The Education of Margot Sanchez

The Education of Margot Sanchez was an interesting and enjoyable read for me. I say this as someone who can look back on being a teenage girl and having a hard time navigating the world as so many do. I say this as someone who did not have a steady and solid upbringing. I can identify with Margot even though our culture experience was drastically different. This book was well written and relied on heavy imagery. Although I thought this was a good book, I did not feel that it was one I would incorporate into my own classroom. A story that represents other cultures is important, but this particular book did not seem academic enough to rightfully teach. I think other books can portray cultural difference in a better way. There must be books that would accurately capture the lives of all rather than teenage females as well. I cannot imagine how the males would react if I were to teach this.
I understand that representation matters and it is something I do want in my classroom, but there are better examples out there. I do not believe that this book would be well received by students or administration. This book would be best used when looking at use of imagery and I could perhaps use excerpts from it, but I would not teach the entire novel.

Readicide by Kelly Gallagher

For a previous course, I read material by Gallagher and am fond of how he writes. He writes from the perspective of a teacher who truly cares about student success and does so in an approachable way. In this text, I remained engaged and never had trouble comprehending the material. This is critical, as many education texts are dense and difficult to understand-- let alone implement into the classroom.
 Readicide is a quick read that says outright they schools are killing a love for reading, explains HOW this is being done, and offers multiple solutions for the issue. Not every students will enjoy every text that I assign, that is normal and not the issue. The issue, Gallagher explains, is the emphasis we put on testing and the way students are being forced to read. State tests will often test kids on their recollection of data and when students are taught to read in this way, there is no way to draw enjoyment from the text. Reading is meant to be an active and personal task where the reader is consistently making connections to the text for themselves and connections with other material. That is the fun way to read and actually does lead to the critical thinking skills we wish all students to have when they enter the world as adults.
Gallagher does not call for the complete removal of state tests-- he recognizes that the presence of them is very real and will remain. Instead, he proposes that we teach kids not how to read for the tests, but to teach them to read actively and critically. Good readers will pass any test and with real knowledge of how to read rather than simply knowing how to be good test takers. Teaching with less emphasis on the tests will make reading more enjoyable for students and inevitably, they will take more away from the texts.
Again, what I love most about this text is that Gallagher is not simply pointing out an issue, he is giving tips on how to solve it. This will be exceedingly helpful as I see my own students lose interest in what we teach. Students will come in knowing how to read in its most basic sense. The way we read as English students is far more involved than simply knowing what words are on a page. By playing an active role in showing students how to read at a more meta-cognitive level and giving them to read how they want, readicide can be prevented.

"I Read It, But I Don't Get It" by Cris Tovani

One major struggle I am having in my practicum is knowing how much to simplify content. I do not want to waste time explaining concepts that students are completely familiar with, but I also do not feel comfortable assuming what knowledge they already possess. Even if I take away  what I have learned in college and put myself in their position and consider only what I knew in high school, this still puts me at assuming my students know significantly more in ELA than they actually do. Not surprisingly, I am in this program because when is comes to ELA, I do just "get it" and always have. English Majors read in a very metacognitive manner, part of this is learned and part natural but by the time we become teachers, it is how we read everything. Students do not do this on their own. Tovani's "I Read it, but I Don't Get it" tackled this exact issue. What comes so naturally to me, is a huge struggle to many students.
My favorite part of this book was the activities section in the back. Tovani provides a huge selection of work sheets and ideas to get students really thinking about writing and to break down the activities in a helpful way. The activities range from activating memories of what is right in the text, to making deeper connections with what students are reading.
I am constantly finding a way to relate to what I am reading. How does the content reflect my own beliefs? Have I had these experiences? How would I handle these situations? I read in such a personal way. Tovani suggests that although students do this naturally, they do not always recognize the value in it. Many students believe that instructors want them to read in a more detached way and end up pushing down the part of reading that makes it most enjoyable: relating it to the self. I need to be able to show students that those personal connections really are critical to enjoying and understanding the content they are reading. Detached reading does not lead to full comprehension.

EWU edTPA: Making Good Choices

The final edTPA that we will complete at the end of our student teaching is a daunting assignment.  The process is long and grueling and we have all heard that our social lives will cease to exist and work will be impossible. The piece on making good choices actually calmed many of my worries. The hand book in and of itself is scary and holds the key to an important future. This piece acted as a Frequently Asked Questions guide. Each element of the edTPA was broken down according to what concerns many of us have.
The guide is written in a far less formal tone and reads fairly easy. Any text that addresses how detrimental procrastination will be has a tendency to be less terrifying. This text was informative and approachable and something I will co to us to reference

Stargirl Book Talk

StarGirl by Jerry Spinelli

Ashley Hopkins

Summary

Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli is one of those beautiful coming of age stories that points out the best and worst in adolescents. The story begins with Leo Borlock hearing throughout the day of something spectacular, but does not know what it is. At lunch, he sees her—Stargirl Caraway. She is wearing non-traditional clothing and comes across as different. Stargirl is immediately judged for this. Eventually, Stargirl’s differences gain her massive popularity. This popularity encourages all students to become nicer and more caring. Stargirl’s immense care for others gets her into trouble and over-night, her popularity vanishes. Through a difficult time in a new school, Stargirl remains kind and optimistic.

Rationale

This book came to mind immediately for this assignment. Stargirl is an easy read, but one that is interesting. There is never a dull moment and falling in love with the characters comes naturally. This book has love as well as social obstacles to over-come. The main character goes through difficult times but never stops being herself and is always kind to others and those are important lessons for adolescents. Stargirl is also full of vivid imagery, which is often emphasized in secondary reading.

Teaching Ideas

1.      Students could keep a journal of their own feelings and record moments when they are most authentic.

2.      Students can find a current event article on bullying and do a write up on it to gain a better understand of the real effects it has.

3.      This book would be taught as a literary unit. We would read this book as a whole class and focus on the theme of being authentic. There is a sociological aspect to Stargirl, as we would look largely at how Stargirl maintains a positive and good personality even when others disagree with her. It would be interesting to tie this to new stories of bullying in schools so students can see what an issue it is and how brave Stargirl is.

Obstacles

The major obstacle in teaching Stargirl would likely be the reading level. The book is a quick and easy read, so although it is set in a high school, it would be a more appropriate choice in a middle school setting. The novel does not contain profanities, drug, or sexual content. There is some heavey bullying that takes place in Stargirl and it is one of the largest themes. Some may view the showing of bullying as encouraging.

Social Justice

I believe that social justice, absolutely, is something to be explored in the English Language Arts classroom. Every novel that we read— from Of Mice and Men to Jane Eyre— will have an element of social justice and thus discussing it becomes necessary. It is not our job to tell students what social justice SHOULD entail, but rather give them a definition to work with, material with several examples of social justice, and a safe environment to work through their ideas in. 

Many may see social justice as belonging solely in the government classroom, I disagree. Government is a place for explaining how the government works and why. It is in the ELA setting that students learn about this topic and may for further to figure out how they themselves fit into and relate to the concept. 

Below is the link to an article that underscores just how important it is to have social justice in the classroom. Essentially, the author rights that education and social justice go hand in hand. The two work together to create a more fair and equal society— something that really should be preset in all school. The rights of the people matter. 

http://phillys7thward.org/2017/08/aint-social-justice-dont-belong-classroom/

“Critical Pedagogy and Popular Culture in an Urban Secondary English Classroom” (Handout)

In my education courses, I have been instructed to relate to my students as much as possible and that this may be accomplished by understanding popular culture and the culture that my specific students are living in. My default is to do this by referring to Harry Potter, which bothers my juniors, or referencing things that my students show me really just make me sound old. I truly believe, however, that my attempting to connect to them makes a difference. I want to relate to my students, to understand the culture of their small farm town and to know what they are into (one of them raps and puts them on Youtube, I checked it out, but maybe will not do that again.).
In this article, there is an emphasis on connecting with students. Many will not care about or connect to the classic literature we will be reading in class and that causes disinterest. There are times where this is more difficult than others. I can absolutely relate Harry Potter to Odysseus, but trying to bring modernity to Macbeth proves more difficult. I end up doing this by paraphrasing the texts the same way any millenial would or referring to characters as "sassy".
Thankfully, I am in a placement where my mentor does try to convey meaning across different texts and relate to all students. This is something I am working on so that it is natural when I have my own classroom.