My first three weeks at my cooperating school have been
fantastic. As I stated in my previous blog post, my CT is very welcoming and
open to me being in her classroom, which is somewhat of a first for me. We are
currently gearing up to start The Odyssey tomorrow and she has been letting me
teach small portions of the major lesson each day to get my more familiar with
the classroom and with the students. I have learned all of their names which are
a big help as well.
Upon reading the first chapter of Randy Bomer’s textbook “Building
Adolescent Literacy in Today’s English Classrooms”, I instantly realized that
my CT operates on the workshop method. Bomer
says that “A workshop structure (Atwell 1986; Bomer 1995; Rief 1992) takes its
name from its similarities to spaces where people work on projects across time”
(Bomer 13). Bomer goes on to explain that in the English classroom, students
can expect to come back every day and pick up where they left off on a writing
assignment. My CT doesn’t necessarily take it quite this literal. She does a
lot more reading and connection activities than writing. However, the students
can expect to know where they’ll start in their reading, based on where they
left off on the previous class. One thing that she does that Bomer advocates is
making sure they are connecting while at school. He says, “the defining
feature, the only nonnegotiable element of a workshop classroom, is that time
when students actually engage in literate behavior-right here on campus!”
(Bomer 13). She does a lot of in class reading and note taking exercises. Today
she explained to me that she does this for two reasons. One, so that she can
make sure the reading actually gets done and two, so that she can monitor their
progress, understand and development of the text. It’s much harder to do these
things when the students constantly take home their homework.
I also got to walk hall duty with my CT today and helped her
to hand out tardy detention slips. I was quite surprised that many kids were
still walking in thirty minutes after the school day had started! We also met
today to discuss “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding and what role I would
play in planning around 4-5 days at the beginning of the unit. She shared with
me her plans and worksheets from last year when she taught it but said I was
free to change or add any projects/activities/team building exercises I thought
would be fun. I feel blessed to have been placed with such a wonderful teacher
and mentor and I cannot wait to continue this semester with her and with the
freshman!
Your CT seems well organized and knows what they are doing, but do you like it? You say that your CT uses the workshop method, but is that something you would do in your classroom? It seems good enough and obviously works well for her, but would it work for you or even myself? I'm curious.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it's great that you have helped out with duty. That's something everyone is going to have to get used to whether we like it or not. I've stay a little bit after for my CT's study hall hour, but haven't done that yet. One day I might stay for it just to get used to it and learn from it.
I'm glad you like your CT and seem to be learning much. I look forward to reading more of your blog.
I do like the workshop method myself. As for whether I would actually use it in my classroom is a complicated matter. In the end, I think it all depends on where I end up teaching at myself. This method is ideal for my CT because she teaches at a school where they have Block Schedule. An hour and half per class is a lot and this is where this method shines. I would be interested to observe a classroom where they have typical 40-50 minute periods, because I feel like the workshop method may not be as effective there. However, having never seen it done in a traditional setting, I question its success.
DeleteTaking in contextual factors, or these regular freshmen, honors freshmen? I feel like this can have a big impact on how and what is taught in relation to the Odyssey. It's a very difficult text! One of the teachers I'm working with is teaching this to her Honors English I class. She is having difficulty getting her students to connect with the text. Today, after class she had a student say it was boring because all they class did was take notes and read the text aloud. Does your teacher use any interactive activities to get students involved with the text? Has she had any projects that students have liked? The teacher I work with is part of the transition to teaching program and is open to any suggestions. You mentioned that your CT uses a workshop classroom, but are there any specific examples you have? The note taking and reading in class do not seem to be working with the after-lunch class that I am in.
ReplyDeleteIt is also surprising to see students show up late, sometimes with only 30 minutes left in class. A student who walks in that late not only finds himself steps behind the rest of the class, but also requires the rest of the class to be put on hold while he is caught up. My prestudent teaching class is the first hour of the day. Since I get the opportunity to be at the school all day, it is interesting to see how many students aren't there for the first hour, but show up throughout the rest of the day. I know it is difficult to wake up in the morning, but students have done it for ages. What do you think are the possible reasons for this. I wonder if it would work if students had some sort of punishment besides just the 10 minute lunch detention that most high schools give out. They don't seem to be very effective. After a student is late so many times, it just becomes an in-school suspension, which is almost like a break from having to go to class. It's not much of a punishment for some students. Because of that, so many students don't care if their late, or how late they are. Example A - all of the students you saw coming in late! It seems like students completely blow this off. I'd be interested to see probable solutions to this obvious problem. Parents aren't usually called, and in some cases the parent is the reason they are late. Who is to be held accountable? An article actually popped up on my newsfeed about moving high school start times to an hour later. Do you think this would solve the problem? Or would students be just as late? Here is the article if you want to take a look: http://www.today.com/moms/should-high-schools-have-later-start-times-8C11073735
We just began the story today. She had a lot of pre-reading exercises she has done with the class. We started with them in groups and having them create their own hero. They got to draw it and define what its attitudes, values, beliefs, and catch phrases were. They presented these to the class and had fun with it! Then they wrote a personal essay over someone who is a hero to them in their own life. She did a gallery walk to introduce some beginning concepts and important facts about The Odyssey, Homer, Greek Mythology, and Greece during the time that the story is written. She then gave them a table describing the typical archetypal hero qualities and had them pick out a popular movie or story with someone who is considered a hero, and see if the hero they picked out fits the archetype. She is also playing The Odyssey like a mystery where she wont tell them if Odysseus fits in the archetypal hero attributes or if he doesn't. She tells them they'll just have a read and find out. We are reading and taking notes at the same time currently and she's supplementing some of the reading with video clips which seems to help. This is an honors class.
DeleteI wish I knew the reason why kids were late so much. I was so shocked at the amount of late kids because when I was in high school, I don't feel like we had this problem. I know we didn't have a designated section of late lunch detentions. The idea of schools starting later intrigues me but I think there could be many flaws to this plan. I do not dispute what the article said about well-rested kids make better and more attentive students (I am first hand proof of that haha) but there are so many things to work out with this plan. Its not as simple as simply pushing the time back an hour. And I'm sure students would still be late once they got used to the new time. It's sad to think that there needs to be spectacular incentives or terrible punishments to get kids to school on time.
I am really intrigued by what you said about your CT doing a lot of in-class reading, in order to keep track of her students' progress. It's a very interesting and thought-provoking idea, and one which I personally like, but I am curious: Is this something she does throughout the year, or just at the start of the year until her students become used to the kinds of reading assignments she expects of them? If she only does this at the start of the year, then I would say that is a very good way of using the "scaffolding" teaching strategy on her part. I also think, however, that as a teacher, one should seek to eventually have one's students perform at a higher level than the level at which they start. Is this the goal she has in mind? Please let me know. It would be very interesting to hear if she has a long term goal in mind, and what that goal is.
ReplyDeleteWhile these kids are honors freshman, many still have reading difficulties. One problem currently is that we only have a class set of The Odyssey so it has to be read in class every day. She is beginning to scaffold instruction and help them to become effective note takers. While I haven't previewed what next year has in store, I know for the rest of the semester the majority of reading will be done in class. The ultimate goal is for them to become the best readers so that when they move up in subsequent grades they can do it for themselves and retain the information they have read. This year, I believe, is all about building those skills to help them become better readers in future grades and in their lives.
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