Every person views the world through their own lens. As humans we were raised in various situations and under certain circumstances. Culture is a hard word to define in one sentence. For individuals, childhood circumstances, and situations play a role on the type of person you view yourself as, and how others view you. This is one small definition of culture. Dialect is an aspect of culture. In America, people speak many languages, and talk in various forms. There are various terms that people associate with language, such as Standard English, English Language Learners, and African American Vernacular, just to name a view. Not for one minute have I ever thought because the way someone speaks the English language, he or she can be placed a scale the outlines his or her success. Individuals look at others in the Media, and view how they talk as the way you should, or the way you shouldn’t. He talks black, or she talks white! What does that even mean? Like I mentioned before, in America today, people have their own dialect which defines who they are. This is a very positive component. The way youth talk needs to be embraced. We must also understand that Standard English is a tool for success. Growing up in the city, I, myself, didn’t speak Standard English, I spoke the dialect that was a part of my environment. As I grow older, and kept guiding myself toward success, I realized I had to step out of the home, and neighborhood dialect I was accustomed to, and incorporate the usage of Standard English towards my relationship to achievement. This is the mission I bring to you. We all have our own security in the way we speak. Learning and incorporating Standard English in the right situation can be a tough and also very fun method to learn how to use. It’s something that individuals have to take with them for the rest of their lives. I don’t talk the same way to my boss as I do to my friends, and I’d suppose you don’t either. This can be referred to as code switching. Code switching can become a talent. Let us take this talent and work on it to become better speakers, writers, readers, and citizens of the world.
Grammar can be a troublesome issue. If Brock Haussamen’s Grammar Alive a Guide for Teachers has taught me anything, it would be the various activities that I can do to implement learning about grammar fun and exciting. My friends and I live by motto; you have to play the part to live the part. To conquer grammar, I want students to become trained to understand when and where to use proper dialect. This will gives us the opportunity to act these scenarios out, to challenge each other, and to continually build off of what we’ve already learned. Language itself can’t be learned in a day. Society has become so fast pace, and things continue to change. The English Language is one of those things. Think of me as a coach rather then a teacher. I will habitually view new tricks that we can incorporate to better understand how to become more effective speakers. I will continually introduce these new methods to you, and have you perform them in your daily lives. The objective we want to conquer is to embrace the dialect we have, whether it’s one from our neighborhood, or one from another country, and learn how to use Standard English to help better channel us towards victory.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Teaching Writting in Middle and Secondary Schools, Chapter 6
“Although Standardized test can be useful as one measure of a student’s knowledge, it is imperative that they be viewed in the context of the whole child” (96).
“Students in our classrooms create and perform awesome feats everyday, and they should have a place to display their efforts” (99).
“When give ownership over the direction of their learning, they will work to their greatest capacity and in a creative fashion” (105).
“Clearly, portfolios contribute to student’s development of self-discipline, self-direction, and self evaluation” (106).
This chapter speaks a lot about creating a portfolio for secondary writers. It also went on both sides in regards to student testing. Of course testing is only one measure. Student’s abilities need to be measured with different activities and at different stakes. I started my first portfolio when I was as sophomore in college. I’m sure that nobody really reads the work that I put on there (yet). I do make it a priority to put good work on there though. After reading chapter seven and soaking in the portfolio portion, and what it can mean and escalate positively towards, I see why portfolios can implement a sense of independence and self worthiness for academic work. If I knew that someone was going to view my work as a high school student, then I’d make it worth my effort for writing it, and the audience’s effort for reading it.
I look at work I did two years ago, which I posted it on my portfolio, and I look work I did two weeks ago, which I posted on my portfolio. It’s fun to see the difference. I’m pretty sure that if this was implemented regularly in the classroom, then students may get that same opportunity and feeling when they post and look, post again and look back. You have facebook where you talk about what you’re doing in the next five minutes. If that’s not going public, I don’t know what is. How about create that same mentality with school work. Have a portfolio webpage for high school students to show their work for people to look at. Of course not every student will be intrigued by this idea, and their are lot of kinks to work out, but if students see that people are viewing the work that they do, then they’ll be more opt to put it on a web portfolio. That’s why we are doing blogs. We put small pieces of writing up here, you look at it, comment on it, and the cycle continues.
“Students in our classrooms create and perform awesome feats everyday, and they should have a place to display their efforts” (99).
“When give ownership over the direction of their learning, they will work to their greatest capacity and in a creative fashion” (105).
“Clearly, portfolios contribute to student’s development of self-discipline, self-direction, and self evaluation” (106).
This chapter speaks a lot about creating a portfolio for secondary writers. It also went on both sides in regards to student testing. Of course testing is only one measure. Student’s abilities need to be measured with different activities and at different stakes. I started my first portfolio when I was as sophomore in college. I’m sure that nobody really reads the work that I put on there (yet). I do make it a priority to put good work on there though. After reading chapter seven and soaking in the portfolio portion, and what it can mean and escalate positively towards, I see why portfolios can implement a sense of independence and self worthiness for academic work. If I knew that someone was going to view my work as a high school student, then I’d make it worth my effort for writing it, and the audience’s effort for reading it.
I look at work I did two years ago, which I posted it on my portfolio, and I look work I did two weeks ago, which I posted on my portfolio. It’s fun to see the difference. I’m pretty sure that if this was implemented regularly in the classroom, then students may get that same opportunity and feeling when they post and look, post again and look back. You have facebook where you talk about what you’re doing in the next five minutes. If that’s not going public, I don’t know what is. How about create that same mentality with school work. Have a portfolio webpage for high school students to show their work for people to look at. Of course not every student will be intrigued by this idea, and their are lot of kinks to work out, but if students see that people are viewing the work that they do, then they’ll be more opt to put it on a web portfolio. That’s why we are doing blogs. We put small pieces of writing up here, you look at it, comment on it, and the cycle continues.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Burke Chapter 7
On page 181 Burke talks about Journal Entries. He says: “I don’t have to worry about collecting the papers and responding to them” (181). If you’re a teacher why do you have to worry about looking at papers? Shouldn’t you be excited? Journals are personal reflections. Getting in touch with students is hard to do. Journals are the source that lets you get in touch with students. I’d say; let students know that you are going to read what they put in their journals. Personally, I don’t remember an experience where we had journals that we wrote in, and teachers would read those entries. In today’s school system, I’m confident that reading students journal entries and conversing back with them would be a very positive and beneficial outlet.
“I don’t favor the big poetry unit myself”
That’s probably why poetry is barley taught
Responding to student work
“No more then three items to focus on, (210).” I like that idea when it comes to responding to oral presentations by students. This makes the responses more concrete, and they’ll know what to look for, you’ll know what to look for, and you’ll both know how to correct it. On page 217 it talked about spell checker. It is very beneficial to have. For myself, I’ll make a mistake, and spell checker will correct it. I try and steer away from that mistake next time. How is spell checker addressed in schools? I hope it doesn’t seem to be the only editing and grammar proofreading tool they have. Teachers have classes of thirty students. When is it possible for teachers to sit down one to one with students and go over the editing and proofreading process? From what I understand now, teachers go through a mini lesson, and or set and example of how to edit and proofread, and for the majority of time it is set on the students to handle that. One to one conversations about revision can be a key factor for improving wiring performance. The whole workshop concept tied into that.
“I don’t favor the big poetry unit myself”
That’s probably why poetry is barley taught
Responding to student work
“No more then three items to focus on, (210).” I like that idea when it comes to responding to oral presentations by students. This makes the responses more concrete, and they’ll know what to look for, you’ll know what to look for, and you’ll both know how to correct it. On page 217 it talked about spell checker. It is very beneficial to have. For myself, I’ll make a mistake, and spell checker will correct it. I try and steer away from that mistake next time. How is spell checker addressed in schools? I hope it doesn’t seem to be the only editing and grammar proofreading tool they have. Teachers have classes of thirty students. When is it possible for teachers to sit down one to one with students and go over the editing and proofreading process? From what I understand now, teachers go through a mini lesson, and or set and example of how to edit and proofread, and for the majority of time it is set on the students to handle that. One to one conversations about revision can be a key factor for improving wiring performance. The whole workshop concept tied into that.
A mode of writing I am willing to teach
Getting a deeper understanding of poetry ventures into other avenues. Poetry is a mode that I’m more then willing to teach. It can start abstract, but build concretely off that. Students can be on different academic levels, but it seems that when the mode of poetry is involved, every student can have a different beginning, and finish with a different ending. From a teacher’s standpoint, chapter five said teaching poetry takes time and patience. A teacher is obligated to learn about poetry just as much as the students he or she teaches. With poetry, there are many forms, and different lenses to look at it through, therefore perception can continually change, which is a positive note.
To me, the mode of poetry is engaging because it gives voice to students, even in a way a narrative doesn’t. Every student has a voice. Poetry can be a tool for students who haven’t found the voice they’re trying to harmonize. A teacher could take a student’s work and do what chapter five did with Hinton’s the outsiders. Break a student’s formal written work into a poem; this shows students that they have the ability to write in poetry mode. Let’s say a student has trouble writing a formal paper, but can write in poetry mode. You can do the opposite of what the text did with Hinton’s the outsiders. Take a poem about a topic the student choose; basketball, running, lava, etc. You can use that poem and turn it into an introduction paragraph. In the real world poetry will help student find their voice if they haven’t already. The book mentioned that teachers tend to breeze over poetry lessons. When this happens the essence of poetry isn’t captured, and students don’t take poetry as a tool with them when they walk out the door. Let’s say a student has family over, or grows up and has three kids. Would that student rather share a three page expository paper to his family, or a self though poem he or she wrote? It’d probably be the poem. Personally, the text didn’t give enough tools or exercises to teach poetry. Poetry is creative tool that you have to tap into. Some people talk about it, but haven’t even tapped into their own poetry realm. If you haven’t tap into your poetry realm, you sure as heck shouldn’t teach it to anyone else. At this point I’m trying to figure out how to start small to get students writing towards poetry mode, and end up big with have students produce works which reflect on the progress they’ve made in poetry.
To me, the mode of poetry is engaging because it gives voice to students, even in a way a narrative doesn’t. Every student has a voice. Poetry can be a tool for students who haven’t found the voice they’re trying to harmonize. A teacher could take a student’s work and do what chapter five did with Hinton’s the outsiders. Break a student’s formal written work into a poem; this shows students that they have the ability to write in poetry mode. Let’s say a student has trouble writing a formal paper, but can write in poetry mode. You can do the opposite of what the text did with Hinton’s the outsiders. Take a poem about a topic the student choose; basketball, running, lava, etc. You can use that poem and turn it into an introduction paragraph. In the real world poetry will help student find their voice if they haven’t already. The book mentioned that teachers tend to breeze over poetry lessons. When this happens the essence of poetry isn’t captured, and students don’t take poetry as a tool with them when they walk out the door. Let’s say a student has family over, or grows up and has three kids. Would that student rather share a three page expository paper to his family, or a self though poem he or she wrote? It’d probably be the poem. Personally, the text didn’t give enough tools or exercises to teach poetry. Poetry is creative tool that you have to tap into. Some people talk about it, but haven’t even tapped into their own poetry realm. If you haven’t tap into your poetry realm, you sure as heck shouldn’t teach it to anyone else. At this point I’m trying to figure out how to start small to get students writing towards poetry mode, and end up big with have students produce works which reflect on the progress they’ve made in poetry.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
I listen to 96.3 a lot. They kept talking about twitter. My friends keep asking about twitter. Twitter is trying to give facebook a run for it's money. They share some of the same similarities. I went to twitter's what's happening search bar, and I typed in Kevin Garnett, and numerous links popped up about what's going on with him, and also there were link that had people selling K.G. products. I'm nervous about twitter!!! I don't know all it's casualties, but I waste enough time on facebook, I hope I don't turn into a twitter-head.....
Monday, March 16, 2009
Teaching Writing in Middle and Secondary Schools Chapter 3
The Writing Workshop
For the most part; language arts was divided into units. Each unit consisted of an overall goal that touches many bases. I don’t remember having a unit that was guided towards one specific feature for instance, writing a poem. It always involved various components. In eleventh grade we had to do a research paper on a person who had an autobiography written about them. This unit consisted of reading a book, conducting support research, giving an oral presentation, and writing a paper. The point I’m trying to make is that as far I can remember: In language arts and English no unit consisted of solely one thing. In college I’ve learned more about creating outlines, and making reference sheets. It seems that college has recognized what secondary English consists of, and college picks up the missed pieces, which isn’t a bad thing.
In my secondary schooling, I don’t remember ever having writers work shops to learn about one certain writing aspect. I also don’t remember having mini lesson to gain quick digestible knowledge (as the book put it). I have a good decent memory. If I don’t remember it, it’s probably because it didn’t happen. In a couple of our classroom meetings we’ve did two small writing activities that were interesting, and stood away from my typical experiences when learning about writing. These examples are student focused, more fast paced, self reflective, and critical. I have a lot to learn about teaching writing to the youth, but these positive tactics will seek their interest and they’ll lead off into bigger components that make writing, reading, and the whole language arts concept more exciting to students and their teachers. It seems to be a trial and error battle, what works and what doesn’t.
For the most part; language arts was divided into units. Each unit consisted of an overall goal that touches many bases. I don’t remember having a unit that was guided towards one specific feature for instance, writing a poem. It always involved various components. In eleventh grade we had to do a research paper on a person who had an autobiography written about them. This unit consisted of reading a book, conducting support research, giving an oral presentation, and writing a paper. The point I’m trying to make is that as far I can remember: In language arts and English no unit consisted of solely one thing. In college I’ve learned more about creating outlines, and making reference sheets. It seems that college has recognized what secondary English consists of, and college picks up the missed pieces, which isn’t a bad thing.
In my secondary schooling, I don’t remember ever having writers work shops to learn about one certain writing aspect. I also don’t remember having mini lesson to gain quick digestible knowledge (as the book put it). I have a good decent memory. If I don’t remember it, it’s probably because it didn’t happen. In a couple of our classroom meetings we’ve did two small writing activities that were interesting, and stood away from my typical experiences when learning about writing. These examples are student focused, more fast paced, self reflective, and critical. I have a lot to learn about teaching writing to the youth, but these positive tactics will seek their interest and they’ll lead off into bigger components that make writing, reading, and the whole language arts concept more exciting to students and their teachers. It seems to be a trial and error battle, what works and what doesn’t.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Teaching Writing in Middle and Secondary Schools Chapter 2
Composing the writing process
Like Blasingame and Bushman pointed out, sometimes a piece of writing for school is introduced at 10:00 and it is expected to be finished at 10:50. In between that fifty minute period there are certain guidelines that must be done in order to finish that piece of work. Writing was established that way for me in high school, and so that is how I tend to compose my pieces of writing. I want it to be as concrete as possible, therefore I’ll know what to do. Chapter two also mentioned that it is important to give students assignments that they’re familiar with or have knowledge about. That phrase is pretty self explanatory for me. If I don’t know what I’m writing about I either will compose a not so good piece, or I’ll wait until I get the knowledge I need in order to write.
I stick away from the brainstorming on paper when it comes to writing. I do that part in my head. The brainstorming in my head occurs for a couple of days depending on when the piece needs to be done. From the brainstorming part, I like to do an informal/sloppy outline just so I know where I’m headed. Even if an outline isn’t required I do it because it helps me see the knowledge I need for that piece more concretely. Then I write. If it’s a ten page paper I usually do three-four pages a day. I don’t like to write more than four pages any session. It seems if I write four pages a session, I can stop for awhile, brainstorm new ideas, and continue what I was doing. Once I finish a piece, the revising gets kind of tedious. One thing I’ve learned over the past year is to print out your composed work and proofread it that way. It lets you see and feel the whole flow of the paper. Recently I learned that if you read a paper out loud, it generally helps you take out the things that make the paper less sensible. And finally for revising, I always enjoy the help at the writing center.
Like Blasingame and Bushman pointed out, sometimes a piece of writing for school is introduced at 10:00 and it is expected to be finished at 10:50. In between that fifty minute period there are certain guidelines that must be done in order to finish that piece of work. Writing was established that way for me in high school, and so that is how I tend to compose my pieces of writing. I want it to be as concrete as possible, therefore I’ll know what to do. Chapter two also mentioned that it is important to give students assignments that they’re familiar with or have knowledge about. That phrase is pretty self explanatory for me. If I don’t know what I’m writing about I either will compose a not so good piece, or I’ll wait until I get the knowledge I need in order to write.
I stick away from the brainstorming on paper when it comes to writing. I do that part in my head. The brainstorming in my head occurs for a couple of days depending on when the piece needs to be done. From the brainstorming part, I like to do an informal/sloppy outline just so I know where I’m headed. Even if an outline isn’t required I do it because it helps me see the knowledge I need for that piece more concretely. Then I write. If it’s a ten page paper I usually do three-four pages a day. I don’t like to write more than four pages any session. It seems if I write four pages a session, I can stop for awhile, brainstorm new ideas, and continue what I was doing. Once I finish a piece, the revising gets kind of tedious. One thing I’ve learned over the past year is to print out your composed work and proofread it that way. It lets you see and feel the whole flow of the paper. Recently I learned that if you read a paper out loud, it generally helps you take out the things that make the paper less sensible. And finally for revising, I always enjoy the help at the writing center.
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