Backwards and Forwards

I'm thinking backwards so I can get an idea of what's ahead of me. How will these 3 hours a week, for 12 weeks, help me create my ELA classroom in the future?

To answer this question, I looked back to my first blog entry. It was a self-professed bundle of optimism. I love writing and speaking, I want my students to feel the same way. Now 12 weeks later, I think I've come out with a handful of ideas about how I could do that.

Writing

I think one of the most important things I will take with me is the legitimacy of personal writing. People, students included, love talking about themselves. Of course they would like writing about themselves! I just wasn't sure if this type of writing was intellectually or academically sound enough to use often. From the description that Romano, Kittle, Atwell and others give - this kind of writing can inspire loads of writing from students. It has the potential to bridge otherwise uninterested students in to the world of writing, which will eventually prepare them for future writing skills they might need in the form of essays and literature analysis.

Atwell has given a lot of practical ways to create this in the classroom. Although I doubt I will have the luxury of creating a full-fledged writer's workshop in my classroom, her writing territories and conferences will definitely have a place in my classroom. I can envision creating this type of class at least once a week for my students.

I've never heard of so many creative ways to get students writing. Writing prompts were few and far between when I was in school, and I think they can definitely help some students get the ball rolling. I loved charade game that one group presented, the character creation activity from another group, and the activity where we read several poems and picked out words to create a found poem. Not every prompt will work for everyone, but even if it works for a couple of students I think it was a useful exercise.

Oracy
I enjoyed putting the spotlight on building oracy skills in the classroom. It's not something I have thought much of before this class, to be honest. I've realized that oracy skills are equally as important to ensure a student's future. Often reading and writing take centre stage, and in my ELA classroom I'll be sure that isn't so.

There are so many interesting technologies that can engage students in developing oracy skills. Podcasts, Voicethread, Skype and videocameras will have a place in my lesson plans. So will a variety of good old fashioned debates, interviews, take a stand , panel discussions, announcements and oral reports. A successful oral presentation is a gift I'd like to give to every student - shy, boisterous, speech-impaired or ESL. A confident speaking voice, listening skills, and learning the art of everyday conversation makes oracy one of the most relevant topics I can think of .

In a way, this blog has acted as a writing prompt of its own. It's been an opportunity to free-write in some ways, taking me away from the typical academic commentary that essays and formal reflections require. It's helped me express my thoughts more easily than a typed and submitted paper would have. For that reason I think it's a useful tool to try to bring in the classroom, though it's something I would introduce with caution - perhaps to older students in Grade 8, or with the option to disable comments or the option to make their site accessible only to me as their teacher.

One thing I can say for sure is that my ELA classroom of my future will not be the ELA classroom of my past!

Allow me to write and represent about the following topic....

Writing this is somewhat like a picture within a picture, or a movie within a movie. The medium is also the topic as I dive in to writing and representing some thoughts on writing and representing. It's a little distracting at first, and there is perhaps a tad bit of extra pressure felt - but I must press on.

I can't help but feel pretty passionate about teaching students about writing and representing. It's something I've always embraced, from spelling tests to creative writing and keeping journals or blogs for as long as I can remember. I'm a natural stickler for grammar and adore the way certain people can play with language and keep me entertained. I like to think it's an appreciation I was born with, as I can't recall a particularly inspiring teacher in my early years. I checked with my Mom, and she backs me up on this one, by the way.

In an attempt to be one of those teachers that can inspire, I think it's important to encourage great writing by exploring it as a creative outlet, underlining its relevance to the world outside the classroom walls and letting my students know it's not easy, and there's no magic recipe we can follow.

For some students, writing has the chance to become their creative outlet and means of expression through song lyrics, poetry, journal entries or editorials. For the student in Love that Dog, this was a surprising discovery. Something that was first approached with hesitance and uncertainty became a personal or public outlet for that student's feelings and ideas. That can be a powerful thing for students in middle years as they face personal challenges, internal struggles and a whole whack of emotions that they're not sure what to do with. Tapping in to writing and representing as a means of organizing their thoughts could make a real difference in their every day lives. How many times have you heard it suggested that when you're really angry with someone, you should write them a letter - and that the very act of writing that letter could be enough to calm you down, and make you feel better. Writing can be a powerful outlet for all of the ideas, problems and social pressures that life throws at you.

The IRP's suggest that our students should be using writing and representing to express, extend and analyze thinking. Until I became an adult in the workplace, I had no idea how important this skill was and what the implications could be if I didn't know how to do it. This is real-life, game-changing stuff. Our class discussion touched on this idea, and there were some conflicting opinions about the number of professions that required these kind of skills. I would really have to think hard to make a list of lifestyles that don't require some amount of writing. The prevalence of email has made writing skills more indispensable, and I am sure many people working today wouldn't be in as high a position if they applied for a job in today's market. If you can't write an email that considers your audience, expresses your ideas concisely and clearly and can persuade when necessary, you will not have much success in procuring a position - never mind holding it. This became clear to me when I had to sift through over 550 applications for one position at my previous workplace. It's also affected my confidence level in co-workers and undoubtedly affects how I feel about new friends and, let's be honest, potential suitors. Often writing is your first impression, and it's always a lasting one if it's not up to par.

While students may see the potential in creative writing and might even grasp the importance of it, they often become easily frustrated by getting it right. Even though I care about what I'm writing right now, it's still a struggle to type out and it takes effort to express myself clearly, synthesize what I learned through our class readings and discussion with my opinions, and then work on matching that up with the rubric for this assignment. It's easy to focus on getting it "right" in terms of what that teacher or rubric is expecting of you. Writing is a juggling act, and it's nothing like learning to make a cake or make a 3 pointer. It's just not easy, even for the professionals. Robin Stevenson confirmed this when she came in and visited our class several weeks ago. It's something your teachers always tell you, but there is something about hearing from someone whose paycheque depends on it. I think it's important for students to learn from authors themselves - and while we're at it, why not bring in employers too? I also think that writing with your students, something that Nancie Atwell encourages, is an invaluable activity. When they understand that good writing is not a one-shot talent but a skill to be developed, perhaps they won't put so much pressure on themselves to write that perfect first draft, or check it off as something on their "To-do" list. It's important to show them that everyone uses writing, and everyone revises their writing, gets stuck with their writing, and has the capability to write really good things and really bad things all in the same day.

My case for what is important to teach students about writing and representing is optimistic, and I'm okay with that. I know I'll do my best to avoid what Page experienced in her post-elementary years, as it's something I experienced myself. It's easy to get caught up in the rubrics, in writing for your teacher's taste and not your own, and equating the written word to academic success and nothing else. I believe that if students can latch on to writing as a creative outlet, and as a means of social and professional success that I will have done something good.

Writing and Representing

Writing this is somewhat like a picture within a picture within a

Play and Record - Podcasting in the Classroom

I like to think of myself as an early podcaster. A pioneering podcaster, if you will. In middle school, my two best friends Tal, Lara and I huddled around a top-of-the-line tape recorder in Lara's unfinished basement. Sitting on a concrete floor, amidst boxes of Christmas decorations and old sweaters we became journalists, talk show hosts and traffic reporters - all with distinct accents and personalities - as soon as we simultaneously pressed the magic buttons of "play" and "record". In fact, our show created spin off characters that we explored further through our individual mediums, circulated by email: Tal's Talk Show, Kristin's Kolumn and Lara's Lyrics. Looking back, we were essentially one very nerdy, self-educating team.

It's that kind of enthusiasm, creativity and effort that I believe podcasts can bring to a classroom. Many schools are doing very similar things with great success (see what Southfield Christian Middle School is doing for a great example of this). Schools are using podcasts as a way of teaching new technology and conveying announcements and information to their middle school.

There are even programs that let you podcast with pictures - such as Voice Thread . I'm already imagining assignments perfect for social sciences and art. Why not have students create their own "museum tour" like one finds in so many museums? Or they could narrate a battle like it was an NHL game.

Apart from all of the creativity it encourages, I think that knowing your voice is being recorded is a great incentive to present your best ideas and reading voice. The ability to re-record encourages students to revise and re-do until they're happy with their complete product (I think Nancie Atwell would approve).

Podcasting also scores big points for flexibility - it's something that can be shared widely and not so widely, and is very controllable unlike some other forms of online communication (blogs, email and social networking). It can be a finished product, or the launching point for a written assignment.

Bringing in podcasts from "experts" is another great use for podcasting in the classroom. Sure, you probably can't bring in Robert Munsch to read his books but you can find a podcast where he reads it and maybe even talks about why he wrote it. For younger kids, you could even simulate it as a phone call to one of their favourite authors. It's a great way to bring expert voices and opinions in to your classroom, and at little to no cost.

Besides overuse, I can't imagine why we wouldn't try to incorporate podcasting in to the middle school. It's a dynamic, 21st century tool that connects to our kids sense of play, curiosity and mastery.

Reality Check.

I've been searching for a good metaphor for BC's curriculum documents,. I think the IRP's are a travel plan: a rough guide that starts with the beginning - Kindergarten - and plots a journey to the end - High School graduation. For those who like to travel with a plan, the IRP's are a great resource. For those who prefer to wander and see what happens next, they are likely a cumbersome travel partner.

For a fledging teacher like myself, the IRP's are an overwhelming but necessary guidebook . The Key Concept’s, PLO’s and Suggested Time Frames will help focus lesson planning for the first year. Once we have a firmer grasp of the realities of our school or classroom, we can adjust accordingly and become increasingly “off-book”. Instead of creating a lesson to meet PLO’s, we’ll be meeting PLO’s simply by creating lessons we know will help our students get to to the next step.

Just who are these students anyway? We’ll be spending the next 7 months talking about them without actually being in front of them. How can we learn about how they learn, think and act in the meantime? Some of them might be like Zenia from Bosnia, as told in Ruth Shagounry’s article - they may have dark, troubled pasts that lie beneath their quiet exteriors. Even a class full of middle-class 12 year olds will have varied histories and experiences to draw upon. And if we tap in to these thoughts and experiences in just the right way, our learners will be transformed in to English Language Artists.

Robert Probst suggests we can do this by summoning our inner Tom Sawyer: we can convince the students to paint the fence instead of telling them how to do it. They’ll easily build their oracy, language, writing and reading skills if we avoid instructing them and instead focus on how fun it is to use. Oracy can mean more than debates - it can be integrated in to every day classroom life through announcements, small group discussions, and interviews. We’ve even had the opportunity to try out some techniques such as a Tea Party, Jigsaw and choral reading to see how it feels. Nancie Atwell persuasively argues that writing workshops are the key to engagement, and that students are engaged in the process of a writer through revisions, feedback, the participation of the teacher and ultimately a piece of work they can be proud of.

Just as I cringe at the size and “dry” nature of the IRP’s, today’s ELA students will also disengage from learning if you present ELA as a static, unchangeable subject. A series of spelling tests, book reports and prescribed topics will shut off their brains pretty quickly. My job is to hide the PLO’s under blankets of creativity, so my English Language Artists don’t even know they are there.

Getting my feet wet.

Here are the facts.

I love reading.
On a beach, in my bed, on the bus, at a coffee shop - doesn't really matter where I am, because if the book is doing its job I am lost somewhere in a suspenseful, funny, exotic or mysterious world. I don't know how it happened, but my parents and teachers were never forcing a book in my hands, they were generally tearing it away from me.

Listening is pretty fun too.
Play me a song, read me a story, spill the beans on your deepest darkest secrets - I'm listening. And recalling the random details many years later.

I (usually) like writing.
For a good while there, essays and silly assignments had my love of writing on life support. Writing was all about word count, referencing styles, dressing up information in fancy academic thought, enduring late nights. Writing was directly linked to that pain in my neck.

Then I re-discovered my diary writing days through emails to friends far and near. I realized how much fun it was to be in charge of writing content for a website - one that people actually look at! And I embraced with enthusiasm the challenge of coming up with pithy comments on the photos I posted online. Ahhh...writing. Glad to have you back.

And I (mostly) like speaking.
If I've got a purpose, a point or a script I'm all over speaking. Heck, I might even sing! However, ask me to engage in small talk and polite conversation and you've just built a mountain in front of my very eyes (or lungs....).

I expect an ELA classroom to be really different than it was when I was in school. Was I engaged in learning? In all of these areas? We did spelling tests (which, by the way, was kind of my thing) and maybe the teacher read us a story and we handed in a book report or two. After 2 weeks in this program, I am beginning to get an idea of what "engaging" really means. I'm excited about the possibilities, and delighted to see that education seems a little more in touch with the world than it used to be.

Here's a few things I know for sure: I don't want to scare anyone off ELA because of a grammar lesson, or beating a dead horse while we analyze the protagonist's thoughts and dreams. I don't want someone faking sick on their presentation day because they are way too terrified to get in front of the class. I really want to figure out a way of being the teacher that has to tear the book out of her student's hands.

These are all pretty grand plans, I know. For now I just hope I can use my ELA skills to learn everything I can from Carol, my fellow students and heck - maybe even the IRP's, bless their heart.