Summative Self-Critique.
There are times in life when the question of knowing if one can think differently than one thinks, and perceive differently than one sees, is absolutely necessary if one is to go on looking and reflecting at all.
Michel Foucault
As I read this quote it made me think of when I was completing the National Boards process. As I completed the process I was consistently reflecting on my teaching practices. I think this quote means that in order to look at our teaching practices and reflect on what we are incorporating in our classrooms, we need to be prepared to think about our teaching strategies differently and look at what is happening in our room in a different perspective.
This takes me right to the last couple of chapter we read in Reading Lives. As I read about Laurie and Jake I realized the importance of seeing “school” from a child’s perspective that is of different genders, class, race, and ethnicity. I know I have been aware of this before, but not the extent of the difference it could make in my room. I am seeing the look of my classroom from a different perspective. Instead of seeing high, middle, and low students, I am seeing different genders, class, race, and ethnicities that I need to make sure I am taking into consideration when I create my lesson plans. I think this has been one of the first years that I have served my students well as far as providing material that is on their independent and instructional level for the majority of their reading. I used guided reading groups to facilitate this instruction. I am now thinking of these flexible reading groups in a different manner. In the Henry and Staples article we read about how making literature relevant to our students gets them more interested and motivated, and how there are gender differences in literature interests. So, as I am picturing my flexible reading groups broken up by gender! What an idea! I would have never thought to do this before reading this article.
In this same Henry and Staples article they also mentioned using dialogue journals which is something I have been hearing about in graduate classes, but I have never used in my class before, so I am also thinking of ways to incorporate this into my classroom. I want my students to be able to dialogue about the literature that we are reading and discussing in class. I think this is a great way to see what is in the heads of those students that don’t like to speak out in class, and gives those higher students a chance to dig deeper into the conversation. Again I think this is what the quote above means. We need to continue to reflect on the strategies we use and make sure we are willing to change if what we are doing isn’t working, or could be better.
Perry’s article also helped me see an area that I need to improve in my teaching. I really struggle with telling appealing stories to my children. I don’t feel that I have been “told” stories as much as my parents “read” stories. I see how much storytelling could really help my students get across hardships that they have faced, even if this storytelling end up in written form. If I don’t give my students this outlet by providing them with a strong model, than I feel that I am cheating them of getting out the many, many stories they must have to tell. I used to begin all my math lessons with a story to help my students see how the skill relates to real life. After reading this article, I definitely plan on incorporating that strategy back into my schedule.
As I go through the graduate process I continue to look and reflect at my teaching. I am finding with every class new and amazing strategies to use in my room. One of these strategies came from the last couple of chapters from Reading Lives. Our school uses the writing program Empowering Writers, so I have been forced to follow this program to teach writing. After reading about the Writer’s Workshop that was used with Jake, I was extremely intrigued by how much he enjoyed getting to write about what he wanted to write about. As I think about what I have done in the past, I hope to come up with a compromise between the writing program required at school, and a strong Writer’s Workshop that will give my students the skills needed to write well, but still give them the choice of topic that will hopefully keep motivated to write.
Reading Lives also reminded me of students in my class that are from working class families. I know there are some that bring their home lives to school, but every day I am amazed that some of these students can come to school and put aside everything that is going on at home and have fun, laugh, and work their hardest. I know adults that can’t do that with their personal lives. As I read each article it reminds me that we need to give our students an outlet for all the “stuff” going on at home. Whether it is engaging them in literature to forget, writing about their lives, or even dramatizing about the things going on at home. Through my journals, guided reading groups, and stations I hope to give my students more outlets for dealing with their world at home.
As I continue to reflect about my teaching strategies and think and look at things differently, the one thing I’m not sure I can see changing is the fact that I expect my students to use Standard English when it is appropriate. As I wrote in my blog, I understand having informal conversations with our students. This is definitely when I believe I really begin to build relationships with my students, but I expect them to use correct English in their writing and when we are discussing academics. I understand that we all come from different backgrounds, but in order for my students to be successful in America, I believe, this is an essential.
Through all the articles and research we read, the one thing that stuck with me the most is the Noll article. I think sometimes I get lost in the curriculum that needs to be taught, and I forget to make it relevant to students. Like I mentioned above with my math lessons, I definitely see that I also need to improve this area when I plan my reading instruction. I use guided reading groups, so I definitely have the means to choose literature that is relevant to my students in that group. As I look into next year, I hope to give my students more choices in the literature that is used in their groups and provide them with choices that will be interesting and relevant to each of them. I also realize that we do not read enough literature about the different cultures in my room. I think my students would be motivated and interested if they knew it was a culture of a student in my room. I also think this will help foster respect for all the different cultures. I know find literature that is relevant to each group is going to be a difficult task, but as I think of the quote above I need to be able to perceive things differently than I see!
-Angie Sigmon