Education for Growth

First off I wanted to add this video that advocates for the Eco-justice program. The video at the conference was very inspirational and pulled at my heart strings. I also think that the music to the video goes along very nicely was we near the end of our term. I hope that you enjoy it, perhaps while you read.

 

As the term is coming to a busy end, I have spent some time reflecting on what we have learned in class in comparison to what we see and learn in our co-op schools. In class we learn about progressive ways to approach teaching; however this is often not what we are seeing. I was encouraged at the recent event that was planned for our Education 315 class. We went to a panel discussion on Place-based pedagogies at the Saskatoon Public School Division Board Office. Here there were some really great speakers who talked about bringing the curriculum alive for students. There were some really memorable speakers such as Michael Gatin who talked about the importance of reciprocity, interconnectedness, stewardship, and harmony. I was captivated by his message. His message was short and clear, yet I could reflect on it for hours. I often only hear the word stewardship when it is connected to Christian teachings and faith. Gatin’s use of stewardship was really significant because it ties people to our land and the word “stewardship” resonated with me well after the program. Mel Sysing and Dustin Kasun Eco-justice program was inspirational as well. The whole time I could not stop thinking about why there are not many more programs like this one. I would have loved to be in a program like that when I was a grade 8 student and I am sure my students in my co-op school would benefit from these programs. Sheelah McLean’s grade 12 global citizenship class was a great example of how learning can become motivational, interconnected, and authentic. These are the classes that are incorporating the progressive teaching methods that we learn about.

The Eco-Justice promotional video also asked the questions, “does your education motivate you?” and “does it inspire you?” I think my answer, at this point in my student career, would be different depending on what day it might be. I unfortunately do not think that many students are inspired and motivated by the education they are receiving today. I hope that I can stay motivated in the hopes that one day I can help students become inspired. For myself, my current education has begun to give me the tools that I need to become a stronger teacher candidate. I look forward to growing and learning more about myself and about education.  It is these moments, when the students from the Eco-Justice program were so inspiring through their success, that lift my spirits and remind me about why I am pursuing this path. I hope that all of our struggles make us stronger and that we can always remember why we are doing this, for our students who are interconnected with everyone and everything.

Reading the World

               Gallagher begins chapter nine “Reading the World” with a scenario where a school principle asks the teaching staff to use three weeks to focus on critical thinking skills, rather than the “normal curriculum” to help prepare their students for the state required tests (p. 167-168). This scenario is helpful because it further validates teaching literary theory. Teaching literary theory in these classes essentially is teaching critical thinking skills. I find that the following activities provided by Gallagher are valuable because I do think that what most students are going to take away from their English education is not going to be the love of classic novels but rather the skills to read and think critically. I also think that it is those skills that are more valuable that remembering such novels and texts. Gallagher expresses this nicely when he says, “I want them to be able to analyze literature in my class, but the bigger goal is that they develop these cognitive skills to a level where they may be transferred beyond the classroom” (p.169). Many of our students will not pursue post secondary education and it is when they are outside of the classrooms that these skills will become useful to them in their everyday activities.

Reading the world is essential in the fast pace world we live in today. Reading and thinking critically is a helpful tool in all walks of life, including all jobs. Along with many other young adults, I have worked in the retail industry for many years and I find that it is important to read advertisements, promotional coupons, job descriptions, and more, critically. There rarely goes a day when I come into contact with a customer who has misunderstood an advertisement and is disappointed when they are shown the reality. After all advertisement are crafted to trick us, “jeans starting at $19.99!” often means very few pairs are at that price. These tricks often do not fool me, as a critical thinker, but I know how often they catch others. A strong sales example is BOGO “buy one get one half off.” Now I must try not to fall into a rant on how difficult this concept is too many customers coming from an employee who worked too long doing these jobs. My point is that, the fact that the customer is paying for the more expensive pair is usually beyond their understanding, also fliers show the ½ off price next to images assuming it is your second pair. Every day at work I had to explain this sneaky advertising that often situated the employee (me) as the “bad guy” deceiving innocent buyers (them). My point is then that high school English is not only about remembering literature (comprehension) but is about so much more. Perhaps students, like myself, often do not know this about their English classes until later in their lives, so it therefore would be beneficial to do some of the “reading the world” activities in the class so that they can make this connection earlier. Students, who do not desire to continue post secondary education, might find themselves valuing their English education more if they understood how it will help them “read the world” if they made this connection earlier in their student lives.

Connecting Literature to World Issues

In Gallagher’s chapter eight I found that the “Meaningful Reflection” activities that stood out the most to me were the ones that connected literature to today’s issues. I found that these activity examples were quite valuable. I particularly like the “the most valuable Idea” activity found on (page 159-160). Here there is the goal to connect valuable ideas from the literature to an example in the “real world” that illustrates the same idea, then to explain this connection. This activity can be inquiry based in the sense that student will search for a news paper articles that appropriately connects to their chosen theme.

My concern with these valuable activities is, are teenagers up to date with current issues? Do our students have previous experiences with drawing from the news in meaningful ways? I have never grown up with a newspaper being delivered to my house daily, nor did I watch the news as a teenager. What I learned about local issues was primarily from short passages and discussions on the radio. I feel that teenagers are somewhat knowledgeable and perhaps even passionate about broad issues and extremely local issues, such as gender issues and if the drinking age in Saskatoon will be changed. However, I feel that many teenagers do not keep up to date with the current news that includes current issues on many different levels. This lack of awareness might make these activities more difficult, however I believe that is all the more reason to do them. By assigning students activities such as “the most valuable Idea” we are not only challenging them to connect literature to world issues, but we are also familiarising them with the issues that are present.

Gallagher suggests that by asking yourself, “what do I hope my students will take from this book?” before you begin teaching helps to “tease out the real issues - those universal concerns found in any great book that mean a great deal to teenagers” (p.154). I think it is then important to also ask “what do I hope my students will take out of this activity?” In this case I would hope that my students would be building their skills to navigate and understand the news better in addition to the goal of having them connect valuable ideas from the literature to an example in the “real world.”

Discussing Issues

           I have been finding that many students are more than willing to talk about “controversial” topics or topics that are highly relatable. Topics about conspiracies, about teenage stereotypes, marriage, and gender seem to transform a quiet class into a talkative group where many students are more than willing to voice their thoughts. There are also always quiet students in these situations as well. These silent students might be introverts or have their mind focused elsewhere; however we need to remember that they may be feeling isolated or uncomfortable with the topic.

Appleman explains in chapter eight that literary lenses can be a way to discuss issues more comfortably. This is seen in the example of Ayanna, the only student of color in her class, because here she expresses that she finds that the lenses used in her class make her feel less isolated. Literary lenses can be understood as a way to discuss issues more comfortable, such as issues of social power and gender (p. 118). I think that this is valuable because students want to talk about societies issues and seem to become engaged when controversial topics come up. Learning how to use literary lenses properly then can help us teach students to engage issues in a respectful intellectual way. It can also help us tie in current events with our literature which can further connect us to our bigger world. I believe that the potential lenses have for discussing issues is extremely valuable as a teacher candidate because I want to be able to discuss controversial issues with my students. It is during these teachable moments that we can get students to start thinking about inequalities and power.

Group Work

I found that chapter six “The Importance of Collaboration” was a valuable chapter for me, as I am sceptical about the effectiveness of group work. It begins by explain that, “Every one of us comes to the printed page with different prior knowledge and experiences, with different viewpoints and biases, with different insight and blind spots. (Gallagher, p.104) This statement really shows me why collaboration is important for learning opportunities. I do agree with this statement, but I also find myself recalling how much I have disliked group work as a student throughout my learning career.

In my field experience I see students ask their teacher if the assignment they have just been given could be done in partners, as they cling to their closest friends. I also see how lessons get pushed back because many students’ partners did not come to class that day. I see “hitchhiking” and dictating.

I found this chapter useful because it has some great example of making groups that I have never seen done before. These examples incorporate student accountability and diversity in the makeup of the groups which seem to be key components of successful group collaboration exercises. I particularly liked the “Conversation Log Exchanges” activity. Here the students are logging their thoughts and reflections and reading their peers in a conversation like piece. However, it is unique because their partners are in different periods who are also reading the same literature as them. It then appears to be an individual task, as the student is physically working on their own, but it is incorporating different prior knowledge and experiences, viewpoints, insights, and blind spots. I would like to use this activity if I get the chance to because it embraces the understanding that students bring different insights to the same piece of work, but it also allows for the individual to not limit their self by hitchhiking or dictating. In fact this blog is a little bit like the “Conversation Log Exchanges” activity, and I like that.

English and History

I truly believe that English and History classes can and should be closely connected as each work of literature and author reflects a historical time and often incorporates historical events. The two disciplines enrich each other.

In chapter six Appleman says that Postcolonialism, “recognizes the differences that give people their identities, their uniqueness, and their histories.” (p.89) She then says that, “The aim of postcolonial study, then, is to restore the history, dignity, validity, cultural contributions, and global significance of those whose experiences have been represented within a worldview that provided no way to include “the Other” except through direct contrast with itself” (p.90).

I chose to add these two passages from the text because it highlights the element of History in this lens. Although I think it is important to include history in all literary lens’, it is in this chapter that Appleman seems to include History the most. Here we aim to recognize people’s histories and to restore it. I believe that novels and shorter works of literature cannot fully teach history by itself and that it needs to be accompanied by objective well planned historical teachings. By connecting History to English students are more likely to gain an understanding of the context of the literature and are increasingly able to see why it matters.

Using literature and discussions that reflect colonialism gives English teachers a chance to provide students with knowledge about countries darker histories that they may or may not be learning in their history classes. This area of study also can give teachers the opportunity to question historical teachings. I envision a lesson where an English class might read an outdated “history” from the colonizers view and then challenge this work with their knowledge received from literature from the colonized view. Then provide students with a more inclusive history that incorporates both views. I would hope that this activity would get student to question what they hear and read in history text books and to value literature from multiple perspectives.

Feminist lens vs. Gendered lens

I wonder if the term “gendered lens” is a potential replacement for the term “feminist lens” because it may create less tension in a mixed gendered class, or is it a clearer term that is more gender inclusive?

Appleman explains that “using the feminist lens is one way to examine gender construction, but the notion of the social construction of gender broaden the lens to more fully consider how both men and women are affected by this social construction” (p.66). I believe that gender is a great topic to discuss with students when teaching about what social construction is and how it affects our lives. Gender is such a great topic because there are so many life examples that students can draw from when they are discovering that gender is created. For example in Appleman’s lesson where students are to quickly place key words under “male, female, both, or neither” categories one student said, “whoa, this was too easy,” (p.66). I believe it is easy because every person encounters gender every day. Because gender is so pertinent to society I believe that we should use this lens in the most inclusive way possible.   

When Appleman discusses the gender of men, she explains that it is important to remember that men, like women, have a socially constructed gender and because of this we can recognize how all characters are “held hostage” to social constructions of gender (p.77). One of my favorite assignments in Eng 30 was an assignment about deconstructing masculinity. Here our class worked in groups to break down known stereotypes. My group worked on “the heroic man” and created an over the top movie preview that embodied heroic men such as characters like Rambo, Superman, and Clint Eastwood’s typical characters in westerns. I still remember this activity as a favorite and I think that it would be a fun topic to consider using both female and male gender stereotypes present in texts and in our everyday lives.

I realize I perhaps talked a bit more about film then literature, however to end I thought I would add this picture from the Movie "The Expendables", Now here is a movie filled with gender construction! However I can not deny, I enjoyed this film very much.

 

Discomfort in the Classroom

This week our readings and discussions have focused around the social element of class. Our texts give future teachers suggestions on how to incorporate class awareness into lessons and why it is important. Apppleman explains that the social-class lens is used as a tool to bring issues of power, class, ideology, and resistance into visibility. The goal of using this lens is that it can create a heightened awareness of class and privilege. This lens is therefore a very valuable tool, however Appleman warns future teachers that this lens can create an uncomfortable element to classes because there are unconscious hostilities towards Marxist or class focused ideas and some students are trying to improve themselves individually and class jumping is a indicator that improvement has occurred. I wonder then, do students who are from lower class structures have an easier time applying the social-class lens to texts when reading, in comparison to students from higher class structures? I believe that it a teacher’s job to ask these challenging questions that reflect on society and that the social-class tool is important to use with students from a variety of class backgrounds.

I want to zone in then on the idea of creating discomfort in the classroom.  I feel that creating some discomfort occasionally in the classroom is a good idea because it reflects that student’s normative behaviour and ways of thinking are being challenged. When students are asked to think outside of their normal patterns they might be put in positions that might create curiosity, new awareness, and/or discomfort.  In University classes I have found that teachers have often given verbal warnings that a topic may create discomfort in the classroom. This may look something like the teacher saying, “we are now going to talk about something that some people find uncomfortable, this topic is class. We should try to be open minded and respectful during our discussions today.” I believe that it is a good idea for teachers to have experience, or a framework to follow, when facilitating topics that make students feel uncomfortable. With a quick online search of teaching sensitive topics I find texts that discuss setting class expectations and recognising student diversity for example.

I think that there is a certain level of comfort that a teacher would want to create in order to create the best results when teaching the social-class lens. This level would vary in each classroom in different groups, but I am going to suggest that I think a productive level would be to balance the creation of some discomfort with enough comfort that would encourage students to share their thoughts. Perhaps choosing a work of fiction that reflects class for the first attempt would help create this balance rather than using a non-fiction work or a fictional work that closely links to very real events and people. Appleman uses Hamlet as the example used to read with a social-class lens, other novels that come to my mind that would offer this balance might be the Hunger Games or Ender’s Game, rather than a memoir.

How can we possibly do both?

      While reading Gallagher’s Deeper Reading I found myself having an engaging conversation with the work. I have heard of this idea of having a conversation with a work, but here it finally felt like I participated in a written conversation. This conversation was triggered by my ongoing thoughts about the notion that we, as teacher candidates, are to strive to teach multiculturalism and diverse texts that aid student learning, yet there is also this goal, or aspect, to teaching that pushes the successes of choosing content that students can connect their prior knowledge too.

      On page 28 Gallagher presents an example where he explains the difficulty a teacher experienced teaching A Separate Peace to her students. He says, “though the book resonated strongly with the teacher, it did not connect at all to the past experiences of her students. Its unfamiliarity created a hurdle that the students were unable to get over. The setting and the characters were too foreign for them to buy into the book” (p.28). It is in my margin here that I jotted down the comment, “curious because ‘we’ are to introduce multiculturalism yet that content might not connect to their prior knowledge.” To my delight this interaction in my text became a conversation because Gallagher then proceeded to explain that teachers can include more “front loading” of the text so that students can get past the unfamiliarity and begin seeing universal truths (p.28). What a relief to have Gallagher address my conflicting ideas that shout, “we should really teach students about experiences and people around the world as this would support new knowledge and multiculturalism vs. wait a second we need to keep students attention by having them read what they can relate too and care about. How can we possible to both?”

      Gallagher’s argues that getting past the works unfamiliarity is the key to understanding and enjoying the work. Framing a text becomes an essential step for teachers to take when integrating potentially unfamiliar texts, as it will determine student’s level of motivation (p.37). As Gallagher proceeds to explain and map out methods to frame texts I begin to relax and think, “I can do this.”

       Thinking back to my own experience in grade 12 English I remember being in a predominantly white working/middle-class class were we studied Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. I remember thoroughly enjoying this novel and I remember there being a fairly high appreciation from most students towards this novel in which was unfamiliar to us. Here is a novel where the main character is a boy living in Afghanistan where elements from Afghanistan’s monarchy, the soviet invasion, and the Taliban regime come into play. So what did my teacher do to frame the text? Well I know my memory is not entirely clear, but I do remember learning about the Taliban regime in that class before we read the text. I do believe that because our teacher framed the text and incorporated parallel learning activities that we were able to appreciate this text for its universal and unique messages that we might never had understood on our own.

October 2, 2012

Begining with Clear Goals

    When reflecting on what I was going to write my very first blog about I finally decided to start at the beginning. I am just beginning the first few chapters of our readings from Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Text, 4-12 and Critical Encounters in High School English: Teaching Literary Theory to Adolescents. I am finding that I am satisfied with the texts because I am excited about the goals that the authors aim to reach.

      Teaching Literary Theory to Adolescents emphasises that teaching and understanding literary theory is significant because it “provides readers with the tools to uncover the often invisible workings of the text” (Appleman, 2009, pg. 3). I find this a very significant goal, and it goes on to explain that, “by teaching literature along with theory, we help students learn to decipher the world inscribed within the texts they study as well as help them learn to read the world around them” (Appleman, 2009, pg 10). The complimentary text, Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Text, 4-12, is clear in is goal as well. Gallagher states that it is an attempt to answer the question; “what can we do, as teachers, to prepare our students to read challenging text at the deepest levels possible” (2004, pg. 8). I liked that these texts had clear goals which are encouraging to teachers, because they strive to help teachers create lessons that support critical thinking and reading for students.

    This brings me to my own question to reflect on; when did I become a critical reader who could read in a deep and meaningful way? I feel that is has happened over period of time in where I cannot pin point a certain location of change in my student career. However, I do feel like there was, and still is, a significant growing change in my abilities to read and understand text. When I reflect on my development as a reader I remember a past were I did not enjoy reading and I felt that I was a slow reader in class. I have always felt that I was a slow reader, who often had to, and still do, look up words in the text. Does this make me less educated, as I often felt, or does it reflect careful reading, or both? Today I enjoy a love for reading. Although I do not wish to forget and undermine my high school teachers here, I do wish to note that I believe I owe my noticeable improvement in my own reading skills to my classes and professors at university. For example I believe I developed my primary source reading skills in my history 229 class, Europe in the 20^th Century, and I believe I owe much of my new critical thinking skills to my sociology classes. With that being said the English classes that I was able to take enriched my love for reading and gave me rich texts to challenge and grow from. Also critiquing and summarising many articles throughout my education has strengthened my ability to read, question and understand scholarly articles. Reflecting on my own progress as a student really allows me to value the goals of these texts, to create critical well rounded readers, because I know that it created a thirst for knowledge and appreciation of literature. I look forward to developing my skills further and I hope that I will be able to teach students tools that will help them become critical successful readers themselves.

References

Appleman, Deborah.  (2009) Critical Encounters in High School English: Teaching Literary Theory to Adolescents. New York: teachers College Press.

Gallagher, Kelly. (2004). Deeper Reading: Comprehending Challenging Text, 4-12. Portland, ME: Stenhouse.