General Response to Course- Matthew Parent

I have to be quite honest that I was not thrilled about this course when I found out that it was going to be held completely on-line.  I have avoided on-line classes at all cost because I have never been too good with a computer and I felt like I would fail the class.  However, I am pleased that I have had the opportunity to take this class now.  I have developed a lot of skills that are necessary to become a new teacher and I have a lot more confidence with my technology skills.

 

I am also grateful for this course because it has helped me to find a lot of great teaching sources and lessons.  I could not even begin to list all of the lessons that I am going to use that I have found from the links on the web page, and I have also learned different approaches to teaching grammar.  I am happy that my focus was grammar for this class.  I was afraid that I was going to be a teacher that only teaches prescriptive grammar, but now I will know how to do a combination of prescriptive and descriptive grammar lesson.  My all time favorite site that I found through this class was Read Write Think.  Read Write Think has a plethora of lesson plans and ideas that can be adapted for just about any age range and, most importantly, their lessons are very interactive and are fun for the teacher and students.  Read Write Think is also very useful when composing a rational for a lesson plan.  It lists the IRA/NCTE standards that each lesson coincides with, and I found this very useful.  Along with Read Write Think, my furl account is full of great resources, and I know that I will continue to look for resources before student teaching, during student teaching, and when I enter the professional world of teaching. 

 

I’m not sure if am going to continue to use the blog that I have made for this class or not.  I am sure that I will post interesting links and such on there, but I think that I am going to start constructing a class blog that I will use in student teaching and my classroom when I become certified.    

 

Overall, I am very pleased with this class and I am happy that I took it the semester before student teaching.  I know that it has prepared me for my professional future and that I will greatly benefit from the information that I have acquired here.

Lesson Plan #2- What’s my subject?

Lesson Plan #2

 

Title of Lesson: What’s my subject?

 

Site: Read Write Think

 

Link to Page: http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=950

 

Description: In this lesson, high school students explore and discover the importance of subject–verb agreement rules. They identify both correct and incorrect agreements and discuss the difference between formal and informal language using newspapers and song lyrics and by creating their own quizzes to share with their peers.

 

When I was in high school, I, like many other students, often got back papers that had “SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT” harshly written with red pen on the top.  However, after the papers were graded, we never got any additional feedback or help with this issue.  I had to go find out what subject-verb agreement was on my own and try to correct the problem.  This lesson addresses the issue of subject-verb agreement in a non-traditional way.  Instead of just giving a definition and a few examples, we can use songs by James Taylor, and other items like magazines and newspapers to help accomplish the task.  I like this lesson because it gets the students actively involved with find mistakes in subject-verb agreement and it gives them practice in the correct way to form this grammatical formation.  While teaching my unit on grammar, I think that this lesson will be very useful. 

 

IRA/NCTE STANDARDS

3 - Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).

4 - Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.

6 - Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.

8 - Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.

11 - Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.

Lesson Plan #1- The Don’t Say ‘Uh’ Game

Lesson Plan #1

 

Title of Lesson: The Don’t Say ‘Uh’ Game

 

Site: Lesson Plans Page for Teachers

 

Link to page: http://www.lessonplanspage.com/LADontSayUhGame69.htm

 

Description of Lesson: In “The Don’t Say ‘Uh’ Game”, students are working on their oral skills to increase their verbal communication and public speaking skills.  The teacher will demonstrate the game by picking some sort of prompt out of a hat, maybe a vocabulary word or themes or events from literature being read in class, and talk on the subject for 30 seconds to a minute without saying ‘uh’.  Then the students will all do the same, and realize how difficult it is not to use ‘uh’ as a space filler and how often speakers of the English language use it.  Other languages also have space fillers, but the emphasis for this lesson is to work on communication skills.

 

I really liked this lesson, but I would use it more as a mini-lesson on a Friday.  I think that this is a fun way to get students actively involved in learning good speech skills and to teach them the context in which they want to put special focus on not saying ‘uh’.  It will be fun for the students and me to laugh along with the speaker as they struggle to talk and not say ‘uh’, or in my case, ‘ummm’.  I am guilty of using space fillers quite often when I speak, so this will be good practice for everyone.  It will be important for my students to see that I, too, can always continue to work on my communication skills, and hopefully this will make them more aware of the way they speak.  I will definitely use this lesson in my classroom.

Response to Article #3- Matthew Parent

Response to Article #3

 

This article was very interesting.  It talked about how a school that is located in North Carolina implemented cross-disciplinary vocabulary in all different subjects.  SAT and EOC scores were very low for this county, so they decided to try to implement their vocabulary lessons.  One of the teachers that participated in the test study was an English teacher; the other 3 were of different subjects, Math, Art, and Science.  I really enjoyed the approach of all the teachers, and I could see myself using Pasley’s usage of the vocabulary notebook because “the entries highlighted multiple dimensions of a word: its etymology, or history, its relationship to other words-synonyms and antonyms, and its multiple forms (noun, adjective, verb, and adverb).  I believe that if students know the different forms and functions of a word, they will be more likely to be able to use the word and apply it to their speech.  Simply memorizing a word does not reinforce effective learning, and the definitions are easily forgotten.  I also liked that he only chose 5 words for the students to learn each week.  When students are given vocabulary list of 20 or more words, they are not able to really learn each word, but 5 words are very manageable.  Overall, I really liked this article and found it very interesting.  I have always been a big fan of cross-subject teaching, but I never knew how it would work.  This approach seems to be very useful and effective and I hope to teach at a school that is attempting to do something similar to this.

1.      If the school you are teaching at does not have a similar program in place, how do you try to start one?

2.      Would it be just as easy for English teacher to incorporate information from other subjects into their lessons?

3.      I have noticed many advantages to this system, but do you think that some important instruction time is being lost when teachers of other subjects incorporate other materials?

 

Key Concepts	A. My thoughts before reading the article	B. My thoughts after or while reading the article—what I would change or add to my thinking
1. How can vocabulary instruction be useful in content areas other than English?	Vocabulary Instruction in content areas other than English can be useful because it allows the students to become familiar with the terms that they will be using for the unit.  Also, increasing a student’s vocabulary is always a desired aspect.	Vocabulary Instruction in other subjects can enhance other subjects while reinforcing what students have learned in English.  It will show students how all of the different subjects are closely related to each other and how everything they learn is relevant to their lives.
2. What is meant by “rich representation of words”?	I believe that “rich representation of words” means a person knows how to effectively express themselves and they use the most appropriate words to express what they mean.	opportunities for students to have multiple encounters with words in a variety of contexts
3. What is meant by “word features or how words work”?	I believe that “word features or how words works” means that a single word can have several different meanings.  Also, I think it implies that a single word can work in a different ways.	to attend to the meanings of morphemes, or units of meaning, such as roots and prefixes
4. Instruction: Definitions of words	The definitions of words are the meaning of the word, in or out of context.	Same
5. Instruction: Synonyms and antonyms	Synonyms and Antonyms are easily taught side by side showing how different words can have similar or totally different meanings.	Same
6. Instruction: Visual representations & categories / associations	Show students how visual representations of words can be done and how different people associate different visual representation of words.	Illustrations of words. Words to colors.
7. Instruction: Situation/usage & context	Situational and context usage is the type of language that people use in different settings.  For example, the type of language used when talking to a friend opposed to talking with a teacher	Same
8. Instruction: Written and oral discourse	Showing students how written and oral languages are different, either more or less formal, and how they are both intimately connected.	How inflections can change the meaning of the sentence
9. Instruction: Etymology & roots, prefix, suffix	Showing the students the background of the words, where they came from, and what affixes the word will take.	word roots circum (Latin, “around’) for words like circumscribe and circumstance.  Median for middle.
10. Instruction: Part of speech & form of words	Showing the students the different parts of speech, about open and closed classes of words, and how the same word can function as different parts of speech.	Ms. Link’s usage of words in art class.  Comparing current songs to older poems.
11. Instruction: Related words	Many words have cognates, or words that are related to them.  Showing the students how words are connected through meaning.	Ms. Hash’s examples of charts or illustrations of related words.
12. Literature Circles	When students are assigned a role in a group with discussing a piece of literature.  Groups are usually 4-5 people in size.	Reading different texts with similar themes or topics
13. Instruction: Multigenre reading & writings	Multigenre reading and writings are view or creating texts that are not always consisting of words.  Artwork, movies, graphs, and pictures are all forms of multigenre readings and writings that students can use.	Using a variety of different materials to enhance learning and presentation of information
14. Instruction: Poems in content areas	Different types of poems can be used in all kinds of content areas.  I have been in Math classes where poems were used to help learn memorization concepts, as well as in Science and Social Studies.  Poems in different content areas should be relevant to the subject that is being taught; this is true for ELA as well.	Ms. Hash used poetry in her geometry class to highlight compare and contrast.

Response to Article #2- Matthew Parent

The second article was all about the multigenre paper.  I had to construct my first multigenre paper last semester for my Teaching Composition class, and I really enjoyed the experience.  Like the article states, I agree that the typical research paper is becoming somewhat out dated, although I still see the benefit.  I think that one of the main reasons that we are required to do research papers is so that the teachers know that students know how to find useful information and how to covey that information accurately.  Macrorie’s approach to the multigenre paper was very similar to the approach taken by my professor.  We could research a topic of our own interest, and the research could include books, internet sources, pictures, interviews, movie clips, songs… just about anything that could be used as evidence for your topic.  Then, like in Macrorie’s approach, we gave a personal narrative to the class about what we discovered and how we went about doing this project.  One idea from the article that I really liked was “rather than stating that someone was born in a particular year and place, the student might create a birth certificate…”  Allowing students to use their creative minds when trying to display factual information could be very effective.  I think that students who excel in Art and Music but are not necessarily avid English lovers could really benefit from a mulitgenre project.  Instead of dreading the research paper, they would have something to look forward to and to help show off their skill.  In the article, Moulton also talked about some of the difficulties of teaching a mulitgenre paper that we ran into when I did my multigenre paper.  Which genres would be effective, and how do you choose which genres to use?  Grading was also addressed in the article.  I am still not sure how I would assess multigenre papers.  Some of them could take the form of a mainly written paper, while others could have very little written text.  Where is the common ground?  I also liked the argument towards the end of the article.  It was saying that most of the time research writing and creative writing are two separate aspects of writing, but the mulitgenre paper combines the two.  I think that is a nice way of summing up what a multigenre paper: a formal topic with a less formal approach.  I think that multigenre papers are very useful, and I am going to try to use them in my classroom.

1.      Should teachers put a limit to what kind of genres can be used in a mulitgenre paper?

2.      Should teachers put a minimum and maximum number of genres that need to be included in their student’s multigenre paper?

3.      Are there any advantages of a standard research paper over a mulitgenre paper and should a teacher try to use both types?

4.      How should mulitgenre papers be assessed?

Response to Article #1- Matthew Parent

This article was about having students write “I” poems after they have been reading novels that are narrated in first person.  I agree that literature that is written in first person does have a clear and distinct narrator voice that the students can connect with, and having the students write “I” poems will “be a way for them to deepen their literary experiences of characters, setting, plot, and narrative point of view”.  I also agree that writing after reading a text enhance the experience of the reader.  I plan on having my students write often about what we are reading in class so that they can form a deeper understanding of the text and think critically.  I also really liked how Kucan had her students who were future teachers do the “I” poems to fully understand all of the advantages and how they can enhance reading.  Kucan suggested that you can do an “I” poem before reading to build a background for a text and activate relevant knowledge, or after a reading as a way of response.  Kucan then described how she went about teaching the class how to do the first “I” poem.  She talked about the examples of how important the setting was in Sarah, Plain and Tall and some other books.  Then she gave an example of an “I” poem that focused on the description of the setting and the things that composed of that setting.  Some of the students took on the same form as the example poem, rhyming and such, while others took a different approach.  The neat thing about the “I” poems is that there is no set format.  Kucan also offered some other ways of doing an “I” poem where the students are given a fill in the blank type of poem.  I liked both versions of the “I” poems and I think that I will be able to use them in my classroom.  I think that I would choose to use a fill in the blank type of “I” poem first to get my student comfortable with writing this kind of poetry and then use the other “I” poem after the first reading.

After examining some of the links to other examples of “I” poems, I am now convinced that I will use them in my classroom.  The poetry that was produced by the students was shockingly well written, and having the student use first person seemed to be very effective.    

1.      Should the focus of the “I” poems always be on one aspect of the novel?

2.      How could “I” poems be effectively used to for students to introduce themselves to the class while still putting stress on the poetry?

3.      Would the “I” poems be useful for students with exceptions and/or ESL learners?

 

 

 

  

Instructional Strategy #5: Become a Character: Adjectives, Character Traits, and Perspective

Matthew Parent 

Name of Strategy: Different Points of View; Become a Character    

Source (Where did this come from?): Read Write Think

Link to the Strategy: http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=168

Description: The overview of this lesson from Read Write Think is “In this activity, students “become” one of the major characters in a book and describe themselves and other characters, using lists of accurate, powerful adjectives. In class discussion, students support their lists with details from the novel. The description here uses The Scarlet Letter as an example, but this activity is effective with any work of literature in which characterization is important. Check below for alternate characters and novels for other books that will work with this lesson.”  Again, I think that I have found a way to “trick” my students.  Grammar is going to be a big part of this exercise because they will have to come up with different ways to describe the character they are becoming, most notably adjectives.  I think that this lesson also allows the students to get into the character’s head that we are studying in the book.  They will be able to get a different perspective of a character while still using correct grammar and reinforcing their abilty to use different adjectives to describe.  I will encourage my students to use a thesaurus to come up with some synonyms and antonyms for the adjectives that they come up with so that they also learn some new vocabulary. 

Standard Course of Study: High School English I: Competency Goal 1: The learner will express reflections and reactions to print and non-print text and personal experiences. Competency Goal 5: The learner will demonstrate understanding of various literary genres, concepts, elements, and terms.  Competency Goal 6: The learner will apply conventions of grammar and language usage.

IRA/NCTE Standards

3 - Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).

6 - Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.

8 - Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.

11 - Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.

Explain why you think this strategy will work. How does the strategy help your students learn? I think that this strategy will work because the main focus of this lesson is not grammar.  My students will not be thinking that they are getting taught a grammar lesson, but, in actuality, they are.  I am a big fan of lessons that incorporate many different aspects and goals in the lesson because I think that students are more engaged during these times.  I also want my students to get use to doing some grammar when analyzing a character, or looking for new vocabulary when being taught a grammar lesson.  I think that this lesson would also work well because my students will be able to use their creative minds when turning themselves into the character.  It is a lot easier to think of fun and creative adjectives when you are trying to describe a character that you are going to be.  One of the main things that I like about this lesson/strategy is the emphasis it puts on thinking and creativity.  Students can go in so many different directions with this assignment, and I think that is a beautiful thing.

Instructional Stragety #4: Basic Grammar Review

Matthew Parent 

Name of Strategy: Beginning of the Year Assessment and Review

Source (Where did this come from?): The Educator’s Reference Desk        

Link to the Strategy: http://www.eduref.org/cgi-bin/printlessons.cgi/Virtual/Lessons/Language_Arts/Writing/WCP0004.html

Description:  This is a good lesson that can be used at the beginning of the year.  It utilizes Lewis Carroll’s poem “Jabberwocky”.  I have used Jabberwocky in several of my lessons because it is a fun way to teach grammar and it breaks the mold of the typical grammar lesson.  The Educator’s Reference Desk overview states “Most students do not like to be taught grammar in the upper grades. If they did not grasp the basics in lower and middle elementary, it becomes more difficult as they move into the upper grades,” and the purpose is “The purpose of this activity, used at the beginning of the year is to help students identify where they are weak in their grammar skills (in a fun fashion). From there, the teacher can choose to emphasize the various areas of grammar that need to be strengthened.”  I think that it is important to see where my students are in the beginning of the year as far as grammar goes.  I do not want to start teaching grammar that is already over my student’s heads.  I think that this assessment will help me develop a level playing field for everyone that is in my class.  If a student is able to identify a word in a sentence as a verb, noun, adjective, ect, even if the word is unfamiliar to them, then learning grammar will be much easier.

Standard Course of Study: High School English I: Competency Goal 1: The learner will express reflections and reactions to print and non-print text and personal experiences. Competency Goal 5: The learner will demonstrate understanding of various literary genres, concepts, elements, and terms.  Competency Goal 6: The learner will apply conventions of grammar and language usage.

IRA/NCTE Standards

3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).

6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and non-print texts.

9. Students develop an understanding of and respect for diversity in language use, patterns, and dialects across cultures, ethnic groups, geographic regions, and social roles.

11. Students participate as knowledgeable, reflective, creative, and critical members of a variety of literacy communities.

12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Explain why you think this strategy will work. How does the strategy help your students learn? I think that this strategy will work because I will be targeting the students that have trouble with grammar in general and I will be targeting the areas where my students are having trouble as an entire class.  Doing this will allow me to adjust my lessons to fit my student’s needs, and it will give me a chance to create mini-lessons in the areas that my students need the most help in.  I also think that this will be a good strategy because I will be using “Jabberwocky” in other lessons throughout my grammar unit, and students will be made comfortable with the text early in the year.

Instructional Stragety #3: American Spelling Rules and Exercises- On-Line

Matthew Parent 

Name of Strategy: American Spelling On-Line Exercise

Source (Where did this come from?): Study Guides and Strategies

Link to the Strategy: http://www.studygs.net/vocab/index.htm

 Description:  This is an exercise that I would have my students do on a computer either at home or in a library.  On this website, it goes through the proper ways to add suffixes to different words.  It goes thought all different types of suffixes that can be added to words and give examples of how to do it.  Then there is an area for the students to practice what they have learned and they get instant feedback with their answer.  This particular page also deals with the “i before e except after c” scenario.  It also gives other examples such as “ei” is usually used when the “a” sound is used like in neighbor or weigh.  Many students have a difficult time discerning which spelling they need to use and this could help.  There is also a section that helps the students learn whether to use <-el> <-le> <-ile> <-al> <-il> at the ending of words.  From this page, students can also go to other pages that address issues with “there, their and they’re”, “to, too, and two” and silent “e” and suffixes.  I would navigate through the website with the class before I gave the assignment to make sure everyone knows how to make their way through it.  After they have finished the on-line part of the assignment, they will then write a one page response to the exercise and how it helped them. 

Standard Course of Study: High School English I: Competency Goal 1: The learner will express reflections and reactions to print and non-print text and personal experiences. Competency Goal 5: The learner will demonstrate understanding of various literary genres, concepts, elements, and terms.  Competency Goal 6: The learner will apply conventions of grammar and language usage.

IRA/NCTE Standards

3. Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).

6. Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and non-print texts.

8. Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.

9. Students develop an understanding of and respect for diversity in language use, patterns, and dialects across cultures, ethnic groups, geographic regions, and social roles.

12. Students use spoken, written, and visual language to accomplish their own purposes (e.g., for learning, enjoyment, persuasion, and the exchange of information).

Explain why you think this strategy will work. How does the strategy help your students learn? I think that this strategy will work because we are in the age of technology, and young learners enjoy using computers.  I think that allowing my students to do some homework that is on-line and let them go at the pace they want will foster a good learning and growing experience.  I believe that students sometimes need a different way of learning or to look at a different way of teaching the material, and this website is a perfect example.  I think that students would be able to learn the material better and would have a good reference guide when studying or if they have any questions concerning this material.

Instructional Stragety #2: Manipulating Sentences

Matthew Parent 

Name of Strategy: Manipulating Sentences to Reinforce Grammar Skills

Source (Where did this come from?): Read Write Think

Link to the Strategy: http://www.readwritethink.org/lessons/lesson_view.asp?id=248

Description: The overview of this lesson from Read Write Think reads as followed: “In this lesson, students manipulate sentences from books or magazines that they are reading in class to learn grammar in context and review grammar rules. Students learn how to modify the meaning of a sentence with antonyms and enhance the meaning of a sentence with synonyms. They also examine prepositions, adverbs, adjectives, and other parts of speech. This lesson assumes that students have basic knowledge of verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and other sentences elements”.  This website also lists theories to back up the reason that the lesson is developed.  They are saying that grammar does not always have to be produced for “correctness” and that grammar can be taken and taught from any piece of literature.  It is also emphasing the fact that just because something is published does not mean that it is always written in the best way.  I think that it will be fun for my students to take sentences from great authors like Hurston, Steinbeck, and Hemingway and write their sentences in a different way and see that the sentence is still correct.

Standard Course of Study: High School English I: Competency Goal 1: The learner will express reflections and reactions to print and non-print text and personal experiences. Competency Goal 4: The learner will create and use standards to critique communication. Competency Goal 5: The learner will demonstrate understanding of various literary genres, concepts, elements, and terms. Competency Goal 6: The learner will apply conventions of grammar and language usage.

IRA/NCTE Standards:

3 - Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, graphics).

4 - Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (e.g., conventions, style, vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.

5 - Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements appropriately to communicate with different audiences for a variety of purposes.

6 - Students apply knowledge of language structure, language conventions (e.g., spelling and punctuation), media techniques, figurative language, and genre to create, critique, and discuss print and nonprint texts.

8 - Students use a variety of technological and information resources (e.g., libraries, databases, computer networks, video) to gather and synthesize information and to create and communicate knowledge.

 

Explain why you think this strategy will work. How does the strategy help your students learn? I think that this strategy will work in my classroom because I like to think of knowledge as constructing something.  The construction of knowledge can take place when my students destruct a published piece of literature and produce sentences that say the same thing but in a different way.  I am always looking for different ways to teach grammar because I want my students to enjoy learning the material and be able to remember it.  In this lesson, my students are using all the conventional aspects of grammar, but they probably won’t think of it as a grammar lesson.  They are getting to use their active minds in a different way than teaching prescriptive grammar, and I think that this will help reinforce the materials in a much more efficient way.