Keeping Black Students in Schools & How to Keep Rewriting Alive in Schools (4/18)

Hello all. I hope you're having a good day. I'm glad you found your way onto my blog. Take a seat, pour yourself a cup of matcha tea, and read on. For this week we scavenged the internet to find posts from educational blogs that we found interesting. I found two articles, Having Just One Black Teacher Can Keep Black Kids In School and How to Keep Rewriting Alive in the Classroom. Both articles stood out to me by having significance for future teachers.

Having Just One Black Teacher was an important read. I fully realize that I don't fall under the category of black teacher. Nonetheless some stats found in the article stood out to me. "Having just one black teacher in third, fourth or fifth grade reduced low-income black boys' probability of dropping out of high school by 39 percent, the study found." I believe that is a very significant percentage. The main idea of the article was that black students need role models in school.

Another important idea was "If a low-income black boy never sees anyone in the classroom who looks like him, Papageorge [researcher] says he might conclude, 'Hey, college is just not for me'. And then why would you work hard in school?'" I think that this is a terrible thing for a young student to say to themselves. I didn't realize how important it was for students to have a role model. By having more teachers of color in the classroom, we will have more students of color crossing the stage.

The second article was related to many concepts we've brought up in class. It focused on the concept of writing and rewriting. The article states that students are trained to create writing on the spot because of high-stakes testing. They are forced into conventional writing that produces poor results. The article includes a quote from Roald Dahl, "good writing is essentially rewriting." The article also included an activity that allows students to see how time affects their writing. Some students are given clay and are told to make something with limited time, while other students are allowed unlimited time. This is related to the writing process and how different the end product is with restricted time.

Both articles were enlightening and fun to read.

Here they are, for your viewing pleasure:

Having Just One Black Teacher Can Keep Black Kids In School: http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/04/10/522909090/having-just-one-black-teacher-can-keep-black-kids-in-school

How to Keep Rewriting Alive in the Classroom: http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2017/01/23/how-to-keep-rewriting-alive-in-the-classroom.html?qs=writing

Assessing Student Writing (4/11)

This week we read selections from Gallagher and Christiansen along with an article by Patricia Dunn. All readings focused on a theme of instead of correcting everything students do wrong it's more effective to show them what they're doing correctly. There was a chapter in Teaching for Joy and Justice in which Christiansen mentions she doesn't even grade papers! Our classroom discussion today focused on these issues with everyone sharing great points of view on how they feel about grading.

Gallagher wrote about his Ten Tenets of Teaching Editing Skills. One Tenet that I focused on for a quickwrite question was the tenth- Repeat After Me: "I Am Not Superman. I Am Not Superman. I Am Not..." This stuck with me because it is a good practice for a teacher to be in. Learning from what people shared in class today, teachers have a lot on their plates at all times. It is good to remind yourself that you can't do everything all the time.

Christensen wrote about how she also focuses on giving students constructive feedback. She does this by not grading her students' papers. They either pass the assignment or have to rewrite. I believe this is a very effective way of getting students to complete their work with more creativity. They are less held down to the idea of receiving a grade allowing them to work more extensively. Without a grade holding them down they can write how they truly feel.

The article that compared teaching new drivers to new writers included many similarities. You can not force good driving or good writing down anyone's throat. While some people should be told how to drive with immediate instruction, "Stop now!" "Speed up!" most writers don't function this way. All of these readings helped me understand that there are multiple ways for students to improve their writing.

Rhode Island Writing Project

On Saturday I attended the Rhode Island Writing Project at Roger Williams University with some awesome people.

See:

The talk itself was informative and interesting. Linda Christensen, the author of Teaching for Joy and Justice was the keynote speaker. Other speakers were Aimee Marsland, an excellent English teacher at North Providence High School and Brittany Richter, an equally excellent middle school teacher.

Linda touched on many subjects including teaching students with different backgrounds and understanding where different vernaculars come from. She broke the speech up with things like a video of a slam poet defending her mother's accent and an activity in which we would take on a role of a person whose language was silenced.

I learned a lot from the speech including how to reach students of many different backgrounds. The speech was ended by an incredible performance by Brittany's students. They all worked for hours on several slam poems. Each one focused on different topics such as how the military is viewed and how they themselves are viewed in society. Each poem gave me goosebumps. 😊

Sarah, Kelli, and I attended The Importance of Putting Down Roots: Greek and Latin Roots Studies. This was an interesting talk held my Mary Rafferty and Kimberly Reynolds. It focused on a small lecture followed by a few literacy games. One involved creating new words using roots such as pre- and anti-, base words, and suffixes such as -ology and -able.

The conference was a great and fun experience overall, I plan on returning next year! 😁

6+1 Traits of Writing (3/28)

This week, we read the 6 + 1 Traits of Writing from Education Northwest's website. The six traits are: Ideas, Organization, Voice, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, Conventions, and Presentation. See? 6 + 1. I enjoyed this reading. It was short, sweet, and to the point. Maria and I are co-teaching on this for class on Tuesday as well, so it was nice to have an article that was clearly written.

I hadn't thought about some of these traits while writing before. Presentation was one example. I had never thought about how my words appeared on the page before. I believe that this trait is useful for papers that are handwritten. Presentation would matter a lot in this case. You would want the reader to understand your writing first and foremost. But I believe that the writer could add in their own style with the way they write. This would allow the presentation of their paper to take on a new light. It would be another way for the writer to express themselves along with their ideas.

I liked the description of word choice as well. The article states that, "Strong Word Choice is characterized not so much by an exceptional vocabulary chosen to impress the reader, but more by the skill to use everyday words well." I thought this was a great way to put it. You don't want to bore your reader by using extraneous, superfluous, nonessential, supplementary language. You want to speak naturally and use everyday language.

These traits will help many students grasp the idea of writing better. If they have a checklist to go by they can organize their thoughts clearly. Everyone can benefit from using these traits in fact. They're a great strategy if you're thinking of what to write or have writer's block. I know I will use them in my future writing.

This video shows an example of the 6+1 Traits in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23af-ASifr4

Teaching Writing to Bilingual Students (3/21)

Teaching writing to bilingual students is a challenge posed to many teachers today. More pressure is added to these students not only attempting to learn a second language, but how to write and communicate ideas through writing in a foreign language. Authors Pahl, Rowsell, and Danling Fu offer insight into teaching these students.

Pahl and Rowsell had an interesting article called Conceptualizing Artifactual Literacies: A Framework. In this article, the authors suggest that objects that people keep with them over time are important to defining who that person is. This is relevant for an English language learner. They will bring objects, or artifacts with them when coming to a new country. These artifacts, ranging from anything from toy cars to suitcases, build that person's identity. This influences writing as well. A child in elementary school learning English tasked with a writing assignment will most likely write about their favorite toy. An important quote I found from this reading was, "A text therefore is composed of visual as well as linguistic elements." People write from things they hold dear to themselves.

The chapters from Writing Between Languages book by Danling Fu had interesting information on ELLs. One thing I learned from this reading was that ELLs often find difficulty in expressing their ideas in writing English, so they copy sentences down to write. I found this interesting because this is a resourceful way to write. It is isn't the preferred method to write of course but I believe if I was attempting to learn a new language I would use this same strategy. Another point that Fu brings up is that non native English speakers need to practice writing in English consistently in order to become better. This is something to keep in mind when going into the field of teaching. ELLs will need a large amount of time to practice their writing, speaking, and reading English. Both authors gave me important insight into the world of English language learners.

Quickwrite for 3/14

2. Gallagher provides many great examples for modeling writing for students as well as giving plenty of time for students to practice writing. Modeling can be used most effectively in the classroom when giving students a writing assignment. I think getting the students into small groups and going around to each group to give modeling examples would be effective. This way, they get the ideas of how to express their thoughts more effectively and can also bounce ideas off of each other. Giving plenty of time for writing helps out as well. I believe having students write a quickwrite at the beginning of each class on any topic- thoughts of the day, their favorite sport, a fond memory, can help foster better writers.

   I have found success after plenty of practice time with writing. I find the more I write, the easier ideas come from my head onto the paper. This idea relates to many things in life. The more you practice a song on an instrument, the better you will be able to play it. The more you memorize the lines of a play, the better you will be to recite it. Practicing writing with students will allow them to hopefully enjoy the idea of it more as well as be able to create an outlet for them to express inner thoughts.

   When I was first introduced to the compare and contrast essay, I was confused on what I had to do. I understood that I needed to compare the likeness and differences of an idea, but I had no idea on how to go about doing that. My teacher had to model the idea to me. She gave me Venn diagrams to look at with one circle capturing one idea and the second capturing separate ideas. With the middle section being similarities between them both. She also gave me examples of other compare and contrast essays that had been written to give me a better idea on what to do. The modeling helped me create a compare and contrast essay.

Teaching Effective Writing Strategies (3/14)

Hey guys. How's everyone doing? I hope you're having a good day. Alright enough small talk- let's talk effective writing strategies. After reading both the chapters in the Gallagher book and the article The Policy of the Paragraph I learned many strategies in teaching effective writing strategies to students. I found the main idea from Gallagher was the combination of students reading more along with help from the teacher allowed them to become better writers. The Policy article focused more on avoiding harmful essay formulas.

The Policy of the Paragraph recounts a story in which a student runs out of the room, upset that she is limited to three ideas on an essay when she has five. This upsets her teacher, Michelle Kenney as she wants all of her students to be as creative as possible. This is where the main idea of the article comes in- the rigorous essay formats are more harmful than helpful. The unfortunate part is that most students need to use these formulas come test time. This prompts the teachers at this school to create their own writing strategy- PEAS. It stands for Point, Evidence, Analysis, So-what? The article ends with an idea that resonated with me. We don't want to teach "good enough" writing but unfortunately we do because of things like state testing.

Gallagher had several good ideas when teaching writing to high-schoolers. One of his main ideas was that the more students read, along with help from the teacher, the more effective writers they will become. It wasn't a simple one to one ratio: the more reading a student does, the better the writer. The teacher needs to help the student become a better writer. This includes teaching them the effectiveness of rewriting and revising. Going back and fixing mistakes on an old essay helps students become better writers. This is something I will practice in my classroom one day. I want my students to become effective writers and teaching them to read more and revise their work will help me achieve that.

A Letter from Mr. O'Hara to Parents on Standards

Dear Parents,

   Do not panic, your child is fine. I realize a letter home from school is nerve-racking but I am simply writing to you to inform you about standards. Standards are what each state require students possess before moving further in their education. I figured that informing all of you about what I'll be teaching on and why would keep us all on the same page. I also wanted to inform you on how standards affect my teaching. Follow me while I take you through the wonderful world of Common Core Standards!

   First off, we have the standards themselves. A quick look at ncte.org gives us all the information we need. Just to give you a few example of what English Language Arts standards look like, here are three from ncte.org, "2. Students read a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres to build an understanding of the many dimensions (e.g., philosophical, ethical, aesthetic) of human experience." "5. Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes." and "10. Students whose first language is not English make use of their first language to develop competency in the English language arts and to develop understanding of content across the curriculum."

   Looking through these standards brings me back to my old college days where we would study these day in and day out. If only I could tell my younger self about my ex-wife Tracy... Sorry I drifted off there for a second. Ah yes, standards. Looking at number 2 and number 5 many ideas fill in my head. These standards affect my teaching directly because I have to base my lesson plans around having your child learn these standards. Number 2, for example involve exposing students to many different types of literature. It's not only a challenge to have students understand what the author is saying in their work, but how to connect it to their lives so they see it more clearly. Teaching To Kill a Mockingbird for example allows students to see that racism is spread through society, not implicitly in the individual. I also included number 10 to point out that some of my ELL students need certain accommodations when learning texts such as Romeo and Juliet or The Canturbury Tales. This is simply another component of teaching- allowing every student the tools they need to progress.

   Looking at these standards through a critical theoretical lens allows us to see how standards affect students directly. For example, looking at standard 2 through a progressive literacy lens allows us to see that both the literacy and standard work together. Standard 2 mentions that students will "read a wide range of literature from many periods." The progressive literacy lens fits over this idea well. The literacy states that English classes will "encourage the inclusion of student voice and culture; includes a variety of literature and discourses as part of the curriculum." Both literacy and standard mention that students will encounter various forms of literature. The progressive literacy theory also mentions hearing from students' voice and culture. I think that this is a great ideal, especially for such a culturally diverse class such as mine. I enjoy hearing from your sons and daughters about how they celebrate holidays, which types of food they eat, and what kind of family they have. It makes my job better by allowing me to see where my students are coming from and learning a little bit more about their life outside of school.

   Using my prior knowledge of these different areas of literacy allows me to critique the Common Core Standards. Looking at functional literacy for example allows standards to be seen as helping to create productive citizens and members of the workforce. It is usually found in remedial classes. One downside to this type of literacy is that it does not encourage students to challenge texts or ideas. Students simply read the text but don't really dive into its meaning. I don't believe this is all the student's fault. Teachers and students should work together to get to the meaning of a text, with the teacher pushing the student along. That is what I attempt in my classroom, and your sons and daughters have been responding well to it. Looking at a specific standard under the functional lens, we can see how standards can be both positive and negative. Looking at standard 2, we can see that students reading "a wide range of literature from many periods in many genres" is a great ideal. They ideas from these texts will allow students to gain different perspectives on the world and in turn become more aware citizens of the world around them. On the downside, simply reading these texts does not unlock their meaning for students. In a functional classroom, students would not get what the author or poet was trying to say. This is the job of the teacher to make sure the class is on board with what they are reading and can dig a little deeper into texts.

   Cultural literacies can be a helpful yet sometimes dangerous thing for many classrooms. On the one hand, cultural literacy teaches the dominant culture's beliefs and values. This is good for some students, the ones that are a part of the dominant culture, but not so helpful for all of the other students. Cultural literacy teaches from one point of view. This does not help students that aren't a part of the dominant culture. With standards that have students read many of the world's greatest writers, most curriculums don't take into account that most of these writers are rich white men that only write from a particular point of view. While the works themselves are great, the ethnically diverse students might not have such a strong opinion on The Odyssey. To not discuss various other issues brought up in texts that involve race, gender, and society in general does not get all students involved.

   As I mentioned earlier, progressive literacy is a student centered learning practice. It focuses on student voice and advocates that students learning things about themselves is the best way to learn. I try to incorporate this literacy into my classroom as often as I can. I enjoy hearing back from my students, they always have something interesting to share. When they learn that they enjoy reading a certain author or text, they seem to enjoy the lesson at hand much more. While this literacy doesn't question power, culture, or even the curriculum, it does allow students to be heard. This allows many standards, such as 9. "students develop an understanding of and respect for diversity in language use, patterns, and dialects across cultures, ethnic groups, geographic regions, and social roles" to become clearer. Students can gain a respect for diverse language by speaking it. They can also learn something about themselves if they enjoy this type of reading. This way students such as your sons and daughters can relate to something they read in school. This will allow them to become much more avid readers and learners.

   Critical literacy covers many areas of the classroom, such as putting the topic of privilege at the forefront in an attempt to transform curriculum and instruction. It also allows students to deconstruct texts as well as the myths of civilization. All in a day's work. This is another standard that focuses on students being responsible for their learning. With some support from me of course. By discussing privilege openly with the class allows students to see how society is influenced. I enjoy discussing this topic with students. It is good to get these ideas out in the open. Talking about these issues at this age allows students to gain important perspectives about society. While these ideas are important, it is possible some students will become confused. This happens because the information we're giving them conflicts with what they have always known. High school is a confusing time for most of us.

   Most standards under a critical lens allow students to see texts in a new light. Looking at standard 3 for example mentions that students will "draw on prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers," to "appreciate texts." This will be interesting to experience in the classroom when we address the multiple perspectives in a novel a student has already read. When we look at the topic of race for example in a text the student read, a whole new world of ideas can come about. The student can see the text in a new way and that is what the critical literacy strategy hopes to achieve.

   After taking a look at RethinkingSchools.org, I can see some schools are attempting to move away from the typical idea of school where a teacher lectures to a room full of students that aren't paying attention to a word the teacher is saying. This is because of a system that no longer works in our schools. To quote the Rethinking Schools website, "Schools are about more than producing efficient workers or future winners of the Nobel Prize for science. They are the place in this society where children from a variety of backgrounds come together and, at least in theory, learn to talk, play, and work together." The idea of teaching to a group of kids that the teacher knows little about can't continue.

   These types of schools seem to take a step away from the idea of standards. They don't focus primarily on standardized tests or a textbook-dominated curriculum. They focus on issues of race, something that most schools avoid altogether. It is important to address these ideas. If they simply get swept under the rug than it will only make students question these ideas more. Rethinking Schools seems to focus more on student needs and less on standards, which is good and bad. We need students to learn standards as they go through school yet we don't want to suffocate them. Rethinking Schools is doing a great job at making students feel welcome in the classroom. Backing away from the standards may cause some problems in the future but adjusting students to a new form of school is challenging. Addressing race and education issues will provide the students with valuable real world information as well.

   I need to wrap this letter up, my wife Stacey has just made lasagna. I hope this was informative on the state of our state standards. Teaching these can be difficult at times but with the help of your children it will be much easier. I try to structure my classroom in a way that welcomes student voice. This is why I like the progressive literacy strategy. Hearing more about my students' lives outside of school helps me teach them better. There are many standards I need to teach to your children so understanding where they are coming from helps me out more. If you ever have any questions for me I'm always a call, e-mail, or letter away. Thank you and have a nice day.

                                                                      From,
                                                                                Mr. O'Hara

Personalized Learning

   Personalized learning is a new trend that is starting in schools. Instead of teachers standing at the front of a classroom teaching students, each student is equipped with a laptop or iPad that is teaching them the lesson with the teacher being more of an assistant. There are advantages and disadvantages to this type of learning but overall this trend isn't helpful. Students learn the most when they interact with other students and the teacher. Our readings for this week focused on personalized learning and what it means for future classrooms.

   The Coiro piece- Let's Get Personal detailed the differences between personal learning and personalized learning. The most important quote from the personal learning section was "technology is not critical for learning to be personal." Personal learning focuses more on students setting goals for themselves with help from the teacher. This article also detailed why personalized learning was ineffective for a few reasons: students spend most of the time on a computer, students need discussion to build knowledge, and overall interaction with other students. I think it's important we stick to the main point of students coming to a school: to interact with their peers and teachers. Students at any age need to make friends with other students and discuss ideas or problems they have with a human teacher.

   The Couros article Developing Teacher Candidates in a Networked World reminded me of some practices we use in our own class. Ideas such as having a positive image on social networks, class hashtags, and blogs in which we post and comment as a class are all things we do in our class. I've enjoyed using these ideas so far, it feels like a more appropriate use of technology. An important quote from the article was, "teachers need to understand the reality of students' digital lives in order to make education relevant and engaging for today's young people by bringing the digital into the classroom." If we can find a balance with technology in the classroom I believe we will have much more attentive students.

   The Roberts and Mahoney piece also brought up interesting elements of a personalized learning setting. One idea they mention is the sheer amount of data collection that is gained from personalized learning. The authors mention that this information could be used to create a "homework profile" much like Netflix creates a movie profile based on your interests. While most elements of personalized learning are destructive to learning, I like this idea. With a computer figuring out what a student is good and not so good at based on their homework, it could suggest websites or other problems to help. I think this would only be effective in area such as math, but still I think it would be effective. There still should be teacher input of course, with more tips on why they are doing something wrong and how to fix it. Still, I have found websites such as Kahn Academy helpful in figuring out problems.

   We should not give up on schools as we have them now. Students coming to school to interact with teachers and peers is the tried and true method of school. While there are some advantages to having a digital classroom, the main reason stays the same: students need human interaction to grow and learn.

Without teachers in schools we wouldn't have cool moments like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0jgcyfC2r8

Poetry (Christensen & Macaluso)

   This week we read about a topic that is personal to many students and teachers: poetry. Both authors, Christensen and Macaluso talk about how poetry can bring real life events into a different light. Through poetry, one can make an experience real for the reader. By putting the audience into their own shoes, poets can tell stories that go deeper than the normal conversation. 

   Christensen encourages her students to write poems that incorporate some element of their personal life. This could be a family member, part of their native language, or a meal that is special to their family. This allows teachers to gain insight into their students' lives, as well as gauge their skills as writers. One idea that I thought was great from the first chapter in Teaching for Joy and Justice was the brainstorming activity Christensen did with her students on creating a poem. She first had her students look at the different parts of a poem. They looked at the verb "raised" for example, and asked for different words for raised. This allowed the poem to evolve within the classroom.

   The Malacuso article also offered insight into the world of poetry. Author Kati Malacuso recounts of writing a poem for a poetry class. She creates a poem out of an elderly couple in the supermarket. The poem she creates puts the reader inside of her head. She makes the audience feel that they are there themselves in the supermarket, beside the old woman who is afraid of her husband not returning. I believe the most important thing Macaluso says is that she could explain the story piece by piece, but she would rather not. She states, "This explanation would have been accurate, but it would not have done justice to this experience. It needed a poem."

This video shows author Linda Christensen explaining how important writing is for both teachers and students: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVV4JZNohhQ

Emdin, Gallagher, & Christensen

   For this week's readings, we took a look at Emdin talking of coteaching, Gallagher speaking about students creating personal writing, and Christensen diving into writing for justice. All pieces of writing had great amounts of information in it. All three provided insight into how students think and feel about writing. A main theme I found throughout was that students care much more about what they're writing about if it is personal to them.

   I enjoyed the Emdin reading Coteaching because it provided some valuable information about how students react to lessons. If a student feels that a lesson is not relatable to their lives, then chances are they will be tuning out halfway through a lecture. But if the examples given can give students ideas of the real world or something that they have seen before, they are much more likely to pay attention. This is seen through an example Emdin gives as a teacher first gives an example on friction using marbles on a table. While we have all seen marbles before it isn't the most interesting example. When he assigns two of his students to give an example on friction, they use the much more relevant example of subway trains stopping and the effect it has on the people inside of the train. This sparks much more conversation between students. Emdin sees coteaching as an effective way of allowing students to learn from each other.

   I enjoy reading from Teaching Adolescent Writers by Kelly Gallagher. Gallagher speaks from years of experience and gives helpful pointers on how to properly teach students how to write. In this chapter, Gallagher focuses on "fake writing" and how to avoid it. His best advice is to have students find something they are passionate about. This will allow for much more interesting essays. He also suggests that narrowing down an idea to a specific point will create a more concise, easier to read essay. I believe that having a student find something they enjoy to write about will make them much better writers. It will also allow for a more interesting essay to read over. Of course, other writing such as analyzing Shakespeare will have to be thrown into a curriculum. But with the addition of having students write something they are passionate about will be much more enjoyable to them.

   Christensen brings up other great points about teaching writing to high school students. Some ideas were similar to Gallagher's, as she points to having students write about something that is near and dear to them. Throughout the chapter we can see the essays written are from personal experiences. Essays such as these interest the reader much more than what Gallagher refers to as "fake writing." Christensen also mentions the strategy of the read-around, where you share your writing out loud with other students in class. This is what we did last week with our writing history papers. This is an effective way of allowing the writer to see what they should add, remove, or work on.

   All authors gave me ideas on how to get students to appreciate writing, and that I should have them write on personal experiences or things that they enjoy.

Standards & PARCC

   This week we read about English standards and teachers' reactions to the PARCC testing. Both topics relevant to our future careers as English teachers. The readings on the different standards made me think of past discussions we've had in class about the most effective way to teach standards. How does a teacher effectively balance teaching standards and remembering where their students' are coming from economically and socially? The PARCC reading was interesting as well, I had no idea that this test caused a negative reaction.

   The first set of standards we looked at were the NCTE / IRA Standards for the English Language Arts found on ncte.org. While some of these ideas seemed to be pretty standard (haha) others I didn't realize we learned in high school. Standard 8 for example is an important skill learned in high school that will always be relevant in writing papers, "Students use a variety of technological and information resources to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge" (ncte.org). Essentially any college paper will use this standard to cite information from a website, article, or book.

   The English Language Arts standards for students in grades 9-10 and 11-12 both had overlaps and more specific goals based on the grade level. The standards for grades 9-10 dealt with developing ideas, using specific ideas in writing, and research projects. As I mentioned before, these skills will come in handy come college time. I still remember creating research projects in freshman year. Skills such as finding information you need from the library or an online data base are helpful in many situations. The standards for grades 11-12 dealt with these ideas as well as reading standards. For example, juniors and seniors should have reading skills that allow them to comprehend early works in American literature and understand the reasoning behind Supreme Court cases. These skills not only help in understanding the lesson at hand, but help in discovering the meaning behind most other texts as well.

   The final piece we read was Rhode Island Teachers Respond to PARCC: A White Paper by Janet Johnson and Brittany Richer. One of the authors sounds familiar but I'm not sure why. I've never personally taken the PARCC test, the NECAP was in place while I was in high school. During my service learning for my FNED class however, I saw 10th grade English teacher Jamie. While I didn't see much of the test itself, I did see Jamie's class resting after taking a section of the PARCC exam and heard what they had to say about it. Most students were exhausted and the room was mostly quiet. Jamie didn't teach much, just let her students rest after taking the test which is completely understandable. Some questions, as Jamie informed me, had to do with novels that were above 10th grade reading levels. Jamie was disappointed in this fact, and even more disappointed that she couldn't help her students with the questions on the exam.

   This goes hand in hand with many of the graphs found in A White Paper. Most teachers feel like this exam was not only a waste of time, but actually upset students by making them feel they weren't making any progress in school. This is a strong message to seriously reconsider the format of the PARCC or to create a new test entirely. One of the most important quotes I read from this was, "Teachers want to be listened to, and they are professionals who know what contributes to a positive atmosphere where students feel safe and ready to learn" (Johnson, Richer). If the majority of teachers are saying something is not working, it is clearly time to change it.

Cadeiro-Kaplan, Failing Still to Address Poverty Directly, Professional Knowledge for the Teaching of Writing

   Welcome back to another installment of Frankie's blog. In this week's episode, we take a look at an excerpt from The Literacy Curriculum and Bilingual Education: A Critical Examination by Karen Cadeiro-Kaplan, Failing Still to Address Poverty Directly: Growth Mindset as Deficit Ideology by P.L. Thomas, and Professional Knowledge for the Teaching of Writing from ncte.org. Let's dive in.

   The Cadeiro-Kaplan reading was interesting as it dealt with problems that English language learners experience in a typical school setting. One difficulty students go through is the idea of cultural literacy. Cadeiro-Kaplan explains that cultural literacy assumes that all readers understand certain ideas of a culture. This could be a little difficult from someone coming into this country with English most likely not being their first language. Readings that involve U.S. history, American authors or poets, or American traditions may confuse foreign readers. They aren't less intelligent because of this, they simply haven't been exposed to these ideas before. 

   The quote found within The Literacy Curriculum and Bilingual Education sums this idea up well: "The curriculum of cultural literacy has been with us since the Enlightenment and has been long evoked as an argument for the reproduction of elites. It is a position that advocates a social system in which a select cadre of intellectuals... are the only individuals deemed fit to possess the culture's sacred canon of knowledge, which assures their supremacy" (Cadeiro-Kaplan 8).

   An idea I enjoyed from Failing to Address Poverty Directly was that teachers should rethink how they form and grade a test. Typically, tests are graded by starting off with the highest score, and then being subtracted from there. Instead, teachers should start imagining a student with a zero and what they learn builds from there. With the state of the current deficit ideology we demand students perform outstandingly in school as if they have no problems outside of school. This is a theme in these writings, and I agree wholeheartedly. We can't expect all students to forget their problems at the door upon entering school. We need to work with students to help them feel not as pressured.

   The final reading, Professional Knowledge for the Teaching of Writing, had some good pointers for future English teachers. The idea that stuck out to me the most was that teachers need to show students that writing can be so much more than essays. It is the ultimate form of expression, and that idea is sadly lost on many students within high school. It is not entirely the student's fault however, most of writing throughout high school is for an essay to receive a grade. If the teacher can show the student what the literacy greats have done throughout history, I believe they have done their job. I don't believe this involves putting heavy emphasis on Romeo and Juliet and The Odyssey however. While both stories are great, most of the time the idea that students are looking for something more personal to connect to is overlooked. I believe these tales should be taught, but further exploration of what a student is interested in can hook them on reading for life.

Blog Post #1 - Christensen, Gallagher, To High School English Teachers, Blogging is the New Persuasive Essay

   In these pieces, each author tackles different elements of teaching writing. Each reading talked about important elements of why teaching writing is important. They also focused on why connecting to your students is essential if you want to keep their attention. I found the article "Blogging is the New Persuasive Essay" by Shelley Wright particularly interesting. Web logging is a relatively new idea in the field of English. I personally did not do too much blogging throughout high school, unless you count reblogging pictures of cats on tumblr. I like the idea of teaching blogging to younger students. I believe it is an easier way to transition into the world of writing. Like Wright states, "... blog paragraphs tend to be shorter. It allows the piece to feel fluid and speeds up the rate at which your reader reads" (Wright). I think this is perfect for younger children. With easier to read, shorter paragraphs, I believe younger students will be able to focus on blog posts more than perhaps an article from the newspaper.

   I do not believe, however that blogging should be the only strategy in teaching writing. Writing by hand is the tried and true form of expressing ideas. There are more mental processes at work when writing thoughts down in a notebook or diary and I think this is important in becoming a better writer. With that being said, I still enjoy the idea of blogging for younger students to eventually transition into the world of writing. It is a fun and approachable starting point.

   One striking quote that I gleaned from the "To High School English Teachers (and All Teachers)" article by P.L. Thomas was "[students] must often demonstrate literacy proficiency in the worst possible settings" (Thomas). I had not thought about this idea before. Many students come to school with much more on their mind than the lesson at hand. Some have trouble at home, others might not have had breakfast. A few might even have a learning disability that has gone undetected by professionals. I feel like what this article was trying to get across is that students require a large amount of attention when teaching a lesson. I believe English is a great subject to connect to a student through. I think that writing is very personal, and teaching writing allows a close connection to be made with the teacher and student. Thomas is saying to not only teach what's on paper, but to go the extra step and relate ideas of class to the student personally. This will allow the student to feel like they have someone to turn to at school.

   I also enjoyed the Gallagher piece as well. I believe the main idea of the first chapter is found on page 4 and states, "In an increasingly demanding world of literacy , the importance of our students leaving our schools as effective writers has magnified. The ability to write well, once a luxury, has become a necessity. Today, writing is foundational for success (Gallagher). I believe this idea rings true for many employers looking for potential employees with effective writing skills. This chapter also stated that to secure higher level positions at certain jobs, companies look for writing skills. I believe this is something to keep in mind for many English teachers.