What the Data Won't Show

     This article broke my heart. It is such a shame that even though Autumn is scoring 399, she is having to retake the test over and over, and causing herself so much stress. She obviously understands the material, because she is one point away from passing. She is consistently scoring 370-400, so I do not understand why her life needs to be turned upside down for a formality.
     This blog post is a perfect example of an issue so many students are dealing with. Autumn ended up with anxiety, and having to take medication because of her test, which I think is horrible. But sadly this is a common issue for high schoolers, and especially college students. I know many people who have been driven to depression or anxiety because of school, and the testing. It is an issue that I feel is not being taken seriously enough. Student's mental health is more important than a test score, and I just hope one day that will be established enough for something to be done about it.

This is a page I found about the relationship between grades and mental health, you guys should give it a read it is very interesting.

http://www.mercurynews.com/health/ci_25074044/teen-health-depression-anxiety-and-social-phobias-rising

Toxic Testing is Taking Its Toll

     I completely understand why teachers are scared and nervous about standardized testing. I think the biggest most obvious reason, is the fact that they may not be able to reach all of their students. There are those students that just refuse to learn, despite what the teacher tries to do to help them. A teacher can only do so much for these students, but a student has to put forth some effort as well. There are also students who are scared to ask for help if they need it, so for this reason they may not do well on tests because the teacher may not know they are struggling. I was a very shy student in high school, and there were a lot of times when I did not ask for help when I was struggling because I was too shy to speak up in front of the class and ask my qestions. I did not ask after class because I felt embarassed that I did not understand the material. These instances are not something teachers can help, so I can understand why they get nervous.
     Not only is this upsetting the teachers because it is tearing them down, the students are also suffering. They are missing out on great learning activites, and more enjoyable learning activities because they are having to prepare for standardized tests. All the worksheets, and standard questions are not benefiting students in my opinion. I think in order for students to retain information, they need to learn in a way they can enjoy atleast a little bit. Memorizing answers to take a test is not helpful for anything besides passing the test.

I found this link that says 15 reasons standardized testing is pointless:
http://institute4learning.com/blog/2013/02/28/15-reasons-why-standardized-tests-are-worthless-2/

You Gotta BE the Book Chapter 6

     One of my favorite parts in You Gotta BE the Book was the part about teacher researching. I feel it is very important for teachers to pay attention to their students. I feel like a good teacher is concerned about their students, and will do anything they can to make sure they are learning. I liked how it said teachers should be on the lookout, and almost studying their students to find out what they are feeling. For example if a student is understanding the material, if a student is upset, if a student is refusing to do homework, etc. I feel like these components are all things that can effect a student's education, and it is the teacher's job to try to help the student's if they are struggling like this. Any teacher can go in, teach the material, and leave. It takes a special teacher to care about their student's success on a deeper level.
     I think this research is also important to understand how to teach the class. If more students are hands on learners, then the teacher should try to incorporate a lot of hands on activities. If there are more students in the class that are visual learners, then the teacher should prepare presentations with a lot of pictures and videos. I feel like it would even be helpful if the teacher prepared a few different options for activities to accomadate different learning styles based on what they have observed from their students. I know from personal experience that being taught in a way that is not reflective of your learning style is not beneficial and makes learning very difficult. I have a professor that only shows slides with words for 2 1/2 hours and only reads what is on the sides, and it is honestly torture. I am a visual and hands on learner, so I feel I do not learn until I go home and study myself because all I can think about is how bored I am.

This is a link to a website that shows some strategies for different learning styles:
http://ectutoring.com/resources/articles/learning-style-important

You Gotta BE the Book Chapter 5

     In this chapter my favorite section was the section about visualization activites. I think the Symbolic Story Representation is a great idea. This is an activity where students make cardboard cutouts of characters from the book, and act out the scenes. For students struggling to get into the story and envision the story, this activity could help. Being able to see the scene acted out may help clarify the text. This activity is also beneficial to the students who are understanding and following the book. They may have a lot of fun getting to bring the content to life, while making reading more enjoyable. Like I have said, I believe if students do things that make reading fun for them, they are more likely to read on their own time.
     I also liked the idea of visual protocols. This is when students stop and draw/describe a scene after they have read it and pictured it in their head. It is suggested to allow students to do this on their own, or write/draw when the teacher says to. I feel this is really beneficial because it gives the students time to process what they just read. Instead of just rushing through the chapter and possibly being confused on parts of the book, the students can have time to focus on just one part. I feel like this would also help because the students would have the option to look back on their drawings at a later time if they needed to be reminded of a certain scene.
     I read an article called "7 Easy ESL Visual Aids You've Gotta Use in Your ESL Classroom". This had some really useful ideas of visual aids to use in English. One example was using pictures to teach verbs.
Example:
"He's dancing at the party" vs.
"He danced at the party"
Draw a picture of a person dancing, and then a picture of someone that just finished dancing to show the difference. Another idea was using celebrity/current trend pictures to help teach a lesson. This may help teenagers get interested and remember what you are teaching. This article also says visual aids can help learning by assisting students with remembering information, and cutting down on teaching talking time (despite how much we love it(: ).

Source:
http://www.fluentu.com/english/educator/blog/esl-visual-aids/

Chapter 4 You Gotta BE the Book

     Chapter 4 is about using drama to extend the reader. This is a technique to get bored students engaged and involved with the reading. I liked the example he used, " I felt as if these reluctant readers had been sitting on the bench during the big game completely bored". I think this is a perfect comparison. There are some students that are avid readers and will jump at the reading, however other students have to be pushed and pushed to read. I think this idea is great to engage all types of readers and students.
     One of my favorite ideas for dramatization is correspondance where students responded to post cards, letters, and advertisements as the role of story characters. I think this is so cool because it is a great way to place yourself in the story. Instead of just looking up an answer from the book, the student actually has to pay attention to a lot of the details of the characters to complete the assignment. I always enjoyed assignments where we could be individual, and creative, so I personally would have enjoyed this assignment.
      I found a website called eScholarship that discusses the benefits of drama and reading/ learning. It states that different dramatic activites helps students learn because they are utilizing different learning techniques. It helps students comprehend the world they live in by relating the reading to themselves. It also allows students to be individuals which is a useful tool after high school. It also helps them expand their vocabulary.

Source:
http://escholarship.org/uc/item/4d62r6p9#page-2

You Gotta BE the Book Chapter 3

     This chapter had a lot of really great components in my opinion. One of my favorite sections was the one about interrogating the text. Joanne interrogated "The Sniper" by asking questions such as, "Could he really trick the other sniper", and " Why drop your rifle... doesn't it have your fingerprints all over it?" I feel like this is a great way to process your thoughts while reading. Anybody who is reading a book has to have questions, and I think writing yours down helps to get more involved with the book. I think it is a good idea because you can look back once you are done with the book and see if your questions are answered. I guess I just think this is a great way to engage with the text.
     My second favorite part was the part about role playing. Joanne and Cora both reported mentally putting themselves as the characters in the book. They would do scenes where they could see themselves in, in the context of their own lives. I think this is also a great way to interact with the text. I have also placed myself as a character in books before if I can relate to what is going on. I feel like this makes my reading a little bit more fun and interesting, as well as involving me more. Ron even went as far as to actually physically roleplay. He would act out a scene by himself, or even invite his friends to get involved. I feel like this is beneficial because it sounds fun, and he is associating reading with fun so he will be more likely to read in the future. This may also create a bond with his friends, and encourage them to read if they have fun.
     I found a blog called Helbling Readers that states having students roleplay their reading in class may not only help them become more involved with the book, but it may also help them with other skills. Helbling Readers states that role playing can help students expand their vocabulary, and work on public speaking skills. Instead of just sitting in a chair reading in your head, getting up in front of the class and actually speaking the words your reading will help with these skills. Actually acting out the scenes may help students remember words and phrases for longer periods of time. Also it just makes for more fun in the classroom, which is always helpful.

Sources:
http://blog.helblingreaders.com/?p=473

Valid reading

     I really liked the part in You Gotta Be the Book where Wilhelm talked about valid reading. Many people have the idea that there are certain books, certain themes, or certain content that is considered "valuable". For exanple a Shakespeare piece is more valuable than a Twilight book to many people. I do not agree with this. Wilhelm states, "personal meaning will differ from reader to reader and remain valid". I completely agree with this.
     Although Shakespeare pieces are more difficult to read and make you think a lot harder, I feel that does not automatically make it more valuable than a fantasy book. In my opinion what makes a book valuable is what a person takes away from the book; if they were affected by the book, if the book teaches them a lesson, or if a person can relate to their book in a way that expands their mind. For some people that may be Shakespeare, or it could be Twilight. I do not feel the value of a book is determined by the level of difficulty required to read it, or what the education system deems valuable.
     I have a few personal examples that help shape my opinion. In high school when we read Catcher in the Rye, I found it boring, pointless, and an all around terrible book. I took nothing from this book, and honestly remember little to nothing about the contents because I was only reading for the grade. I do not consider this book valuable to me because it did not affect me or teach me anything. I have a few friends that loved the book and feel it was very beneficial to them to read. Another example is something that happened in class last week. I enjoyed the book Lord of the Flies, and felt it taught a very valuable lesson about how society is. I feel it opened my eyes to just how dangerous and terrifying the human race can be in times of danger. Kaitlyn (I hope I spelled your name right if not I'm sorry): ), hated this book and did not see any value in it. Both opinions are completely okay. It is completely okay to dislike a book other people see as valuable, just as it is okay to find value in books others may not.

You Gotta Be the Book Beginning

     I have to say so far I really enjoy this book. It is very easy to read and kept me engaged the entire time I was reading it. I did not find my thoughts drifting away from the book. I found so many interesting points in this piece that I did not get bored of it. I feel I have benefited from this already, by getting some great advice and things to think about in my future.
     One idea that I found interesting was the idea that the students didn't want to read. I am not surprised by this, because I did not know many peers in middle and high school that enjoyed reading. I also did not enjoy reading in school, and to be honest I still don't. I feel a lot of the issue may be the due dates, content of the book, and assignments associated with the book that personally turned me off from reading. I enjoyed most of the books I read in high school and middle school, however there were a few I struggled to get into and found extremely boring. I can understand students not wanting to read if they viewed their books the same way I viewed my books. Another issue is the fact that students can't just read leisurely with school books, they have to have a certain amount done by a certain time, and for some students that can be really stressful. Lastly if a student is not interested in a book, they are more likely to just skip through and find the information they need for the worksheets, essays, quizzes etc. especially when they are already running low on time.
     I feel these are the most obvious reasons that students are saying they are not enjoying reading. Some other ones I have thought of is the fact that students have to read so much in school, that it is considered a chore and not a relaxing or fun activity. I know during the school year I seldom read for leisure. I feel like I have to read so much for classes, that once I am done with all my class reading, I want to relax by just watching TV or a movie, something that does not require effort. When I spend two hours reading textbooks and required readings for class, it is very unlikely I am going to pick up a book for enjoyment.
    I really liked this point because I feel I can relate to it a lot from my own experience. I have never really put this much thought into this issue until now. Unfortunately not much can be done about a lot of these issues. Due dates have to exist in order to teach all the material that needs to be taught, and assignments have to exist to make sure students are reading the material. The amount of reading can not really be changed by the teacher either. I guess reading this and thinking about the topic have made me a little bit more aware to student's reluctance to read, and with this knowledge I can attempt to make reading more interesting and less like a chore for my students.

Grammar

     I thought the article that we read about grammar was very helpful. Personally, I learned better from the "mini lessons" in school, even though many people do not believe they were. I personally enjoyed doing the grammar activities because it helped me learn. I was interested in grammar and English and enjoyed it, so it is understandable that it is uncommon for people who do not like English to learn from those exercises.
     I understand that doing little exercises about grammar without actually applying it to the writing can be useless to some students. If a student isn't naturally good at English, spelling, grammar, etc. I can understand how this would confuse them. I always feel it was a very important idea, that you should not be too hard on your students for grammar. If students don't have any wiggle room for their grammar, they will not take risks. If students don't make mistakes, they will not learn in my opinion.
     According to the NCLRC page about teaching grammar, the grammar drills and mini lessons will help students succeed on tests, but will not benefit in the long run. "This results in bored, disaffected students who can produce correct forms on exercises and tests, but consistently make errors when they try to use the language in context" (NCLRC). This is understandable because the students are not being taught how to use the grammar in writin, but the rules when using drills. All in all I believe this handout had a lot of great points and useful information.

Source:

http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/grammar/grindex.htm

Clearing the Way Continued

     All of the writing kind of blurred together, because I had read before I left for spring break, however I will just discuss the ideas I found interesting that I have not yet posted about. I really liked how he made his students write journal entries. I feel this is a very great assignment for high school students because they can just write down their thoughts and feelings in a more informal setting. It brings writing to its most basic and raw state and I think that free writing is an important thing for all writers to do. This gives the students a chance to just write without worrying about MLA/APA format, grammar, spelling, or any other writing guidelines. I thought it was really cool that even though the one boy student had a number of spelling and grammar errors, he received full credit for simply writing down his honest thoughts. 

     In my opinion other styles of writing can be therapeutic for high school students. Being able to just put their feelings on paper can be a relief, rather than stressing about formal structure for an essay. I feel poems allow students to tap into their creative side. I loved that Romano spent so much time working with one of his students on her poem about her parents. He really helped her improve, without straight up telling her what to do. I feel this is an important aspect in a teacher. I feel as if I took a lot of helpful advice and ideas from this book and I am glad I read it.

     I provided a link to a webpage stating some benefits of journal writing

http://www.k5chalkbox.com/benefits-of-journal-writing.html

Clearing the Way

     I have enjoyed this book a lot so far. I am on page 129, and so far I think almost everything Tom Romano has said has seemed like great advice for high school teachers. It seems like he really knows what he is talking about when it comes to high school English teachers, and I feel I have learned quite a lot from him.
     One idea I really liked, was the idea of writing with your students. I think this is a great idea, because English is such a personal subject. Students are writing and exposing themselves to the teacher, and sometimes even the class. I think when a teacher shares their work with their students, they are also exposing themself in the same way the students are. I feel this will help create a closer relationship between the teacher and the students. Also, the students will be more likely to listen to what the teacher says if they know the teacher's writing ability.
     I really liked that he graded students on growth, and not only writing skill. I think is a more fair approach. Not all students are good at writing. A student can be very smart, and just not be good at word choice, grammar, spelling, etc. Writing comes naturally to some students, so I do not think it is fair to grade students with less writing talent the same as students with an abundance of writing talent. I think as long as a student is trying, and making progress, then they deserve a good grade. If a student is improving and listening to the advice given by the teacher, they deserve a good grade whether they are a good writer or not.

Reading, Writing, and Rising Up

     So far this book has had some helpful advice. My favorite was the idea of the Read Around. I think this is a great idea because students are subjected to only criticism in many environments. I feel just offering positive feedback for a change can really help motivate students, and increase their self confidence. If I got a paper back and was able to just absorb all the positive comments first before just reading criticism, I feel that would motivate me more. It is important for students especially at middle school and high school level to not feel too discouraged. If a student just feels like they are a horrible writer, and their writer has no good aspects, they are ore likely to give up.
     Another thing that really stood out to me was the poems. I enjoyed reading those a lot. I especially liked the one the blind student wrote. I think the poem is very touching. I think it is very sad that he got picked on by the other students for being blind, but it is great that they all started to realize they were wrong after hearing the poem. The "I am" poems were very interesting as well. They have a very cool layout to them. I like how they are kind of random to everyone else, but they make perfect sense to the person who wrote it.

Chapter 4

      I thought chapter 4 of Early Career English Teachers in Action was very interesting. The passage that stuck out to me the most was Kibera Sings by David Jagush. This passage was very intense but I thought the lesson it had for aspiring teachers was really amazing.
     I thought it was heartbreaking seeing the kind of home lives the children in Kibera had. It really shocked me to see just how many children are victims of abuse, especially sexual abuse. I am not very familiar with African culture, or what goes on there, so this was very sad and shocking to me. The story about the boy who watched his dad decapitate his mother really stuck in my head. I thought about that for about an hour after I read it because it was just very disturbing to me. I can not imagine growing up in that type of environment.
     I think this was a very good lesson for aspiring teachers, because it just shows a perspective of how other cultures are. I learned many tragic things about the lives of African children that I did not know. I also learned that the children in Africa are much more eager to learn, and much less picky about how they do it. I think the part where all the students were cleaning the school was a very good example of that. He was right, in America students will throw their trash on the ground, and when challenged reply with "well isn't it the janitors job to clean?". I also think it was amazing that David worked so hard to impact these children's lives. He took so much time to try to get the instruments for them, as well as talking with the student with the learning disability. This passage really changed my perspective, and made me want to travel and see what the school environment in other countries is like.

English in Pop Culture assignment

     I really enjoyed this assignment. I thought it was interesting to go back and watch "Pay it Forward" from a teacher's perspective, when I always watched it from a student perspective. I know this is a fictional movie and it is not realistic or appropriate to be completely honest to be quite as involved with student's lives as Mr. Simonet was with Trevor. It did teach me a lesson anyhow. It taught me that if teachers are involved in student's lives and push them, then the student may reach potential they never knew they had.
     One thing I struggled with for this assignment was the length. I found it very difficult to write four pages about the topic, without going off and writing a summary of the movie. I felt I added some information that may not have been necessary, as well as repeating information. I will try the strategies discussed in class today to lengthen it without adding fillers for the final draft.

Nothing but the Truth

     I was really surprised by this book. I thought it was crazy that such a small thing turned into something so big. What started out as a white lie of Phillip's turned into something that made a huge impact on Miss. Narwin's life. It really scared me almost as a person pursuing a job in education.
     I thought it was very sad that Phillip was able to manipulate everyone into turning against Miss. Narwin when all she did was enforce the school rules. I feel that the issue should have turned into an attack on the school board or assistant principal, if anybody. Miss Narwin was only following the rules. It was obvious that she cared about Phillip despite everything he put her through, which I thought was admirable. It was sad that after all the years of hard work she put in, it was not recognized, however she is scrutinized by such a huge audience over a misunderstanding.
      I think Phillip seems very manipulative, and is a compulsive liar, so I was honestly frustrated that he won in the end. He was simply trying to annoy Miss Narwin by humming the star spangled banner, but manipulated every one into thinking he was patriotic in his actions. He lied over and over again in his attempt to upset Miss Narwin. It was obvious when he was given the opportunity to sing in his new home room and he chose not to.

Introduction

   

     Hello everyone! My name is Amanda Kowalski. This is my first semester at Western Michigan University, and so far I love it. I am in the second semester of my sophomore year. I am pursuing a degree to major in Family and Consumer's Science Teacher Education, with a minor in English education. Many people do not know what my degree is so I will explain it briefly. Family and Consumer's Science is basically any class that works with family, relationships, health, food, or home related topics. I plan to be a high school teacher.
     
     I am apart of a pretty large family. I am the youngest of four children. I have two brothers and a sister. My family is a huge part of my life, which is why moving into the dorms in Kalamazoo was a little bit hard to do. I only live an hour and a half away from Kalamazoo in the Jackson area. I technically live in Brooklyn. It is still a hard adjustment because I am so close with my family. I have four pets that I absolutely adore. I have three cats and a dog.

     Now that I have shared some of my background I will share some of my interests. I have a passion for animals. I love all animals. It is my dream to one day run my own animal shelter. English is my favorite core subject, which is why I chose it as my minor. I am very interested in health, nutrition, cooking, etc. and have always dreamed of becoming a teacher, which is why the Family and Consumer's degree is perfect for me. That is about all. I can't wait to experience Western more and learn more about teaching English!