Hypothetical Letter to Dr. Emdin

Dear Dr. Emdin,

I would like to express how moved I was from your address at Rhode Island College the other day.  Your approaches to fixing education and addressing the achievement gap were truly inspiring.  It has been a long time since I have experienced an orator such as yourself.

I completely agree with you that youth culture should be the “anchor of transformative pedagogy” in our schools.  I too believe that the hyper-focus on structure, behavior, and antiquated systemic values that mirror assembly line production should not have a place in the education system.  Instead, basing education within student interests is more likely to foster engagement and content retention.  I particularly liked your comments pertaining to students standing rather than sitting in the classroom, which promotes better blood flow.  This thought immediately appealed to my learning preferences, so I can certainly imagine it would be a great strategy in the classroom.  

Although I agree with the intentions of #HipHopEd and the goals and processes it represents, I am afraid it too can potentially limit educators’ perception of what students actually need.  I understand there is a significant portion of young people who listen and relate to hip-hop, but students’ interests are more extensive than one genre of music.  There are also many more aspects of youth culture that define a generation and have the power to engage their interests such as other types of music, dance, movies, technology, and fashion. In other words, your concept of using hip-hop is certainly a great approach, but why focus on one portion of youth culture?  If we are to truly differentiate instruction, then using hip-hop is only a single attempt in a vast world of youth interests.  Do not misunderstand me; advocating for hip-hop as a tool for learning can definitely prove useful.  But although hip-hop might be quite popular, it should not be our sole approach to transformative pedagogy.  I believe in and agree with all that you stand for, I simply believe a more holistic approach is more appropriate and necessary.     

observation

Recently I had the pleasure of observing in Mr. Crookes’ Proficiency-Based Graduation Requirements (PBGR) classroom at Central Falls High School.  This program provides an opportunity for 18 – 21 year old students to earn a diploma to those have not yet completed the necessary requirements.  This class is comprised of students who have either left school for personal reasons or have not yet passed certain classes.  This program is a free and optional program with limited space that students must actively apply for and get accepted to.  In order to receive a diploma, PBGR students must present a portfolio that depicts all of the Proficiency-Based Graduation Requirements that all other high school students need to do as well.  This program specifically caters to each student’s requirements so each student has an opportunity to earn missing credits and graduate in a timely fashion. 

Mr. Crookes’ class curriculum is currently based in “Social Justice.”  All of the content revolves around the concepts, assumptions, and realities that exist in our culture.  One of my observations included a remarkable full-class conversation that involved a fictional novel the students had been reading.  The story involved a black man who was falsely accused of raping a white woman in the 1920’s.  The book allowed the class to actively discuss the specific conditions a black man faced in the 1920’s and make connections to our current societal state.  It was truly great to see most students genuinely excited about the content.

Another day I was able to observe a unique lesson.  Mr. Crookes told the class to stand in a line, in the middle of the room, next to each other, and all face a certain wall.  He then proceeded to ask questions that directed the students to either take a step forward for a “Yes” answer, or a step back for a “No.”  The questions were all based in “White Privileges” that included many inquiries about socioeconomic status, family history, personal accomplishments, and other random experiences that students answered with their feet.  The result was a class of students that were dispersed all around the room.  Mr. Crookes then asked questions to the students to open up discussion such as how they felt about where they and others stood.  It was a different experience that stimulated discussion and engagement for the students not only with the teacher, but amongst themselves as well.  After a decent round of conversation, Mr. Crookes asked the students to create an entry in their journals that explained their thoughts about their place in the room at the end of the exercise, as well as any other thoughts they gained from the experience.

Even though I have witnessed a few outstanding lessons in Mr. Crookes’s class, there were still a few students that did not want to participate in some of the tasks that he was asking.  As a future educator, I have been constantly wondering what I am going to do about those few students who are not interested in my instruction.  One would think that the students in this class would have more incentive to participate and complete as many tasks as possible in order to graduate sooner.  One would also think that administering content in methods relevant to student issues would help engage the students also.  This program is also optional and the students are not required to be there!  Another related issue that I have had difficulty with is the fact that most of Mr. Crookes’ students leave around lunch time most days and many students come to school at random times as well.  Therefore, at times it seems this PBGR class is really captivating and students are progressing towards their graduation, but then the lack of engagement, attendance, and commitment to a full school day hinder the program’s potential.  When addressing the lack of engagement, my teacher preparation courses have taught me that I should introspectively look at the quality, differentiation, and student relevance of my instruction  But in this case it seems that the instruction was extremely well thought out and particularly relevant to student interests.  So in this case, now what do I do?

The truth is, I am not quite sure that there is much more that I can do except keep trying.  I can get to know the students as best as I can in order to further cater to their interests and abilities.  I can also keep differentiating in an attempt to captivate students and keep their engagement.  If I keep switching around my instruction and I make it fun, I will hopefully be bound to impact all students eventually.  I simply need to keep believing that it is my instruction, not the student’s reluctance to learn, that needs modification.  Mr. Crookes admits it is a difficult scenario.  He cannot force students to be there and he can only put in his best efforts when they are.  He says in reality it is up to them how fast and if they graduate.

Overall the experience in Mr. Crookes room was a positive one.  I gained many experiences and techniques that I will keep in my teacher’s tool box.  These observations have taught me to remember that even the high quality differentiated instruction that intend on providing my students may not be enough to meet every student’s needs or interests, and that I will need to be constantly evolving in order to do so.   

How Smart Readers Read and Become a Community of Learners

How Smart Readers Read and Become a Community of Learners

In my classroom it will be my duty to teach students how to be smart readers.  Being a good reader is a skill that takes practice and I will need to present students with engaging texts which will help them improve their reading skills and comprehension.  I feel students will develop their own preferences as to how they read best, but as their instructor it will be necessary to expose them to different strategies.  For instance, I plan on encouraging students to read with a pen and notebook at all times.  Although students will not always be able to mark up the text they are reading, keeping notes in a chronological order with page numbers allows students to stop and realize what they are reading and refer back to key concepts when needed.  I will also ask them to use those handy smartphones of theirs as dictionaries.  There is nothing more frustrating than reading a passage and not understanding a certain word.  Although the context may help in determining meaning, knowing the actual definition is extremely helpful.  Therefore, I plan of having students create their own vocabulary lists.  They will keep track of all the words they come across that they do not know and put them on the wall with a brief definition and how it was used where they found it.  This way the students are leading their own vocabulary lists and what they are learning is relevant and frequently revisited, which will also help retain content knowledge as well.

Using different strategies, as the book suggests, will also help students with comprehension and producing artifacts that demonstrate their learned skills and understanding of concepts.  I particularly like many forms of Directed Reading and Thinking Activities.  Just like any lesson, a clear objective assists any student in accomplishing what is being asked of them.  So why would a reading assignment be any different?  Clear guiding questions and assigned roles give students something to search for within the text, and it almost becomes sort of an adventure rather than a task.  And there are many different ways to present these sorts of activities.

Through teaching students how to become smart readers, I am creating a community of learners. And being their adviser, life coach, and concerned role model, I need to convince students that whether they like it or not they are lifelong learners.   I also need to establish a risk taking climate that accepts mistakes under the basis that errors produce teachable moments, because we all remember the times we mess up.

Strategically and Sparingly

Blog 6

Brian Flamand

Strategically and Sparingly

Growing up and going through grade school, I did not particularly care for reading textbooks.  However, one thing I was really good at was extracting key vocabulary words from them in order to study for tests.  Sometimes this was easy because they were in bold print along the margins, and other times it was not as easy.  Looking back at the experience now one thing seemed consistent, the books were too long and they did not dive into deep thought or analysis.  However, simply because I passed my classes by memorizing vocabulary does not mean other students will be able to do the same, and it more importantly means that merely memorizing facts is not the approach we should be taking with instruction.

As our “textbook” argues, I too believe textbooks should be used strategically and sparingly.  Similarly to how we discussed earlier in the semester, students need a balanced diet of reading.  Especially within my content of history or social studies, I will need to supply different types of texts to expose students to multiple writing styles and different points of view.  These are aspects of history or current events that a single text cannot cover. 

Our book argues that textbooks will always be needed and are useful references, and I understand that.  However, they are not going to be the basis of reading material in my classroom.  I can recall how bored and unengaged I was with my school textbooks, and I feel it would be unfair and hypocritical if I were to continue the process.  I understand their usefulness, and they will probably make great guides for curriculum, but my students will be exposed to much more reading material than just one text. 

It all sounds good, but....

It all sounds good, but……

There is solid advice in this recent ELL brief that we read and there is little that I would disagree with.  In fact, many of the strategies suggested are not only good ELL instruction tactics, but they are great methods to ensure that every student grasps all language and content concepts, ELL student or not.  Also, using multiple forms of differentiation combined with well-defined and coherent instruction is probably the best approach to education, as the brief suggests.  However, the most common issue I hear among current teachers is the unfair methods of assessment in which ELL students are subjected to. 

The brief claims that steps should be taken in order to assure fair assessment of ELLs, but in reality it seems little has happened.  Until fair assessment is arranged for ELLs, it does not seem logical to hold them to standards that are unrealistic for them to meet.  But an even greater problem is establishing what a fair assessment might be.  ELL students are entering schools with vast discrepancies in English language abilities, which creates an almost impossible task of establishing a standard assessment.  It is also argued among some educational leaders that there is not yet enough research to refer to and establish any sort of norms for such a varied field.  Therefore, ELL instructors are somewhat limited to their best efforts through differentiated and high quality instruction.     

I have read other articles that address the difficulties that ELL instruction faces and most of the articles seem to ask more questions than they appear to answer.  Especially when one considers the many types of ELL instruction that students can receive such as bilingual instruction, sheltered instruction, or English emersion, it is difficult to set benchmarks for students with varied abilities to reach.  A particular method of instruction might suit one student, while another student learns more effectively through another.  And there is a high probability that students’ learning preferences and efficacy evolve and adapt through improving language skills, with no clear indication of when this process occurs.  Therefore, establishing a standardized method of assessment might never prove useful. 

Here are some articles by Claude Goldenberg.  He is one of the leading researchers in the field of ELL.  I suggest you read what he has to say.  Although most of his content elaborates the general message of the ELL brief, he also offers further insight to instructional techniques and the current state of ELL research.  Check it out….

http://www.aft.org//sites/default/files/periodicals/Goldenberg.pdf

http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/summer2013/Saunders_Goldenberg_Marcelletti.pdf

http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americaneducator/summer2008/goldenberg.pdf