Computer Time

Thinking back, as high school student, I really didn't receive much "computer time." The only time we were allowed in the computer room was if we were in there for a class. There were no passes to the computer lab to type a paper, etc. There was never any research being done on school computers, all that was to be done on your own time. I actually did not like going to the computer lab at all, since I knew that meant that I would be sitting there doing something extremely boring for the entire class period. During my pre-internship, my mentor teacher would send kids to the library all the time to type or research something, although most of the time they got nothing accomplished. I definitely think that students need to be monitored in the computer lab, as it is pretty easy to get side tracked.

Wikipedia

I never really use Wikipedia because I have been warned by many professors and professionals that this is not a reliable source. I think that sometimes it has good information, but there is no way to actually prove if the information is from a credible source. I do think this a good place to get some initial ideas from, as often use it for that.

I liked the assignment we did in class, as it showed all the different topics that are available to search for on Wikipedia. It also showed us how we should be careful when using a website like this because of the information that can be added or deleted by absolutely anyone.

Black Lies Activity

Some ideas my group came up with:

• white horse
• black death
• black Tuesday
• black Friday
• snow white
• black out
• innocence(white)
• white as a ghost
• black ball
• black cat
• black list
• black mail
• white out
• white noise
• black sheep

I really enjoyed this activity, I had never thought of the meanings of these words, but it was shocking when I discovered the negative and positive connotation that go along with these words.

Education and Technology

Technology is an amazing thing. The advancements that have been made over the years has helped both teachers and students to become more successful. In the classroom I will be doing my internship in next semester, my mentor teacher has her own blog that she updates every week. This gives students and parents the ability to keep up with what is going on in her classroom. She posts homework, upcoming events, as well as general comments. I feel this is a great tool to use. However, I feel that technology can also be frustrating for the kids that may not have access to it at home. Most teachers require things to be typed rather than written in hand, so this could be an obstacle for some students. Overall, I feel that while technology is a great tool, we need to provide students with options.

Indy Teach Poem

I feel cool
Paris Hilton sightings
Nicole Richie suicide watch
Merely evidence that we were, in fact, present
The "cows" are out
like a flea infestation, multiplying

Fire Write

Something that really angers me is the anti-war protesters outside the funerals of fallen soldiers. I realize that everybody has their own opinion, but there is a time and a place for everything and a funeral is not the time nor the place. I recently attended a funeral of a soldier killed in action, these protesters were outside the church holding signs and and yelling inappropriate comments. I think of the families of these young men and women and it makes me so angry that someone would have such disrespect for someone serving our country. You can disagree with the war, but it should not become personal.

Re-Introduction

Okay, as most of you know, my name in Jennifer Bagladi, although I usually go by Jen. This is my last semester of taking classes, as next semester I will be student teaching. I am really excited for that, and am looking forward to getting some real "hands on" experience. I am currently taking 21 credits, so I am always busy with school.

My previous degree was in social work and psychology so I hope to be able to do something with that in the school I teach in. Other than that, I like to run, hang out with friends, and go to the beach in the summer. Also, my boyfriend returned from a 9 month deployment in Iraq, so I am enjoying spending time with him.

Social Justice

I have learned a great deal over the last two class periods. I really enjoyed your group teach and gained a lot of new information in the process. I saw all kinds of stereotypes in the past two classes. Gender, ethnicity, and cultural stereotypes were among some of the most obvious ones. I really enjoyed looking at commericals, as well as the Disney movies to see how children are perceiving things. The lessons and ideas they are getting from these sources is inaccurate and damaging. Children are coming into our classrooms with the idea that these stereotypes are correct. We must work to inform them of the truth and put these stereotypes to rest.

Disney movies

Disney movies, books, etc. influence many children and such a young age. The stereotypes that are being portrayed in these movies are very damaging to children. Because children see these movies when they are young, they have no knowledge that these are stereotypes, and not real ideas. Therefore, they go into school or grow up thinking and believing that what they see in the movies is true. It is much harder to "bust" a stereotype later in life, rather than teaching the correct information right from the start. If Disney would make the choice to portray accurate depictions of of characters, etc, children may actually be able to learn something from these movies rather than having stereotypes put into their heads. Educating children about stereotypes in crucial from a young age. Disney has the power to do so.

Social Justice #2

I really enjoyed day #1 of this group teach. I feel the topic, social justice, is something a little different from the past group and individual teaches. It is a broad area, which we can incorporate into all aspects of our classrooms. I really enjoyed hearing about all the favorite commercials/advertisements and how they could be changed to make them less stereotypical. I felt that this was a very powerful activity, since most of us watch t.v. and don't even stop to think what kind of messages these commercials are sending out. The two commericals that were shown in class also had very powerful messages and made me realize how important it is to show "real" people in advertisements.

This activity really made me stop and think about all the advertisements in schools alone. Although censorship is something that I have never totally agreed with, after seeing all these stereotypes in ads and commericals, I now feel that it may not be such a bad idea. I would have no problem teaching these ideas to my students. I think that many students, are unaware of all the stereotypes in advertisements and they are being affected by them. They only way we are going to help our students overcome these stereotypes is by giving them information about them. Knowledge is power, so we must be willing to step out of our own comfort zone and educate them about these ideas.

My favorite commercial

My favorite commercial would have to be the M&Ms commercial. I don't really know why I like this commercial so much....I think I like the music that goes along with it. I don't think this commercial influences me to actually buy M&Ms. I feel that while commercials I like don't really influence me to buy their products, commercials I don't like definitely make me not want to purchase their products. I also feel that there are a lot more commercials I don't like, than ones I actually like, and it seems like the ones I don't like are played all the time.

In class free write

I sometimes wish I was a member of the opposite sex when I see how fast guys get ready for anything. I have to always plan in advance when and how long it is going to take me to get ready for something. Whereas it takes most girls quite a while to wash, blow dry, and style their hair, guys seem to be ready to go in minutes. I am also jealous at the fact that guys can get a nice haircut for $20, and girls usually have to pay a great deal more to get their hair cut and styled. A lot of things just seem simpler for guys, especially when it comes to "grooming" yourself.

Group #4 Poetry Ideas

Hey everybody, sorry I could not make it on Sunday, but here are some ideas I came up with.
I focused on slam poetry b/c our teacher recommended doing something along these lines...maybe just for one day or even 1/2 the day.

• Discuss the goals of slam poetry...what is it all about?
• Have everybody write a poem about something they are passionate about
• Actually hold a slam poetry contest...not sure if there would be enough volunteers for this
• Watch a video/demonstration of slam poetry
• Read article or just make handouts for everybody on slam poetry....I know there is one called "Why Slam" but I cannot seem to find it.
• There are some really good ideas at www.webenglishteacher.com/poetryslam.html

These are just some ideas to make this lesson a little different and more interesting than the "normal" poetry unit. I think if we combine a few different styles of poetry, it will really turn out good. Also, I really think we should start off the unit by composing a class poem....I think this would be a good way to get things rolling.

Chapter #14 Response

I was really interested in this chapter because I really felt I could relate to it. I had never even heard of a multi genre paper until last semester in my Ed 301 class. When the idea of multi genre was introduced to me, I was nervous and unhappy. I would have much rather done a research paper, as I knew how to do that. I felt very out of my comfort zone, taking on this assignment, as I had no experience with this type of assignment. I feel that writing a multi genre paper is often much more difficult for the student because they are not usually asked to put their own creativity and experiences into the paper. Giving students the opportunity to use their creativity and freedom is really important, and not done enough. Most of the time, students are so used to one kind of writing, that when the time comes to do a multi genre paper, they do not even know where to begin. I feel that it is really sad that most students are not even exposed to this type of writing until college. We must give students plenty of opportunities to be creative and enjoy writing. By giving students the opportunity to do more writing of this nature, they will learn how to be creative and draw upon their own experiences, as well as learn technical aspects of writing along the way.

Journal Article

I found a great article titled, "Helping Writers Find Power," in Education Leadership (v.63 no.5). This article talked a lot about what we discussed in class on Wednesday. The author, Jeff Anderson, gave many great ideas about how we, as teachers, can engage our students when it comes to writing and grammar. He talks about how students that may struggle with writing often feel frustrated and unsuccessful, making them not want to write again. He outlines three essential process that he has found to be very valuable in the classroom. These are: value what students have to say, love their errors, and foster their knowledge of language conventions through visual reminders of underlying grammar problems. He believes that what makes older students dislike writing so much is the way teachers in the past have focused on correcting grammar conventions rather than really seeing the content of their writing and creativity. He suggests always saying something good about the students writing first, before anything else. He also believes that errors are part of growing as a writer, and that making errors means that they are actually thinking. He suggests making a wall with common grammar problems, so students can look up and correct their own mistakes along the way. He feels that visual reminders of grammar work better than anything else, and therefore the wall chart is a great tool. This article is full of interesting ideas and suggestions! I encourage everybody to take a look at it!

"Image Grammar" response

I really enjoyed reading the first twelve pages in the "Image Grammar" text. I learned so much about writing that I was never introduced to before. The different techniques they suggested for improving writing seemed to be pretty simple, yet make such a difference in the final product of the writing. I was surprised at how much the writing actually changed when just one or two words were added to a paragraph. One thing I kept thinking was how easy it would be for students to incorporate these techniques into their own writing. I also liked how the author compared writing to painting, explaining how the writer must show the reader what he/she is trying to convey rather than just telling them. By using vivid, descriptive images, the reader can actually picture the scene in their head. I really like this text, I feel that it gives us some really good ideas that we can not only incorporate into our own writing, but use in our classrooms as well. I look forward to to putting some of these techniques to use in my writing.

Indy Teach Outline

The book I am doing my individual teaching on is titled, "After the End: Teaching and Learning Creative Revision."

Main Ideas:

• Revision does not have to be the "traditional" task of editing and re-doing your writing
• Revision can actually be fun and creative
• I plan to teach new ways of using revision in the classroom, using the concepts from this text, and how we can apply them to our own classrooms.

Instuctional Interests:

• First, I am going to introduce some news ways of doing revision in the classroom
• Next, I would like to actually do some creative revision with some of our own work. This will give us a better idea of how to use these ideas in your classrooms.
• I plan to take a few of the ideas and talk about them, since there will not be enough time to cover everything.

Possible Questions:

• What is "revision?"
• How can we use the ideas from the text to make revision fun, enjoyable, and helpful for our students?
• How do you plan to use these ideas in your own classroom?

Activities:

• Revise our own writing using some of these strategies the text suggests
• Explore a few different strategies and see which ones we feel would work best in a secondary classroom.
• Discuss the pros and cons of the different strategies

Response "The English Teacher's Red Pen: History of an Obsession"

I found this article to be extremely interesting. The whole time I was reading this, I found myself nodding my head in agreement. I cannot tell you how many times throughout high school, as well as college, that I have gotten a paper back that was marked all over with negative comments, circles, and lines through things. I feel so discouraged when this happens, that I don't even have the desire to actually look through the paper. Just think, if teachers put as much time into praising students work as they did correcting grammatical errors, students would feel much better about their writing. I feel that this is one reason why students dislike writing so much, it is no longer about expression and creativity, but rather about if they spelled everything correctly and made no punctuation errors.

Thinking back to my pre-internship last year, I am automatically reminded of my mentor teacher, who was a prime example of a teacher that marks every little error with a big red line through it. Handing back students papers was heartbreaking, as all I would here was sighs of disappointment. The thing is, this is not really helping students at all, it is only discouraging them from ever wanting to write again. What ends up happening is that students give up their creativity, instead spending so much time a correcting little mistakes that their own voice never comes through in their writing.

During high school, I had one English teacher that would give us our writing assignments back with many positive comments, and very few corrections. She would simply write that there were a few spelling or grammatical errors, but instead of correcting them for us, she would encourage us to go back and see if we could find them.

All in all, I feel that we have to encourage self expression and creativity in writing, instead of looking for meaningless mistakes. This will empower kids to write, and they may actually enjoy writing.

I am From

I am from sandy beaches, church every Sunday, and a big extended family
I am from road trips and family vacations
I am from BBQs in the summer and hot chocolate in the winter
I am from campfires and burning leaves
I am from "get off the phone," and "stop fighting with your sister"
I am from pom poms and GO W.O.
I am from team dinners and 6 a.m. Saturdays
I am from New Kids on the Block and stirrup pants
I am from love
I am from my family

"Starting to Write" by Murray

One passage that really stood out to me was at the beginning of the second chapter in the article by Murray. I really liked how Murray talked about writing without preconceived ideas. He talks about how ideas are finished, and that his job as a writer is to allow the reader to simulate their own thinking. He also talks about practicing inconsistency and how ideas, in a sense, are consistent. I found it really interesting when he talked about the dangers of knowing the conclusion of your writing. He talked about how some of the best material comes as a surprise.

I found this interesting because, as a student, I have always felt that I needed to have a firm idea before I can begin writing. I also feel that sometimes, coming up with the initial idea is the hardest part. Putting your thoughts down on paper without having any ideas beforehand seems like it could lead to a lot more possibilities. I found this article to be very interesting, as it made me stop and think about my own writing and how I could change, as a writer, in the future.

Donald Murray

1.) As Murray says, being a writer is the process where you tell yourself the story of your life, and see you life in writerly ways such as: recording images, fragments of conversations, observation of what is and what should be, making connections, making story from chaos. Being a writer means you are, in a way, re-visiting and re-creating the scenes of your life by writing them down on paper.

2.) "Writing, I think, is not apart from living. Writing is a kind of double living. The writer experiences everything twice. Once in reality and once in that mirror which waits always before or behind him" (Catherine Drinker Bowen).

I feel that this quote really explains what writing actually is. When we write, we pull a little bit of ourselves into the story. Whether it be memories of our lives or characteristics of ourselves or somebody we know, a little bit of ourselves is often seen in the stories we write. Often, the writer may re-live events through the process of writing it down, therefore experiencing it twice, as the quote explains.

Best Practice Teaching

1.) Best Practice Teaching can be described as "good teaching," or teaching that is student-centered and takes a progressive approach to teaching and education. Best Practice Teaching includes seven stuctures. These structures are reading-as-thinking, representing-to-learn, small-group activities, classroom workshop, authentic experiences, reflective assessment, and integrative units. Best Practice Teaching includes using a less traditional approach to teaching, instead moving more towards a progressive classroom.

2.) Once again, Best Practice Teaching incorporates seven structures: reading-as-thinking, representing-to-learn, small-group activities, classroom workshop, authentic experiences, reflective assessment, and integrative units. Further more, Best Practice Teaching encourages using methods such as hands-on learning, choice for students(allowing them to pick their own topics, books, etc), emphasis on higher order thinking, delivery of special help to students in regular classrooms, etc.

3.) Best Practice Teaching is not whole-class lecture, rewarding silence in the classroom, "seatwork," rote memorization of facts, tracking and ability grouping, promoting a competitive classroom atmosphere, reliance on standardized tests, etc.

4.) Best Practice Teaching could be incorporated into the English classroom in a variety of ways. For example, providing a text set and letting students pick their own books or topics, providing students with the opportunity to work with a variety of genres, including a multi-genre project into the curriculum, allowing students to present their work in a variety of ways including writing, graphics, orally, etc.