Emergent Bilinguals

To be honest, it's hard to respond to this reading for a number of reasons.

Firstly, in both of my teaching positions, I was surrounded by emergent bilinguals (love this term, by the way) and felt powerless to help them past what I was already doing for the whole class. Additionally, while reading this, I felt guilt because I felt bad that I have never put extra effort into my ELLs. What kind of teacher does that make me.

As I am running out of ways to format my blogs , I will write this blog similar to a 3-2-1 exit ticket.

Three things I learned/ liked:

• I like the idea of R. E. A. L. instruction. Of course picking relevant texts is important and something I've always done. However, I pick stories that are socially relevant but that doesn't always include languuge or cultural relevance. Engaging is something that not only increases learning but limits distractions. Affirming is powerful but difficult . In a truly diverse classroom, how do I Include the Latino, Asian, White, Native American and African American cultures of my classroom in the one year that I have them. Asset- Oriented Literacy can definitely be a confidence builder for students that can break down the “I can’t” barriers many students build after years of instruction that confuses them. 
• The five rules are great. Although, when I first read the rules, I felt that they were all the same thing, upon further reading them, I learned more. I already do the read and write rules but never in front of the kids. I just show them proof that I wrote the essays too through teacher models I write on the board or use in my PowerPoints. But rules 1, 2, and 5 are truly inspiring. I think kids would love to think of their teacher as a learner as they do teach me so much both informally and formally. But rule number five is a rule I feel is the most important for ALL teachers. Our kids are our future and they are seeing a world of hate, not acceptance. It’s important we teach them to care. 
•  Lastly, all books should have an ACTION TIME section. This was more than inspiring. It gives you clear things you can do to start the action of being a effective emergent bilingual teacher. 

Two things I want to learn more about:  

• Something I’d like to learn more about is how to help develop a growth mindset so that the high rigor expectations aren’t a negative experience for the students who may already feel negative about their schooling experiences from the past. 
• I’d also like to learn more about how to address a student who is verbally fluent in Spanish but cannot read in their first language. Is it then our job to help develop that skill? Will reading the text in their first language be upsetting that they can’t read in a language they feel so comfortable in? Do further chapters address this?

One question I still have:

• Most of these techniques had to deal with reading and classroom culture with some writing sprinkled in. Is there more writing techniques further in the book? 

I look forward to the lesson of emergent bilinguals so I can be proactive in my classroom next year. 

Podcast Bandwagon

For years, I have avoided the podcast bandwagon that my friends are all apart of. Clearly, I have been missing out. Many parts of this podcast stuck with me even after I listened to the video. I also absolutely love that a script was provided which helped me to follow along with the audio. Below are my thoughts on the sections that stood out to me.


The early adopters of those social technologies...were self identified geeks, freaks, and queers. 
I first started going on the internet when I was in 7th or 8th grade. At first I remember it was solely to communicate with my friends in Texas who I missed horribly. But then, I found chat rooms. As every teenager in America has felt at one point in their life, I felt like an outcast. In chat rooms, I found friends that I never had to try to hard to keep. They shared experiences with me and, like Boyd, never made an actual appearance in my life. However, I remember the late night rooms where I learned how to socialize for the first time. It built a confidence in me that face-to-face interactions never would have allowed me to gain.

...These technologies became part of everyday life, . . . [and]people brought with them all of their flaws. "The internet [is] causing us to be a racist society," without realizing ...we're just making it visible online. I never thought about this....but it is very true. Bullying isn't new. It isn't worse. It is just easier to document and commit behind a computer screen. Racism isn't new. It is very much alive. The internet allowed for this to surface to a wider public opening the eyes of people who may not witness in on a national level. However true this may be, it means we can also spread positive messages in the same way we can spread hateful ones.

"I would love to have the freedom to just go out and play with all my friends, but I can't." This made me so sad. I remember my friends and I had a special code (made with a bouncing basketball) that signaled it was time to come outside and play. Kids can't do that today. Unfortunately, I am guilty of shaming my students for their crazy amount of time spent on the internet. However, I never saw it from this perspective. My eyes are open. I still want kids to go outside. But I will no longer shame them for it because it is not an option for many.

And we make  a level of aggression and critique and tearing people apart part of the national pastime. I actually noticed this a while ago and realized I had to change. I know always try to name my intention when I need to vent. I try to use constructive language that still allows me to release the tension or frustration I feel without tearing down someone else. This means using a lot of I statements. Students have so much assess to the negativity of the world, so we need to ensure they get lots of the positive, too!

There's a beauty in...amplifying things that are messy. The story of #ifiwasshot was really inspiring and made me think of a lot of movements that the internet helps spread an awareness of really messy topics like the #metoo and #blacklivesmatter movement. These are beautiful but messy topics that need to be talked about. The internet allows this to definitely be amplified!

"More conversation, less surveillance." Of course, Grandma knew exactly what to say to make Boyd rethink her hair cut. Grandmas know everything. I don't know if I can get completely on board with less surveillance unless we are educating in internet safety and precautions. But I like this idea and hope one day, I can fully support and apply this concept.

Though digital literacy confused me in its implementation in class until I researched it even further, I did fully understand many of the things Boyd said. I was not the biggest fan of technology and the internet but I always understood it's importance. However, now I feel that I can be open minded to new ideas thanks to Boyd.

The Angel of Writing

(**The title of this blog was inspired by the musical Phantom of the Opera that I saw this weekend. The Phantom was Christine's Angel of Music. Christensen's is my angel of writing.)

"Essay writing is boring!!" Every student in my class has said this at one point or another. Despite that, I still feel proud that each student respects the topic enough to still be invested because they understand the importance of essay skill. I was very excited to read Christensen's chapter on the subject due to the fact that she has made each past subject seem so much more interesting in ways that would invest students. I was pleasantly pleased!

Firstly, I was excited to find that there was one thing that I do that Christensen also does. I find feedback during IN CLASS writing time to be greatly beneficial to students. Before this strategy, my students would work on a paper, and I would give feedback. However, they were usually too discouraged to change their work because they were so invested and proud of the work they had already done. By providing feedback more often and while they work, it changed the mindset and allowed me to address misconceptions and 'trends' faster.

Secondly, I loved her Criteria for Essays. I feel that I have encouraged students to use evidence from multiple sources and in multiple ways. However, this list provides clear examples of how to do this in different and engaging ways. I also am excited to spice up my introductions because they are pretty dry write now with my models of hooks being 'interesting facts' or a 'relate-able question'. I look forward to implementing these within my classroom next year.

Lastly, there are some things I am looking forward to using but still have some questions. I found it eye-opening that the thesis statement isn't the first/main focus in her writing process. I have always coached students to develop their thesis once the brainstorming is complete. Of course, I have instructed them to be flexible in case they find their point to change later. But Christensen's approach seems to make more sense. But I wonder how this would apply to 'on-demand essays' where the thesis really needs to guide the work to finish in a timely manner. I also wish I could pick Christensen's brain about the 'research' of the topic she models. I love that personal experience is used as evidence, but I wonder if kids focus more on the experience than the literature. I also wonder how/if a list of resources on the subject at hand is created/presented/found.

Christensen is amazing. But I sure wish we were best friends so that I can have 24/7 access to her brain! 

The Great Debate

 As a teacher, I have a lot of teacher friends and the common core standards (or any standards) are a topic of hot debate. As I writing teacher, I always tell my kids you must be able to argue both sides. So here we go...

FOR:
Holding educators and academic systems to a set of standards allows all students to learn on an equal academic level despite systemic racism.

If teachers are properly trained to use the standards, it will ensure all students learn the same thing. For example, according to the Common Core Standards, all students would learn to write the three most popular genres of argumentative, informational, and narrative. These are tools that would help all students succeed, especially with higher education. Another example is the Common Core Standards for Language. Grammar is the first thing cut from curriculum. Grammar is important not only in the written sense but also in a verbal sense. If all students were taught the same thing, they would be better equipped to handle their professional futures.

If all standards were taught at every school, no matter the social class, it would close the achievement gap that currently helps assist in racial divided America. For example, at low poverty schools, the expectation is not always in sync with standards which can affect academic achievement compared to higher income districts . This allows the ratio of students being accepted into college to be in favor of those from wealthy school districts. Now while this is not the only factor, it still creates a problem today.

AGAINST:
Academic Standards cannot help the educational system because they are too generalized and limit teacher autonomy.

The standards are vague and are therefore not productive to the education of our youth. In the standards, the strand about writing an informational texts use language like develop topics and use appropriate transition words. However, they do not mention more specific skill sets like "selecting best evidence"or "creating a thesis statement to show comprehension". These skills are crucial to crafting informational texts. While some teachers may be able to develop more specific aims within each strand, not all teachers receive the professional development in which to do so.

Teacher autonomy is often extinguished when standards come in to play. Standardized testing come hand-in-hand with state standards which can lead to teaching to the test. Teachers may feel they cannot do inspiring lessons like what Christensen promotes due to the standard. Students may not be motivated to learn when teachers aren't passionate.


Either way, this will remain the great debate.

#TeacherNerd

I've been to two or three teacher conferences and I've always loved them. This writing workshop was no different! <3

My first session was art in education. Upon entering the room, I was immediately distracted by the amazing chairs. But I won't make the same mistake twice! The session presenters had us do two separate activities. First, we did something similar to blackout poetry but were given additional craft implements and were invited to create art with a message. I found the activity even more inspiring than the first we did in class. Both allowed for creativity but the second invited more options. In addition to the poems, we also interrupted Shakespeare using Tableaus. We split into groups and it allowed us to really analyze the reading in order to stage the tableaus. After each activity, the presenters asked us, "What did we do?" They promoted us to use only short descriptions like communicate, interpret, analyze, etc. It ended with a sharing of best practices of other art in the classroom. I only wish we had more time.

The second session was about relationship building. Some stuff I learned, I already know like Human Bingo. But I learned other activities like Name Juggling, One-minute listening, and 365 Questions of self. My favorite thing about these activities were the presenter always ended the activity by asking how we can use this activity in our classroom. It allowed us to get pretty creative on how to build relationships while academically improving.

Though I wasn't as inspired by the keynote speaker as the sessions, I found her activity of letter writing inspiring and only hope it would have the same effect on a student.

Overall, it was a wonderful learning experience. I am thankful I was reminded of how much I love these conferences.

Stories to Tell

I love to write stories. So much so that I currently have 4 or 5 working young adult novels in the works. When teaching my students, I get excited to teach them the techniques that I use in my writing and Christensen and I use very similar craft moves. However, I find my students less than thrilled to write narratives. I struggle every time when I want to inspire and fall short.

Reading Christensen's models and prompts inspired me beyond what I ever thought a book could do. The prompts she used spoke to students in such a powerful way. My students overcome obstacles everyday because of class and race. I feel that I keep social justice alive in my classroom by sharing my stories. But I have never asked my students to share their stories. I truly think that Christensen has found gold with this approach to narrative writing. As I read, I thought about stories I could use in each of her stories. Most of them, my students know. Some of them, they do not.

Can't Buy Me Love: I was arrested 10 days before my 18th birthday. My students have heard the story. I was charged with larceny. Shoplifting had become a huge problem for me. Though it started with just stealing food to eat.....it quickly spread to the point, I was stealing clothes, CDs, movies and all the newest trends. For the first time in my life, I felt the playing field was level. Boy, the consequences to follow are a story to tell.

Social Justice: A little less than a year ago, I started working at the theater. I love movies and was so excited to find a job that let's me grade papers while I work. One day, a man sporting a WWII cap walked in and stopped short. He shouted from across the lobby, "Are you a Jap? I refused to be served by you." It was the first time in my life I had ever been called an oppressive word. Sure, I have dealt with stereotypes and prejudice before, but this felt different and I didn't know how to respond. I was alone. There was no one around and so I just responded the best I could despite the tears of anger that started coming to the surface. It is a moment I will never forget. My students have heard the tales as I fear they deal with similar if not worse prejudice and racism.

#LifeLessons: Christensen didn't mention how exactly these lessons needed to go, but race and class are brought up a lot in her book. But gender is only referenced a few times; mostly in her stories of domestic violence. However, women are oppressed by men often and people don't acknowledge it. Everyone experiments in college. They become more adventurous. I did. I was less concerned with my sexual behavior while still keeping my "number" in the back of my mind. That's when I learned, men can and will easily take advantage of your adventures. Within the same year, two attempts of sexual assault became my story. Luckily, I fought and escaped both but they have become two large scars I wear to this day. This is a story my students don't know. But it's a lesson I will never forget and because of Christensen, I am inspired to write about it.

On a Side Note that doesn't flow well: I use formulas. And now I'm questioning everything. I have an essay song. Please try and sing it as you read it. Its catchy.

(To the tune of We Will Rock You)
Get 'em with a hook. Make 'em wanna read. Thesis at the end; gonna make a clear claim I bet. I got two background facts. I'm right on track. Writing an intro to win to the max. We will, we will inform you. We will, we will persuade you.

Buddy, write your topic sentence, restating the claim. Gonna address a main idea. Got support from the text. What is next? Elaborate on facts to pass the test. We will, we will inform you. We will, we will persuade you.

Scholar, you're not done. One more step, conclusion at the end. Restate the thesis statement. Got skill your plate. We can't wait to see you in college to show 'em you're great. We will, we will inform you. We will, we will persuade you.

You're welcome. =)

Resistance to Poetry

I hate poetry.

Hmm. This statement seems inaccurate. I love music and what is music if not poetry. I can also rhyme pretty well to the point that I wrote over 40 stanzas just last weekend to jump start a LIVE CLUE game in which I was murdered and my students must uncover who killed me, with which weapon and at what location. I also write poetry in my spare time. So, "I hate poetry" definitely seems wrong to say.

I guess it's more accurate to say that I hate poetry in an academic setting. I don't want to teach it. I hated learning it.

That is, of course, until I read these pieces.The most impactful was Christensen's chapter on poetry. My first reaction was doubt. I have witnessed many educational experiences that generate the same concepts Linda speaks of; "courage, hope, strategies and allies". But never had I seen poetry do that.

Reading the stories her poetry prompts created were inspiring.I tried to imagine my students' responses to each of them as I feel I know my nuggets pretty well.

Who were you raised by?
Similarly to Linda's students, many of my nuggets have absent fathers, but many also have absent mothers. Many are being raised by "other" guardians while some have less-than-traditional but equally-important two parent households. I know them, the families. However, not from the mouths of my students but from parent-teacher conferences. Some students even still think I don't know. For example, I have one student who still refers to his parents as mom and "dad" even though in reality, he has two moms. He fears people bullying him about it despite our school's forward thinking. I worry that other students might feel the same and wonder if this poetry exercise would bring out the same companionship as it did in her students.

For my people:
My school talks about race frequently, however, this is mostly I’m the upper school (high school) level. My middle schoolers may have indirectly had to think about race and hereitage but never directly. This prompt would introduce that question and I honestly don’t know if my babies would be able to answer. Many of them are mixed like me. Many think there is only black and white. Many question what Latino falls into. But this prompt I think would inspire them to think about their race without making them IDENTIFY it. I can name my people because they are everywhere and I think my kids can say the same thing.

Pain into Power...
To be honest, this prompt scares me. I’ve shared with my students some of my pain, homelessness, poverty, discrimination. However, I’ve shadowed some of the others that I worry are too much for them; sexual assault, criminal charges, etc. I know some of my kids have it rough. I know they have custody battles, suicide survivors and death of parents. But this could raise more questions about tricky topics. Though I’m willing to handle these tough topics (it’s one of the reasons I became a teacher), some middle schoolers are blissfully ignorant and is it my place to shattered their mirage. Isn’t that the job of the parent? That brings me the question, how old were Linda’s students?

Poetry through Literature:
This seems to be the easiest to align to my current curriculum. I’m itching to try it out.

My resistance...
Christensen gave millions of examples of beautiful poetry. Now all I want from her are actual lesson plans. If only there were more resources like that out there that are so hard to navigate through. *wish list*

My Center of Gravity

As I read about culturally relevant pedagogy, my mind tried to apply these ideas and concepts to my classroom. That's when I realized that I was skipping many steps to truly understanding this important need for my students. I stopped and decided I needed to look at the bigger pictures. I needed to fully understand this instructional approach as it is used outside my classroom before I can bring it inside my classroom. The piece that really caught my eye, or my center of gravity, was the three criteria that 'culturally relevant pedagogy rests'.

1) Students must experience academic success.
2) Students must maintain cultural competence (integrity)
3) Students must develop a critical consciousness through which they challenge the status quo of the current social order.

This made my mind float to the other two articles we had to read this week.

Dear White Teacher challenged me to think about how my students see me. Though I am a person of color, I have a very unique situation. Often times, my students don't know what to see me as. Many have asked, "Miss Hum, what are you?" And that is a valid question.
I identify most with my Asian background. However, Asians often times find themselves sitting on the fence, not by choice, but because society places us there. When convenient, our numbers help with the minority count and we have oppression stories of America in our histories too. However, statistically, we often times don't match up with the inequalities our fellow POC have to battle. A perfect example of this was used in Winn and Johnson. When referring to the Achievement Gap, students were clumped in two groups, Whites and Asians vs. African Americans, Native Americans and Hispanics. With this grouping, they PROVE that Asians aren't considered white, otherwise they wouldn't have named them separately. However, they are grouped with the whites due to academic achievement. BUT Native Americans and Asians have long claimed to be genetically related, further supporting that Asians are POC. I have had an identity crisis many times due to this confusing nature my own race has attached to it.
Once I name to my students my full ethnicity, they tend to focus on the Latina in me as many of them can relate. This is great that they can relate to me, but I can't relate to that half of my culture as much as they can and do every day as I wasn't raised by my Latino family.
Am I therefore not being culturally competent? Have I lost my cultural integrity? By allowing my own beliefs in the dominant discourse leading to success, am I damaging my students' cultural integrity?
I never 'fear' being labeled as racist, though it has happened to me. I feel as though I am a member of the POC community. But how do parents see me? How do my kids see me? Do they fear me (in a respectful way)? Do I treat them as their parents do? How can I encourage my students to be culturally competent when I am not fully competent myself? So many questions stemmed from this reading.

Student Athletes Kneel to Level the Playing Field was a much easier read for me because it didn't raise as many questions as it made me feel pride in our community despite the current divided America. I feel that this article truly embraced the last component of the criteria mentioned for culturally relevant pedagogy. These students, teachers and reporters honored the POC community by taking a knee. The teachers allowed the students to speak their truth and evaluate what is wrong in our country today. More so, they took action. Many people say that kneeling is disrespectful to the flag and the many men and women who fight for our country every day. However, I come from a military family and my mother, father, sister and brother all fought for the right to PROTEST and freedom of SPEECH, and I don't think any of them would regret their choice. They don't feel disrespected but cheer on these youth who are going to be our future. I secretly like the fact that they think of my students when they see youth out their challenging the way the adults are dealing with the situation. They naturally feel that my students would and are doing the same advocating for the rights of their peers and themselves.

These two articles related back to two of the three criteria. And now that I've read them, all I want to do is read more. I want to ensure my students feel academically successful, culturally competent and socially critical. I want my students to question, wonder and feel pride in themselves. I want them to be the change we need in the world. It is not solely my job to teach. It is my job to empower, and this is one tool I can use to do so. This is my center of gravity.

A Dinner with Elbow and Belanoff - February 3, 2019

A dinner with Elbow and Belanoff would probably consist of medium rare steak, their choice of wine, and a whole lot of questions.

As I was reading this piece, questions kept popping into my mind. Probably because as a teacher, I am always looking for procedures to use in the classroom and so many of these methods seem amazing. However, I have to be taught the 'right way' before I teach it the 'wrong way'. This led to the collections of questions I had.

As I started drafting the questions, I started to realize that this thought process leading to these questions were pretty similar to the procedure "What Do You Want to Hear More About?" This made me feel that at least some of my writer instincts are internal.

As for my questions, they are including but not limited to:
-Are these recommended for the classroom too?
-What age group are these appropriate for?
-Are there some techniques that work better for different types of grades?
-If there are some that aren't suitable for the little ones, are there recommended modifications?
-What are some steps that can be used to set up a culture for this kind of feedback atmosphere?
-Are there resources/worksheets that can help these methods go smoothly?
-Can you tell me more about the "Descriptive Outline" method?
-What do the metaphors represent? Are they individual to each person?
-Are they methods that work better with fiction/non-fiction/essay?
-Are there methods that work better in groups/pairs?
-How often would you use these methods in a classroom?
-What is your favorite method?
-What methods do you find people tend to lean towards?
-You said as a teacher, not to force feedback. What would you do if no one has feedback?
-How does the writer ask for feedback if their peers do not give feedback?
-How long should a piece be when asking for feedback?
-Are there methods that work for shorter pieces vs. longer pieces?
-Who wrote those two essays that were used for examples? (Age, gender, rhetorical situation)
-Who were the readers? (how many, same readers, experienced or new to these methods)
-Who's picking up the check?

I imagine that my medium rare steak would go untouched as I would be more interested in the answers to these questions than satisfying my appetite. This brings me to my last few questions: 
- Does the writer respond to the questions when they edit their writing or when they are asked?
- Does the rest of this book(?) answer my aforementioned questions?

Right Swipe, Left Swipe - January 27, 2019

As a middle school writing teacher, I often times think like my students would. After reading these pieces, I pondered, "What would my babies do now?" The answer came immediately to my mind that a laugh closely followed. They would rate them. In a world where you can left swipe humans and give a thumbs up or frowny face to a short bit of writing, evaluation is everywhere. 

Unfortunately, I couldn't pick a favorite because two of these texts spoke to me on such deep but different levels. So, I will start with those. 

The introduction to Teaching for Joy and Justice was one of my first ranking pieces of the three. I am a Spanish Asian (Spanasian, if you will) women raised by a single mother in the lower half of middle class. In school, I was very lonely. Not in the way one might imagine when you hear the word lonely. I had friends. I had great friends who made me feel loved and valued. I also had teachers who made me aspire to do more than my mother. But as a student, I was alone. My education was dictated by the military so I learned from a young age that white men in a uniform were powerful. I learned that white men gave us the beginning of a great nation. I became very patriotic as a result, but never understood where my people were during all of this history and literature. Where were the Asians? Where were the Latinos? I finally got my answer in middle school. My people 'stole jobs from Americans'. My people had laws that prevented them from coming to America. And still today, my people are fighting a wall that will divide our new home from our roots. I had found my people, but they were the oppressed. As a teacher, I cannot let that happen. So when Linda Christensen said, "The books we choose to bring into the classroom say a lot about what we think is important, whose stories get told, whose voices are heard, whose are marginalized." They were many things she said that resonated with me (Lack of skills doesn't equal lack of intelligence. Fixing students is erasing their language and culture. Too often rigor is memorization.) but this topic speaks to my soul. (Sorry, Annie Dillard.) I look forward to reading the rest of this text to find ways that I can change the narrative of my classroom to include the lives of my students. 

Tied for first was "The Operating Manual". As a performer, I feel that imagination is so important. But I found myself guilty not too long of ago of just reading instructions and manuals. I had stopped reading for exercise. I had stopped reading fiction. I had turned into an adult. It wasn't until I got a job at the local theater and found myself lots of free time that I picked up a book again and it felt amazing. This article forced me to ask myself many questions. Am I killing imagination in my classroom? What traditions am I forcing on my kids? What mindsets am I instilling in their brains? Do they promote creation? Or do they encourage being 'comfortable"? With all of these questions, I found myself uncomfortable and challenge. I will and must do better. 

Lastly, and surprisingly, was The Writing Life. As this was framed in a narrative way, I was certain I would enjoy it the most. However, I was mistake. I found myself asking more questions, pondering about Annie and thinking about the adverbs the author used that I couldn't fully enjoy it. I felt it was incomplete. Of course, it was as this was just a excerpt. I think this is why it ranked so low on my student-inspired list of texts to read. 

If all the texts we will read this semester will inspire this much questioning and challenging, I have a long road ahead of me and so do my students.