More on Adolescent Lit

I like how Tom phrased it when he said, “We must come to believe that our writing is worth reading by others.” Students must believe this in order to do their best on writing assignments. I am so excited about the opportunity to give my students an authentic audience to show them that what they have to say matters outside of the classroom.

I’m in the process of figuring out how I am going to ask my students to organize their notebooks for next year and it was nice to have Linda point out the importance of having a place to put ideas. Now I plan on having a journal section in their notebook where they can reflect on how they are progressing through the material in class.

Last year I had several students who enjoyed drawing (and were very good at it). I plan to give students the option of making a story board as one of their drafts whenever we write in class.

Content Area Writing

This textbook makes a great case for writing in content areas, and has me very excited about bringing writing into my science class. Some of the strategies I plan to try are
Write to Learn
Writing breaks (I got to experience this at the ASCD conference…it did help)
Drawings/Sketches with stories/explanations to describe material
I also like how Toondoo helped with this
Clustering (to help students connect ideas)
Learning Logs
Dialogue journals (SILENT conversations!)
Maybe even with a classroom mailbox…
Double-Entry Journals (I like how these help organize thoughts with passages and the possibilities for differentiation)
Reflective writing (via blogs)
KWL (with posters – so we remember what we thought at the beginning)

Comics in the Classroom

Here is the comic that Ryan and I created and presented during class today.

Vocabulary

I really enjoyed the vocabulary site...it made podcasting seem more do-able for my class. I like that it was short, demonstrated what students had learned and gave them a chance to practice what they studied. Something simple like this would be a good place for me to start...

Story Board-Feed

Title (Binary code)
Futuristic Person
Imagine a world where the entirely of knowledge isn't just at your fingertips but ready to be tapped into straight from your brain
Moon with message on it
Where you can message your friends from wherever you're at
Personal Shopper
Have a virtual shopper designed just for you
Virtual Reality Player
and can play virtual reality games whenever, wherever and with whomever you want
City overview
it would be perfect, wouldn't it?
girl in water
wouldn't it?
Plastic Surgery Patient
but in a world where you're always plugged in to the constant stream of information
Tree of Knowledge
What do you really know?
Hand with cord
And just who is really making the decisions?
Feed (zeros and ones)
Credits
Book cover

GIST

I was starting to avoid summaries with my students, so I am very glad that I got to read this article. As a science teacher, I've always felt inferior in my ability to teach things that involved writing or anything "language arts-ish" to the point that I had our instructional coach come in and prep my students on how to attack their first ORQ and bugged her for weeks to help me come up with a content area portfolio piece for my students to do. I'm thankful for how they broke the process apart in such a manner that even I have hope that I can help my students become better summarizers. The only thing I worry about is being able to pick appropriate "stop spots" for my students along the way...I guess we'll learn together.

Chapters 16 and 17

I felt really bad reading chapter 16. I ask my students all kinds of questions at the beginning of the year, even things like how do you learn best, do you prefer group or individual projects, etc. But I don't think I have ever directly asked them, what's most needed for you to learn. I guess I had always figured that they wouldn't be able to directly answer that...I don't know if I could answer that really well even about myself. But I think that I will have that one their "welcome to class" questionnaire.

I enjoyed how they set up the chapter on assessment...I had thought it would be really boring, but it was more fun "listening in" on their conversation. I felt that they articulated the frustration that has become part of my life very well. I agree that if we would teach the way we know we should and not cling to the core content guide that students would do better on the KCCT. But they voiced my concern well...I'm not just worried about "my scores" or how my students do on their tests as much as the risk that I could do something wrong and set them up for failure, when they could have succeeded if I had just "stuck with the plan."

Frustration and Motivation

Chapter 5

I was a little frustrated at how he began the chapter with the Tom Sawyer example, it made something I struggle with seem like it should be so easy. I thought that a good point was made concerning how teachers struggle to get classes to truly discuss content. I had never thought about our “class discussions” as merely drilling students for information. I also like the strategies offered to help students reflect as they read. I think I will try to have students fill out a paper/book mark type thing where they will record questions, take notes of interesting information, etc.

Chapter 6

I didn’t even think that about books having websites…I haven’t been able to find the one for the book I want to use at the end of the year, The Mystery of the Tunguska Fireball. I was also surprised at the things students are reading and that they are maturing so much faster. I had thought that my students were more knowledgeable about things than I was at their age…I thought I was just getting old…maybe kids are just growing up quicker. Tatum made a good point; doing well in students doesn’t motivate many of my students. They aren’t motivated to read just to be better readers.

Book Clubs

It was so nice that they went beyond just explaining why we should have book clubs, but actually explained how they organized the clubs in their class rooms, even how they assessed students. I also liked how they started out with much smaller texts. Using smaller texts would be much easier for me during the "accountability" time of year. I'm hoping to use my book for second literature circle with my students as part of my final unit with my students next year (I've already ordered the documentary to go with it!)

Chew on This

Here are some questions I was thinking about for our podcast tomorrow...If you have any suggestions please let me know...otherwise just look over it. See you at 11:30!

1. Does it bother you how much effort companies put into influencing children? What did you think about the seven nags (p. 50)? Can we use any of these strategies in the classroom? (Examples: School mascots, prizes for good behavior, digital stories to entertain…)

2. We are encouraged to celebrate diversity – what message are we sending other countries by supporting fast food companies that try to make everything the same everywhere? What have we lost? What did you think about the situations dealing with the Eskimos, the ranchers, and children?

3. What bothered you the most: the treatment of meatpacking workers, animal abuse, slaughter house scenes, or how unsafe so much fast food is? Why did this bother you more than the others?

4. McDonald’s is known for making statements that it should not be held responsible for customers’ obesity. Many people are pushing for legislation that will dictate what McDonald’s can serve. Who is to blame? Who is should be responsible for keeping people healthy?

5. What do you think about gastric-bypass surgery? Do you think it should be done on children? Do you think it is worth the risk? Is it a possible solution to the obesity epidemic?

Thoughts on Chapters four and fifteen

Chapter 4

I had wondered why students could forget material so easily; they often referred to this ability as their “delete button.” Schema is a new concept for me. I had always thought that students developed an understanding of a concept by reading about the concept. It never occurred to me that students could not digest the material until I prepared them to receive it.

Chapter 15

I love the idea of training students to read literature like scientists. I can remember how much fun it was when my professors would address us like we already had the degree we were seeking. However, when I tried this with my students they seemed upset and responded that they did not want to be scientists and they could not (or would not) reason in that manner.

Adolescent Lit. Chapter 10

At first I wondered why I was reading a chapter for English teachers, but I soon found several helpful ideas presented that have already been discussed in other classes. For example, changing seating arrangements every three or four weeks to ensure they work with other people and get alternative perspectives. Last year I came up with a few seating charts at the beginning of the year and as needed for classroom management, but usually allowed students to sit wherever they felt most comfortable. I'm starting to see that I can let them chose new seats, based on certain specifications, which will save lots of time for me and ensure that the normal drama doesn't follow a new seating chart.

I also liked the reference to students (future workers) needing to be like "human Swiss Army Knives," and the ways that teachers can help them accomplish this. I thought it was neat how one of the options to help students become more flexible was to have them do the same assignment in different ways--which sounds a lot like differentiated instruction, which is a current focus in JCPS. I just worry how many ways/times I can have students do or format something and still stay with the pacing guides.

Day One Reading

BPR Chapter 1 (Adolescent Literacy)
I agree that most schools are reacting to NCLB in unproductive ways. I like how Dr. Beers refused to sign the petition to repeal the bill and how their reasoning was explained. I was a little sad when I read about Collin's story. I had a student like that last year. I only got a handful of assignments after Christmas break. When he would do work, it would be great, but I was never able to convince him that learning the Core Content was worth the effort or that he really had the ability to master it. Maybe if I could have found the right story to motivate him, things would have turned out better. All of my students enjoyed "story times" when I would find stories that applied to what we were studying, and almost all of my students had a myspace account. I'm looking forward to seeing how I might could use some of the technology tools to help my students enjoy learning about science by making it more similar to how they use their free time.

DZ Chapter 1 and 2

Chapter 1

I could see my students enjoying the unit described concerning Fast Food Nation. I know I could get other teachers in my building to collaborate with me, I'm just concerned about how this kind of approach would work with JCPS accountability pacing. I thought the authors made a good point about what "the problem is: they don't remember" what they read. I don't feel confident in my present ability to teach kids how to remember what they read. I can tell them ways that I remember things, use guiding questions, and graphic organizers, but I still don't know how to make information "stick." I'm excited to see what suggestions are offered in this book.



Chapter 2
The examples used in this chapter were very helpful in reminding me how foreign the terms in my content area are to my students. (Kind of like the book read at the beginning of class) I had never thought of "prior knowledge as the main determinant of comprehension," but the concept makes sense. I liked the table on page 30 that laid out the stages of reading, I guess this could be modified to fit just about any reading task, since my class doesn't have a text book.