Last Meeting With ELLs

My last meeting with my ELLs went much better than previous lessons.  I brought in two different articles that dealt with two different regions and their particular problems.  The point of my lesson was to teach how to use a graphic organizer to aid in comprehension and to help organize information in preparation to write an essay.  The students read the first article silently, and I then showed them how to use the graphic organizer to sort information in order to discern the main idea.  The second article was a little more challenging, and this time I had the students read the article aloud.  The graphic organizer we drew up on this article was put together by all three of us.  I was trying to help them understand that not all information in a particular piece of literature is going to be of equal importance.  The graphic organizer was helpful in illustrating this point; however, the students were not totally confident as to how to construct the organizer on their own.

Even though the students were not absolutely confident in constructing the graphic organizer, I do believe that I was able to convey to them the importance of writing down what they are reading to aid comprehension.  Reading a text closely is hard work, and I could definitely tell the students were ready to get away from me at the end; nevertheless, I am convinced that if they worked with me on a regular basis, I could definitely help them improve their reading and comprehension with the use of graphic organizers. 

The most valuable aspect of this ELL experience is the realization that the school experience for these students is much more difficult and precarious than I previously realized.  I don’t see how I would be able to ignore my future ELL students, or allow them to slip through the cracks after this experience.  If anything, my future ELLs may find me really annoying because I won’t let them blend into the background at the back of the class.  As I plan to give my students intense amounts of OTR, my ELLs will get plenty of practice speaking, writing, listening, and creating new and original work, including graphic organizers.  The most important lesson that I have learned from this experience in the block and in working with my ELLs is that, in order to be an effective teacher, I will have to understand and be able to analyze how I learn, how I organize and sort through information to find the relevant and important ideas, and how I organize my thoughts in preparation for writing.  I will have to constantly reflect on my own learning as well as on my teaching and my students’ needs and interests in order to be the most effective teacher I can be.  That’s my goal anyway.

Teaching Rhetorical Devices

My third and final video teach went pretty darn splendidly, if I do say so myself.  The students had copies of three movie speeches.  We then viewed two of the three speeches, and I modeled answering questions about what the speaker was saying and how they were saying it.  I wanted students to discern between the literal message of a speech and the rhetorical and persuasive devices that helped transform their message into something acceptable.  I was defining and giving examples of persuasion, but I was also trying to break down the elements of persuasion in the hopes that students would be able to incorporate some of the rhetorical devices that I presented into their own writing.

The first example I used was the “You can’t handle the truth!” speech by Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men.  That speech is an amazing one to analyze.  He is essentially justifying the cover-up of the murder of an American Marine with rhetoric.  The students really seemed to perk up when I showed this clip, so on my cooperating teacher’s suggestion, I played the clip twice.  This speech helped me to easily model for students how to discern the What and How in a particular speech.  Many of them seemed to know plenty of persuasive devices, so when I proceeded to ask students to pick these out of the piece, they were ready to answer my questions.  The last part of the worksheet asked to combine their thinking in the first two questions: they were to analyze how the content of the speech and the rhetorical devices worked together to create something new, complex, and eerily persuasive.

I am teaching the same lesson in a few minutes during fourth period.  This time I want to allow students to work together in cooperative groups during the guided practice.  It wasn’t until I taught the lesson that I realized that I needed to allow the students to talk more about what I am teaching them.  This little change in plans will hopefully allow for better answers during the independent practice portion of their lesson.

And a few words about “edutainment”.  I liked my lesson because I knew it would get their attention, it was controversial, and it allowed me to analyze short pieces, which is a must with this class of reluctant readers and writers.  I am pretty positive that I will use media as a teacher quite extensively, though not the exclusion of novels, articles, poems, graphic novels, novems, poems, short stories, biography, propaganda, (I could go on).  It’s not an either/or situation.  I would argue that by showing them a clip of Jack Nicholson’s rage-filled oratory COUPLED with a transcribed copy of what the words actually said made the words on the page more powerful.  Students saw how the words affected the message, and that is what I want them to take away from a Language Arts class.

This lesson was also great because I can think of soo many extension activities.  Maybe I’ll write more about that later, but for now I have some teaching to do….

Fourth Session With ELL

My ELLs are beginning to study Africa.  One of my students had completed the worksheet I was given to work on with her, and the other student had just recently taken an exam on another unit and had not yet been introduced to the unit on Africa.  I brought blank maps for them to fill out and use to study.  After completing a map, I helped them practice recalling the names of countries by filling out a third map.

After the last geography lesson I conducted with my ELL students, I thought I came prepared with the map and some ideas about how best to memorize information.  I studied and quized myself right along with my students.  I readily admitted that I was not a student of geography and so did not know where everything was on the map.  They seemed to enjoy my participation, but when it came to the area of the map where countries are difficult to pronounce, tiny, and crowded together in a way that makes it nearly impossible to memorize them, then the lesson seemed to totally fall apart.

It was at this moment, when the air seemed to be sucked out of the room entirely and my students were quietly staring off into space or stealing glances at their classmates around the room, probably wishing that they had not been stuck with me, that I realized that I could have made this lesson something else entirely.  I could have brought in a book on Africa, whether it was an earth science book, a travel brochure, or a book of fiction relating to Africa, I needed something to relate what they were about to learn to someting outside of the rote memorization of a map.  I should have supplemented what they usually get in their geography class with something new and interesting.  Because geography is not my strong suit, I should have thought much more in terms of how to make the information interesting and accessible and less about what their individual teachers will be teaching on the unit. 

I have felt in my mini-teaches and in my work with ELLs that I am trying too hard to try and anticipate what the cooperating teacher wants or will do with the students, rather than designing lessons and activities that are original and interesting.  This sounds odd, but like any new job, I try to observe what others around me are doing and then do much the same kind of thing.  Teaching is different from any job I have ever attempted to do in the past.  The creative thought that is required of good teachers is immense; it is shaped and informed by standards, curriculum, and the needs of the students.  I really hope my last session with my ELL students is much, much more engaging than this one.  I plan on changing my approach by going to their teachers for a framework, but I will rely on my own creativity to design objectives and a lesson.

Teaching Writing

As a component of the students’ research project, the kids are to write a personal narrative essay.  It was my job today to present the narrative essay.  Because form is not strictly prescribed, I turned my focus on helping students flesh out their writing with sensory vocabulary words.  I also provided two examples of personal narrative essays, so the students could understand what they sounded/looked like.  Lastly, I showed a rough draft of my own writing to help students appreciate how first draft writing is the “bare bones” and sensory vocabulary and revision will help them “flesh out” their writing.

I wish that I had gone into a discussion about pre-writing.  The students clearly could have used an introduction to graphic organizers to help them get started.  Some of their reluctance is sort of ingrained in them from years of “just getting by” in school, but most of their reluctance came from their need for explicit instruction.  I liked the way I got the students to work during this lesson.  My first presentation was full of good information, but I’m not sure I engaged the students enough.  Granted my topic for my first teach was possibly the most uninspiring topic in the ELA repertoire: MLA documentation; however, I do think my use of cooperative learning groups in this instance was effective, if only in terms of getting them to do their work, participate, and listen.  My favorite activity was showing the students a piece of my own writing.  I simplified the piece I originally prepared because I wanted them to see the importance of getting their ideas on paper first, and using revision to flesh out their narrative and help their stories come to life.  I also like the fact that the class collectively moaned when I had them start the lesson with a freewriting exercise as a way to warm up.  Once they moaned about it, I explained why I was having them do the writing exercise and the benefits they would reap from starting the class thinking about their essays (which will be a blend of research information and information based on interviews).  Their moans let me know that what I was asking them to do was work, and that was exactly what I wanted from them.

This teach was good.  I had fun, partly because I like the information I was presenting and partly because I can relate to how the writing process can be both painful and enormously rewarding.  Students need explicit writing instruction, and when they are given specific, accomplishable tasks, they do the work.  I notice when things are presented in a vague manner, students are apathetic and unproductive.  I also have a new love and respect for graphic organizers.  They really work, and they are the easiest way, I think, to present information that is complex.  Because writing is such a complex and difficult activity, students need to write all of the time and the definitely need explicit instruction!

Geo-graphy

Today I worked with my buddy and a new girl.  We were looking over their Geography homework that dealt with the Middle East, and I helped them by introducing a study strategy: list-group-label.  We looked over the countries and major bodies of water in the region.  The most important idea that I communicated to them was writing down the information more than once, in fact several times, in order to learn the information on a map.  As obvious as this seems to me now, I don’t believe I learned how to study until I got to University, and the idea of writing down information that was difficult for me to remember was a revelation at one time.  We also discussed the region in light of current events, past and present, and I asked them why studying the region might be important, and what do they think is the benefit to them of learning geography. 

Nevertheless, I do think I taught them a study strategy that is rather obvious and basic, but one that they had not necessarily been taught.  For example, one of my buddies showed me her study guide, which was only partially filled out mind you, but she showed it to me as if to say “here’s my study guide, I have it, it’s in my binder, and that’s all I’m going to do with it!”  If I had had more time with them, and with the hindsight that I now have, I would have gone further with introducing the students to graphically organizing their information with the goal of retaining the information and ultimately learning about the region so that they would eventually be able to think of the places on the map as dynamic, populated, and fascinating.  I think that many students at the high school level simply have trouble with learning the information, and not because they are intellectually deficient in some way, but because they need to learn how things are organized in text and graphs, and how to use that organization to their best advantage.

The experience was quite good for several reasons: 1.) I realized that I don’t have to know my topic so completely and perfectly in order to teach these kids because it’s the study skills, reading skills, and thinking skills that they need help cultivating at this stage. 2.) My buddies were cooperating and learning because they were engaged with an activity, and not just listening to me speak–they were forced to participate because there were only three of us, and I think that was definitely good for them.

Ms., What’s a Bibliography?

Today my cooperating teacher introduced a research project to her senior English class.  Although the students initially bemoaned the idea of writing a research paper, they were nevertheless intrigued by the topic: themselves.  They are to interview family members about the day and year of their birth as well as conduct internet research pertaining to the year they were born.  I will not teach until next week, and at that time I will help them learn how to make bibliography cards; nevertheless I am really anxious to help the students embark on the process. 

 I saw several opportunities for Ms. L to model exactly what she wanted from her students.  I also thought that a short warm-up writing exercise would have been beneficial to the students.  They seemed to need help conceptualizing what the finished product would or could look like.  They needed explicit instruction.  I could tell that this was the case by their questions, and by the time spent doing preliminary research in the computer lab later.  Students were uninterested in my help for the most part once they were on the computers, but I attributed that to the fact that they were allowed to “surf the web” virtually at will.  They were content to explore on their own without interference from me.  (If only we could reign-in that natural curiosity to explore and apply it to pertinent research for their assignment.)

I feel like I have an advantage over my cooperating teacher in the sense that I am a student still and can empathize with their anxieties and uncertainties regarding writing and research.  Last semester I was enrolled in a course that required a research project based primarily on interviews.  I wanted to share with the students that the interview process should happen over time, I wanted them to appreciate that as they begin writing and thinking about their topic, they may find that they will want or need to conduct another interview.  I wanted to get them motivated through thinking and writing, but instead I will illustrate an out-dated and distracting convention that I have never used as a writer of research papers in the college setting.  But that’s okay, ’cause I’m flexible, and I am at least finding a motivation and a really strong desire to do things differently for my students. 

“Focus on the writer not the writing.”

My second meeting with J went really well.  Although I was encouraged to take my time with the lesson/activity that I was going to share with J, I really rushed right into the lesson.  I did manage to ask him if he was playing soccer (it was a rainy day and he looked at my like I was crazy, though I meant the question generally), and I asked how his family was, and if he was ready for the TAKS test.  He was very polite and very cooperative.

During the listening and speaking portion of the activity, J was able to answer questions reasonably well, especially when I showed him the text.  I gave him some background knowledge about the piece: I explained that the protagonist and his family were migrant farmworkers who had recently been deported from California.  The piece was an account of the family’s reaction to the good news that their visas had been approved.  J seemed to connect to this bit of information.  I think it was safe to assume that his background knowledge was activated.

Reflections of Senior English

I have decided to trim the fat and work with one of my cooperating teachers exclusively.  I haven’t talked to Bond or Nicholson about this decision or my other coop teacher for that matter, but Ms L, who I really want to work with exclusively, has given me her consent, and really that’s all that matters:)! 

I was able to help a student today in writing a poem modeled after the Langston Hughes poem “I Have Known Rivers”.  I was amazed at her creativity and the astuteness of her observations about her life and the world around her.  It made me think about the need as teachers to raise the expectations we have of all students, of the need to introduce our students to increasingly challenging literature and writing exercises that allow them to write and think about their experiences and their world from multiple perspectives. 

In my methods class last night, we were shown a video in which veteran teachers discussed emergence strategies, getting students to ask questions to reveal the deeper meanings in the literature they read.  The teachers in the video were really defending the value of literature studies as a way for us to see the world from multiple perspectives; literature can be a lens through which we see the world and ourselves, granting us the benefit of a deeper, richer, and fuller understanding of ourselves and the world we live in.  This rationale for the teaching of literature is one that I agree with wholeheartedly.  I want my students to understand that the skills and understanding that they can develop in themselves have worth beyond passing a class or graduating high school–they can lead to a broadening of thought and perspective that can take them anywhere they want to go in life.

My Courageous Cooperating Teacher

I am feeling really grateful for this experience.  A heady mixture of theory, idealism, and reality, this block experience and the opportunity to observe and talk with a cooperating teacher is, I am realizing, invaluable.  Like Mr. T, “I pity the fool” who opts for alternative certification.

Ms. L takes time to talk to me about the challenges and realities of teaching teenagers in our community who are living in poverty.  These kids are intimately acquainted with the harsh realities of the struggle to put food on the table and a roof over their heads.  Though their families may value education in theory, in reality these adolescents do not have the luxury of college or even finishing high school– they must help their families survive in the immediate future.

 So the question becomes:  How do we make education relevant for these students?  Ms L’s suggestion is to give them hope.  Let them know that the money is there to pursue an education later if not immediately after high school.  Give them the skills today that will help them navigate the world they live in.  Rather than bending the students to my will, interests, or agenda, I want to figure out what makes these kids tick and then get them reading and motivated in spite of it all.  I really believe that this is possible.  I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.

Meeting My ELL

J is a very sweet young man.  He was incredibly respectful and quite the skilled conversationalist despite the language barriers.  My “Me Poster” allowed me to show him my family, my hometown, my love of food, and my love of reading.  His eyes really lit up when I talked about my little boy, so I asked him plenty of questions about his family.  Even though I don’t know a thing about soccer, not to mention team Mexico, I think I showed him that I was interested in him, his interests, his family, and his country and language of origin.  I really enjoyed talking to a student one-on-one; the experience has definitely served to make me much more comfortable talking and interacting with students.

The most apparent reality that I have come to appreciate not only from my ELL but also from my classroom observations, is my intense need and desire to learn Spanish.  Following this all-consuming block process, I am determined to study Spanish and work toward proficiency.  I don’t see how it is possible to engage students, not only ELLs but also students who simply identify more with the culture and language of Mexico/Latin America, without at least a working knowledge of their language.  For example, today in Ms L’s English class, she was having the students think up adages, pithy sayings that communicate a moral or cultural value.  I noticed two students, who incidentally spoke perfectly good English, having a bit of trouble coming up with sayings in English.  I wished that I could remember some Spanish folk-sayings (I took a Texas folklore class last semester and we studied plenty of Spanish sayings).  It made me think toward the future, when I am in the classroom, I will want to come to class prepared with examples that all my students can appreciate, use, and benefit from.

I am really motivated to help, in my little way, to contribute to a school environment in which all students feel included, able to participate, and like the content is relevant and relate-able to them.  I think this is achievable with plenty of preparation, and a brush up of my Spanish vocab!