What do these final days feel like to you, as you stand on the brink of un-hyphenated teacherhood?
What are you most proud of from this semester?
Thursday, December 16, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Two Dates: Mark Your Calendars!
Next Tuesday, Dec 14:
At 3:30, let's head to McCormick & Schmick's in downtown Providence for Happy Hour drinks and apps. Read more about it:
Famous $1.95 Bar Menu
While McCormick & Schmick's has been recognized for its culinary excellence as the "best seafood restaurant" in cities across the country, the restaurant also has become equally famous for its bar menu with items starting at $1.95, featuring hummus and pita ($1.95), a half-pound cheeseburger ($2.95), chicken quesadilla ($3.95) pulled pork sliders, buffalo wings or steamed mussels ($4.95) and more.
It's a happy hour that's MADE for money-poor but knowledge-rich student teachers!
Next Friday, Dec 17:
FINAL VERSIONS of TCWS DUE to DR. COOK and UPLOADED to Chalk & Wire.
PLEASE NOTE: You need to turn in a hard copy of your TCWS as well as uploading EACH of the 7 pieces to your Chalk & Wire account for scoring. I need to score them all on Chalk & Wire. The hard copies stay with me for accreditation visits.
At 3:30, let's head to McCormick & Schmick's in downtown Providence for Happy Hour drinks and apps. Read more about it:
Famous $1.95 Bar Menu
While McCormick & Schmick's has been recognized for its culinary excellence as the "best seafood restaurant" in cities across the country, the restaurant also has become equally famous for its bar menu with items starting at $1.95, featuring hummus and pita ($1.95), a half-pound cheeseburger ($2.95), chicken quesadilla ($3.95) pulled pork sliders, buffalo wings or steamed mussels ($4.95) and more.
It's a happy hour that's MADE for money-poor but knowledge-rich student teachers!
Next Friday, Dec 17:
FINAL VERSIONS of TCWS DUE to DR. COOK and UPLOADED to Chalk & Wire.
PLEASE NOTE: You need to turn in a hard copy of your TCWS as well as uploading EACH of the 7 pieces to your Chalk & Wire account for scoring. I need to score them all on Chalk & Wire. The hard copies stay with me for accreditation visits.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Last Class of Your Undergraduate Career!
Our class on December 7 will be the final class of your career at Rhode Island College. I bet some of you thought this day would never come (could college last any longer?), and others of you might be sad to see this day here (but I don't want to go be a grown-up!). I wonder where your thoughts are--about college, about RIC, about your program of study, about reaching a big goal--as you get ready to attend your final class as an undergraduate student. Share your end-of-college-days sentiments with us here, as you complete your last class assignment on the blog.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Communication & Humility
Okay, folks. In the last few weeks, I've been intervening in various learning-to-teach situations that all involve the following themes.
Communication & Humility
I'm writing this thread in the hope that you read it, assess yourself, and start stepping up to the challenge as we move down the home stretch.
If you go back and look at the syllabus I handed out in August, you'll see that the NUMBER ONE course requirement is "Regular and Open Communication with me." I now know that it should also read: "Regular and Open communication with your cooperating teacher." I can pretty much guarantee that any problem that you've been having in your classroom that has exploded into an "issue" or "incident" is probably because you either did not communicate the problem when it was in its earliest stages OR because you didn't communicate that you were having problems in the first place, which leads me to theme #2...
Humility, or admitting fault for screwing something up. This is student teaching. No one expects you to be perfect, except for, well, YOU. No matter how much I tell you this or how much I encourage you to experiment and take risks and try on new hats that may be unfamiliar to you, there seems to be a disease spreading through our cohort that smells like perfectionism or, at least, like a lack of humility. None of us is a perfect teacher, and none of us ever will be a perfect teacher. There's no such thing. That's the point! Teachers screw up all the time, but the sign of a good, effective teacher is that (1) they know they've screwed up; (2) they aren't afraid to talk through the challenge and to seek out resources to help and, finally, (3) they aren't too proud or too scared to ask for help.
On the heels of our Job Search Workshop last night, I need to say to you that getting a job as a teacher has A LOT to do with these two themes above. It should have become really clear last night that not only do you need to learn how to communicate your strengths and weaknesses to interviewers, but that you also need to know how to communicate with lots of different people who are going to work with you in schools (and not just the ones you like). Additionally, showing humility, demonstrating a keen awareness of your need-to-work-on areas, and asking for help are also signs, to a principal or a professor, of a smart teacher. Incompetent people don't ask for help---that's why they are incompetent!
Anyway, I needed to say all of this to you, and it couldn't wait until next Tuesday. I'm asking all of you to think about yourself this week in terms of these two themes: Communication and Humility. Where are you in terms of these two "dispositions?" How are you demonstrating these dispositions to your cooperating teacher/s and to me? What do you believe about communication and humility as they relate to your Teacher Self? What goals might you set for yourself as a first-year teacher where these two qualities are concerned?
Communication & Humility
I'm writing this thread in the hope that you read it, assess yourself, and start stepping up to the challenge as we move down the home stretch.
If you go back and look at the syllabus I handed out in August, you'll see that the NUMBER ONE course requirement is "Regular and Open Communication with me." I now know that it should also read: "Regular and Open communication with your cooperating teacher." I can pretty much guarantee that any problem that you've been having in your classroom that has exploded into an "issue" or "incident" is probably because you either did not communicate the problem when it was in its earliest stages OR because you didn't communicate that you were having problems in the first place, which leads me to theme #2...
Humility, or admitting fault for screwing something up. This is student teaching. No one expects you to be perfect, except for, well, YOU. No matter how much I tell you this or how much I encourage you to experiment and take risks and try on new hats that may be unfamiliar to you, there seems to be a disease spreading through our cohort that smells like perfectionism or, at least, like a lack of humility. None of us is a perfect teacher, and none of us ever will be a perfect teacher. There's no such thing. That's the point! Teachers screw up all the time, but the sign of a good, effective teacher is that (1) they know they've screwed up; (2) they aren't afraid to talk through the challenge and to seek out resources to help and, finally, (3) they aren't too proud or too scared to ask for help.
On the heels of our Job Search Workshop last night, I need to say to you that getting a job as a teacher has A LOT to do with these two themes above. It should have become really clear last night that not only do you need to learn how to communicate your strengths and weaknesses to interviewers, but that you also need to know how to communicate with lots of different people who are going to work with you in schools (and not just the ones you like). Additionally, showing humility, demonstrating a keen awareness of your need-to-work-on areas, and asking for help are also signs, to a principal or a professor, of a smart teacher. Incompetent people don't ask for help---that's why they are incompetent!
Anyway, I needed to say all of this to you, and it couldn't wait until next Tuesday. I'm asking all of you to think about yourself this week in terms of these two themes: Communication and Humility. Where are you in terms of these two "dispositions?" How are you demonstrating these dispositions to your cooperating teacher/s and to me? What do you believe about communication and humility as they relate to your Teacher Self? What goals might you set for yourself as a first-year teacher where these two qualities are concerned?
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
This I believe...
I believe in the power of the classroom where curiosity and inquiry drive instruction and study; in the relationship between teacher and student and text as a catalyst for new knowledge construction; in the possibilities inherent in teaching my students the world and the word; in the social, emotional and political complexities of teaching and schooling; in the creative and collaborative power of small groups of thoughtful, driven and dedicated people; in simplicity, beauty, poetry, music, and Nature.
As an invitation to start crafting your actual educational philosophy text, here is one I wrote based on the prompt that I've used for a title this week. Try it! Try sitting down and starting with "This I believe..."
You'll be surprised at how this allows you to access all those things you didn't think you knew about yourself. What's at the core of what you do as a teacher and a person on the planet? (Hint: a teaching philosophy is also a life philosophy is also a worldview).
Here's how we can check each other's blurbs once they are posted: Can you recognize the person in the statement they wrote? Does their persona shine through the verbiage?
As an invitation to start crafting your actual educational philosophy text, here is one I wrote based on the prompt that I've used for a title this week. Try it! Try sitting down and starting with "This I believe..."
You'll be surprised at how this allows you to access all those things you didn't think you knew about yourself. What's at the core of what you do as a teacher and a person on the planet? (Hint: a teaching philosophy is also a life philosophy is also a worldview).
Here's how we can check each other's blurbs once they are posted: Can you recognize the person in the statement they wrote? Does their persona shine through the verbiage?
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Ed Philosophy
Like our friends Hilda Dyon and Emily Style, Ed Philosophy wants in on the action!
Seriously--please use this space and this week to practice articulating some of the cornerstones of educational philosophy, your "stance" as a teacher. Do you consider yourself an activist teacher? Do you consider yourself a guardian of literary culture? Do you see your role as an English teacher as one who invites students to actively negotiate culture and wrestle with issues of humanity, identity and self? Do you see yourself as a teacher of texts?
WHO ARE YOU AS A TEACHER?
WHAT DO YOU STAND FOR?
WHAT DO YOU STAND AGAINST?
Please share with us your thoughts as they begin to crystallize. Thanks.
Seriously--please use this space and this week to practice articulating some of the cornerstones of educational philosophy, your "stance" as a teacher. Do you consider yourself an activist teacher? Do you consider yourself a guardian of literary culture? Do you see your role as an English teacher as one who invites students to actively negotiate culture and wrestle with issues of humanity, identity and self? Do you see yourself as a teacher of texts?
WHO ARE YOU AS A TEACHER?
WHAT DO YOU STAND FOR?
WHAT DO YOU STAND AGAINST?
Please share with us your thoughts as they begin to crystallize. Thanks.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Deep learning.
I am intrigued by your discussion this week about covering material, getting through things, taking too much time to get through text. As teachers we are always fighting against the tyranny of time. And...
Our content is overwhelming.
So, you have to pick and choose what to focus on because teaching and learning needs to be deeper rather than broader to have an impact. I don't remember all those science quizzes I crammed for in eighth grade but I remember my violin lessons, which I had every week for 13 years. Equally, I don't remember the Regents exams I took (in New York) but I do remember making a solar oven and cooking a hotdog in it, on the playground, as part of my 5th grade science project.
Deep learning. Pick fewer concepts; select fewer scenes to read; cut down on the steady stream of content so that you can teach deeper. (This is one of the things that is so restrictive about pacing guides, like those they've adopted in Providence; the guide sets the pace, not the teacher.) One of your last precious powers as a teacher (except in Providence) is to set the pace of learning in your classroom. When students are disengaged (or over-engaged in the wrong activities)...slow it down and deepen it.
Sometimes you have to completely stop the bus, make everyone get off, and then ask them all to re-board--some concrete action to symbolize a new beginning. So, select what matters--for them and to you--and concentrate on doing that really, really well.
Critical questions for you, my reflective teachers. Please respond to one or more of these questions in your writing this week--see where the question takes you.
-Is it important to read every single word of a book or play? Can some scenes be summarized so that you can take longer on the more important ones? Where can you be economical without sacrificing your instruction?
-One of the most important parts of teaching is to get the students to "buy in." How are you going to get them to buy what you're selling? If "wow-ing" them isn't working, what other methods might you try?
-Is it important that your students are happy? Is that the same thing as having fun?
-Is it important that you are happy when you are teaching and working? What moves do you make to ensure your happiness as a teacher?
Our content is overwhelming.
So, you have to pick and choose what to focus on because teaching and learning needs to be deeper rather than broader to have an impact. I don't remember all those science quizzes I crammed for in eighth grade but I remember my violin lessons, which I had every week for 13 years. Equally, I don't remember the Regents exams I took (in New York) but I do remember making a solar oven and cooking a hotdog in it, on the playground, as part of my 5th grade science project.
Deep learning. Pick fewer concepts; select fewer scenes to read; cut down on the steady stream of content so that you can teach deeper. (This is one of the things that is so restrictive about pacing guides, like those they've adopted in Providence; the guide sets the pace, not the teacher.) One of your last precious powers as a teacher (except in Providence) is to set the pace of learning in your classroom. When students are disengaged (or over-engaged in the wrong activities)...slow it down and deepen it.
Sometimes you have to completely stop the bus, make everyone get off, and then ask them all to re-board--some concrete action to symbolize a new beginning. So, select what matters--for them and to you--and concentrate on doing that really, really well.
Critical questions for you, my reflective teachers. Please respond to one or more of these questions in your writing this week--see where the question takes you.
-Is it important to read every single word of a book or play? Can some scenes be summarized so that you can take longer on the more important ones? Where can you be economical without sacrificing your instruction?
-One of the most important parts of teaching is to get the students to "buy in." How are you going to get them to buy what you're selling? If "wow-ing" them isn't working, what other methods might you try?
-Is it important that your students are happy? Is that the same thing as having fun?
-Is it important that you are happy when you are teaching and working? What moves do you make to ensure your happiness as a teacher?
Friday, October 15, 2010
It's Midterm; It's Your Turn
We've nearly hit the mid-way point on this crazy ride. I'm glad to know you're all hanging in there.
This week, I want to know: What is on your mind as you round the bend and head into the second half of student teaching?
Here's what is on my mind after the last couple days of observing you and conversing with you:
1. You will find your voice when you get pissed off enough to conjure it. Your students will help you find your "line."
2. Seeing other teachers teach is empowering, refreshing, and intellectually nutritious.
3. Collaboration (with people you like and admire) generates energy and renews enthusiasm for teaching.
4. You should build time to reflect into your day--in the car, in the shower, at the gym, in your quiet classroom after school.
5. Community is an essential part of a school--feeling it, seeing it, knowing it's there as a safety net, as a framework for learning.
Can't wait to read what you share with us.
This week, I want to know: What is on your mind as you round the bend and head into the second half of student teaching?
Here's what is on my mind after the last couple days of observing you and conversing with you:
1. You will find your voice when you get pissed off enough to conjure it. Your students will help you find your "line."
2. Seeing other teachers teach is empowering, refreshing, and intellectually nutritious.
3. Collaboration (with people you like and admire) generates energy and renews enthusiasm for teaching.
4. You should build time to reflect into your day--in the car, in the shower, at the gym, in your quiet classroom after school.
5. Community is an essential part of a school--feeling it, seeing it, knowing it's there as a safety net, as a framework for learning.
Can't wait to read what you share with us.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
"Is our children learning?"
Most of you may know that the title of this week's thread comes from the tomes of grammatical missteps that our former President made during his illustrious time in office. Long live mediocracy!
Anyway, grammatical mistakes of past presidents aside, the topic this week is about your students and about how they demonstrate to you that they are taking away ideas or skills from your classroom practice. How do you know they are learning anything from what you are teaching?
For this week's post, I'd like you to tell a classroom story about a moment when you KNEW students were learning (thinking, questioning, "getting it") in your class. In your story, please be specific, writing with the eye of a careful (full-of-care) teacher who pays attention to nuance and classroom dynamics. What happened to allow you to "see" this learning moment? How did you know?
Looking forward to peeking into your practice through the portal of these stories.
Anyway, grammatical mistakes of past presidents aside, the topic this week is about your students and about how they demonstrate to you that they are taking away ideas or skills from your classroom practice. How do you know they are learning anything from what you are teaching?
For this week's post, I'd like you to tell a classroom story about a moment when you KNEW students were learning (thinking, questioning, "getting it") in your class. In your story, please be specific, writing with the eye of a careful (full-of-care) teacher who pays attention to nuance and classroom dynamics. What happened to allow you to "see" this learning moment? How did you know?
Looking forward to peeking into your practice through the portal of these stories.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Bad Poems in late September
The thing I am taking away from yesterday's class and the bad poem activity is this: We laughed. A lot. And, it was important that we did that. Laughing is release, catharsis, a big happy sigh.
Please post your poems here so that we can all enjoy them throughout the semester. Here's mine.
Descend, Descend
Bright eyes and a bushy tail turn
bloodshot and raggedy
by September's end.
We're coming' round the bend.
An autumnal trend
to spend, spend, spend
and then, in winter's hush
to mend, mend, mend.
Please post your poems here so that we can all enjoy them throughout the semester. Here's mine.
Descend, Descend
Bright eyes and a bushy tail turn
bloodshot and raggedy
by September's end.
We're coming' round the bend.
An autumnal trend
to spend, spend, spend
and then, in winter's hush
to mend, mend, mend.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Mirror, Mirror
Sorry for the late thread, folks. I just returned from a weekend of work in the woods--cleaning chimneys, splitting firewood, and throwing out a year's accumulation of junk at my folks place in the Adirondacks. It was a great, long weekend. And, as I was performing various woodsy jobs up there, I was thinking about how competent--or more often, how incompetent--I felt doing these tasks. For instance, I'm much more competent at stacking wood than I am at cutting it or splitting it. Working as part of a team this weekend necessitated that I was able to "see" my weaknesses and get out of the way when I wasn't helping matters. This feeling--of sorting out what you can and can't do WHILE YOU ARE DOING IT--reminded me of being a beginning teacher and feeling this way all the time.
As I think about last week's seminar and the questions you asked in class, and as I think about where you all are, in this fourth week of student teaching, in terms of your teacher development, this is where I land:
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 representing a shy, nervous public persona and 10 representing a confident, authoritative persona, where would you place yourself as a teacher right at this point in time? What are some anecdotes or stories from your early teaching experiences to demonstrate why you placed yourself THERE on the continuum?
Now that your students are somewhat settled, now that you are all taking over your own classes, and now that I am setting up dates for the first round of observations, you should turn your attention to your teacher persona, to your command of the classroom, and to your ability to reach and connect with your students.
I look forward to reading what you have to say this week.
As I think about last week's seminar and the questions you asked in class, and as I think about where you all are, in this fourth week of student teaching, in terms of your teacher development, this is where I land:
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 representing a shy, nervous public persona and 10 representing a confident, authoritative persona, where would you place yourself as a teacher right at this point in time? What are some anecdotes or stories from your early teaching experiences to demonstrate why you placed yourself THERE on the continuum?
Now that your students are somewhat settled, now that you are all taking over your own classes, and now that I am setting up dates for the first round of observations, you should turn your attention to your teacher persona, to your command of the classroom, and to your ability to reach and connect with your students.
I look forward to reading what you have to say this week.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Teaching is Intellectual Work
The first days of school are behind you and the rest of the semester lies in waiting. Wow.
For this first post, I invite you to share with us something about the STUFF of what you are teaching that excites you, as a reader, as a writer, as a lover of language and of words. Laura knows she is tackling MacBeth to start out the year; Jill knows she will be reading Frankenstein; Amanda knows she will be teaching Romeo & Juliet.
You are becoming English teachers--content specialists--because you love the STUFF that English teachers teach. So, tell us, what do you love--or what will you bring yourself to love--about a text that you will be teaching soon? What aspect of it is "sexy" to you? What about this text makes you want to share it with high school students?
Before we can begin to engage our students, we ourselves must first be engaged with what we are teaching. So, for this week's post, please share with us WHY and HOW you are excited by and engaged with a text you plan to teach soon. You also might think about how you can transfer this excitement and engagement from yourself to your students--how will you provide multiple points of access to this text?
For this first post, I invite you to share with us something about the STUFF of what you are teaching that excites you, as a reader, as a writer, as a lover of language and of words. Laura knows she is tackling MacBeth to start out the year; Jill knows she will be reading Frankenstein; Amanda knows she will be teaching Romeo & Juliet.
You are becoming English teachers--content specialists--because you love the STUFF that English teachers teach. So, tell us, what do you love--or what will you bring yourself to love--about a text that you will be teaching soon? What aspect of it is "sexy" to you? What about this text makes you want to share it with high school students?
Before we can begin to engage our students, we ourselves must first be engaged with what we are teaching. So, for this week's post, please share with us WHY and HOW you are excited by and engaged with a text you plan to teach soon. You also might think about how you can transfer this excitement and engagement from yourself to your students--how will you provide multiple points of access to this text?
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
What does a teacher do all summer?
With three full months to yourself, what will you do?
What will you do to renew yourself and your purpose as a teacher?
What will you do to broaden and deepen your content knowledge and repertoire?
Conscious of my role as a model to you all, I will lead off with some of my summer plans, purposefully selected to fulfill the goals I set for you above:
1. I will visit my family. As you all may know by now, I am very close with my extended family, and they all live in Northern NY, which is 7 hours from me in RI. While I visit here and there during the year, it's never for too long. Summer gives me weeks and weeks to spend with my family in the woods, at our camp in the Adirondack mountains. The photo of me on my blog profile--the one where I'm letting Jude, my nephew, play my mandolin--is from summer at camp. As a kid, I spent every day of every summer at that place. And, even though I'm almost 40, every summer It still draws me back. I can't wait to go trout fishing with my pop, who will be 90 this year, or to sit on the raft with my mom, dipping our feet in the lake.
2. I will read a ton, especially because I am running an independent study this summer with an English teacher from Cumberland HS. He and I will be reading and watching a variety of adolescent texts. In addition, we will be reading three critical books on adolescent literature. Some of the titles we'll be reading together are: Sold, Monster, You Don't Know Me, Whale Rider, Once Were Warriors, Paprika (film), Waltz With Bashir (film), Prom Night in Mississippi (film), Fallen Angels, Feed, and Donald Duk. The focus of the course is adolescent lit from global perspectives. Cool stuff.
3. I will play lots of music. This year, I have been a Musical Mentor to Alex Rosario, an 11-year old girl in Providence who plays the viola. Through Community Music Works, an organization dedicated to bringing stringed instruments to low-income kids, I have successfully revived my music mojo, as I've been learning lots of new fiddle tunes courtesy of Rachel and Carole, our awesome Fiddle Lab teachers. Playing with Alex has motivated me to practice, to be "on my game" with my Suzuki violin music as well as with my fiddle tunes. I look forward to playing mando around the bonfires this summer and to practicing Minuet with Marlo, my 7-year old niece who plays the violin.
4. I will teach Writing 100! Just like I love ninth graders, I love first-year students in college. They are fresh and curious and new to the whole enterprise. They are eager and willing and, for the most part, want to do well by me, their teacher. Also, I am teaching for the first time without a textbook. I am going to turn the class--and the class writing--into the textbook. This is an experiment for me, and I am ready to get started!
4. I will continue to write a poem a day. Since January 1, 2010, I have been writing one poem each day.This helps me to focus my mind, to take stock of my day (I usually write at the end of the day), and to make a mark on the world each day (or to mark my world). I am proud of having begun this, and I look forward to continuing it over the summer.
5. I will plant lots of cool stuff in my yard. One of the other great joys in life for me (besides family, reading, music, teaching, and writing) is gardening and digging in the dirt. Since moving in to our new house, I've planted over 30 different plants. I love designing the landscape. I love bringing a new living thing into the space of our yard. And, I love being surrounded by the living things I plant in the ground. I love watching them thrive (especially in the middle of a city!).
So, now that I've shared some of my summer goals with you, will you share yours? Once you think it through, I would love to hear from each of you about what you plan to do for yourself this summer.
What will you do to renew yourself and your purpose as a teacher?
What will you do to broaden and deepen your content knowledge and repertoire?
Conscious of my role as a model to you all, I will lead off with some of my summer plans, purposefully selected to fulfill the goals I set for you above:
1. I will visit my family. As you all may know by now, I am very close with my extended family, and they all live in Northern NY, which is 7 hours from me in RI. While I visit here and there during the year, it's never for too long. Summer gives me weeks and weeks to spend with my family in the woods, at our camp in the Adirondack mountains. The photo of me on my blog profile--the one where I'm letting Jude, my nephew, play my mandolin--is from summer at camp. As a kid, I spent every day of every summer at that place. And, even though I'm almost 40, every summer It still draws me back. I can't wait to go trout fishing with my pop, who will be 90 this year, or to sit on the raft with my mom, dipping our feet in the lake.
2. I will read a ton, especially because I am running an independent study this summer with an English teacher from Cumberland HS. He and I will be reading and watching a variety of adolescent texts. In addition, we will be reading three critical books on adolescent literature. Some of the titles we'll be reading together are: Sold, Monster, You Don't Know Me, Whale Rider, Once Were Warriors, Paprika (film), Waltz With Bashir (film), Prom Night in Mississippi (film), Fallen Angels, Feed, and Donald Duk. The focus of the course is adolescent lit from global perspectives. Cool stuff.
3. I will play lots of music. This year, I have been a Musical Mentor to Alex Rosario, an 11-year old girl in Providence who plays the viola. Through Community Music Works, an organization dedicated to bringing stringed instruments to low-income kids, I have successfully revived my music mojo, as I've been learning lots of new fiddle tunes courtesy of Rachel and Carole, our awesome Fiddle Lab teachers. Playing with Alex has motivated me to practice, to be "on my game" with my Suzuki violin music as well as with my fiddle tunes. I look forward to playing mando around the bonfires this summer and to practicing Minuet with Marlo, my 7-year old niece who plays the violin.
4. I will teach Writing 100! Just like I love ninth graders, I love first-year students in college. They are fresh and curious and new to the whole enterprise. They are eager and willing and, for the most part, want to do well by me, their teacher. Also, I am teaching for the first time without a textbook. I am going to turn the class--and the class writing--into the textbook. This is an experiment for me, and I am ready to get started!
4. I will continue to write a poem a day. Since January 1, 2010, I have been writing one poem each day.This helps me to focus my mind, to take stock of my day (I usually write at the end of the day), and to make a mark on the world each day (or to mark my world). I am proud of having begun this, and I look forward to continuing it over the summer.
5. I will plant lots of cool stuff in my yard. One of the other great joys in life for me (besides family, reading, music, teaching, and writing) is gardening and digging in the dirt. Since moving in to our new house, I've planted over 30 different plants. I love designing the landscape. I love bringing a new living thing into the space of our yard. And, I love being surrounded by the living things I plant in the ground. I love watching them thrive (especially in the middle of a city!).
So, now that I've shared some of my summer goals with you, will you share yours? Once you think it through, I would love to hear from each of you about what you plan to do for yourself this summer.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Reflections on Your High School Lesson
Jill got the party started this morning with her lesson on Catcher in the Rye. YAY! I look forward to observing Laura tomorrow (Thurs), Kathryn & Nicole Lanni next Monday, and Tracy on Tuesday (right?). I want to ask each of you to post a reflection here after your lesson is over and you've had time to process the feedback you received from both me and your cooperating teacher.
What BIG messages did you take away from this lesson in regard to your presence in the classroom and your teaching methods and moves?
What was GREAT about your teaching?
What areas of improvement do you need to document here so we're sure to carry them over to student teaching in September?
Please think of this post as a placeholder--reflect while it's still fresh on your mind, and the blog will preserve your ideas for you until fall. Thank you!
What BIG messages did you take away from this lesson in regard to your presence in the classroom and your teaching methods and moves?
What was GREAT about your teaching?
What areas of improvement do you need to document here so we're sure to carry them over to student teaching in September?
Please think of this post as a placeholder--reflect while it's still fresh on your mind, and the blog will preserve your ideas for you until fall. Thank you!
Thursday, April 22, 2010
What are your Teaching Goals for the final weeks of the semester?
The academic year is winding down, and we are on our last stretch of classroom practice. In the next two weeks, as you work with and learn from your students and cooperating teacher, what goals do you have for yourself? How might you concentrate your focus on a few key areas of your teaching and yourself as teacher? What still feels shaky to you as you assess your strengths and weaknesses?
Monday, April 12, 2010
First Impressions of High School
Hey Folks--How's it going out there in high school land? What are your first impressions of the students? The culture? The learning and teaching?
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Reflecting and Assessing
As you approach the end of your 3 week stint in middle school, I would like you to reflect on what's happened to you and what it means (to you).
I suspect some of you thought you would not like middle school and were pleasantly surprised by it. I also suspect some of you gained a little confidence by being in a real classroom for successive weeks and by working closely (to varying degrees) with a teacher and her students. You got to know a group of students, to learn their names and to read their writing. You guided them and helped them and laughed with them and made mistakes in front of them.
So, please think back over your time with your students, with the teachers, with the office staff and administrators. Think about what you expected to find and what you found (you might look back over your notebook from our last week of class...I think you made a list of things that were on your mind vis a vis middle school).
What are you taking away from this experience as a teacher (of English language arts)?
I suspect some of you thought you would not like middle school and were pleasantly surprised by it. I also suspect some of you gained a little confidence by being in a real classroom for successive weeks and by working closely (to varying degrees) with a teacher and her students. You got to know a group of students, to learn their names and to read their writing. You guided them and helped them and laughed with them and made mistakes in front of them.
So, please think back over your time with your students, with the teachers, with the office staff and administrators. Think about what you expected to find and what you found (you might look back over your notebook from our last week of class...I think you made a list of things that were on your mind vis a vis middle school).
What are you taking away from this experience as a teacher (of English language arts)?
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
One "Wow," One "Hmmm"
As you've become more familiar with your cooperating teacher and your school and students, I hope that you have begun noticing what makes a class successful and what makes it not so successful. Also, I hope you are closely watching your teacher and listening to her voice for cues on tone, stance, and presence in the classroom.
This week, as you observe, help out, and teach your lessons, try to distill your experience into two categories: things that makes you say "WOW" (as in, "Omg that was so awesome") and things that make you say "Hmmm" (as in, "Well, I'm not sure that was the best way to do that."). You might jot down some notes, while you're in schools, to this effect. By Saturday at noon, please post some thoughts to the blog about what's going on in your classroom. What WOW moment did you experience? What Hmmm moment did you experience? Tell us about them!
This week, as you observe, help out, and teach your lessons, try to distill your experience into two categories: things that makes you say "WOW" (as in, "Omg that was so awesome") and things that make you say "Hmmm" (as in, "Well, I'm not sure that was the best way to do that."). You might jot down some notes, while you're in schools, to this effect. By Saturday at noon, please post some thoughts to the blog about what's going on in your classroom. What WOW moment did you experience? What Hmmm moment did you experience? Tell us about them!
Monday, March 8, 2010
First Week in Middle School!
So, what was it like for you? What sticks with you from your experience thus far?
Saturday, March 6, 2010
RIWP Conference
Great conference day, smart women of practicum! What are you taking away from Fletcher's talk and the sessions you attended (and the atmosphere...all those caring teachers in one place!)? Let us know the top three things you took away as a teacher.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Taking the "Ass" out of Assessment
Your weekend homework seems easy at the outset (perhaps!), but upon closer inspection, you will find that assessment is hard. Or, at least, getting it right is hard. Assessment isn't just about aligning to your objectives. It is also about the kinds of assessments you plan on giving. One of the most important rules of classroom-based assessment is diversification--that is, diversifying the kinds of assessments you give your students. I like to imagine the assessment continuum in English as a broad spectrum of assessment tools, ranging from a focused freewrite to a musical soundtrack to an essay exam to a vocabulary quiz to a powerpoint presentation. Be sure you are mindful of multiple ways of knowing and multiple ways your students can demonstrate knowing. Also be cognizant of Bloom's taxonomy and the levels of cognitive work that you are asking of your students. On the blog this week, tell us about one assessment from your unit plan that you feel good about, one that you feel represents your best assessment work so far. What does it consist of? What do students produce or do? How are you going to score this assessment?What else should we know about this assessment? Looking forward to reading about it--
Sunday, February 21, 2010
A Day Late and a Dollar Short
Sorry for not having posted a new thread for the weekend. I know you'll either be posting late Sunday night or sometime on Monday or Tuesday--and that is fine with me. My mistake!
Remember, this week I would like you to write to us about an idea from Christensen's text that you are thinking about adopting and adapting for your critical unit of study. Remember that Christensen and Appleman share an appreciation for teaching critical perspectives--teaching students how to "de-code" the word and the world.
I look forward to reading about how you plan to incorporate concepts of social justice and critical lenses into your teaching idea. Hope you all had a good weekend.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Unit Plan Think Tank
So, what are your ideas for teaching a unit with "The Things They Carried" and/or "The Red Convertible" at the center? What themes, concepts, questions or "big ideas" might be the driving force of this unit? What other kinds of texts might you ask students to read to help them access and understand the central concept, theme, question, or big idea of the unit?
Sorry it took me so long to post this thread. I was at a Writing Project retreat this weekend with 7 content area teachers--chemistry, art, social studies, and ESL--to talk about content literacy. It was great but I am so exhausted! Looking forward to reading your ideas here today...
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Valentine for Ernest Mann
You can't order a poem like you order a taco.
Walk up to the counter, say, "I'll take two"
and expect it to be handed back to you
on a shiny plate.
Still, I like your spirit.
Anyone who says, "Here's my address,
write me a poem," deserves something in reply.
So I'll tell you a secret instead:
poems hide. In the bottoms of our shoes,
they are sleeping. They are the shadows
drifting across our ceilings the moment
before we wake up. What we have to do
is live in a way that lets us find them.
Once I knew a man who gave his wife
two skunks for a valentine.
He couldn't understand why she was crying.
"I thought they had such beautiful eyes."
And he was serious. He was a serious man
who lived in a serious way. Nothing was ugly
just because the world said so. He really
liked those skunks. So, he reinvented them
as valentines and they became beautiful.
At least, to him. And the poems that had been hiding
in the eyes of the skunks for centuries
crawled out and curled up at his feet.
Maybe if we reinvent whatever our lives give us
we find poems. Check your garage, the odd sock
in your drawer, the person you almost like, but not quite.
And let me know.
- Naomi Shihab Nye
in The Red Suitcase, Brockport, NY: BOA Editions, 1994.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
The Snow Man
by Wallace Stevens
One must have a mind of winter
To regard the frost and the boughs
Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
And have been cold a long time
To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
The spruces rough in the distant glitter
Of the January sun; and not to think
Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
In the sound of a few leaves,
Which is the sound of the land
Full of the same wind
That is blowing in the same bare place
For the listener, who listens in the snow,
And, nothing himself, beholds
Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Take-Away Wisdom from Linda Christensen
1. "I consider teaching a craft" (p162). This statement is simple and yet serves as fuel for me. Teaching is complex work, a blend of artistry, compassion, and intellect. Not everyone can be a good teacher. This simple phrase is my armor against all the naysayers who believe that studying teaching and education is "mickey mouse."
2. "Stories can shape students' beliefs about how we treat each other, how we work together, how we live on our land, what's important and what's worth working for" (p163). This statement is more of a credo for me, reminding me and my students of the importance of literature--our cultural memory--in helping us decide who we want to be as individuals and as communities and societies. Stories that are written down and that survive generations have something to teach us. We need to be open to listening to what they have to say.
3. "I pore over student papers; I observe students as they write, read, talk, and listen. I ask questions as I watch them in class..." (p164). Here, Linda reminds us that in order to be effective teachers, we have to be careful and informed observers of youth. We have to listen intently more than we talk. We have to watch with eyes that care, that seek out small truths in our students, that look for signs of life and signs of sadness. I love this stance; I love the idea that I am a student of my students, that I learn from my students as I listen to them and observe them. It is so freeing to think of teaching as a responsive craft--before we can respond to our students, though, we need to watch, and listen.
4. "I don't give reading quizzes or tests" (p175). Linda goes on to explain that over her years in the classroom, she has designed ways to "immerse students more thoroughly in our readings." Tests and quizzes serve a purpose--to see if kids can remember stuff. Given the prevalence of attention disorders and the high levels of distraction our students' live with each day, memory is not something we should be testing for in schools anymore. We don't need to remember the characters in To Kill A Mockingbird when we can look it up on Wikipedia in two seconds on our phones. So, what DOES matter, then? What SHOULD students be holding onto when they read a text? I think we know this answer...the efferent reader versus the aesthetic reader. Right?
5. Character Silhouettes!!!!! (p177). This activity is SO awesome. After reading The Things They Carried, I want us to do character silhouettes of the soldiers. I'll even let Jill be Jimmy Cross.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
What Did you Take Away from Class on Monday?
Okay, folks. Here's the spot for you to tell us what nuggets of pedagogy and practice you took away from our talk, our activities, and our readings from Monday's practicum class.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
J.D. Salinger Died Today
This guy changed the way we think about teenagers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/books/29salinger.html
Light a candle. Read a passage. Take a moment.
Historian-activist Zinn dies - The Boston Globe
This guy was just as important. He changed the way we think about HIStory.
Posted using ShareThis
Friday, January 22, 2010
Welcome, Practicum Students
Welcome to the spring 2010 semester and to this fresh, new blog, waiting to be filled by all of us.
This blog will be your class away from class this semester. For the first 6 weeks of the semester, we will see each other twice a week but will need to communicate with each other more than that. I will ask you to write weekly posts here in response to my post, which will almost always be in response to something we did or talked about or read in class. For another 6 weeks, we will be apart from each other altogether, in our separate placements in the schools. This blog will then serve as our primary means of communicating as a group and of discussing the many pressing issues that are sure to arise in your field placements and teaching experiences.
After we've met for the first time on January 25th, please post a quick shout-out here to your new cohort pals. We are in it together for the long haul--let's be sure to start out thoughtfully. Looking forward to seeing what transpires here over the next 11 months. Fasten your seatbelts!
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