Subjects Matter: Chapter 5 Reading Strategies

The purpose of this blog post is to analyze two reading strategies from Subjects Matter, which are found in chapter 5. The strategy I like best in chapter 5 is the use of exit and admit slips in the class. These slips serve several purposes, but most importantly: they serve as a great anticipatory set; they can help multi-curriculum instruction, with a little guided direction; and they encourage writing in the classroom. Daniels and Zemelman note that teenagers have jam packed schedules; hence, jam packed minds. Slips "help connect one day's learning to the next, and last night's reading to this morning's discussion, across everything in between" (p. 124). Slips act as a catalyst, forcing students to further develop ideas enclosed in an instruction. They also help keep teenagers focused on the task on-hand or coming up. I see myself using slips both for anticipatory sets and class conclusions. I think of them as great tools to use in analyzing if my instruction met my objectives, without having to test the students. Who likes tests? Like Daniels and Zemelman suggest, I don't plan on grading the slips. I do however plan on using them outside of focusing reminders. Both types of slips can help foster all levels of Bloom's taxonomy. Most likely, I'll use exit and admit slips to help Bloom's two highest levels: synthesis and evaluation.

Though I like several of the strategies in chapter 5, the other strategy I know I'll definitely use in my classrooms is double-entry journals. I like double-entry journals, because they help all students participate in discussions and with the materials, despite if they are shy or not. Like with the slips, double-entry journals also can help all levels of Bloom's taxonomy. With the help of instruction, students can learn how to properly note take and how to engage with a lesson or reading through double-entry journals. Though I don't plan on grading these types of journals, they will serve as a tool to see who is actively participating in the class despite their voice. I hope one thing I can teach my students is how to express themselves; I want to teach them (especially those in need) that they have a voice worth hearing. I think double-entry journals will be a good starting point for me to begin my teachings.

 

Media Artifact

On September 24, 2007 I presented my SED 405 class with a media artifact. The media artifact assignment is designed to entice conversation about secondary education, schools, teachers, students, teens, etc. Thus far, we have seen four media artifacts in class: a segment of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, an article from the PROJO, www.hoboteacher.com (a hilarious teaching blog), and the back of a Kraft Macaroni & Cheese box (my artifact). The reason why I chose the Mac & Cheese box was because of the advertisement that appeared on the back of the box. The advertisement was for Caprisun (an all natural juice drink marketed for children). Its slogan was, "ADD COOL THE LUNCHBOX."

My objective in bringing in the advertisement was to have the class reflect on the roles corporations and their agendas have on students' perceptions of the purpose of school. In the case of my media artifact, Kraft helps students craft (I know, couldn't help myself) ideas that their roles in school is to be popular—COOL. We had a lively discussion about the pedagogies advertisements instill in the American population. Just recently, in USA TODAY, Men's Health advertising specialist stated that the average adult sees 3000 advertisements per day. Most likely, children see more than that.

The conversation ended with no one being satisfied, and all wondering what role corporations will have in the future of education. Will more schools funded by corporations, like the CVS Highlander Charter School in Providence, be in the states? Should there be a separation between corporation and state, like church and state, that disallows states from governing materials and bylaws inside private schools like CVS Highlander? Undoubtedly, the face of education will change within the next century; it has to because education is alive—never stagnant. Will its next face be a blank sheet of class that periodically fills with advertisements to help assimilate students into a thriving global, capitalist world? Or, does it already have that face, educators just use catch slogans like "MULTICULTURE EDUCATION" as makeup?

Considering RIBTS (Rhode Island Beginning Teacher Standards)

RIBTS consists of eleven standards, each standard composed of a range of three to seven sub standards. The point of this entry is to explore a substandard that I feel I am able to achieve at without any secondary education teaching experience, and conversely, to scrutinize a substandard that I feel at this time I am not able to achieve. Standard 10.3 states, "Teachers explore new instructional approaches and strategies, including technological, in the classroom." Undoubtedly, I know that as a teacher, I want and will continuously approach teaching as an evolving passion. Because of student, life and political variables that are entwined within classrooms, I, though only a college senior, understand that a stagnant teacher is not an affective teacher. I heartedly surmise that technologies play vital roles in the classrooms at capturing and maintaining student attention, and at inspiring students to strive for attainment. Even in the face of rigid and suffocating curriculums, technology provides a teacher with the opportunity to be more fertile in the classroom. Just think of the benefits of a masterful PowerPoint or Keynote presentation.

Despite my confidence in my ability to perform standard 10.3, I feel reluctant at attempting to maintain the professional standard of 11.1: "Teachers maintain standards that require them to act in the best interests and needs of students." Ultimately, how can anyone be certain what is best for another person, or what that other person's needs are? Americans have a majestic ability to not examine themselves. Ergo, many American's, including myself, are not confident in what they need at any one time. And, our desire for immediate gratification and our overall OCD nature are cultural constituents that makes me question our ability to know what is best. Though I do not wish to turn this entry into a haughty philosophical rant, if Americans (and again myself included) understood their needs, than why are we a nation that is predominately obese, or flawed in a wide array of other areas from consumer spending, to polluting, to smoking? Though I may often act like my ego is big enough to fill the multiverse, to assume that I can and will understand my students' needs is a little too deiform for my tastes. As a teacher, I want to show up to work, teach students about the catharsis of life and how they can find the same catharsis in literature, and occasionally save a child from the pitfalls of a deadbeat society or family situation, but to assume that I am going to act in their best interest in doing so is too self serving and too American for my red and white blood cells and blue blood.

My Favorite Teacher

As an introduction exercise for SED 405 at RIC, the class must write a short paragraph on a favorite teacher:

My favorite teacher, who I choose to keep anonymous on the web, demonstrated three key characteristics as a teacher. The first and most imperative characteristic that she had was her mind state regarding bell-curve grading. Her aim as a teacher was to only grant a select amount of A's for the class; yet, she did not have an equivalent number of F's to match the A's. Coincidently, her bell-curve grading system, she argued, accounted for a plethora of variables. Her grading curve eliminated the miniscule percentage of failing grades. The second characteristic that my preferred teacher had was her ability to listen to what students had to say. By being able to intensely and patiently listen to her students, she helped generate a respectful atmosphere among her students, who kept a similar attitude towards listening in her classrooms. Thus, there were many deep, revitalizing conversations in her class, which revolved around her curricula. Her third characteristic was that she was warm. Her warmth comprised her temperament, her dress style, and, most importantly, her classroom's atmosphere. She was a teacher students wanted to be around, because of her cordiality and patient demeanor. Thus, she easily heightened teenage interest, particularly mine, in complex subjects.