Night

This book is one of those ones that as you read, you can't help but be sucked in, forced to keep reading, even if it makes you cry. Elie Wiesel has written a beautiful novel, and though it is a fictional story, it also serves a memoir. Everything that happens Eliezer, the main character, with a few details changed, are what happened to Wiesel.

I was in high school the first time I read this book. We spent a whole unit really trying to dive into what Wiesel went through, even watching an interview between him and Oprah Winfrey. It is hard to read about all the hardships, physical abuse and death that Wiesel's character is forced to face. For a high schooler, and even most people to day, it is difficult to imagine that people had to go through this, that people could hurt their fellow man in such horrifying ways.

The only other book that students will probably be familiar with that deals with the Holocaust at this point is "The Diary of Anne Frank." I think that this offers a great comparison, but also believe that "Night" gives a different viewpoint to the war. Anne Frank is a autobiography, an actual dairy. However,  "Night," though fictional, gives more insight into the actual death camps.

I absolutely love this book. It is gut-wrentching, but important to history.

Romeo and Juliet

Every high school freshman, and I do mean every, is required to read Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet." It is probably one of his well known, and in some ways, most over done plays.

Personally, I enjoy "Romeo and Juliet," however I can see why people would think that it is cliché. It is about a 13 and 16 year old who fall in love, though their family's are feuding, thus causing multiple tragedies. If you look at the time period, 13 and 16 are about the ages that people would be getting married. However, looking at it now, when many don't marry until well into there 30s, people thing it is an over romanticized story of children who were too young to really be in love who end up committing suicide. Bleak right?

But yet, in never high school this is still taught. I think a lot of that has to do with language, it providing a challenge for it's readers. But it also has to do with the fact that the students are roughly the same ages as the charters, allowing for more in-depth reading, and allows for them to really get into the mind of the characters, feeling what they feel.

Whether or not we should still teach "Romeo and Juliet" in the classroom is not a debate for me. I will always choose to teach it, especially when you look at the alternatives. I think "Othello," "Hamlet," and "King Henry VIII" are too heavy and difficult for 14 to 15 year olds. Plus the content allows for many different topics to be brought up, such as young love, suicide, warring families, etc. That's the best part about literature, providing opportunities for discussions.

Things Fall Apart

Achebe’s Things Fall Apart is quite an interesting book. I definitely have been told for a while now that I need to read this book, especially if I want to be an English teacher. I love too that even though this book is fictional, it plays on a lot of real events or concepts in his own life, religion and cultural difference being some of them.

            This book really shows a different side of native Africans than many other books of the time period. Those were all a one sided view of the colonial oppressors’ side. This really shows the culture, language and heritage that was already in Africa before they were colonized and forced to change their heritage, such as their religion.

            This theme of fighting against change is a huge part of the book. Whether it be Okonkwo’s fear of changing himself, seeing as he wants to show absolutely no kindness or love, the struggle against change in societal rank, or the obvious fight between white colonial men trying to change the cultural of the natives they meet, this struggle is a basic underlying principle of the book. Though theire are other important themes, I believe that this one, and Achebe’s overall goal to change how society saw native African’s at the time this book was written, is the most important.

            This book is a great book for students, I believe, to get a different viewpoint then, say, Heart of Darkness. Though there are some violent aspects, I think that it over all is a great novel for them.

TPAs

I’m not going to lie. TPAs (Teaching Performance Assessments) scare me. To death. I have only had to do a few so far, yet they are difficult and tedious. Not only that, but every teacher I have ever talked to has told me that they are unrealistic in real classroom. That being said, they are required, and I’m sure there are some benefits to learning how to write them.

I really like the examples of questions we should be asking ourselves that this guide gives. Eastern’s template is a 2 to 3 page guide of boxes with maybe one question explaining what we should be filling out. Although that template is a great visual guide, it does not get us asking the things we need to. How are the students in this class? How many? What age? What are their proficiency levels? When I have worked on TPAs before, it has been hard for me to think of these questions off the top of my head.

I think I actually like these guidelines better than the ones we are using. Or at least the explanations they give. It has been difficult for me to understand in the past, so the thought of having to do twenty TPAs this quarter for three different classes has been really freaking me out. This really goes into more specific details in terms that are easier to understand. Plus having so many questions to think about makes it a lot easier to discuss what I want my students to be learning from this lesson.

Overall, I’ll still use Eastern’s layout for a TPA not only because I know it, but because it is required. However, I know that I will be using this handout in conjunction to that, and I am now more confident about writing TPAs than I was before.

Differentiated Reading Instruction: What and How

The article I read for this week's blog is called "Differentiated Reading Instruction: What and How." This article is based on an experienced second grade teacher's class. I love that they start out with more of the history of differentiated instruction, along with further going into detail about how it is put into practice. 

Assessment is absolutely key in the first stage of differentiated instruction. This is not done as a group, but rather finding what each child individually needs. Each school district has it's own assessments that they require, and these assessments, along with the teacher's knowledge, will help decide what kind of instructions kids need. Keeping notes on student's progress, and then conferencing with the students afterwards, will also help to formulate the kind of instruction they should be receiving. 

Another big key is how students are grouped. In Ms. Martin's classroom, she groups student's together based on reading levels, and as the year progresses, she moves them to different groups, depending on their individual progress. These groups can also be more general, based on whole-class, small groups or  even partner instruction, just depending on what the teacher thinks would be more beneficial. I'm curious to know if things like partner work could be beneficial to helping students read better. For example, if you pair a student who excels with a student who is struggling, would it be beneficial or more detrimental for the students?

Over all I think that this article had a lot to offer. Even though it is set in a second grade classroom, I think that some of these ideas can be "aged up" and used in a high school classroom. 

Tovani's Access Tools

After Tovani’s chapters 6-End, I chose to look at the Double Entry Diaries. I love this technique. This is a great way to build discussions and individual understanding. I personally am a huge classic literature fan, and just started reading Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. For books like this one, or other classics like Pride and Prejudice, it is easy for students to have comprehension issues. The language and the customs of the time are very different than our own.

That’s where the double entry diaries come in handy. By writing down direct quotes and page numbers, they can take a part that they are struggling with and focus down on it. Then, in the next column, they can write things under “This reminds me of,” “I wonder,” “I’m confused by,” etc. This allows them to not only locate the content they are struggling with, but to also have ways they can remember the meaning of the quotes. They can relate it to things they know and understand from their own lives.

We always annotated our books as we read them in high school. It was supposed to keep us on track with our reading, and we had an assigned number of annotations we needed to have. I really disliked them and would fake my way through them, seeing as they weren’t always thoroughly checked. I believe these diaries are a much better way to get students involved in what they are reading. It also helps clearly identify to myself as a teacher what my students clearly need help with.

I Read It, But I Don't Get It

First and foremost I want to say how relevant this title is to anyone who has ever taken a difficult class. Even in college now, there are times when I read things for classes over and over again, and I just don't get it. I hate it.

But then again, let's be honest with ourselves. How many times have you waited to do the assigned reading, and instead skim through and b.s. your responses? Often. In high school that was the competition in our senior AP English class. Though we were all intelligent kids, we were lazy and faked our way through most assignments, be it reading or writing. This "fake reading" is exactly the kind of thing Tovani discusses in these chapters.

I have always been a great reader and loved reading most everything I could. I don't think I have ever truly "fake" read anything, except for maybe textbooks. It's hard for me to comprehend why some people do not like reading. I never would have believed that a lot of it has to do with students not making a connection. For myself, a math book or a dry science or ed book have been hard for me to just skim through. I can't do it. But when I really sit down, i generally gain some sort of knowledge from it. So how do you help your students who are legitimately trying but not understanding?
I enjoy that she really tells a story as she goes along, and that this isn't just another dry textbook. I feel like she understands that we need to not only see examples on how to better our teaching, but also that it needs to be communicated in a better way.