Blog Post 8

Before I start, I can't help but notice the exclusionary nature of the Bloscars. As stated, a winner must be a "Representative of 2019/2020 cohort." This unnecessary and exclusionary practice is unfair to those who don't fit into this exclusive group. These hurtful practices drag down the legitimacy of the Bloscars as an institution and the entire blogging community at large. I hope a new board can be created to ensure fairness and equity in future Bloscars going forward.

My vote for people's choice awards goes to:

Grace Armstrong's Teacher in Training. Grace's blog is well designed, has creative images, and speaks ideas clearly and effectively. It is a model blog that others should follow.

Civic Engagement

I believe my work most civically engaging post was my Digital Composition post. In this post, I traced similar movements between the Rodney King movement and the George Floyd movement. I think what really elevates this from a normal blog post is its look at history. It's important that we look as past trends, as they can help us identify longstanding problems that exist, and what strategies to pursue and avoid as we demand change.

Creative

I would have to say my most creative post was my Digital Production post. In this post, I presented a creations that represent a house from Not a Drop to Drink. I think all my posts are creative, but each commenter spoke praises of its creativity, and it's important to take other perspectives into consideration, even when reflecting. I think here I have no choice but to agree.

Best Design. 

I think my best design would have to go to Writing Processes. In this post, I explored how writing is done, from the beginning to the end. While my prior posts are exceptional, I think this one stands out because it doesn't look bad. While looking at my old posts, I noticed a lot had either long paragraphs or awkwardly placed images, or both. This one has neither. Sometimes the bar is that low.

Thanks for all the comments from others. I wish you the best of luck when you get into teaching,

Max Thiede

Blog Post 7-Digital Production

Explore various online platforms for composing multimodal texts (see list of links on session agenda). Create a mini multimodal composition using one of the platforms and post it to your professional blog. (NOTE: this does not need to be a large production, just a small experimental piece to “play” around with the software.) Reflect on your own process of appropriation, and combining of multiple modalities (image, text, sound, video, etc.)  In what ways did the image drive the narrative?  In what ways did the audio or print influence the text?  How might these visual practices be used to amplify learning? To promote civic engagement? 

While looking for ways to create a multimedia representation of my book. I really digged the idea of creating a house. Almost every major event happens at Lynn's house, and it is described in depth, so I decided to make a recreation of it.  I found a bunch of programs. Floor Plan Creator , Smart Draw , Floor Planner, and Blender. I decided to use floor plan creator because I was feeling lazy and it was the first one to pop up. It was fun to play around on the software, but the more I used it, the more limitations I noticed. difficult to make ceilings, walls and stairs would clip through, and sometimes the dimensions just wouldn't line up. I ended up making a really awful home, as you can see. I couldn't put items in, like the bath or kitchen. I couldn't make a nice porch, and obviously, I couldn't make Lynn's little lake. I would say I succeeded only in finding a program to never use ever again. 

I think the other programs could be more effective than this, particularly Minecraft. You can build anything you want in it. I even found an small little house that could look great as Lynn's.

It needs a lake and another level, but the inside could hold many things. I crate with supplies found in the book. A fake water purifier, chairs. Literally all the things that make Lynn's house so interesting. If I wanted to spend a few hours, I probably could make a replica of Lynn's house in Minecraft, maybe even have students work in groups and make houses and write a little description of the house using page numbers, but I'm not willing to spend money on minecraft again. The only thing that worries me about using minecraft in education is kids relate it to fun. Sure kids could make the house, but if they just made a house for fun instead of a recreation, are they really showing learning or are they just goofing off on a minecraft server. Regardless, I think there's a possibility for something interesting here.

Feedback Givers

The individual needs of each writer completely vary. Some need help with sentence structure, some need help with supporting details, some even need help finding out what the assignment is! The role of feedback also varies greatly between the roles of student and "feedback provider" (there's a better word, please tell me what it is, commenters). There's really 4 main "feedback providers": parents, peers, teachers, and coaches. Because I'm not a parent, I'm not going to focus on how they do things. Frankly, I'm not an expert in it at all. Me saying how parents should treat their kids is like a politician without educational experience controlling educational policy. Glad that never happens!

Peers: Everybody knows what peers are. There the other classmates. Despite a lot of people trying to make peer editing a thing, I don't think it should be a thing. Let's be real, students aren't experts in writing. They might not be able to acknowledge mistakes and offer critique. They just don't have the skills yet! Worse, a peer could tell their student is doing things wrong, but they're actually doing things right. Come grading time, they'll lose points because they were led astray by their peers. Clearly not good. So what are they good for? Positive feedback and emotional encouragement. Students can offer positive praise and keep kids going when their interest is faltering. They can also help more in the brainstorming session, but again, peers might give incorrect information. Peers also have secret knowledges of one another, so they can easily "understand better their emotions and know when to reach out for help when needed" (Herrera, 6).

Teachers: the biggest "feedback providers" we have. They give a lot of information. They set the standards on how the work students create should be graded. They're the experts, so they should be constantly providing feedback of all manners in order to get them to complete the assignments and achieve higher proficiency.  Teachers should be giving more critical feedback based on what the assignment says and expects from them. 

Coaches: These are a mix between teachers and peers. They're experts (hopefully), so they know their stuff. Unlike teachers, they have no authority when it comes to the final grade. So what do they do? They do a bit of everything. They offer critiques, praises, feedback, and emotional encouragement for the entire student. Sometimes this involves helping with life problems or different subjects, as well as the content provided by the teacher. For example, one of my students was complaining about choir being difficult. I shared some resources with them. Am I a trained choir teacher? No! But I can offer encouragement and some resources that I pick up using my adult level searching skills. 

One resource I always offer is Flocabulary. It is a tool that turns concepts and ideas into cool rap songs. They're usually pretty cringe, but every so often there's a banger and the kids are hooked! It's a fun way to mix things up in the classroom, and it includes quizzes, readings, and kids can even make their own raps. It also allows you to see what students struggle on so educators can provide more effective feedback.

In the end, each of these groups are very beneficial in different ways, and because of this, different students will need different amounts of each. Knowing what's best for your students will help them succeed. 

Digital Production

I have a lot of experience with digital storytelling and all the other jazz that comes along with it. I have been teaching at Milwaukee Visionaries Project, a youth-based film workshop for four years now and have a bunch of experience making films. Many of these made it into the Milwaukee Film Fest and I am actively involved in the development of many. The one thing I learned from this process is that digital storytelling is best done collaboratively. I'm not saying that people can't make great work alone (they can), but having a group of people who are experts makes the product so much more effective. That's something I've seen from experience and has also been found in scientific articles as well: "Teachers need to master more than the subject matter they teach, they must also have a deep understanding of the manner in which the subject matter (or the kinds of representations that can be constructed) can be changed by the application of technology" (Hicks, Turner & Stratton, pg. 181 (as cited in Hicks, Turner & Stratton (2013))).

In our digital world, there are countless examples of digital storytelling, to the point where coming up with 2 is inherently limiting. I have two recommendations which I consider experts in the art of digital storytelling

The first is Mid-Day of the Living Dead. The title being a clear reference to the film Night of the Living Dead, the story follows suite. It follows a young person being chased by zombies. Eventually, the person gets caught and attacked, with a twist rendering a "game over" screen. The person walks outside to see hordes of people walking on their phone. 

What's clear from the use of greenscreen in the first half  of this film is that many scenes would be impossible to produce in person. Perhaps the filmmaker didn't have the ability to drive to these places and take these shots, so they were digitally added. We only see 1 person as a zombie. Perhaps that was the only person available for those shots? Regardless of the answer, the ability to use digital media is allowed the filmmaker to design the film in the way they wanted, regardless of physical limitations.

The second is The Bob Emergency: a study of athletes named Bob. As the title suggests, this video essay explores the history of athletes named "Bob". What stands out to me most is the nearly complete lack of animation. It doesn't need any. Instead, it starts as a blank canvas, slowly adding more and more details as the narrator, Jon Bois, goes more in depth on the histories of the Bobs. 

What I like most about this story is that it focuses on what we can do as digital writers. Too often when we see digital storytelling we think "film". This makes sense. After all, there are countless digital animators who create high quality films circulated throughout our culture. But the thing is, film isn't a requirement for digital storytelling. You can create effective and engaging stories without animation and characters. All you need is an interest in digital production and a good story. Thankfully, we all have them.

Journal 3: Writing Processes

    As pointed out by Flowers and Hayes, "The most important thing about writing goals is the fact that they are created by the writer." (Flower and Hayes, pg. 372).  These are split up into two types, content goals and process goals. "Process goals are essentially the instructions people give themselves about how to carry out the process of writing... Content goals and plans, on the other hand, specify all things the writer wants to say or to do to an audience." (Flower and Hayes, pg. 377). Of course, real writing is never at neatly defined as Flower and Hayes assert, but then again, writing never is. 

    Due to the inherent chaos of writing, my own writing goals vary greatly on the style of writing I am creating. When I am writing a story, I focus on my process. I just start writing down whatever comes to mind and sort it out later, if I feel like it. If I'm to my friends, I try to keep my objective in mind and state it in a reasonably appropriate manner.  Regardless of process, the goal here is to effectively communicate content.

    I try to emphasize my freedom to write whatever I want, wherever I want, whenever I want, and with whomever I want. Of course, this isn't always the case. Sometimes we have to write very specific information in order to achieve a goal. For example, I am currently writing a research proposal to the IRB. This requires me to plan carefully, think about what I'm saying, and how what I am saying is expressing the content I wish to express. This makes the writing experience much harder because I know I have to write in a certain way or fail to achieve my goal (get approval). 

Unfortunately, students are usually in the same boat. Nearly every rubric has a section for grammar and convention. Are these bad things? No! Especially if these things are being actively taught. The problem is teachers encourage perfected writing regardless of what is being taught in the classroom. The majority of all writing we do is imperfect. Heck, I bet you could spot an error or 7 in this writing. Are projects the time and place for perfect grammar? It makes sense. But how can you grade someone on something they haven't learned. Is that not unfair to the student? It causes them to be wary of writing and feel like poor writers (the same thing happens to readers!). As educators, we need to keep in mind how we teach writing and what we're teaching. Grading and analyzing those should be the main goals, not perfection. 

Digital Composition

 What experience do you have working with online social media or digital composition as a way to connect with others? As a way to promote social action? (e.g. blogging, Pinterest, video production, etc.)? Drawing on the readings for this week, describe the potentials and pitfalls you see for digital media in urban, English Language Arts (ELA) classrooms.

I think when people hear the words "digital composition", we think of some hifalutin ideas where it's something only people with technical experience can do, like making a VR video game that makes noises based on where your hands are, or a goofy video to share your knowledge. In reality, it's literally anything we do with a digital device. Like making talking on the phone or sharing pictures on snapchat. It's something that we've all done!

Digital composition, with it's ability to allow anyone to produce media, has drastically changed social activism. The ability to record video evidence has made it much easier to hold people accountable for wrongdoing. This isn't a recent development as well. In the 1990s, when Rodney King was assaulted by police officers, a video recording from an onlooker proved it happened. This eventually led to two police being imprisoned and King to receive millions of dollars in damages. While it is unfortunate that we have these same problems decades after, it is positive seeing people all over using digital media to continue to keep police accountable, share their locations during a protest, and share information that helps others learn more about the problems in our society.

Of course, schools don't see it this way. As Haddix and Sealey-Ruiz (2012) point out, "in many urban districts I work with, the same tools and practices get policed and censored. Students are prohibited from using them. Even further, the use of digital tools is sometimes viewed as “dumbing down” students’ literacy skills or practices (pg. 190). My school is no different. My students go through a metal detector each day and are forced to give their phones to the principal, who then lock it up. While this would not be a problem if there were ample opportunities for students to use technology. It is simply not the case. At my school, there is 1 active computer lab. That means, if one teacher wants it, they must gain it weeks in advance, hoping one of the veteran teachers hasn't grabbed it weeks in advance. When they get in the computer lab, it becomes obvious that there are only 22 computers, far below the class sizes, which means hoping students are absent, or always requiring students to work as partners. Once students get on the computers, it becomes obvious they are not powerful enough to run simple programs. What would take 1 minute on a phone would take 4 on the computers. 

As Jenkins (2006) notes, "What a person can accomplish with an outdated machine in a public library with mandatory filtering software and no opportunity for storage or transmission pales in comparison to what person can accomplish with a home computer with unfettered Internet access, high band-width, and continuous connectivity" (pg.13). And Jenkins is right! I have been able to do so much more engaging projects with my students through virtual learning rather than in the actual classroom. If I wanted to change my plans and do a student-led research project  about famous Black Milwaukeeans for a day, I can. If I was in the classroom, I can guarantee the lab would have been taken, and it would have taken more time to load information and find information.

Students in districts with less funding are falling behind their peers because the schools can't afford to get these supplies. This is why it is so essential that we fight against the technology gap in schools. We can't afford to leave our students behind where there's so much to gain from high quality technology in schools, and if we can't, maybe it's time to let students use their phones as a tool for learning.

A reintroduction!

 I'm Max Thiede. I currently teach 7th grade English at Atlas Preparatory Academy and help run UWM-led youth film workshop Milwaukee Visionaries Project. I've taught both for 4 years. I graduated from UWM with a bachelors in English Ed, but now I'm working on a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction, examining how physical and digital structures influence learners. When not working or studying, I like to volunteer with local organizations including Draw Write Here, Voces De La Frontera, and the MTEA. I also love fish and have 2 aquariums! 

One blog that I recommend everyone check out it Cult of Pedagogy! Started by Jennifer Gonzalez, it has tips on everything, and I mean everything. While some of her posts are clearly her being a corporate shill, there's very few quality education blogs that aren't sellouts. 

One website that I recommend everyone check out is Teaching Tolerance! A project made by the SPLC, Teaching Tolerance has a lot of great theory and some decent resources about teaching in the classroom. See my collage below.

I'm very excited to meet everyone and look forward to more interacting!

THis is a test

This is a test

Post #4: Big News/Film Rant

A few days ago, I got some pretty awesome news. I was selected to be a member of the 2018 Milwaukee Film Fest Educator Fellowship! It means I get a free Milwaukee film fest pass, a few new books, and a few other Film Fest knickknacks.

I was thinking about the topic of education in film the other day and how it relates to English. Media Literacy is one of the most important parts of modern society because we are bombarded with so many images across our daily lives. It is definitely crucial to talk about with our students and determine how to make sure we are making smart choices and being able to recognize problematic ideas, as well as thinking of ways that we can improve images themselves.

When students typically look at films, they simply see "cognitive slumber party" and they do little to no mental work at deciding how things should be dissected. That's why it is important to model what analyzing a film looks like, analyzing what makes something "good" or "bad". Without this they'll always just sleep on it. As educators we have to change their minds to be more critical when it comes to images.

Post #3 Communication is Key

Hi everyone,

Every teacher worth their salt has an idea why communication is important. After all, if you can't communicate with the students, how do you expect them to learn new information? That being said, I know that there are quite a few teachers who don't see a reason to call home. Communicating with the parent is actually one of the most important things you can do as an educator! The only three reasons to call home are to praise,  to punish, or to confer.

Sending praise home can be one of the most positive things you can do for your students. When parents hear about the way they have been behaving well in the classroom, it will build a more positive and healthy relationship between the school and paternal relationship. Students can finally see what kind of impact doing a good job can be! One thing to point out about positive calls is they don't have to be made just to kids who often behave. Sometimes students who struggle to work in class can greatly benefit from a phone call home as it helps reinforce positive behavior.

While no one wants to do it, sometimes it is necessary to call home about a child's behavior. I believe that sometimes it can only be the parents who can give meaningful punishment because students who don't behave in class may not understand the relationship between cause and effect, and how their school life can impact their personal life. That being said, do not try to denigrate or imply the parent isn't doing a good job raising their child. You want to bring up the problems and brainstorm a way to fix it together.

The last reason is conferring. Sometimes when you notice behaviors you need to call home, not to punish, not to praise, but to figure out why they are acting a certain way. For example, if a student is seemingly upset in class, the teacher should call home and see why. This is because both the parent and the teacher have the right to know how a child feels. I understand this may seem invasive, but if a student is on the verge of tears, or struggling to stay awake in class, the teacher needs to know why. Sometimes this is due to the student's fault, sometimes it's not. regardless, it is important to figure out the reason so either the teacher can identify and erase the behavior, or so the parent can set up a stronger support system.

All in all, there are many reasons to contact home. Regardless of how you feel about calls home, calling home is essential to any classroom that is worried about the welfare of the student inside and outside of the class.

Post 2: Consistency

As I've realized (thanks to a handy thermometer) my classroom can get up to over 100 degrees. Considering I have my kids for 2.5 hours at a time, that can get stressful for both myself and my students. This is when I realized that the heat claims everyone, and it causes an immense stress that even my 3 fans cannot defend against.

It's during this time that I strive to do the most important part of the rules. Consistency. To me, consistency means something happening no matter the circumstance. This can bleed into a lot of things, but it especially can bleed into classroom rules and procedures. The moment that you are not consistent is the moment that your students begin to disrespect you. The best way to be consistent is to come at an even head for everything. For example, it may be tempting to let the student who has been screaming "I need to go to the bathroom" go to the bathroom, but then you're allowing screaming to become an acceptable way to communicate needs in the classroom. The best way to stay consistent is to be relaxed and remember the rules and explain them. Here are a few ways to do that:

1. Take a deep breath
Taking a deep breath at a high tension moment will give you time to relax and reflect on the situation. Sometimes the first response isn't the best response as an educator and it's important that you come off as a fair judge.

2. Remove self from the equation
It's very easy to allow your emotions to take control and get upset. I know I have before. This is one of the most difficult things to do, but take any anger you have out of your body and realize that the student is very likely trying to get a rise out of you as a need for attention. It's important to not let that happen.

3. Start the day well.
An old trick I was taught during football was what I like to call "decompressing". Basically you sit at your seat and take a 1-2 break where you simply relax. Before you get up, you say to yourself "I am going to be calm today. I am going to be fair today." This helps get you "in the zone" and ready to teach the students.

Those are just a few tips on how to improve your emotional responses so you can act more consistent. Good luck!

Post #1 Rules and Procedures

Hi everyone!

This week was my first week of teaching this year. I know that quite a few of us are trying to get back into the hustle and/or bustle of getting our classrooms looking nice and inviting, while some of us have started their year already! Either way it's definitely time for people to get up and get ready for the brand new school year.


I would like to remind everyone of the one think that they need to have 100% ready to go before the students come into the classroom.

Classwide procedures

 No matter how you slice it, students need procedures for how things in your class should run. If you have gray areas in your procedures, a few of students out there who will quickly become lawyers and try to negotiate every single procedure. While I understand that some people may be a bit lax on rules, it's important to state that rules are not the same as procedures. Are these related? Absolutely!

Accurate depiction of rules and procedures gazing upon the beautiful classroom they have created.

 Procedures are how students should act during a specific time. Most classes will have different procedures for each activity. He's a short list of all the procedures that exist in my classroom: voice levels when speaking, getting out of seat, sitting correctly, sharpening pencils, retrieving missing work, walking into class, walking out of class, walking to lunch, going to the computer lab, passing out papers, collecting papers, quiz behavior, post-quiz behavior. I have plenty more procedures. but it just gives you a hint of how many different procedures you need. The more procedures you have, the more efficient you class will be. The more detailed your procedures are, the easier they are to follow. 

The way to enforce procedure is by reteaching it over and over again. For example, I do journals with my students every Wednesday and Friday. I clearly go over the expectation step by step each time I do it. Here is the play by play.

1.  I call everyone to attention.
2.  I explain that today is a journal day and that I will dismiss students based on their section. During this time, no one is talking to each other, and the section I called will come up quietly and quickly to pick up their notebooks, then they will sit down.
3. I then say "section 1, please come up quietly and quickly to pick up your notebooks then go to your seat."
4. I then say "section 2, please come up quietly and quickly to pick up your notebooks then go to your seat."
5. I then say "section 3, please come up quietly and quickly to pick up your notebooks then go to your seat."
6. I then say "section 4, please come up quietly and quickly to pick up your notebooks then go to your seat."
7. I then say "Thank you everyone for quietly and quickly getting out your journals, I greatly appreciate it."
8. I then explain the journal prompt of the day.

Wow! What a play by play!

Notice how repetitive it is? That's on purpose. The more time you spend explaining procedure, the easier it is. While there may be come confusion the first few times, it's important to keep the exact same procedure each time. This drastically increases the smoothness of the classrooms, and makes your life a whole lot easier. That being said, if someone is not good at following procedures, do NOT punish them. Simply retrain and remind them of how they should act.

Rules are a whole different beast. Rules are how the students should act at all times. Make sure you have rules for all the problems that could cause difficulty for students to learn and you to teach. If you cannot do these things, then there is a problem in your classroom and their must be a recourse.  Of course, what some people consider to be important may not be the same all around, and that's why I recommend incorporating your students into helping you create your rules. While you should totally have rules (for example, no one talks when another person is talking) you should also make sure you are giving students the ability to make the rules too. When students are given a voice to input their feelings, they feel validated and a member of the community you are creating.

What happens if someone breaks a rule, however? I really think that should be up to the teacher, as various rules have different consequences. For example, in my class, if someone is talking to their neighbors too much, I will move them. If they are insulting their neighbor, they will have to write a page long apology to the student. No matter what the consequences should be, it's important that students understand what the consequence is. That way, they will not fell treated unfairly because they know that if you break that rule, that is the consequence. 

As a side note, some people may have their students help them create consequences too. To you teachers I say: go ahead! It definitely helps create a more solid classroom culture, but make sure the big rules (fighting with other students) have consequences created by you.

I think that's all for now. If you have any tips on how you create rules or procedures, feel free to comment them below. Have a great week!

A Blog Reborn

Hello Everyone!! I am back! It's been quite a while, and you can see that I have changed my blog title. I'm no longer "Pedagogical Ponderings", I am "Thiede's thoughts". I was definitely thinking about creating a brand new blog for this, however, I think it's important for me to have everything as an open archive. That way I can look back and say "wow, maybe I was such a dummy way back when!"

Me looking at my old blog posts. I feel like I was a little too condescending, but we all change and hopefully for the better :)

That being said, this blog will change a teeny bit. I'll be adding more things than just pedagogical theory, because wowza, is there a lot more to teaching than just teaching. While I don't expect this blog to be a perfect example of how to teach (as there are no perfect teachers) I hope that you can learn a few tips and tricks about being a good teacher, maintaining stress levels, and having a good lesson plan.

I'll be posting my first (technically second but shhhh) new blog post in roughly an hour about starting the school year off right! I hope everyone here enjoys the reborn blog!


PS. I would like to thank a few people for everything they have done. Steffanie Rowinski for recommending that I restart my blog. Truth be told, I probably wouldn't have started it without your help. I appreciate your support and encouragment. I would also like to thank Emily Brondstad for being my only subscriber. I'm pretty sure that you only did it to the class but shout out to you! I hope you both have a very good year full of happiness and growth!

You threw me down. but I'm gonna fly

Due to some "technical difficulties" It seems like all D2L has gone down. Just like a mighty phoenix, this blog has been resurrected to show off my first lesson plan.

Romeo and Juliet: Character Analysis of Romeo

This is meant for grades 9-10 and takes 50 minutes

By: Max Thiede

Lesson Description: Using Romeo and Juliet, we will examine the personality of Romeo from “Romeo and Juliet”.  Students will present a trait they see in Romeo and Juliet, including those that conflict. They will be required to back up their arguments using textual evidence when talking about Juliet. They will also know how to look up this trait in a dictionary. 

Text Description: Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy about two young lovers named Romeo and Juliet. They wish to marry, but their parents forbid it due to a fierce rivalry. Once Romeo and Juliet both die for each other, their parents reconcile their differences. It is written written by William Shakespeare.

Learning Objectives	CCSS Addressed
Children will be able to explain, using sources from the text, what kind of character they think Juliet is, and why they believe that he is how they describe.	CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
Children will be able to think about all the ways Romeo and Juliet are described by classmates and come to a decision that either justifies the adjective they use to describe Romeo or Juliet, or is contrary to it.	CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.1.D: Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and disagreement, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views and understanding and make new connections in light of the evidence and reasoning presented.
Children will be able to look up words in the dictionary, understand their meaning and learn how to pronounce them.	CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.9-10.4.C: Consult general and specialized reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning, its part of speech, or its etymology.

Pre-Teaching Procedure: Group Discussion (10 minutes)

1. Begin the class by talking about how they felt about the story and how they think about the characters. Are they smart? Are they good? Are they bad?

2. Ask the class how they feel about Romeo.
a. Explore the ways the students describe him.
b. Make students wonder, if they haven’t already, if Romeo is a reasonable person.
i. This is done by offering examples of Romeo contrary to the ones they bring up. For example, if they are talking about how loyal Romeo is, bring up Rosaline.

3. CCSS Objectives that can be taught : CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.1.D
a. In the discussion students will be given several diverse perspectives on how Romeo is viewed. Some may agree and disagree on how Romeo is described and will have to “Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and disagreement, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views and understanding and make new connections in light of the evidence and reasoning presented.” Through the ten tips for facilitating large group discussions” the teacher is presenting ways that a student can engage in this topic while adhering to CCSS. (McCann 15)

4. Rationale: In “Talking in Class” by Thomas McCann, McCann reminds us that “Meir reminds us that active, frequent engagement in meaningful discussion not only promotes learning of the skills and substance of a particular subject but fosters an environment of tolerance critical thinking, and democratic spirit” (McCann 5). In my class I am trying to create a space where everyone feels accepted. I ask how they feel about the script to make sure that they are ready for a more intermediate discussion on how they feel about a particular character. I intend to follow the “ten tips for facilitating large group discussions” (McCann 15) to ensure that every student feels like they are contributing to the conversation. This discussion will also help students think about the next project they have later on in the class.

Teaching Activity: Walkthrough (9 minutes) 

1. As a class, agree on one word that describes Romeo.

2. Have the class find one scene to that proves that this word describes Romeo, if they haven’t already figured one out.

3. As a class, then we will look that word up in the dictionary, with the teacher explaining how to look things up in a dictionary, step by step.

4. At the end, the teacher presents what the class did. This will include the following things:
a. Who the character is
b.The word
c. Its definition in the dictionary
d. Proving that this word is true by citing dialogue from the text.

EXAMPLE:

Character: Romeo
Word: Brave
Definition: Ready to face and endure danger or pain; showing courage
Cited Source: "Tybalt, here slain, whom Romeo's hand did slay;"
Connection:  Romeo is willing to fight Tybalt, proving he is ready to face danger

5. CCSS Objectives being taught: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.1, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.9-10.4.C

a. Students are being taught how to analyze a text by finding a quote that supports their argument.
b. Students are being taught to “Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning”. They can use me as an example to follow.
c. While it is only the print, students are being taught on how to “consult general and specialized material to find the pronunciation of the word… [and] clarify its precise meaning.” Finding words using digital material can be done in another lesson.

6. Rationale:

a. As McCann says: “Another strategy for encouraging more authentic discussion of literature is to help students learn to run and participate in discussions on their own without the teacher leading.” (McCann 83) By teaching them how to do this before, they can focus more on participating in a deeper discussion.

Learning Activity 1: Small Group Discussion (17 minutes)

1. Split the students into groups of 4-5. Each group must come up with a unique word that they think best describes Juliet. As a group, it is their job to prove that this word correctly describes Juliet.


1. The Presentation will include the following:
a. The word
b. Its definition in the dictionary
c. Proving that this word describes the character by citing two sources from the text.

3. CCSS Objectives met: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.1 CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.9-10.4.C
a. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
b. Students are required to “Consult general and specialized reference materials both print and digital, to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning.” They do this by using the dictionary they are given.

4. Rationale:
a. The presentation format is kept the same,  because as McCann says: “Another strategy for encouraging more authentic discussion of literature is to help students learn to run and participate in discussions on their own without the teacher leading.” (McCann 83) By teaching them how to do this before, they can focus on how the issue at hand.I am focusing on Juliet, as it is possible that all information on Romeo has been exhausted by the class in the time we spoke, and students might just copy my work and do nothing else.
b. I am also following strategies from “Talking in Class” because “students learn best when they are involved and can contribute to the lesson”. (McCann 35) For those too nervous to speak in large groups, these small groups can help them learn the best possible way they can, with an alleviation of nervousness. I am using the “Planning and Managing Small Group Discussion”(McCann 35) to ensure that students feel ready to talk in these small groups.

Learning Activity 2: Exit Slip (7 minutes)

1. Each student will reflect on what they think of Romeo or Juliet as a character and how it changed over today.
a. This does not have to be done in a professional manner.

2. CCSS Objectives met: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.1.D:
a. During this writing response, students are expected to “Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and disagreement, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views and understanding and make new connections in light of the evidence and reasoning presented.”

3. Rationale:
a. According to Adlit.org, “Exit Slips help students reflect on what they have learned and express what or how they are thinking about the new information.” Because the students were just bombarded with a lot of new information in the presentations, I would like to take this as an opportunity for the children to think about how characters can be described. The second is because “while some students can readily express their ideas verbally, other students… may be reluctant to share their responses.” (Beach 188) Up until the exit slip, most of the dialogue has been with others. To ensure that these low level participants are given a place to do express their opinions without the anxiety that can come public expression, they are given these freewrites.

Overall Rationale:

Central Focus: Being able to express how which characterize people is very important. Knowing how a character works allows for a deeper understanding of the character and analysis of themes. If a student begins to think about a character in a different light, an entire story is changed. Romeo and Juliet’s relationship could go from true love to truly idiots, and neither of these opinions are wrong. This leads me to the CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.1.D, as I believe that children will have a lot of different opinions on these characters ranging from annoying to romantic, and as long as can argue it well, it’s not wrong. I have chosen both Romeo and Juliet as my two main characters to be analyzed because they both have the most amounts of lines, and are present throughout the novel. This should give students more than enough examples to find in the text that support their ideas. Though, due to the open ended nature of my lesson, if the class finds a different character particularly divisive, we could to it on them instead, and not much would change.

Pedagogy: According to Talking in Class “Cognitive psychologists observe that meaningful interaction among students is not just a philosophically attractive aspect of school; it is essential to learning” (McCann 5). Not only this, but also “discussion helps us put thoughts together and sometimes discover what we know.” (McCann 8) Everyone has an opinion on anything, so I know that these students will have them on characters from Romeo and Juliet as well. I am just helping them realize their own skills and hone their ability to make arguments. This is why I made sure to have group discussion, then small groups, then singular. I give them the most guidance, to help them show their own prowess. That courage and scaffolding allows them to be a bit more talkative in their small groups, where they can go deeper and examine their feelings intimately. Lastly, they are given thoughts to themselves in order to reflect on their now known knowledge. This is done for two main reasons. The first reason is to make sure the student can “Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and disagreement, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views and understanding and make new connections in light of the evidence and reasoning presented.” As this is one of the main objectives of the course. The second is because “while some students can readily express their ideas verbally, other students… may be reluctant to share their responses.” (Beach 188) Up until the exit slip, most of the dialogue has been with others. To ensure that these low level participants are given a place to do express their opinions without the anxiety that can come public expression, they are given these freewrites.

Works Cited:

McCann, Thomas M. Talking in Class: Using Discussion to Enhance Teaching and Learning. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of English, 2006. Print.

Shakespeare, William, and David Garrick. Romeo and Juliet. London: Cornmarket P., 1969. Print.

Anonymous. "All About Adolescent Literacy." Exit Slips. Adlit.org, unknown. Web. 17 Apr. 2016. <http://www.adlit.org/strategies/19805/>.

Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Ed. Dympna Callaghan. Boston: Bedford Books/St. Martin’s Press, 2003.

Fisher, D., and Frey, N. (2004). Improving Adolescent Literacy: Strategies at Work. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Beach, Richard. Teaching Literature to Adolescents. Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum Associates, 2006. Print.

Thanks for Playing!

Well everyone, this is it. The last post ever (maybe). As such , I am going to highlight some of my "best" work. Yes, I know, it's foolish to discern between the plethora of perfect works I have created, but dang it, I will try!

Most Professional: Knock Knock, Get the Door, it's Digital Storytelling

I must admit, I find the concept of "most professional" rather silly. I have never really tried to speak in a professional manner. Like the late Justice Scalia, I find it that people find readings more interesting if you give them strength and emotion. I feel like my writing in this post went over pretty well, and I am very proud of it.

Best Design: I think without a doubt it is my Writers Profile

I like it because it's short, sweet, and gets to the point. Much like my rationale! I don't think there's much else to add, other than this is what the full image of my profile looks like:

what a looker!

Most Creative: Show and Tell

I thought this was the most obvious because I literally went out and created that bad boy. The rest of my blog posts were me interacting with things through writing, not making a movie. It was also a lot of fun.

what most thought of my video

People's Choice: Me (Probably)

"I know the Haitian People because I am the Haitian people." -Papa Doc

Like all other great men before me, I am nothing without the voice of my people (the ones who say what I want them to, anyway. Dissent looks bad on the news.) I look to you, my loyal audience, to determine my fate.

My vote, as important as it may be, goes to Travis. His blog is very well written, has some sweet images, and he did the baseball thing when no one else would. For that I am in his debt. I highly recommend it to any other readers.

I wish you all the best in all future endeavors,

Max Thiede

Show and Tell

This week I did a digital composition project. Admittedly, I forced myself to keep a the time I spent on the project to be 40 minutes, as I know that my perfectionism would lead me to endlessly polish this for several hours, despite being "mini".  I present Book Trailer: Steel Ball Run

While I admit that this product is relatively poorly polished compared to my other work, I had a lot of fun doing it. In Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Culture: Media Education for the 21st Century, Jenkins explores the use of play in learning.

"When children are deep at play they engage with the fierce, intense attention that we’d like to see them apply to their schoolwork. Interestingly enough, no matter how intent and focused a child is at that play, maybe even grimly determined they may be at that gameplay, if you asked them afterwards, they will say that they were having fun. So, the fun of game play is not non-stop mirth but rather the fun of engaging of attention that demands a lot of you and rewards that effort." (Jenkins 2006)

When I think about all that I had to do I was surprised how much that was related to the book. I had to correctly identify several characters from the text and determine which individuals should be included. This, along with my summary, showed off my knowledge of the book's content. 

That's not all, though. I also had to determine a good song to fit in the background. I chose "Personal Jesus" by Depeche Mode, because a common theme through the story is salvation through the use of Steel Ball Run. For example, Gyro needs the money to pardon a child in Italy abd Sandman wants to win the race so he can save his tribe from poverty and be welcomed again. What's also neat is that  I got to tune the film up to different parts of the song (albeit somewhat poorly) as a way to transition to different parts. 

This was a very interesting learning experience because it didn't feel like learning. It just felt like me fooling around on Windows Movie Maker for a while. I didn't actually realize how much I learned or analyzed in the text until I looked at it now. It's like I was being tricked to learn. As a result, I highly recommend trying to do this in the class because it's educational and isn't just a plain old grind.

RIP

https://soundcloud.com/crapmashups/free-takyon

Knock Knock. Get the Door, It's Digital Storytelling.

Digital Storytelling is something that I've always found very interesting and fun. By using film-based technology, students create a project about the things they learned. Naturally, it has become quite popular in the information era, and there are PILES of examples of multimedia on the internet. My current favorite at the moment is History of Japan.

As you may have guessed, the video is about the history of Japan. It's a very informative video which covered a surprisingly good amount of knowledge. But this doesn't only show off his knowledge of the text. It shows he knows  how to create vocal recordings, create musical recordings, and incorporate graphic design and light instrumentals to help enhance his message. Digital Storytelling helped him not only know the information, but helped him master multimedia software.

While I do find it very entertaining and fun, Digital Storytelling can take forever to do, especially because not all students have prior knowledge with the software. It's a long process, and it's not always going to help to know how to use things like Audacity in their later lives. I don't think that I would try and actively teach it in class, because it's a lot of time that could be spent teaching other things, like:

All jokes aside, there's a lot of thing an educator has to do. While I do think that Digital Storytelling would be fun, I also think that there's a lot of things that would make it too difficult with the time constraints. Maybe if it was a class project it could work, but it could easily take 1-2 classes setting up the presentation, 2-3 days creating the project, and 1-2 showing off the finished product. Best case scenario that is 4 days, worst case is 7, which may be the norm on the first run through. Admittedly, I probably will flirt with the idea because I think it's a lot of fun and can help people interact with things other then just the books. I really liked using Storybird. It's a really great software that is very easy to use. I just feel there's a lot more we could do with our time as educators.

On Being a Writing Coach

Hi everyone, I'm back and here to talk to you about being a writing coach. Firstly, I think it's loads of fun. Helping others, building a connection, examining grammatical usage, it's all pretty dang fun. One of the biggest things I noticed is that no writer is the same. Each person has their own unique writing style and have their own strengths and pitfalls. To think that generic critique is good is a very dangerous mindset. One of my writers was very bad at using commas, so I made sure to emphasize their incorrect usage of commas. I even offered them websites to provide them extra support. By being nice and friendly, these tasks can be a lot of fun!

Of course writing coaches are not the only ones who are going to offer help. Many students are told to give peer reviews to their fellow peers. I've always been conflicted on how this works. Some writers are better than others, some people are more interested in feedback than others, some people are better at giving feedback. Like I said earlier, no writer is the same. So who do you pair people up with? Personally, I believe that good writers and bad writers should work together. This philosophy comes from my childhood when I watched Malcolm in the Middle. In the Episode "Tutoring Reese", Malcolm helps his brother Reese by cheating on his test. After Malcolm, the smart one, fails the test, They realize that Reese's teacher does have a bias against him. Near the end of the episode, Malcolm's Mother Lois is having a conversation with a teacher.

"Malcolm in the Middle" (2000-2006)

 The Teacher says "Here’s the situation: If you notify the school, then the school will find out that Malcolm cheated, he’ll be expelled."

 Lois says  "Let me explain something to you. I would sell Malcolm down the river in a heartbeat to save Reese.  Malcolm’s gonna be fine no matter what happens. Maybe he’ll go to have to junior college or start off Blue Collar or something but he'll do fine. Reese is the one who needs saving."

I find this scene really important because it realizes that the proficient can do well by themselves. Those struggling do need help. Sure, when you pit a good writer with a bad one, the bad one's revisions will be useless. But, the bad one will get very good tips from someone else. This is important because by having two bad writers peer review, they will get nothing out of it. This is especially tragic for the bad writer who wants to a good writer because they're getting nothing from other bad writers revisions.

What can help give the good students better revision is by offering teacher reviews as well. As a teacher, it is very important to give feedback. Teachers are the masters who are supposed to know everything. By the end of their check, nearly everything should have been corrected, or, at the very least, noted upon. It's important to keep a balance, however. In "Learning to Praise" by Donald Daiker, Daiker explores the importance of giving praise. Many teachers don't give much praise. Apparently, only 007% of in marginal comments were positive. (Daiker) This isn't good because like I said earlier, the teacher is the master. Without giving positive feedback, they're learning that their writing isn't good. It's only negative While it is only implied, it doesn't help that we're not giving comments. It does nothing other than to drain morale and love of writing.

Lastly, I just want to emphasize that there is a lot that goes into revision. You can't just stick one grade on all because they're all so different. Realization of this individuality is key to not only revision, but education, problem solving, and critically thinking.

Planner? I hardly know her!

Reading "A Cognitive Process Theory of Writing" by Flower and Hayes was a bizarre time. In it, the duo talks about the process it takes to write papers. Not gonna lie, I never really thought about a process. Usually I just start writing and let my brain go wild on the paper. Not like Strong Bad wild, but I could never find the importance of prior planning when it comes to writing.

In 10th grade, my teacher noticed how poorly my charisma translated when doing discussions to actual speeches. She said I became a lot more robotic, rigid, and monotone. The more I thought about it, the more she was right. By creating a detailed outline I feel like I am trapped into doing those lines and those lines only, even if they only sound good on the page. Ever since then I have felt like I betray myself when I don't live in the moment.

Honestly, I tried so dang hard to follow the steps of the paper, and I just couldn't do it. I kept having difficulty articulating what I wanted to say, deciding what to say, and deciding what is not as smart. When I did say something, it felt awkward. I tried for about an hour and got pretty much nothing done other than a paragraph. Now I'm just back to my old, ranty, self and I feel great about writing this.

Of course there are drawbacks to this. I reread this for the sake Flower and Hayes, and I asked myself:  "Does my hyperlink of a Strong Bad email help or hinder my argument?" When I ask how it relates, I can't really justify having it in there. I mean yes, it does show how some people can go gung-ho and write, but I feel like it doesn't add much to my argument. There are probably much better examples I could use. I could easily have added one of those "TOP TEN IMPROVISED FILM MOMENTS" to justify how a person can do their own thing and create a powerful moment without pre-planning. But honestly I cringe at those kind of videos. To add something different would be lying about who I am.


But obviously, not everyone is like me. Some people prefer the order, the stability, and the calm that comes with proper planning, and as an educator I gotta make sure that I can show them how to do it that way. It'd be super awkward if I told a student to follow your heart when they aren't as headstrong as  I am. I need to look out for all those children because something don' t work out for everyone. Some people can get lost, and that's why I really like the idea of having a goal orientated system for learning. If a person is lost, and can't figure out where to go next, they can go back and reread their goal. To some, Climbing a mountain is a lot less intimidating when you're just focusing on the next 10 steps.

This why America did so poorly in the Vietnam war 

To argue that either way, planning fully ahead, or writing in the moment is bad is completely wrong. Both of the processes are very good, but both have a time and place for everything. Would someone want me to be fun, excited, and lively at a funeral? I'd say no. That is not the time. In fact, at my Grandmother's funeral I wrote out I want to say because to make jokes or puns would be in terrible taste. I know I said that I hate doing writing ahead, but to refuse to acknowledge the cons of my methods would have been disastrous. 

It's important to find a style that fits us, but as educators we need to find a lot of processes that work for all. We can only do this by expanding our knowledge through syncretism. Eventually you can find enough different ways to think about things, and you can pick and choose what works best.