IEP Meetings

Kirsten French

IEP (Individualized Education Program)- The Meeting

Description of Research:

-Who is involved?

 The parents have been invited about ten school days ahead of the planned IEP meeting. The other participants have been invited ahead of time as well.

Other participants: A district representative (director of special Ed, principal, or school psychologist), general Ed teacher, the special Ed teachers (speech therapist, learning center teacher, occupational therapist, physical therapist), a parent or guardian and If the student is older they can be involved also.

-Each student with an IEP must have at least one IEP meeting within a year of the previous meeting.

-Team leader goes over basic information and dates with the IEP participants.

What do I Agree with?

Parents have a right to know what their student is going to be working on that is different to regular Ed instruction. Also, their parents deserve to know what their students are going to be missing in the general education meeting.

What do I disagree with?

Even though the IEP meeting is designed to inform the parents and family about the information within their students IEP the unfriendliness of the paper work could be altered for the family so they can understand it. The repetitiveness of some of the parts reminded me of the Ed TPA. There could be less repeating in the actual IEP, so the people taking part in the IEP don’t have to follow so many different parts within the IEP meeting.  

How is this research applicable to you as a teacher?

As a teacher it is important to know what goes on within an IEP meeting. If teachers don’t know what goes on within an IEP meeting they could be blindsided with what actually goes on within the meeting. Having these meetings can benefit the student that has the IEP, so going to the meeting could improve the student’s education.

How is this research applicable to students?

The students are affected by what occurs within the IEP meeting, because their parents have to be able to understand what their student is receiving to sign the IEP at the end of the meeting. The students that have IEP’s are only benefitting from the IEP meeting, because all the educators that are involved within their learning are there to support that student and explain how they receiving the best care and education possible.

Homework Policies

Kirsten French

Homework Policies

Description of Research

Different styles of assigning and grading homework:

No homework is assigned, there is some, but it doesn’t count, only some problems are graded, only some assignments are graded, counts for credit just for completing, counts but has to be correct.

Is homework useful?

The countries with higher achieving students give little or no homework. America has one of the highest amounts of homework given to students each night. Homework should only be assigned when the teacher can clearly explain why they are assigning each problem they are giving to the students. Do not give homework out just so they have homework for the night.

Multiple teachers have cut homework from their class rooms and the standardized tests scores increased. This might not work for every teacher, but for some it has worked out well.

Too much homework can be counterproductive to the student’s learning. It becomes more of a source of stress for the students, rather than a source of learning. Harris Cooper, an education and psychology professor at Duke University, is best known for his research on dealing with homework. His research has shown that, in high school, more than two hours of homework a night doesn’t improve student’s understanding of the material.

What do I agree with?

I agree that homework shouldn’t be graded for correctness, unless the answers are clear and the students aren’t still learning the information. It is unfair for students to learn brand new information and then be expected to have the learning objective completed with one lesson and no practice.

What do I disagree with?

I disagree that homework should be cut from the classroom completely. I think homework provides the students with practice of new material and without homework that counts towards their grade some of the students won’t have motivation to practice.

How is this research applicable to you as a teacher?

As a teacher, this research is applicable, because homework that is used incorrectly can negatively impact the student’s learning. When teachers know what kinds of homework and homework policies best benefit the students the teachers can apply that to their curriculum so their students get the most out of their education that is possible.

How is this research applicable to students?

This research applies to students, because they are the ones who are affected by the outcomes of each piece of research that is done. As teachers it is our job to teach each of our students to the best of our abilities and knowing about what homework is helpful to students and what homework isn’t beneficial to them, affects their future. If the students have a bad experience with homework, they could possibly shutdown and not believe in themselves. It is our job to be able to give out homework that will help the students complete the learning objective and our homework policies will help with that.

Works Cited

Strauss, Valerie. "Homework: The Useful and the Useless." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 17 June 2011. Web. 17 May 2014.

"Research Spotlight on Homework." NEA. Web. 15 May 2014.

Perle, Elizabeth. "High School Homework: Are American Students Overworked?" The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 02 Nov. 2011. Web. 17 May 2014.

Teaching to the Test

Kirsten French

Teaching to the Test

Description of Research

The research mainly said no test is good enough to use as a primary basis to determine educational decisions. It is more harmful to the student’s education to teach to the test. The students may have the test information down, but they won’t be able to perform higher level thinking tasks. Also, teaching to the test can cause narrowing of the curriculum. If teachers only give a test on what is going to be on a standardized test, then students won’t get the other important parts taught to them.

It has been speculated that a standardized tests measures if a teacher is a successful and good at teaching. The research says that scores from a test don’t measure how teachers are able to convey material to their students. It has been proven that not only do students respond negatively to standardized tests, but teachers react negatively to the pressure as well. This could cause the learning environment to be negative, which would impact the students learning.

What do I agree with?

I agree that teaching to the test can hinder a student’s education to a point. There shouldn’t only be one massive assessment that grades the students overall achievement of their learning. I like the idea of including the students while creating a test for a unit. I do think schools need to have standards that they teach to, if teachers didn’t have standards to go by the students could possibly not get the valuable pieces of information that they need to be successful when they go to get a higher education.

What do I disagree with?

I disagree with the idea of a standardized test in general. Every student is not good at taking tests. As each teacher is going through the education program we are taught to differentiate the students learning to reach each student’s potential. How is one test differentiating the student’s learning? If a student is having a bad day and that could hinder their test taking abilities then that student is at a disadvantage and that isn’t measuring their full potential. This is why schools should have more than one type of test to measure the students learning. 

How is the research applicable to you as a teacher?

          As a teacher knowing how to structure class material is important, but even more important is how to structure it so the students are successful and successfully complete the learning objectives. By knowing that teaching to the test could hinder the student’s learning, teachers can prepare beforehand to not teach to the test, but incorporate the information from the test into other class material. Now that the Common Core State Standards are being used, it is a better way to teach valuable information to the students while incorporating the material that is going to be on the test.

How is this research applicable to students?

          As a student who was completely taught to the test I know firsthand how only teaching information to students that is going to be on a test can be hurtful to the student’s education. This research benefits the students, because of the research proving that teaching to the test can hinder their education. It’s great that educators are figuring out that students don’t only need to be able to construct a five paragraph essay. In the world we live in today being able to collaborate with other students, as well as be able to complete daily tasks that utilize their education from school.

Works Cited

Herman, Joan, and Shari Golan. "Effects of Standardized Testing on Teachers." CSE. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2014.

"‘Teaching to the Test’ – Does It Help or Hinder Learning?" Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. N.p., May 2009. Web. 11 May 2014.

 

"What's so Bad about Teaching to the Test?" Great Schools. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 May 2014.

Test Strategies for the West-E

Test Strategies for the West-E

Kirsten French

1.      Detailed description of the research

·         Before the test           

-Read about the content that is included within the West-E.            There are objectives that are included to assess your knowledge of each objective that should be mastered for the test. Make sure to read the objectives carefully to really get an idea of what the material is being asked of you.

- Complete the sample questions. The West-E website says to “take the sample test questions in a quiet room to simulate the testing environment. Being comfortable in the test taking environment is important to be able to complete the test to the best of your ability. As you are completing the sample questions time yourself to get an idea about how much time you can spend per question on the real test.                

- After going over the objectives and taking the sample questions determine what needs worked on and then develop a plan to study the material.

·         Day of the test

-Once you get your test skim over the test to gauge how to best use your time with the questions that you are given.

- Read directions thoroughly. Even though it may seem tempting to just quickly glance at the instructions it is important to read all of the directions before starting to answer the questions.

-Don’t leave an answer blank! You are graded on the questions you get right. You will not get marked down for having incorrect answers. It is to your benefit to fill in each answer even if it is only an educated guess.

-Make sure you answer the question in the right area. This test is not scored by people who will catch your simple mistake on the answer sheet. Your test is graded by an unforgiving machine. Make sure you check after every answer to double check you wrote your answer in the correct space.

2.      What do I agree with?

·         Designating your answers carefully is a very important skill to use while taking a timed test. If you go to fill in the last question, but you’re filling in the second to last bubble on your answer sheet there is an error within the bubble marking that might cost you valuable time.

What do I disagree with?

·         There isn’t one thing that I disagree with per se, because I think each piece is worthwhile to think about, but one of the strategies that might not work all the time is checking to make sure each answer is in the correct space after each answer you complete. Sometimes you are on a role and you don’t want to mess that up. If that is the case check to make sure the answers are in the correct space after a chunk of questions instead of checking after each question.

3.      How is this research applicable to you as a teacher?

·         As a teacher we could take this information and apply it to a classroom test. The students could go through the learning objectives for test material that they had learned in previous lessons and check to see if they have the material mastered. The learning objectives that they students need more help on the class could refresh their memory like the West-E website says to do after going over the objectives and completing the sample questions. As a teacher we are always looking for better ways to teach our students and test review is included in that. Based on my research my instruction could possibly change for the better by including within test prep a check to see if the students think they have mastered the learning objectives for the unit they are working on.

4.      How is this research applicable to students?

·         These test strategies for the West-E can, for the most part, be applied to a student’s schooling, because they are good strategies for taking tests. Sometimes what students need the most help on is how to study. They might sit down and go over their notes, but what they need to do is have practice questions that they can work off of. Giving students the test strategies from the West-E website in a form that is adapted to fit high school language would be useful to give to them to have more strategies to taking and preparing for tests within their education.

"WEST–E Test-Taking Strategies." Washington Educator Skills Test. N.p., 2014. Web. 7 Apr. 2014.

Learning Letter

Dear Dr. Agriss,

            This class was a lot of work, but the amount I learned equaled out the work load, so I didn’t mind having to work hard, because I was rewarded with a lot of knowledge about each subject we learned about

The book talks were a great way to show different texts that we can use within our classrooms. I loved learning about each of the books that my classmates presented on. It is very interesting to see what each of my classmates chose to present on. It was helpful to learn more about what texts our students can read. There are so many great texts that can be a great tool to teach the classroom content, but many of them teachers don’t know about. I am going to keep all the handouts with the book talk information on them so in the future if I need to recommend a text to a student or If I have the opportunity to have a text implemented into a classroom the books my classmates presented will be in my repertoire of choices.  

            One of the most helpful assignments I did in this class was the mini-lesson. I was so nervous to teach my mini-lesson, I was super prepared, but I was still shaking in my extremely squeaky shoes. I think it was because of the topic that I was teaching. I had just gone to the Holocaust class and I wanted to teach my lesson well and do it justice. When I got started all those nerves went away and I had a great time teaching my classmates about Night, even though it is a heavy subject to talk about let alone teach.

            Even though most of the pedagogy texts were extremely dense to read I learned a ton from each of them. Probably the most helpful piece was discussing each text after reading them before class. It was helpful to hear different classmate’s opinions on what I had taken a totally different way than they had. The text that I enjoyed the most and learned the most from was Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. I still think about his analogy of how students shouldn’t just be trash receptacles for their teachers to throw their opinions and expect them to regurgitate when the time comes to test them on it. The students learning experience should allow them to explore the material they are learning about and they should be able to form their own opinions and not be told they are wrong on something that doesn’t necessarily have a right or wrong answer. I think Freire’s opinions will stick with me the most because my opinions are a lot like his. I also agree that students should be equals with the teacher. It creates a more comfortable and open learning environment that the students don’t have to be afraid to be wrong in. When students are expected to be right the first time they won’t grow as much as they could because they will be afraid to be wrong. By creating a learning environment where the students know that being wrong is ok, that will make the students less nervous to voice their opinions, which will in turn make the learning environment better for all the students.

            The unit plan opened my eyes up to a multitude of things. First, that lesson plans take an extremely long time to thoroughly create. Times that by 15 and they take forever. The unit plan was the biggest project I have done in my college career and it taught me that when a huge obstacle is set in front of me I won’t give up until that obstacle is completely torn down. Also, from the unit plan I learned that there are still so many pieces to teaching that I don’t evej have a grasp on. Hopefully I can learn more about those pieces before I start student teaching and working in my own classroom.

            I was really proud of myself this quarter and in this class especially. Usually I’m a student who sits and pays attention to everyone who talks, but I don’t really voice my opinion/ Throughout this class I have gained confidence to talk about my opinions, which I am proud of. As a teacher I think this helped me grow as well. Having confidence when you speak is important to gain students trust, if you sound unsure of yourself in front of people then the students will doubt your knowledge as well. As I am learning more and more about what I am talking about I am gaining confidence in my own opinions as a teacher and as a student.

Sincerely,

Kirsten French

Gene Yang: American Born Chinese

          American Born Chinese is the first full graphic novel I have read. Reading this book is sort of like reading a book and watching the movie at the same time because of the pictures that go along with the words.
         The first step to teaching this book in a class would be to teach about graphic novels. This would include things like what students will find within the text and within the pictures. It may be hard for the students to not just look at the pictures, but he content of the text is a really important aspect to graphic novels. Starting out this unit could be a lesson how to read and examine the pictures to see what is going on within the pictures and the text. This is a good way to start the unit before the students begin to read American Born Chinese. This way the students will begin the book knowing how to read and really analyze the content within the graphic novel.
         This is a great book to go over stereotypes and finding a persons identity. To really drive home the stereotypes with the students they could keep a journal about stereotypes they see in the media as they are out side of school. This is a good way to help the students recognize that stereotypes are all over the world. An example a journal entry that they students could do about a stereotype they found is with The Big Bang Theory. The students could explain how Howards mom is portrayed as a loud Jewish mother who is always pushing food onto her Howard. Going over that this is a stereotype of Jewish mothers and that not all Jewish mothers are like this is a good way to integrate pop culture into the lesson with the students.
          Another activity that could be done is to have the students create a comic of the main events within the book for each part within the book. This could be a really fun way to interact with the plot line of this book, because it does have the potential to be confusing with the different stories that are all being told at once.

Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet

          Romeo and Juliet is an extremely well known text that is written by Shakespeare. That is done in many freshman classes across the United States. Romeo and Juliet is a classic tragic love story, that of course ends with the death of both the main characters.
          I think it is important for the students to read any piece of work that is by Shakespeare, because the complex language that isn't spoken anymore. This type of language gives the students a whole new insight to what writing was like hundreds and hundreds of years ago. Shakespeare can give the students a good grasp on how to decipher a text for the true meaning, because his writing is similar to a word problem. It has to be solved before you can understand the true meaning of what he was trying to say.
          The characters in Romeo and Juliet are complex and hard to pin down to one characteristic. This is why a character activity would work really well for this story. Also, because Shakespeare is written in a complex way it would be a good learning experience for the students to do a discussion on some higher level thinking questions. One of the higher level questions that the students like the most could possibly turn into a paper assignment. This would make a good paper, because there are lots of opinions on most of Shakespeare's stories and especially Romeo and Juliet, because it is so well known.
          How could someone read Romeo and Juliet and not want to watch Leonardo DiCaprio play Romeo, in the 1996 version of Romeo and Juliet. This is a good opportunity for the students to watch the ending of the 1996 version and then to compare the ending of the movie to the ending within the text. This will give the students an opportunity to grow their ability to analyze multimedia and text at a higher level.

Edgar Allen Poe: The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Phall

          Poe has never really hooked me into his writing, and I went into reading The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Phall not having high hopes in regards to me liking the story. After I finished reading the story I ended up liking the plot more than I thought I would, which was nice. I might be a late blooming Poe fan.

            I really think this would be a good story to teach plot with, but because the story is pretty long and a little bit wordy, the upper high school grades could use this story to deepen their knowledge of plot. By deepening their knowledge of plot they will have a better knowledge of how to find the plot line.

A comparison that could be made between is between “The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Phall” and “From the Earth to the Moon,” by Jules Vernes. The students could read pieces that are selected by the teacher, so there are some good opportunities to compare and contrast certain aspects of both stories. The students could read through both pieces of the selected text and find characteristics that both stories have, no matter is they compare or contrast the two stories. Then the students could compare and contrast the characteristics they found in each story.

This is a good piece of text to read to really get a grasp on what science fiction writing is like. Edgar Allen Poe does a nice job of using this genre to write a story that grabs the reader attention. The students could analyze what pieces of this story in general are science fiction and what makes this story specifically a science fiction story. This would be a good chance for the students to explore a genre that they don’t usually get read, it’s usually the science book, or the history book, or the math book, switching to this genre might engage the students, because it isn’t the retelling of a historical event, it’s a made up story that is obviously not a narrative of someone’s real life event.

Sherman Alexie: The Diary of a Part-Time Indian

I had never read any writing of Sherman Alexie’s writing before, after reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, I want to read more of his books. This book is accessible to high school students. It isn’t a very hard book to read, especially because of the comics that Arnold draws to break up the text.

This book is especially inspirational to use in a high school classroom, because of the theme of the book. Throughout the book, Arnold is striving to work past the stereotypes that have been set by his relatives and by the expectations that have been set by the tribe that he is a part of. This is a good theme for the students to read. Especially if students don’t have family members that have gone to college, this book might help the students decide to take the steps to go to college and get a higher education. Arnold decides he doesn’t want to be exactly like most of the other Indians on the reservation, as a result of this he ends up going to Rearden High School. This could motivate students to really take the steps to achieve what they want in life.

Another reason why I would use The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is to teach the students about diaries. This could be a good opportunity for the students to write their own diary or journal. The students could add pictures or magazine clippings to personalize their writing within their journals to themselves.

As I was reading this I really liked the theme within it, which made me think that this would be a good book to teach theme with. Teaching theme with a complex book won’t really grab the student’s attention. Using The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, would engage the students, because the theme is something most of them can probably relate to.

Readicide

          When I was in elementary school I was taught to the test. As I grew up I realized I realized I knew exactly how to write the typical five paragraph essay, but that is about where my writing skills took a halt. As teachers it is our job to teach our students how to think deeply and how to explain themselves well. "I am not against teaching students how to take a test. Indeed, we want all of our students to have test-taking knowledge" (Gallagher). The students do, however, need to have knowledge about how to take a test, as Kelly Gallagher said.

The Texas Miracle or Texas Mirage topic in the book I had heard of before, but it is still interesting that a state would try to cheat on their test results just so they can have higher state tests scores. The Montessori class that was in my middle school actually gave the parents of their class the test scores and the correct answers for the WASL their students took. Now that I’m grown up I realize how wrong it was for the teacher to give the parents the correct answers to the WASL their child had just taken. It is also unfair for the students who didn’t get the answers to the WASL they had taken. This is an example of how “cheating” is going on within school districts even in District 81. Just like the Texas Miracle there was some cheating going on.

            Preventing Readicide can be done by allowing the students to read interesting pieces of text that engage them as students. The part about giving each students a copy of Newsweek having them read it and give an assignment that isn’t necessarily hard, but assures the teachers that the students read it is a good way to have the students reading frequently. It will also have the students think about what they had just read, which is a valuable skill for the students to have.

 

Differentiated Instruction

          In the article I read I agreed that the use of creative thinking is helpful when it comes to differentiated thinking. Integrating creative thinking into the lesson the students are learning can target more students than assigning just a paper or just taking a test to determine the students mastery of the material. Letting students use their own creativity won't only target their own learning style better it will allow for the students voice to be one of the main points in the lesson.
          To engage students in the lesson they are learning about teachers can allow students to self select some pieces to the material they are studying. When students can choose their own book to study or if they can choose a piece of the 1920's that they want to focus on they will be more inclined to thoroughly learn the material. When students can self select material they have added their own voice in the lesson and students will have some interest in the material they chose, which is better than assigning something they have no interest in.
          As the article I read quoted "one size does not fit all," that is why teachers should have many teaching strategies to use with the students. Not all students are going to comprehend the lesson with just one learning strategy. Using multiple strategies across the span of the lesson is more likely to help the students understand the whole lesson more thoroughly.
          Utilizing three teaching styles to vary instruction will help the "one size does not fit all" dilemma. Teachers who use direct instruction, inquiry based instruction, and cooperative instruction in the classroom are shown to have more success in the classroom. These teaching strategies are all vastly different, this is why they can aid in helping more students understand the material that was taught in class. If students don't comprehend the material using the direct instruction strategy they will likely understand the material using one of the other two strategies. That is why using all three teaching strategies in the classroom can benefit the students.

I Read it, but I Don't Get it

          I Read it, but I Don't Get it has a lot of good ideas about how to teach students who don't catch on to the tricks to reading right away. This book draws the reader into reading the book by resenting her own story about how she was really able to read and understand material until she was well into her life.
          One of the points that I thought was really helpful in this book was in chapter six. It was important for the students to understand that English has many other subjects tied into it. History for example a lot of reading is about historical events. It is important for the students to know about what ever event the book is about so they can comprehend the text they are reading the best they possibly can. Creating connections for the students to relate previous topics to a current topic they are studying can be beneficial so the students don't have to make the connections themselves. If the teacher assumes that the students already know information about the topic they are learning about that can leave students in the dust and they will fall behind. So making connections for the students is important before starting a new lesson with the students.
          I like the idea of making a poem consisting of I wonder questions. It can be really eye opening, if students are prompted to dig deeper than just surface I wonders. The poems that were put into the book were really good and I would really like to try using the I wonder poem with the students.
          When teachers say to read between the lines, if they are asked how they figured out a piece of the text that is on of the worst things a teacher can say to a student. That isn't teaching the students how to learn the text it is giving the students this cliché line isn't helping the students at all. Students should be taught how to look at what the text is really saying and to use textual evidence to figure out what is going on in the text.

A Response-Based Approach to Reading Literature

          When I was reading this article the piece on people reading a text and applying it to their own life. This reminded me of quotes most of the time people like quotes, because they can be related to their life. A quote might hold a totally different meaning from person to person, but they can still relate it to their life and make a special meaning out of it.
          I really liked the part about including both purposes in writing, literary and discursive. When people are constructing a piece of their own writing if that person only included one or the other the paper wouldn't reach its full potential. I like the way Judith Langer put it, she says "it is the interplay of the two (literary and discursive) that can add richness to the understanding." I definitely agree with this quote. If the literary piece wasn't included in a paper the reader wouldn't get a lot of the detail that could be included as if it were included in the paper.
          In one of my management classes we went over inquiry based learning. The teacher would give the students a question and the students would work towards developing questions until the students had a solid grasp on what the possible answer to the question was. The part in the article by Langer about how students sometimes departed from the lesson plan for the day grabbed my attention, because of the inquiry based teaching I just learned about. The teacher in the video that I watched on inquiry based learning had a clear vision for where he wanted to students to go, if the students were straying away from that he would form questions that lead the students back on the right track. That is a way to not loose the point to the lesson, but to inconspicuously lead the students back to the point of the lesson. I don't think when the students react in a way that the teacher didn't expect that the whole lesson should be thrown out the door, but if there is a teachable moment to what that student brought up it wouldn't hurt to investigate that students idea a bit.

Social Justice

          Social justice is a pretty new term for me. Obviously there is the meaning that is right on the surface, but then researching into the topic there is a multitude of meanings with papers, books, and surveys that accompany the meaning for that text or data.
          One article said it's hard for teachers to teach the curriculum, along with social justice. This teacher ended up focusing on only one aspect or the other. My thought is to integrate both together. Neither aspect of the student's education should be looked over. Social justice isn't just about making everyone equal. It should be about seeing people's differences and accepting them. I loved the part in the article I read that teachers should be careful not to oppress the students, because we are trying to treat them as equal. Not all humans are the same, they are different, but they shouldn't be treated unfairly.
         Creating an environment where the students feel safe to express their opinions is extremely important and social justice can have a part in this crucial element. If students feel like there is a hierarchy they can feel intimidated and not want to talk in class. It is hard within schools to get rid of the high class and the low class. In my high school it was very apparent who was high, middle, and low. This can take away from the value of the class. No student is better than the other, and letting them know that can improve the class discussions because everyone will feel equal to one another.
         
          I found it was interesting that in almost every article I read Paulo Friere's name was dropped at least once. No other people who do the same type of writing it was always Friere. I am glad we read some of his ideas before so I had an idea of who he was as I read through the articles.

Critical Pedagogy and Popular Culture in an Urban Secondary English Classroom

          For some reason this article didn't resonate with me as much as the other articles we have read. In any case, this article still talked about some good points that I agree with.
          I really like the point about people being able to communicate professionally, especially in academic advancement and professional employment. If a potential employee can't use Standard English correctly with their employer that shows a sign of unprofessionalism and could potentially loose that person a job. To succeed in the world that we are living in now it is tough to get a job without a college degree. Also, employers want their employees to be literate and professional. By teaching our students critical literacy we can prepare our students for the professional world that is unforgiving when they aren't literate.
          I agree that focusing on academic literacy shouldn't compromise the other pieces of an English class. I think students learning grows the most when they can develop their own opinions about the material they are learning. When students think about the material they are learning, instead of just taking it in then regurgitating it when the test on that material rolls around, they learn it more thoroughly.
          The poetry lesson that includes hip hop music is genius. At the first sign of poetry high school students, and even college students to some degree, turn the opposite way and run. If teachers related poetry to hip hop they would be more inclined to relate to the lesson, especially if they got to use their favorite hip hop song as a reference. When it's the first day of class students are uncomfortable with each other. Having the students recite one of their own poems that they wrote at the end of a semester or quarter is much better than placing it in the second week of school. Like the article said the poems the students shared later in the class "were often some of the personally revealing and moving moments in the class." The students would learn so much, not just about poetry, but about themselves during the unit. That is why I think it's a very powerful lesson to teach the students.

The Critical Pedagogy Reader

          Reading all of this pedagogy is something pretty new to me. I love to read the teaching practices of other people. This article was no different.
          When the students are shown a broad world view they are being given the knowledge to make their own opinions. So many times I have heard students, even my college level friends, answer a question on why their opinion is what it is with, "because my parents think that." As a teacher we should enable them to make their own opinions and not just go with the flow on what ever they hear. Many times students don't have opinions about certain topics, because they have been taught about them. If teachers taught their students about a certain topic, then discussed it in a classroom discussion, the students develop their own opinions making those students more well rounded individuals.
          I agree with the part in the discourse section about not only preparing the students for the business world, but showing the students about the other issues that are in the world. That part in the reading reminded me of a lesson my master teacher was teaching with her cooperating teacher last week. These two teachers had been teaching about the rights that Americans are born with, and how there are still people in America who have those rights taken away, in human trafficking. After this lesson the students were visibly shocked by the information they were learning. It was amazing how many students were moved by this lesson, students even wanted to create a club that went to classrooms and taught their peers about the human trafficking that is still occurring in America. If teachers only prepared their students for a world of business there wouldn't be the students who are so moved to go on after high school to take action and help end the human trafficking that is occurring.
          "School knowledge should help create the conditions productive for student self-determination in the larger society." I think this quote really takes it home. Students shouldn't be robots that are pre-programmed to type numbers into a calculator. Our students should have an education that gives them things to think about and that they are determined to do something about.

Paulo Freire: Chapter 2 Pedagogy of the Oppressed

          Chapter two of Pedagogy of the Oppressed" was very dense. Most of the sentences, I ended up reading at least two, more times, to actually understand what Freire was saying. After I read each sentence multiple times, I ended up enjoying this piece and taking a lot away from it.
          Teachers sometimes teach without taking into account if their students are actively listening, the students might look attentive, when, in reality, they are sitting there passively listening, not really taking in each piece of information and thinking about it for themselves. Students should have to think about the information for themselves and not be hand feed their teachers opinions.
          The teacher should be equals with the student. I have had discussions where the students don't fully voice their opinions, because they are afraid they are wrong and they don't want to be wrong in front of the teacher. When the teacher makes it clear that everyone is equals, instead of making the teacher the head dictator of the class the students will be more willing to participate fully in discussions.
          Students shouldn't just be trash receptacles for the teachers to throw their opinions in. "The more completely they accept the passive role imposed on them, the more they tend simply to adapt to the world as it is." The teachers shouldn't be oppressors that make their students take a passive role in their education. This is why discussions are so imperative to use in the classroom. Students can take an active role in their education. They can form their own thoughts about certain topics, instead of regurgitating facts that were taught by the instructor.
         

Common Core State Standards (CCSS)

         The CCSS are pretty straight forward. I like that they didn't make each standard wordy. What the students need to know is easily accessible and not tied up in pointless jibber jabber. I remember looking at the EALRs for the first time and I got extremely confused. I am glad the Common Core State Standards are used now. I think they are much less confusing, and easy to work with.

          As I was reading through the standards I thought it was interesting that the standard from grade level to grade level had another detail added to them. Instead of having the standard being completely different from year to year, another level of difficulty is added on to the previous grade's standard. When teachers are starting a new school year they might wonder what was taught to their new students in the past year. The CCSS can  help teachers figure out what the students should know , so they have some where to start when the school year starts. The CCSS gives teachers a framework for what they should be teaching and what the students should be able to do by the end of their given grade level.

          CCSS can be helpful to avoid students having gaps in their learning. Each grade level has skills that a built upon so teachers of a certain grade level won't miss a key piece of information that should be taught to the students.

          The CCSS specify which skills should be taught, but are broad enough for other skills to be learned along with the standard that is being met in lesson. For example a lesson can cover how to pick out a word in, lets say The Scarlet Letter, and they can describe how that word is being used in reference to the text the students are reading. The students are learning about vocabulary words within a text and they are also being exposed to new thoughts in a text.

  

        

Discussion as a Way of Teaching

          The two chapters we read were very informative and filled with pieces of useful information that would be important for the teacher, as well as the students, to know before they took part in a class discussion. One thing that I thought was useful, and not something that I had put a lot of thought into before, was how discussions shouldn't be aggressive. Every student should able to express their whole opinion within the discussion without being interrupted by another student. I was thinking through past discussions that I have been a part of in my classes and many times students who were speaking got cut off in the middle of what they were saying by another student who was trying to express their opinion. The students should know not to cut other classmate mates off, but instead they should politely listen to what their peer is saying then respond to that with their opinion or a response to what their classmate just said. I see a lot of potential in classroom discussions if students know how to act while another student is talking and how to respond after a classmate has finished voicing their opinion about the topic we are talking about.

          Another piece from the text that I thought would be very valuable to use in the classroom was utilizing small group discussions. When I was in high school I had a fear of talking in large groups, especially when it came to speaking my own opinion in front of the class. Utilizing small group discussions can give the students that don't like to speak in large groups a chance to voice their opinions to their small group.
         
          When teachers have the students participate in whole classroom discussions this lets students explore a diverse amount of perspectives. Many students have only been exposed to limited opinions on certain topics. So hearing their peers opinions can broaden their view points and give them a more well rounded view of what the class was discussing. I feel that this is a very important part of the student's education. Showing the students that different view points, other than theirs, are out there gives the students more chances to refine their opinion on the topic the class is discussing. Also, when students voice their ideas about a certain topic that gives other students ideas for what they can add to the topic the class is discussing about.

Introductory Letter Assignment

          As a student in this course I am a motivated learner that wants to do learn all I can so I can give my future students a better education. As a teacher candidate I am in a class with 54 students. 54 students can at times be hard to connect with each student. So it's a learning process each day about how I can learn more about the students during class. Each day I learn more about who I am as a teacher and what my style of teaching is.

          Currently, I am observing at Mead High School, in a Junior Honor Humanities class. This class has 54 students and has two cooperating teachers. This makes for a very interesting and informational practicum situation. This is my master teacher's first time teaching this class, so it is a very positive environment to do my practicum in.

          As a potential teacher one of strengths is my organization. An unorganized teacher can make the students learning environment stressful and uptight. by being organized the students will have a relaxed space to learn instead of it being. Another one of my strengths as a teacher is my creativity. When I was a student I didn't enjoy when I just sat in class like a drone and listened to the teacher lecture. I always preferred doing an activity that engaged me and made me think. As I teacher I will provide my students with opportunities to be creative and use their creativity to understand the material within the lesson.

          One of my weaknesses as a potential teacher is getting caught up on the minuet details during class time. In certain situations I get caught up in teaching smaller pieces pertaining to the lesson that are not really pertinent to the lesson the students are learning. After time once I have been teaching for a longer period of time I will have a better grasp on when the smaller pieces would be beneficial to the students and when they could wait until another time.

          One of the goals for this class is to create a working three week lesson. I have never done one of these before and thinking about creating longer lessons sort of intimidates me. So getting the practice in making a longer lesson will be a positive project for me to work on doing really well at.