What have you learned about yourself as a teacher (or future teacher) of adolescent literature (or English) in this class? What strategies will you take from this class to apply in either the Methods course next semester or your own English classrooms?
I have learned that I really enjoy teaching novels to students. Especially when I know they are stories that maybe the students can relate too. I know that it won't be easy, though. Trying to make up lesson plans for my methods class can be hard at times for me. I find a story that I want to teach, but then I don't know how to go about it. I like the idea of the fishbowl to create a discussion, and I also like the literature circles. Both of these things can be beneficial to a classroom, because they provide different ways for students to participate in the classroom.
I have also learned that teaching literature can be tricky, but if it is done in the correct way, it can be successful. After the scenarios were given to us in class the other week, I also learned that there are many situations that I will not be prepared for. I will have to do my best to be as organized and prepared as possible, but I know that there will still be instances that will occur. I just have to be ready for them.
What books resonated the most with you? The least? Why? Which selections do you think should be kept/removed from the class?
The books that come to mind as my favorite were Speak, Monster, American Born Chinese, and Book Thief. These are books that I could see myself teaching in a classroom, because I think there can be a lot of useful information that I can pull out of them. I would definately like to incorporate American Born Chinese, Monster, and Book Thief into my multicultural literature unit (or however I teach it). These stories offer so much about cultures that a lot of students may not be aware of. Even Persepolis would be interesting to teach.
Books that I would probably not teach in the classroom are Forever, Boys Meets Boy, Twilight, and Harry Potter. It's not because I didn't like these novels, because for the most part I did. However, as far as Twilight and Harry Potter go, these novels are ones that students read for pleasure. To bring them into the classroom could make them not enjoy reading them anymore. However, it could also have the adverse affect, and students could be excited that they can analyze the books that they like to read for fun. I just think that I could find other novels that would cover the same topic. I don't think I would like to teach Forever or Boys Meets Boy, because I had a hard time finding anything that could be worth while teaching. I know that we discussed talking about sex and things like that, but (and this is just my opinion) I believe that my job is there to teach literature. I feel like students would be more beneficial learning about stuff like this in a health class. I don't want to sound completely cold hearted. If my students wanted to talk to me about any of these issues, I would be willing to listen and do my best to answer any questions they might have. I just don't know how I would feel teaching on something like this as a whole, though.
Would it have been more helpful for you to read "classic" or traditional texts alongside the adolescent novel? For example, would reading To Kill A Mockingbird (a frequently taught text in the secondary schools) alongside Monster have yielded more realistic approaches for using adolescent literature in the classroom?
I think that this could be done for some stories. It could be beneficial for students to read stories that were written a while ago and compare them with stories written today. They could look for similarities and differences between the two, and I think that would be a good topic to lead to discussion. I don't think that this should be done for every text, though, because that would be a lot for students. Unless I was only planning on covering a small amount of text for the course of the year. To read two stories each time could be a lot on students. I definately think that it has it's place in the classroom, but not necessarily all the time.
What are your perceived strengths as a teacher of literature at this point? What remaining weaknesses or anxieties do you have regarding teaching literature (or teaching students!) How might this class have better helped you to address these concerns?
I feel like I can relate well to students (younger kids). I definately don't want to be one of those teachers that students are affraid to approach because they are intimidated. I have had several professors like that, and I don't feel like I learned anything from them. I want students to feel comfortable enough to ask for help and right now, I think I have the kind of personality for that (at least I think). I still get nervous when I get up in front of a class, because I am afraid that I am going to mess up or the students will be completely bored and uninterested. That causes problems for me, but I do feel like I can see that I have grown a little more over time. Hopefully, after student teaching, it will be gone for the most part. As I said before, I have a hard time coming up with lesson plans and knowing what will work and what won't. I know that that is something that I will learn over time, though. I don't consider myself horrible, but I know that I have a long way to go.
Was the group-teach a valuable experience for you? What was beneficial? What was frustrating? What did you learn about yourself in this experience. Should this experience be included in future classes?
The group teach was fun, but it was also kind of hard. Trying to find a time to meet with everyone's different schedules and things like that was very hard. However, we did manage to get it done. Although it was nice to have group members to help, I think it would have been more beneficial if we could have done something on our own, because we will be on our own as teachers. I think everyone can agree that if we would have taught by ourselves, we could have come up with everything that we wanted to do, and been able to show our prescence more.
Overall, though, I still had a fun time watching everyone present. Everyone came up with great ideas in their lessons. Some that I will take away and probably use in my own classroom. I think it would be more beneficial if students could do something by theirselves, however, pairing up might not be too bad.
Skim through the blogs you wrote this semester. Was creating your own blog and responding to the literature in this blog each week a valuable activity for you? Why/why not? Would you consider using a blog with your own students?
I like the blog activities, because we were able to see other peoples opinions about a certain topic before we got to class that night. It's always nice hearing other people's ideas, too, because sometimes there were things brought up that I would have never thought of. Overall, I thought the blog activity was a valuable aspect to the coarse. I think that, for the most part, we all enjoyed it. I would consider using it in my class if we had enough computers in the class or we had a lab to go to. I doubt that I would have students blog if there were only one or two computers in the classroom. That could take a while.
What recommendations or suggestions do you have for the content of this course. Was anything missing that you felt would have better prepared you? What was valuable to you overall? Feel free to address any other areas that may not have been raised here as well.
I liked that you taught us in different styles that we could use in out future classes. That was really beneficial to me and I learned a lot from that. I also like having a couple discussion leaders every week. This could be a good way to get students more involved, and that way they aren't hearing me lecture about it all the time. Overall, I had a really good time in this class and I learned a lot.
I know with a lot of students, it is hard to have them all teach on their own, but that would probably be my only suggestion. Maybe instead of having them teach a whole class period, have them create a lesson for an hour or a little more. I also know that there will probably be more students than books, but several students could teach a lesson about the book. There are som many things that can be done, that I'm sure they would come up with something different.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Harry Potter
I finished reading Harry Potter for the first time and I have to say that I enjoyed it. I remember all of my friends being so excited about it in school, but I didn't see what the big deal was about it. However, I guess now I can see why kids are so excited about these books. They bring a new world to these students that they otherwise wouldn't get to experience. When I was reading the books, I felt like I was right there with the characters. It introduced me into a world that I have never been to before, so I can see why students enjoy these novels. It helps them to get away from the daily life they live and explore new adventures.
I definately don't have an objection to teaching to novel in the classroom, however, I don't know that it would be my first choice in teaching something to students. We had this discussion last week on Twilight about letting students read their novels for pure enjoyment. If we would bring something they read for fun into the class and make them learn about it, it may take that away. However, they could feel that because they do know more about the novel, they may be able to find certain things. It could help encourage them, because sometimes it is a low easier to do something when your more comfortable with the subject.
One thing to keep in mind, though, is that not all students have read this novel, so as teachers, we can't assume that everyone is going to be prepared for it.
As I said, I am sort of immpartial to teaching this in my class. I guess if it were dealing with the right subject of my lesson, it would fit accordingly. Maybe I could do something with a creative writing lesson. Obviously there is a lot of creativity in this novel, and we could analyze how creative writing is used in the text.
I thought the article brought up some interesting points. As teachers, we have to understand that there are many "world views" out there. Unfortunately we will not be able to cover them all in the course of a year, and we will have to be prepared for those parents who, no matter what you do, will not be happy with what we are teaching.
He makes a good point when he asks whether or not Harry Potter presents a strong case for one particular world view and if the book singles out a specific world view for attack. In his opinion, the book does neither. Although I would say that the book does focus on the ides of witchcraft, it is not in a way that is saying people should follow witchcraft. This novel was just written by a creative person who wanted to share their ideas with the rest of the world. As I said before, it seems like it is a novel that is meant for people to escape from this world and live in a world of fantasy. What is the harm in that?
I also liked that Glazner pointed out that we need to go beyond gender, class, and race when dealing with diversity. As I said before, we are not going to be able to cover every issue, but I think it is important to do the best that we can at exposing our students to many different types of diversity.
I definately don't have an objection to teaching to novel in the classroom, however, I don't know that it would be my first choice in teaching something to students. We had this discussion last week on Twilight about letting students read their novels for pure enjoyment. If we would bring something they read for fun into the class and make them learn about it, it may take that away. However, they could feel that because they do know more about the novel, they may be able to find certain things. It could help encourage them, because sometimes it is a low easier to do something when your more comfortable with the subject.
One thing to keep in mind, though, is that not all students have read this novel, so as teachers, we can't assume that everyone is going to be prepared for it.
As I said, I am sort of immpartial to teaching this in my class. I guess if it were dealing with the right subject of my lesson, it would fit accordingly. Maybe I could do something with a creative writing lesson. Obviously there is a lot of creativity in this novel, and we could analyze how creative writing is used in the text.
I thought the article brought up some interesting points. As teachers, we have to understand that there are many "world views" out there. Unfortunately we will not be able to cover them all in the course of a year, and we will have to be prepared for those parents who, no matter what you do, will not be happy with what we are teaching.
He makes a good point when he asks whether or not Harry Potter presents a strong case for one particular world view and if the book singles out a specific world view for attack. In his opinion, the book does neither. Although I would say that the book does focus on the ides of witchcraft, it is not in a way that is saying people should follow witchcraft. This novel was just written by a creative person who wanted to share their ideas with the rest of the world. As I said before, it seems like it is a novel that is meant for people to escape from this world and live in a world of fantasy. What is the harm in that?
I also liked that Glazner pointed out that we need to go beyond gender, class, and race when dealing with diversity. As I said before, we are not going to be able to cover every issue, but I think it is important to do the best that we can at exposing our students to many different types of diversity.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Twilight
I had already seen the movie for "Twilight", so already had an idea of what to expect in the story. I still enjoyed the book, and had it read in a couple days. It's, or course, a typical love story, with some twists.
Obviously we know that most students are very into these novels. I have to say, however, that I was one of those students who wasn't into the latest series that was out. I remember in High School, all my friends discussing Harry Potter. It was something I just never got into. The same goes for Twilight. It wasn't something that stuck out to me. I think that is something that we have to remember when thinking about using this in a classroom. Although it may seem that most teens are into it, not all of them are.
Before reading the article, I would have said that I probably wouldn't have taught this in my classroom. To me, it didn't seem like there was too much to get out of it other than pure enjoyment. However, I thought the article brought some interesting insights as to how a teacher could use this in a classroom. Rewriting parts of the story, using their own imaginations, I thought, was something that was very interesting. Looking at character development was something else that I thought would be neat to look at. Show students how the characters are described, and what their descriptions could say about other hidden information about them.
I teachers would have to be careful when teaching this novel, though. Since a lot of students have already read it, they may feel inclined to not read it again. Or you could have the students who watch the movie instead (which I know can happen with other novels too). I think we would need to encourage them to read it again, so that they can follow along with what the rest of the class is discussing. They may have missed something that the teacher would like to discuss when they read it for the first time by themselves.
Another thing with this novel, just like Book Thief, is the length. This is not a short novel, and it would take a long time to cover the whole thing. I know we said that for Book Thief, we could just focus on certain parts. Could we do that with Twilight?
Obviously we know that most students are very into these novels. I have to say, however, that I was one of those students who wasn't into the latest series that was out. I remember in High School, all my friends discussing Harry Potter. It was something I just never got into. The same goes for Twilight. It wasn't something that stuck out to me. I think that is something that we have to remember when thinking about using this in a classroom. Although it may seem that most teens are into it, not all of them are.
Before reading the article, I would have said that I probably wouldn't have taught this in my classroom. To me, it didn't seem like there was too much to get out of it other than pure enjoyment. However, I thought the article brought some interesting insights as to how a teacher could use this in a classroom. Rewriting parts of the story, using their own imaginations, I thought, was something that was very interesting. Looking at character development was something else that I thought would be neat to look at. Show students how the characters are described, and what their descriptions could say about other hidden information about them.
I teachers would have to be careful when teaching this novel, though. Since a lot of students have already read it, they may feel inclined to not read it again. Or you could have the students who watch the movie instead (which I know can happen with other novels too). I think we would need to encourage them to read it again, so that they can follow along with what the rest of the class is discussing. They may have missed something that the teacher would like to discuss when they read it for the first time by themselves.
Another thing with this novel, just like Book Thief, is the length. This is not a short novel, and it would take a long time to cover the whole thing. I know we said that for Book Thief, we could just focus on certain parts. Could we do that with Twilight?
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Teacher Inquiry Project : Teaching Textbooks
My project discusses the idea of whether or not basil textbooks should be used in a classroom. Several questions that I asked myself about this topic are:
1. How are students able to grasp the concepts of stories when there are only small pieces of the story in the textbook?
2. Would students rather read from a textbook or from novels and handouts?
3. Is teaching through these books a successful way of getting certain points across to students?
4. do these textbooks cover what students will actually need to know in their lives (good reading and writing skills)?
These questions a general view of what I have been thinking about for my project.
I have found several articles that will help my with their research project, including:
1. The Textbook: Aid or Hindrance to Modern Language Teaching
2.The Trouble With Textbooks: A View from the Profession
3. The Textbook Canon: Genre, Gender, and Race in US Literature
*I might also use the book "In The Middle" for this paper, as well.
I am interested in researching this topic, because I know how I felt about textbooks in school. They were so big and heavy to carry around all the time and the stories in them were not very interesting. I was someone who loved to read in school, but I hated reading from those books, because most of the time, the stories that we read were only short pieces to whole story. After we would finish reading, we would answer the questions at the back of the book and turn them in for homework. I didn't find this to be effective and helping me to learn how to write and analyze a piece of literature at all. I enjoyed reading novels and complete short stories, because I would actually know what was going on and I would be able to understand it better.
I know that there are other people who feel the same way, but I also know that there are people out there who defend teaching from textbooks. I am excited to see what I can find. Of coarse there is not definate right or wrong answer, but I'm curious to see if there is more of a pull to one side or the other. It will be interesting to see.
1. How are students able to grasp the concepts of stories when there are only small pieces of the story in the textbook?
2. Would students rather read from a textbook or from novels and handouts?
3. Is teaching through these books a successful way of getting certain points across to students?
4. do these textbooks cover what students will actually need to know in their lives (good reading and writing skills)?
These questions a general view of what I have been thinking about for my project.
I have found several articles that will help my with their research project, including:
1. The Textbook: Aid or Hindrance to Modern Language Teaching
2.The Trouble With Textbooks: A View from the Profession
3. The Textbook Canon: Genre, Gender, and Race in US Literature
*I might also use the book "In The Middle" for this paper, as well.
I am interested in researching this topic, because I know how I felt about textbooks in school. They were so big and heavy to carry around all the time and the stories in them were not very interesting. I was someone who loved to read in school, but I hated reading from those books, because most of the time, the stories that we read were only short pieces to whole story. After we would finish reading, we would answer the questions at the back of the book and turn them in for homework. I didn't find this to be effective and helping me to learn how to write and analyze a piece of literature at all. I enjoyed reading novels and complete short stories, because I would actually know what was going on and I would be able to understand it better.
I know that there are other people who feel the same way, but I also know that there are people out there who defend teaching from textbooks. I am excited to see what I can find. Of coarse there is not definate right or wrong answer, but I'm curious to see if there is more of a pull to one side or the other. It will be interesting to see.
Persepolis
I just finished reading Persepolis, I an enjoyed it. I like reading stories (or watching movies) that are based on true stories, or someone's life.
I like that this book shows the viewpoint of people from the middle east. Especially with what is happening today, I think that some people assume that all middle easterns' are bad. This book give us a view of what they have to go through when their country is at war. It reminded me of The Book Thief because it is seen through the eyes of the people that are usually generalized as the bad people.
I think this book could be beneficial in a classroom, especially today, because it would give students a different perspective. Since it is another graphic novel, I think that a lot of students would enjoy reading it. There are many issues in this novel that could be worth discussing. Although the United States is not mentioned much, we can see some pretty strong feelings towards the country (and western civilizations in general). That could be an interesting discussion.
I like that this book shows the viewpoint of people from the middle east. Especially with what is happening today, I think that some people assume that all middle easterns' are bad. This book give us a view of what they have to go through when their country is at war. It reminded me of The Book Thief because it is seen through the eyes of the people that are usually generalized as the bad people.
I think this book could be beneficial in a classroom, especially today, because it would give students a different perspective. Since it is another graphic novel, I think that a lot of students would enjoy reading it. There are many issues in this novel that could be worth discussing. Although the United States is not mentioned much, we can see some pretty strong feelings towards the country (and western civilizations in general). That could be an interesting discussion.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
The Book Thief
I have to say that I really enjoyed this novel. However, I have always been interesting in Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, so it wasn't surprising to me.
I think this novel has a lot of redeeming qualitites that would allow for it to have a place in a classroom. I think one of the major themes that could be focused on is adversity. When I was at Waynesboro this past week, one of the lessons that they focused on dealt with adversity and I really enjoyed it. It seemed lik the students did, too.
I think this novel would be interesting to compare with "The Diary of Anne Frank". It would give two different aspects of the time period and what things were going on.
When I read this novel, it reminded me of the movie that just recently came out "The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas". This movie was great. It is about a young boy whose father is a very important soldier in the German Army. Because he was recently promoted, the family moves to a new house, which to close to a caoncentration camp. I don't want to give too much away, because I would recommend watching it, but the little boy befriends a young boy in the concentration camp. They become friends through the fence.
Although tells a different story compared to what we read in "The Book Thief", I think that it would be beneficial to show. Both the novel and the film show Nazi Germany through the affects that it has on children. That could even be a topic to focus on in a classroom.
Here is the URL if anyone is interested in watching the trailer :http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi751566873/
I think this novel has a lot of redeeming qualitites that would allow for it to have a place in a classroom. I think one of the major themes that could be focused on is adversity. When I was at Waynesboro this past week, one of the lessons that they focused on dealt with adversity and I really enjoyed it. It seemed lik the students did, too.
I think this novel would be interesting to compare with "The Diary of Anne Frank". It would give two different aspects of the time period and what things were going on.
When I read this novel, it reminded me of the movie that just recently came out "The Boy in the Stripped Pajamas". This movie was great. It is about a young boy whose father is a very important soldier in the German Army. Because he was recently promoted, the family moves to a new house, which to close to a caoncentration camp. I don't want to give too much away, because I would recommend watching it, but the little boy befriends a young boy in the concentration camp. They become friends through the fence.
Although tells a different story compared to what we read in "The Book Thief", I think that it would be beneficial to show. Both the novel and the film show Nazi Germany through the affects that it has on children. That could even be a topic to focus on in a classroom.
Here is the URL if anyone is interested in watching the trailer :http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi751566873/
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
American Born Chinese
I really enjoyed this book. I had never really read a comic before (besides the ones in the paper), so I wasn't sure what an entire book based on that would be like to read. I thought it was very good and I think that it has many good aspects that can be used to teach with. I like the idea of dealing with stereotypes which goes right along with Monster, but I also like the idea of maybe teaching the students how to write their own comic. One of the things that we are discussing in my Methods class is that we shouldn't be to worried about what our students are writing about as long as they are writing. Of course there are boundaries to that, but I think that if writing comics is what gets students to write, then that's ok.
I thought that the article that we read was interesting, as well, although there were a few points that were a little questionable to me. When he discussed that " students won't explore their place in and influnce on society if they aren't confident writers in the first place" (8). I don't know if I completely agree with this, because I don't think that people have to be confident writers to be successful in society. I felt like he was saying that if you don't writer confidently, you won't be confident in your life. Writing may not be that important to many people, but that's doesn't mean that they aren't confident in their life now.
I also didn't the the part where he said that if there is a negative connotation spoken to a person (for example their race), they shouldn't be worried about it, because that shows more about the other person than them themselves. Although this may be true in a way, I still think that it will upset them. When someone is being called a name that makes fun of their race, they are going to take offense to it. I know from personal experience when I was in Chicago, we were in a prodominately black neighborhood, and went to a Burger King. There were 6 of us and we were the only white people there. Most of them stared at us, but we even heard someone say, look at the snow bunnies. It makes you feel awkward, and that's not even as bad as he N- word (in my opinion). I just had a hard time with this part.
However, I did like that he had examples of other teachers at the beginning of the article. I thought it was neat to read the different ways that they taught.
I thought that the article that we read was interesting, as well, although there were a few points that were a little questionable to me. When he discussed that " students won't explore their place in and influnce on society if they aren't confident writers in the first place" (8). I don't know if I completely agree with this, because I don't think that people have to be confident writers to be successful in society. I felt like he was saying that if you don't writer confidently, you won't be confident in your life. Writing may not be that important to many people, but that's doesn't mean that they aren't confident in their life now.
I also didn't the the part where he said that if there is a negative connotation spoken to a person (for example their race), they shouldn't be worried about it, because that shows more about the other person than them themselves. Although this may be true in a way, I still think that it will upset them. When someone is being called a name that makes fun of their race, they are going to take offense to it. I know from personal experience when I was in Chicago, we were in a prodominately black neighborhood, and went to a Burger King. There were 6 of us and we were the only white people there. Most of them stared at us, but we even heard someone say, look at the snow bunnies. It makes you feel awkward, and that's not even as bad as he N- word (in my opinion). I just had a hard time with this part.
However, I did like that he had examples of other teachers at the beginning of the article. I thought it was neat to read the different ways that they taught.
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