English Prof soon to be

2006-11-20T19:39:00.000-08:00

I have been doing a plethora of research for my paper and have found that the most helpful author for my argument is Alfie Kohn. He is a huge opponent for high-stakes testing and I have three different of his books which I will be using. I found an interesting book about high-stakes testing that was an actual research topic for two professor from University of Wisconsin. They traveled to Louisiana and took jobs as 3rd and 4th grade teachers at one of the worst schools in the Deerborne Parish district. The findings were fascinating and have interested me in how economic levels will affect testing on students. But that will be another paper. Their experience was dismal, to say the least. Unfortunately the book was not that helpful for my current argument, but for future use. (I still read the whole think) In my research I have run across some problems finding information on the history of testing in America. Where did the concept begin and why has it taken over our schools? I am waiting on the book that will answer this question as the one Tech owns is checked-out until May 07. Go figure.
I am starting my paper off with the history of testing and why America began testing children. The history is interesting and the pendulum on testing swings back and forth for each decade we go through. Next, I will discuss curriculum in the class room; how has that changed since the inception of the "No child Left Behind Act," signed by GW in 2001. The concept of testing to insure students where learning at higher levels began with Clinton in 1998. The affect this has had on teaching and learning (is clear to me and I hope to make it clear to the reader) has changed the entire schoolroom and the teaching practices of all teachers. Beside using Kohn, I am using several books other professors and teacher have written, all with the same concern I have, how much testing is too much? Do any of you think I should show the positive side of testing? Show both the good and negative sides or stick to one side? I was appalled at a book I read that blamed the teachers for the poor achievements of students. Thirty years ago, I would agree, but today I have a problem with that.
I have interviewed several teachers and a principal of a school in order to see both sides and will use the information in my paper. So any feedback my peers would like to send my way will be helpful. I am still writing - can you tell? Like I said, I am waiting on a book about the history which is vital to the paper. Pray that it gets here soon.

2006-10-30T14:31:00.000-08:00

Teaching high stakes test over curriculum~

I have been overwhelmed with the amount of information I found on educating verses testing. I cannot begin to read all of it, but I am going to try for the next several years. I became concerned with this topic when my child, Alexis was in second grade and she was overly stressed because of a test she was taking in 4 days. My 8 year old was stressed!!
Students in the state of Texas are tested beginning in the 3rd grade by the TAKS test. You have two chances at passing a particular section of the test, ie math, reading, social studies, or science. In 2nd and 3rd grades you only take math and reading. As you advance in school, you learn more, thus take more tests. In the classroom, teachers are now forced to teach kids how to take the TAKS and pass. It is ridiculous the stress that is put on the students to pass and for the educators to guarantee each to pass! Now if you don't know this, in Texas the amount of students who pass the test determines the amount of funding the school receives! And if the school does not have a passing score two years in a row then students are allowed to transfer to another school with academically accepted performance. Oh the tax payers pay for the transportation of the student. I am amazed at how often the students are tested in preparation for the TAKS test. They takes several formats of the test each six weeks. Now here is the problem. Why are we spending millions of dollars on education that only teach our children how to take a test? What is that doing for them?
I over-heard some of my students today talking about this very subject and how it affected them in highschool and in college now. I am concerned the education the students are getting is falling behind and test taking strategies are taking over. This is what I plan to argue and discuss in my paper. How does teaching highschool student how to pass all the TAKS test affect their writing ability? How does it affect their analytical thinking?
Honestly I have no idea outline made for this paper. I am just in the beginning stages and like I said, the amount of information is overwhelming, which also leads me to believe the problem is bigger than I thought. I am hoping to publish this essay or present it at a conference. I think the subject matter is vital to all students education and learning abilities!

2006-10-16T05:56:00.000-07:00

What is good teaching?

Reading through the history of composition in "The Bedford Bibliography for teachers of Writing," I am not surprised the article centers on the work of Aristotle. In Aristotle time writing was not the primary way of communicating, but through speech, thus making speech and deliverance of words central to communication. Speech is still at the heart of teaching, creating dialogue with students is vital to the learning process, but writing has taken over in the curriculum.
English was not established as a core curriculum until 1806 at Harvard: "In 1806 Harvard College established the Boylston professorship of Rhetoric and Orator and became, thereafter, the dominate influence on the development of rhetoric at other American colleges" (Bedford 4). It is know surprise to any one who studies English that Harvard was the creator of the English department. The entrance exam required by Harvard became the standardized test for many schools until the early 1900's. After this time there was a break off from Harvard and the National Council of Teachers of English was formed in 1911 (Bedford 4). Many adapting of the association emerged from the NCTE but at the core was the theory behind the NCTE. By the 1930's the New Criticism became dominant in the English cycle. The emphasis was on the "close analysis of literary texts," and this lead to the separation of teaching writing and literary study. I am a strong advocate of analysis of literary studies. The New Criticism believe that changing one word in a poem can change the entire meaning of a poem. I strongly agree with this statement. I have a friend who is a creative writer and if one word was changed in one her poems, the entire meaning would be lost altogether. If you changed a word like love to hate, would the meaning change? Now, there is more to writing than understanding the written text and why you are writing something, however, if you do not understand what the literature is about, then how can you write about it?
By the 1970's the writing process was shifting gears towards, why students write. Scholars were interested in the cognitive process of basic writing. How this aided the student in learning, I do not know. This might have worked in the 1970's, but today it would do us absolutely no good. The students in 1301 English classes are not concerned with the composing process, they are interested in getting through the class, especially since it is required curriculum.
I strongly agree with Peter Elbow and the concept of free-writing to initiate the students own voice. This is essential in motivating students of today's classroom. This type of technique was a central issue at the 1966 Dartmouth College conference. The result of the conference was, "that writing instruction should emphasize self-expressive uses of language and assists students in shaping their ideas through writing" (Bedford 7). Even though this was the central idea in the 1960's, it is still at the core of teaching today. I think teaching writing and rhetoric has not changed that much. At the core of writing is still the Aristotle topic of analyzing, evaluating, and expression. How do we get students to write? We create a dialogue through expressive conversation.
What I noticed most about this article, was through the 1980's to today, writing and the writing process has not changed. How we view students and their background has. The core writing concepts still guide the teacher, but social issues change the way students respond to writing. Technology has had a huge impact in the classroom. I am not a huge advocate of the technology driven classroom. I really feel that to motivate a student you must see that student. Teacher-student classrooms are still vital to the learning process. Technology is definetely a plus, but I don't think it should take over the whole process of learning.

2006-10-09T09:43:00.000-07:00

Teaching Philosophy: Oh where, oh where has my little student gone???

http://www.isd.uga.edu/teaching_assistant/philosophy/2003/Bennett/index.html

Okay this was not an easy task. I have (probably like all of you) looked at numerous teaching philosophies over the weekend. It took me awhile before I could totally and completely agree with one. Many had ideas I liked, and if I took all the ideas from each philosophies then I could agree with it. But, then I came upon Billie Bennet's philosophy. I read through her thoughts and realized this was exactly what I want to portray to my students.

First of all, she agrees that we are "lifelong learners" and we learn from the students as much as they learn from us. It is a relationship built on dialogue. If we as teachers think we cannot learn from our students, then this is not the life for you. I recently had a book review due in one of my classes, and I have never written one before, so I was a little lost about what to do. Coincidently the students in 1301 also had a review due over the play they are currently learning. While I was grading these assignments, I realized how wrong I had done my review. Everything I told the students to steer away from, I had done! I mentioned this to my professor and his remark was: "I continuously learn from students."

Students do not want a teacher who stands in front of the classroom and only reads from a book. Nor do they want someone who lectures the whole entire class period. Getting the students engaged in the learning process will show them how learning is active. The students must take responsibility for their learning now. We are not the highschool teacher who tells them what to do, we must show them how to think for themselves and use the thought process to become better students.

It is funny how Billie states " it is my job to make myself unnecessary," and ultimately she is correct. Students should become self-reliant and self-thinkers. Isn't that why they are in college? Their thinking process begins here, and that is why our job is so important. We help them to learn by allowing each of them to think for themselves. The process begins here, and will continue on with their careers. By showing the students my love of literature, being enthusiastic about learning, and engaging them to active learn, they too will become the self-reliant student.

2006-09-27T10:39:00.000-07:00

Word: Teacher

Well it seems, like always, I picked one of the hardest words to talk about, teach about, or illustrate - TEACHER. Well, maybe. I picked this word because that is what most of us want to become, so I thought getting different perspective about what a teacher is, would help. Since you really cannot approach, teacher, from one angle, I plan on doing it from several. I want to go and ask different levels of students what a good teacher means to them. What constitutes a good teacher. Is he/she one that incorporates laughter into the subject matter? Is he/she one whose knowledge of the subject matter excites and enthrall them? Is he/she so knowledgeable about the subject, that each time the student leaves the classroom, he/she has learned something he/she never knew? All of these answers will be different. I have a favorite teacher and each of the peers in my class have a favorite teacher, so none of our answers will match. I was reading Julie's blog for last week and she wrote about a teacher at A&M (ugh the Aggies, sorry couldn't resist) who brought rope into the class, in order to make a shape of the boat in Mutiny on the Bounty , this allowed the students to physically comprehend what the sailors experienced in the boat. Now that is learning through interaction and that is a great teacher. Not everyone I ask will have a compelling story to tell like this.

I am going to incorporate several clips from movies about teachers into my video. I want to use Ferris Bueller's Day Off and Dead Poets Society. Incorporating clips of each of the teachers into my video can also illustrate the differences in what a good/bad teacher is. I want to do this, but I have no idea how. So if any of my fellow students could assist me with this, I would really appreciate it. I would like to do some voice over, but there again I have no idea how to do this. I want to incorporate part of the ideas in the essay about Teacher, so the video will be easier to understand. I would also like to add a song in the very beginning, Van Halen, Teacher. Yeah I need help on that too. I know what I want to do, just putting it all together is difficult. I think it would be great if we all viewed each other's video. As I have said previously, we all learn from each other!

2006-09-24T12:02:00.000-07:00

Teacher in me....

For the longest time I wanted to be a lawyer. When I graduated from Tech in 93', I was prepared to go to law school. I had 10 applications out and had taken the LSAT. But, life threw me a curve ball and instead, I became a mother. I went into the insurance business after being a bartender/waitress for 13 years. Yeah well me and insurance did not get along. I really hated it. The only reason why the general manager was nice to you, was if you were the top sales person for that month. Numbers, numbers, numbers that was all it was. Did I say how much I hated it. I was good with clients and did a great job of taking care of their needs, but I was not the top sales person, ever. Always in the back of mind I never forgot I wanted to practice law. I took the LSAT again, actually two more times and did terrible on it. I am not a capable person when it comes to standardize testing. I don't know what it is, but I always bomb, even when I was small in school. So here I am, in my thirties and I have not a clue what I am going to do with my life as a professional. Then one day I decided to give substitute teaching a try. WOW! What an experience I had that day. It was as if I just got off a roller coaster ride at Six Flags. That was one of the best experiences of my life. I stood in front of those kids and I knew this was what I was supposed to do with my life. It truly was magical.

I do not know any philosophies of teaching, yet. I feel somewhat silly for not knowing any either. I guess that will come with time. I do know that I am extremely analytical. I resemble the teacher which Berlin talked about in his essay. Berlin writes about dialogue between the student and teacher and I totally agree. I think interacting with students is essential to the learning process. Teaching 1301 we only see the students once a week for 1 1/2 hours. I do not think 1 1/2 hours a week is sufficient time to interact with students. I understand students need to become self-reliant, but teaching analogies requires more than the allotted time given. I am not sure which teaching style I would resemble in Berlin's essay. I think maybe a combination of each that he discusses. Maybe the reason I do not relate to one philosophy is because I am so new at teaching and have not read enough. I agree with the statement of the Platonic scheme: "Truth can be learned but not taught" (Berlin 560). Reading through this part of the essay, I agreed with all the philosophies of expressionist. Maybe I am aligning myself with something. Even though I am unsure of what philosophies I would like to emulate in my teaching, I do know I love to teach.

I like to be in front of the class. It is like a high for me. There is a chemistry that exists between the class and myself. We learn from out students just as much as they learn from us. The two interconnect, one cannot exist without the other. While I was grading 1301 essay, I was telling many of the students to be more specific. I myself had a book review assigned in a class, and after reading over the reviews of the 1301ers, I realized what a bad job I had done with my own essay. I was not specific enough either. I saw my professor in the hall and was telling him what I thought and he said, "everyday I learn from my students." I am amazed at some of the professors I have had at Tech and their endless knowledge in their discipline. I hope I too will be an encyclopedia of knowledge to extend to my students. Teaching, I think is a gift. I am fortunate that I have the ability to teach (even though it took me 40 years to figure it out) and am excited to begin this new phase of my life.

2006-09-17T09:06:00.000-07:00

The Seven Deadly Sins or Balancing Act? Oh Which one???

As I sit here and try and decide which topic I would like to write/talk about, it occurs to me that both of them are worthy of mentioning. Unfortunately, that's not how it works. So, I will talk about the "7 Deadly Sins," by Ben Yagdoa. As I was reading through his article, I could not resist laughing my head off (is that a dangling modifier) thinking about all the papers I have graded thus far, with every mistake he talks about. This year I became both a DI and a CI, thus wanting to talk about balancing act, and as I read through the papers that the 1301 students turn it, every single mistake Yagdoa writes about are all over the students essays!!!!! In my 1301 class we read the essay by Anne Paulin, "cruelty, Civility, and Other Weighty Matters." In this essay Paulin talks about an add she saw for Slim Fast. The woman in the add gained extra pounds when she was pregnant and after having the baby wanted to lost this weight, and decided on the Slim Fast diet. In the add the dieting woman states: "Slim Fast is the best thing that ever happened to me!" Uh hello, you just had a baby, isn't the baby the best thing that ever happened to you??? Here is a classic dangling modifier. If add companies make these errors, how can we expect are students not to? Yagdoa point out several articles by the New York Times with the same mistakes as Slim Fast. Where have our grammar lessons gone?

I really began to laugh when Yagoda talks about commas and the use of "they." I cannot count how many times I have come across excessive use of commas in essays. You have to start laughing, otherwise you will pull your hair out. I went over comma usage in my class on Monday, but I don't think my students listened at all. Reading over essays this week, they (no punt intended) are still over-using commas. If you think about it, Yagoda is right, these students are accustomed to rattling away on the computer, text messages, and their phone using "slang" language. How do we expect them to stop with his language just to write an essay for English? I am going over commas again in class on Monday. Who is they? Pronouns, yes we are going over the proper use of pronouns too. Yagoda made perfect sense about this over-usage of they. I could just hear my students talking in class and using "they" referring to a singular friend. I am just as guilty. It is an easy thing to do. Students write like they talk. I am by far not perfect when it comes to writing. I am learning right along with my students.

We are so fortunate with the amount of technology we have today. Unfortunately, it has hindered us as well. It seems like all students do is use spell-check and never look at the essay again. I have tried to emphasis to my students how important it is to re-read your essay and to read it aloud to yourself. Computers don't catch all the mistakes which are made in essays, but I think students think computers do!! Students of today are technology junkies and for those of us in the academia world, we see how technology enhances learning, but also corrupt it. (as I go use spell-check - hahaha)

2006-09-08T16:19:00.000-07:00

All for it!
Your seated in a class room, not knowing a single soul and participation is a major part of grade. Your are extremely uncomfortable talking in front of others and are afraid what you will say is going to sound stupid. Do you talk or not?
Now if this same person was in a distance learning class, her fears would be limited. There is no face-to-face so she can say what she thinks. This person would not have done well in the classroom setting, but since they are at a computer and more comfortable, she will do better.
Distance learning is a great thing. It allows people from all over to learn in the same environment. Think about the individuals who are not capable of leaving their house because of sickness or handicap, with distance learning they will now be able to learn in their own environment.
By having the class on-line, it will create student collaboration and peer review. When you have students reviewing the others work and critiquing it, the writing will improve. It is easier to take advice from a peer, than a teacher who you might fear. Students are not as harsh or critical as teachers can be at times.
I took an on-line class for a continuing education class my insurance license, and I thought it was a great experience. We had to write our assignments on the web-page for all to see and then remark on others work. The ideas that I got from hearing what everyone else had to say about the same topic was empowering. Someone will always look at things different than I do and it is a very useful tool in learning; it enhances the learning experience.

I am a student who likes to be in a classroom and face-to face with teachers and students. I have absolutely no desire to learn on the computer. How mundane and impersonal that would be. How can you learn on the computer? I think the inter-personal relationships that are built with the teacher and student are vital to their learning experience. How can that be accomplished over the internet? It can't. Students are more active learners when working in small groups and interact with others. In school room environments, a community is built, learning is enhanced. Teachers build relationships with their students, learning and emotional. This would be lost with the internet. The teacher is able to keep the students on-task in the classroom environment, this would be also be lost on the internet.

2006-08-31T09:49:00.000-07:00

Essay concerning how a particular technoglogy or technological practice impacted you in the past.

About three years ago, my life was changed when my husband, being in the military, was called up-to duty for the Iraq war. His unit was one of the first units to become involved and be deployed over to the region. Therefore, no means of communication had been established between the soldiers and their families, especially in the beginning it was considered an active war. What I mean by active war, is it was hostile fighting back and forth between the United States and the Republic Army who supported Saddam. When the units reached their destination and set-up base, communication was established, but on a limited basis. I went for about 45 days without any word from my husband or even knowing if he was still alive, where he was at and how he was. It was absolutely horrible. When I finally received a phone call from him, I cried, but ecstatic to hear his voice. I cannot fathom how the families of previous wars went without actually talking to their loved ones as I was able to. The only line of communication past wars had was writing letters - no computers, no cell phones, nothing.

At first he called about every 3 weeks, then it was every Saturday. Without those lines of communication I don't know what I would have done. Thank you to the creators of satellite phones!!! Computers where set-up eventually for the soldiers to communicate with, but apparently the lines for using those computers, were hours long. I am thankful that my daughter and I were able to talk to my husband. It was hard, but talking to him and receiving emails from him, made it much easier to deal with the separation. My husband is due to go back to the region very soon and this time he is taking his own laptop. This way he can email us whenever he wants without having to wait in a line. If we did not have any of these technologies life would have been much harder, especially for my daughter. Just hearing his voice really made all the difference in the world.

2006-08-22T16:09:00.000-07:00

Hey all! Hope all of you in our class are having as much fun creating this blog as I am! This year should be challenging for all of us and we need to stick together~