Chapter 9 and 10

                 Well I read Chapter 9 and Chapter 10. I wasn't as amazed as the other chapters I've read, however, there were things that I took from them. On Chapter 9 the Assessment section was what I liked the most. It made me think about how scientific we have to be: "but we are in the school zone now, where one seemingly inescapable function is to rank, rate, judge, and label kids' work." So this whole time I thought to myself everything must be proven like in science. It bothers me a little because what if there's a day that a student brings wonderful ideas and surprises you? How are you to show that by simply scoring the student with a 10? I mean there will be times that a student does excellent work and saying okay that's a 10 and moving on it just doesn't do it for me. I would create a system where students that blow my mind can get extra points. I believe it is only fair to reward students if they exceed expectations.

                 What stuck out to me the most out of the Assessment part was the Book Club Portfolio. I think it is a  great idea to have the students be accountable for what they are doing. I kept thinking about my literature circle in MLED 330. By the time we are done we have to present the book which is a nice way to know what each student got from the experience but I think I would score them individually or have both a group score and an individual score and average them both.   

                 I didn't get too much out of Chapter 10. The Inquiry Unit just seems really hard to pull off. I do know that I have to come up with a large, multi-faceted, open-ended question like it says in the book. But my problem is I wouldn't know how to guide them from there.

OBSERVATION- What? So what? Now what?

What?

The one thing that really got me thinking was Ms. N leading the students towards the desired outcome through questioning. She took in their input and pushed on so they can think about what they were saying and come to a different conclusion. Ms. N basically facilitated their thinking. She questioned why they were thinking they way they were and challenged them. It was great to see the way she handled the student’s answers and lead them towards knowledge.

So what?

              I think the way Ms. N poses questions to the students is great. I was very impressed because it wasn’t “this is the way it is or that is wrong”. She didn’t shut down any of the student’s answers. She shaped their thoughts with questions!  I thought: “Wow, I want to be able to do that too.”

              To say, “No, this is the way it is.” is completely different than to question and get to the desired result. I’ve only been pushed in Dr. Kraus’ and Dr. Horwitz's class and I’m glad they’ve pushed me to think. You might have to take a second to put your ideas together, but it is more beneficial than a yes or no answer from the educator.   

Now what?

            In the future I need to be prepared to question my students. There will be times when they answer fast without thinking things through or fully grasping an idea. It can also be possible that they have everything in their head in a way which makes sense to them but they need guidance to put it into words. So it is my job to facilitate their thinking. The questioning has helped me a lot in my SED 406 and SED 407 courses. It is that little push that has helped me ties ideas, sparks new ideas and has pushed me to find new ways in which I can express my thoughts.  I know what that little push can do for me and I want to be able to do the same for my students. I will be sure to take in my student’s input and guide them through their thinking.

Letter to Dr. Thomas Newkirk

Dear Dr. Newkirk,

            I was present during your Keynote Address at Rhode Island College on March 8^th 2014. Your ideas of literacy ease my mind. I’ve always been afraid to read out loud. I’m a slow reader and after hearing you speak I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. Hearing from you that we should be more concerned with comprehension rather than fluency is wonderful. I’d much rather take my time and understand what I’m reading, it shouldn’t be a race.

 The importance of narratives is what you touched upon the most. You said a narrative is a way to express our world, that it is at the center of everything and is a basis to all writing. We tell stories in order to understand, but telling stories seems to be of less importance in education. There is an emphasis on facts. I really liked a quote you used by Stalin, “One death is a tragedy; one million is a statistic”. This was the quote that stood out the most to me. One death is personal, a story can be told and a person can be appreciated. One million deaths are sad, but it isn’t as touching as an individual death. I can see it as a learning experience; it is more profound to know an individual story than a factual statistic report. Narratives stay with us.

There was one part of the speech where I lost the connection. It was the video of the Asian kid making fun of an Asian parent stereotype. Not that I don’t have a sense of humor, but that is just feeding into the stereotype. I just didn’t see how it fit into the speech. Maybe I missed something. I’d like for you to help me out with that.

Lastly, the greatest part of your whole speech was the Right to Speak Paper. This is a great way to get to understand your students. You simply said it is about the experiences you have lived through and the right to speak about it because you’ve seen it. I think it is a fantastic way to express one’s self without having to prove anything to anyone through research. I believe we should provide more opportunities for students to express their personal experience and I plan on using this in my classroom. I will keep in mind the last thing you said about narratives never leaving us, because when they do we seize to be who we are. 

Sincerely,

Adrián Vargas

Can anyone tell me the point of the video with the Asian kid? I honestly didn't see a point to it.