Personal Growth:My week was very philosophical. To be honest, I tried to avoid it. I didn't really want to think about thinking. Because when you're honest with yourself, and when you really think about the big issues, it's exhausting, and time consuming, and it's probably going to change you, which can be good, it's just not always easy. Really, it's not so much that I didn't want to think deeply. I just didn't want to think deeply and post whatever ideas I dug up on the internet. I read The Paradox of Vertical Flight by Emil Ostrovski. To say it's thought-provoking is an understatement. Paradox makes you think about the big questions in life. Why are we here? Can I be extraordinary? Does time exist? Does the world exist or is it just part of my existence? Are some infinities larger than other infinities? Can you really be friends with someone for your whole life? How did the universe come to be? Does the universe have ceilings? If so, who created them and who created the universe and what ceilings do I create and do ceilings even exist if the universe doesn't really exist except as a construct of my existence... It really made me wish that I hadn't saved my bookcast for this week. The bookcast project made me respond in a personal way to the book, drawing connections from my life, the world, and other literature. To do so, I had to confront these questions and I had to find a way to illustrate my connection to them in an artistic way that I would be comfortable sharing on the world wide web. I sat on my porch for hours this morning just thinking. It was kind of emotional for me and I had a hard time getting started. It was a really good reminder that a personal response to literature can be very difficult to create, not because a student doesn't have connections to a story or character, but because they just might be difficult to process and to share. It reminded me that I should complete projects alongside my students and experience what they're experiencing (or at least my own version of it) so I can anticipate issues and relate to their own reactions to literature and my assignments. Anyway, it ended up being kind of cathartic to create. Ultimately, I'm okay with the fact that there can't be faith without doubt and that there are some questions that can't be answered. I didn't share everything that I thought about. Just what I could comfortably share in four minutes with whichever strangers on the internet decide to read my blog. And you, dear classmates. Professional Growth:This week I led the collaborative critical inquiry unit over an inclusive classroom. I enjoyed using Padlet as a collaborative tool and appreciated the wealth of knowledge shared by my classmates. They provided unique perspectives that I wouldn't have considered otherwise. We also had a great discussion about the banning process and I feel better equipped to defend literary choices to parents and administrators should this issue come up. As I mentioned in last week's reflection, I decided to change my students' last literature circle meeting into a book club. Instead of fulfilling a job of discussion director, cartographer, researcher, etc., I gave the students complete freedom in responding to the end of Treasure Island. They were instructed to respond in an artistic manner that made obvious a personal connection or response to the book. Because my grades were due that day, I also told the students that it was not for a grade. (A risky move, but I thought I'd give it a try.) As a class, we brainstormed a list of possible products they could create which included a movie, poetry, letter in a bottle, board-game, painting, post-cards, a cardboard cutout of a character, and a life-size cannon ball made of paper mache quotes from the book. (How I could tell that the paper contained quotes after having been saturated in water and flour I do not know, but it was nonetheless accepted as a viable option.) Friday morning came around and I'll admit, I had a back-up activity planned. I thought that without a grade attached to the project, and on the Friday of testing week, surely only a small percentage of my students actually would have completed this project. I was very pleasing proved wrong. My students were brilliant. They delighted one another with a play of the first six chapters of the book (during which one young man had us nearly in tears with his portrayal of Pew) a "how to outsmart your crew" pirate video, a 3D "web-site" (see below), a Silver cardboard cutout (who sat in the back of class the rest of the day) a Treasure Island T-shirt, board games, a poem in a bottle, and even fan fiction! I sat back and let them entertain one another and felt very lucky to be their teacher. Sure, there were a few students who drew treasure maps the morning of on the bus. And there was even one young man who stood in front of the class and simply said that he did not like the book, did not understand the vocabulary, and thought it was stupid. I thanked him for sharing and told him that he should have gone all out and done a "bookshaming." I respected his opinion, but not his effort towards the project. I loved this idea and I will definitely change my teaching next year to allow for more personal freedom in how students respond to literature. Here are some pictures of my students' Treasure Island projects. Virtual Growth:This week I used Padlet's Wall Wisher for the collaborative critical inquiry, figured out how to file share on Google Hangout, and used Animoto to create my bookcast. I'm really grateful to be mastering these tools and am looking forward to using them in my own classroom. I can definitely see using Padlet for the writing process and to promote dialogic inquiry. (Thank you Wells for the fancy words!)
1 Comment
6/9/2014 06:43:14 am
Congratulations on your mini-action research project, Jill! Your conclusion -- that most kids respond enthusiastically and creatively when the pedagogy includes the two factors most often missing from the English Language Arts program -- self-expression and personal response is exactly what Oldfather and Dahl (1994) found. Again, you confirm my hypothesis that graduate students who can apply what they're learning to the classroom right away is the best scenario for taking ECI 521, even if it's in an intense summer school session.
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