Learning Letter

Throughout this class I became more confident in my abilities because I no longer felt that my fears and doubts in myself were a problem. My classmates all shared the fears and doubts as I did. We learned that we all have our shortcomings and that is fine.
The three presentations I did throughout the quarter were also enlightening to me. Each presentation I attempted a different style: powerpoint presentation, spoken, and spoken+whiteboard. Teachers who can lecture without any visual support have a skill that I do not. I felt that powerpoint left to little for me to express as the presentation should state it with fewer words. Using the whiteboard as a visual representation felt more comfortable to me. My colleagues had to follow what I said while also being able to see the most important ideas behind me.
I learned more about how I want to teach and the vast array of teaching styles. I hope to be able to use some of the ideas that I learned in my readings and my classmates presentations someday to experiment further with what works for my teaching style to improve my teaching in the future.

Content Area Portfolio Project

I)        Speaking/Listening

             A)      8^th Grade Debate

1)      Debate requires incredible listening skills to take notes and comprehend the entirety of a person’s argument while also noting potential weaknesses in said argument. During this time, the lessons emphasized notetaking and analyzing what a persona is saying. Becoming aware of what a person is saying and analyzing their facts has allowed me to better understand what a person is meaning and questioning the accuracy of their statement.

2) Artifact

Affirmative Constructive

            INTRO: “Developing alternative renewable energy resources have benefits that go beyond environmental health; they improve personal health, enhance national security and encourage our nation's economic viability.” This quote From Jim Clyburn is representative of the genuine nature of our resolution. The United States has realized the importance of establishing reliable energy resources other than those currently used. I stand resolved: The development of Energy Resources in the United States takes precedence over the protection of the environment.

            Obs. 1: Definitions

Development: to make available for use

Precedence: the right to precede in rank or importance; priority

Protection: to shield from injury of destruction.

Environment:  external factors surrounding and affecting an organism at any time.
            Obs. 2: America has become dependent on the production of energy resources to the point where the cease of it’s development would cripple the nation, therefore the affirmative value is preservation, because in order to preserve the nation, we must develop energy resources.

            Obs. 3: I ask the judge to weigh the round using Futurism. The consequence of an action will benefit future generations.

Cont. 1The U.S. does not need to relive past crisis caused by our lack of adeptivity. According to “The 1973 Oil Crisis” by Sarah Horton in 1973, when middle-eastern OPEC nations stopped exporting oil and other goods to the U.S. and other countries, gas prices quadrupled, and the United was forced face many major issues because there were very little alternatives to using oil, most of which originally came from those OPEC nations. If new energy resources were developed, and the U.S. became more independent, then when fossils fuels run out, there will be fewer crises than the 1973 example.

Cont. 2: The economy has almost always been shown to depend on energy development. For example Hydraulic Fracturing has created many jobs for people who previously didn’t have a job, but directly mining the natural is only one of the jobs it supports. People depend on natural gas because it is clean and has low carbon content. According to the American Petroleum Institute natural gas “is critical to American manufacturing jobs, to farmers for fertilizer, to households for heating and cooking, to businesses for electricity and fuel for transportation needs, and to society…” This is only the beginning of the economic impacts that energy resource development has, and they are all positive.

Cont. 3: The development of energy resources would be a huge benefit to future generations. By obtaining Energy Resources that will last longer than the current ones, the economy will be more stable and independent. The United States would no longer be crippled when oil-rich nations decide to cut off exports with us, and so the U.S. would be stronger. A considerable amount of the nation’s debt attributes to oil, so without the need to buy it, the debt would decrease from its current position at 15 trillion. I urge you to vote for the affirmative.

Cont. 4: If we increase our knowledge of energy resources, then the nation will be able to fix problems in the environment. We can reach our opponent’s goal (to protect the environment) by expanding on our goal- developing energy resources. Manufacturers are already taking steps to insure that citizens can take control of which energy resources they use. Some are marketing new environment friendly products that have carbon labeling. They show the carbon footprint of each product. Researchers have confirmed that this action will have a meaningful effect on carbon emissions.

             

·         Hydraulic fracturing is a technology used in the United States to help produce more than 7 billion barrels of oil and 600 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. 80% of natural gas wells will require Fracking.

·         Organization for the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

·         Cont. 1 comes from www.envirothonpa.org

·         Cont. 2 comes from API American petroleum institute.

·         Cont. 3 comes from cei.org (competitive enterprise institute)

·         Cont. 4 comes from rff.org (resources for the future)

             B)      My Family’s Way of Communicating

1)     My husband while being introduced to my family, as an outsider, was able to inform me about how my family communicates. My family speaks through interrupting each other to have our say in subjects as we are very bad at letting people have their turn speaking. The act of being made aware of my way of communicating with one group of people can help me be aware of my speaking and interaction with others as it can appear rude or insensitive to others.

2) 

             C)      D&D Playing, especially DMing

1)      As an active player of Dungeons & Dragons, I am aware of importance of listening. The game is based around the idea of listening to the instructions the facilitator/narrator of the game. A player needs to be aware and listen to what the other players are doing. Listening and observing details that can be taken advantage of in the situation the game portrays. As the facilitator/narrator, there is a necessity to listen to everything the players say since you a responsible for responding to whatever the player says. Anything the facilitator/narrator is important to the players, who are also listening intently, as a tool to potentially use in the future. The game is all about communication, primarily listening to what others say to create a communal narrative.

II)      Visual Literacy/Visually Representing

             A)      Create Visual Representation of Fahrenheit 451 and Julius Caesar in 10^th Grade

1)      In 10^th grade, my teacher valued the use of visually representing ideas. The two assignments that I remember best where we drew a visual representation of the character Clarisse who seemed otherworldly or angelic in nature. I remember some students drew simple pictures of a girl in a dress, others drew ghosts, someone drew an angel. I remember reading the novel and seeing myself as Clarisse. When I drew her, I created a self-portrait in a white dress. There was not a requirement to be good at art, but to think about the descriptions of a character, both physically and symbolically. The teacher further developed this when she asked us to draw the death of Julius Caesar in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Most created the scene as the play describes it. I remember creating a picture of a sculpture with dozens of holes, blood spewing out like a fountain; a proud, kingly man now lived in a river of his own blood. These assignments encouraged me to think more abstractly about descriptions rather than looking only at a literal image and interpretation.

             B)      Site Reading Sheet Music

1)      Reading sheet music requires the ability to look at images an understand their meaning. One needs to look for small details to determine what notes to play and how to play it. Learning to read sheet music has taught me to notice small details in the pieces I’m looking at with only short glances while still gaining information from many minute details.

2)  

             C)      Teaching Sunday School

1)      I teach primarily children between three to five years old, although I do occasionally teach up to twelve-year-old children. Creating visual representations of stories is crucial to making successful lessons for these children. Learning to create effective visual tools and aids took years of trial and error. Without the visual aids, the kids rarely understood the lessons. By learning to examine other visual aids to improve my own, I’ve grown to further appreciate the use and creation of visual aids.  

2)  

III)     Writing/Composition/Grammar

             A)      Angel Wars and 50 Poems Over a Summer

1)      I wrote my first story in first grade. It wasn’t much, but it began my desire to make stories. In fifth grade, I began writing a story that was over a hundred pages long which I didn’t finish until sixth grade. I still have the story, poorly written with plenty of flaws. The act of writing the story, which began as a handwritten task, improved my knowledge of writing. Although none of my further writing projects were so large, my quality of writing has improved. I just kept practicing. My greatest writing accomplishment occurred last summer when I wrote fifty poems of varying style. The quality of my writing has increased because of this practice and continual work.

2)  

             B)      Learning French in High School

1)      I had never thought much of the structure of the English language until I began studying French in high school. We just speak English without thinking, but my teacher constantly referred to the structure of French to English. Comparing and contrasting sentence structures of different languages has made me more aware of grammatical structure of a piece. 

             C)      Reading and Editing my Father’s Story

1)      My father created a story, and I’ve been his primary editor. I’ve examined his story and have discussed revisions and story development with him. By examining the construction of someone else’s story in depth while also having access to the author who can explain what they are attempting to express, I have better learned the construction of a story and even how to express the desired ideas.

2)  

IV)    Literature/Reading

             A)      Reading to my mom and Reading A Prayer for Owen Meany with my mom

1)      In my later elementary school days and throughout middle school, I would regularly read books to my mother. This act has developed my reading skills. In middle school, my mother and I read through a book “together” (I read faster than her, so I ended up getting far ahead of her). Although I don’t completely remember the assignments that occurred, I remember discussing A Prayer for Owen Meany with my mother. My mother and I would talk in depth about the events and the meaning of the events in the book which was the most complex and in depth conversation that has impacted my way of looking at meaning in a text rather than paying attention to superficial analysis.

2)  A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

             B)      Making Sunday School Curriculum

1)      I’ve taught Sunday school since I was in sixth grade, but it hasn’t been until the past couple years that I’ve begun writing my own curriculum. Making this curriculum involved reading parts of the bible in a more critical and thoughtful manner than I had ever read a book before. I was writing Sunday school curriculum for children twelve years old and younger. I had to read bible stories with the idea of explaining the meaning of the stories to a four-year-old. I began learning to read to find only the most important of details that apply towards a specific idea or lesson.

2)  

             C)      Bible Quizzing

1)      I did bible trivia through a specific church conference. The conference would pick a book of the bible, sometimes more if they were short, and ask various questions about the piece. Rather than creating understanding of a piece of literature, this emphasized learning memorization and retention of what was read. I had to remember what I had read which has helped my reading retention as a whole.

Literature and Reading Handout

The Best Lesson Series: Literature

15 Master Teachers Share What Works

Outline:

Each lesson is split into 6 sections

·         An Introduction

·         Learning Goals stating:

o   Broad Implications

o   Knowledge Gained

o   Skills Acquired

o   Evidence of Learning

·         Learning Plan

·         Handouts/Resources

o   I have an ebook version of the book that contains links to handouts and resources for the lesson, including poems, short stories, and pictures.

·         What Made It Memorable

·         Short Bio on Teacher

1.      Finding Courage to Fly Close to the Sun: Interpreting Icarus – Ruth Arseneault

a.      “I once had a theatre mentor tell me that she saw her job, not as building actors, but as building audiences. That is how I see my English classes. So few of them will go on to become English majors, but by heavens, I want them to continue to experience the joys of deep reading, regardless of what text they encounter. I also want them to have the ability to move through the world experiencing the joys of art and culture, but always with a critical eye.”

2.      The American Dream – Susan Barber

a.      “I want students to understand the idea of the American Dream and have a sense of how varied the dream is among different people throughout different time periods. Students will also comprehend how the arts, not just literature, reflect current events and be able to identify common themes and ideas reflected in the arts.”

3.      Thinking Icons for Literary Analysis – Laura Bradley

a.      “Students will learn a variety of ways to read, think about, and write analytically in response to literature. They will choose significant excerpts from text and choose lenses through which to write analytical responses to them.”

4.      Teaching Symbolism and Characterization in Of Mice and Men – Brianna Crowley

a.      “I want students to analyze visual and written texts to understand characterization and symbolism more deeply. This lesson fosters an understanding of different points of view. It teaches them that literary characters are multi-faceted and complex, reflecting true human nature and motivation.

5.      Ignite Talks – Gerard Dawson

a.      “We grow when we are pushed to the edges of our capabilities. When students perform, hit ‘publish’ and put themselves out there in their own way, real learning happens.”

6.      Multi-Draft Reading Using Print and Visual Texts – Todd Finley

a.      “My main goal is to help students realize that deeper analytical reading of print and visual texts can be achieved through re-reading. I also want students to see how inquiry can be aided when both a ‘paradigmatic’ and ‘narrative’ lens are used. More important than the literature and visual texts chosen are the analytical skills that can be transferred to subsequent texts.”

7.      Student-Generated Questions Using Science Fiction – Joy Kirr

a.      “Students’ questions often go unasked and unanswered. We need to give them space to ask their own questions and find the answers together. This can be a catalyst to get students asking the questions and learning from each other for life.”

8.      Demystifying Poetry: 3-Step Poetry Analysis and “The Red Wheelbarrow” – Jori Krulder

a.      “I want students to develop independence in analyzing poetry, moving beyond the misconception that a poem is a puzzle with one correct answer to the understanding that through thoughtful application of their perceptions and prior knowledge to various aspects of the text, they can create meaning competently on their own.”

9.      Building Bridges with Visual Literacy – Shanna Peeples

a.      “Both the film and the short story require students to practice critical thinking and questioning skills because the pieces are sufficiently complex in terms of character, theme, and necessity to infer.”

10.  What Makes a Work of Literature? – Amy Rasmussen

a.      “Through the lens of language, students will begin their inquiry into what makes a work of literature. They will read two pieces of literary criticism and discuss the writers’ assertions as the genesis of developing their own response to the question: What makes a work of literature?”

11.  Literary 3x3: Literary Analysis Remixed & Reshuffled – Dan Ryder

a.      “They should find themselves equipped with a powerful analytical tool and dynamic synthesis process that will evolve throughout the school year. They will be able to distill a text down to its most essential concepts and themes, identify the benefits and challenges of collaborative analysis, and recognize trends across a collection of analyses.”

12.  April Awesomeness Poetry Challenge – Joshua Stock

a.      “I want them to determine the effectiveness of a poem in relation to other poems and support their position with evidence from the text. They will use the views of their classmates to strengthen their position and actively participate in moving the dialogue forward.”

13.  When Novels Start with Bathroom Scenes – Dave Stuart, Jr.

a.      “I first want students to realize how much we often miss on a first reading and then to see how delightfully confusing subsequent close readings of a passage can be. Students will analyze how one scene contributes to the book as a whole.”

14.  Think Like a Poet – Brian Sztabnik

a.      “Perhaps the reason many students are turned off by poetry is because we make them read it rather than experience it. This lesson puts students in the mind of a poet. Without even realizing it, they will be analyzing the clues to determine its subject, imagery, point of view, and meaning. It is time they had a new experience with poetry, one where they think like a poet.”

15.  The Excitement Graph – Heather Wolpert-Gawron

a.      “I want students to walk away with a sense of what jazzes them about a particular story or book and then recognize that narratives generally have patterns of writing that lead them to feel that way at certain points of the storytelling. They will analyze the plot structure in a narrative by literally plotting symbols on a graph to indicate their level of excitement during different parts of the tale. The resulting line that can be drawn between these symbols should indicate the ‘story swoop’ of the narrative.”

Why this Book:

·         The title drew me in

o   It makes a broad claim that makes me want to examine

Teaching Ideas and Implementations:

·         The book gives 15 detailed lessons

o   Lessons can be adapted for different texts

·         Most lessons push multiple forms of media and visuals as literature: images, movies, tv shows, and songs

·         Details ways of annotating texts and how to teach students how to annotate a text

Challenges:

·         Some writes provide a lot of detail and structure on their lessons

o   Can make lessons seem rigid and inflexible

o   Can make lessons overwhelming

·         Some lessons are vague and made to be modified for different situations

o   Can make lessons overwhelming

o   The teacher has to do more work to prepare the lesson

o   Teacher is left not knowing what to do

·         The lessons are individualized as they are designed by the specific teachers for their grade-level and teaching style

Cool Information:

Many lessons are made to be changed and adapted to most any teacher, grade-level, and student need.

·         What changes do the authors mention?

·         What changes can you think of?

Example Lesson to Think About

Thinking Icons for Literary Analysis

Analyze and annotate a familiar story such as a fairytale, the author uses “Goldilocks”, before moving on to a more complex text.

You do not need to use the authors texts. What other texts would work? Could you use another medium than a piece of literature?

What about the Thinking Icon themselves? How could they be modified to better support a lesson?