- Introduction
- Day 1: Metaphor and Narrative - Teachers and Students
- Day 2 - Reflection and Deconstructionism, art - No Child Left Behind and the Broken Chair
- Day 3: Reflections and my process - Journalistic questions
- Day 4: Scavenger hunting - Including lesson plan
- Day 5: What I really want to know - Wanda B. Knight
- Day 6: Poetry and Common Core - Moving from Prose to Poetry
- Day 7: Experiential learning - Writing using memory and the senses
- Day 7: Experiential Learning Lesson Plan - Historical Fiction and Oral History
- Day 8: Narrative, a teacher who inspired me - Mentors
- Day 9: My Teaching Philosophy - Education as freedom and power
6.20.2013
Table of Contents
Day 9: My Teaching Philosophy
Education
is freedom, and education is power. Each student has the chance to be
both free and powerful, and teachers must facilitate this.
Every student is capable of learning.
Both the teacher (who is also always a student as well) and the
students must understand this about themselves and the people around
them. When we all understand that everyone can learn, we understand
that we each have responsibility: to ourselves to get the most out of
our educational opportunities, to each other to respect the work and
time that each person puts into the class, and to the class as a
whole to create a safe and challenging atmosphere.
Teachers should be a trustworthy, steady presence in a child's life. As a teacher I aim to be non-judgmental and open-minded and to encourage my students to do the same. Teachers are often the only safe, responsible adult a child may have in their life, and I take that seriously as an educator. My classroom will be comfortable and warm but rigorous and demanding, because I expect the best from my students. With clear expectations set out at the beginning of each year and throughout the year, students can have a learning community where it is safe to question, to play, and to feel. The relationship I have with my students is what my success as an educator hinges on. So I will not take my anger and frustration out on my students. I will not bring my personal life in to work with me. I will treat them all fairly, and I will be there for them when they need me.
Students will come from all different backgrounds, but I intend to work with at-risk youth. This means I need to remember that poverty does not automatically mean a student will receive a poor education, but that it needs to be considered when creating lessons, homework, and expectations for the students. I will not set them up to fail by expecting things of them that are unrealistic or unfair.
On this note, literacy is and has been deeply neglected in both English classes and content areas. If a student does not learn how to read effectively by third grade, they are often going to struggle with reading for their rest of their lives unless they get appropriate intervention. Even if I am not teaching a reading class specifically, I will always emphasize reading development and literacy skills, particularly for the striving readers. Even students who read at the appropriate grade level should receive intermittent intervention and instruction to elevate their skills. Literacy should be a focus from pre-K to high school graduation. Without solid reading skills, every content area can become a struggle.
Another important skill for students to master is critical thinking. Critical thinking can change or even save a student's life. When they learn to think for themselves by considering every angle and engaging in content creatively and intimately, they will be hard pressed to find a question or content area they can't solve or master. Critical pedagogy will color each of my lessons so that students will be able to understand concepts of freedom, authority (and rebellion), soul-deep knowledge, and power. I want to challenge them daily to think about the systems of power and oppression that influence their lives every day. I will know their progress in learning critical thinking by the way they approach their assignments, the way they will challenge me, and other formative assessments. I will have regular quizzes and tests that they can expect so they will not have to worry about being surprised by grades and can focus on the content instead. Quizzes will be used to measure success and understanding, not to punish.
I understand that critical thinking is hard for students to understand and get excited about, and the way they are typically taught can be boring for them. Motivation and engagement will be a key focus of my lesson planning. I will incorporate activities every day that highlight different intelligences to make sure each student has a chance to practice their favorite. I will allow them both group and indpendent work time. I will make sure they understand they have a place in making decisions about the classwork and that they have as much responsibility for their learning as I do. I think that when students are trusted with important tasks and respected to the extent that they have their own individual responsibilities, they will flourish and succeed. Students just need a reason to rise to the occasion.
The main factor for keeping students motivated and engaged is making sure the teaching remains fun but rigorous. Activities that allow them to be creative will break up longer or more complicated lectures. There will be time to get up and walk around, to visit the media center or even go outside. The work will be hard enough to keep them focused but not so hard they lose heart. This is an ideal and will only work if I focus on differentiation and keeping myself flexible and in tune with the students' needs.
I am especially passionate about books and literature. Literature and arts education help students become involved members of their community, and books can enrich lives. I love the classics as much as any teacher with a language arts background, but I think students can benefit from lesser-known books just as much, if not more. I will incorporate young adult novels, poetry, local authors, young authors, and others into the classroom library and during lessons. Students will always have a wide array of books to choose from in my class, from magazines to Shakespeare. There will be no excuses along the lines of “I couldn't find anything that looked interesting.” Young adult novels are misjudged in academia for being too light, but I hold that books that are written for teenagers to relate to can only be beneficial in a classroom setting, especially with striving readers.
Theory is crucial and guides my daily decisions, but being prepared with strategies and an understanding of the curriculum and Common Core Standards is just as important. My ideal classtime would include whole-class discussions, multidisciplinary approaches including art and public speaking, read alouds, book clubs and/or literature circles, and one on one time with the teacher. My ideal classroom is decorated with informational posters that help guide students into critical thinking and the essential question is always posted on the board.
As the year goes on, student work lines the walls proudly. Students will have a chance each week to create a physical product that relates to their learning so that they will have visual reminders. Lectures are short and discussions are long, and authentic, voluntary discussion from the students will never be stopped in favor of a bullet point on the lesson plan. Homework other than reading will be occasional and only assigned when it furthers understanding of a complicated topic or when students are working on individual projects. Reading homework will be daily but in small, manageable assignments. Discussions will remain productive and relevant to common core standards by teaching students to cite the text in their answers or support their arguments effectively.
Teachable moments will be seized whenever possible to open the students' minds to the world around them, including engaging them in difficult conversations regarding race, gender, and sexuality, when possible and appropriate. Students need a safe place to discuss these issues and learn about them from different points of view.
Every student in the class will get special consideration and differentiation when I design the lessons and create assignments, including ESE, ESOL, and gifted students. I will work with students, parents, and other teachers to make sure IEPs and individual needs are met every day.
I want to be the kind of teacher that inspires students to work harder because they feel smart in my class. I want to challenge them to rise about standards and tests, as well as stereotypes and glass ceilings. In my classroom they will learn self-worth along with literature, metaphors and vocabulary.
Teachers should be a trustworthy, steady presence in a child's life. As a teacher I aim to be non-judgmental and open-minded and to encourage my students to do the same. Teachers are often the only safe, responsible adult a child may have in their life, and I take that seriously as an educator. My classroom will be comfortable and warm but rigorous and demanding, because I expect the best from my students. With clear expectations set out at the beginning of each year and throughout the year, students can have a learning community where it is safe to question, to play, and to feel. The relationship I have with my students is what my success as an educator hinges on. So I will not take my anger and frustration out on my students. I will not bring my personal life in to work with me. I will treat them all fairly, and I will be there for them when they need me.
Students will come from all different backgrounds, but I intend to work with at-risk youth. This means I need to remember that poverty does not automatically mean a student will receive a poor education, but that it needs to be considered when creating lessons, homework, and expectations for the students. I will not set them up to fail by expecting things of them that are unrealistic or unfair.
On this note, literacy is and has been deeply neglected in both English classes and content areas. If a student does not learn how to read effectively by third grade, they are often going to struggle with reading for their rest of their lives unless they get appropriate intervention. Even if I am not teaching a reading class specifically, I will always emphasize reading development and literacy skills, particularly for the striving readers. Even students who read at the appropriate grade level should receive intermittent intervention and instruction to elevate their skills. Literacy should be a focus from pre-K to high school graduation. Without solid reading skills, every content area can become a struggle.
Another important skill for students to master is critical thinking. Critical thinking can change or even save a student's life. When they learn to think for themselves by considering every angle and engaging in content creatively and intimately, they will be hard pressed to find a question or content area they can't solve or master. Critical pedagogy will color each of my lessons so that students will be able to understand concepts of freedom, authority (and rebellion), soul-deep knowledge, and power. I want to challenge them daily to think about the systems of power and oppression that influence their lives every day. I will know their progress in learning critical thinking by the way they approach their assignments, the way they will challenge me, and other formative assessments. I will have regular quizzes and tests that they can expect so they will not have to worry about being surprised by grades and can focus on the content instead. Quizzes will be used to measure success and understanding, not to punish.
I understand that critical thinking is hard for students to understand and get excited about, and the way they are typically taught can be boring for them. Motivation and engagement will be a key focus of my lesson planning. I will incorporate activities every day that highlight different intelligences to make sure each student has a chance to practice their favorite. I will allow them both group and indpendent work time. I will make sure they understand they have a place in making decisions about the classwork and that they have as much responsibility for their learning as I do. I think that when students are trusted with important tasks and respected to the extent that they have their own individual responsibilities, they will flourish and succeed. Students just need a reason to rise to the occasion.
The main factor for keeping students motivated and engaged is making sure the teaching remains fun but rigorous. Activities that allow them to be creative will break up longer or more complicated lectures. There will be time to get up and walk around, to visit the media center or even go outside. The work will be hard enough to keep them focused but not so hard they lose heart. This is an ideal and will only work if I focus on differentiation and keeping myself flexible and in tune with the students' needs.
I am especially passionate about books and literature. Literature and arts education help students become involved members of their community, and books can enrich lives. I love the classics as much as any teacher with a language arts background, but I think students can benefit from lesser-known books just as much, if not more. I will incorporate young adult novels, poetry, local authors, young authors, and others into the classroom library and during lessons. Students will always have a wide array of books to choose from in my class, from magazines to Shakespeare. There will be no excuses along the lines of “I couldn't find anything that looked interesting.” Young adult novels are misjudged in academia for being too light, but I hold that books that are written for teenagers to relate to can only be beneficial in a classroom setting, especially with striving readers.
Theory is crucial and guides my daily decisions, but being prepared with strategies and an understanding of the curriculum and Common Core Standards is just as important. My ideal classtime would include whole-class discussions, multidisciplinary approaches including art and public speaking, read alouds, book clubs and/or literature circles, and one on one time with the teacher. My ideal classroom is decorated with informational posters that help guide students into critical thinking and the essential question is always posted on the board.
As the year goes on, student work lines the walls proudly. Students will have a chance each week to create a physical product that relates to their learning so that they will have visual reminders. Lectures are short and discussions are long, and authentic, voluntary discussion from the students will never be stopped in favor of a bullet point on the lesson plan. Homework other than reading will be occasional and only assigned when it furthers understanding of a complicated topic or when students are working on individual projects. Reading homework will be daily but in small, manageable assignments. Discussions will remain productive and relevant to common core standards by teaching students to cite the text in their answers or support their arguments effectively.
Teachable moments will be seized whenever possible to open the students' minds to the world around them, including engaging them in difficult conversations regarding race, gender, and sexuality, when possible and appropriate. Students need a safe place to discuss these issues and learn about them from different points of view.
Every student in the class will get special consideration and differentiation when I design the lessons and create assignments, including ESE, ESOL, and gifted students. I will work with students, parents, and other teachers to make sure IEPs and individual needs are met every day.
I want to be the kind of teacher that inspires students to work harder because they feel smart in my class. I want to challenge them to rise about standards and tests, as well as stereotypes and glass ceilings. In my classroom they will learn self-worth along with literature, metaphors and vocabulary.
Day 8: Narrative, a teacher who inspired me
Mentors
Somehow, you
taught several times a week without ever having your own classroom,
not officially. Even without that classroom, you can't get away from
the label “teacher.” Especially when you are the one person
everyone knows who is unafraid of calling people out, of laying
yourself bare, of inviting criticism in the name of truth. Of doing
all the things they wish they could but are too afraid. Walking into
each classroom is like going into battle.
A sociology
teacher cries to you once a week, not sure what to even do with these
conversations she has in her class. When the kyriarchy is established
again and again but she is but a frail woman herself, she begs to
bring in the big guns. Can't you say no? Sure you can. But you don't.
You come to discuss with us – I don't even know anymore. Maybe it
was AIDs, gay rights, feminism – but probably it was race. A white
man who lives in this privilege but holds his grandchildren at night
who do not get to participate in what he has. Who are twelve years
old and get stopped by the police for simply riding their bike in the
evening: “Is that bike yours? Where did you get it?”
You have a unique
position as a white man- two out of three of the Big Oppressors (just
missing heterosexual)- who understands what he gets from this. Who
understands he can speak on topics such as race, class, and gender
without getting attacked the way a black woman might. People respect
you and it makes you angry, because your very life supports the
systems of oppression and domination you rail against. The kyriarchy
hurts everyone, see? But what you do is leagues better than
remaining silent and complicit. It must be tiring, wearing your
privilege like a wet cloak.
But I don't know
that, not really, and I never will. How am I supposed to write a
narrative about you? Your life is so much bigger than that. I guess
I'll write it about me. Can't look outward? Turn inward.
My heart was
pounding from my seat – always by the left wall, but close to the
front. Hidden but still just enough of a teacher's pet. The things he
said, I just couldn't believe them – the facts I believed, but that
he was saying them, demanding we listen, holding the floor with
quiet ease. I was a new women's studies student, a baby feminist.
Every time I went
to this class (twice a week at night that fall) I left angry. Someone
used some essentialist argument about women staying home or men being
stronger and the teacher failed again and again to correct them,
because everyone is entitled to their opinions, right? So I, at 19
years old, would raise my anxious hand and argue that no, it's not
like that, just because the woman who divorced you made you think so
-
It took too long
to finally encounter a teacher who wasn't focused on facts and
statistics but truth. And not the type of truth that says “everyone
has their own,” but the kind that demands we look harder.
After class I
approached him. “How do I do what you do?” I asked breathlessly.
Looking back, that is the moment I became a teacher as well as a
student. Because sure, Michael said “Well, you can intern for me in
the spring,” but what he should have said is “You will be
exhausted, being like me, you'll never stop learning, you'll always
hurt. But you will keep fighting. This internship isn't going to do
much for you in the long run. I am too busy to really
guide you and be the mentor you want, so you will have to be your
own. You will have to read everything you can get your hands on.
McLaren, Freire, hooks, Lorde, read it all, because they will guide
you. No one can hold your hand, we are all too busy dealing with
people who don't care like you do.”
But I interned
for him in the spring. I sat with him in his office with my chin in
my hand, listening as he ate potato chips and tried to explain in
stilted sentences all of the nonsense he dealt with on a daily basis.
How he ran this office that claimed to care about diversity but just
organizing efficiently was a battle and everything was politics. I
still don't understand a lot of it. But the essence of his
participation in university life as a real educator is something I
couldn't get enough of: his constant questions, his questioning of
authority, how he would work 16+ hours a day, and still answer emails
from students heartbroken over their last breakup.
He insisted that
I really did help him. I researched an idea of his: he wanted to know
how to open an institute for restorative justice. The idea that real
justice focused on not just the victims but the perpetrators as well,
both in crime and in daily injustices, and that each individual crime
had so much more tied to it than just time of shooting, height of
criminal. This idea took root in my brain in the form of an abstract
ideal – that many of the systems that are in place to protect us
and work for us do the opposite, and that the status quo is often
upheld violently.
And so I
continued. I graduated after that internship, a bullet on my resume
saying I worked for a university. A recommendation letter saying how
wonderful I am. I busied myself with moving out of this college town
and on to bigger things – I thought. Then I bounced around, poor
again, straddled with loans, planning a wedding anyway. I forgot. I
forgot a lot of things. I let anxiety consume me, bad habits write my
days.
I decided after a
year of this that I had had enough and would go back to school. This
time, I would be a teacher. I didn't realize until now that it was no
whim. This started the day I, as a budding author and feminist,
walked up to Michael and said “How do I do what you do?”
He wasn't ever going to tell me the answer to that, but I found it anyway: I will
never do what he does. Only he can. I'm going to do what I can which
is this: fight, and love, and teach.
Day 7: Experiential Learning Lesson Plan
Discovering Historical Fiction via
Oral History
Grade: 9-12 English/Language Arts
Time: 2-3 class periods, starting on
a Friday or holiday
Goals
- To introduce the genre of historical fiction
- To teach the importance of oral history to different cultures
- To show how oral history has influenced literature
- To get students writing about their own past and lives
- To craft a narrative about the students' personal histories
Learning Objectives
- Students will be able to:
- Define “historical fiction” and “oral history” in their own words
- Interview family members, friends, or others in their community to learn about their histories
- Pre-write a historical fiction narrative about members of their family or community or themselves
- Write a 1-2 page story using the elements of historical fiction we discussed and the information gleaned from their families
Purpose/Rationale
Historical
fiction can be boring, especially for adolescents. But students come
to the classroom with rich, interesting histories. Having them learn
the genre through their own experiences before they start reading
published works of historical fiction will allow the students to
better understand the genre and the personalization of the project
will motivate them.
Learning about
their communities and sharing with each other will strengthen the
bonds in the classroom community. Many of the students will already
know some of these stories through oral history and will receive a
boost of confidence when they realize that they know the genre
already.
This
interdisciplinary lesson will address standards in the writing
process (pre-writing, peer editing, grammar and structure, etc),
critical thinking, and genre studies.
Prior Teacher
Preparation
- The teacher will:
- Review oral history and historical fiction
- Research local history to provide ideas to students who don't have anyone to go to
- Find teachers, librarians, and others who would be willing to be interviewed just in case
- Prepare interview sheets
- Write her own historical fiction narrative to share with the class before they begin
Materials and
Resources
- Pre-written historical fiction narrative
- Examples of historical fiction from books and stories we will use later in the unit
- Interview sheets and story outline handout x 30
- Youtube clips of oral history x 2
- Membership to a genealogy website (if free)
Procedure
- Introduction/Lecture
- Start by telling an engaging short story about people or places in their neighborhood that they will recognize
- Explain why the story is important/what impact it has had on the community
- Introduce the terms “historical fiction” and “oral history” and review with the other genres we have examined
- Give a brief overview of what historical fiction usually includes and what separates it from oral history, legends, and historical fact
- Show a video of a storyteller (Youtube oral history clips)
- Show “Storytellers” from the library of congress- play a clip from my mother/brother's interview
- Do it
- Explain the assignment to students. They will:
- Choose a family member, older friend, or community member to interview.
- In class, use the interview sheet to craft questions that would help them create a story.
- What are you interested in? Love stories? Stories of immigration? The people who built your community? The music scene 40 years ago? Provide them with ideas and take suggestions for brainstorming. Have them modify and add to the interview sheet to reflect these interests.
- Advise them that their interviews may take them in a different direction and they should go with it, as they will learn more that way.
- Have permission to expand on the truth, as it is fiction.
- They will use the information gathered from their interview and prior knowledge to write a narrative of what they thought it was like 'back then.'
- Use the last minutes in class to let them know what resources are available to them should they have a problem finding someone to interview.
- Homework: After class, complete their interviews and investigations and pre-write their stories using the outline handout.
- The next class:
- Students will spend the first period using their interview sheets, outlines, and resources in the classroom to write their first draft.
Prompt: Using what you learned this weekend, write a short narrative about a moment in the past of your community. - They will have access to the internet and genealogy websites.
- The second half of class, they will trade with a peer and complete peer review as taught previously.
- Homework: Finish their stories using suggestions from their peers and input from their community family member/friend if possible.
- Share
- The last unit: Sharing each story with the class.
- Emphasize respect and that now we are participating in oral history.
- Processing: Discussion time
- Ask the students what their stories had in common and what was different
- Discuss common themes in more detail depending on who shares what
- Discuss the short story narrative and how they participated in it
- Link to their common core standards and what they should have learned from the text
- Generalizing
- Connect to the next readings we'll be doing for the historical fiction unit
- Ask if they feel more connected to both the genre and the community?
- Application
- How will this make you think of your communities or families from now on?
- Does historical fiction seem more interesting now?
- What do you think you'll enjoy about historical fiction? What particular time period
- Assessment
- Grading the stories:
- Prewriting: Outline and interview sheet
- Peer editing
- Final draft
- Traits of historical fiction
- Grammar, spelling, and structure
- Followed the narrative prompt
- Self Reflection
- Did the students seem to grasp the key concepts?
- Was it enough time to complete the assignment? Too much time?
- What was surprising?
- Samples of stories
Day 7: Experiential learning (experiential writing)
Object
– Artist/Embodied Experience
Senses: Hearing- his feet on the ground and the chair, the music, the dull thud of him falling to the ground, seeing him twist and turn and consistently struggle with his chair. Feeling the warmth of the theater and seeing it reflected in the sweat and the struggle
Personal memory: Working in the physical therapy office, seeing people struggling to do the most basic things like walk – how adults can be helpless and it can happen to anyone. That time in my life I was also relying on chance and struggling with basic concepts in my life because I was unemployed/temping and feeling out of control.
Object – My own chair
Personal memory - No chairs at desks or tables really struck me like the driver's seat in my Pontiac, the first car I got when I turned 18. Driving along to New York- the car was one of the first things that was all mine. My responsibility and my privilege, and I took it up and down the east coast. That front seat was MY seat, and I was alone in it for days. It was a seat of personal growth, inspiration, finding myself, having freedom.
Senses: Feel- sweat and the fabric molding to my body. The way the fabric rubbed when I wore shorts or a skirt, itchy but not hot like leather would have been. Humid air conditioner blowing in my face. Cracked steering wheel under my hands.
Hear- a slight whistle from the broken window, my favorite song, the hum of the road under my feet. My unanswered phone ringing
See- the gray brown fabric of the seat, the dust on the dashboard, the road stretching ahead of me.
Object – the dock
Personal memory: This deck reminds me of the one on Lake Magdalene in Tampa, where my father in law lives. He has a lovely lake house and when we were 18 or so, he built a dock. I was just getting serious with my boyfriend at the time and time spent at the lakehouse and on the dock represented a lot of nerves for me while getting to know my new family. Would they like me? Should I bring a bathing suit? Can I smoke cigarettes in front of them? These apprehensions took a long time to fade away. This father's day, I got on the back of a jet ski with my father in law and rode around, half-drunk and having a blast with him. It was hilarious and reminded me how far we've come and how much more comfortable I am with them now. Perhaps it comes with age, or just time, or maybe my confidence is just better since I am older and more sure of what I want.
Senses: Sight – everything is beautiful there. The pink sun setting over the trees on the other side of the lake. The flowers spilling from pots on the edge of the dock. Spiderwebs in the rafters and lilypads under the ladder.
Touch- the dogs shaking their wet hair on me. The sun-warmed wood when I sit in a skirt on the edge of the dock, dipping my toes in the water when it's high enough. Walking along the strip of sandy dirt that serves as a beach when the water is low enough, kicking sprays of lake at Brett.
Scent – the fresh grass of the lawn meeting the clean water of the lake. The barbeque always running.
Object – The library
Personal memory: I spent time at a retreat that was similar to this one in a lot of ways. My favorite place there – as with here – was the library. It was a circular room, all wood, with five windows in five rooms complete with cushioned seats. I learned so much there, reading books and writing and listening in to hushed conversations or the speakers and yoga teachers who taught upstairs.
Senses: Hearing – Hushed whispered muffled by the slide of books on a shelf. Feet padding in unison above me during a yoga class as they switched from down dog to warrior II. The string of bells by the door.
Taste: The mug of tea or coffee I invariably brought with me, keeping me warm. How it'd grow cold because I'd be there for so long. Ginger candies to suck on for the times I hid there, anxious and wanting to be alone.
Sight: Rows and rows of magical books, layers of rugs and carpets on the floor in colorful colors. Randal's painting hiding in the stairwell, the artist-in-residence's dominating the first floor. Colorful New York foliage outside the window, people working in the garden.
Object – Yoga mat in the dance studio
Personal memory: Ever since 2009 I fell in and out of practice with yoga. Seeing the dance studio here, complete with the pile of yoga mats, brought up a lot of memories, particularly my most recent. I gained fifty pounds in the last couple of years and have been scared of my own body and practicing yoga, but I took the leap a few weeks ago after going to the gym for about three months. The class was amazing. I cried after, my body feeling more open and strong than it had in months and months.
Senses: Smell: Yoga has a particular smell. The plastic of the mat mingled with old absorbed sweat and new sweat beading down your face. Others around you with their own odors. The wood of the floor of the studio. If you're lucky, the open window and fresh air. I still remember that first year, walking all the way up into the woods and floating back down after yoga, smelling the trees and the air and feeling free.
Sight: My vision narrows to nearly nothing. I don't look in the mirror but watch my hands and my feet as they come together again and again. The blue of my mat becomes my world and the black of my eyelids becomes my rest.
Touch: the tacky sticky feeling of an hour of moving, hands and feel stuck to the mat. The sensation of stretching and burning in my thighs and back, the strength in my arms. I feel everything.
Senses: Hearing- his feet on the ground and the chair, the music, the dull thud of him falling to the ground, seeing him twist and turn and consistently struggle with his chair. Feeling the warmth of the theater and seeing it reflected in the sweat and the struggle
Personal memory: Working in the physical therapy office, seeing people struggling to do the most basic things like walk – how adults can be helpless and it can happen to anyone. That time in my life I was also relying on chance and struggling with basic concepts in my life because I was unemployed/temping and feeling out of control.
Object – My own chair
Personal memory - No chairs at desks or tables really struck me like the driver's seat in my Pontiac, the first car I got when I turned 18. Driving along to New York- the car was one of the first things that was all mine. My responsibility and my privilege, and I took it up and down the east coast. That front seat was MY seat, and I was alone in it for days. It was a seat of personal growth, inspiration, finding myself, having freedom.
Senses: Feel- sweat and the fabric molding to my body. The way the fabric rubbed when I wore shorts or a skirt, itchy but not hot like leather would have been. Humid air conditioner blowing in my face. Cracked steering wheel under my hands.
Hear- a slight whistle from the broken window, my favorite song, the hum of the road under my feet. My unanswered phone ringing
See- the gray brown fabric of the seat, the dust on the dashboard, the road stretching ahead of me.
Object – the dock
Personal memory: This deck reminds me of the one on Lake Magdalene in Tampa, where my father in law lives. He has a lovely lake house and when we were 18 or so, he built a dock. I was just getting serious with my boyfriend at the time and time spent at the lakehouse and on the dock represented a lot of nerves for me while getting to know my new family. Would they like me? Should I bring a bathing suit? Can I smoke cigarettes in front of them? These apprehensions took a long time to fade away. This father's day, I got on the back of a jet ski with my father in law and rode around, half-drunk and having a blast with him. It was hilarious and reminded me how far we've come and how much more comfortable I am with them now. Perhaps it comes with age, or just time, or maybe my confidence is just better since I am older and more sure of what I want.
Senses: Sight – everything is beautiful there. The pink sun setting over the trees on the other side of the lake. The flowers spilling from pots on the edge of the dock. Spiderwebs in the rafters and lilypads under the ladder.
Touch- the dogs shaking their wet hair on me. The sun-warmed wood when I sit in a skirt on the edge of the dock, dipping my toes in the water when it's high enough. Walking along the strip of sandy dirt that serves as a beach when the water is low enough, kicking sprays of lake at Brett.
Scent – the fresh grass of the lawn meeting the clean water of the lake. The barbeque always running.
Object – The library
Personal memory: I spent time at a retreat that was similar to this one in a lot of ways. My favorite place there – as with here – was the library. It was a circular room, all wood, with five windows in five rooms complete with cushioned seats. I learned so much there, reading books and writing and listening in to hushed conversations or the speakers and yoga teachers who taught upstairs.
Senses: Hearing – Hushed whispered muffled by the slide of books on a shelf. Feet padding in unison above me during a yoga class as they switched from down dog to warrior II. The string of bells by the door.
Taste: The mug of tea or coffee I invariably brought with me, keeping me warm. How it'd grow cold because I'd be there for so long. Ginger candies to suck on for the times I hid there, anxious and wanting to be alone.
Sight: Rows and rows of magical books, layers of rugs and carpets on the floor in colorful colors. Randal's painting hiding in the stairwell, the artist-in-residence's dominating the first floor. Colorful New York foliage outside the window, people working in the garden.
Object – Yoga mat in the dance studio
Personal memory: Ever since 2009 I fell in and out of practice with yoga. Seeing the dance studio here, complete with the pile of yoga mats, brought up a lot of memories, particularly my most recent. I gained fifty pounds in the last couple of years and have been scared of my own body and practicing yoga, but I took the leap a few weeks ago after going to the gym for about three months. The class was amazing. I cried after, my body feeling more open and strong than it had in months and months.
Senses: Smell: Yoga has a particular smell. The plastic of the mat mingled with old absorbed sweat and new sweat beading down your face. Others around you with their own odors. The wood of the floor of the studio. If you're lucky, the open window and fresh air. I still remember that first year, walking all the way up into the woods and floating back down after yoga, smelling the trees and the air and feeling free.
Sight: My vision narrows to nearly nothing. I don't look in the mirror but watch my hands and my feet as they come together again and again. The blue of my mat becomes my world and the black of my eyelids becomes my rest.
Touch: the tacky sticky feeling of an hour of moving, hands and feel stuck to the mat. The sensation of stretching and burning in my thighs and back, the strength in my arms. I feel everything.
---
Today we used what was around us to inspire personal memories and invoke the senses. Experiential learning can be like this or with any lived experience of the students.
Today we used what was around us to inspire personal memories and invoke the senses. Experiential learning can be like this or with any lived experience of the students.
Day 6: Poetry and Common Core
Today we transformed a free write about our 'happy place' to a poem by identifying parts of speech and reusing them. This is a great way to get reluctant writers into poetry. My own reluctant poet offering below:
The
wanting of the lost,
Wanting
to be lost -
In
a labyrinth of good intentions,
Intentional
obscurity -
Can
I speak
Give
directions (directives) to those
Who
are not as anxious as me
as
angry as me
as
young as me
as
old as me
Safety
in obscurity
“A
coping mechanism”
labeled
from the armchair
Thrills
in yelling
I
have a voice
I
might be lost (it might be lost)
But
I will not silence me
Day 5: What I really want to know
"Moreover, how has my race, class, and gender, coupled with my lived experiences, structured my teaching? Further, how might I use my role as teacher to disrupt oppressive racist, sexist, and classist systems that advantage some while disadvantaging others? Can I make a difference?"-Wanda Knight, Entangled Realities: Race, Class and Gender. A triple threat to the academic success of black females
Day 4: Scavenger hunting
Today we learned a lot about scavenger hunts, and as the other team says every time they are asked, that we must know our audience. Our team took about two hours longer to complete the hunt.
"We didn't know it had to be this complicated!" we whined, sounding surprisingly like our students. But I took what I learned and modified it for my own use.
Scavenger Hunt Lesson Plan
"We didn't know it had to be this complicated!" we whined, sounding surprisingly like our students. But I took what I learned and modified it for my own use.
Scavenger Hunt Lesson Plan
Grade Level: 9-10
Objective: Students will get acquainted with their new
classroom by finding useful spaces or objects and using them as an
inspiration prompt for a five-minute free-write.
Purpose: To introduce the concept of free-writing, to get
students familiar with the classroom, and allow them to move around
between assignments and share their work.
Time: 50 minutes
Procedure: Teacher explains the concept of free-writing.
Teacher hands out scavenger hunt sheets (five versions of the same
assignment put in different order) and students will work alone to
find each of the places/objects.
They will have three minutes to find the item in question and read
the directions.
Students will then have a timed five-minute free write.
This will happen four-five times, depending on how quickly they can
move from station to station.
At the end of the class, each student will read aloud one or two
sentences from their favorite free-write.
Scavenger Hunt
handouts and prompts
- Find a book with a title that intrigues you. Without reading the summary, write in your own words what the book should be about.
- Find a comfortable place to sit and write about where you are most comfortable spending time alone.
- Locate the encyclopedias. Open to the first letter of your last name and turn 3 pages. The second article title on that page is your prompt. Write the first thing that comes to mind!
- On the computer, use the Internet bookmarks folder to go to Wikipedia.org. Locate the “random article” option and use the third article that pops up as inspiration.
- Find a piece of art or a poster on the walls that you like, and use it as inspiration.
Day 3: Reflections and my process
Looking back on my narrative... we work with the journalistic questions to get deeper into our work.
Who: Who are we talking about? Both the teacher and the student.
The teacher is an everyteacher, both frustrated and joyful with her
job. The student is blooming into adolescence, confused but finding
solace in the written word. It couldn't be written from the teacher
or the student individually, but together is what makes this story.
What: What is the topic about? The significance? The issues I want to
look at? External or internal conflict? The conflict is within the
teacher. She is (they are) tired and angry, and sometimes forgets
about the student even in the efforts to teach them. The topic is
reaching this student, if even on accident, to love- love writing,
reading, the words that came before and came from her. Or it is not-
through no fault of the teacher's until it is his fault.
Why should I care: Because I am trying to make
sense of what I am doing and where I have been. So what? Because
understanding is survival.
When, where: Every day in every classroom.
How: Because I lived it and will live it. Applying Pam's memorable
moment, my memorable moment, my frustration with the discussions so
far, and my experience as a student to make the connection of this
cycle, why it keeps happening. How can I fix it? Diligence –
never forgetting that education can be the freeing for
both the student and the teacher.
Day 2 - Reflection and Deconstructionism, art
Classroom Teaching and Learning – Broken Chair and NCLB
There is a chair falling and sliced in half by a sheet of glass
which keeps it from hitting the floor. The chair appears solid but it
is unusable- both because it is broken in half invisibly and with a
shard of glass jutting out of the seat to keep it from being
comfortable. This sculpture really struck me because it showed the
juxtaposition of the appearance of success and/or safety and actual
success and safety. In the classroom, the teachers are or primarily
should be concerned with actual learning, success, safety, and
happiness of the students. Everywhere outside of the classroom is
different, however, with the rise of No Child Left Behind and other
standardized test benchmarks. These trends and initiatives make it so
that administrators and school boards all the way up to the national
level only care about the numerical scores and statistics that the
students make, even when the algorithms for putting these statistics
together can be flawed. These numbers are like the glass breaking the
chair- providing the illusion of something whole and successful, but
invisibly ruining the function.
What's that old adage about not everything that can be counted, counts?
Day 1: Metaphor and Narrative
The first narrative of the workshop was to be inspired by a metaphor I had used in discussion. I compared the relationship between the teacher and the student to the relationship between the teacher and her job, and crafted a narrative around the various relationships therein.
The exchange between a
teacher and student is the relationship between the teacher and her
career: one leads to another, and they must work together to make the
best environment for everyone.
There's an attitude I understood
implicitly growing up, even if it was to never be said aloud. That we
all do what we must, and that often it isn't what we want to be
doing. I was to never call attention to the fact that we were not as
happy as we could be. That my parents were struggling in their
marriage, in their jobs (or lack thereof). The real oppression came
not from having marriage or money problems, but by refusing to talk
about them, to admit that we were not perfect. I always resented
this. I wanted to shout about it, about the injustice of it,
even when I was young.
I see this in the classroom. Teachers
mumble to each other in the halls but smile widely at the students.
They work to make it work from within the system, even while
resenting the rules imposed by people who may have never been
teachers. There is a thin line they walk, between doing the best for
their students and keeping their jobs. It's a balancing act and
no one seems to be better at it (or simply more accustomed to it)
than teachers.
2004, a girl walks her dog at night,
feeling safe and speculative. It's a retention pond and light
pollution, but she feels the beautiful possibilities of the night and
all it has to offer. Later, at the near-extinct computer in her room,
she types out a poem for her class, one of the few students who took
joy in the assignment rather than seeing it as a chore. She writes
about that night, about the immature and ancient feeling of infinity.
Half the lines begin with I am.
Her teacher will breathe deeply when
reading it, the metaphors a bit tired, the words a bit dramatic- but
she will remember why she wanted to do this, encourage the students'
love of writing and poetry.
The teacher is jaded and bitter most
of the time and the students know it, but each time she is surprised
and delighted by her students, she gets a fresh breath of life into
her lectures. And then that girl, who stood alone at night. She
hears the teacher tell her she has the voice of a timeless poet,
kindness not entirely true, and later it is that moment that leads
her to teach as well – even after the poem is lost forever and
poetry no longer comes naturally to her.
We all do what we must. Those who do
not see in words would not say that writing is a must.
After
that assignment (on which I received 100% and a small smiley face),
my parents bought me a volume of Walt Whitman poetry, brand new,
unlike the rest of the faded book collection in our small apartment.
It is back-pocket sized, with green fabric binding, and almost half
of it is Song of Myself.
I taught myself To a Stranger
when I was fifteen – I fell in love with everyone and everything
that year, so it was appropriate:
"Passing stranger!
You do not know how longingly I look upon you
You
must be he I was seeking,
or she I was seeking (It comes to me as of a dream)
I have somewhere
surely lived a life of joy with you -"
(Mary
– great job. I can feel the night air. Have you ever heard of Walt
Whitman? Your work reminds me of Leaves
of Grass. Thank you. 100% :-) )
This
girl isn't always the perfect student who gets
it. They never are. In one class, maybe. In another – she sleeps.
Meiosis, mitosis, something about a periodic table, and she's
drooling on her desk. She doesn't mean to. The clock moves so slow
and it's nearly the end of the day, and her parents kept her up
fighting all night. It's never been this bad before. Her brother
murmurs he thinks dad is moving out soon, to a trailer closer to his
job in the middle of the state.
But her teacher
doesn't know this. All he sees is an indolent girl who dares to sleep
while he lectures. He kicks the tray of books under her desk,
startling her awake, and continues with his lesson. Other students
snicker behind their books.
After he beckons
her outside, she cries, but he doesn't want to stop. He is tired, so
tired, of this system apparently not working. He tries to make it
interesting, he didn't think he failed, but she slept, so he yells at
her. A girl-child too confused to stand up for herself, and he
doesn't hate himself for what he is doing, not even when she doesn't
show up to his class the next day and barely scrapes by with a
C-minus when it's all over.
Can you blame it
all on Sunshine State Standards and pressure by the administration?
Are teachers people too? Would he yell at you if you saw him at the
grocery store?
I'd
like to say I stayed awake in his class for the rest of the year, but
I didn't, and from then on it was
indolence, anger. Rebellion is a must, too, for those of us who don't
have much else.
Introduction
This ten day writing workshop at the Atlantic Center for the Arts focused on writing about lived experiences as an effort to develop teaching skills. Writing every day, we developed lesson plans, narratives, and a teaching philosophy.
My goals:
Use the table of contents or the sidebars to navigate. Labels can take you to posts by category and the archive is organized by day.
My goals:
- Gather ideas to get students motivated and enthusiastic about writing and reading.
- Complete the narratives/essays we started in class.
- Get work done on my novel to focus on my own motivation and enthusiasm about writing.
Use the table of contents or the sidebars to navigate. Labels can take you to posts by category and the archive is organized by day.
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