way.

Assessing and Evaluating Students' Learning Blog post #4

The chapter from this reading was all about helping your students learn how to evaluate what they read and also learning how to evaluate your students' learning. A student teacher, Heidi, had some goals for her students: "to help them learn to use freewriting and journaling as a means of engaging with texts and grappling with characters' motivations" (224). She talks about wanting her students to have fun with reading and writing. There are ways to approach writing and reading in the right way especially through the main activities that she believes in: journaling and freewriting.
Heidi also wanted her students to think about the text they read. What they would do if they were in a specific characters' position and what factors would influence their decision.

This chapter also talks about the different notions of learning literature. Why is it important? What does it mean to learn literature? (225). The text says it all depends on what kind of "assessment tools" you will use when you are evaluating your students. It refers to tests, quizzes, worksheets as ways to assess your students' knowledge. There is also the importance of having "knowing that" aspect of learning literature. If your students can tell the different between certain aspects of literature. For example, first person and third person.

I like what this chapter had to offer overall. This chapter stresses the importance of if your students know how important learning is but also that the teacher knows what they are looking for when they evaluate their students too. It is the job of student and teacher to help each other our in the education process of learning.

Blog post 3: The CAL state common core standards

The standards in the Cal state common core template were very helpful as far as I could tell. This is because the template outlined step by step how to brainstorm ideas for a paper, how to get started with a paper, how to go about writing a paper, how to edit and revise and much more. The way the template is set up made it easy to read and comprehend.

The one area of this template that I found the most helpful was the section about logos, ethos, and pathos. The word choice in this section made it easy to figure out what the questions were asking. This could be very helpful when you are trying to analyze what you read and ask yourself the questions this template provided.

I also thought the section about revising a draft as helpful as well. Responding to feedback, for example, talks about your students being able to take what the teacher has shown them they need to work on or fix in their writing and being able to work with their teacher and figure out what they are having a hard time with. Minimal marking is also another good idea. It helps the students not feel so overwealmed. The template suggests only asking two questions about the draft you have read: "what is the best thing about this draft?" And "what is the biggest overall difficulty with this draft, and how could it be improved?" These questions are simple yet able to get to the point rather than marking all over your students' paper.

My Response to “The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts Instruction in Grades 6-12" handout

After reading our handout,  “The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts Instruction in Grades 6-12", I thought it was a very interesting read. The reason for this is because of the limitations that exist in the education system and it talks about why these limitations exist. Also, the examples that were provided about teachers deciding on what to teach in their classrooms and how to go about figuring out what to teach were very helpful to read about.
The first thing that stood out to me about this article was when it talked about the economic issues having an affect on student performance and also the problem with not acknowledging cultural diversity. I like that this article mentions both of these topics because I think they are a couple of the more important ones to address.
The one example that stood out for me was when a teacher was starting to teach about the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. She saw the issue with teaching this book when the white students in her classroom started asking the one black student about the character Jim and racism. I thought what the teacher did next was a good thing. She started researching and found different ways on how to teach more multicultural texts in a predominantly white classroom. She also did surveys of her students and found out that the majority of them "would like to read about different cultures more often."
Overall I thought this handout was very helpful because it touched on some important aspects in education and also brought up the issues that are present in education too.

Discussion as a way of teaching - Blog Post #1 - January 18th

This article that I read for today's post was written like a list of how to create discussion with your students. I really liked some of the methods that Brookfield talks about. There's not just one way to do something, there's multiple ways! The method that I think would be the most helpful is when Brookfield talks about the Conversational Moves with the 3x5 index cards. I like the specific moves that are listed to help the students become more engaged with each other and be able to make conversation with each other. The conversational roles were also a good idea. It gives the students something to do in a discussion and a way to contribute to the group discussion. Everyone has something to contribute so no one can be left out and their voice is heard. The common claims for discussion is also helpful. They give good reasons as to why discussion helps students and how it helps students with their learning process. A few of the reasons include: hear other views (or explore diversity of perspectives), leave with questions (or increasing awareness of, and tolerance for, ambiguity or complexity), and attending to others, inclusionary, emphasis (or developing habits of collaborative learning). Overall I thought this article was very helpful; especially for future teachers. It gives you ways to help your students not only succeed with their learning but hopefully get along with each other and get to know each other. I think this can happen even when you’re having a discussion that is related to what you’re learning in the classroom. This is what I took away from the article and it will personally be helpful to me in the future.