PhyreBards

I think "Those Whom We Teach" was one of the best chapters thus far because it was the truth. I appreciate reality over sugercoating and Christenbury does a great job of discussing the students that all teachers will come across with in the classroom. Some will be reached, some will not be reached. One of the harshest realities of teaching is summed up by one of the titles of the sections in the chapter, "No One Ever Said It Was Going to Be Easy." It will be difficult to accept when we don't reach a student (which will happen), but I think it would be even harder to accept a situation where we didn't do our best and utilize all the resources available to reach a student

I think Christenbury gives good guidelines for working with the students who will pose challenges to our work in the classroom. For example, refusing to ignore and maintaining expectations will cause these students to feel that they are cared for. If students are allowed to feel that being deviant and acting alienated in a classroom is acceptable, they will continue to do it. In some cases, it will result in memorable moments in our teaching careers, similar to how Christenbury recalled two of her favorite students, Tanya and Barry. Even though I praised this chapter, I did finish it with a few questions. I wonder how teachers write lesson plans that address the needs of the alienated, average, and gifted students in their classes. One page 107, a colleague of Christenbury describes her experiences with a student who killed a cat for apparent religious religions and exhibited very suspicious and dangerous behavior and nothing was done despite her efforts. What else could be done in a situation like that?

After reading through chapter four of MTJ I was intrigued by several things the author mentions.
First, when I began to read the section on BIG BUCKS, I was immediately turned off. I am not a fan of rewarding kids for doing what is expected of them with extrinsic things such as money. I also found it inappropriate to charge kids for going to the bathroom. I understand that her students were abusing their bathroom privilege but a student should be allowed to go to the bathroom when they need to go regardless of whether or not they have saved enough money. I think that the system itself completely overrides the fact that certain things are expected of us in certain environments and it is our responsibility to do them because it is the right thing to do. These students are not going to be paid by the government every time they follow the law. However, these feelings of negativity were largely based on my own experience with a similar system at a local middle school, Broadview Middle School. This school had Bobcat Bucks and the students could earn money doing various things and spend that money on admittance to a fun day or at the school store. They were also expected to pay a certain amount of money for bad behavior. I saw how this system can benefit some students but I also saw how a system like this can let a student fall through the cracks. I saw a few kids who simply didn't care about the money. They didn't care about school or fun day or the school store so the money was no incentive to them to behave well. They had a sense of doomed failure and just didn't care and because of this the system failed them.
On a different note, I liked how Christenbury pointed out that while the failing children and the alienated children seem to take up our main focus, it is important to remember that our average students and our gifted students need attention too. I worked with a class of gifted students last semester and it was one of the most challenging experiences I've had in a practicum situation this far. Those children are smart but still need to be challenged and have problems of their own that they are dealing with. For those of you who think that it would be easier to teach gifted students, I would advise you to sit in on an advanced class and see if you feel the same way after your observation.
My last point about the reading that I want to leave the rest of the class with is whether labeling our students as different is truly a good thing. In another book I'm reading for another class the author pointed out that we focus so much today on separating our students into categories for political and other reasons that we forget that they are children who need to be treated as such. What is your take on labeling?

I may be off in not writing about the reading, but there is an issue that was discussed within my group that I thought worthy of posting in the asylum. One of the important reoccurring points my group discussed when Dr. Pyne asked us what our students should take away from the English classroom was the ability to develop good communication skills. Not all students are college bound and every student will be utilizing the skills that we implement and polish concerning his or her ability to communicate effectively. These are life lessons that are applicable far outside the realm of the classroom or even the workplace. So, to get to the point ... the English classroom is about much more than only literature. A lot of students are intimidated by the term literature and I think it's a nasty stereotype of the English content area of study. Effective reading and writing are equally (if not more) important and applicable to the future of our students. So, why is the same emphasis not placed on teaching and evaluating these skills as equally as literature throughout our course of study at Elon? Is it simply easier for us to be evaluated on our literary knowledge through a large standardized test? What kind of image does it give to future teachers?

With student teaching quickly approaching and the application deadline closing in on me, I have been thinking more and more about what type of school I want to teach in. It is easy for me to say that I want to be at a big 4A high school in a big city because I went to East Mecklenburg in Charlotte, NC, which is enormous. I know that I want to be in or close by a city and in a relatively large school. With a big school comes big politics. I enjoyed reading about the politics of a school in Making the Journey. I want to be able to go to my department chair and principal with concerns, but am I going to feel comfortable approaching them in a large-school environment?

Along with a big school and a big school system, comes big system politics. I don’t want to have to struggle through tons of red tape of the downtown office just to make something happen. And I don’t want the best interests of my students to be lost sight of in the large scheme of things.

I want to score a good student teaching placement that can maybe lead to a job offer and therefore my school preferences are critical. Perhaps I am reading too much into all of this, but I want to be comfortable in my school environment next semester as I am learning to become a teacher.

So much to think about, so little time. It’s weird that soon I’ll be stomping around a new school in a new system and have to learn all of the little intricacies of the school and system. I’m nervous, but ready to step up to the plate?

Is anyone else thinking about what kind or what size school they want to teach in? Are you going to try to consider this for you student teaching placement?

Our conversation last class time about structuring content based on a cultural issue or themed around a topic is amazing. I have never like American Literature and ever since I knew I wanted to teach, I knew just as strongly that I did not want to be a part of an American Literature course. But after seeing the structure of the example curiculum on Dr. Pyne's powerpoint, I actually got excited about the possibility of working with American Lit.

I have wanted to be able to discuss these hard issues in my classroom, and I think that I expected these discussions to occur independently of each other, without connections. But now that I actually think about it, it makes so much more sense to structure these discussions in from the beginning. With this coherence, students can make connections between issues, realize how struggles of different demographics are similar and relatable, and learn how to address new issues after they have left my classroom.

That makes me happy.

Last week, I really liked our discussion about designing curriculum. I love hearing ideas about how to teach out of the box, or at least against tradition, but still using the curriculum that is expected to be taught. One of the points that was made was about designing curriculum that centers around a conversation that matters for you, the student, and the discipline of English. I feel that this approach is quite important for many reasons. As a Middle Grades major, I have spent many hours in class discussing how to be developmentally responsive to my students. A very useful tool in ensuring that curriculum is something that students can connect to along with gaining the thought processes necessary for higher order material is using Adolescent Literature. As English teachers, it is so easy to have that cross-over between what is interesting and relevant along with what the students actually need to learn, so why don't more teachers take that step away from the "classics?"

I think less students, especially those in the middle grades, would be less afraid of English class if their teachers took the time to make the curriculum interesting. In order to teach the students anything, you have to grab their attention and/or respect. They need to actually care about learning. A good curriculum design can draw in your students in a way that they do not even realize that they find themselves saying, "hey, English class was actually somewhat interesting today!" Using the right curriculum brings in students through their interests, comfort levels and confidence in their knowledge, and how much it applies to their own lives or the lives of people around them. Middle School English teachers have a hard job with a wide window of opportunity to truley inspire and shape their students so they are ready to face the High School level curriculum with enough confidence and curiosity to help them be successful.