. Please post by Midnight on Wednesday April 7th. Any problems should hopefully by worked out by this time.
The reading is chapter 3 (thanks Michelle) and our roles for this week are as follows.
Tory- tech man
Kat- discussion dir
Valentina- connector
Arianna- clarifier
Michelle- note taker
I noticed that these were the same as last week so maybe next week we can change them?
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Can you post in the lead post here what the reading assignment is as a reminder - helps me, too, to stay up to date on what you're reading for the next time! Thanks! : )
ReplyDeleteI think the reading assignment is actually just chapter 3 since the dates got pushed ahead from the class we missed because of the snow day. :)
ReplyDeleteMichelle Forgione
ReplyDeleteDJ Chapter 3
Last week we discussed talking in the classroom and using the environment as a coping mechanism when dealing with grief. In this chapter, we learn about how Christenson uses different types of poems and stories to help students voice their personal feelings.
Christenson notes how in her classroom, she watches students suffer from bullying, rape, pregnancy, abused, and more but it was impossible to completely “heal” these students or stop what was happening to them. Instead, Christenson tells how she uses “writing to take the power out of their pain” (58). Students use writing to write about their parent’s divorces, alcoholism, and or problems they’re having. I think this is a good way to have students write their feelings down and express themselves. Different issues of social justice can be discussed and used as a learning experience for the class to come together and hopefully rise above these problems.
Christenson has students work on a forgiveness poem. I think these poems are really insightful because it makes students recognize forgiveness and the power of people in their lives. Especially at these teenage years, when bullying takes place, cliques are everywhere, and students mistreat their friends because of something petty, this is a way that can show students true feelings of each other and how these people influenced their lives.
Another stressful component was when the college essay came around. I know from my personal experience, I took a college writing course where we worked on and revised this essay. I was glad to have a class that addressed this task but wish it hadn’t stressed the importance of the essay in the matter it did. I find Christenson’s way of addressing the essay very knowledge and easily transferable with other essays. Christenson has her students partake in a bunch of quick writes to get their minds going about ideas, people, or experiences to write about. I think these series of quick writes help students brainstorm, point out details, and organize their thoughts before just thinking of a topic off the top of their head. I also like how students kept a portfolio of their prior essays and read though these essays for a possible college essay piece with hopes of revision and cleaning up.
Christenson definably knows her students and what methods of expression work best for them. Students can voice their feelings, problems, and discuss with each other the similarities and differences. Students also could voice their dreams and learn about college and other courses. They set goals for themselves and pushed each other to pursue them. I think students needs motivation and guidance to help them achieve possibilities that they didn’t know they could reach.
(For Arianna)
ReplyDeleteThe first thing that stood out to me was the Observation/Reaction chart that was taken from a student’s dialogue journal. I liked to see how the student connected quotes or ideas from a particular text to modern day issues or opinions. I think that making connections like that is vital for students to make productive use of a text and charts like these may make it easier for them to discover how similar text and real life situations are connected.
Also, I really enjoyed the section about forgiveness poems and the teaching strategy that went along with it. I think it is important how she gives the students a choice as to whether or not they want to forgive a particular person for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, she is offering the students choice, which is very important. By giving choice, the students feels like they have some type of control over their educational experience instead of just being told what to do. Secondly, she is giving them the opportunity to connect it to their life. The students aren’t just sitting and analyzing the poem, but rather taking it into perspective as they assess their own life situations.
It is very true that not all students learn the same, but unfortunately, I feel like it is becoming more common for all teachers to teach their students as a whole class, rather than as individuals. There is no single “recipe” to teaching students. As we have learned through our readings, our lessons must be tweaked for every class and sometimes for every student in order for them all to learn as effectively as they can. Teachers must put to use the many different methods they have learned throughout their education and put them to use. For example, one class may respond more to pictures while another class may respond more to note taking. Whatever works best for that particular class is what should be used the most.
Lastly, I connected most to the “Acting for Justice” section because my group and I are working on a unit that relates very strongly to this topic. It is very important for children to actually learn how to stand up for not only themselves but for what they believe is right. We as teachers cannot just assume that they know how to, and so, we must teach them how to. In order to teach our students how to be “warriors,” we must properly teach them the tools that they need to know what is right and what is wrong.
Chapter 3 of Christensen’s book is very enlightening. Most of what she discussed in this chapter is what I recently put in my personal statement for our English teach class. One of the quotes from early on in the chapter really stuck with me and made me reflect about myself as a teacher. She said “I’ve worked toward empowering students to use their own voices, to plumb their lives for stories, poems, essays, to engage in a dialogue with their peers about their writing, about literature” (58). This statement I thought was very powerful and that we as English teachers can’t just look over it. I mentioned this in my personal statement and Jason (from our class) agreed that it was important that we give our students a voice and teach and guide them to use their voice in effective ways. I know from my own experience anytime we had an assignment and I was able to have input and use my voice I was more successful in getting my point across because I knew how to use my stories and experiences to support my argument. Encouraging students to find their voice helps them “learn to sing their lives through writing,” something many adolescents can turn to during difficult times.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated that Christensen emphasized that students use their stories in their writings because it’s a part of the student’s history and experience. Most students learn things about life schools could never teach them and so why not incorporate these lessons into their writing and readings. I think it essentially comes back to ideas that we as English teachers need to connect our students’ lives with the material being taught. The technique she uses to encourage students to write about personal experiences really encourages them to open up to the writing aspect of an English course. I really liked the idea of “read-arounds” because students can see that they are not the only one making certain mistakes. Like Bomer explains instead of trying to teach a lesson on writing, it is more important that we find out what a group of students are having trouble with and review it with them. I think if we actually took the time to see where most of our students are struggling when writing we would save time by pin pointing those areas and working out those tweaks than to approach writing as a whole new concept. I know we’ve all had those experiences in the beginning of the year where the teacher reviews or tries to review everything from last year so that everyone’s on the same page, but honestly that whole concept of reviewing everything always felt like a waste of time and we all know this. I know from what I read in this book as well as from my own experience in the field, teachers waste a lot of time and so learning how to manage our classroom time is half the battle, but it’s apparently possible if other teachers have successfully made their time worthwhile and engaging.
ReplyDeleteAnother aspect that I like about this chapter was the forgiveness poems. I’ve personal never written one, but after reading the exercise these students go through I think I might actually attempt to write one. I love poetry and I have a whole book of personal poems, so this part really just gave me a different perspective and approach to using poetry in an English classroom. I think these poems really helped students deal with feelings they’ve probably never written about and so in challenging them in this way the end result is always amazing because it’s a different kind of writing.
Overall I really enjoyed this week’s reading. There was so much in just this chapter that I didn’t brush upon like writing with an attitude and the method she used when having students write essays. One thing I do think is important to mention is the part when she said that she sets a deadline for essays and knows that even though she sets this deadline some students still won’t get the paper in. I’ve seen this going on a lot lately in my field placement and sometimes I feel that my teacher’s approach in addressing the issue isn’t the best one but each teacher to their own methods right? Anyway, what I’m trying to say I really liked how she said that when these certain students don’t hand it in she doesn’t just penalize them immediately she tries to find out why they didn’t do the assignment. I know this girl in my field placement hasn’t done one book report since September and we are now in April and my teacher just starting cracking down on why she hasn’t been doing these projects. These students are assigned an independent reading every month and at the end of each month they have a certain project to do, but for a student who admittedly stated that she hates reading and won’t read books on her own I question why hasn’t my teacher approach her before and asked whether or not she would like to do the project together. (I know it takes A LOT of time to do that but I think students who are unwilling to read a book on their own, need this kind of support and so why not try and create an atmosphere where these kids feel like the teacher cares about their projects not just because it’s another grade in their book, but because they take their students work seriously.)
ReplyDeleteSorry about all these posts...it wouldn't allowed me to just make one big post.
Well since most of everything in chapter 3 has already been mentioned, I'm just going to focus on the one part I thought was really important and think that teachers should pay careful attention to. The section on "Essay with an Attitude" points out many aspects of essay writing that teachers sometimes overlook or just choose not to address. Essay's are scary, and intimidating to most (even I worry sometimes about them). What Christensen models thruogh this section is a public brainstorm that she "directs" through her opening prompt and examples. As teachers we need to realize that we can control the outcome of any discussion without acting like a control freak. Students will lose total interest in a subject of topic if they feel pressured to respond a certain way. Also, the layout of the essay writing process that Christensen exemplifies in this section is something else to keep in mind. She breaks it down with the students. Allows them to work in groups to create the strongest topics for essay writing and then lets the students on their own to support their argument. Giving them the aid and support the need to start is vital to ensuring they succeed all the way through. That's what I think Christensen was trying to relay through this section.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading chapter three I definitely feel enlightened on new ways of motivating kids to participate in their own learning. I agree with Tina that though this chapter was a short one it really got to the heart of particular lessons that bring students lives into the spot light. Everyone seems to have mentioned the forgiveness poems as a positive assignment for these kids since they have had tough lives filled with heartache. When you allow the students to get their feelings out with the written word it can not only be like therapy but it can also help them work through or assess a situation in a different way. Arianna points out something we have seen before with Linda which is allowing the students choice and creative freedom in their assignments. She allows them to choose who the poem is written for. Linda really cares for her students and this is seen in ever activity we have encountered so far not just the forgiveness poems. She tries to incorporate the students lives and give them lessons that will help them not only academically but out in the world. Her students are aware of the world around them and are faced with questions about the injustices and current situations in their community.
ReplyDeleteAnother Important topic seen was the way she worked on the student’s college essay with them. She broke it down into steps and gave clear worksheets to guide them. One thing we have discussed last meeting was how the students not only need to know what is expected of them but it is great to have a list to go through and organize their sometimes messy thoughts. Every one of us knows how difficult it can be to write a college essay because you are told to be unique and witty so you can stand out to the college committees. This brings on anxieties about how you are not good enough and there are a million others just like you with probably better grades. A student has the chance to use their personally voice to share with the board something about them that sets them apart but students can feel defeated before they even write the first line. It is such an intimidating process getting ready for college and having someone help you chip away at the important pieces is a relief.
I personally have also been able to work on such an essay within a classroom but was not given as much guidance as Linda provides her students; it was more of a free write to get ideas. I felt pressured and confused because there was so much about me that my application and grades did not say so how could I narrow the search. This is what Linda provides students, the opportunity to write and see if there are substantial ideas to work out into such an essay. I always found it harder to write from my own head and thoughts instead of being given a topic to research where the information is already there and just needs to be regurgitated in a creatively written way. It was a very tough process but once I did a few drafts I was able to get it to where I wanted it. Writing is all about reworking and revisiting old ideas to maybe spark new thoughts.
Sorry for my own late post - am looking now for the notetakers' summary of your discussion. What you posted here suggests how much this reading touched you - I didn't quite get that impression in class since you focused so much on the college writing part. I'm struck by what Tory writes about getting students to start; support in writing is about that piece for sure but also what some of the rest of you touch on - the feedback that she provides, that shows she really reads their work. Assessment is so key to supporting writers' development, as you all know. Interesting discussion going on. Let's get Arianna on next time - thanks, Tory, for posting hers.
ReplyDeleteOur third book club meeting went very well. We opened the meeting up by discussing different lessons and strategies we thought were effective. Many of us thought the forgiveness poems taught lessons through writing that were personal. We also enjoyed the essay attitude and college essay. These essay writing strategies let the students base essays on their own experiences and organize their thoughts. We tied this into our own past experiences with essay writing. Many of us feel the need to outline information and set up body paragraph before introductions. This formate helps us work through what we want our essay to be about before thinking up a thesis.
ReplyDeleteA question that sparked a lot of conversation was how do we convince students to work if they push away? We decided that rewards and incentives often make students complete work but there are other ways. We all agreed that having choices and options lets students vote on what they want to do. It lets the student engage in something they find interesting or can relate to.
The topic of college essay writing was an essential part of our reflection to the reading. Many of us had specific amounts of devoted class time while others had specific classes to work on college essays. However, none of us had what Christenson proposed to her class. We thought she effectively tied in prompts and free quick writes to her main goal of the college essay. We thought this would benefit students because they can easily brainstorm without the pressure of coming up with an essay all at once. Professor Clayton joined in our discussion to talk about Mary Horgan's class. She has the students explore memoirs, essays, and different models to review important moments in people's lives and think about their own lives. After students produce essays, she opens the class up to public to circulate and respond to each essay. Since students do this their Junior year, they're put on file and kept for their Senior year. We thought it was important and was a good way to hear from a variety of view points. This lead into a final discussion about audience. The type of audience does influence the type of essay language. It's important for a teacher to follow through with the assignment if they mention to students it will be view by a specific audience. For instance, if the audience is students or business people, let the assignments be read by the students or business people. We agreed that students will feel important and take pride in their work if they know other people will be reading it.