Yeah, we're going to have students that can't read, don't want to read, just don't read, but what about the students that love to read? The kid (like Taryn) that will read a book while you are teaching about nouns, the kid that will read the entire novel the night you assign the first chapter. In other words... how do we accommodate for students like we were in high school?

Melanie... give the option of a video project. Or maybe they could work with a partner and do a podcast interview with one student as Twain. I agree that powerpoints are boring. I always fell asleep during them.

Back to YA Lit...Again

I hope so too, Melanie...those are fun books...but ya know what? the reason that I think they're fun is not because I'm a guy but because of how they were taught to me...this is what makes me mad about this whole YA vs. Classics convo (as if to suggest that anything that is not YA is a classic...which it's not...anyway) I reject the idea that all kids will automatically like YA, as if it's some magical candy store that parents and teachers don't want kids to know exists because once they go inside they'll be corrupted and never enjoy anything of any real intellectual merrit (whatever that means)...no, reading YA is still reading! the kids who hate to read probably won't enjoy reading YA...sure, there may be some YA they take to, but who's to say there aren't some classics they'd take to as well...for me, it all goes back to teaching, and frankly, The Scarlet Letter is one of the most poorly taught books we have...teachers who teach it don't know what it's about! I get so sick and tired of people teaching that book during the early American unit because it has to do with the Puritans...Guess what teachers: it has just as much to do with modern society as it does with the Puritans...or heck, the society in which was written, the nineteenth century...teachers always bastardize their teaching of it which does two things in my mind: it perpetuates this debate over classics and YA because we think the kids have to find something to read, but at the same time it gets kids turned off reading...Melanie, I'm not talking to you at all, I just think it was a great topic to go back to because as teachers I want to caution us all against this idea that our students will enjoy YA, necessarily...there isn't anything necessary about it...some kids will and some kids won't...some kids like classics, some kids won't...but at least with classics (for now, anyway) we have the opportunity to teach them to see them in a different light...personally, this is a challenge to which I will gladly rise instead of throwing Harry Potter at 'em and saying to myself, oh well, at least it's reading....(i like harry potter, by the way...)

Last week

Working on this project made me wonder what the differences are between reading to one's self and reading aloud. My student could not remember most of what he read except for a few details. He read very slowly and deliberately. As I was listening and taking notes I wondered what would be different if I could find out what he was reading in his head. Sometimes we don't know how to pronounce a word, but we know what it means and how to use it. It's an interesting project for getting an idea of how a middle school student reads. One of the biggest concerns of a beginning teacher is knowing at what level students are reading/writing at. This was a good way to be better informed about their general skill level. 

Back to YA Lit

I spent another day at my school yesterday and discussed with my CT why the classes were not reading. The novel they are reading is The Scarlet Letter and with the majority of all the classes being male, I can see why the student may not read a novel. I asked my CT about YA lit and she said that in 11th grade she thinks its important to teach the classics because once the students get to college the professors expect you to have read them. I don't disagree with her; however, if the students are reading for lack of interest, I don't see a problem with allowing them to read a book they enjoy-especially this early in the year--to just get them to start reading. We start and Huck Finn and Connecticut Yankee in a couple weeks, so maybe these novels will spark the male's interest a little more. Let's hope...

Middle Schoolers

Before this class, I was all about high school, I did not even bother to look at jobs that were from Middle Schools. I don't know if I have developed a greater appreciation for middle school or what, but all our discussions makes me as excited about middle school as I was/am about high school. I agree with Nick, I think this class should be a full semester because I feel that I would have gotten more out of the Miscue Anaylsis project, also I would have liked to spend more time in Middle School classroom. Over my four years here at PU, I have always been in high school classroom for the practicums. I don't feel as prepared to teach a middle school class that I am a high school class.

Final post

This class was so short. I'm still getting things together from the start of the semester and this class is already over.

Since I'm student teaching in a middle school I feel like a benefited from this class, even though it was brief. Middle school is a lot different from high school and requires a different kind of approach to teaching - the kids are younger, and they have much different concerns than older high school kids.

Overall though, this class was a positive one. It helped develop tools that we'll use when teaching these younger kids.

Finding the perfect book

For some reason this whole miscue thing has got me thinking about how we, as English teachers, hold this belief that everyone actually loves reading but has yet to find the right book yet. And that I, as an English teacher, am going to find the magic book that takes student to that special place. What if that isn't the case? What if the student doesn't like to read because he or she doesn't have to read to get by day to day? I am not advocating giving up on the dream, but I am trying to be realistic about my goal. I may be able to help my miscue student, but what about the other 120 kids who enter my classroom? I am finding it hard to lead one student to that special book let alone the rest of them. This is just something that I have been kicking around in my head during this project. Everyone have a great student teaching session!

final thoughts....

So, at the end of one road, beginning of another....hmmm, I think I'll leave philosophical musings up to Jeff.
Anyway, final thoughts on this 6 weeks...I was surprised at how much my middle school ready miscued! I did the actual research part like 3 weeks ago...and she missed almost one word per sentence....she'd read "placed" as "paced"...usually a wrong word, but a real one. Thus, she pretty much missed a lot of the story; although she did claim that she realized, in her mind, when she messed up, but didn't want to go back and correct herself. hmmmmmmm....i wonder how much I miscue when I read. Pretty sure that most of it is when reading aloud, but who knows?
I watched Freedom Writers....LOVED it. :) I would of course. I guess it was sad that she lost her husband b/c she was so invested in teaching, but teaching was what she loved and wanted to spend time doing! I can totally see myself doing that, so I guess it's a good think I don't have a husband/boyfriend to lose? haha I loved that she got 2 other part-time jobs to help pay for what she wanted to do with teaching, but couldn't get support for. I don't think I'll have much trouble with that in the Westfield school system...I think they have a good amount of money to go around, for a school anyway. :)
It was interesting to note, in the film, that the teacher herself wasn't really in danger from the gang kids....but they were in danger from each other! hmmmmm, something to get used to at Jeff high school.
Well, "that's all folks!"

Middle School(ers) vs. High School(ers)

I think probably the most important thing I learned during this past 6 weeks about middle school teaching is that the reason teaching middle school is SOO different from teaching high school isn't' because the subject material is so differnt, but because the students themselves are so different. I've really enjoyed this short time to focus on middle school teaching, because I've always assumed I would teach high school....but now my first job is going to be 7th grade Language Arts....so I need to start getting mentally prepared now! I've definitely appriciated all of our conversations about what kinds of books to teach in middle school, how to teach grammar, and writing, etc. Honestly, the more I think about it (I hadn't even considered middle school before 2 months ago!)...I really think I might like to stick with those crazy hooligans, for a while at least! :) I think I really like the idea of their energy and goofiness, insecurity and everything else that comes with them. I think I'll be able to work with them more than I would with high schoolers...I've been in a 12th grade class, an 11th, a 9th, and a 6th for field experiences, and now in ST I have 9th, 12th and "upperclassmen"....so I've had slim experience in middle school classrooms, but after visiting the school where I'll be starting in January, and thinking about that one 6th grade experience I had....I think I am going to LOVE it! :)

Techonolgoy Projects

I spent some time planning my student teaching with my cooperating teacher today, and I have been assigned to create a technology project for during the reading of Huck Finn. Normally my teacher has her classes all do a powerpoint on Mark Twain and then present to the class. I am trying to come up with some other options. I still want the project to involve Mark Twain, but I don't want to grade 60 powerpoints of the exact same information. Any suggestions???