Final Letter
Dear Students,
Literacy is an extremely important part of our ELA classroom. When you are asked to consider daily encounters with literacy, you may think that it occupies a very small percentage of your day. However, our experiences in this classroom while encourage you to broaden your definition of literacy, and the importance of literacy to your life. Within this classroom we will read and respond to a variety of texts, both formal and informal. Rather than reader novels and textbooks exclusively, we will read magazines, newspaper articles, journals, and much much more. You will learn that the reading process not only includes the thinking that is done in response to the words on the page in front of you, but also the inclusion of your previous knowledge. ELA learners read all kinds of texts, and in order to interpret those texts, they use their life experiences. By drawing upon your experiences and your responses to these experiences, you will be able to make better sense of new characters, plots, themes, and settings that you encounter in your reading. In addition to utilizing your experiences outside of the classroom, I encourage you to pay attention to the experiences that your peers share. In this process, comparing your experiences to your peers’ will provide an explanation for your differences in interpretation. Learning to appreciate other individual’s interpretations of texts is a great way to learn about the reality of your own beliefs. In many ways it is the reading process that informs your initial responses, and your interactions with other opinions that cause you to revise and/or strengthen your opinions. In our classroom I will encourage you to engage in a variety of reading and writing exercises. It will be helpful to utilize this thinking process as we work through these exercises together. After you leave my classroom, I would like for you to be excited about the idea of literacy, and appreciate your literacy as an empowering tool! When you encounter a text in your daily life, I believe it will be rewarding to think about the critical reading and writing exercises that we did in class. Every person can be an expert in English Language Arts by simply reading what interests them, and talking about the ideas that they have about these texts with other individuals. I believe that you will find that writing down your ideas in a journal of some kind will help you strengthen the skills that we have been talking about, and will ultimately enrich your lives! Use this class to explore your own interests, and find out what literacy means to you!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Top Ten Toolkit -Group 4
Text Set
Atkin, S. Beth. Voices from the Fields: Children of Migrant Farmworkers Tell Their Stories. Boston: Little Brown, 2000. Print.
This compilation of photographs, interviews, and poems by Beth S. Atkin tells the stories of Mexican-American children and their migrant families. The collection of primary sources provides the perfect forum for these children’s voices to be heard. The words and images reveal the struggles that migrant families go through in order to establish a better life. Furthermore, the children express the ways in which they compare to their new American peers, and how these similarities/differences affect the formation of meaningful relationships.
I would use this text in my English Language Arts classroom throughout the middle grades. Reading first hand accounts of migrant children gives these students a voice in the classroom as well as illustrates the actuality of this experience to their peers. The book will be helpful to ELLs who are integrated into my classroom by making them feel like their individual experiences are worthy of literature, and study in the classroom. Furthermore, the text will work to demystify the experiences these students for mainstream students.
Kaufman, Alan, ed. The Outlaw Bible of American Literature. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2004. Print.
Alan Kaufman has cobbled together a working history of 20th century American outlaw literature with this book. Writers such as Lou Reed, Hunter S. Thompson, Ray Bradbury, Emma Goldman, Patti Smith, Henry Miller, Jack Black, Jack Kerouac, and William S. Burroughs reveal the progression of anti-mainstream America sentiments over the past century. The works hail from a variety of genres including rock criticism, poetry, fiction, epistemological, and more.
Because of the mature nature of much of the literature that is contained in this anthology, I would use this as a resource for my ELA students in eighth grade and higher. As these students teeter on the cusp of adulthood, the sentiments that are expressed in these works is becoming more and more familiar. Students will not only get the opportunity to experience different genres of texts, but they will also be exposed to a variety of subjects that cater to a range of interests. Many times students aren’t aware that outlaw literature exists and is an acceptable, celebrated form of expression in this country. This book will familiarize students with some of the individuals at the foreground of this movement, and hopefully widen their definition of acceptable forms and functions of literature. The book may inspire students of this age to begin expressing their own societal reactions and disappointments in writing.
Saint-Exupery, de Antoine. The Little Prince. Trans. Richard Howard. Florida: Harcourt, Inc, 2000. Print.
The Little Prince is a timeless novel. The novel is written from the perspective of a young-hearted traveler who encounters a “little prince” from a far away planet. The narrator traces his experiences with the prince, while simultaneously examining his own life and psyche. The story outlines the distinction between child and adult thought, and emphasizes the importance of maintaining imagination through this transformation.
This novel appeals to all grade levels, and all reading levels. Because of this universality, I would use this text when teacher ELA to any middle grade classroom. The simplicity of the writing is helpful in reaching struggling readers, but the mature use of metaphor and universal themes is stimulating to the advanced reader. Students will empathize with the Little Prince, and appreciate the importance that both the narrator and the prince place on imagination. Furthermore, the novel encourages ethical lessons and development through the princes encounters with a variety of personalities and occupations. The book is a great segue to conversation about world-view, and interaction with the world in general.
Strategies
Occasional Paper (Assessment)
Occasional Papers ask students to use their previous experiences to create an essay based on an occasion in their life. Generally, students are asked to certain conclusions about this experience according to a prompt. For example, students may be asked to recall an experience that they had and then connect it to something that they have done in a content course, ultimately relating the two to a larger theme. This strategy is appropriate for all levels of reading and writing, as well as all grade levels. The strategy can be tweaked to accommodate advanced thinkers, as well as learning disabled students. Occasional Papers encourage students to utilize their past experiences in the critical literacy process, and gets them in the habit of doing so on a daily basis. Furthermore, this strategy has students begin making larger thematic connections between disparate events and/or activities. Students are much more likely to be motivated to complete a writing assignment where they are allowed to write about themselves, and their experiences. Not only does this process empower the student, but when the papers are shared in the classroom, students are exposed an incredible amount of diversity. I will use this strategy in my ELA classroom as both a WTL exercise and an assessment. Rather than assigning traditional assessments all of the time, Occasional Papers are a great way to incorporate real-life applications of lessons. I might use this strategy to assess a students overall understanding of a text, but asking them to connect their own experiences to the events and ultimately the themes of the work.
Double Entry Journal (Critical Reading)
This strategy uses traditional methods of journaling and note taking, but modifies combines and modifies them slightly in an effort to increase effectiveness. The double entry journal asks students to create two columns: the right hand column records notes on a lecture or reading, and the left hand column provides an opportunity for students to respond or reflect on the information. This strategy is appropriate for responding to both class lecture and independent reading. Rather than encouraging rote learning with traditional note taking, this strategy encourages kids to reflect upon the information that they are being taught. These journals make the critical literacy process much more concrete. Students have physical lists that help them with the thinking process, and act as a tool of reference for later. I will use this strategy in my ELA classroom in order to get kids thinking original thoughts about the information that I present. Students will have the opportunity to use their discretion while reading and/or listening, to decide which elements are important enough to record. The two lists can be used to compare individual works with one theme. I will also use the journals as a forum for students to record their incoming knowledge prior to a lesson, returning to the list at the completion of the lesson to comment upon what they have learned.
Atkin, S. Beth. Voices from the Fields: Children of Migrant Farmworkers Tell Their Stories. Boston: Little Brown, 2000. Print.
This compilation of photographs, interviews, and poems by Beth S. Atkin tells the stories of Mexican-American children and their migrant families. The collection of primary sources provides the perfect forum for these children’s voices to be heard. The words and images reveal the struggles that migrant families go through in order to establish a better life. Furthermore, the children express the ways in which they compare to their new American peers, and how these similarities/differences affect the formation of meaningful relationships.
I would use this text in my English Language Arts classroom throughout the middle grades. Reading first hand accounts of migrant children gives these students a voice in the classroom as well as illustrates the actuality of this experience to their peers. The book will be helpful to ELLs who are integrated into my classroom by making them feel like their individual experiences are worthy of literature, and study in the classroom. Furthermore, the text will work to demystify the experiences these students for mainstream students.
Kaufman, Alan, ed. The Outlaw Bible of American Literature. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2004. Print.
Alan Kaufman has cobbled together a working history of 20th century American outlaw literature with this book. Writers such as Lou Reed, Hunter S. Thompson, Ray Bradbury, Emma Goldman, Patti Smith, Henry Miller, Jack Black, Jack Kerouac, and William S. Burroughs reveal the progression of anti-mainstream America sentiments over the past century. The works hail from a variety of genres including rock criticism, poetry, fiction, epistemological, and more.
Because of the mature nature of much of the literature that is contained in this anthology, I would use this as a resource for my ELA students in eighth grade and higher. As these students teeter on the cusp of adulthood, the sentiments that are expressed in these works is becoming more and more familiar. Students will not only get the opportunity to experience different genres of texts, but they will also be exposed to a variety of subjects that cater to a range of interests. Many times students aren’t aware that outlaw literature exists and is an acceptable, celebrated form of expression in this country. This book will familiarize students with some of the individuals at the foreground of this movement, and hopefully widen their definition of acceptable forms and functions of literature. The book may inspire students of this age to begin expressing their own societal reactions and disappointments in writing.
Saint-Exupery, de Antoine. The Little Prince. Trans. Richard Howard. Florida: Harcourt, Inc, 2000. Print.
The Little Prince is a timeless novel. The novel is written from the perspective of a young-hearted traveler who encounters a “little prince” from a far away planet. The narrator traces his experiences with the prince, while simultaneously examining his own life and psyche. The story outlines the distinction between child and adult thought, and emphasizes the importance of maintaining imagination through this transformation.
This novel appeals to all grade levels, and all reading levels. Because of this universality, I would use this text when teacher ELA to any middle grade classroom. The simplicity of the writing is helpful in reaching struggling readers, but the mature use of metaphor and universal themes is stimulating to the advanced reader. Students will empathize with the Little Prince, and appreciate the importance that both the narrator and the prince place on imagination. Furthermore, the novel encourages ethical lessons and development through the princes encounters with a variety of personalities and occupations. The book is a great segue to conversation about world-view, and interaction with the world in general.
Strategies
Occasional Paper (Assessment)
Occasional Papers ask students to use their previous experiences to create an essay based on an occasion in their life. Generally, students are asked to certain conclusions about this experience according to a prompt. For example, students may be asked to recall an experience that they had and then connect it to something that they have done in a content course, ultimately relating the two to a larger theme. This strategy is appropriate for all levels of reading and writing, as well as all grade levels. The strategy can be tweaked to accommodate advanced thinkers, as well as learning disabled students. Occasional Papers encourage students to utilize their past experiences in the critical literacy process, and gets them in the habit of doing so on a daily basis. Furthermore, this strategy has students begin making larger thematic connections between disparate events and/or activities. Students are much more likely to be motivated to complete a writing assignment where they are allowed to write about themselves, and their experiences. Not only does this process empower the student, but when the papers are shared in the classroom, students are exposed an incredible amount of diversity. I will use this strategy in my ELA classroom as both a WTL exercise and an assessment. Rather than assigning traditional assessments all of the time, Occasional Papers are a great way to incorporate real-life applications of lessons. I might use this strategy to assess a students overall understanding of a text, but asking them to connect their own experiences to the events and ultimately the themes of the work.
Double Entry Journal (Critical Reading)
This strategy uses traditional methods of journaling and note taking, but modifies combines and modifies them slightly in an effort to increase effectiveness. The double entry journal asks students to create two columns: the right hand column records notes on a lecture or reading, and the left hand column provides an opportunity for students to respond or reflect on the information. This strategy is appropriate for responding to both class lecture and independent reading. Rather than encouraging rote learning with traditional note taking, this strategy encourages kids to reflect upon the information that they are being taught. These journals make the critical literacy process much more concrete. Students have physical lists that help them with the thinking process, and act as a tool of reference for later. I will use this strategy in my ELA classroom in order to get kids thinking original thoughts about the information that I present. Students will have the opportunity to use their discretion while reading and/or listening, to decide which elements are important enough to record. The two lists can be used to compare individual works with one theme. I will also use the journals as a forum for students to record their incoming knowledge prior to a lesson, returning to the list at the completion of the lesson to comment upon what they have learned.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)