Fairy Tale Harm

It is accepted that popular magazines cause the skewed beliefs people have about what they should look like and what they should wear. The idea that fairy tales mess people up is less commonly discussed. I have thought for some time that fairy tales were a source of woe for me in my life. I did not watch an excessive number of fairy tales as a child, but the fairytale love story has been told millions of times in millions of ways. I can honestly say this was my expectation of romantic relationships and as you can imagine, I was left confused and disappointed when my relationships were not all grand gestures, devotion and adoration. 

            It is easy for me to believe then that fairy tales affect the way children develop ideas about sex roles, race, and class distinctions. Time after time beauty is held up as the most important feature of women, and strength the most important feature of a man. I grew up thinking that intelligence and cleverness was the most important quality a woman can have, and I did not understand the obsession other girls with all things pink and pretty. I wonder if the fairy tales I was reading shaped my beliefs. My favorite book as a little girl was called The Practical Princess. All of the stories involved handsome princes who were sent out to do the traditional quest of slaying the dragon and saving the princess. In these stories though, the prince had no idea how to solve the problem, and the very clever and practical princess would thick of a plan to solve the problem. The she would marry the dim, but sweet prince and live happily ever after.

            I love the ideas presented in the article, Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us, of challenging the students to question what is being presented in these stories, but these ideas seem directed towards older children. With young children I still think there can be discussions about what is being presented in these stories.  It would be immensely valuable if we could help children develop analytical skills and discernment. These skills would serve them their whole life, and need to be taught. Another thing that we can do as teachers is to take care in the selection of books we read. By consistently sharing stories that promote qualities we as teachers think are important it may have some effect on our students. Did I love the practice princess because I was that kind of girl, or was I that kind of girl because I loved the practical princess? I do not know, but I know that we give great importance to the selection of role models for children, so wouldn’t it follow that fairytale heroes are a kind of role models?

Mulitcultural Literacy

        I have been thinking lately about the experience of students who come to a new country as children with out speaking the language or understanding the culture. I went to a small elementary school in a small town and I did not have classmates from other cultures. I never understood that experience.
My fiance came to Bloomington from Venezuela when he was 11 years old. He did not speak English and was placed directly into school without any special assistance. He struggled in school trying to learn the language and to do the school work. He was embarrassed by his differences and his culture. He only wanted to fit in. He learned English by watching television, and did his best to not be different. He never liked school and always claimed that he was not good at it. I wonder how his experience would have been different with the right kind of support. If he had received help would he have been able to feel successful in school? If he had received affirmations about his culture would have felt like it was okay to maintain a sense of identity with South America. He worked so hard to leave his culture behind so he would not be different, and I wonder if there could have been a way for him to feel good about his differences and for his classmates to learn through them.
        When I see students in the classroom for whom English is not their first language. I think about my fiance in that same position and I hope that these students get the support that I wish my fiance had gotten. I am so happy that this issue is receiving attention, and that we as teachers are learning how to best support these students in the classroom.
          When I was fifteen I lived for a year in Haiti and though I went to an English school, most of my classmates were Haitian and spoke Creole outside of the classroom. I was difficult at first to make friends and I gravitated towards students who spoke English as a first language. I understand how uncomfortable and alienating it can be. I am hoping to find ways to bring multiculturalism into my classroom, and to help all students to be successful.
       There can be such a great benefit to having students of different culture in an elementary classroom. Many young children are not exposed to many different cultures or countries. When students can teach each other about different cultures, there is the opportunity for students to broaden their horizons and expand their perspectives. It is an opportunity for students to learn to be people who accept and appreciate people's differences. This is a very valuable ability.

MGRP Reflection

While researching ADHD, I felt like I was able to have some insight into the experience of ADHD. I got a new perspective on what it is like to be in a class with ADHD, and the challenges that go along with that. I have experienced ADHD from the perspective of a teacher, but it was challenging for me to see it from the perspective of the student. I am grateful to this project for giving me insight.

For our genre pieces, Courtney and I wanted to have a cohesive, interrelated sequence of pieces. We started  with the perspective of the student who has ADHD. In order to do this I decided to use a poem. In a poem I tried to express emotions that I imagine a student feels. Poetry was a good choice for this. After reading the chapter about multi-genre poetry I wanted to use one, and this seemed like the best way to use it. I enjoyed writing the poem. It has been a long time since I wrote poetry so I used the book instruction on the different voices poem.

The next perspective we wanted to explore was that of the teacher. This perspective is specially relevant to us as future teachers. We will undoubtedly have many students with ADHD in our classrooms. The first genre from the teacher's perspective was a letter home to the parents about the students classroom behavior, asking for their permission to evaluate their son written by Courtney. Next there is an evaluation of the student by a special ed teacher. In order to do this evaluation I called my mother. She is a special education teacher and has done many of these evaluations. While writing the evaluation I got an idea of how to do that type of evaluation. It was useful to think about how to observe a student and what to look for. Next I wrote a practice Individual Education Plan. This was very complicated and I found it useful to take a closer look at the structure and content of an IEP.

The medical aspect of ADHD is also important. So we included a prescription for medication and a follow up request for information from the doctor to know how well the drug is working. Courtney worked on these two pieces.

Next we tried to make the genre pieces tell the hypothetical story about a school district that tried to make a difference in the problem of ADHD. First there is an newspaper article about a new after-school program to help students with ADHD.  Then we had a fictional letter to the editor about the article. When I wrote this article, I tried to imagine what kinds of objections a community member would have about ADHD programs. We also imagined a professional development workshop on ADHD management would be a good way for the school district to deal with the issue. Courtney made a brochure of that workshop.

Finally, in our hypothetical situation, so much awareness has been raised in this school district, by professional development trainings and after school programs that a public service announcement is put up to continue to raise awareness about ADHD in the community. I thought this was a good idea because the nature of ADHD can often make it a misunderstood disorder. Students with ADHD can become very frustrated and uncomfortable in a school environment and I think they are sometimes seen as bad kids, when in reality, they are kids like any others in many ways.

Using Artistic E xpression in Multi Genre Research Papers

After reading about poetry and non-fiction genres, I had decided what genre pieces to make. I had begun them with utter confidence in my choices. While reading chapters 5 and 7 (particularly chapter 7) of Hale, new ideas began swirling around in my head. Is I read about the different ideas I could see myself doing them. I picture making a video, and artistic renderings that would capture the sentiment of my topic. I thought about writing a short story which had not occurred to me as an idea before. Now I am reconsidering all of my options, and some of them, I am even looking forward to trying.

I loved reading Seedfolks. It is such a sweet heart warming story. As I finished the book I felt compelled to run out and find an empty lot in an inner city, that I could use to grow food and communities. I realize this was not the point of reading this book for our class. I get that we are considering characterization, and this book does it beautifully. Even though you may not know any one character as well as you would if there were one main character who told the whole story, you do get a feel of who all the different people are. This method of telling a story in some ways has the ability to go much deeper than a traditionally told story. With multiple perspectives you can see prejudices as the misunderstandings that they are. It is a sweet story, and even though I haven't figure out how it can be useful for my multi genre research paper, I still want to start an inner city garden.

Poetry and Investigations in the Classroom.

       Reading an article about invitationals did not leave a clear picture in my mind of what they are, or how they work. Rather I got the general impression of group investigations which is an idea I love. Even though I do not feel, after reading the article that I could go into a classroom and set this up, I do feel like I am left with great ideas and inspirations for classroom learning. One part of the article that particularly struck me was, the child who wondered why people who write news, think kids would not be interested. That is a good question. I think that children knowing more about the issues of the world is extremely valuable. I got the idea while reading, for a class news paper "In Our Own Words." Along the lines of an invitational, I would have groups of students pick an issue, and read articles about it, translating them as a group, into language that is easily understood by children. I also do very much like the idea of invitationals, as presented in the article, but need more information before I could do what is being suggested.
     Though I do not write poetry, I have done it in the past for classes, and emotional expression. I can understand, to some extent, why people struggle with poetry. I was talking to a friend the other day who is completely opposed to writing poetry herself. People I think feel silly, especially when expressing emotions this way. There is also some confusion about how to do it. For some, the freedom of expression is liberating, while others I think may just feel lost. for this reason I really liked the chapter on poetry. I think that the instructions for writing poems are useful, but even more useful would be repeated practice and experimentation with these poem structures in the classroom. Once students can experiment with different poem techniques and find that they kind of like some of the stuff they produce, the world of poetry will open up a little for them.

Active Learning VS. Passive learning

     I really enjoyed reading the Donut House article by Rebecca Powell and Nancy Davidson. It really resonated with me after just having completed my research on ADHD students in the classroom. In the beginning of the article when they are describing a teacher who is unsuccessfully trying to get students interested in a bland literacy activity, I though of ADHD students and how they struggle to focus. Even students who have no disability at all are likely to have a hard time connecting with a lesson that is not relevant or exciting to them. Unfortunately I often see this type of teaching in practice. The students who are not paying attention are considered the problem. I would like to think of it as a teacher problem. If the students aren't engaged, what does the teacher need to do differently?
    The donut hole learning experience is a good example of what a teacher can do differently to engage students in their own learning. Rather than telling the students what they should know, with "situated literacy," the teacher provides opportunities for students to connect what they are learning with the real world.
    I was struck by the section where it talks about how traditionally, at-risk students, who need extra help to learn, are given more of the kind of work that they are failing to be successful with. It seems that these students would be very lucky to overcome the "schooled learning" and develop an enjoyment of reading and writing. In many cases unfortunately, I think the education process is setting the student up to reject literacy, when with a little creativity it might be possible to turn a literacy learning experience around.

MGRP ADHD

       I chose to work on the multi genre research paper with a classmate. I was struggling to solidify my topic when I heard a very similar, much more clear topic from a classmate. We both were interested in studying ADHD, but her thoughts about it were focused on adjusting teacher thinking about it in order to accommodate the student. My focus had been to find the cause and figure out how to prevent it. After a little bit of research I realized that my idea for a topic was not a realistic one. I was very happy to focus on what I as a teacher can do to make ADHD less of a problem for individuals and class groups as a whole.
     Because of the nature of working with a partner, we needed to set deadlines and meet to discuss topics. We also had to carefully organize the paper. Because of the organization and planning, I found it much easier to do the paper. I was able to focus my research to look at each aspect of the topic individually and systematically.
     The best part of researching my topic was the way it helped to to see students differently. About half way through the paper and research, I went to a high school to substitute teach. In that classroom I immediately noticed some students who were exhibiting ADHD like behaviors including, speaking out, moving around, and refusal to do the work. For the first time in my life I looked at one student in particular and just felt bad for him. Even though he was "being difficult" I could see that the worksheets and copy-out-of-the-book exercises could not possibly be holding his attention. The truth is that none of the students seemed to be learning anything from it, but the "good students" were the ones who just sat quietly and did their "busy work." I think it is not right to ask any student to do that kind of passive work, much less a student who struggles to stay focused. Why would he be interested in working that hard for work that is so meaningless? I was grateful for the new perceptions I have gained by researching this topic.

How Can I Help?

Today I had the opportunity to work one on one with several young writers. I was quite excited to tryout all that we have been working on in class. I have been planning extra activities for the class that would give me the chance to do writers workshops and today, in my first experience with the language arts lesson of my classroom, the opportunity presented itself naturally. Clearly these are relevant skills that we have been working on.
I am grateful for having read Hale and her explicit instructions. Without ever having done writers workshop, it is already automatic for me to search for the strength, then find a craft to work on. For the most part I felt like it went very well. I was generally able to find a strength to discuss, though in some cases it was hard. I was also able to find something to work on next with the student. What I discovered through this process was that I need to look over the books again for ideas. With such young writers who could do little more than identify the first sound of words, I stumbled over how to help them. What assistance should I give them? What suggestions should I make? I have no idea if the next step was an appropriate one or if there was something else that was obvious that I missed. I must say though, that it did give me a feeling of excitement and joy, when I said, "Do you remember the suggestion I made?" and she nodded, and she did it! I imagine the lingering questions over the correctness of my on the spot judgments will ease over time. To feel like you are offering the tools your student needs most at the time they can best use them, seems like a comfort of the experienced teacher. For now, I will try to continue to do writer's workshops, and to work one on one with students as often as possible.
I experienced a twinge of sadness after the satisfaction of working one on one with several students today. Working on craft lessons and math concepts and many other skills with individual students seems like an incredible valuable teaching method. I can only guess that if schools remain in the same situation  in which they find themselves now, I will not necessarily have extra teachers wondering around my classroom offering one on one attention to my students. It would be an opportunity lost to not be able to work with students one on one.

Ready to Start with Writing Workshops

As I finish reading Hale's, Crafting Writers, I feel excited to try it. My impression of the classroom I'll be in, one day per week, is that it is a flexible environment and I anticipate the chance to do some conferencing with the students. I have not yet experienced the language arts part of the student's day, but I am hoping they are writing regularly and I will have some materiel to work with. I am planning to ask for the opportunity to teach a craft lesson to a group of students. This is something I certainly feel like I need to practice. When we did it in class I thought it would be easy. We have so many resources that are specific and explicit about how to teach writing, that I was surprised when I stumbled in our class practice. I am excited to try it with young children to get an idea of what they respond to, and how I can affect their writing. I am also hoping to do a few writing conferences. There seem to be many detail to remember when conferencing, and i would like to remember them all. As far as I can remember the main points are:


Read the piece of work and find what is good.
Then find something that will help to improve the writing immediately
Have the student repeat both back to you
Have the student try it
Record what was done
Check what the student has done with the mini lesson.
Let me know if I am missing something!

Another point of instruction that I really appreciate in this section, is the recommendation about teaching the first day of writing workshop. This is a topic that has often come up with classmates and teachers; the importance of the first day of instruction. Hale mentions exactly what she does on the first day which might not be obvious. She practices, and explains carefully, her expectations for transitions. When we walk into a classroom to observe, and see children moving quietly and efficiently from one activity to another, we know that did not happen by accident. I appreciate the instructions on how to set this up, and the assurance that it is a worthwhile use of class time to teach the students how to follow instructions.

Providing hope

   Elizabeth Hale, provides such excellent scaffolding for the process of teaching writing. Her explanations and instructions are so clear and detailed that I immediately can see myself teaching.
    What I was most struck by in this section of the book, was the explanation of why we start with teaching a strength. Her description is of how it feels to be in that situation is poignant, knowing you are not doing something well, and feeling horrible about it. When the time comes for feedback you feel fear. Everyone has been in this situation and it is important to remember, that for many students, this is their experience in the classroom. One of our very important jobs as teachers, is to help students cultivate hope. Hope that they are not a failure, that they can improve, and that they are smart, successful students. I love that she is committed to the practice of ALWAYS, first finding and talking about strengths.  In the book, she also mentions different lenses for reading student writing. I think over time this is a skill that will develop, but when you read student writing, always with the intention of finding the good first rather than the mistakes, you are looking through a lens of positivity. I don't believe there can be an excess of positivity in a classroom.
     Another technique that seems useful is the choosing of one or two things to look at a time. In a conference you do not mention all of the things that are wrong in a piece of work, you focus on a couple. This is another way of cultivation hope in the student, but also, realistically, that is all they are likely to remember.

To craft writers...

Crafting Writers was an exciting book for me to read. As I read each chapter I could almost smell the dry erase board markers as I saw myself in front of my future classroom of eagerly smiling students, teaching them about variations of words and zooming in on details (I also noted many techniques I could use in my own writing). I already know that I can teach, but I came back to school to acquire tools so I could do it very well. I appreciate specific, clear, and detailed instruction, as this book provides. I love the way this book lays out exactly how to teach these writing techniques to your students. Before I was half way done with the readings, I had the opportunity to use the teaching tactics described. My boyfriend is afraid of commas. I, on the other hand, LOVE them. They regulate the flow of my writing. They help my writing to have voice, by giving my readers a way of hearing my words the way I hear them. I have tried to encourage my boyfriend to use commas, by saying "Use commas, make friends with commas, commas are good". And though my instructions were clear and straight to the point, they had no effect. I am convinced that at some point in his youth, when he was most vulnerable and impressionable, a glowering, and looming teacher with a severe hairdo, told him "Do not use so may commas!" Using the the advice in the book I was able to explain to him, the next time it came up, all of the reasons I use commas in my writing. By explaining "why it is good" I imagine that it will make more sense to him. Then, after reading the section on commas, my understanding of commas improved, giving me more way to explain "why it is good".

Perhaps it is just the kind of person I am, but what I really wanted more of in the book was results. All of these ideas for teaching writing are excellent, and my logic tells me that they will be helpful to students. But the most important part of teaching writing is the improvement of the student's writing. I assume that this woman is writing this book, not only because she had all of these great ideas, but because she has seen them work with students. I am looking forward to teaching writing, because it is such a valuable skill. The information from this book gives me confidence and excitement about going into a language arts lesson, of any age group.

A Community - in action

   Sections of the street were closed off to traffic and many small tents were set up along the edge of the road. The art fair is a small town event that draws metropolitan talent. People come from all over to present their art work to the people of the city and the people respond. People of all ages and backgrounds crowded 4th street to see what the artists had to offer. People who were young and old smiling and relaxed walked and danced through the street, pushing their strollers and leading their dogs. A beautiful day and pleasant music provided a backdrop for the enjoyment of many downtown. 

   As I tried to observe and record this event, I was overwhelmed by the crowd and flury of activity. As I focused in, I noticed people reaching out their hands to appreciate hand-made furniture, leaning forward to smell the savory Thai food dishes, and crouching down to get a closer look at jewelry that shone in the sunlight. I realized that this was not an experience to quantify, but rather to appreciate with all of the senses.  I focused on what I heard and noticed words of encouragement, pride and praise. The gentle and patient tones were that of adults working with children in the crafts tent. Around the corner just steps away I heard words that I imagined those children would not understand, such as glaze and dream-scape. Only an artist or someone familiar with art would understand these terms. This was an unusual environment where artistic language is common in casual conversations. I also heard many people say "this is nice", and "I really like that".  When I looked for people using literacy, I noticed people handing out fliers and pamphlets that resented a cause or promoted an event, but very little literature that was necessary to the experience. The signs were not very informative, and maps and guides were not readily available.The atmosphere there was one of relaxed enjoyment, where people are not in a hurry, and don't have an agenda. People seem to appreciate that warm beautiful days are numbered. And that standing in the middle of the street laughing and talking is the most important thing to be done in the moment. And rather than relying on literary markers, in this environment you can get all of the information you need by opening yourself up to a sensory experience.

The Delicacy of Teaching Literacy

   I have always believed that the quality of life for someone who does not know how to read is significantly reduced. My heart goes out to the people who do not enjoy reading and I can only imagine what it would be like to struggle with reading and writing on a daily basis. It is widely agreed that reading and writing are two of the most important skills a person can learn. I believe that there is a natural inclination towards reading and writing in children. At a very young age they quickly absorb information about letters. When you see a three year old pick up a memorized book and pretend to read you know that the desire to read is strong. There are many factors that influence early reading levels, such as exposure to reading materials, and parents reading to their children.  Because children all experience different levels of reading exposure and they have different learning dispositions, within one classroom there are generally many different reading levels. As a teacher with a classroom full of children at varied reading and writing levels, it can be a challenge to give every student the best lessons for them. According to Lyon and Moore in Sound Systems, "knowing the concepts in the curriculum to teach, knowing whom to teach them to, having a plan to methodically teach concepts, and keeping records of learning and teaching in phonics" is what is involved in systematically teaching phonics. 
   I am feeling optimistic about phonics education in our classrooms. On Wednesday we, as a class visited a school for the morning and saw them implementing a program designed to systematically identify and teach individualized phonics lessons to each student in the school. I see this focus more and more in schools, identifying and targeting the needs of the students. I believe that any situation, where teachers are getting extra support, is more likely to be a successful learning environment.

Blogging in Classrooms

From a young age children today have access to and knowledge of technology. I am blown away by the number of children who have their own personal computer or web access on their cell phones. I also see how dialed-in children are to technology. It seems that everyone is communicating through technology. I know teenagers who seem uncomfortable with traditional (or outdated) forms of communication such as talking on the phone. For some children who I know, if you don't text, or have a Facebook account, then good luck trying to talk with the. On the other hand, if you reach out to them in a context where they are comfortable, there is a better response! Integrating technology into the classroom has many benefits that I see as very valuable. For one thing, if you are using resources that the children are interested in, they are more likely to respond, and be interested in what you are doing in the classroom. Also by bringing this type of technology into the classroom, you create the opportunity to shape the way children are using this technology. When the children start using technology in the classroom the teacher has the chance to educate children about safety and privacy issues. Safety and privacy are issues relevant to all children online whether they know it or not, and addressing these issues in the classroom increases student awareness. Also in a classroom setting there need to be guidelines for student decorum. Students need to express themselves appropriately, and diplomatically and they might not consider the consequences of online behavior without teacher guidance. I am really excited about learning ways to use technology to teach, and reach out to my future students. I also am looking forward to expanding my personal usage of online communication.