Celebrating Student Voice!!!!

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Hello World,

I am so excited to share a few of the amazing posts my students have been writing this semester. I was really nervous to start this project with them, but they took the challenge head on. I am so proud of them and I enjoy reading about their interests, opinions on current issues, and their lives.

Here is a glimpse into our glorious Writer’s Corner. You can click on each image to read the full post.

Featured Post: Check out this student’s urban exploration of the local gems we have around this community and how it can inspire you to learn more about the people and the history.

 

 

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From Flipping to Blogging: Making Positive Changes in the Classroom

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I’ve made several changes this year that I am super excited to share and I have been wanting to make these changes for some time.  Hopefully, you will find something in the post that interests you or at least inspires you to make some changes in your own classroom.

  • Paperless classroom with flipped instruction: This is something that I have slowly been transitioning into for the past three years, and I am happy to say that I am now down to using less than 5% printed materials in my class. This is all thanks to Its Learning and other on-line tools like CommonLit, Edu blogs, and I converted many of my PowerPoint lectures into videos using screencast-o-matic and uploaded them to playposit to add embedded questions for the students to respond to. Check out the video below for more on using playposit as formative assessment.

    All my class handouts and resources are posted on Its Learning. This has really cut down on the amount of paper I use and time spent making copies, but it has also eliminated many of the problems associated with student absences and missed instruction. Students can check Its Learning for detailed plans, lecture notes, and class assignments, or Skyward at any time to make up missing work. This summer I plan to create even more lecture videos and podcasts to use next year.

  • Student Choice: This was a big shift for our entire department. In the past, I would assign 7-10 novels for the students to read throughout the year. With the advice of my wonderful and supportive Department Head, I began reviewing my practices to see why I was teaching these novels and considering what skills I was covering, I realized that many of the novels I continued to teach were out of habit or out of some personal satisfaction; I just really loved these books!

I found myself in a rut; I was just trying to guarantee that my students were reading, while they were trying everything to pass the quizzes and assessments without reading. This cat and mouse game was completely contrary to my teaching philosophy; therefore, I wanted to spend more time turning my students into real readers and writers.

To achieve this I scrapped the idea of class novels and went with a reader’s workshop method. Students are now reading what they choose, sharing great books with each other and with me, and they are demonstrating higher levels of thinking.

Rekindling my student’s desire to read and share what they are reading became my primary goal for the year and I think I have seen some positive results overall!

  • Workshop Method: I also switched to a workshop method of teaching in which students are using journals, conferencing with me on what they are reading and writing, revising their writing as they learn new skills, and exploring several different types of writing that go beyond the 5-paragraph essay. The blog, Three Teachers Talk is a great resource for teachers who are interested in implementing the workshop method in their classrooms.
  • Student Blogging: I am most excited about this development. Many educators have recently commented on the need for more authentic writing experiences for students, and can only be achieved by expanding the breadth of the possible audience(s) beyond the classroom teacher. Publication is an exciting and empowering way for students to explore the issues they are passionate about, and at the same time, it forces students to self-edit their writing for voice and purpose.

    Snapshot of Blog Dashboard

Grammar rules and stylistic conventions can’t be taught in isolation. The rule will mean nothing to the pupil until it is necessary to know the rule for their writing task. I take advantage of this by presenting my students with mini-lessons that cover the individual grammar needs of my students as issues organically arise in what they are writing.

I am participating in the blogging challenge (as you can tell by reading this post) and I am modeling the writing process for them right in class. I think it is important for them to see me struggle, change my mind about ideas and word choice, and scrap whole sentences or phrases that don’t quite work. The blogging challenge hosted by Edublogs/Wordpress makes this shift in writing very easy. With that said, this process has had its fair share of hiccups, but I am documenting all my hit and misses to share with my colleagues in the Fall.

Resources:

“Blogging With Students.” Blogging With Students – Teacher Challenges. N.p., n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2017.

Rassmussen, Amy. “Aim Higher: A Case for Choice Reading and a Whole Lot More in AP English.” Three Teachers Talk. N.p., 11 Jan. 2016. Web. 31 Mar. 2017.

Rebora, Anthony. “Authentic Writing Instruction.” Education Week. N.p., 29 Apr. 2016. Web. 31 Mar. 2017.

 

The Film “Get Out” is the Best Horror Flick of 2017

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I have always been a fan of horror films and in college, I filled my course list with film criticism classes that introduced me to several different styles and sub-genres of horror. Needless to say, I was hooked. I can spend countless hours watching everything from Nosferatu to Nightmare on Elm St and I will never get tired of it. 

The aspect of the horror genre that appeals to me the most is the social commentary embedded between the jump scares and buckets of blood.

According to Aristotle’s Poetics the drama serves a necessary communal purpose by providing catharsis or emotional purging, while the satire or comedy serves to criticize established institutions, and the modern rise of the horror genre seems to function as a combination of both.

Examples of honest and human fears manifesting into ghoulish creatures that lurk in the shadows can be found in novels like Bram Stoker’s Dracula and in cult-classic films like Romero’s Night of the Living Dead.

In addition, the Cold War fostered the fear of nuclear fall-out that gave rise to a slew of giant insects and mutated swamp monsters stalking the silver screen. And the “me generation” of Mall Rats in the 80s produced films like Poltergeist, which illuminated the desire for a perfect nuclear family and capitalism ruled. This inevitably led to the angry slasher flicks of the 90s, like Scream and I know What You Did Last Summer.Therefore, in theory, it makes sense that Jordan Peele would conjure up images of isolation and a loss of control of the current social horror surrounding this generation’s fear of ideology. Clay Cane, for CNN, states that “Get Out perfectly captures the fears mainstream, white, middle America holds of liberalism and the browning of America. It also captures the fears that liberals and brown America hold of mainstream, white, middle America. Mark my words, social horror is the new trend.”

Get Out has already made history by reaching 100 million at the Box Office, and I am looking forward to more work by Jordan Peele.

Resources:

Aristotle, and Julius Pollux. Aristotle’s Poetics, or, Discourses Concerning Tragic and Epic Imitation. London, Printed for J. Dodsley … and Messrs. Richardson and Urquhart …, 1775.

Clay15, Caden. “Why Jordan Peele’s ‘Get Out’ Just Made History.” CNN, Cable News Network, 15 Mar. 2017, www.cnn.com/2017/03/14/opinions/jordan-peele-makes-movie-history-with-get-out-cane/. Accessed 22 Mar. 2017.

 

Beauty and the Beast is Everything and More

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This weekend I went to see the new live-action adaptation of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and it was magical! Now, I will admit that I am a little biased because this was my absolute favorite movie growing up. I played and replayed the VHS tape so many times that it was beginning to develop stress lines on the film. All of those childhood memories came flooding back and I was crying/singing along to “A Tale as Old as Time” like I was 1o years old again. Belle is definitely my kind of fairytale princess. She is smart, kind and fearless. Her love for books and reading really registered with me, and as I got older, I also admired her steadfast confidence in turning down the handsome Gaston. While my girlfriends were concerned with finding the other glass slipper, waking up from a nap, or making a man fall in love with her because she is silent and naive to the world, I was taking trips with Belle to far off lands and fighting for what I believed in.

Emma Watson is fantastic and she is a wonderful role model for young people both on and off the screen. She has responsibly used her platform as a successful actress to campaign for gender equality. Her speech, “Gender Equality is Your Issue Too,” delivered a powerful message to the UN and the world. Her grace and wit sets her apart and adds authenticity to the role.

I was also pleased with the Director’s and Producer’s choice to fill the many plot holes presented in the first film.

WARNING: MINOR SPOILERS BELOW

 

  1. It never really made sense to me in the original film that the enchantress would punish a 10-year-old boy and all of his servants. This is cleverly updated by making Dan Stevens (The Beast) a grown man when he refuses to provide shelter for the old hag. It is additionally explained by the lovely Mrs. Potts that the Beast’s father turned him into a heartless and cruel man after the death of his mother, and the servants just stood by and did nothing.
  2. Belle is the witty inventor! I love this addition so much. Not only is she the only girl in her village who can read, but she uses her intelligence to create and engineer machines.
  3. The Beast is also well read and intelligent. It always bothered me that the Beast struggled with reading and Belle had to teach him. I understand that it functions as a bonding agent for the couple, but I think it matches Belle’s personality more to find a partner that shares her love for the written word. It makes more sense that she finally has someone, besides her father, to talk to about Shakespeare and King Arthur.
  4. I was also pleased that they decided to add in the story of what happens to Belle’s mother and that the Beast helps her find and mourn her loss. This works well with the storyline because this gracious act helps to soften the Beast’s personality and adds credibility to her growing adoration for him.

My niece is almost a year old and I really hope this ends up being her favorite Disney movie too!

Leaving the 5 Paragraph Essay Behind: Creating Writers and Not Just Test-Takers

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I want to begin by stating the obvious, I know I am no Virginia Woolf or Toni Morrison, but I do consider myself a writer. I write for myself, for academia, and for my career. I make sure that my students see me writing, and more importantly, I want them to observe my struggle and perseverance through the writing process.

Letting my students see the mental roadblocks I face and the constant revisions I make while writing has done wonders for my student’s confidence and their willingness to take more creative risks while writing.

I am constantly reminding my students that writing for yourself and for the public is rewarding, but it can be extremely difficult because it opens your thoughts up to criticism, and challenges you to identify personal vulnerabilities.

My main goal as a teacher is to help my students become real writers and not just experts on the 5 paragraph essay. Let’s be real for a second, this type of formulaic writing will never show up in any other aspects of their lives, including college. I want my students to become writers because I know that writers use their brains in very special ways.

Qualities of a writer:

  • observe the environments and people around them more closely
  • a strong voice in life and in print
  • are always thinking about and collecting new words
  • are thinking about an issue or question long before they ever speak out on it
  • pay close attention to what other writers are doing with their craft in a critical way
  • are reading ALL the time, and reading a variety of texts
  • are open to multiple perspectives
  • foster a strong sense of empathy for the experiences of others

These are the traits I want to celebrate and foster in my students, so I aim to develop lessons that get my students thinking and acting like real writers.

 

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Students Fostering a Love for Reading:

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Here are a few of the great things I’ve seen in my classroom so far; students sharing and talking with other students about the books they are reading, a genuine excitement to tell me about their books, and students who never liked to read before devouring books and loving it!

During the first 9 weeks, I decided to incorporate an individual reading book project that would create an opportunity for students to share with their peers what they have been reading, publish their work outside of the classroom, and showcase their own talents and skills when designing their presentations and products. Some students created annotated soundtracks for their novels, shared Spotify playlists with their friends, and designed album artwork using Canva to compliment the themes or events in their novels. Some students started blogs or participated in blogs already created over the discussion of their chosen novels. Many students created character portraits and they researched different mediums that would best illustrate the style and personalities of their chosen characters. A few students decided to write letters to the author’s and are excitedly waiting for a possible reply. Students also had the opportunity to design their own projects to fit the needs of their chosen text. Photo stories, pamphlets to advocate, videos, recited monologs, and so much more. Every student embraced this opportunity and really impressed me with the level of work and creativity they put into it.

 

Some students created annotated soundtracks for their novels, shared Spotify playlists with their friends, and designed album artwork to compliment the themes or events in their novels.

I am seeing their excitement for reading extend into their writing as well. The workshop method has created so many opportunities for my students to collect new vocabulary and experiment with styles used by the author’s we are reading. My students are also adding experiences and perspectives to their own writing arsenal that they might never have considered before.

The Joy of Letting Go: Introducing Student Choice and Leadership in the English II Pre-AP Classroom

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The final days of any school year are usually filled with a mixture of relief, excitement, and expectation. Students are pumped to finish their exams, turn in their books, and retreat through the school doors into a promising three month sojourn of staying up late, sleeping in, catching up on their YouTube subscriptions, and producing endless Snapchat stories that will immortalize their teen-angst in cyberspace for much longer than many of them realize. With all this budding freedom at their fingertips, the next book my students are going to read this summer is the farthest thing from any of their minds.

In the past, I would always end each school year with a smile and a strong sense of satisfaction because I knew that the books I had assigned throughout the year were rich with history, shared cultural experiences, and academic merit that would prepare them for the rigorous reading expectations of college.

How could this type of exposure and expected rigor ever harm my student’s academic progress? Well, I knew many of my students were reading and enjoying the books I had prescribed, but I also observed that their innate desire to read and seek knowledge outside of the assigned reading was low, and to my chagrin, many students would omit to only reading sections of the book that they knew they would be tested on. For an avid reader and a lover of literature, this realization was heartbreaking.

I think the unsettling reality that my students were not really becoming life-long readers when they left my classroom had suddenly burrowed in deep, and I knew I would have to make a change. Continue reading →

In Defense of The Road

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McCarthy has undoubtedly established himself as part of the American canon through his unique prose style and distinctive narrative structures in novels like Blood Meridian (1985) and All the Pretty Horses (1992).  In 2006 he was recognized by the Pulitzer Prize committee and won the award for distinguished fiction by an American author in 2007 for The Road.  At the heart of this novel, you will find a love story between a father and his son. McCarthy had his first son much later in life and he dedicates this novel to him. As a much older man fixed with the task of raising a child, he was confronted by his mortality and the looming certainty that he would not be there to see his son mature, nor would he be there to guide him through the many roadblocks we all face growing up. On the Pulitzer’s website Allen A. Knopf accurately summarizes the impact this novel has on the world of literature, and why I have chosen to teach it;

“The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, ‘each the other’s world entire,’ are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation” (Knopf, 2006).

More specifically, this novel introduces students to several literary techniques they will need to know presently and in the near future. McCarthy writes in a seemingly simplified manner, but much like poetry, each word is packed full of symbolism, allusion, and metaphor. From the opening passage we see McCarthy alluding to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, and following the trope of “a hero’s journey,” he places his protagonist in a “dark wood,” which is an indirect reference to Dante Alighieri’s Inferno from The Divine Comedy. We will be reading Dante’s Inferno after The Road and it serves as a perfect precursor to the moral and social criticisms explored in Dante’s contrapasso. Both Alighieri and McCarthy utilize Homeric style similes to bridge the gap between the known reality and the unknown world of their fictional narratives. Students will need to be able to recognize, decipher, and create Homeric similes for the Mastery project at the end of the semester. McCarthy’s simplistic syntax and irreverence for traditional grammar rules contextualizes

The Road as an allegory depicting “a postmodern understanding of the function of language” in a collapsing society (Blasi, Gabriella 90).

Basically, McCarthy is exploring the role language plays in establishing, reinforcing, and contradicting societal laws that are in direct opposition to natural law.  This introduction to the complex laws of language will be important when students begin reading Modernist authors like Woolf, Yeats, and Elliot during the 2nd semester and their senior year.  In addition to this, the second semester of this year will begin with John Steinbeck’s, The Grapes of Wrath, and students will see a similar division between respecting human rights against prescribed social and governmental constraints as The Joad family journeys to the West coast in search of relief from the Dust Bowl.

One of the essential concepts we discuss in world literature is the importance of perspective. Students were first introduced to this concept through Scout’s viewpoint in To Kill a Mockingbird. Lee understood that the child’s voice is uncorrupted by established social constructs, taboos, and erroneous stereotypes which often convolute the minds of adults. This is literally reinforced in The Road when McCarthy strips these constraints away from his post-apocalyptic world to illuminate the power of love and the desire to remain “the good guys” above all else.

This novel has so much to offer beyond the setting and plot. I personally enjoy all this novel has to offer its readers, and I would encourage all the parents to read it if they have a chance.

Works Cited:

Blasi, Gabriella. “Reading Allegory and Nature in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Towards a Non-Anthropocentric Vision of the Language of Nature.” Reading Allegory and Nature in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Towards a Non-Anthropocentric Vision of the Language of Nature. N.p., 27 June 2014. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.

Knopf, Alfred A. “The Pulitzer Prizes | Works.” The Pulitzer Prizes | Works. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.

Image: Burmester, Jason. “Walking Down a Lonely Road.” March 29, 2008.

Additional Resources:

Lane, Emily, “Hell On Earth: A Modern Day Inferno in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road” (2010). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. Paper 1127

Cant, John, ed. The Cormac McCarthy Journal (2008): n.  2009. Web. 14 Oct. 2015.