Service Learning Project

I think this is a great idea. It's community-driven and the kids seem wonderful. However, I don't know if I have been completely out of it during class time or if we discussed anything about the actual project--requirements, activities expected of us, etc-- before going to visit the location site. I'm also somewhat nervous about working with toddler-aged kids because I have no experience teaching that age group and don't know how to develop a lesson for that group.

Tom Sawyer: Ahead of his Time

If there was ever a moment where I suspected such an impossible fact, I would be undoubtedly confident of it now: Mark Twain is a time traveler. He saw, he knew that there would come an age where students forsook their duties and shirked everything over to the teacher/professor, leaving the latter to grasp for straws by calling on the students who always volunteer for the sake of the others. Of course this is not the case for every classroom, thank heavens for that. Robert Probst's chapter in Beers' book illuminates the necessity for a change in how teachers approach uncooperative students. I'm curious, however, as to why this has become such a problem. Where did this passive learning style come from? 

Regretfully, there have only been a few classes where I've been taught how I can teach content to my future students. For this reason I am both disappointed and overwhelmed at the task at hand: devising lesson plans that work. So far this book has provided me with a hundred and one ways to take down the olliphant Legolas-style and this chapter is no exception. Of all the examples he provides, the most provacative one that I can find is simply to demand. We are the teachers. If students don't want to write, read, or work in small groups, they have the choice to either admit defeat  and give into the Balrog that is their daily assignment or lose points for the day. Probst's emphasis on having the students ask more than just the easiest questions, but rather ask questions that bring depth to the reading. It's tempting to give them the questions we believe to be relevant and helpful in understanding the text better. What would that teach though? Leaving them accountable for their own understanding--with teacher guidance--makes the reading less of an assignment and more of an activity.

Preconceived Misconceptions

After reading Ladson-Billings and Purcell-Gates in "The Skin We Speak," I'm reminded of the Freedom Writers film and book because of the collaborating themes of the reading and the fact that I will be teaching an age where catching students who are struggling is almost pointless. Much like Erin Gruwell, most teachers will enter a high school where the socio-economic status, ethnicity, and race are far from being the only things that divides the student body. Both readings deal with the unfortunately fundamental reality that not all citizens are created equal...at least in the eyes of other citizens. It is a cruel reality that seems to have transcended the discrimination laws long after their creation. It seems both idealistic and unrealistic that I would hope for a change in this mindset--the latter is unbearably depressing to fathom. While it's easy to agree with readings such as these that current actions are not acceptable and as a result make vows to change such actions, but how do we translate calls to action into reality? Reading and doing are completely different.

I said before that high school teachers are faced with the challenge of catching and helping students almost too late in the game to be helped; I also said "almost." By omitting that possibility for students, we are condemning them to their own worst self-criticisms; if they look in the mirror every day and think "I'm too stupid to do this. I don't want to try anymore," we should be prepared to be the ones holding the mirror that is mouthing those words. I'm not saying teachers are entirely responsible for permitting failure--there are a myriad of guilty souls (some who may not even know they have this role)--but it is the teacher who is tasked with the job of doing as much as they possibly can to change that reality. The reason many teachers are in that profession today is because someone along the line gave them the encouragement to keep going, (and judging from our class' response) many are their own teachers. The other part of the equation is the students themselves; teachers do not simply divine a love for learning in each student's brain. They have to be willing to accept the work, which may not always happen.

What teachers can (and should!) do is some reaching of our own. Confining students in a small space for eight to nine hours of the day where their lives are dictated by a shrill bell, hauling textbooks, and expectations difficult to attain is not going to help if we make relevancy void to them. Ladson-Billings uses the tool of playing to their tastes by having them write their own version of The Bittersweet Saga of Sugar Cane and Sweetie Pie. Even if a student doesn't like writing, the best way for them to improve is to have them practice and not with the dread worksheets. I love daily writing prompts, weekly grammar focus points, and applying the reading in written form. Worksheets subscribe to to the mediocre serpent of bureaucratic nonsense that we need to be standardized in all aspects of our educational development. 


Purcell-Gates' segment, while somewhat irrelevant for a potential high school teacher, does display a fundamental need to get students immersed in the content they are prepared for. The segment on social class and "Donny's" mother being ignored by the school, despite her pleas to put her son into the right grade, was the icing on the cake. Such discrimination seems worthy of a lawsuit. It is one thing if the parent's request does not match with the student's performance level, but treating her opinion as worthless despite the clear justification is not acceptable. By that point, also, they are condemning Donny to a continuous struggle with content he is not prepared for. Using these preconceived misconceptions about students and their parents only leads to a failing grade on our part.

Technological Technicality

The first thing I identified with in Sara B Kajder's chapter of our book was her quote: "technology doesn't make our work any tidier." That gem is highlighted, underlined and starred in my book; I may even write a short story about it later. Why? This is because I identify with the simplicity of truth. I always hear people talk about the organizational, handy, helpful nature that technology provides for any profession when in fact that is not always the case. Not only do we have to first understand the tech, but we have to figure out a way to apply it in a fashion that all students (this does apply in most other fields) can readily understand. In a previous blog, I mentioned my sister's ability to wield tech like Lancelot wields a sword with minimal training and Kajder's chapter highlights the fact that most children today are much more comfortable with technology at an earlier age than adults who have been exposed to technology longer. Yes, the technology gap is declining seeing as everyone wears an Ipad or Iphone or the cursed Nook/Kindle like bling, but there are students who may not be as savvy with a mouse (myself included in that category). To bring this thought full circle: the person using the technology, not the technology itself that makes it tidy. How they incorporate technology into their daily lives and stick to it determines the effectiveness; kind of like a diet plan, only for mental health.

Kajder returns to a similar theme that Beers touched on in her first chapter: students feel like "school is about fitting things into tight little boxes that you measure with a test." They oppose restrictive curriculum and so do I. One way to escape the lecture drone trap is by making class fun! active! relevant! Well, that sounds great, but there does need to be some learning that goes on, which is where relevancy comes in. (For the most part) teachers want their students to do well AND enjoy their time in the classroom and in order to do that, there needs to be the addition of tools. Kajder's chapter brings out the technology aspect. The list of reading and writing that kids are engaging in outside of school seems fairly familiar: weblogs, fanfiction, wikis, podcasts, digital video, etc. Yes, I engage in the guilty pleasure of fanfiction, but beyond that podcasts are the primary technology I frequently use. Listening to Mugglecast (a Harry Potter based podcast) Hypable (a fandom based podcast) and RoosterTeeth (a machinima based podcast); I can listen to people talk about what is relevant for me. They are also a source for news on specific subjects.

I consider the podcast to be a new level of radio: people who would've never been connected prior can reach out and vocally share information relevant to both. Incorporating podcasts into the classroom setting  can bring an outsiders opinion on a topic. I know my future students will hang on to my every word and revere the insight I bring on our reading material--Othello, for example--but having an outsider's opinion couldn't hurt either. Literary podcasts are available on Itunes and (with extensive screening before they reach the classroom) can easily be transferred into the classroom environment, even if I have to bring in my own laptop to do it.

The class blog is also a tool that has great potential for classrooms, particularly for high school. The students can share their responses, observations, creative ideas all based on the same assignment and break through the stone wall of silence that often occurs in a class discussion (the fact that Kadjer encourages it to be self-governed, not teacher governed, also makes it appealing). By starting with this medium, I have a feeling that students could organize their thoughts easier and then make the outstanding contribution to class discussion that teachers dream of on the eve of the First Day of School. I guess this is leading up to the fact that I would use class web blogs as a catalyst for class discussion. Despite my minimal experience in front of the classroom, I am fairly confident that I hate lecture-based class time (with the burning passion of a thousand and one suns), especially when I am the lecturer.

Concluding thought: Technology is great, but it can't replace real instruction.

Not just English

The interview with Cynthia Mata Aguilar, Dangling Fu and Carol Jago in Beers' book outlines the basis for successful ELL integration in the classroom. Of all the things I'm hesitant about regarding teaching (and that list progressively gets fuller everyday), it probably is working with ELL and ESL students. I am excited to have them in my classroom, but I am unsure of how to give them the education they need. I really wish I had access to this article before I went to Korea for the ESL camps. Their discussion on letting the students teach the teachers by listening and learning about cultural backgrounds makes me wish I had asked my students more questions on how they learn in schools, what is most difficult for them to understand, etc. As it was my first time teaching, I did not know what to expect and not knowing where to start teaching an ESL lesson terrified me. Now, several months later, the camps are coming full circle as I am learning to apply necessary strategies to encourage ELL learning. This chapter did a great job of proving feedback, multiple commentaries on ELL education, and options for teachers to consider reshaping in their own classroom.

The need for ELL education is rising in American schools, as is the need for teachers who are able to provide more than just a basic understanding of the English language.I've heard that education majors will soon have to take ESL classes in order to accommodate for the massive need. Beyond being a mere degree requirement, these classes are essential potential teachers need to know how to reach all of their students. One of our main jobs as teachers is to make students feel secure in the learning environment, which means something different for everyone. Specifically for ELL learners, security comes from not just acknowledging their unique status as English language learners, but evoking a cultural sensitivity so they do not feel like outsiders. No college class can prepare a teacher for everything in their own classrooms, but such classes are do make a difference in how potential teachers can approach their instruction of ELL students. I liked their connection to learning a second language as a "constant trial and error" in order to form a language habit. ELL learners are asked to read, write and verbalize English while taking cue from English spoken instruction; having them practice at every opportunity will help.

What we ask ELL students to do is incredible: learn English while at the same time comprehending the content, in English. In some cases, the content alone is difficult to understand, let alone in a second language. I liked the interviewees idea that a student's first language needs to be the scaffolding for their second language. By reading assignments in their primary language, students are better able to cope with then comprehending the English version. Students who speak English as their primary language find it difficult enough to understand Poe's The Raven--requiring ELL majors to first read the English version of that poem would be unfair. Analytical thought first in their primary language can aid their response to the work in English.