Lerning Letter

English 493 had me complete many different tasks. Book talks introduced me to many texts I have never heard of before, and some of the texts that I did know I never really thought about trying to implement them in a class. So, book talks were useful; they also had me look at a book that I probably wouldn’t have considered to use in a class, but now I really want to. I hope I have the chance to use Narnia in a unit. Doing a mini-lesson let me practice new ideas in the class room and practice teaching Night which I will most likely teach if I have an English class. It also provided me with quite a lot of feed back to work off of, feedback I can apply to other lessons as well. Seeing mini-lessons provided me with numerous amounts of ideas to use as inspiration as well, which will be quite helpful in the future. The unit plan was the largest and most time consuming of the works that I completed for this class. It taught me how to plan every aspect of a unit thought and that is essential for any teacher. It provided me better skills to write a lesson plan and now I know what to change next time I make a unit.

                One of the theories/concepts that stuck out to me the most that I learned in this class was using pop-culture in the classroom. By using pop-culture, students become much more engaged in the activity and lesson that they are a part of. They feel a connection and worth to the material. Paired with this concept is having reading material that is relevant to the times. Kelly Gallagher wrote about having students read articles that are happening in the news as of recent students will be well informed of the world around them. It not only educates students of the world, but some of the articles may relate to something students have a strong passion for. Also from Gallagher is 50/50 reading. The idea that while there are academic books to read, students should be balancing that with books they themselves enjoy. Reading is not meant to be a chore, so teachers should avoid making it out to be one, even if they do not mean to do so. My favorite lesson idea was having students choose a song and analyze it with a poetic scope. Everybody has a favorite song or music they are passionate about, and this gives students a chance to further explore that music and apply it to a class room setting.

                By participating in this course it made me feel and think of myself as more of a teacher. I have gained so much knowledge from this course and it has added to my arsenal of teaching tools. Teachers use pedagogy to teach, it’s how they design lessons, this course introduced several new ones to me and so now I see myself as a different kind of teacher as before, one with a better sense of direction that I want to take when teaching my own class room. By showing up to class I learned much from my fellow classmates as well. We were able to bounce off ideas and get feedback from each other as well as inspiration. 

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie, is a book I never expected to enjoy so much. I was not sure what to expect when I first looked at the cover, but the first page of the story let me know I was going to be taken for a ride. The style in which the story is written is quite entertaining. Not many book I have read are narrated by a foul-mouthed fourteen year old kid, but after reading this one, I wouldn’t mind reading more.

Alexie’s novel is a comedic but also serious look into the hardships and life of a Native American Indian on the Spokane reservation, Arnold. He tells the story of his life on a reservation and then how his life changes when he decides to leave and attend Rearden high school. He encounters bullies, racism, and loneliness while there, though he encountered similar hardships on the reservation due to his birth defect, size, and lisp.  The novel does a great job introducing these hard topics and themes to people. The narrator is straight forward when it comes to talking about problems which makes it easier for people to understand. These reasons and for many others I chose to do my unit plan on this book. The story may be controversial and use strong language, but that just makes it all the more real, and easier for students to understand. I think all secondary Spokane schools should read this book, partly due to the fact they are located so close to where the story takes place. This means the novel has a connection with students, and so many education books talk about how lessons and material needs to be connected to the student.

Overall I enjoyed reading this novel and I would highly suggest it to other educators and really anyone else who likes a good read.

mini lesson lesson plan

TPA Lesson Plan #_______

1. Teacher Candidate	Bryan Tapp	Date Taught
Cooperating Teacher		School/District
2. Subject	English	Field Supervisor
3. Lesson Title/Focus	Faith in Night	5. Length of Lesson	20min
4. Grade Level	11th

6. Academic & Content Standards (GLEs/EARLs/Common Core)	CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.11-12.2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
7. Learning Objective(s)	Students will be able to identify the theme of faith in Night by analyzing the text and discussing how faith is addressed in the story.
8. Academic Language	Vocabulary: theme, faith. Function: students will analyze Elie’s faith and discuss it with the class Discourse: Students will be working in groups, researching faith in Night and analyzing it together. As a class students will discuss how Elie’s faith changed.

9. Assessment

Formative: entry task asking the definition of faith. Students are to take notes on faith in Night and are to turn these in so the teacher may see if the student is engaged in discussion. Exit task asking how is the theme of faith addressed in Night.

10. Connections

This past unit students have been reading Night and have recently finished it. Students have looked at theme before with other stories and now they will have their first theme assignment with Night. Students will be writing an essay in the future about Night and one of the topics they can write about is theme. Mark Sutton, Mia Zamora and Linda Best wrote an article explaining the benefits of group work in the classroom. One of the major advantages is the emphasis on critical thinking. Sutton, M., Zamora, M., & Best, L. (2005). Practical Insights on the Pedagogy of Group Work. Research and Teaching in Developmental Education, 22(1), 71-81. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.library.ewu.edu/stable/42802602

11. Instructional Strategies/Learning Tasks to Support Learning
Learning Tasks and Strategies Sequenced Instruction
Teacher’s Role ·         Put up objective and have students read it out loud, next put up the entry task and pass out blank pieces of paper and have students write the answer on them. Call on students to share. Put up Oxford definition. (2-3) ·         Group students into three groups and then explain that each group will get a section of Night to look through and record any mentions of faith and write down the page number and the quote (okay to paraphrase if long). Have students focus on Elie. Group one is tasked with pages 1-35, group two pages 36-70, group three pages 71-97. Let students work. (10) ·         As students are working, the teacher will walk around and check on group progress. ·         After about 10 minutes of work call the class back together and have students share some of the quotes they found. Other groups are to record in their notes what is being shared. (2-3) ·         After hearing from each group, ask the class why Elie’s faith had changed, and ask what he meant by what he said in certain quotes. Depends on what students find. (2-3) ·         Put up exit task, how is the theme of faith addressed in Night. Have students complete it on note paper and then collect each student’s notes. Explain they will talk more about theme tomorrow.	·         Read objective and answer the entry task. ·         Work and cooperate in groups. ·         Present work and record notes of other groups work. ·         Participate in discussion. ·         Complete exit task.
Student Voice to Gather Students will read the objective. Students are to share what examples of faith they found in the text and will also explain some of them. Students will participate in a discussion about Elie’s faith and how it changed. Students are to ask questions if they do not understand a concept of the lesson.

12. Differentiated Instruction

Plan This lesson is group work based, this means that the ELL in the class is able to work closely with others so if they do not understand a passage or are falling behind, their groupmates can help them. This lesson uses visual learning by reading through the text and audio learning by discussion with peers and the class.

13. Resources and Materials

Plan Night by Elie Wiesel, blank sheets of paper, power point, computer.

14. Management and Safety Issues

Plan Students have rules and procedures that require them to be respectful to one another by listening and talking over one another when working in groups. When someone is addressing the class students know to not be having side conversations or be off task. If a student is not participating or keeps playing on their phone/ not listening, they will be warned, talked to, or sent out to the hall.

15. Parent & Community Connections

Plan An email was sent out at the beginning of the unit informing parents of the unit and topic of study.

Graphic Cannon

The Graphic Cannon was a new twist on reading old stories. While it used the same words, the pictures and illustrations that were paired up with the words either further gave meaning to them, or offered a new way to read and understand the story or poem.

A Modest Proposal is a disturbing story by itself without illustrations. Proposing to eat well nursed kids usually puts an uneasy, and unwanted, picture in someone’s head. The pictures that go with the text though do a good job showing how modest of a proposal it really is. I enjoy how the colors used are not what real life looks, but uses a sepia color tone which creates an almost dystopian feeling to the eyes. .The speaker is given a truly sinister look with the way his eyes are drawn.

The Hill was one of my favorite graphic novels of the ones we read because I loved the illustrations that went with the words. It gave a good visual aspect to Faulkner’s words. My favorite part of it was the words “in this way he worked out the devastating unimportance of his destiny.” Each word is like a caption under a comic style drawings, each picture showed the man laboring with a hollow look in his eyes. By doing this, you can really see the unimportance that the man feels. Drawings like these give an aspect or angle of the text one would not normally receive if it were just the words being read.

Alice in Wonderland has such interesting settings and characters that it is almost essential to have some sort of visual aid to pair with the words. It truly paints how fantastical the world is, sometimes beautiful, creepy, or scary. The rough cursive made it hard to read but it was none the less good. 

Poe

Edgar Allan Poe is a tremendous author. I personally do not read much horror but I enjoy Poe’s adaption of it. The Black Cat is a great story about a man who talks about his honor and sanity, but then ends the story by killing his wife and trying to hide her body inside of a wall. He would have gotten away with it too if it were not for his cat who was also behind the wall. It’s an ironic story as the narrator claims to love animals, but it is his rage against that cat that made him kill his wife, and then the cat who got him arrested.

The Fall of the House of Usher is a true gothic tale, it contains an old withering mansion, a bleak landscape, and death. One thing I really like about the story is the description of the setting, Poe truly paints a real image in my head of what the house looks like. The story in itself is spooky as they come too, burring someone, mysterious fog, noises coinciding with a story, the person you burry ends up not being dead and comes back for revenge, and the house crumbling to the ground. All together that’s one good gothic tale.  

The Tell-Tale Heart has many parallels to The Black Cat, they both are about a narrator who claim they are a good person, but end up killing someone. In Tell-Tale Heart though, the narrator confesses to his crime thinking that the police can hear the heartbeat of the blued eyed man he had killed. Both stories though have a death, followed by a successful hiding of the body and good poise with the police while showing them around, but end up getting caught anyway, both by a sound from where the body was hidden.  

Book Talk

Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

This book by C.S. Lewis, is about four siblings, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie, who are sent to the country side to get away from air raids that were occurring in WWII England. They stay with Professor Kirke, a mysterious man. While in his house, the four find a room with a large wardrobe in it, they soon leave but Lucy stays behind and steps into the wardrobe. The back of the wardrobe opens into a snowy wood which lies in a  magical land called Narnia. In Narnia, she meets Mr. Tumnus, a faun which is a creature half goat and half man. The faun tells Lucy that Narnia is ruled by an evil queen who has cursed Narnia into always being winter, but never Christmas. Tumnus' job was to take any humans he found to the queen, but he let Lucy go after getting to know her.

When Lucy returns from Narnia, none of her siblings believe what happened to her as the wardrobe returned to normal, and Edmund teases her. During hide and seek the next day, Lucy goes back to the wardrobe and succeeds into going to Narnia, Edmund follows her this time though, intending to tease her more but finds himself in Narnia where he stumbles upon the queen of Narnia, the White Witch. She entices him to bring the rest of his family to her in promise of Turkish Delight, Edmund agrees. On his way back to the wardrobe he runs into Lucy, she tells him about the evil queen but Edmund denies her wickedness.
The next day, the four siblings all jump into the wardrobe to avoid the house keeper, they then all fall into Narnia. Lucy tries to show them Mr. Tumnus but they find out he has been taken by the White Witch. A beaver appears, known as Mr. Beaver, and leads them back to his home. He tells the children that the only way to save Mr. Tumnus is to meet Aslan, a lion who is like a king in Narnia. Edmund sneaks off though to warn the queen about Aslan. The queen is outraged by Aslan's return and plans to kill the children to prevent a prophesy from coming true that would put the four children in rule of Narnia.

Peter, Susan, Lucy, and Mr. Beaver head off to the stone table where they are to meet Aslan to save their brother. On the way, they meet Father Christmas who gives the children gifts, a sword for Peter, a bow and horn for Susan, and a magical healing potion for Lucy. While traveling, winter begins to change to spring. Meanwhile, Edmund is treated poorly and like a prisoner in the hands of the queen. He sees first hand that the wand

The siblings make it to the stone table where they meet Aslan. Aslan says he will do what he can for Edmund. While at Aslan's camp, Susan and Lucy are attacked by one of the witch's wolves. Peter slays it and some of Aslan's forces follow a wolf that was hiding in the bushes and ran off. The wolf leads Aslan's soldiers to Edmund. After rescuing Edmund, he is reunited with his family and has accepted the White Witch is evil. She soon appears at Aslan's camp calling for Edmund's death as he is a traitor and the Deep Magic of Narnia gives her the right. Aslan makes a deal with her and spares Edmund's life.

Aslan leaves camp during the night, and Susan and Lucy follow him. Aslan allows their company until they reach the stone table. The sisters hide and the White Witch appears. Her and her followers torture, humiliate, and beat Aslan, for Aslan gave his life for Edmunds, and then the queen kills Aslan. Susan and Lucy come out from hiding when the queen had left along with her army to prepare for battle. Lucy and Susan stay with Aslan's body all night. In the morning, there is a cracking sound and the stone table is broken, Aslan has disappeared. The sisters hear his voice from behind though and are astonished to see Aslan back from the dead. He then carries the girls to the witches castle to rescue all the prisoners that are imprisoned there, including Mr. Tumnus. The new army then joins up with Peter's army that has been fighting the White Witch, and with the new reinforcements the queen is defeated.

The four siblings are then taken to Cair Paravel, the castle from which they will rule Narnia, where they are made kings and queens. Aslan soon vanishes, and the children rule into adult hood. Many years later, the four are hunting a white stag where they stumble upon the wardrobe they used to enter Narnia all those years ago. They fall into it and find themselves back in Professor Kirke's house, but no time has passed since they first entered the wardrobe as they are children again. They tell the professor what has happened and he assures the children that they will return to Narnia someday, but through a different means than the wardrobe.

     I chose this book because I enjoyed reading the whole series when I was younger. The reading level is modest so all students should have little issue reading through it, also the length of the book is modest so it is not a daunting task to read. It has a Lexile number of 940 so it is appropriate to use at middle and high school level though more appropriate for 9th or 10th graders for high school, not as much for 11th and 12th grade, reading level wise.

     As what a teacher can do with the book, here are some ideas. You could focus on the religious aspects of the book, how there are similarities and symbols between the Christian faith and the story. Another idea is comparing the book to the movie, similarities and differences, were the changes for better or for worse. Lastly, you could focus on how the theme of family is addressed, possibly looking at how the children treated each other throughout the book and how their love was tested.

     Administrators, parents, and students may have an issue with the religious themes that are in the book. So a careful approach should be taken when discussing this part of the book. A teacher should not push the Christian faith on their students, but rather show how there are similarities and inspiration from Christianity. Some students will not like that it is a fantasy book, but all genres should be looked at in school.

Readicide

Readicide by Kelly Gallagher brought up all the good points as to how reading is being killed in classrooms. Some of Gallaghers statements are a little dated as no child left behind was still around during that time but has (mostly) changed to common core, which has tried to fix some of the problems. One such problem Gallagher brings up is teaching to the test, taking exams consisting of all multiple choice. In common core though, one should always be teaching to the test.

One of my favorite ideas Gallagher suggested to use was the article of the week. Students, and even myself, either have a hard time keeping up with politics or current world affairs or do not care about them, leaving a lack of real world knowledge when they graduate. Article of the week allows students to read one article and respond to it. By doing this, students are learning about the world around them so they will be more roundly educated. An article of the week would benefit everyone, including the teacher.

Gallagher raised an interesting point when he said that students drive and wanting to read by the overuse of analyzing, worksheets, and quizzes, among other assignments paired with reading. By having so much work coupled with a text, the text becomes a weight, weighing down a student’s inspiration to read. Gallagher put it best that when someone buys a book or rents one, they do not do it expecting a test to follow, they read because they are interested. A student, however, cannot be held completely accountable to read on their own, there needs to be a balance of teacher guidance and work.  A teacher must be careful as to not over work a student when it comes to reading.