Pleasure Reading

Although I am usually EXHAUSTED by the end of the evening, I usually read a page or two of whatever book I am reading at the moment. The book I am reading is not related to any of my classes, but it is just phenomenal. I needed to tell everyone about it!

I am currently reading "The Help." I have been told that soon enough, many high schools will use it as required reading. Lake High School in Hartville is one of those schools. It is about different women in the 1960's. It covers race, class, and gender struggles from each woman's account. Each of the women also have some kind of secret that keeps you anxiously turning each page.

If I wasn't so tired every night, I'm sure I would have flown through this book much faster! Has anyone else read it? It seems that this book is going to be very important!

Atwell- Chapter 1 (Always Beginning)

What I love most about Atwell is that she gives her students "freedom of choice." I'm learning how important that when working with 7-12th graders. In our class, when we did that rubric activity with cookies, we discussed why we should do that activity with students: to give them some power and some choice. Before Atwell dove into the writing workshop process, she asked her students: "Could you do this? Would you like to?" I think that giving students that kind of power helped the workshops to succeed.

Atwell states: "We found out that in-school writing could actually be good for something--that it could serve kids as a way to solve problems and see the world." That is the ultimate goal! I would love to do in-class writing that results in this way. However, Atwell explains that this was sort of a honeymoon phase and that it eventually gets more difficult. That's when she would ask them what they care about and I think my students at Erwine would really respond well to that. I'm sure many of my students have something to say to their reader and I think that they would tend to their editing so that the reader paid more attention to meanings.

My Dream.....

I felt like I was behind in some YA Lit, so I decided to do some summer reading. I read several Young Adult books and, surprisingly, liked all of them. I was not eagerly anticipating Harry Potter, because I had tried reading "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" when I was younger and decided that I didn't particularly care for it. After avoiding Harry Potter for nearly a decade, I decided it was time to try it again.

Well, I fell for Harry. I have never loved any piece of literature as much as I love Harry Potter. I read the entire series from late May-June, without stopping for a second. I even re-read the final three, just to soak it in, again!

My dream is to teach some of the Harry Potter series and then (drumroll, please) go on a field trip to THE WIZARDING WORLD OF HARRY POTTER! I watched the opening ceremony and cried my eyes out. I wanted to be there so bad!

Can you imagine anything better? I can taste the Butterbeer.... sigh.

Atwell- Chapter 6 (Minilessons)

Nancy Atwell writes that giving short minilessons is similar to a pez dispenser of wisdom. Her analogy made me giggle, but her minilessons excited me! Atwell says that a minilesson is a "forum for students to share what they know and for us to figure out collaboratively what we know--to think and produce knowledge together and lay claim to it as a community." This is PERFECT for my 7th graders at Erwine. These minilessons were lessons that she used with her own 7th and 8th grade classes.

At Erwine, Mrs. Sukie has three groups of students that she sees for two consecutive periods a day. The first period is Language Arts, while the second is Reading. I will be teaching the Language Arts period for my unit, while Mrs. Sukie teaches the Reading Period. The students will be reading "The Adventures of Ulysses" with Mrs. Sukie, so she has asked that I create my Language Arts unit with a focus on Greek Mythology. I was THRILLED to see Greek Mythology and Philosophy minilessons on Atwell's list!

There were a few ideas that I especially loved:

• Reading myths (and translations) aloud
• "Read and discuss poems that allude to myths"
• Greek stems in English words
• "Listen to, discuss, write scripts for, and perform ten well-known myths."

• (This is the book that Mrs. Sukie will be teaching)
• (This book will directly follow)

Student Teaching

I love my school. I am lucky enough to be at Erwine Middle School working with the best mentors I could have ever asked for. My mentor teacher recently applied for a technology grant for the building and the school was given $250,000 to spend on technology! My classroom has an entire cart of brand new net-books to use. I was telling my mentor teacher about our Facebook project and she loved the idea. She wants to get started right away on a similar unit.

Right now, the students are reading Incident at Hawk's Hill, which I had never heard of. However, I am enjoying it and so are the students! I am so optimistic about this year. I am so thankful for this experience. I will continue blogging about my time in the classroom and I hope all of you will, too! I'd love to read about your experiences!

M. Myers- Recitation Literacy

From reading this blog, I understand that Recitation Literacy was meant to suit the social environment and needs of the time. However, after all that I have experienced at Kent State and from my few experiences in the classroom, I cannot fathom how anyone thought that recitation meant understanding. Experience based learning was second or third in the hierarchy. I can picture this classroom scenario, with students standing and reciting lines or writing lines repeatedly. That would be a horrible way to learn, because memorization means next to nothing.

I can remember going to a bible camp that would give you a candy bar if you could recite every book of the bible. Well, I did it... but I can remember about 1/4 of the books today. I have no idea what these books were about of what the names meant (but at least I got my Hershey bar).

I think that recitation still exists. Diagramming sentences and copying sentences is probably still done. However, I really hope we all know that experience and hands-on-learning is how we can help our students understand and apply meaning. Teachers are no longer authoritative sources of all wisdom, but guides to learning and discovery.