Final Thoughts on SCED 4200

Well, I feel that I should preface this blog post with a confession: when my advisor told me last spring that I was going to have to take a class called “Reading, Writing and Technology” this semester, I was pretty irked about it. Already having had classes with titles such as “Ethnic Literacy,” “Teaching English,” “Teaching Writing” and “Technology for Teachers” on my transcript (not to mention the 17 courses with the letters E-N-G-L in their prefixes on there as well, which, I can attest, have forced a good amount of the “reading” and “writing” kinds of skills into my brain), my predictions for this course were that it was going to be very dull, that the information was going very redundant, and that attendance points would be my sole motivation for showing up.

Clearly, my attitude was less-than ideal.

While my pre-semester mind-set toward this course was pretty rotten, it only took a few classes for me to realize that the value of this class was going to extend way beyond being able to check it off of my required courses list. In the end, I not only had a much-needed change of heart toward SCED 4200, but even experienced a bit of a “restoration,” I guess, in terms of my motivations to and confidences in my ability to be a good teacher.

So, to state it concisely, my experience in SCED 4200 was awesome. And here is why:

1)      For the stuff I LEARNED.

While this class gave me greater understandings of what the big terms like “differentiation” and (thank goodness) “critical literacy” mean, the most valuable learning I feel like I took from this class had to do with the many, many tools/ideas/skills we were given in order to actually apply those terms one day. Here were a few of my favorites:

1-      The during-reading charts. I started using some of these in my own reading this semester.

2-      So many great texts I want to read/use one day in my classroom! From the awesome titles presented in our Book-Talk day to the many great websites we were introduced to (I especially liked the data visualization websites—way cool).

3-      Learning not just that differentiation should occur in the classroom, but lots of ways to do this. For instance, for helping ESL students, using lots of visuals with instruction (the Afrikaans lesson definitely illustrated the importance of that), having them engage in lots of oral language activities, and encouraging them to write down and then find out the meanings of three commonly-used words they don’t understand every day.

4-      Encouraging good writing in all 6-traits with activities like making Valentine’s Day cards for different audiences (voice), creating “personal dictionaries” of words they don’t know throughout the semester (word choice) and charting sentence lengths in a paper (sentence fluency).

5-      Teaching students how to evaluate internet source credibility through activities like the one in which we had to rank internet sources based on their credibility and then discuss why we did so with the class.

6-      How to encourage good class discussions by incorporating things like “uptake” (having students comment on the previous person’s statements), having student-generated questions fuel the discussion, and having “devil’s advocate” discussions (like we did with the Logan Dam debate).

7-      How to encourage good small-group discussions through activities like assigning students “strategy-specific roles” for reading, having mock interviews (I liked the “Oprah Winfrey interviewing an igneous rock” example) and creating/commenting on other people’s Facebook pages (which can be used for historical figures, like we did in class, or for characters in novels).

2)      For the stuff I ACQUIRED (Yes, these subheadings were totally stolen from Gee.)

          Along with the things that were explicitly taught in class, I think I learned just as much from the fact that the class structure, variety and individualization was such a great model for how a class should be.

1-      For instance, I loved that class always began with the opportunity to ask questions and that particular class’s objectives, and that clear Power Points were always used to guide us through the lesson. Along with its being well-organized, though, it was also appropriately relaxed. For instance, most everyone seemed to feel very comfortable sharing their opinions in our class discussions, and, I noticed, we seemed to be laughing quite a lot (although the fact that we had a lot of awesome personality in the class definitely contributed to that, too J).  

2-      I also liked the fact that class activities were not only frequent but varied. I don’t think there was ever a day where we weren’t asked to express our ideas in some way, yet the way in which we were asked to do so (i.e. in writing personal reflections, by acting out tide cycles, through structured small-group discussions) was never exactly the same. Also, I loved the fact that the class assignments were so varied. The blog posts, lesson plans, book-talk presentations, and self-selected project options offered, I felt, lots of great ways/options for us to demonstrate our knowledge as well as continue learning.

3-      Lastly, I thought that individualized instruction/attention was definitely modeled in this class. I’ve never had a teacher give my assignments such great feedback on my assignments, been so willing to work with students on issues like revision and even bring gluten-free cookies when one student in a class of 20 can’t eat normal food… Things like these, especially within the “individualized” category, made participating in class and doing assignments far more enjoyable and meaningful than just doing so for the grade. 

While I wasn’t so sure about a “Reading, Writing and Technology” class before the semester began, I’m so glad I got to take the course in this section this semester! I not only learned/acquired a ton, but enjoyed it, too. (Which enjoyment, I guess, probably had a lot to do with the fact that I learned/acquired a lot.) Thanks for an awesome semester!

Self-Selected Project: Discussing "It's Kind of a Funny Story" and Speak

For the self-selected project, Brian, Becca and I each read/watched two texts that we thought sounded interesting and relevant for using in our future classrooms. The texts we chose were the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson and the movie "It's Kind of a Funny Story," which is based upon the same-titled book by Ned Vizzini. We chose these two texts because they both discussed many similar topics (depression, finding one’s identity, forming good relationships), were written with a young adult audience in mind, and yet could complement the other because Speak’s protagonist is a girl and “Story” is told from the perspective of a boy, and because each are (obviously) different kinds of texts.

In our group discussion, we first talked about the aspects of Speak that we most liked and disliked. All of us agreed that while much of the book was somewhat sensationalized (i.e. the part where the teacher drives the main character in his car to New York, and the fact that the cliques in the school were so rigidly separate), that the book, overall, had a very true-to-life feel that made connecting with the story and its characters very easy to do. While we all disagreed slightly about how funny the book was (I found myself laughing a lot as I read it), we did all agree that the book had a humor that was appealing not only to us, but that would engage most adolescents as well. Another more general aspect of the book that we enjoyed was that the book had a lot of literary value beyond just having an intriguing plot line. Symbolism, for instance, was everywhere in the book, from the issues with finding the school mascot to the chapter in which the main character talks about the Scarlet Letter. Most than anything, we felt that the book presented opportunities for discussion on a wide variety of topics that could be made relevant to almost any age group.

A few of the main characters in "It's Kind of  a Funny Story,"
 including Zach Galifianakis (guy with the ice cream cone) and
Emma Roberts (far right).

Overall, it seemed that the aspects of Speak that we liked and disliked were the same general things we discussed with “It’s Kind of a Funny Story.” While much of the movie’s plot also seemed sensationalized, we felt that its discussion of a wide range of topics was funny, “real,” and relevant enough to make it a movie worth recommending. We all liked that, perhaps even more than Speak, the movie seemed to put a positive, hopeful look at dealing with depression that would be particularly good for teens to take in. On another note, the movie just had some great acting and cool scenes that made watching it particularly enjoyable.

After our general discussion about the texts, we then talked about some ways in which we might incorporate these texts into our future instruction. We all seemed to agree that while the film had lots of great material that could be pulled from it into a lesson, that showing the entire movie wouldn’t be something that we would do in a classroom setting (both because it contained a few possibly inappropriate scenes and because, well, we think that showing full-length movies in school should be done very rarely, if ever). We all felt that clips from the movie—even if the book it is based upon was not being read in class—could enrich many classroom discussions. 

A scene from the film based on  Speak.

As for Speak, I think we all felt like it would be a good book to consider for a teaching unit for younger high school students (or even middle school students). While we talked briefly about the fact that some parents or administrators might challenge teaching Speak for some of its content, we all thought that the book handled these “grittier” topics in a way that would not only make it appropriate for use in a classroom, but that would encourage important, applicable discussions for students. Even if the book weren’t talk in its entirety, we felt that, similar to “Story,” it contained lots of material that could be used to supplement a wide variety of class discussions.

As for the book club, I definitely enjoyed getting to choose and then discuss texts that I found to be interesting. While reading and talking about literature is something I do almost every day in my major, being able to do this with texts I really want to read in a more relaxed, unstructured setting is definitely not as typical. Reading for school, no matter how well it’s done, somehow seems to make us forget how enjoyable and fun reading really can/should be. Therefore, encouraging students to do a similar book club type activity would, I think, be one way to help students enjoy reading at least a bit more than just having them discuss books as a class.

Affective Dimensions of Reading

Being a senior means that I’ve now been asked the “What’s your major?” question approximately 5,720 times; and, of the many responses I’ve had to my reply of “English Teaching,” a few have been most memorable: 1) (said in complete seriousness) “Oh, well, I don’t talk to English majors, because I know you’re all just judging my grammar and not really listening to what I’m saying.” 2) “Oh. I hated my high school English teacher. I blew up her dog.” and 3) “Oh. You must be a really fast reader.”

As one might imagine, I didn’t… er… really know how to respond to any of these; and while extending the discussions about the first two might make for an interesting blog post, it’s the general assumption alluded to in statement #3 that is a good lead-in to my discussion on the affective dimensions of reading.

Assumption being: that to enjoy/love reading, one must be able to mentally intake and process written texts at ridiculously high speeds.

This, to me, is one of the top 5 (if not top, er, 2…) reasons why so many of my friends and family members tell me how much they either “hate” or are “just not good” at reading and/or writing and, therefore, don’t engage in either. And the worst part about it is that, I think, schools are more often than not where this horrible belief is first encouraged.

See, if reading and processing information quickly is the mark of a good reader, I am not one. While my teachers always knew that I could read things at blazing speeds out loud, the fact that I was actually understanding none of the words flying out of my mouth was never really recognized. And while my lack of reading comprehension skills for some reason, never really affected me in high school (a good topic of another possible blog post…), it was in college that I finally realized that I wasn’t a genuinely fast reader and, consequently, when I began to full-out loathe reading for the first time in my life.

What taught me that I couldn’t “read well” was what I think teaches most people who feel this way about themselves: that I was assigned to read TONS; and, quite often, those assignments felt completely “pointless.” These three reasons (the words in the bold) are what I think teachers must properly address in order for our students to come away from their high school experience with a love for reading.

Some ways I might address these three problems:

1)      ASSIGNED

a.       Give my students options as much as possible! Not only allowing them to choose from, say, 3 young adult lit. books, but to sometimes decide whether they’d like to “read” a short story, poem or even a painting can teach students that being able to comprehend and enjoy Julius Caesar is NOT what indicates whether someone can enjoy and gain great benefits from reading.

b.      Give my students a say in what types of materials are assigned. Since units themes can generally be taught using many different texts, giving students a genuine say in what they will read will encourage them to think about texts they could enjoy reading and then, I think, feel more motivated to try to actually find enjoyment in them as they read.

2)      TONS

a.       This one sounds pretty simple: Don’t assign a ton of reading—either in OR out of class. Actually doing it, though, might be difficult, considering that things like AP tests often require that our students need to understand lots of material. Right now, I don’t really have a solution for this one… Only that a solution needs to be thought of. Great answer, huh? J

3)      POINTLESS

a.        While some might disagree with me, I think it is both important and possible for EVERY text being read in class to have some relevance to students’ lives and/or incentive for understanding it other than just getting a good grade. The trick, I think, won’t necessarily be finding stuff that is relevant, but effectively showing (and convincing?) students how the texts we teach are meaningful for them. How this should be done will, of course, depend greatly upon what the texts are, who the students are, and the teacher’s own personality and interests. Being willing to put in the extra effort to try and make these connections is necessary for this to happen.

As always, improving our students’ attitudes toward our subjects requires two sometimes-hateful words: MORE WORK. Being willing to put in the work is, though, what creates teachers capable of making a lasting impact for good upon students. Hopefully by addressing these big 3 issues in my English classroom, I can not only avoid having any of my pets blown up : / , but get to run into a few of my students years down the road and have them tell me how much they still love to read. 

Aly's Absurdly Excessive Tech Usage / Cool Ways to Incorporate Technology in the Classroom

After a week of tracking my technology use, I realized that my use of technology is ridiculously more excessive than what I’d expected it to be. The following are some of the data I ended up with:

-I usually checked my email 6 or 7 times a day, not counting the times I’d just left my Gmail up.

-I used my Ipod everyday—usually for around 30 minutes—and usually when running, washing the dishes or walking to early morning classes. I usually listened to one of several podcasts I subscribe to.  

-TV was the one area I didn’t feel embarrassed about my excessive use in. I only watched one movie in the week (“Slumdog Millionaire”—what a great movie…).

-I use my cell phone almost all day long, and receive between 25 and 40 texts daily [mostly from my mom or dad... lame, I know :)].

-In looking at my history on my computer, I had lots of various websites I looked at frequently: Facebook, FoxNews, a church website, several electronic databases on the USU library website (Early American Imprints), various blogs (including UtahBrideBlog, which I’m semi-addicted to), a wiki created to share ideas about teaching various Young Adult Literature titles,  YouTube videos, Pandora, Google Spreadsheets to track my running, Google Docs to help my dad edit a Kindle book he’s submitting, Blackboard and Canvas, Thesaurus.com, Google Maps, pumpkin carving ideas, Skype, Sparknotes (…), recipe sites, Wunderground, Wells Fargo, Wikipedia, and various others.

A week of recognizing both how much technology is part of my day-to-day life and yet how little I really know about what great, educational stuff is out there definitely increased my motivation to use and teach technology in my future classroom. I think an English classroom is an ideal setting for incorporating cool technology into the classroom. Here are some random ideas I found or thought-up:

-Have my students use Prezi (especially if they are already very familiar with PowerPoint, which is likely) to create unit presentations

-Have students use Audacity to create podcasts in which they discuss impressions of a class service project they participated in

-Create a WebQuest for students to go through when being introduced to a new unit topic—for instance, if a Shakespeare play is about to be taught, create one which has students complete several tasks that require them to do background research on various relevant topics

-Have students use Wikispaces to write their own “create your own adventure” stories (like this one… so cool! https://thecavesofmull.wikispaces.com/)

- Use Wimba (which is sort of an “educational Skype”) teaching students who aren’t all able to be in the classroom at the same time. Students have the option to type, speak or make video responses to the teacher, and the teacher can present slideshows while lecturing… very cool

-Have students use Pinterest to create visual journals of quotes, images, artwork, and videos, or to collaborate with one another on group projects

-Have students use Facebook to check out the pages of potential presidential candidates and critically analyze what kinds of photos, status updates and events they choose to include and why

-Encourage students to use GoogleDocs when doing group research papers

Side note: As I was thinking about technology use this week, I found a really interesting podcast called "The Social Hour" that basically has weekly (I think…), hour-or-so-long discussions about new kinds of social technology coming out, current debates being had over different kinds of social media, etc. Thought perhaps it would be a good podcast to listen to every once in a while in order to keep up on new, awesome social media that could be incorporated into my classroom. 

Affective Dimensions of Writing

The first writing experience I really remember was in 2^nd grade when, for an assignment, we were asked to write a short fictional story that we would then have to read in front of the class. Mine ended up being about a small alien that ended up stealing my mom’s Paul Mitchell hairspray to refuel his space ship with. As horrible of a storyline as that sounds, my classmates ate it up. I still clearly remember the satisfaction I’d experience each time I read an intentionally humorous passage and, in response, hear my peers' appreciative laughter. No New York Times bestselling author has felt more beloved or admired than I did during that reading. I so thoroughly enjoyed this experience, and the praise I received afterward from fellow classmates, that I not only somehow convinced my teacher to let me give another reading of a story I decided to write later that week (an equally engrossing tale in which my classmates and I built a time machine, boarded the Titanic and bribed the captain to not drive so fast with a Milky Way bar—thus saving thousands of lives), but then changed my “What do you want to be when you grow up?” response from “marine biologist for dolphins” to “writer." 

While my 2nd grade aspirations of writing best-selling fictional novels faded almost as quickly as they had started-up, my identity as a writer has continued to develop. My days are almost always packed with writing: from text messages, emails, and Facebook posts to analytical essays and lesson plans for my classes to personal journal entries. I love being a writer--not because I am particularly "good" at it, but as was mentioned in class the other day, that writing allows us to do many things: "to remember, to express, to organize, to communicate and to connect." For these reasons, I am definitely looking forward to teaching my students about writing. 

While my 2nd grade experience with writing was positive, I've definitely experienced a few bad experiences with writing in school since then. And while many factors have contributed to this, the two that stand out the most two me are 1) lack of direction and 2) lack of applicability. Some of the worst experiences I've ever had with writing occurred because the paper requirements and/or rubric weren't detailed or clear enough. Not only do the instructions, rubric and teacher expectations all need to match, but be presented in a way that students clearly understand what is being asked and how to go about it. On the other hand, having to write papers on topics that I felt absolutely no connection to (i.e. a 12th-grade research paper about Type I Diabetes) made writing, in those moments, a mind-numbingly dull and tedious chore that I would dread, procrastinate, finally toss out the night before it was due, and then never want to look at again. As a teacher, I (among other things) want to be sure to always give my students clear explanations of what will be expected from their writing and never force them to write on topics that don't have some relevance to their lives.

Growing Up with Reading

Growing up, books were part of the big moments as well as the everyday.

 It was from my frequent contact with books that I gained the love for words that led me to where I am as a student in the English Teaching program here at USU. Here are some of the lessons I learned about reading from my experiences with books (Warning: I was feelin sappy-ish when I wrote these…)

1)      That reading can form/strengthen relationships. 

One of my favorite things as a little girl was sitting on one of my Grandma’s lap (BOTH read to me often...) while she would read me a story. I still remember my favorites: one about the famous "little engine that could," and another about an old Russian babushka whose kindness earned her an enchanted goose that could lay brilliantly-colored eggs. These stories connected me not only to the fascinating characters in the books, but to my grandmothers, to whom I’ll always attribute at least part of my love of learning to. There’s nothing quite like reading and appreciating literature with someone you care about.

Image from the book Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacco

2)      That reading shouldn't be taken for granted.

When I was about 12, it just so happened that the latest Harry Potter book came out the day before our family’s yearly backpacking trip. The hike required to get to our camping spot was no cakewalk, so only the absolute necessities could be brought along—which, of course, meant that a 10 pound Harry Potter book didn’t qualify. While I stayed up late into the night trying to devour as much of it as I could before our trip, I only made it halfway (I was having to take turns with my mom and sister, too!), and left on our trip the next morning thinking that I’d just half to finish it in a few days. It was later the next day, after a long hike around the Lake, that the most memorable part of the trip occurred, when my dad handed me a photo-copy he’d made of the chapter I’d left off on. He’d snuck it into his pack! Suddenly given something to read in a world with no books was like being given a giant, cold Diet Pepsi in the middle of a desert or something (bad analogy…), and as I savored those written words, I think I gained a slightly better idea of how precious and thoroughly awesome reading can and should be.

A shot of our annual backpacking destination (near Ten Sleep, WY)

3)      That everyday reading makes life rich. 

Many of my memories of the everyday while growing up involve reading of some kind: my mom, in the blue armchair, relaxing with yet another book she was able to find which, strangely, always seemed to have small-town preachers as their protagonists; my dad at the dinner table excitedly relating some shocking fact he’d learned from the latest biographical audiobook he’d listened to on anyone from Dean Karnazes to the Kennedy’s; my  half-awake little sister, still in her Dora pajamas, slowly sounding-out each letter in the Bible verse when it came her turn to read during morning “Scriptures”…

An OLD picture of the fam! Including both sets of my grandparents (all of whom were teachers). I'm the nerd in the red.

While I had the opportunity to grow up with reading, I recognize that many of my students will not have. Knowing this, I guess, has been another motivation to become an English teacher. There are several things I plan to do as I try to help my students gain a greater love for reading. Some of these are:

1)      Choose books, poems and other written materials that A) have content relevant and intriguing to students, B) are written at a level which will challenge (yet not discourage) them as readers, and C) I am passionate about. 

2)      Frequently give my students opportunities to make personal connections with the class readings, by doing things like journal writing, small-group discussions about content as well as personal reactions to the readings, etc.

3)      Make improving some aspect of my students’ reading skills a daily goal in my instruction, teaching methods such as how to take good notes, ask as well as find the answers to questions, and make connections and predictions while reading.

Looking back, I know that my frequent contact with reading while growing up has had a big impact on me. Hopefully, my teaching will help my students gain a greater love for reading, too.

Post #1- Introduction

My name is Aly Bernhisel. I'm from Cowley, Wy, which is a 500-person town about 90 miles south of Billings, Mt. I love trail running, writing, traveling, and peanut butter. This is my 8th semester at USU, where I'm studying English Teaching. I hope to teach in a high school someday.

Being an English teacher, I think, comes with a lot of responsibility. While the traditional things we think of as being part of a high school English curriculum, such as grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, etc. are important, I feel like my main purpose as an English teacher needs to be teaching my students how to communicate effectively: with people, texts, society and, MOST importantly, with themselves. Reading and writing aren't the "end" of instruction; rather, they are the means English teachers can use to help students learn about interpretation and communication for use in their own individual lives.

I guess several things influenced my decision to become an English teacher. One is that teaching is sort of a tradition in my family: both of my parents, as well as all four of my grandparents, are/were at one point teachers. Carrying on the tradition wasn't so much the motivator, though, as was the fact that all of them love teaching, have enjoyed the opportunity it gives for one to continue learning themselves, and have been able to make a real difference in many of their students' lives over the years. These are what I hope to experience as I teach also. On a less sentimental note, the ideas of having summers "off" (although, I learned from watching my parents, "off" maybe isn't the most accurate word...) and may even being able to coach are also definite bonuses.

Really, I feel like one of the "lucky" ones in this class, in that I think the material we will be covering might benefit me more than it might other majors. Or, rather, will be easier to apply to my major. Along with that, us English majors may also be a bit more naturally interested in this stuff (ie discussing literacy) than, perhaps, someone planning on teaching health. I do feel like this stuff is applicable and important for teachers in every discipline, though, so hopefully we can all find that out a bit this semester.