Course Reflection

First and foremost, I must honestly say that I was at best apprehensive about this course upon the first few classes.  Really, I was worried that I wouldn’t gain the experience and tools necessary to adequately teach reading in my future classroom.  I was entirely apprehensive of a class based solely on technology and media.  If ever there was a time that I was most wrong, this is it.  Through each of our four units, I have learned far more than I ever imagined.  I am so glad to have been able to research so many lessons that will no doubt be helpful in my own classroom later on.  I have gained not only an exponential amount of tools for teaching, but also a varied knowledge of technological skills that I could not have gotten anywhere else.  These alone, will benefit me more than ever in the culture in which we live today.

Because of our activities within this class I have learned much about the National Council for Teachers of English; a group that I fully intend to join once I begin my career.   SasInSchools curriculum pathways has become a tool in which I will visit again and again because it breaks down activities and lessons specific to the North Carolina Standard Course of Study.  Also, I have gained a plethora of websites that will be perfect for finding individual lesson plans that I may use and curb to my own classroom.  But, above all, I have learned exactly what a “blog” is.  Honestly, I had no idea what so ever prior to this class.  This is a tool that I will keep up with throughout my teaching career.  I plan to use this very blog with my students so that they will have ready access to a syllabus and their grades and assignments.

All in all, this semester has been one of the most productive of my college career thus far.  I feel that with each of my classes I have been able to better gain a perspective on my own teaching philosophy.  I have truly enjoyed reading and being able to respond to each of my classmates’ posts.  These each have inspired me above and beyond my own posts and hope to keep in touch with each of you as we begin our post-college real teaching lives.

 

Thank you all so very much.

 

-Brady S. Tillerson-

Lesson Plan II: Characters Actions in “Romeo and Juliette”

Title of Lesson:  Characters’ Actions in “Romeo and Juliette”

 

Website:  Hotchalk’s Lesson Plan Page

 

Link to Site:  http://www.lessonplanspage.com/LAUnderstandingActionsOfRomeoJuliet1112.htm

 

This lesson plan is perfect for a unit study of Shakespeare in the twelfth grade English classroom.  Jamie Klores, the creator of this lesson, has devised a way for students to study the plot of a Shakespearian play and the reasons for which every little thing is placed within the plot as it is.  Upon reading Romeo and Juliette, the teacher of the class will show excerpts from a film version of the play in which the characters of Romeo and Juliette are forced to make their most difficult decisions.  Klores claims that the 1968 movie version of the play by Ali McGraw is the perfect choice for viewing.  A good lead in to the following activity would be to have the class divide into the two houses, Montague and Capulet, so that they may act out these scenes in order to better understand the dialogue of the characters.  After this, the class should be divided into groups of five or so and given a specific character that could be chosen at random by selecting from a hat.  Each individual group will then discuss at length the pivotal decisions that their character makes within the play and decide what would have happened had that character not made that exact choice at the time.  “What if?” is the name of the game, and a fun game it seems indeed.  The teacher or instructor must make sure that the students adequately research the time period so that they may know just what decisions could be made by the character.  Then, after all is said and done, the group will present their assessment of the situations and the alternative actions of each character.  You will need to make sure as well that they have properly addressed the consequences for this new decision.  I find that this lesson plan is perfect in that it truly accomplishes what it intends to do.  That is, it encourages students to appreciate the plot of a Shakespearian play and the actions that each character takes, eventually leading to a complete resolution.  I think that the students in my future classroom will really enjoy this activity because it approaches the reading of Romeo and Juliette in a new and truly interesting way.

 

-Brady S. Tillerson-

 

 

Lesson Plan I: Taking a Pilgrimage to Canterbury

Title of Lesson:  Taking a Pilgrimage to Canterbury

 

Website:  The Educator’s Reference Desk

 

Site Link:  http://www.eduref.org/cgibin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Language_Arts/

Literature/LIT0200.html

 

This lesson takes place during a study of the Canterbury Tales.  Upon finishing reading the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales, which introduces each character within the group travelling to Canterbury, the students will begin this two part lesson that will ask much creativity from them.  The first class period will focus on analyzing the descriptive information given about the guests on the road to Canterbury. Questions like: What do we learn about each of these people? What is the writer trying to tell us? Perhaps make a listing on the board. The class should have already read the Prologue by this time, so answers like physical description, attitudes towards others, job descriptions, etc. should come up easily.  Then the students will be asked to construct a short poem of about twenty lines that will introduce their own new character that will be joining this group of pilgrims.  These poems should be very descriptive as to the physical characteristics and demeanor of their pilgrim.  Also, they should talk of the occupation of their new travelers, much like the Prologue of the Canterbury Tales does.  The second class will be for presentations, which can come in many forms.  Glenna Buttrey, the creator of this lesson plan, claims that she usually has “the students tour the school. We pretend we are pilgrims traveling along, fascinated by what we see around us and fascinated by those we are traveling with. I allow some talk as this would be normal on a pilgrimage. We then stop from time to time and read a few “tales” to find out about the people who we are traveling with. The students loved this. At first they were apprehensive, but it didn’t take long for them to truly develop an interest in Chaucer!”  I love her idea because it allows for the students to take this imaginative state even further.  Rather than mundane presentations in the classroom, the students actually become pilgrims on a journey.  Following this schoolwide travelling, you would have the students engage in conversation about which characters would make sense and which would not as well as the most and least likeable characters both imaginative and in the Canterbury Tales themselves.

 

-Brady S. Tillerson-

Vocabulary Instruction: A Response

            Prior to reading the article entitled A Professional Development Initiative for Developing Approaches to Vocabulary Instruction With Secondary Mathematics, Art, Science, and English Teachers I had never really given even the slightest thought to how vocabulary was instructed outside of my own content area: English.  I now find that it is true indeed that each class has a need to teach vocabulary just as much as English/Language arts.  I really enjoyed the idea of vocabulary instruction taught by a “rich representation of words.”  I feel that effective instruction in vocabulary involves opportunities for students to have multiple encounters with words in a variety of situations and contexts.  These various lessons used by teachers in Alleghany High School provide a wide-eyed glance at just how appropriate instruction techniques can be put to use in many classrooms.

            Of each of the examples provided within the article at hand, I found the teaching methods of Donna Hash to be most effective.  She asked her students to take two comparable terms and create a poem using them.  Below her instructions was an excerpt of a two students’ work in which they wrote from the perspective of complementary and supplementary angles.  These poems provided not only a fun activity, but also taught her students the difference of various angles.  I also really enjoyed seeing her use of visual displays used to illustrate the different types of polygons.  Honestly, I found each and every way that the teachers mentioned within the article really tailor fit their students.  I only wish that, when in school, I was given vocabulary instruction as fun and interesting as this rather than simply copying down definitions for each subject for hours at a time.  Also, the feedback on the individual lessons and the classroom reactions to them by the teachers mentioned in the article was very beneficial as it gave us the opportunity to see what worked most for each subject.  I can truly say that I now see vocabulary instruction as a necessity for all subjects and something that can be approached with anything but boredom and mundane techniques.

 

My “Thinking Questions:”

 

1)      In what other subjects could you incorporate poetry into lessons for vocabulary instruction?

2)      I understand that each content area for any given subject has a specific vocabulary that needs to be acquired but is there a way to incorporate an interesting year long study that compiles vocabulary from many content areas or chapters?

3)      What other ways could be incorporated into vocabulary instruction and how would these methods work for other subject areas than those mentioned in the article (math, science, art, English)?

 

-Brady S. Tillerson-

The Multigenre Paper: A Response

            Throughout my many years within public schools, never was I given an opportunity to really enjoy writing.  That is, until coming to school in the mountains.  As of now, I have had the experience of writing two different multigenre papers, both of which were research based.  In fact last semester, in a class much like the one described by Margaret Moulton in her article entitled The multigenre paper:Increasing interest, motivation, and functionalityin research, we were instructed about the many ways of going about a multigenre paper.  I also find it interesting that we, too, modeled our papers after the model by Romano.  Just as stated in the article, I too find that a multigenre research paper is a great way for students to acquire a basis in research all the while enjoying themselves.

            First and foremost, I will say that I fully intend to use the multigenre approach to research projects when I have control over my own classroom.  I find that, when properly approached, students learn far more than when attempting the mundane “old school” research methods.  True indeed, having to creatively portray the subject at hand is absolutely a difficult task.  But this task, when accomplished, is completely worthwhile because what you have done is entirely your own.  You, as a student and writer, have taken the facts of the past and melded them with fiction.  Because there are an infinite number of genres and categories of written word, there are just as many exponential possibilities for writing a multigenre paper.  Also, I will state that this multigenre format will be a far more entertaining read when it comes to teacher evaluation.

 

My “Thinking Questions:”

 

1)      For a high school English paper, how many genres should we as teachers ask for?

2)      I know that this article spoke of notecards, but how will we ask that our students really prove their research methods?

3)      How in the world can a research project of this magnitude be graded?  How do we justify better grades for a project that is more accurate but not as creative and vice versa?

 

-Brady S. Tillerson-

“I” Poems: A Response

              I find that the use of “I” poetry in the English classroom is a great opportunity to engage students and inspire an understanding of the many elements of a story.  This article entitled  “I” Poems: Invitations for Students to Deepen Literary Understanding really does well in breaking down the before and after reading activities needed to create these awesome poems.  Linda Kucan is correct in stating that many novels written for elementary students are written in first person format.  Because of this, we as teachers need to do these various works’ justice by examining the writing styles of the authors.  By and large, as it is shown within this article, the narrator does not at all have to be a character or even a person at all.  In fact, I find that the most poignant of the example poems were those spoken by a setting like ‘the prairie’ of Sarah, Plain and Tall or ‘the piano’ from Out of the Dust.

            I find that poems written in the first person are a great way for students to identify with a certain perspective.  These “I” poems allow imagination to flow freely and foster not only content based writing skills but also adjectival word choice and words of great emotion.  Honestly, I cannot wait to use this lesson technique within my own classroom.  I think that these poems could be used almost interchangeably with any book that my students will be reading.  It was fun to be able to see so many examples of students’ work within this article because it truly proved the fact that these “I” poems do exactly what it is that they intend.

 

My “Thinking Questions:”

 

1)      Are there any other examples of narrative voices that would work for these types of poems?

2)      Why be so structured?  Should we not be open to other formats of poetry than the listed prescriptions?  Poetry is about freedom after all.

3)      What about the use of these poems during reading?  I think that it would be fun to see poems written by these many narrators in the action of the plot, for example- the apple tree witnessing Billie Jo’s mother’s apron on fire and consequently her death.

 

-Brady S. Tillerson-

Instructional Strategies V: Reciprocal Teaching

Name:  Brady S. Tillerson

 

Name of Strategy: Reciprocal Teaching

                  

Source (Where did this come from?): Greece Central School District: Teaching Strategies

 

Link to the Strategy: http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/6-12/Reading/Reading%20Strategies/reciprocal%20teaching.htm

 

Give a thorough description of the strategy and how it will be implemented.  This should be a summary of the strategy according to the original source.:  Reciprocal teaching works much the same as literature circles but with a sort of twist: the students become the teachers themselves.  Reciprocal teaching has two major features: (1) instruction and practice of the four comprehension strategies—predicting, question generating, clarifying, and summarizing and (2) a special kind of cognitive apprenticeship where students gradually learn to assume the role of teacher in helping their peers construct meaning from text.  This teaching strategy involves four instructional practices which students will act out in small groups, afterward sharing what they have learned with the entire class. 

The four instructional practices of Reciprocal Teaching:

• Direct teaching of strategies, rather than reliance solely on teacher questioning
• Student practice of reading strategies with real reading, not with worksheets or contrived exercises
• Scaffolding of instruction; students as cognitive apprentices
• Peer support for learning

Upon educating the students about the four roles, the classroom teacher will assign one role to each student within a group.  A single student will be given the task of group teacher to ensure that they stay on task.  The groups would then be responsible for answering questions from a graphic organizer previously developed and readied for class.

An example of one for Night by Elie Weisel:

 

Reciprocal Teaching
Four Roles

 

Predicting	Questioning	Clarifying	Summarizing
Why do you suppose Weisel chose the single word title, Night? What is his intent? After reading this first chapter, what specifics do you expect to learn from this perspective? What is likely to happen next? What happens to the human spirit during tragic times? How will this character respond, based on what you know about him already?	Weisel describes, in great detail, the possessions left on the empty street after the first evacuation, why? How does the writer’s diction reveal his tone? How does this chapter relate or connect to our essential question? What connections can we make to human rights abuses today?	Are there any words or phrases that confused you? Are there any cultural or religious references that you don’t understand or you would like clarified? How might you have responded in that particular situation in which the main character found himself?	What is important and/or not important in this section of the text? What do you suppose was the writer’s intent in this chapter? How would you characterize the overall tone of this opening section? Sixty years later, how has the world changed as a result of the Holocaust?

 

Explain what part of the standard course of study is addressed by this activity.:

English III: American Literature

-Competency Goal I:  The learner will demonstrate increasing insight and reflection to print and non-print text through personal expression

-Competency Goal III:  The learner will examine argumentation and develop informed opinions

-Competency Goal IV:  The learner will critically analyze text to gain meaning, develop thematic meaning, and synthesize ideas

-Competency Goal V:  The learner will interpret and evaluate representative texts to deepen understanding of literature of the United States

 

Explain why you think this strategy will work.  How does the strategy help your students learn.:  I find that by giving students the responsibility for somewhat being responsible for their own knowledge, they will learn so much more.  The author of this lesson claims that social interaction is a basic need for education.  This strategy allows for students to gather knowledge through discussion and forces them to hold each other accountable for what they will have learned as they will be depending on one another for information.

 

-Brady S. Tillerson-

Instructional Strategies IV: Dear Character

Name:  Brady S. Tillerson

 

Name of Strategy:  Dear Character

 

Source (Where did this come from?):  The Educator’s Reference Desk

 

Link to the Strategy:  http://www.eduref.org/cgi

bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Language_Arts/Literature/LIT0005.html

 

Give a thorough description of the strategy and how it will be implemented.  This should be a summary of the strategy according to the original source.:  Dear Character, a lesson plan developed by Carolyn Creger, is an interesting look at the characters within a work.  This teaching strategy may be implemented throughout the entire reading process because it can be used both during and after reading a certain text.  To begin, the teacher will assist students in compiling a character list from the work at hand.  With this done, the individual traits must now be discussed; listing these on a blackboard would be most helpful.  Now the students would be asked to consider the possibility of a letter being written from one character to another.  The students would even be able to contemplate characters within another separate work.  What would the letter be about, I wonder?  Students will be responsible for creating this mock letter while considering the plot within the work and the individual traits and dialogue of each character.

 

Explain what part of the standard course of study is addressed by this activity.:

English III: American Literature

-Competency Goal I:  The learner will demonstrate increasing insight and reflection to print and non-print text through personal expression

-Competency Goal II:  The learner will inform an audience by using a variety of media to research and explain insights into language and culture

-Competency Goal IV:  The learner will critically analyze text to gain meaning, develop thematic meaning, and synthesize ideas

-Competency Goal V:  The learner will interpret and evaluate representative texts to deepen understanding of literature of the United States

 

Explain why you think this strategy will work.  How does the strategy help your students learn.:  I find that many students need help to better understand the true character of the people within the texts that they are to be reading.  These letters to characters will provide the opportunity for students to really examine a character’s feelings and the way in which they speak.  To be able to have a deeper knowledge of the traits represented within works will allow students to be educated as to the depth and story of a text.

 

-Brady S. Tillerson-

Instructional Strategy III: K.W.L. Chart

Name:  Brady S. Tillerson

 

Name of Strategy:  K.W.L. Chart

 

Source (Where did this come from?):  Pennsylvania Department of Education Online

 

Link to the Strategy:  http://www.pde.state.pa.us/reading_writing/cwp/view.asp?a=196&q=98031

 

Give a thorough description of the strategy and how it will be implemented.  This should be a summary of the strategy according to the original source.:   Because we are speaking in this section about before reading, during reading, and after reading strategic tools for teaching, I decided to include a K.W.L. chart as one of my strategies.  K.W.L. as an acronym stands for what you know, what you want to know, and what you have learned.  So, by our definitive needs for teaching tools, this fits perfectly.  I know that most of you know of this sort of activity already but what could it hurt to see it on paper.  For a KWL chart students could take a simple sheet of paper and fold it into thirds.  The work or topic at hand is introduced by name or title only (at the beginning).  Now, prior to reading, the students within the class will have the opportunity to fill out their ‘what you know’ column with prior knowledge of the subject at hand.  During the reading, the students will fill in the what you want to know column and after reading, they will be able to fill in what they have learned.  This chart is an easy document to assess and provides a well organized form of jotting down thoughts.

 

Explain what part of the standard course of study is addressed by this activity.:

English III: American Literature

-Competency Goal I:  The learner will demonstrate increasing insight and reflection to print and non-print text through personal expression

-Competency Goal IV:  The learner will critically analyze text to gain meaning, develop thematic meaning, and synthesize ideas

-Competency Goal V:  The learner will interpret and evaluate representative texts to deepen understanding of literature of the United States

 

Explain why you think this strategy will work.  How does the strategy help your students learn.:   I find that the KWL chart provides a good way for students to slow down and take a deeper look at texts.  In filling out the sections what you know, what you want to know, and what you have learned, students will really gain a better understanding of a certain work and also be able to better organize ideas for papers.  I think that along with understanding, students will be able to share their prior knowledge with their peers and therefore gain a more understanding relationship with classmates that they may not have had the opportunity to meet.

 

-Brady S. Tillerson-

Instructional Strategies II: R.A.F.T.

Name:  Brady S. Tillerson

 

Name of Strategy: R.A.F.T.

 

Source (Where did this come from?): Greece Central School District: Reading Strategies

 

Link to the Strategy: http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/instruction/ela/612/Reading/Reading%20Strategies/RAFT.htm

 

Give a thorough description of the strategy and how it will be implemented.  This should be a summary of the strategy according to the original source.:  First and foremost: I know that Joni used this same teaching strategy for discussion in her blog and I apologize but I could not resist.  I really dig this tool for the classroom.  Now, with that aside, RAFT is a tool that sort of melts reading and writing together in what the website calls “a non-traditional way.”  The acronym R.A.F.T. stands simply for Role, Audience, Format, Topic, and that is just what it does.  Either the teacher assigns or the students are allowed to select an example from each of these four categories (a list is below) and write for an assignment accordingly.  This strategy provides not just a format for writing but could really be fun as well.  For example the teacher could have each student draw out of a hat for each category.  I am sure that you would receive some truly interesting papers.

Role	Audience	Format	Topic
·         writer ·         artist ·          character ·         scientist ·          adventurer ·          inventor ·          juror ·          judge ·          historian ·          reporter ·         rebel ·         therapist ·         journalist	·         self ·         peer group ·         government ·         parents ·         fictional character(s) ·         committee ·         jury ·         judge ·         activists ·         immortality ·         animals or objects	·         journal ·         editorial ·         brochure/booklet ·         interview ·         video ·         song lyric ·         cartoon ·         game ·         primary document ·         critique ·         biographical sketch ·         newspaper article	·         issue relevant to the text or time period ·         topic of personal interest or concern for the role or audience ·         topic related to an essential question

Explain what part of the standard course of study is addressed by this activity.: 

English III: American Literature

Competency Goal I:  The learner will demonstrate increasing insight and reflection to print and non-print text through personal expression

Competency Goal II:  The learner will inform an audience by using a variety of media to research and explain insights into language and culture

Competency Goal III:  The learner will examine argumentation and develop informed opinions

 

Explain why you think this strategy will work.  How does the strategy help your students learn.:  Really, I think that RAFT, as a teaching strategy, will work either before, during, or after reading but I would say that it is best suited for a during reading assignment.  This could work as a tool to asses students’ understanding of the text and writing ability within parameters.  Because it is such a loose strategy, students and teachers alike can develop an exponential amount of RAFTS both short and long for really any text or work read for the class.  I think that these RAFTing expeditions (I know you like my fun title) would be perfect for display in my classroom.

 

-Brady S. Tillerson-