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.

Tovani Reading Activity

For the reading activity I chose to do "Tips for Reading a Poem" on page 122.

1. Read the poem all the way through, twice.

2. Think about any background knowledge that you have that will help you connect to the people, animals, or objects in the poem.

3. Try to make a picture in your head of what's happening in the poem.

(insert poem)

Woman Work

I've got the children to tend
The clothes to mend
The floor to mop
The food to shop
Then the chicken to fry
The baby to dry
I got company to feed
The garden to weed
I've got shirts to press
The tots to dress
The can to be cut
I gotta clean up this hut
Then see about the sick
And the cotton to pick.

Shine on me, sunshine
Rain on me, rain
Fall softly, dewdrops
And cool my brow again.

Storm, blow me from here
With your fiercest wind
Let me float across the sky
'Til I can rest again.

Fall gently, snowflakes
Cover me with white
Cold icy kisses and
Let me rest tonight.

Sun, rain, curving sky
Mountain, oceans, leaf and stone
Star shine, moon glow
You're all that I can call my own.

Maya Angelou

 

 

4. What do you think the poem is about?

 

I think the beginning part of this poem is about a woman who has a lot to get done. It's as if she is reading aloud a mental checklist of things she has to get done. The first part is very fast past rhythm and she uses couplet rhyming and musical devices: "tend, mend, mop, shop, fry, dry..". I think the second part is much calmer and slower because she is fantasizing about a fantasy world where she can relax. I think the second part is like her daydreaming about somewhere else where she wants to go. Also you can tell this is told from the point of view of an African American woman when she says "And the cotton to pick".
My background knowledge comes from knowing Maya Angelou is African American.


 

Tovani Ch. 1-5

I loved that Cris Tovani wrote in her book how she herself wasn’t a good reader and then it took practice for her to be where she is now. She helps people who struggle with something she struggled with for years. I like how when she talks about her classroom she says she asked her students first what they expected to get from the classroom first before she tells them what she expects. I think this is a great strategy to use in the classroom because it gives them a little bit of autonomy instead of having a teacher what they can and can’t do the first day. I also enjoyed that Tovani is reminded of how she was when she was younger by some of her students when they reveal how they cheated on book reports and pretended how to read.

I couldn’t believe when she shared the experience of running into the teacher who was upset about having to teach reading comprehension just because it was a secondary classroom. Also that the teacher said if they can’t read after 6^th grade they are doomed. That is just awful to hear from a teacher but I understand why Tovani included this part in her book.

She admits that everyone can identify with having fake read before. Which is true because I did at times growing up pretend to know what I was reading and not really understand what I read.

I appreciated that Tovani points out that Teachers have so much they have to cover that sometimes it is hard for them to teach reading comprehension because they don’t know where to fit it in.

 

Demonstrating the reading process to your students can go a long way. It will help your students see how an experienced reading comprehends what they are reading. I thought this was great idea that I can actually use in the classroom.

Tovani makes a good point when she says that it is impossible to monitor every aspect of a student’s comprehension. As teachers, we can try to assess understanding of a text but when we are expected to monitor every aspect of reading comprehension, we are asked to do the impossible.

I agree when Tovani says some student’s problems is they don’t know why they are confused or that they are even confused. They don’t know how to tell when they don’t comprehend what they are reading.

 

I will admit even now sometimes when I am reading something I just won’t be focused and I will get side tracked with everything else going on in my life but then I just have to like relax and try to focus on what I am reading.

I believe that if students keep practicing reading that will help with comprehension. All they have to do is keep reading not just read when they are forced to.

 

 

A Response-Based Approach

Reading Judith Langer's A Response Based Approach to Literature, I agree with her on many factors. She breaks down the process of literary understanding into two categories: horizon of possibilities and point of reference. I agreed with what she had to say, in particular when she says that when someone is done reading a story there are many possible conclusions and places someone can take one story. I agree with that completely and as a future teacher I think it is important to understand that I myself may have gathered one possible interpretation from a story while one of my students may have gathered something completely different from the same piece of literature. It reminds me of how in class during one of our discussions we talked about how a teacher may go into a class discussion thinking the students will respond to a piece of text one way and then they actually may respond completely different or have conflicting opinions from the teacher.

Langer also references a study in which they found that literature is usually always taught as if there is one single answer to a question. In reality, there are always multiple interpretations in literature, that's what makes literature unique. I can speak from my own experiences where in some of my English Language Arts classes that I had teachers who would want you to reiterate what they said or thought while they were reading a story. Teachers that conduct their English Language Arts classes this way are doing a real disservice to their students and closing off that creativeness that every student can have if the teacher allows them to do so. I believe this goes back to social justice in the classroom and teaching this way is a form of injustice. A teacher isn't giving their students a voice when they teach like this and I think shutting that voice down is teaching the students never to challenge authority or the status quo. The example of the Huck Finn question on an exam actually made me laugh out loud that a teacher actually expected a student to respond to a very close ended question like that.

The part where Langer talks about how teachers excuses for shutting down students for saying things they did not anticipate come from the fact that they were expected to generate and follow precise and specific lesson plans. I can see where someone with that mind state is coming from, however I do not agree with shutting students creative minds down, but I certainly can understand. Being a student in the Education Department sometimes I feel as if the TPA is so structured and fine tuned that it almost relies to much on little details and not enough on the actually pedagogy that will be taking place. I agree when Langer says that the lesson plan should be more of a reference and not an exact script that the teacher must follow. The reality is that teachers aren't going to have a written out long detailed lesson plan for every single lesson they ever teach, there just isn't enough time for a teacher to do that. I do see where the Education Department is coming from by making us plan for students with special accommodations and differentiated instruction.

I think one of the most important ideas that Langer presented in the text was to invite students initial responses to a piece of literature they may have just read. I think that is very important for students to be able to express how they felt when they were reading any piece of literature. It is also great for students to hear what their classmates were feeling and to see if they had similar feelings or contradictory feelings. This gives students the opportunity to learn from one another instead of always having an oppressive teacher figure barking over them telling them what is wrong and what is right. Plus an idea may mean more coming from one of their peers than from the teacher.

Social Justice in the Classroom

Social Justice: "Justice exercised within a society, particularly as it is applied to and among the various social classes of a society. A socially just society is one based upon the principles of equality and solidarity; which pedagogy also maintains that a socially just society both understands and values human rights, as well as recognizing the dignity of every human being." This is a definition of social justice that I found online.

Teachers should promote social justice in their classrooms to model to their students how to behave a treat people in society. In order to get the best results from students a teacher should make everyone in the classroom feel equally important. I think this question of social justice in the classroom goes along with the discussion we had in class about whether it is the teacher's responsibility to teach morals in the classroom. Promoting social justice in the classroom is a part of teaching morals to students. A teacher displaying to their students that everyone's input in the classroom is equally important can go along way with students, especially in a secondary classroom when students are adolescents. Adolescents are going through a lot of social problems in middle and high school so when a teacher displays to their students that everyone is treated equally, students will understand that is how you act in society.

I think most often throughout history teachers have failed to promote social justice in the classroom. Whether it was teaching only one certain way, presenting material to a class in only one form and not accommodating to different learning styles, or flat out favoring one student over another. Time and time again teachers have failed to promote social justice in the classroom. Now with more of an emphasis on differentiated instruction, promoting social justice in the classroom has become easier for teachers. Also, classrooms with more diversity can make it easier for teachers to promote social justice in the classroom.

Critical Pedagogy and Popular Culture in an Urban Secondary English Classroom

This text presented some great ideas to future teachers who are trying to get their students interested in literature. The text was about a study they did to try and include popular culture in their English classrooms. One of the ways this was demonstrated was relating contemporary hip hop songs to resurfacing themes in classic literature. They had the students split into groups and produce a presentation where they would analyze the text and discuss common themes in the music and the literature. I think this is great because it is giving the students autonomy in the classroom and allowing students to learn from one another.

The idea of bringing popular culture into the classroom and logically connecting it to something relevant in any classroom is always great for students. It allows them to be able to relate to the material and gets rid of the "why are we learning this?" question. I remember a couple of instances in high school and even college where professors or teachers did this and it was very helpful to keep the class engaged and also entertaining. I believe part of the art of teaching is also your ability to be able to entertain a group of students. Teachers with a great stage presence will go along way in their profession.

Peter McLaren's "Critical Pedagogy: A Look at the Major Concepts"

I am able to understand this reading better than Paulo Freire's "Pedagogy of the Oppressed." I also agree with more of what Peter McLaren is saying rather than Freire. Freier was presenting his ideas in a very extreme way and McLaren presents his idea in more of a relaxed tone or at least in comparison to Freier.

I agree with McLaren when he says teachers spend too much time on classroom management procedures, efficiency, and skill based techniques and not enough time explaining to their students why something in the classroom is being taught and what purpose it serves. I like that McLaren references someone named Giroux and says that he divides classroom objectives in two categories: macro and micro. He uses a lesson taught on the Vietnam War as an example of explaining the difference between both. McLaren explains that Giroux defines Micro as remembering dates, places, events and macro is when students can make larger connections to the lesson being taught by being able to explain the political and social implications of the War.

I also love that McLaren adds in a part talking about social class and relations and the knowledge that is taught in schools about it. He says: "why do we spend so much time learning about the "great" men in history and not more about the contributions of women and minorities?" I think that is very important question to bring up and I agree with his criticism on what is being taught in schools today. As a future history teacher I take what he says into very serious consideration on educating our youth not only about the "great" men in history but also about the struggles of minorities and females and their contributions.

I also agree with his section on the dominant class in society focusing on their positives and not their negatives. He talks about how most Americans reflect on the fact that they practice freedom for all, justice, and equality and rarely do they reflect on the fact that their economy is lacking industrially behind other countries or that their government isn't more generous to it's citizens(providing health care).

Overall, I liked this reading and I appreciated what McLaren had to say. I look forward to hearing everyone else's responses and the class discussion tomorrow.

PAULO FREIRE: CHAPTER 2 OF PEDAGOGY OF THE OPPRESSED

This chapter of Pedagogy of the Oppressed was a little bit easier to understand after the class discussion we had on Friday. This chapter seemed like it focused more on the teacher student relationship, instead of education as a whole. This chapter talks about the teacher being a narrator and narrating to their students. It also mentions the bank deposits that we actually discussed in class, about how teachers are making "deposits" of information to the students and the students are just receiving and storing these "deposits" of information. I think this is a very extreme way to look at the education system overall. I do believe that in the past, and I can speak from my own experiences, that there was a lot of emphasis on students sitting in a classroom listening to teachers lecture for hours on end with no differentiated instruction. Now I believe that we have made much progress to move away from that in secondary classrooms.

The chapter also lists ten things that education contributes to society's overall attitude, which I found to be quite interesting. One of the rules is "the teacher teaches and the students are taught", this makes it sound like both teachers and students are robots. Once again I just felt like this chapter was looking at education from a very extreme point of view.

I look forward to everyone's responses to this chapter and the class discussion tomorrow.

PAULO FREIRE: CHAPTER 1 OF PEDAGOGY OF THE OPPRESSED

This reading assignment was very difficult and after reading it a few times I still am a little confused by it. This is my best guess at what the article was saying and my reaction to it,  their are oppressors and the oppressed and neither can exist without the other. The oppressed are constantly fighting for their own liberation. Violence is sometimes the result of the oppressor but not the ones who are oppressed. When some entity or force comes along to change the status quo, of the oppressed being the oppressed and the oppressors being the oppressors, both suffer from the situation. I still didn't see where this tied in with education but I am assuming that this is a claim that teachers are oppressors and students are oppressed? In my opinion it might be because of certain requirements that are expected of students, like state wide assessments, that they're oppressed and teachers being the one's that administer these assessments can be the oppressors? Or maybe teachers are oppressed too because they have to administer these requirements.

I would like to know more of how this relates to education. I am sure that I am missing it and it probably does but I just didn't understand what I was reading to follow it correctly. From my understanding of this article, I feel as if this applied more to a larger society and not education. It seemed like they were talking about people who are oppressed by dictators or by their own government are suffering. I did think it was interesting how they applied acts of violence being destructive not only to the oppressed but also the oppressors. The chapter also talked about how the "fear" of freedom affected the oppressors which I think meant that they are afraid to challenge the status quo. They are so used to being oppressed that they have lost all confidence to challenge their oppressors.

Overall, I did not enjoy reading this article because it was very difficult to understand and I still don't see how it applied to pedagogy or education. Hopefully the in class discussion today can clear up my confusion.