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. =)
Sunday, February 24, 2019
Monday, February 18, 2019
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*
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*
Sunday, February 10, 2019
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.
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.
Sunday, February 3, 2019
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?
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?
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)