When I think about how I feel right now, I feel honored. Honored to have the opportunity to study with 7 amazing women who provide me with so much hope and inspiration. Honored to have the opportunity to grow so much as a teacher over the past two years, and to serve along with the other members of my third grade team. Honored to be able to lead and serve my students, who are incredible human beings. Honored to be in a profession that despite its challenges, is meaningful and important. I could go on and on.
Looking back over April, one of the biggest patterns in my celebrations was my own presence in my classroom. Over the past month, I have tried hard to keep things light in my classroom instead of succumbing to all of the CRCT testing pressure. Although I have had freak-out moments about my students not being prepared for the CRCT, I was able to spend most of my time in April spending quality time with my students in my classroom. I focused on improving my reading instruction and spending more time with my readers. I honestly had a lot of fun reading different texts with my readers, and having discussions about them. While I struggled to perfect that "gradual release" model, my students and I enjoyed analyzing poems, short texts, and stories together. I hope that I can continue to grasp what it means to teach rigorous reading instruction in an enjoyable way. I know that the Pathways to the Common Core book has inspired me to prioritize reading and writing in a new way.
This month I've also been doing a lot of reflecting about my behavior management. After having a discussion with Dr. Fisher about effective behavioral management techniques, I realized that I needed to make it a priority to help my students intrinsically build their motivation. I stepped back and critically thought about my role as a disciplinarian and I basically came to the conclusion that I wasn't training my students to monitor their own behavior. I was not teaching my students any self-control techniques and instead was being the voice that told them when they were doing a great job and when they were struggling. While my behavior management has been so much better than last year and I don't have any extreme problems, I still have a long way to go in developing students who self-monitor and who are intrinsically motivated to be their best selves. I have found that deepening relationships is honestly a type of behavior management in a way. We don't have to have any rewards/points systems. We need to develop relationships with each student and encourage and support them. I'm still learning how to do this in a way that is not manipulative, controlling, or aggressive. I am learning how to challenge my students to monitor their own behavior, which in fact is the long-lasting change that we want for our students.
I just want to say thank you to all of you who have supported me so tangibly throughout this past two years. To say that last year was a struggle is an understatement. There were times when I literally did not think I was going to make it through the day, and more times than not, I left my classroom and school feeling discouraged, lonely, and disappointed in myself. It was a dark time for me, and as cheesy as it sounds, GSU was the light. You were the ones who never stopped believing in me, and you always saw the greatness in me. Thank you for being patient with me during those times and for persistently encouraging and supporting me. I truly feel honored to know each and every one of you. You have touched my life in a real way. And, even more than that, you have even played a role in serving my students -- because of your unceasing love and encouragement, I have been able to love and encourage my kids this year. So, thank you.
Friday, April 25, 2014
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Pathways to the Common Core, Chaps. 6-11
Wow, what an amazing book. This book has revolutionized the way that I am currently thinking about my reading, writing, and ELA instruction. As I was reading the chapters about Common Core's writing standards and expectations, I was thinking about my students and their experience as writers. The third graders at my school have recently finished their writing assessments, and all of the teachers had to grade the informational, persuasive, and narrative writing. I was struck by the poor the quality of most students' writing, especially when I consider the expectations of Common Core. One of our school goals is to improve writing because of the extremely low scores on the fifth grade writing assessment, but we have received no training or information about how to improve our writing instruction. I wish that everyone would read this book at my school and realize that we need to spend some serious time in collaboration with one another, in order for teachers to adopt best practices. One pattern that I noticed in every chapter was the call for teachers to come together to collaborate, look at student work, and determine learning progressions together. Although this suggestion seems very simple, this is simply not happening at most schools. One of the studies that the authors cited stated that "encouraging teachers within a school to observe each other, to plan together, and to adopt shared teaching methods can dramatically improve teaching and learning in a school. Good practices in one classroom can become schoolwide shared practices" (p. 183-184). I cannot say enough about how collaboration has been the main factor in my improvement as a teacher over the past 2 years. Although my team is more cohesive than most, I still wish that we could plan more collaboratively so that we could more easily share best practices.
It was intriguing to learn more about the speaking and listening standards in chapter 10, because I have honestly never "devoured" these standards. I tend to plan lessons and activities around speaking and listening a lot naturally, so I have never felt the need to take a deep look at these standards. However, this section opened up my eyes to all of the diverse ways that our students should be practicing speaking and listening. I have realized that I have not utilized technology in all of the ways that I could have, and when I do, I am certain that the technology detracts from the focus on reading, writing, speaking, and listening. It was important to be reminded that "all of this is not technology for technology's sake" (p. 167). That sounds obvious but I wonder how many times I have utilized technology for a meaningful purpose.
Lastly, I was challenged and inspired by the section about the language standards. I have always struggled teaching ELA, and I have not yet figured out a way to do it that is contextualized, meaningful, and not painful. Because I have an ESOL teacher in my classroom during this time that needs to be explicitly be teaching ELA standards, my ELA block has mirrored more of a traditional grammar approach (ugh). I love how the authors gave me confidence that the criticisms that I have (about the way in which my school organizes ELA) are backed up by research. "The CCSS use verbs such as use, form, and produce rather than explain or define when describing what students should know and be able to do with language" (p. 172-173). I have been trying to emphasize this whenever planning with my ESOL or other third grade teachers. However, we are still emphasizing that students know the difference between nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, etc. It is pretty miserable and the kids hate it. One of the main reasons that my school organizes their ELA block like that is because the CRCT is not aligned to the CC and does expect students to be able to identify, sort, and categorize the different parts of speech. Lately I have noticed that my students don't have many "word attack" (that's what I call it) strategies, and that it would be much more helpful to teach those strategies rather than teaching the difference between abstract and concrete nouns. "This emphasis on skills over memorization is also clear through the CCSS authors' direction toward 'flexible use' of strategies...students should be able to determine the meaning of unknown or multiple-meaning words and phrases by 'choosing flexibly from a range of strategies'" (p. 173). I think that THIS is what my ELA instruction should be all about.
Overall, this book challenged, convicted, and inspired me in so many ways. I am thinking about the ways in which I can present what I have learned to my team and possibly my principal. I feel so passionate about teachers implementing good practice (that has research supporting it), and I think that the ideas from this book can benefit the students in my school. This book helped me reflect on all of the ways in which my school (including myself) is approaching literacy in the wrong way. It has been discouraging to be teaching at a school that has some of the lowest scores in our county despite all of the dedicated, passionate teachers in my school. The teachers are doing everything they know how to do in the best way possible, but the problem is that we have not been trained or equipped to implement good practices (that actually help students) in our classroom. This book is a step in the right direction, and I will continue to think about what the next steps should be for me and for the rest of the teachers at my school.
It was intriguing to learn more about the speaking and listening standards in chapter 10, because I have honestly never "devoured" these standards. I tend to plan lessons and activities around speaking and listening a lot naturally, so I have never felt the need to take a deep look at these standards. However, this section opened up my eyes to all of the diverse ways that our students should be practicing speaking and listening. I have realized that I have not utilized technology in all of the ways that I could have, and when I do, I am certain that the technology detracts from the focus on reading, writing, speaking, and listening. It was important to be reminded that "all of this is not technology for technology's sake" (p. 167). That sounds obvious but I wonder how many times I have utilized technology for a meaningful purpose.
Lastly, I was challenged and inspired by the section about the language standards. I have always struggled teaching ELA, and I have not yet figured out a way to do it that is contextualized, meaningful, and not painful. Because I have an ESOL teacher in my classroom during this time that needs to be explicitly be teaching ELA standards, my ELA block has mirrored more of a traditional grammar approach (ugh). I love how the authors gave me confidence that the criticisms that I have (about the way in which my school organizes ELA) are backed up by research. "The CCSS use verbs such as use, form, and produce rather than explain or define when describing what students should know and be able to do with language" (p. 172-173). I have been trying to emphasize this whenever planning with my ESOL or other third grade teachers. However, we are still emphasizing that students know the difference between nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, etc. It is pretty miserable and the kids hate it. One of the main reasons that my school organizes their ELA block like that is because the CRCT is not aligned to the CC and does expect students to be able to identify, sort, and categorize the different parts of speech. Lately I have noticed that my students don't have many "word attack" (that's what I call it) strategies, and that it would be much more helpful to teach those strategies rather than teaching the difference between abstract and concrete nouns. "This emphasis on skills over memorization is also clear through the CCSS authors' direction toward 'flexible use' of strategies...students should be able to determine the meaning of unknown or multiple-meaning words and phrases by 'choosing flexibly from a range of strategies'" (p. 173). I think that THIS is what my ELA instruction should be all about.
Overall, this book challenged, convicted, and inspired me in so many ways. I am thinking about the ways in which I can present what I have learned to my team and possibly my principal. I feel so passionate about teachers implementing good practice (that has research supporting it), and I think that the ideas from this book can benefit the students in my school. This book helped me reflect on all of the ways in which my school (including myself) is approaching literacy in the wrong way. It has been discouraging to be teaching at a school that has some of the lowest scores in our county despite all of the dedicated, passionate teachers in my school. The teachers are doing everything they know how to do in the best way possible, but the problem is that we have not been trained or equipped to implement good practices (that actually help students) in our classroom. This book is a step in the right direction, and I will continue to think about what the next steps should be for me and for the rest of the teachers at my school.
The power of doubts
March was a month full of a lot of doubts, fears, reflections, and revelations. This month I was very introspective about my teaching practices, which was caused by a few things. There has been a lot of conflict in my classroom this month, and I realized that I didn't know how to handle a lot of it. I didn't know how to respond when I had tried everything I knew how to do, and it still didn't work. For whatever reason, I didn't open up to many people about it until recently. I guess I was a little ashamed that I didn't know what to do, when the problems weren't huge or unmanageable. When I compare them to the problems that my students had last year, they feel insignificant. But these small problems have grown and have become bigger. My classroom culture has definitely been impacted and all of my students are feeling it. I did some major reflection about this personally and also with my students. Just yesterday we had a class meeting where we all talked about our concerns. Each student was given an opportunity to talk about what was troubling them, and then I challenged them to think about the person that they wanted to be and then from there, make a goal for yourself. I told them that my main goal as a teacher is not to get them to pass the CRCT -- it is to help them develop relational and communication skills. My students are so amazing this year, and I want them to live up to their full potential.
Apart from reflecting about the social/emotional/behavioral issues in my classroom, I have also reflected deeply upon my reading instruction. I came to the scary revelation that I actually don't explicitly teach much of anything during reading. I have been so focused on book clubs that I haven't done as many read alouds or reading mini-lessons. In some ways, it's good that I've made reading more student-centered, but at the same time, it's absolutely unacceptable that I have failed to truly teach some important reading skills. I started off the year pretty strong in reading, but I have been doubting myself more and more over the month. I wanted to do something productive with these doubts, because I believe that inherently doubts aren't a bad thing. I realized that I was not spending enough time reading WITH my students in small groups. So, I decided to implement something new where I am working in small groups with students to do close reading with them (if you haven't heard of this strategy, you should definitely look it up!). We are reading short texts that are interesting and relevant, and my students have enjoyed them so far. I have found many of the reading passages on Readworks.org, so if you haven't heard of this site, definitely check it out! There are so many kid-friendly articles about important controversial topics such as the following articles: "Are Video Games Bad for You?" or "Junk Food Ad Attack." In these small groups, we have focused on determining the meaning of new/unfamiliar words using decoding strategies and context clues, and we have also had an opportunity to discuss the issues that are addressed in the articles. I am starting to understand what it means to strike a balance between equipping my students with technical reading skills (decoding, fluency, accuracy, etc.) while also making sure that I give them opportunities to engage in meaningful discourse about their reading. This is exciting and scary at the same time, because I'm not sure if I'm truly doing it right. I'm excited to reflect more about this so I can be a stronger reading teacher next year.
And of course, I can't reflect upon March without mentioning the CRCT. Ugh. That's how I feel about it. I'm so done with and it hasn't even started. But the pressure has definitely started. I'm trying to make sure that I don't put the pressure that I am feeling onto my students, because I know that is not going to help in any way. My major concern is that my students will start to believe that everything we are doing is to prepare for the CRCT. This is the time when students unfortunately start to believe that the purpose for learning is to do well on a test. I want my students to believe something different, but it's tough because we do need to talk about the CRCT in order for my students to be prepared for it. I'm trying to make sure that I'm not talking about it at every second, but at the same time, I know that my students need to become familiar with it so that they don't get completely traumatized on the first day of testing. I'm trying to think of creative ways to encourage my students and to help them feel motivated and inspired, despite the depressing climate of testing. If anyone has any ideas, let me know! :)
Apart from reflecting about the social/emotional/behavioral issues in my classroom, I have also reflected deeply upon my reading instruction. I came to the scary revelation that I actually don't explicitly teach much of anything during reading. I have been so focused on book clubs that I haven't done as many read alouds or reading mini-lessons. In some ways, it's good that I've made reading more student-centered, but at the same time, it's absolutely unacceptable that I have failed to truly teach some important reading skills. I started off the year pretty strong in reading, but I have been doubting myself more and more over the month. I wanted to do something productive with these doubts, because I believe that inherently doubts aren't a bad thing. I realized that I was not spending enough time reading WITH my students in small groups. So, I decided to implement something new where I am working in small groups with students to do close reading with them (if you haven't heard of this strategy, you should definitely look it up!). We are reading short texts that are interesting and relevant, and my students have enjoyed them so far. I have found many of the reading passages on Readworks.org, so if you haven't heard of this site, definitely check it out! There are so many kid-friendly articles about important controversial topics such as the following articles: "Are Video Games Bad for You?" or "Junk Food Ad Attack." In these small groups, we have focused on determining the meaning of new/unfamiliar words using decoding strategies and context clues, and we have also had an opportunity to discuss the issues that are addressed in the articles. I am starting to understand what it means to strike a balance between equipping my students with technical reading skills (decoding, fluency, accuracy, etc.) while also making sure that I give them opportunities to engage in meaningful discourse about their reading. This is exciting and scary at the same time, because I'm not sure if I'm truly doing it right. I'm excited to reflect more about this so I can be a stronger reading teacher next year.
And of course, I can't reflect upon March without mentioning the CRCT. Ugh. That's how I feel about it. I'm so done with and it hasn't even started. But the pressure has definitely started. I'm trying to make sure that I don't put the pressure that I am feeling onto my students, because I know that is not going to help in any way. My major concern is that my students will start to believe that everything we are doing is to prepare for the CRCT. This is the time when students unfortunately start to believe that the purpose for learning is to do well on a test. I want my students to believe something different, but it's tough because we do need to talk about the CRCT in order for my students to be prepared for it. I'm trying to make sure that I'm not talking about it at every second, but at the same time, I know that my students need to become familiar with it so that they don't get completely traumatized on the first day of testing. I'm trying to think of creative ways to encourage my students and to help them feel motivated and inspired, despite the depressing climate of testing. If anyone has any ideas, let me know! :)
Monday, March 17, 2014
Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Chap. 3-4)
These last two chapters of Pedagogy of the Oppressed have been particularly relevant for the things that I have been reflecting upon as a teacher. I constantly ponder ways in which I am or am not providing my students with authentic dialogical opportunities, and I try to critically reflect on the role I'm playing as a potential oppressor.
Chapter 3 brought out different emotions in me as I was reading, like inspiration, guilt, agreement, shame, passion, etc. I began to truly think about my students' position as an oppressed population and whether or not I have been providing them with opportunities to be liberated and transformed. This year I have focused a lot on my students being able to name the oppression and the injustices that they and others face every day. Freire (1970) says that "to exist, humanly, is to name the world, to change it" (p. 87). I deeply agree with this statement, and I believe that in order for my students to change their world, they need to understand what's going on in their world. I have realized that this is easier said than done, which has become evident while working alongside my students in their service-learning projects. Some of my students have struggled to understand the complexities of the injustices that are going on around them. For example, my students this year have been particularly interested in homelessness, and while we have had many discussions about it, it still remains a mystery to many of my students.
When engaging in meaningful dialogue about oppression and social justice issues, I must remember that "nor yet can dialogue exist without hope" (Freire, 1970, p. 91). Sometimes what tends to happen is that we get so deep in discussion about these real issues that I forget to encourage my students to reflect upon hope and possibility. This is perhaps why some of my students are having a hard time taking responsibility for their service-learning projects -- maybe because they believe that change is not entirely possible. I have been surveying my students to collect data for my TICC/Action Research project, and I have realized that there are several students who do not believe that kids can change their communities. Some of my students are perhaps viewing their service-learning projects as merely a fun, engaging project that they get to do, but I'm afraid that it's not registering that they are doing this to be agents of change in their community. I know that a huge part of my project is about the attitudes of my students in regards to community, democracy, and expressing one's voice. I'm trying to not get frustrated when my students' attitudes, thoughts, or actions aren't totally aligned with where I want them to be. This brings me to when Freire (1970) discusses the oppressor's role in the liberation of the oppressors: "It is not our role to speak to the people about our own view of the world, nor to attempt to impose that view on them, but rather to dialogue with the people about their view and ours" (p. 96). This quote really hits me hard, as I am guilty of trying to impose my view of the world on my students (and probably to the rest of the world, too). It's so tough to trust the process of truth discovery, because so often I think about the ways that I want my kids to think. This is something that I grapple with every day, because it is connected to my desire for control.
Chapter 4 helped me reflect upon what is required for a revolution that liberates the oppressed. The unity of the oppressor and the oppressed gets trick because of the difference in power and privilege. Freire (1970) has some really important things to say about how the oppressors should position themselves when working alongside the people: "The revolutionary effort to transform these structures radically cannot designate its leaders as its thinkers and the oppressed as mere doers" (p. 126). This makes me think about how my students see their own role in the classroom -- do they merely see themselves as people who do what I say? I'm afraid that many of my students would express that their job isn't to lead or think for themselves, but to follow the directions of the authority figures in the building. How do I empower my students to think and act for themselves while also preparing them to respect authority? This is a tough balance and I'm not sure that there is an easy answer for it. When I think about my role as a revolutionary leader, I am guided by Freire's (1970) claim that "Revolutionary leaders cannot think without the people, nor for the people, but only with the people" (p. 131). This is very relevant for where we are all at in our TICC/Action Research projects right now -- I know that for me, it's coming to the point where I'm feeling the pressure to help my students complete their service-learning projects. It's important for me to take my role as a facilitator very seriously, but I must be careful to not manipulate and dominate my students' projects, based on what I think is best. This is the ultimate struggle for me, but I know that my students' independence and attitudes about self-efficacy is more important than the logistics of their project.
Sunday, March 2, 2014
The ups and downs of February
Although February flew by, it has been an interesting month, full of ups and downs. As I search my theory-to-practice connections, there are few overarching themes but instead, a bunch of different little successes and failures.
Let's start with the positive -- I have come to the point where I feel very comfortable in my classroom and in my role as a teacher. I feel like "Joy" most of the time, not just Ms. Harrison (which is a big deal for me). I can see that many of my relationships with my students have deepened, especially with one of my boys who I have struggled to support all year long. I am still figuring out how to work with the dynamics of a severely imbalanced classroom when it comes to gender (I have 6 boys and 16 girls), but overall, my relationships have improved.
I have become better at focusing on what truly matters, although I will admit that it is still tough teaching 5 different subjects and so many different standards. The biggest challenge is not getting bogged down by the sheer volume of things I must teach. Even though I've been doing this for more than a year and a half, it still is something that overwhelms me on a daily basis. However, now that I feel more comfortable in the content, I have a clearer vision of what truly matters, across all subjects. I am so glad for all of the books that we have been able to read and the classes that we have been able to take, because they have played a big role in determining the big ideas in literacy, Social Studies, and STEM.
My students engaging in my TICC/Action Research project has been exciting and daunting at the same time. At this point, my students are definitely excited about their service-learning projects, but they are frightened by the responsibility that they require. I constantly have to remind them that "this is for real," and that they're not just theoretically planning a project. The biggest obstacle is the lack of time that they have to work on them during school. I can only dedicate one period a week for them to work on them, and most of them will not be able to meet outside of school to work on them either. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to help our students get these projects done? I wish that my students could come before or after school or during specials to work on them, but that is also not logistically possible. I would love to hear how all of you are managing the timing of your project.
One of my biggest struggles this past month has been my personal thoughts and reflections on my practice. I have realized that I am not providing rigorous reading instruction to my students. I feel confident in my students being challenged through my writing and math instruction, but not in my reading instruction. Of course my students are regularly participating in book clubs, which has been one of my successes this year. However, I have realized that they are almost never working independently during reading time. I have prided myself in all of the collaborative work that my students have been engaging in this year, but I have come to a scary realization that my students are not building reading skills that they are able to use independently. I am not focusing on my students as individual readers, with unique strengths and needs, and instead am seeing my students as collective readers within a particular reading level or book club. I came to this frightening realization while reading the first 5 chapters of Pathways to the Common Core. I am embarrassed to admit that I have not held my students accountable for being able to independently use reading strategies. I am afraid that many of them have hid behind my teaching and the reading abilities of other members of their book club. I almost feel paralyzed by this reality, and I want to change it immediately. With the stresses of the CRCT already creeping in, that adds more pressure to the situation. I am already thinking of how I can implement rigorous reading instruction in March that challenges (but at the same time excites) my students to hone their independent reading skills. I hope that I can figure out a way to keep reading fun, though, because that is something that is special about my reading instruction this year -- that it is engaging and enjoyable. I know that it will be tricky to maintain this positive climate while also challenging my students to bring their reading skills to the next level.
Let's start with the positive -- I have come to the point where I feel very comfortable in my classroom and in my role as a teacher. I feel like "Joy" most of the time, not just Ms. Harrison (which is a big deal for me). I can see that many of my relationships with my students have deepened, especially with one of my boys who I have struggled to support all year long. I am still figuring out how to work with the dynamics of a severely imbalanced classroom when it comes to gender (I have 6 boys and 16 girls), but overall, my relationships have improved.
I have become better at focusing on what truly matters, although I will admit that it is still tough teaching 5 different subjects and so many different standards. The biggest challenge is not getting bogged down by the sheer volume of things I must teach. Even though I've been doing this for more than a year and a half, it still is something that overwhelms me on a daily basis. However, now that I feel more comfortable in the content, I have a clearer vision of what truly matters, across all subjects. I am so glad for all of the books that we have been able to read and the classes that we have been able to take, because they have played a big role in determining the big ideas in literacy, Social Studies, and STEM.
My students engaging in my TICC/Action Research project has been exciting and daunting at the same time. At this point, my students are definitely excited about their service-learning projects, but they are frightened by the responsibility that they require. I constantly have to remind them that "this is for real," and that they're not just theoretically planning a project. The biggest obstacle is the lack of time that they have to work on them during school. I can only dedicate one period a week for them to work on them, and most of them will not be able to meet outside of school to work on them either. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to help our students get these projects done? I wish that my students could come before or after school or during specials to work on them, but that is also not logistically possible. I would love to hear how all of you are managing the timing of your project.
One of my biggest struggles this past month has been my personal thoughts and reflections on my practice. I have realized that I am not providing rigorous reading instruction to my students. I feel confident in my students being challenged through my writing and math instruction, but not in my reading instruction. Of course my students are regularly participating in book clubs, which has been one of my successes this year. However, I have realized that they are almost never working independently during reading time. I have prided myself in all of the collaborative work that my students have been engaging in this year, but I have come to a scary realization that my students are not building reading skills that they are able to use independently. I am not focusing on my students as individual readers, with unique strengths and needs, and instead am seeing my students as collective readers within a particular reading level or book club. I came to this frightening realization while reading the first 5 chapters of Pathways to the Common Core. I am embarrassed to admit that I have not held my students accountable for being able to independently use reading strategies. I am afraid that many of them have hid behind my teaching and the reading abilities of other members of their book club. I almost feel paralyzed by this reality, and I want to change it immediately. With the stresses of the CRCT already creeping in, that adds more pressure to the situation. I am already thinking of how I can implement rigorous reading instruction in March that challenges (but at the same time excites) my students to hone their independent reading skills. I hope that I can figure out a way to keep reading fun, though, because that is something that is special about my reading instruction this year -- that it is engaging and enjoyable. I know that it will be tricky to maintain this positive climate while also challenging my students to bring their reading skills to the next level.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Pathways to the Common Core, Chaps. 1-5
Wow. These first five chapters have inspired a lot of different emotions in me. Someone call TFA, because this book is #TRANSFORMATIONAL!
These first five chapters have challenged me to reflect deeply upon my literacy instruction, specifically my reading instruction. I can't help but think that according to the standards, I am not teaching reading in a rigorous way. The first thing that I picked up on was the authors' mention of the fact that "the Common Core deemphasizes reading as a personal act" and "puts aside theories of reader response" and the "text-to-self connections" (Calkins, Ehrenworth, & Lehman, 2002, p. 26, 39). This hit me hard. I had honestly never considered how the standards do not prioritize reading as "transactional," as a personal act of engaging with characters and information. I definitely feel uncomfortable about this, and somewhat defensive. Although I completely understand the importance of preparing students for critical and analytic reading, I do not think that this requires us to completely depersonalize the act of reading. Is the analysis that reading requires really what motivates and interests students to start reading? Do avid readers just love the analysis that some reading requires? Isn't developing a love for reading "just for fun" important? It is a false dichotomy to discuss the teaching of reading as either a "personal act" or as an analytic act. I think that we can achieve both with our students. I know that it is easier (in my opinion) to teach reading as a personal act, so I personally must push myself to be a reading teacher that prioritizes the development of my students' textual analysis skills. My reaction also might be a defense mechanism in order to protect myself from feeling like I have failed my students this year. While that sounds dramatic, I have definitely not prioritized my students' encountering and comprehending of grade-level complex text. When I was reading about the importance of exposing our students to complex texts, I immediately thought about how this would be possible with my students who are on a first grade reading level, for example. Although these questions have not been completely answered, I was struck by the truth of this statement: "'All students, including those who are behind, [must] have extensive opportunities to encounter and comprehend grade-level complex text as required by the standards. Far too often, students who have fallen behind are given only less complex texts rather than the support they need to read texts at the appropriate level of complexity'" (p. 48). This is a great point, and something that definitely helps me start thinking about ways in which I can provide appropriate scaffolding to my struggling readers.
The content in these five chapters squared with some of my thinking about the overall view of the Common Core literacy standards. "So the first notable achievement of the Common Core reading standards is that they distill reading to a single set of nine reading skills that readers can carry across texts and up grade levels. The second notable aspect of the Common Core reading standards is that these nine skills all require deep comprehension and high-level thinking" (p. 24). As teachers, we often feel burdened and governed by the number of the standards that we have to teach. However, the reading standards are meant to be focused on nine reading skills. This encourages me as I know that I have benefited very much from the 6 main reading strategies that are laid out in Strategies that Work. Although these strategies are not perfectly aligned to the Common Core standards (a fact that I'm still grappling with), I know that I feel more relaxed and reassured when I think about my role as a reading teacher -- not to teach a thousand different standards that the students need to memorize, but rather flexible strategies and skills that readers can apply to many different situations.
The authors' breaking down of the reading anchor standards has brought my attention to a few practices that are lacking in my instruction -- the constant re-assessing and coaching that students need from me in order to progress in their fluency, comprehension, and analysis. In this day and age, American teachers are constantly being told about the importance of assessing. However, the assessing that has been emphasized is obviously the standardized, multiple choice testing that everyone hates. I think that is the reason why I have never prioritized assessing in my classroom, because I am already required to assess in so many unnecessary ways (in my opinion). This is extremely problematic, though. Calkins, et al., directly state that "it is important to reassess often" (p. 45). They explicitly mentioned the importance of assessing by keeping up with running records or other reading assessments often, and not just once or twice a year. This is definitely not the first time that I have heard this, but to be honest, I have not prioritized this type of assessment in my room. I'm realizing that I don't know my students as readers as well as I would like to admit -- I do not know the specific skills and needs of every one of my students. Even though I pride myself on giving my students multiple opportunities to work together and to engage in discussions about books, I do not give enough attention to the independent growth of each rider. The rich discussions that we do have about the books that we are reading are either whole-group or in book clubs, and although these are good practices, they do not provide the kind of information that one-on-one conversations with individual readers do. I'm starting to wonder if my students actually can indeed independently visualize, predict, infer, or summarize, or if they can only do it in a group setting. This quote was very convicting for me: "We caution that it is not enough to simply do this work in shared experiences such as through read-aloud or whole-class novel discussions -- to many kids hide during that work, and you don't know if they can really do the high-level work on their own, in their independent reading...teachers demonstrating or orchestrating high-level work do not necessarily achieve transference. You'll want to make sure, therefore, that instruction moves immediately from demonstrating reading skills to coaching students to do this work on their own and giving them feedback as they try it, whether it is in book clubs or independent texts" (p. 68). I cringe when I think about how sometimes I assume that the work that we do in groups is not being transferred to students' independent reading habits. I definitely need to start thinking more about how I can facilitate my students' individual ownership of these reading skills, and I need to act more as a coach so that they can feel supported in this process. To be honest, I'm not sure how to do this, so I hope that I gain more insight as I continue reading this book.
These first five chapters have challenged me to reflect deeply upon my literacy instruction, specifically my reading instruction. I can't help but think that according to the standards, I am not teaching reading in a rigorous way. The first thing that I picked up on was the authors' mention of the fact that "the Common Core deemphasizes reading as a personal act" and "puts aside theories of reader response" and the "text-to-self connections" (Calkins, Ehrenworth, & Lehman, 2002, p. 26, 39). This hit me hard. I had honestly never considered how the standards do not prioritize reading as "transactional," as a personal act of engaging with characters and information. I definitely feel uncomfortable about this, and somewhat defensive. Although I completely understand the importance of preparing students for critical and analytic reading, I do not think that this requires us to completely depersonalize the act of reading. Is the analysis that reading requires really what motivates and interests students to start reading? Do avid readers just love the analysis that some reading requires? Isn't developing a love for reading "just for fun" important? It is a false dichotomy to discuss the teaching of reading as either a "personal act" or as an analytic act. I think that we can achieve both with our students. I know that it is easier (in my opinion) to teach reading as a personal act, so I personally must push myself to be a reading teacher that prioritizes the development of my students' textual analysis skills. My reaction also might be a defense mechanism in order to protect myself from feeling like I have failed my students this year. While that sounds dramatic, I have definitely not prioritized my students' encountering and comprehending of grade-level complex text. When I was reading about the importance of exposing our students to complex texts, I immediately thought about how this would be possible with my students who are on a first grade reading level, for example. Although these questions have not been completely answered, I was struck by the truth of this statement: "'All students, including those who are behind, [must] have extensive opportunities to encounter and comprehend grade-level complex text as required by the standards. Far too often, students who have fallen behind are given only less complex texts rather than the support they need to read texts at the appropriate level of complexity'" (p. 48). This is a great point, and something that definitely helps me start thinking about ways in which I can provide appropriate scaffolding to my struggling readers.
The content in these five chapters squared with some of my thinking about the overall view of the Common Core literacy standards. "So the first notable achievement of the Common Core reading standards is that they distill reading to a single set of nine reading skills that readers can carry across texts and up grade levels. The second notable aspect of the Common Core reading standards is that these nine skills all require deep comprehension and high-level thinking" (p. 24). As teachers, we often feel burdened and governed by the number of the standards that we have to teach. However, the reading standards are meant to be focused on nine reading skills. This encourages me as I know that I have benefited very much from the 6 main reading strategies that are laid out in Strategies that Work. Although these strategies are not perfectly aligned to the Common Core standards (a fact that I'm still grappling with), I know that I feel more relaxed and reassured when I think about my role as a reading teacher -- not to teach a thousand different standards that the students need to memorize, but rather flexible strategies and skills that readers can apply to many different situations.
The authors' breaking down of the reading anchor standards has brought my attention to a few practices that are lacking in my instruction -- the constant re-assessing and coaching that students need from me in order to progress in their fluency, comprehension, and analysis. In this day and age, American teachers are constantly being told about the importance of assessing. However, the assessing that has been emphasized is obviously the standardized, multiple choice testing that everyone hates. I think that is the reason why I have never prioritized assessing in my classroom, because I am already required to assess in so many unnecessary ways (in my opinion). This is extremely problematic, though. Calkins, et al., directly state that "it is important to reassess often" (p. 45). They explicitly mentioned the importance of assessing by keeping up with running records or other reading assessments often, and not just once or twice a year. This is definitely not the first time that I have heard this, but to be honest, I have not prioritized this type of assessment in my room. I'm realizing that I don't know my students as readers as well as I would like to admit -- I do not know the specific skills and needs of every one of my students. Even though I pride myself on giving my students multiple opportunities to work together and to engage in discussions about books, I do not give enough attention to the independent growth of each rider. The rich discussions that we do have about the books that we are reading are either whole-group or in book clubs, and although these are good practices, they do not provide the kind of information that one-on-one conversations with individual readers do. I'm starting to wonder if my students actually can indeed independently visualize, predict, infer, or summarize, or if they can only do it in a group setting. This quote was very convicting for me: "We caution that it is not enough to simply do this work in shared experiences such as through read-aloud or whole-class novel discussions -- to many kids hide during that work, and you don't know if they can really do the high-level work on their own, in their independent reading...teachers demonstrating or orchestrating high-level work do not necessarily achieve transference. You'll want to make sure, therefore, that instruction moves immediately from demonstrating reading skills to coaching students to do this work on their own and giving them feedback as they try it, whether it is in book clubs or independent texts" (p. 68). I cringe when I think about how sometimes I assume that the work that we do in groups is not being transferred to students' independent reading habits. I definitely need to start thinking more about how I can facilitate my students' individual ownership of these reading skills, and I need to act more as a coach so that they can feel supported in this process. To be honest, I'm not sure how to do this, so I hope that I gain more insight as I continue reading this book.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Intro-Chap. 2)
I want to start by saying that I am so glad that through our Critical Pedagogy class, we have had the opportunity to read Freire another time because my second reading has truly transformed the way that I think about pedagogy. We have had many opportunities to discuss Freire's work in our class and these discussions have pushed us to deeply internalize and analyze Freire's ideas.
I loved Donald Macedo's introduction to the 30th anniversary edition of Pedagogy of the Oppressed because it adds a lot to what is already a fascinating book. Macedo's concept of "cultural schizophrenia" resonated with me and my experience that I have had at my particular school. I love the way that Macedo (2000) describes it as a balancing act, and as finding oneself caught between “two worlds, two cultures, and two languages” (p. 11). This helped me reflect on the cultural schizophrenia that many (if not all) of my students must feel. Unfortunately there is a big gap between their home and school culture, and in more general terms, there exists a gap between the Hispanic/African-American culture and the dominant, Caucasian culture. When Macedo (2000) mentions the "borrowed and colonized cultural existence" that oppressed groups experience, I thought immediately about my students' existence at our school (p. 11). I hate to think of my school as a colonizing power, but if I am honestly reflecting on my school's presence, we are partly an institution that silences and colonizes our students. We impose an "English-only" education model that rejects many of my students' native languages/dialects, therefore rejecting a major part of their identity. I am constantly reflecting on how I can make my practice a practice of freedom, and how I can give my students opportunities to express themselves as they are and not as I want them to be.
I can say with confidence that Freire has inspired all of us to reflect deeply on the difference between the banking concept of education and problem-posing education. As I think about who I want to be as an educator as my time with TFA and GSU comes to an end, I know that one of my main goals is to be a problem-posing educator. My passion is to teach social justice and to somehow incorporate the Common Core standards in there (and not the other way around). As you all know, I have grappled a lot with the question "what actually matters?" throughout the last 2 years. I have struggled to welcome myself into my own classroom, and to be true to who I am while also making sure that I am doing my job. This year I have finally been able to bring more and more of myself in my classroom, whether that is through my relationships with students or my actual lessons. In Freire’s model of problem-posing education, “the teacher is no longer merely the-one-who-teaches, but one who is himself taught in dialogue with the students, who in turn while being taught also teach” (Freire, 1970, p. 80). This is what inspires me as an educator, and this is my goal for my classroom. I have centered my classroom this year on dialogue so that my students have multiple opportunities per day to make their voice be heard.
Freire centers Pedagogy of the Oppressed around this model of problem-posing education and dialogical action, and these two concepts inform my action research/TICC project. My students have selected a problem in their community and are problematizing it by planning a service-learning project to help solve this problem. My students are creatively thinking about ways to make their world a better place and they're getting more and more excited about the agency that they are finding themselves to have. When I think about my future as an educator, I know that whatever I do, I want to be working in a place that allows students to actively practice social justice. I am starting to feel more and more passionate about service-learning, and I would love one day to work at a school that is centered around service-learning. Teaching Common Core standards is not where my passion lies; rather, my passion lies in using dialogue to help my kids develop critical perspectives towards their own and the reality of others. In order for students to truly exhibit agency, they must be able to critically break down the constructs and systems that they are a part of. This will help them be leaders of sustainable change in their communities.
I loved Donald Macedo's introduction to the 30th anniversary edition of Pedagogy of the Oppressed because it adds a lot to what is already a fascinating book. Macedo's concept of "cultural schizophrenia" resonated with me and my experience that I have had at my particular school. I love the way that Macedo (2000) describes it as a balancing act, and as finding oneself caught between “two worlds, two cultures, and two languages” (p. 11). This helped me reflect on the cultural schizophrenia that many (if not all) of my students must feel. Unfortunately there is a big gap between their home and school culture, and in more general terms, there exists a gap between the Hispanic/African-American culture and the dominant, Caucasian culture. When Macedo (2000) mentions the "borrowed and colonized cultural existence" that oppressed groups experience, I thought immediately about my students' existence at our school (p. 11). I hate to think of my school as a colonizing power, but if I am honestly reflecting on my school's presence, we are partly an institution that silences and colonizes our students. We impose an "English-only" education model that rejects many of my students' native languages/dialects, therefore rejecting a major part of their identity. I am constantly reflecting on how I can make my practice a practice of freedom, and how I can give my students opportunities to express themselves as they are and not as I want them to be.
I can say with confidence that Freire has inspired all of us to reflect deeply on the difference between the banking concept of education and problem-posing education. As I think about who I want to be as an educator as my time with TFA and GSU comes to an end, I know that one of my main goals is to be a problem-posing educator. My passion is to teach social justice and to somehow incorporate the Common Core standards in there (and not the other way around). As you all know, I have grappled a lot with the question "what actually matters?" throughout the last 2 years. I have struggled to welcome myself into my own classroom, and to be true to who I am while also making sure that I am doing my job. This year I have finally been able to bring more and more of myself in my classroom, whether that is through my relationships with students or my actual lessons. In Freire’s model of problem-posing education, “the teacher is no longer merely the-one-who-teaches, but one who is himself taught in dialogue with the students, who in turn while being taught also teach” (Freire, 1970, p. 80). This is what inspires me as an educator, and this is my goal for my classroom. I have centered my classroom this year on dialogue so that my students have multiple opportunities per day to make their voice be heard.
Freire centers Pedagogy of the Oppressed around this model of problem-posing education and dialogical action, and these two concepts inform my action research/TICC project. My students have selected a problem in their community and are problematizing it by planning a service-learning project to help solve this problem. My students are creatively thinking about ways to make their world a better place and they're getting more and more excited about the agency that they are finding themselves to have. When I think about my future as an educator, I know that whatever I do, I want to be working in a place that allows students to actively practice social justice. I am starting to feel more and more passionate about service-learning, and I would love one day to work at a school that is centered around service-learning. Teaching Common Core standards is not where my passion lies; rather, my passion lies in using dialogue to help my kids develop critical perspectives towards their own and the reality of others. In order for students to truly exhibit agency, they must be able to critically break down the constructs and systems that they are a part of. This will help them be leaders of sustainable change in their communities.
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Growth in the new year
I can't believe January is already over! Christmas break was truly wonderful, and the few snow days were nice after all of the traffic craziness died down. I have definitely felt more rested this month, so that always helps me be a better teacher.
Something new and exciting this month was the start of the implementation of our Action Research projects. Although my project is still very much in the beginning phases, it's already been inspiring to hear my kids talk about the change that they want to make in their communities. My students have spent a lot of time picking out specific articles in the U.N. Rights of a Child that they care about the most. This week they are starting to meet in groups to begin the first stage of their service-learning projects: investigation. Although it can be a little daunting when I think about the unpredictability of the outcome of my Action Research project, it is also exciting to think about how much my kids are going to rock it. I have introduced my Action Research project through the start of a persuasive writing unit, and so far, this interconnectedness (Dr. Fisher word!) has been great. I feel empowered to teach my students about persuasive writing that matters -- instead of having them write to their parents to persuade them to do something or buy them something (I'm pretty sure I did something like this with my kids last year), it has been so much powerful to frame persuasive writing in a democratic way. The students are going to persuade others to care about the problem that they select for their project, and they are going to persuade others to help and make a difference in their community.
This month I have spent a lot of time reflecting on book clubs -- they have been up and running for many months now, but there a lot of things that I want to change and tweak to make sure that students are engaged and challenged. I have been talking a lot with Kelsey (and now Allaisia!) and we have shared some reader's response resources so that our students can be held accountable for their reading. Some groups have made a lot of progress and exciting things are going on in their clubs. For example, the girls in my highest reading group wrote a skit (they had props and everything) to represent their favorite part of the book. Luckily Dr. Fisher got to see it -- it was hilarious! Another group has been struggling with group dynamics and communication, while another group struggles conducting deep conversations about the text. So sometimes book clubs are a success and sometimes they're a hot mess. I am brainstorming with Dr. Fisher about how to make them better. I am going to switch up the groups, make the groups smaller (2 of the groups have 6 girls in each -- let's just say, DRAMA!), and establish a structure for reader's response.
Some other patterns that appeared in my connections are some mini successes in my math block and in my reading planning. As I have mentioned many times before, math has been especially stressful this year (in terms of the scheduling and the groups) and there have been several days this month where I finally felt like I was making some gains in my math block. My biggest strength is probably putting together engaging math centers that steer the students away from using pen and paper and instead, using manipulatives, practicing vocabulary with flash cards, playing games, etc. Actually, Taylor Ramsey, Erin Quackenbush, and my MTLD visited my classroom during math a few weeks ago and they were impressed with how engaged and excited my kids were about math centers (really, I think a lot of it was that they were excited to get some attention from visitors...haha). So it has been important for me to celebrate that success. Something else that I have been very intentional about this month is pacing my reading instruction by connecting Common Core standards to one or two of the reading strategies in Strategies that Work. This has helped my reading instruction feel more important and relevant, and I feel less worried about the actual standards. This freedom allows me to plan lessons that I love to lead and teach -- particularly social justice-related lessons :). I have also been working on incorporating the reading skill of the week (i.e. summarizing, questioning, making inferences) in book clubs so students practice the skill independently.
January has been a pretty good month! It's crazy to think where I was last year and where I am this year. I am in such a better place emotionally which has helped me in my teaching and my personal life. I am excited to grow even more and feel more confident about my teaching and life here in Georgia.
Something new and exciting this month was the start of the implementation of our Action Research projects. Although my project is still very much in the beginning phases, it's already been inspiring to hear my kids talk about the change that they want to make in their communities. My students have spent a lot of time picking out specific articles in the U.N. Rights of a Child that they care about the most. This week they are starting to meet in groups to begin the first stage of their service-learning projects: investigation. Although it can be a little daunting when I think about the unpredictability of the outcome of my Action Research project, it is also exciting to think about how much my kids are going to rock it. I have introduced my Action Research project through the start of a persuasive writing unit, and so far, this interconnectedness (Dr. Fisher word!) has been great. I feel empowered to teach my students about persuasive writing that matters -- instead of having them write to their parents to persuade them to do something or buy them something (I'm pretty sure I did something like this with my kids last year), it has been so much powerful to frame persuasive writing in a democratic way. The students are going to persuade others to care about the problem that they select for their project, and they are going to persuade others to help and make a difference in their community.
This month I have spent a lot of time reflecting on book clubs -- they have been up and running for many months now, but there a lot of things that I want to change and tweak to make sure that students are engaged and challenged. I have been talking a lot with Kelsey (and now Allaisia!) and we have shared some reader's response resources so that our students can be held accountable for their reading. Some groups have made a lot of progress and exciting things are going on in their clubs. For example, the girls in my highest reading group wrote a skit (they had props and everything) to represent their favorite part of the book. Luckily Dr. Fisher got to see it -- it was hilarious! Another group has been struggling with group dynamics and communication, while another group struggles conducting deep conversations about the text. So sometimes book clubs are a success and sometimes they're a hot mess. I am brainstorming with Dr. Fisher about how to make them better. I am going to switch up the groups, make the groups smaller (2 of the groups have 6 girls in each -- let's just say, DRAMA!), and establish a structure for reader's response.
Some other patterns that appeared in my connections are some mini successes in my math block and in my reading planning. As I have mentioned many times before, math has been especially stressful this year (in terms of the scheduling and the groups) and there have been several days this month where I finally felt like I was making some gains in my math block. My biggest strength is probably putting together engaging math centers that steer the students away from using pen and paper and instead, using manipulatives, practicing vocabulary with flash cards, playing games, etc. Actually, Taylor Ramsey, Erin Quackenbush, and my MTLD visited my classroom during math a few weeks ago and they were impressed with how engaged and excited my kids were about math centers (really, I think a lot of it was that they were excited to get some attention from visitors...haha). So it has been important for me to celebrate that success. Something else that I have been very intentional about this month is pacing my reading instruction by connecting Common Core standards to one or two of the reading strategies in Strategies that Work. This has helped my reading instruction feel more important and relevant, and I feel less worried about the actual standards. This freedom allows me to plan lessons that I love to lead and teach -- particularly social justice-related lessons :). I have also been working on incorporating the reading skill of the week (i.e. summarizing, questioning, making inferences) in book clubs so students practice the skill independently.
January has been a pretty good month! It's crazy to think where I was last year and where I am this year. I am in such a better place emotionally which has helped me in my teaching and my personal life. I am excited to grow even more and feel more confident about my teaching and life here in Georgia.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Critical Inquiry Framework
This book has given me the inspiration to organize my TICC/Action Research project around the U.N. Rights of the Child. When I read these case studies for the first time, I had never heard of the U.N. Rights of the Child. I had no idea that there was an international document stating all of the rights that children should have. It's also fascinating to me that the United States is one of the countries that has not decided to ratify it, two of the reasons being that the rights prohibit both the death penalty and life imprisonment for children. Some people speculate that political and religious conservatives have opposed the ratification of the rights, and therefore these rights don't legally pertain to the children who live in the United States. This is definitely a tragedy, and while Obama has promised to review our failure to ratify the Convention, I still think it's important that my students learn about their rights and the responsibilities that come along with it.
One of the case studies that inspired me was the Protection from Deportation and Family Separation project in which middle school students explored their rights as recent immigrants. Although many of my students were born in the United States, many of their parents and family members were not and are therefore do not have "legal" status. I know that the constant fear of deportation or legal trouble is a reality for many of my students and their families, so this case study was particularly inspiring. I love how Freire played a role in the teacher's planning of this project, and therefore the project was centered around critical pedagogy, "a humanizing teaching philosophy" (75). Although this case study was done with middle school students, I plan on using some of the ideas that this teacher utilized to engage her English Language Learners "to become critical researchers who look deeply and critically into their lives and surroundings" (75). So often students are fed lies by the curriculum and sadly, teachers and their realities, fears, and struggles are seldom welcomed into the classroom. I would love to give them the opportunity to critically look at their community and think about the ways in which they can advocate for child's rights.
It's Not Easy Being Flat: A 3rd-Grade Study of the Rights of Students with Disabilities was another case study that stuck out to me as inspiring and enlightening. I was especially intrigued because I teach third grade and I found it fascinating to read about how the students researched and learned about different disabilities. I loved how the teacher incorporated literature and book studies so that students could explore disabilities through reading. I am currently trying to look for books to help my students research the problems that they are trying to solve in their community but I have been struggling to find appropriate books that would be accessible to my students. However, this project inspires me to think outside the box and look into children's literature (possibly fiction) as another possibility. Although it is important that my students research nonfiction information in order to inform their investigation, using fiction might also inspire creativity in thinking about solutions to these problems.
Lastly, PeaceJam also provided a lot of insight for me as I have been planning my TICC/Action Research project. Although it is about high school student activists and their work for human rights, I have learned a lot from the PeaceJam organization. I have explored their website and have researched how they develop young leaders to be agents of change in their community. This case study was where I first thought about how to incorporate service learning into my project. "Service-learning typically is comprised of six components: investigation, planning, action, reflection, demonstration, and celebration" (129). When I started to ponder about how I could structure this TICC/Action Research for my students, I realized that the service-learning framework fit almost perfectly. While I have struggled trying to make it practical for elementary students (most service-learning projects are conducted by high school and college students), I have also been inspired by all of the research that I have done about different service-learning projects that have been led by students. Although the projects outlined in PeaceJam are much bigger than my students' future projects, the structure that the teachers and facilitators used have greatly helped me organize the way in which my students will plan and execute their community projects.
I have enjoyed this book immensely and it has opened my eyes to so many possibilities. I am so grateful for this introduction to the U.N. Rights of the Child. I can already see how much these rights have inspired my students to be agents of change in their community. They have been working for several weeks on selecting articles that speak to them and they will soon start working on a community project based on specific rights that children should have. While I have been listening to the ideas that my students have been throwing around, I have already been inspired by their insightful and creative thoughts. I think that the U.N. Rights of the Child is such a great framework and structure for allowing students to be agents of change in their community. They are so empowering and I am excited to see how these rights empower them to take responsibility to advocate for children's rights.
One of the case studies that inspired me was the Protection from Deportation and Family Separation project in which middle school students explored their rights as recent immigrants. Although many of my students were born in the United States, many of their parents and family members were not and are therefore do not have "legal" status. I know that the constant fear of deportation or legal trouble is a reality for many of my students and their families, so this case study was particularly inspiring. I love how Freire played a role in the teacher's planning of this project, and therefore the project was centered around critical pedagogy, "a humanizing teaching philosophy" (75). Although this case study was done with middle school students, I plan on using some of the ideas that this teacher utilized to engage her English Language Learners "to become critical researchers who look deeply and critically into their lives and surroundings" (75). So often students are fed lies by the curriculum and sadly, teachers and their realities, fears, and struggles are seldom welcomed into the classroom. I would love to give them the opportunity to critically look at their community and think about the ways in which they can advocate for child's rights.
It's Not Easy Being Flat: A 3rd-Grade Study of the Rights of Students with Disabilities was another case study that stuck out to me as inspiring and enlightening. I was especially intrigued because I teach third grade and I found it fascinating to read about how the students researched and learned about different disabilities. I loved how the teacher incorporated literature and book studies so that students could explore disabilities through reading. I am currently trying to look for books to help my students research the problems that they are trying to solve in their community but I have been struggling to find appropriate books that would be accessible to my students. However, this project inspires me to think outside the box and look into children's literature (possibly fiction) as another possibility. Although it is important that my students research nonfiction information in order to inform their investigation, using fiction might also inspire creativity in thinking about solutions to these problems.
Lastly, PeaceJam also provided a lot of insight for me as I have been planning my TICC/Action Research project. Although it is about high school student activists and their work for human rights, I have learned a lot from the PeaceJam organization. I have explored their website and have researched how they develop young leaders to be agents of change in their community. This case study was where I first thought about how to incorporate service learning into my project. "Service-learning typically is comprised of six components: investigation, planning, action, reflection, demonstration, and celebration" (129). When I started to ponder about how I could structure this TICC/Action Research for my students, I realized that the service-learning framework fit almost perfectly. While I have struggled trying to make it practical for elementary students (most service-learning projects are conducted by high school and college students), I have also been inspired by all of the research that I have done about different service-learning projects that have been led by students. Although the projects outlined in PeaceJam are much bigger than my students' future projects, the structure that the teachers and facilitators used have greatly helped me organize the way in which my students will plan and execute their community projects.
I have enjoyed this book immensely and it has opened my eyes to so many possibilities. I am so grateful for this introduction to the U.N. Rights of the Child. I can already see how much these rights have inspired my students to be agents of change in their community. They have been working for several weeks on selecting articles that speak to them and they will soon start working on a community project based on specific rights that children should have. While I have been listening to the ideas that my students have been throwing around, I have already been inspired by their insightful and creative thoughts. I think that the U.N. Rights of the Child is such a great framework and structure for allowing students to be agents of change in their community. They are so empowering and I am excited to see how these rights empower them to take responsibility to advocate for children's rights.
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