Learning Letter

I think the works we've read in this course provide me with both a wide variety of texts to use in the classroom as well as a large selection of educational resources. In particular, Katie Brown's website will prove useful in finding entertaining and interesting lesson ideas. Since engagement is a common theme in the texts we've read (such as Readicide and I Read It But I Don't Get It), the games and activities she gave us access to seem to be a great way to promote student engagement.
The assignments we've done have also given me a good idea of how to develop appropriate and solid lessons. The unit plan in particular was an exercise in trying to figure out how to connect concepts and learning objectives in singular lessons to an overarching unit with larger goals. The mini lesson also helped me learn how to develop a unit with a small amount of time, and how to teach without a lot of time. Often times teachers will have to use less time than they'd like to teach a concept, so working in such a small amount of time was a development of my teaching skills. The feedback process was also incredibly helpful in showing me what I need to work on and what I do very well, which made the developmental process much easier for me.
My participation in this course gave me a foundation of pedagogical theory that will help me develop my lesson-planning and instructional techniques. While I still have to work on the cultural aspect of education, I have greatly improved in my ability to create lessons and activities for my students that are engaging and culturally responsive. While I do still have a lot of work to do, I think I've come a long way in regards to my abilities in the classroom. I'd say that even in my cooperating classroom placement I've become much more well-rounded as a student teacher.

TPA Lesson Plan - American Born Chinese

1.      Teacher Candidate: Carlos Santos

2.      Subject: English Language Arts

3.      Lesson Title/ Central Focus: Pop Culture Symbolism in American Born Chinese

4.      Grade Level(s): 9th Grade

5.      Length of Lesson: 20 Minutes

6.      Academic and Content Standards (Common Core/National):

RL 9.2 . Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text.

7.      Learning  Objective(s):

Given the text American Born Chinese, students will be able to identify the meaning behind the symbols in the Symbolism Worksheet, and how they connect to a variety of themes. This connects to RL 9.2 by asking students to see how the development of a story progresses in a graphic novel with the use of images as well as words.

8.      Academic Language:

Students will need to understand the words symbol, symbolism, metaphor, and theme. This language will ensure students are able to analyze images and determine a deeper meaning behind them.

9.      Assessment:

For this lesson, I will be using a symbolism worksheet. This will require students to observe a variety of symbols, and write down at least 5 words describing what they think is the meaning of the symbol. This will ask students to think about how symbols can develop the theme of a story, connect ideas to characters, and progress the story. The assignment will be worth a total of 25 points, one for each word for each of the 5 symbols.

10.  Lesson Connections:

Educator Trent Lorcher, in his "Literature Lesson Plan: Teaching Symbolism", explains that "symbolism allows people to communicate beyond the limits of language", which is an important facet of literature. With this in mind, the lesson intends to connect pop culture imagery with images from the text to promote student understanding of how images can have meaning beyond their surface definitions. This will build off of student knowledge of the literary elements. As my students will already be aware of the elements of literature, this lesson will be building on their knowledge of symbolism. This lesson would be building off of several previous lessons analyzing American Born Chinese for a number of literary elements such as theme, plot, allusion, characterization, and conflict. Ultimately, all of these lessons and this one would lead into a summative assessment essay in which they would be analyzing the text with the elements of literature in mind.

11.  Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks to Support Student Learning:

Introduction

To introduce the lesson, I will provide the learning objective on the board, explain briefly what we will be doing and what the daily assignment is, and then probe for understanding. I will then have students write an "I CAN" statement on the back of their worksheet. 

Student Voice 

By having students write their "I CAN: statement on the back of their worksheet, I will be able to review their understanding of the lesson. Then I will also ask a student to read their "I CAN" statement aloud to model what one should look like. After that, I would provide a link on the board to allow students to do further investigating on symbolism in literature, and then have them write it down in their notebooks. To ensure there is full understanding of the relationship between the objective and the assessment, I will ask a student what they believe the purpose of the worksheet is.

Learning Tasks

Explicit instruction will occur as I work with the students to define symbolism and then search for the meaning behind a variety of symbols. This will reinforce critical thinking regarding the student's reading of texts. Ultimately, teaching the students about symbolism will allow them to read a text and determine meaning beyond what is written. To ensure the classroom functions properly, I will have students begin the lesson by quickly looking at the worksheet, flipping it over, and then writing the I CAN statement on the back. I will then have students work with me to define symbolism, and then they will be allowed to work in groups to complete the assignment. 

Learning Activities
Students will seat themselves, retrieve a writing utensil, and receive the worksheet. They will write an I can statement after observing the learning objective, and will engage in brief question answering regarding the day's lesson. They will then work on the worksheet in groups. After they have completed the worksheet, they will come back together and share their responses.

Instructional Strategies
Once I have introduced the worksheet, I will place another image on the projector to allow students to observe me model the assignment. I will use a combination of prearranged answers and student voice to complete an example for them. The time estimates are 5 minutes to introduce the lesson, provide the learning objective, write an I CAN statement, and ask for examples, followed by 3 minutes for modelling, 8 minutes to complete the worksheet, and then 4 minutes for feedback.My key questions will be "what is symbolism?", "what symbols can you think of in your life?", and "how might symbols connect to the theme of a story?"
For grouping, I intend to allow students to work with elbow partners only, to minimize disruption from moving.

Closure

Once students have shared some of their answers from their worksheet, I will have reread their I CAN statement, and below it, write a number between 1 and 5, 1 being I still don't think I can, 5 being I totally can.

12.  Differentiated Instruction:

To ensure equitable instruction, I will provide an additional resource for students still struggling with the concept. I will also provide access to a variety of learning modalities, including visual learning (pictures, images), read/write learning (writing assignment), and auditory learning (speaking opportunities).

13.  Resources and Materials:

I will need access to the text, a projector, copies of my assignment, a whiteboard, markers, and erasers. Students will need a writing utensil and the text.

Howard, M. (n.d.). Retrieved December 1, 2014, from http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/symbolism-imagery-in-literature-definitions-examples.html#lesson

Lorcher, T. (n.d.). Teaching Symbolism: How to Get More out of Literature. Retrieved November 30, 2014, from http://www.brighthubeducation.com/high-school-english-lessons/28791-teaching-symbolism/

14.  Management and Safety Issues:

To ensure safety, I will have students group with elbow partners to minimize movement around the classroom. I will also closely observe student interactions to prevent any conflicts to escalate. If certain students do not perform well together, I will allow them to work with different partners or individually, though this is unlikely.

15.  Parent and Community Connections:
To connect this lesson to the community, I made the decision to use pop culture symbols to encourage familiarity with the idea of symbols and to give students real world examples. To tie in parents, I will be asking students to talk to their parents about symbols that they might see at work, to show them how widespread they really are.

Assessing and Evaluating Students' Learning: How Do You Know What They Have Learned?

The first thing I enjoyed about this particular text is the case narrative it starts off with. As a student teacher, it's a lot easier for me to relate to another student teacher's experiences, as opposed to a veteran teacher. Because student teachers are in the same situation as I am, they can provide insight into the difficulties of developing assessment. I know that I have felt the way Heidi Murphy has felt because I have also seen how my cooperating teacher's assessment methods differ from what I've seen in the past. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's something I have to consider as I work alongside her. What's great about this connection is that it made me think about my upcoming lessons, and how I can develop assessments for my students to make sure they are getting out of literature what I would like to see them get.
For example, I am going to be working with students on the elements of literature, such as plot, conflict, resolution, etc. While I do need to help them understand the academic language of the content, I would also like to help them think critically of the short stories we will be reading, so I will have to be able to teach to standards involving critical thinking and also be able to reliably assess that critical thinking. I feel that the "correct answer" style of assessment isn't as effective as it could be due to its limitation on testing student cognitive abilities. Therefore, I feel developing assessments that involve students developing their own ideas or applying concepts in an assignment in their own words is far more effective due to the effort students will have to put in to complete the assignments with proficiency.
What's great about this text is that it also provides some interpretive strategies I can ask students to use in their assignments in order to test their cognitive skills in a variety of ways. I definitely plan on using these in the classroom, as they will be a great measuring tool for student proficiency.

2014 Washington State Teacher of the Year Katie Brown

Having looked into an op-ed by Katie Brown published in the Seattle Times newspaper, I was able to learn quite a bit about Katie's views on teaching and what sort of instructor she is. In particular, I found her statement that "where you grow up, what language you speak, how much money you have or what state you live in should not determine your opportunity to learn" resonates with me, since I would like to teach at a Title I school. Her philosophy in teaching Common Core State Standards makes me feel reassured that they can be used effectively and with a high level of cultural awareness. 

Her educational background is also interesting, part of her degree was cultural anthropology, which led her to work as a teacher for AmeriCorps in Alaska. Her teaching position led her to work with children of the Tlingit and Haida Native American tribes, which gave her a lot of experience in working with students from other cultures. Katie's involvement in her students' culture impresses me, and shows a level of dedication that goes above and beyond what I'd seen from a lot of teachers in my academic career. 

As a whole, I can see why she was voted 2014 Washington State Teacher of the Year. She makes use of effective teaching strategies that are both culturally aware and standards-based, and she's shown she does this quite well. Her ability to connect to her students and engage them in her lessons shows her mastery of the teaching profession in what are arguably some of the toughest teaching environments around.

Questions:
What led you to become interested in teaching ELL?
What are some techniques you use to connect with students who are from a different culture?
How do you establish community with the families of your students when their culture is very different from yours? How do you bring them together when your students' families come from different cultures as well?

Links:

http://www.whatcomtalk.com/2014/06/01/washington-state-teacher-of-the-year-katie-brown/

http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2023193286_katiebrownopedcommoncore22xml.html

Readicide: How Schools Are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It

I feel like Readicide is almost a continuation of I Read It But I Don't Get It in a lot of ways, and I think both of these texts are something that teachers across the country should be reading in order to gain a better idea of the scope of this issue. I'll say, as a student teacher, I can see how students have progressed to the point of not being interested in reading, or even being hostile towards the idea of reading, and it's something my master teacher and I struggle with on a daily basis. This is because we are stuck in a difficult situation where the district is asking teachers to meet specific goals using provided texts and assignments, but the students aren't retaining very much because of the sheer volume of the information they have to digest, process, and be able to recall. I have no problem with testing; it's a great form of assessment, honestly. However, I feel like it's not a teacher's job to craft all of their lessons around improving test scores.

I also think there is still a responsibility on the teacher's part to teach complex texts to students despite this challenge and, if possible, even engage students to become interested in reading. However, for this to happen, teachers also have to start analyzing the way we approach texts, and begin to understand that frontloading student knowledge prior to reading and promoting intertextual analysis are key to student understanding, and we can't just teach texts within a vacuum and hope that students make the connections themselves.  Rather, we should be looking for ways to use texts as stepping stones to the skills we want students to develop as stated in the state standards. We should be taking each reading text as an opportunity to build on what students already know, establishing links to previous readings and assessments, so students can actively use what they have learned. Simply put, we have to eliminate this idea of passively reading and engage our students in the text, encourage questioning, lead them towards answers, and ultimately make lifelong readers.

EdTPA

After having had a chance to get a good look at the EdTPA format, i must admit that I'm still not too keen on going through it, but I do see its uses. I definitely feel as though it's a little too vague in its questioning in some areas, such as the section on lesson connections. I'm not really sure what qualifies as research that supports my lesson plan, for example. Perhaps this is something that will be cleared up as we go on, but ultimately I feel like this section is far too open to interpretation at first glance that it would be easy for someone like me to do it incorrectly the first time.

I will say, I do like the in-depth questioning regarding student voice and differentiated education. I think that's a valuable tool for teachers with students who are struggling to perform at grade-level or who may have some sort of learning difficulty. The inclusion of learning tasks as a section also will make me as a student teacher think carefully about my choices both in the learning activities I use as well as instructional techniques. Rather than having a vague lesson plan with goals and assignments, the EdTPA is asking what I will be doing to, so that my actions in the classroom are held accountable for.

There are a few things I feel like we might have difficulties addressing as well, such as parents and community. With some of our lessons, we may be teaching a selection that is only a small part of the whole unit, and may not require parent-teacher dialogue or community involvement (allowing for students whose parents we must remain in contact with regarding progress due to an IEP or 504, or due to disciplinary issues). Also, being a fairly new student teacher, I feel like I may not be well-equipped enough in my knowledge of the students in my class to answer questions like "How does the content build on what the students already know and are able to do?", which requires me to have a little more background on the students. I think by working with my master teacher I can sort out that challenge, but it still will prove challenging, I think.

I Read It, But I Don't Get It

I've always been someone who reading came naturally to, so in reading Cris Tovani's I Read It, But I Don't Get It, the author's personal experiences as a struggling reader as well as the experiences of her students made me realize how it is important to teach reading as an active skill, and to be aware of the difficulties some children may have with reading a text.

In particular, I'm now more aware of this idea that, as Tovani said it, ""[we] have a decision to make: teach the reading or the reader?", which may come up in our classrooms when our students are struggling with a text (Tovani 39). It's more important for us as teachers to teach students how to read with the purpose of gaining understanding, and maybe even for enjoyment, rather than just to be able to fill in answers on a test. I loved how, when faced with a class struggling with canto 34 of The Divine Comedy, Tovani made the decision to change her test from asking what happened in the text to where they got lost, when they realized that they were lost, and what caused them to become lost. This activity seemed to have a greater impact in helping students approach an intimidating text compared to having them take and fail a test.

I also love the use of "fix-up strategies" that Tovani laid out in chapter 5. By having her students form connections between the text and their previous knowledge, make predictions, talk about what they've read, ask questions, reflect, visualize, use print conventions, retell what they've read, reread, notice patterns, and adjust their reading speed, she is able to isolate and address readers' issues as they come up without having to hold their hand. Earlier, in chapter 4, she has a discussion with a student named Dan, who wants to know why he needs to know what he knows and what he doesn't know, and like Tovani, I came to the realization that my role as a teacher is not to find out what students do and don't know, because like she said, we as educators can't read minds. Rather, we have to provide our students with the tools to address issues they run into when they come to a text or problem that they don't know or understand.

I could go on, but to put it simply, there was a lot of useful tools and strategies for teaching reading in this text. and I feel like it's probably one of the best 'textbooks' about education that I've read. Rather than addressing the process of teaching (particularly literature) with broad, general statements, this text got into the nitty-gritty and nailed out a solid methodology for the teaching of reading. As I go further into my practicum, I think this will become more and more useful to me, so I'm glad we read it for this class.