Jago Chapters 3 and 4

The beginning of chapter three of Jago was like my one of my worst fears or worries about becoming a teacher. I fear that one day I might read a piece of writing from a student that focuses on some negative scenario. I won’t know whether not its fact or fiction and if it is something that scares me enough to question that, how do I approach the student about where the feelings or occurrences in their writing came from? We talked about this in class last week and I kind of kept quiet and listened to what others had to say because I always wondered what I would do when this problem arises. I guess that like Mr. Bannon said there will be policies that help me make the right decision and if not I should ask before I start but it still scares the crap out of me. I want my students to feel comfortable in my class and able to write out their feelings and not feel afraid that what they say may cause trouble. I want a classroom where students can voice their thoughts freely but I just have to learn when to react and when to respect what students choose to share.

I enjoyed the part of the chapter that discussed ways to get students started with narratives. I loved the exercises that she came up with to get them to learn the important aspects of a narrative. It was very engaging to see how students responded to the exercises. I admire how Jago made the vital information she was giving the students feel a fun task. She made learning fun and that’s what I hope to accomplish with my students. I think I talked about the important of college essays when Christensen discussed it in chapter three of her text, but what was interesting about Jago’s discussion on the topic was that she encouraged her students to write about their lives. I always thought college essay’s were suppose to about your high school achievements and volunteer along with academic goals for their college career. I like that students got to write about personal experiences.

Jago Chapters 1 and 2

The first chapter of Carol Jago’s “Cohesive Writing” wasn’t as interesting as the Christensen text and I didn’t really agree with her first thought of free writing to help students start a paper. I think that free writing is a great exercise to get students comfortable with writing but not to start a paper. I know that if I was to free write a paper I would most likely drift off the original topic. This may not be the case with everyone but I think it might be hard for a student to start a paper with a free write. But, I guess if you can begin with a free write and revise it later you may be able to successful start a great paper with the free write as a start, but this might not work for everyone. I really did like the question paper idea. It was a great idea for getting the students thinking about how to begin a paper or how to gather their thoughts on their topic. I think that this exercise gets the students started on the critical thinking to build a paper.

The ending subject of chapter one was about creating a good prompt that engages the students in thinking about the novels most important themes. I think a good prompt is a great way to get students thinking about the novel or poem in a different and more detailed way other than the plot. Prompt’s that engage the students thinking help them to begin to think of a thesis statement for a possible essay. I think that prompts are a good start for thesis development but the content of the question must be very direct and precise in what the teacher wants the student to think about. It’s going to be hard to create prompts that get to the point while making the student think as well. I think that the analysis of the prompts by Jago helped me to understand the correct way to create prompts. It was very beneficial in the analysis of how to ask certain questions.

Chapter two of Jago on Teaching Persuasive and Informational writing was full of useful tips on how to get students started on writing different kinds of essays. I like how she encouraged them to use the news that they cared about to make them think. I think that allowing students to write on subjects that that interest them allow them to think without knowing that they are practicing writing essays. I that students are more interested in subjects that pertain to the things they like. Jago even states that before when the students were given texts to write about that they were foreign to their thoughts were not as developed as the essay’s they wrote about topics that interested them. Jago’s approach to writing Persuasive and Informational essay’s was great in how it tackle the students’ fears about writing essays or articles. I think that the students were more interested because it gave them an opportunity to voice their opinions on subjects that they rarely get a chance to take stand on. I think that exercises that Jago prepared worked to make the students enjoy writing. Like writing in a journey or diary, the essay’s gave them a chance to talk about serious or engaging topics on from their perspectives and I think that is the most important aspect of teaching writing: allowing the students to think for themselves and express their thoughts in their writing.

Chapter 4: Christensen

Chapter 4 of Christensen was interesting in the fact that it focused mostly on grammar and dialect. I'm currently taking English 574, which is Grammar in Teaching Writing, and I am slowly learning that as a teacher I don't have to play as Christensen put it "grammar cop." I always though, or rather people made me think that not knowing everything about grammar was a crime. I mean I know standard English and how to complete sentences, but I just have trouble with the more complex rules of standard English. But as I further my study into education I am realizing that correcting every little bit of a students grammar is not always the most important or best thing. I was always taught that if you speak a certain way other than what is considered the way "white people" talk you were speaking incorrectly. People around me who spoke English the way it was spoken in their home or region were made fun of if it was different in any kind of way. So I naturally thought that the way I use to speak was incorrect or wrong and once I arrived at WMU my speech began to change and I sort of conformed to what is considered to be correct English.

Now that I'm reading all of this literature about how grammar and speaking incorrectly shouldn't be looked down upon I'm sort of relieved to find out that I don't have to chastise every mispronounced word that my student speaks. I think it's great that Christensen discussed this because this is a big obstacle for future teachers to have to worry about and I think that the information she provided is very important to know. I love how she helped students who felt uncomfortable about their English feel comfortable by using examples of how to incorporate standard English and personal dialect into their writing so they can know that what they grew up speaking was not wrong at all. Lucky for me though someone invented spell check!As for the rest of the chapter, one thing I admire about Christensen is her want for social change and for her students to understand that if they don't agree with something they have the power to change it. I was at first annoyed by her constant want to attack everything but I think it's need to some extent. It helps her students feel important and gives them a chance to act instead of just getting angry.

Chapter 3: Christensen

When I began reading Chapter 3 of Christensen I was disappointed by the fact that she was still discussing social issues. I mean I’m all for making the students think but focusing on nothing but the negative can get a little depressing. I mean even her some of students began to question her motives. But, as I read on I sort of understood why Christensen focuses so much on social problems. As she explains in chapter 3: “When students see either their lives or history as inevitable, they are not encouraged to work for change. By studying problems in their lives and by rooting those problems historically, students are able to analyze this society, uncover inequality, and explore the reasons why it exists.” if students don’t recognize or aren’t aware of the injustices that they face they will never question things that may seems wrong.(Christensen, 62) So although I may never spend as much time on social issues as Christensen does I will definitely spend some time getting my students to realize and or challenge thing injustices of the world because I really do think it’s important.

I like the forgiveness poems idea, it seemed like a good idea for helping students to deal with personal problems that may make them feel alone or hold grudges towards someone. I think it helps them to deal with this in a healthy way instead of keeping their anger locked up. The part about essay development actually was very beneficial to me because being a writer I can understand the frustration that can arise from developing a thesis statement that you can base an entire paper off of. I struggle to come up with the best introduction because I always want to write a great paper and it can be annoying trying to do that and it does take time. I especially like how she helps the students relate to her by sharing her own thought process with her writing: “I want my students to see that writing is messy and sometimes hard. And like anything worth pursuing, it takes time, commitment, and practice. “(Christensen, 68) Writing can be a long process and it scares me a little when I think about trying to teach someone how to write a good successful essay. But with the strategies I studied in chapter 3 I feel a little better about teaching that writing subject.

I think that the most interesting part of the chapter for me was about preparing the students for college. I myself started a program similar to Christensen’s at my old high school. Annually me and other former students return to Northwestern and talk to the juniors and seniors about college. We let them ask us questions and we tell them about how important it is to not abuse the freedom of being on your own and how to handle the differences between high school and college. I think it’s important to give back to where you came from and to know that other students think it’s important as well is a great feeling. I believe that college is important and that being here has been the greatest experience in my life and I will share my enthusiasm about college with my future students as well.

Chapter 2: Christensen

I think that the most important part of being a teacher is making the students feel comfortable about being themselves. But, Christensen makes a good point on what exactly being yourself really means. Most of the things that we are taught as we grow up are not always good and I think that it is important to point out the stereotypes that are drilled into our heads early on in life through something as simple as Saturday morning cartoons.

The way we look at others can be concluded as being shaped by “secret education” but I think that times have somewhat improved because one thing that does exist more is programs focusing on education, yeah there are still the crime fighting hero’s mostly played my men and woman are usually still playing the pretty damsel in distress roles but nothing will ever be perfect. I think the best thing about Christensen idea about students being conscious about the stereotypes in the media is the fact that she is trying to teach them how to think for themselves and how to be more independent with their world views. Yes, the things that are put on TV or in movies may not give kids the right ideas but what in America does and what makes the things that I believe to be right and wrong, right and wrong to someone who grew up differently then me. So my only question is why not focus on that?

Parents as well can be guilty of brainwashing their children with the wrong ideals. Too many times children grow up in homes where their mother is treated as nothing more than a maid and their father is the bread winner or their father is abusive towards the rest of the family verbally or physically or what about those families where children are taught to hate those who are different than them? What about those kinds of situations? I would have liked to see something to express those kinds of social problems. I do agree with what she was doing but I think there is a broader way of examining the problem. I think that people often blame the media for more than they should be held accountable for. For example after the students realized what they and future generations of children have been exposed to they vowed to not allow their younger family members to watch those programs any longer. I think if more people did that as well as complain about the problems things just might change.

I do believe that the “Praise Poems” were a magnificent idea that I will probably use in the future to help students deal with things that society is wrong with them. I think that people focus on the outside way too much. Praise Poems will allow them to realize that their imperfections aren’t imperfections at all. I think that it helps build self esteem in a world that may constantly attempt to tear it down.

Chapter 1: Christensen

The first chapter of Christensen was enlightening because it gave me insight into what an actually teacher in the inner city has to face. My whole reasoning for wanting to teach is to go back to my community and help the kids faced with drugs, violence and peer pressure that Christensen discussed in the chapter. Everything that she discussed hit home because I’m from a city that is ranked number 2 as the most violent city in the country, so I know exactly what she was dealing with because I was surrounded by those same type of students who felt that school was just a waste of time and needed to be coached or tricked into learning. Her methods of “read-a rounds” and Poetry exercises that allowed the children to voice their struggle through writing was a great idea. Through her ideas the students found themselves able to identify with not only their classmates but ultimately with themselves. In high school I can remember never wanting to read out loud and conforming to the normal “clone” idea that everyone had to be the same and anyone who was different was picked on, so I know exactly how it feels to not want to share your feeling because it makes you very vulnerable. With Christensen’s methods the students truly created a “community” where they could be themselves.

I struggle with the idea of being a teacher because I am such an introvert but my want to help the kids in my community pushes me to get over my fear. It is going to be hard to come out of my fear of attention and all eyes being on me but with the idea’s that I am being taught I hope to use the skills to not only help my students but to help myself. Christensen’s experience gave me helpful tips and possible lesson plans to help me and my students face our fears together. Christensen and Bigelow created an environment where students could come and learn to express themselves freely through writing. She created exercises that engaged the minds and hearts of her students. Tying together those who believed their differences made them outcasts when really their difference brought their similarities to light. From the Vietnamese student to the class clown Wesley, Christensen found ways to interest the students in writing down how they feel and being able to express it to their judgmental peers in an inviting atmosphere.