Learning Letter

Dear Dr. Agriss,


In this course, we have discussed different theories on pedagogy, we have engaged in an array of classroom discussions, and we have also been able to get practice with pedagogy through the mini-lesson and the creation of the unit plan. I feel more confident in teaching literature to adolescents through completing this course.

Reading a variety of texts in the beginning of this course gave me a perspective on issues that I will deal with in the classroom. Being able to reflect on this through my blog postings allowed me to express my ideas and opinions on each one of these texts. As a future teacher, it is important that I have my own ideas and perspectives on each one of the issues we discussed: differentiated instruction, social justice, bringing popular culture in the classroom, etc. Being able to discuss these practices in small groups and then engage in whole-class discussion helped to gather ideas from my peers on how to address these ideas in the classroom. I appreciate that I got to read so many pedagogy theory texts and also gain ideas from my classmates.

The book talk on the young adult text introduced me to a lot of texts that I was not familiar with before. There were many texts that I had either not heard of, or I had heard of but had not read. Many of the students' books that were shared gave me ideas of new books to read and also, how to use them in the classroom. This assignment allowed me to evaluate the text I used and how I would use it in the classroom. I appreciated receiving feedback from each one of my peers on my book talk selection and how I may get past some of the difficulties with incorporating it into the classroom.

Doing a mini-lesson on one of the young adult texts we read was a great experience. It was a little challenging planning for a shorter lesson but it also helped for me to make sure that everything I did made a difference. Getting up in front of my peers and teaching a lesson helped to prepare me for teaching an actual lesson in a secondary classroom. All of the feedback I got will help me to improve the next time I have to teach a lesson. Being a student and watching everyone else in the class present also helped. The experience helped me to see, from a student's perspective, what worked in the lesson and what did not. Building up to that comfortable learning environment where we were all able to evaluate each other's lessons and give each other feedback helped tremendously. We were all comfortable with one another in receiving critiques and giving critiques.

The unit plan helped me to get an idea of how to plan out curriculum. This was a very enriching assignment. I feel more prepared having completed the unit plan assignment in going forward with my career. It gave me idea not just on how to plan out an entire unit, but also the start of how to plan out an entire course. Having completed this assignment, I am now aware of what to expect and plan for when I create a unit for my own classroom.

I am grateful for being able to be a part of this class. I feel more confident in my teaching abilities and I have been able to pick up a lot of helpful pedagogy techniques and ideas. Thank you Dr. Agriss for making this class a comfortable and fun learning environment. I feel like I got a lot of helpful information from taking this course.

Sincerely,



Josh Gallegos

American Born Chinese

American Born Chinese is a graphic novel and is the winner of many graphic novel awards. It tells three different stories where each protagonist must overcome a challenge they face. The problems include not being wanted by either a single person or group of people. They face racial discrimination because of their Chinese heritage and they live in America. They each learn something about themselves when going through these challenges. Each protagonist has grown in some way by the end of their challenge.

I would definitely consider using this book in the classroom. The pictures make it more appealing to students similar to The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. One way I would use this is teaching diversity and multiculturalism to students. This novel teaches important lessons on accepting everyone for who they are no matter what culture, race, or ethnicity they are. The only problem I foresee with using this novel in the classroom is that there are a few racial stereotypes in the novel. I would simply send a letter home with students warning parents of this and giving a detailed description on how I would use it in the classroom.

Night

Night is about a teenage boy's experience in Auschwitz, a Nazi concentration camp. Eliezer expresses his horrifying experiences at the camp. He was separated form his mother and sister whom he never saw again. The Jews rely on each other for moral support and religious faith to get through there experiences. They encounter multiple humiliations and work under slave-like conditions. They are severely malnourished. Night also shows how people may react in survival situations. Some of the Jews become concerned with their own survival without thinking to rely on anyone else. When the camp that Eliezer is at is evacuated they are brought to another concentration camp. Only 12 survive the journey to the next concentration camp. Eliezer's father dies dysentery and physical abuse. Eliezer dies on the same day that the American soldiers liberated the camp: April 11, 1945.

Although this is not a memoir, it is obvious that Elie Wiesel is recounting some of his own experiences in Nazi concentration camps. Wiesel was a teenager when he and his family were taken from their home to Auschwitz concentration camp and then to Buchenwald just like Eliezer in Night. The back cover of the novel says it in words better than I could express: "Night is the terrifying record of Elie Wiesel's memories of the death of his family, the death of his own innocence, and his despair as a deeply observant Jew confronting the absolute evil of man".

In the classroom this book would be a great supplemental text to use on a unit on the Holocaust. I would use this in the classroom to hit the emotions of students since this is as close to a personal narrative, without it being a personal narrative, as you can get. It is important for students to learn history and gain empathy for those groups that were once disenfranchised by society. It is important to teach these aspects of history so that we can grow as human beings.

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is one of the greatest love stories in Western Culture of all time! The Capulets and Montagues have a fierce rivalry with one another. Romeo seeks the attention of Rosaline while Juliet's fate is already decided for her when her parents wish for her to marry Paris. But at the Capulet's ball when Romeo and Juliet first lay eyes on each other, it is love at first sight. Romeo forgets about Rosaline and Juliet longs to see Romeo again. Friar Lawrence agrees to marry them in secret. Tybalt (a Capulet), still enraged that Romeo was at the Capulet's ball, challenges Romeo to a duel. Romeo having married Juliet is now one of Tybalt's kinsmen and does not want to duel him. Mercutio, a kinsman to the Prince and close friend of Romeo, steps in for Romeo and is killed. Romeo enraged by Mercutio's death kills Tybalt. The Prince of Verona declares Romeo must leave at once. Lord Capulet insists Juliet marry Paris at once. Juliet concocts a plan to fake death and be sent to Mantua, where Romeo now resides. Friar Lawrence is supposed to send the message to Romeo of the plan but all Romeo hears is that Juliet has died. Romeo sees Paris throwing flowers on Juliet's grave and kills him. Romeo drinks poison and dies. Juliet wakes moments after Romeo has died. Friar Lawrence begs Juliet to leave with him but she refuses. Juliet stabs herself and dies falling on Romeo's body. The Prince, the Capulets, and Montague walk and see what has happened. Montague declares that Lady Montague has died over grief of Romeo's exile. Montague and the Caplets agree to end their long standing feud. They raise gold statues of their children in Verona so that no one will ever forget the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.

This story is one of Shakespeare's best plays. Love becomes Romeo and Juliet's ultimate demise. Once they saw each other there was no going back from there. There are certain instances where if Romeo's extreme behavior hadn't happened things may have been different. If he didn't kill Tybalt then he may not have ever been exiled. If he would have waited a day after receiving the news about Juliet, then maybe they would have lived happily ever after. But part of what makes this play so great is the timing of everything and fast pace scenario. The reader or audience feels the intensity of Romeo's emotions as he makes these irrational decisions due to his love for Juliet.

The way Juliet's character develops throughout the play is one of Shakespeare's best characterizations. Juliet isn't given many privileges, in comparison to Romeo, at the beginning due to her family upbringing. By the end, Juliet shows remarkable courage. She doesn't doubt her future with Romeo and devises the plan to be with him forever. She even refuses the advice of her Nurse, her closest confidant throughout the story, when she tells her to forget about Romeo and marry Paris after Romeo is exiled. Her death at the end requires more nerve than Romeo's when she stabs herself with a dagger. This is her final way of showing her intense infatuation with Romeo.

In the classroom there are many ideas and options available for teachers with this text. I would love to have a play having students act out scenes. This would provide students with a hands on experience with the play allowing them to get into the minds of the characters. Another option would be to take an in depth look at themes of this story. Love conquers all is one important theme in this play which I have already discussed in this blog post. The feuding of the two families is another major theme. Out of all the people in the world to fall in love with Romeo and Juliet fall in love with each other and there families hate one another. Perhaps that is some of their motivation for loving each other? Taking what you can't have. In addition, any middle school/high school student can easily put themselves in the position of Romeo or Juliet and say how they would react in that situation.

Things Fall Apart

This was my first time reading Things Fall Apart and I enjoyed the story. The novel centers around protagonist Okonkwo who is constantly living under the shadow of his father's mistakes. He believes his dad was weak because he didn't display manliness. He opposes everything his father stood for because his father was thought to be "soft" by enjoying music and engaging in conversations. Okonkwo condones violence and anger to display manliness. He ultimately becomes his own worst enemy because he tragically falls by continually trying to prove his manliness for his village.

Okonkwo resents his own son, Nwoye,  because he thinks his son is weak and displays many characteristics his father displayed. Ikemefuna is a boy that Okonkwo adopts and Nwoye looks up to him as an older brother. Ikemefuna is murdered and Okonkwo participates in killing Ikemefuna because he is afraid of seeming weak. Okonkwo is torn apart by this and things only get worse after Ikemefuna's death.

When Okonkwo is attending a villagers funeral, his gun goes off during a gun salute and kills a boy. Okonkwo is sent into exile for seven years for this crime. Okonkwo sees this as an opportunity to get in touch with his feminine side because he goes to live with maternal ancestors. Okonkwo resents his time in exile because he feels he is not showing manliness.

Okonkwo returns to his village, after being in exile, finding that things have changed because there are white men who now occupy the village. He rallies his tribe members to overthrow the leader and they do so successfully. When Okonkwo is wanted to be tried by the white men for his crime, he hangs himself. Okonkwo's reputation is ruined because suicide is strictly forbidden in the teaching of Igobo.

I would use Things Fall Apart in an Anthropology class or a Human Geography class for studying different cultures around the world to show students an example of how other cultures live. I think there are many things you can with this in an English Language Arts classroom. There are many different themes in this novel that a teacher could talk about in the classroom with students. The main character, Okonkwo, is a very complex character and that would make a great topic for discussion in the classroom.

TPA Guidelines Handout

For this blog posting I will be discussing the TPA Guidelines that we are to use in this class for our Mini-Lesson and our Three Week Unit Plan Assignment. The TPA is very precise and covers a lot of bases for teachers when planning lessons. It has you develop a context for learning which requires teachers to know their classrooms. This is important for all teachers to consider when creating lesson plans for the classroom. What kind of diversity encompasses a classroom is important to know and consider when planning a lesson. Diversity can be defined as differences in age, culture, ethnicity, socio-economic status, etc.

The TPA also allows you to plan for any limitations you may encounter while teaching the lesson.  You may not have all the required technology in a certain classroom that you planned or hoped for so as a teacher you should always have a plan B. The TPA allows you to prepare for scenarios like this. The TPA makes sure that teachers are planning their lessons according to GLEs and Common Core Standards. The TPA has teachers establish a learning goal or target for the lesson. A learning goal should be what the teacher envisions their students being able to do by the end of the lesson. It must be a measurable goal and at some point students must endure an assessment of some sorts to ensure that the goal is met.

The TPA also has teachers come up with a rationale for the lesson. That is giving this lesson a purpose beyond the reasons of "I am the teacher and I say it is important". It also allows you to answer questions such as what prior knowledge are the students building on from this lesson and also how it fits into the overall curriculum.

The TPA also has a required section for differentiated instruction. This is one of the most important parts. For every lesson a teacher has they should have multiple ways of going about that lesson. Each student is different and will learn differently from others. It is important for teachers to plan that way so that students have a chance to do well.

I like the TPA because it lays out everything nicely for the teacher and allows a teacher to be prepared when going into to teaching a lesson. However, it is illogical to think that for every single lesson a teacher teaches that they will have time to complete a TPA lesson plan. As a teacher candidate I value the importance of having to complete a TPA handout for every lesson I teach. I know that it will prepare me for when I am a full time paid teacher who has to plan for five periods a day and I have to consider all of these different elements when teaching a lesson to students.

Differentiated Instruction

For this assignment I read the article "Differentiating in the Language Arts: Flexible Options to Support All Students" written by Ruthanne Tobin who is an assistant professor of Education at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. At the University of Victoria, Professor Tobin teaches courses in differentiated instruction and Language Arts methodology. In her article she defines differentiated instruction as awareness and respect for student diversity. In her article she lists key elements to differentiating instruction: "modifying the content, modifying the process, and modifying products of student learning". Professor Tobin includes that differentiating instruction will allow students to be more motivated in the classroom. I agree with this completely because if you keep presenting students material in the same way every single day they are going to get stuck in the same routine and get bored. I know for me personally I constantly need a change up of activities and for me to use differentiated instruction in my own classroom will help me as a teacher but also it will be beneficial for my students.

Professor Tobin says that differentiated instruction also provides students a chance to have their individual needs met. I agree with her on this because a change up of activities and presenting material to students in the classroom in a variety of ways will help each student be able to learn things they are most comfortable with.

In this article it also says that a key emphasis on differentiated instruction is also placed on flexible grouping and on-going assessments for all students. Continually assessing students is key with using differentiated instruction. It is important because you have to see which lessons work and which lessons don't work. That is one downfall to using differentiated instruction is that you constantly have to change the routine and come up with new lessons that may or may not be beneficial for the students in your classroom. It would be easier for teachers to just do the same thing the same exact way every single day but that wouldn't be in any way beneficial for the students. As teachers we need to remember that every one is different and unique and you can explain the same concept, the same way as many times as you want but there will still be at least one person who does not understand what you are trying to explain. That is why using differentiated instruction is a key pedagogical tool for all instructors at all levels of education.

Professor Tobin also adds in a part about balancing small group instruction, whole group instruction, and self-directed learning. She even says that there is no model to help with this but that its up to each teacher to asses how to do this in their own classroom. Every classroom will be different, some classes you will be able to split up into groups and have them be able to stay on task the whole time and other classes you will be limited to what you can do because of the variation of student ability. It is up to every teacher to be the judge of what their students can handle and what they aren't ready for yet.