Observations of a Pre-service Teacher

As a pre-service teacher, I am spending loads of time in high-school classrooms observing the daily goings-on of public education. I am intrigued by many of the methods used by teachers to accomplish whatever objective it is they wish to work toward. A particularly interesting lesson popped up last week as I was observing an eleventh-grade English class.

First of all, this teacher is very passionate about getting students to learn how to have a discussion, a really good, meaty, make-you-want-to-extend-the-class-hour sort of discussion. So, throughout the school year so far, he has focused on teaching what he believes to be the key aspects that comprise a good discussion. They are:

1) Safety This means that you disagree and question what is being said, but you don't necessarily attack others or, on the other end of the spectrum, simply agree with whatever it is they are saying.

2) Authentic Participation This means that you participate, but you give others the chance to participate as well. You seem honestly involved in the discussion, and you don't try to take over the whole discussion.

3) Challenge This means that, during a discussion, you ask questions that can be answered, but not easily. They are usually open-ended questons.

4) Ownership This means that you talk about the topic the whole time, but you also bring in relevant examples and logic from outside the text (or whatever is being studied) to support your ideas.

Okay, so there's the background for the lesson I witnessed. Students were asked to have a small-group discussion in groups of four in front of the class for fifteen minutes and would be graded on the four aspects of discussion listed above. I have heard this strategy often called a "fishbowl discussion." Not sure how much I like that label, but that's beside the point. Anyway, their topic for discussion? Chapter 21 of Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn. Group after group entered the "fishbowl," but most sat silently for a while. Some of the groups forced their way into a topic, but struggled to continue discussion for more than a few seconds. There was a group that performed particularly well, feeding off each other, really listening to each other, and responding with thoughtful comments. After the fifteen minutes, other students observing the fishbowl would critique what went well and what could be improved.

Interestingly enough, I observed this lesson just two hours before attending my Language and Literacy class in which we talked about oral language, specifically discussion in the classroom. How convenient! In terms of what we discussed in class that day, I can see some of the pros and cons for the high-school lesson I observed.

PROS
The four aspects the eleventh-grade teacher thought so crucial for good discussion were mirrored in what we pre-service teachers came up with. We were asked to think of a memory of a really good discussion we had in school; then, we were to list the reasons why it was a good discussion. Many of us said everyone needs a chance to participate, which directly relates to the idea of authentic participation. We also said that a good discussion involves personal experiences and insights, also known as ownership. We also looked at a quote from Judith Langer which states, "Teachers who beat the odds expect their students not to merely learn together but to sharpen their understandings with, against, and from each other." This relates to the idea of safety in that students should not simply nod their heads in agreement 100% of the time, nor should they rebuke what is being said 100% of the time. This high-school teacher has really narrowed in on specific techniques he believes will foster excellent discussions, and, they apparently correlate to what we as college students believe as well.

CONS
As good as the intentions and the content of the lesson were, however, it was evident that the students were not making too much progress toward the intended objective. Of course, discussion is something that must be practiced in order to improve, but I think there were a few key points that could have been included in this lesson to foster better group discussions. One, taking into account the gradual release of responsibility model, a teacher should first model what it is he wishes to see students do. Then, he guides the students as they practice until they can eventually perform a task without any support. The students in the English class were probably in the middle stage in which some support was still needed. It might have been helpful to have at least one discussion question to get students talking in the beginning rather than waiting for them to come up with their own questions. Also, when silent lulls begin to crop up, give the students some options, some lifelines to get them going again. For instance, when a group seems stagnant, they can appeal to the audience of other students for outside ideas to get their minds thinking again.             

MY ENGLISH CLASSROOM
I find it nerve-racking to critique and evaluate other teachers, simply because I often wonder if a lesson would have looked any different had I been in charge. So, all I can do is ponder the ways in which I can make my own teaching better. I spend quite a lot of time thinking about how discussions will turn out in my classroom. I predict that a HUGE majority of the time spent in class will be discussion-based because talking about books, writing, and other English-y things is essential for learning. I'm not sure I would use the fishbowl method to assess students' speaking and listening skills, but I might use other methods such as giving each student in the group a role to fulfill. These roles might be READER, SCRIBE, or PRESENTER. That way, everyone has a responsibility in making the group discussion work.

In my observations of other people, I have noticed that everyone likes to talk, and most like to listen, but how much a person speaks up or how invested he is in the discussion is based on two things:
1) To whom the person is speaking. Some people don't feel comfortable talking to strangers, people of another background, or even to large groups. Finding the right dynamic of personalities and numbers is important.
2) The topic of discussion. Obviously, people are not going to be invested in a discussion about a topic that bores them, confuses them, or leaves them feeling like the topic is non-applicable to their lives. Finding ways to get people interested and passionate about a topic is the key.

For tips on how to lead discussion in the classroom, visit Iowa State University's webpage.

English is Cool!

Grammar. Probably the number one reason most students despise English class. That, and all the "thee"s and "thou"s sprinkled through Shakespeare's writing. Oh, and let's not forget the fact that most, if not all, English teachers are crazy, obnoxious, and sometimes borderline nut-so.

So, why is English, more broadly Language Arts, so important? Think about it: Whenever you speak, you use language. Whenever to write a text message to your friend, you use language. Whenever you read the menu at your favorite restaurant, you use language. You receive and produce language thousands of times EACH DAY. As you read this post, you are using language skills.

But the Language Arts are more than just language. Language is more a means to an end. We use language to communicate. That's why we read books and write papers. Have you ever just wanted to know what someone else was thinking? By analyzing characters and situations in books, we can often transfer that knowledge to our own interactions with other people. Thus, books help us be mind-readers.

Okay, so maybe you won't be able to read your mom's mind, or your brother's mind, or your best friend's mind, but you can get a little closer to understanding why people do what they do, and, they, in turn, can come to understand you a little better.

A group of high-school students in Long Beach, California, discovered this cool aspect of English when they were in Ms. Gruwell's class. They learned to empathize with each other through writing. Here is a brief look at their story:

FAMOUS ENGLISHERS

There are many other people out there who love and live English who aren't just the stereotypical English-y types. Here are a few examples of people you may know who were English majors in college:

J.K. Rowling                                                                   Dr. Suess

 

Reese Witherspoon                                                                                Steven Spielberg

Notice how all of these people are in the story-making business? Either they write stories or they bring stories to life. Gotta know some language skills to do that!

EVERYDAY ENGLISH

For the next few days, try to identify references to literature or English you see around you. These often occur on billboards you drive by, in the music you listen to, and oh so often on the TV shows you watch. Here's a great example: have you ever seen this on the door of a flower shop?

Yep. That's Hermes. Hermes is the Greek messenger god, and he comes straight out of ancient Greek literature. Even though he's thousands of years old (well, actually, he's immortal), he has made his way onto nearly every flower shop in the country as a symbol of speedy and reliable delivery. How's that for pertinent?

FUNNY BONE

Although English can, at times, be serious, it also has its humorous side. Here are a few funnies when you get the inkling to laugh about the subject:

MY OWN LOVE AFFAIR WITH ENGLISH

As Henry David Thoreau said, “It is life near the bone where it is sweetest,” and I believe that literature, writing, and teaching are those areas of life that sit near the bone. English has molded me into the person I am today. It has helped me connect to those people in the books and also to people in my life. It has given me understanding, confidence, and happiness. English is my oxygen, and without it, life would be short, dismal, and purposeless. I hope you can find some application of English to your own life, and that you will find pleasure and fulfillment in what it has to offer.

Additional Resources

Interesting Facts about English



Statement of Teaching Philosophy

            My teaching philosophy stems from my deep belief that literature and language can be sources of creation in a world focused on destruction. I want my classroom to be a place in which confidence, compassion, and broad world views are created within my students in order to help them navigate well throughout the rest of their lives.

            In order for students to develop a sense of self worth and self understanding, I envision my classroom as a haven where students can escape the pressures of the outside world. In having a safe place to think deeply and critically without distraction or disrespect, my hope is that students will apply the morals of literature to their own lives in order to help them sort through the difficulties they face daily.

I also believe that encouraging students to be more responsible for themselves will foster greater self worth. Therefore, I will expect students to be prepared with note-taking supplies each day, to turn in all assignments on time, and to understand that leeway such as extra-credit and late papers will not be a part of my class. In this way, students will take more pride in their work and will feel a greater satisfaction upon completing a task. I want students to be challenged but not overwhelmed.

 If nothing else, I want my students to start practicing the art of empathy. By realizing that, at some point in history, an author felt the same emotions as they, students can begin to see how connected human beings really are even through barriers of space and time. I envision myself throwing out questions about a text that encourage students to think critically; this means that I plan on conducting class discussion on a daily basis. I see class discussions revolving heavily around character analysis and author biographies in relation to the text as a way to show that fellow human beings should be the focus of our lives.

            In order for my students to construct a solid mindset about the world, I plan to integrate many disciplines besides English into class lectures and discussion. I envision my lesson plans including topics such as history and how it influences the particular piece of writing we are studying. I see myself presenting many paintings and sculptures and discussing how visual art and literary art tend to change and evolve simultaneously. I see assignments asking students to research current political controversies and show how they relate to a novel, play, or poem. I see students doing exercises dealing with math and music to learn how those are the keys to unlocking poetical form. In this way, both the students who are fond of English and those who are not can find application and meaning in the discipline by referencing other topics that may be of interest to them.

            In order to assess a student’s progress in both self and world discovery, I will require a large amount of reading and a large amount of writing. When reading texts as a class, we will follow an intense reading schedule so as not to run the risk of losing comprehension, or worse, interest. Also, most works that are read will be accompanied by some form of writing task, whether it be an essay, a journal entry, or a creative writing assignment.

            In essence, I hope students leaving my class will find themselves with the confidence to tackle daunting projects, an insatiable desire for literature, writing, and learning, and a capacity to empathize with those around them.  I want them to leave having proven to themselves that they achieved great things—they did it—and I was simply the coach cheering them on in the background. 

Writing as Assessment

 

Benjamin Disraeli once said, "The best way to become acquainted with a subject is to write a book about it." Writing really is one of the best ways to learn, but, let's be honest: WRITING IS HARD. Even writing this blog post is hard. But, even though writing is hard, it is so useful and so worth it in the end.

Now, Mr. Disraeli, in the classroom, I don't think I will be asking my students to write an entire book in order to become acquainted with the material, but there will be significant amounts of writing. Why? Because I know that those things I wrote about when I was in middle and high school are the things I remember best.

In my English classes in middle school, I mainly remember poetry writing and some expository writing. My seventh-grade teacher did a poetry-writing unit in which we wrote haikus. To this day, I don't know why I love haikus so much. I loved them so much in seventh-grade that I kept my final copies of my haikus. Here is one example from my seventh-grade self:

Mountains

Towering Giants

Snow-capped in bright, white powder

Ruling all over

 

Ok. So maybe not so profound, but I still remember writing this poem and loving it.

 

 

High school brought about many, many, many, many, many, many essays. In my English classes, we wrote an essay about nearly every book, play, poem, or theme we discussed in class. We also wrote two major research papers, which ended up being my favorite writing assignment throughout all of high school. These research papers were way more intense than anything I have written in college. My classmates and I contemplated having t-shirts made saying "I survived Mrs. Pedersen's research paper." Yep. Super intense. But wonderful.

 

my friend's To Kill A Mockingbird final project

So, there was a lot of traditional writing in my high-school experience based heavily on content and mechanics. However, my teacher (my mom) understood that not everyone expresses themselves best through writing, nor is it necessary to always display your mastery of a concept through the medium of the written word. She also had us complete projects that showed our understanding of a book or any other concept in the class. For instance, when we read The Giver by Lois Lowry, our assignment was to create a diorama of one scene in the book. I had a blast using my brother's action figures along with some Barbie furniture to create a scene. Another project was to create a paper-plate mask after reading the masquerade scene in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. When I finished with this project, I felt like I understood the idea of identity and how we choose to present ourselves or conceal things about ourselves. A friend of mine who was in another section of my mom's class made a large picture frame by hand to represent the knot-hole tree in To Kill A Mockingbird and the symbolism of "framing" in the novel. He still has it, and it is GORGEOUS!

I think the combination of traditional, formal writing along with hands-on creative projects help to enrich our understanding of English---what it's all about, and how we can have a part in it. These two types of assessment measure many of the same abilities. Just as with essay or research writing, the projects assess a student's understanding of themes, understanding of characters, ability to organize ideas, ability to produce a finished product, and so on. Most of the national standards for writing correlate to "writing" in other venues. For instance, the Common Core standards require students to:

 

click here to see Common Core Writing Standards 

•  introduce a topic
• develop a topic
• clarify relationships
• use techniques such as metaphor, simile, analogy
• gather, integrate, and organize information

I believe all of these standards can be met through conventional writing as well as alternative methods. Sometimes, students can write with words, but other times they can write with images or with sound or with paint or with any other substance imaginable. To "write" means simply to express.

In order to give my students an opportunity to express in-depth understandings of English, I will ocsillate among expository writing, creative writing, hands-on projects, informal writing, artistic renditions, etc. Through these methods, I hope my students come to see that expression is exercise. Writing in any form takes effort, but the rewards of writing outweigh the costs.