This chapter brings up a lot memories from my own high school experience. I can remember the day I decided to take school seriously: I was in the 6th grade and they came to get students to rehearse for the honors program happening later on that night. I can remember thinking to myself that I had o.k. grades so I was expecting my name to be called. But it wasn't, and after the kids whose names were called left and class was over, I stayed behind and asked my teacher why I wasn't picked. He nicely told me that my GPA wasn't high enough. That was a turning point for me and I decided that I would be on the next list. I studied hard and by the time the next semester came I was on that list and it felt good to be recognized for all my hard work.
I guess what my point is that I made the choice to be one of the top students no one made that choice for me. Neither one of my parents were college grads, and we weren't rich we were middle classed. So, when I read this chapter I really can't relate. I mean maybe it was because I went to a charter high school were class time was extended and we were well prepped. But, inside that there were still students who were sent to my school because they "failed" at other area high schools or their parents thought that they would do better at Northwestern, but most of the time those students were pushed into this school that got out at 4pm rather 2:15pm, and the class work was hard. I feel like they were given a choice to care and my teachers did try and make them feel like they could do it and outside issues or them just not caring made them either not try or leave.
I guess my point is that some people don't try even when they can excel and they are given the tools to help them succeed. But I don't know maybe it's because everyone at my school was mostly black so I never really experienced the fact that I had to compete until I started here at Western and the Affirmative Action debate caught my attention and I realized that I needed to be ten times better than all of my non minority peers. Well at least thats what it seems like. I don't know maybe I'm being insensitive but I just think that sometimes its up to the person and sometimes it is a race and class problem but in my experiences it depends on the person. But, I can say that my high school is no longer a charter school and it is now facing its own discipline problems and kids who want to learn are put in classes with those who don't care but it still works out because they make the choice to succeed for themselves.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Chapter 7: Christensen
I really love the idea of forming a Portfolio as an ending project. It's very helpful in showing the students the mistakes that they use to make and how much they have improved on their writing. Christensen's idea should be used more often in writing classrooms because of how useful it is to students. I sometimes come across some of my old writing in my parents house and its interesting to see what I use to think was a successful submission. I most of the time look back and go, "wow this is not as good as I probably thought it was." Things that I wouldn't dare turn in now show how I have grown since then. How I have improved the way I write paragraphs, essays, and responses. Even how my penmanship has changed. I think that assignments like this would help students improve their work quicker than if they go back 6 and 7 years later and see their mistakes.
I almost want to say that it should be a requirement. I think that we are our own worst critic and if students are faced with their own mistakes they can better improve them then we can by telling them what they do wrong. Teachers never focused on our progress but I wish they would have because I bet these students learned a lot from seeing what they did wrong and evaluating how they could improve it. I think that the things that Christensen focused on needed to be addressed. I like the way she helped her students understand the importance of the assignment by comparing it to their own interests. I think that if teachers do that more with other subjects of writing they can spark the students enthusiasm. Christensen's use of her own writing as examples was a good idea as well because I think it helps to see that the person teaching you didn't start out as good as they are now and that it took time for them to get where they are. I think this helps the students see that where they are can be improved and that just because they are not the best right now doesn't mean that they will never be that great at writing. It's a confidence booster to use the professional as an example and a role model.
I almost want to say that it should be a requirement. I think that we are our own worst critic and if students are faced with their own mistakes they can better improve them then we can by telling them what they do wrong. Teachers never focused on our progress but I wish they would have because I bet these students learned a lot from seeing what they did wrong and evaluating how they could improve it. I think that the things that Christensen focused on needed to be addressed. I like the way she helped her students understand the importance of the assignment by comparing it to their own interests. I think that if teachers do that more with other subjects of writing they can spark the students enthusiasm. Christensen's use of her own writing as examples was a good idea as well because I think it helps to see that the person teaching you didn't start out as good as they are now and that it took time for them to get where they are. I think this helps the students see that where they are can be improved and that just because they are not the best right now doesn't mean that they will never be that great at writing. It's a confidence booster to use the professional as an example and a role model.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Glimore 1 and 2
First off, I would like to say that I enjoyed the conversational tone of Gilmore's text it was very easy to relate and understand to the point that I didn't really feel like I was reading a required text. I can completely understand what Gilmore means when he says that revision is underrated. It takes a lot of time to develop a good essay. When speaking for myself, I know that it takes me a long time to even begin a paper let alone revise to the point where I am proud I wrote. Not many of my papers that I have ever turned in are the same as when I first began.
What I agreed with the most, was his idea that it takes more than just one person to revise one paper or essay. That is true on so many levels. I know that some of my best writing came from me allowing the input of more than one person. I learned last year that when you let different people with different opinions and levels of knowledge take at a look at your paper you come back with more and more good ideas and evidence for your topic. But, I think that the ability to revise is mostly the students responsibilty. It is the teachers job to prepare and guide the students in the right directions and sometimes teachers use rubrics way to much and takes away the students ability to come up and revise their own Ideas.
What I agreed with the most, was his idea that it takes more than just one person to revise one paper or essay. That is true on so many levels. I know that some of my best writing came from me allowing the input of more than one person. I learned last year that when you let different people with different opinions and levels of knowledge take at a look at your paper you come back with more and more good ideas and evidence for your topic. But, I think that the ability to revise is mostly the students responsibilty. It is the teachers job to prepare and guide the students in the right directions and sometimes teachers use rubrics way to much and takes away the students ability to come up and revise their own Ideas.
Chapter 6: Christensen
I think it is important to focus on the History that the American Educational system rather not talk about. I think that assignments like these help to get "the truth" out so that later on when those kids grow up they can try and make change in the educational system. These kinds of projects are what made black history month possible because it use to be just a week. I like the idea of the the project but my only critique is that it got a little out of hand. Students wanted more time then Christensen had after she pushed them into looking deeper into the projects and then she could hardly give everyone a fair amount of time to present their findings equally!
Another thing now that I think about is that people always say that African Americans complain about the past too much and we get too much recognition about our struggles, but we really don't. And the things that we do have we faught for and are still fighting for. I know sometimes hearing about M.L.K. and Malcolm X gets old but they were powerful figures who died for rights that all of us take for granted, but I digress. My point is that I would have probably included all of the different races and backgrounds and assigned them at random so that everyone learns something about someone else's background then the research really would have been more meaningful and less based on personal experience in which Christensen kept having conflict with.
Overall I think that discovering other immigrants struggles and prejudices is a great thing to focus on. I can remember in high school in my English course we read and study the novel "Night" about the Jewish concentration camp experience from a child's point of view. That book opened up a new world for most if not all of us there really was no other nationality at my high school besides African and African American, so we all were shock about the brutality that our history books left out of Germany's brutal doings to the Jewish population. These kinds of projects and readings are eye openers that help students realize how much a change in this world is needed.
Another thing now that I think about is that people always say that African Americans complain about the past too much and we get too much recognition about our struggles, but we really don't. And the things that we do have we faught for and are still fighting for. I know sometimes hearing about M.L.K. and Malcolm X gets old but they were powerful figures who died for rights that all of us take for granted, but I digress. My point is that I would have probably included all of the different races and backgrounds and assigned them at random so that everyone learns something about someone else's background then the research really would have been more meaningful and less based on personal experience in which Christensen kept having conflict with.
Overall I think that discovering other immigrants struggles and prejudices is a great thing to focus on. I can remember in high school in my English course we read and study the novel "Night" about the Jewish concentration camp experience from a child's point of view. That book opened up a new world for most if not all of us there really was no other nationality at my high school besides African and African American, so we all were shock about the brutality that our history books left out of Germany's brutal doings to the Jewish population. These kinds of projects and readings are eye openers that help students realize how much a change in this world is needed.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Chapter 5: Christensen
This Chapter made me like Christensen even more than before. I love poetry and I think that sometimes (particularly in my h.s. ) it is not taught or focused on enough. I think that poetry helps students think freely and its a very great start to any novel or class discussion. Students can express themselves so freely and that makes good poetry and good discussion. I wish they had this kid of assignment or focused on poetry in high school more.
I can really relate to how the kids get to know each other more. It makes me think back to one assignment in high school that I had to do, where we were suppose to write a poem about our childhood that we normally wouldn't talk about. Most people talked about guilty pleasures and a few brought out deeper feelings of pain and neglect. I guess Chapter 5 trigger this memory because my poem was about how much people told me I was fat and ugly all my life and everybody was shocked at how deep I went and the people who might have made comments before thought about how much what they might have said hurt me. Everybody always saw me as letting peoples comment roll off my back but sometimes everything can't be let go and that day, they realized that. But, my point is that with poetry, whether it be personal or character analysis, can help open up students mind to other people P.O.V.
I can really relate to how the kids get to know each other more. It makes me think back to one assignment in high school that I had to do, where we were suppose to write a poem about our childhood that we normally wouldn't talk about. Most people talked about guilty pleasures and a few brought out deeper feelings of pain and neglect. I guess Chapter 5 trigger this memory because my poem was about how much people told me I was fat and ugly all my life and everybody was shocked at how deep I went and the people who might have made comments before thought about how much what they might have said hurt me. Everybody always saw me as letting peoples comment roll off my back but sometimes everything can't be let go and that day, they realized that. But, my point is that with poetry, whether it be personal or character analysis, can help open up students mind to other people P.O.V.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Jago Chapters 5 and 6
The end of the Jago text was I guess meant to stress how to teach essay writing. I believe that her main focus was teaching students how to write with practice. I agree with her attempt to get them to practice and get use to writing so that they can write a effective and persuasive thesis. I believe that this is important but it is often too stressed out by teachers. I can speak from my experience in high school that teachers badgered us with the idea of writing a great thesis statement, but I think that a thesis statement should only be developed after a student has gather ideas and an argument that they can support well enough to develop a thesis.
Jago's ideas for the five day plan was ok but I just don't know if students would be interested in such a planned out process. I think that students respond more to teachers who offer help in writing their papers with out them tracking every step. I know that probably would have made me feel like the teach thought I was incapable of writing a good paper without her. If help is offered in a gentle approach then a student may see this as the teachers way of showing that they have confidence in their abilities and that they are there if the student needs them.
I others might see Jago's methods as a very helpful way to direct students in the way to writing a good essay. Jago's methods are very precise and very inclusive . I think that the way Jago teaches can be effective but not ever one reacts the same to all teaching methods. I think her book can be used by future teachers effectively to experiment with different ways at get the students to enjoy writing. I think that she has a lot of useful information in the book and that the tools that she provides teachers with can help structure our own lessons. I think that Jago has a passion for writing a good and resource pieces of writing and that is always helpful to future teachers.
Jago's ideas for the five day plan was ok but I just don't know if students would be interested in such a planned out process. I think that students respond more to teachers who offer help in writing their papers with out them tracking every step. I know that probably would have made me feel like the teach thought I was incapable of writing a good paper without her. If help is offered in a gentle approach then a student may see this as the teachers way of showing that they have confidence in their abilities and that they are there if the student needs them.
I others might see Jago's methods as a very helpful way to direct students in the way to writing a good essay. Jago's methods are very precise and very inclusive . I think that the way Jago teaches can be effective but not ever one reacts the same to all teaching methods. I think her book can be used by future teachers effectively to experiment with different ways at get the students to enjoy writing. I think that she has a lot of useful information in the book and that the tools that she provides teachers with can help structure our own lessons. I think that Jago has a passion for writing a good and resource pieces of writing and that is always helpful to future teachers.
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