Knowledge as a Key to Survival (Frederick Douglass & Marjane Satrapi)

Two weeks ago, I was struck by a part of Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis when her mother scolds her for cutting class:

“This time I covered for you, but it’s the last time!  Now is the time for learning.  You have your whole life to have fun!  What are you going to be when you grow up??  In this country you have to know everything better than anyone else if you’re going to survive!!” (Satrapi 113) 

After reading that passage, I couldn’t help but question if American society ever puts that kind of emphasis on education.  Of course the repressive regime Marji Satrapi lives through in Iran is a very difficult environment for her to grow up in and knowledge clearly becomes crucial to survival.  I recognize that many of my students face pressures to succeed in school, but I sometimes question how much most of my students value knowledge and the learning process.  I truly wonder what kind of an impact education would have if the stakes were greater to people’s personal safety and freedom.   
In recently reading The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, the urgency of knowledge is highlighted when Douglass’s master accidentally reveals to him that education is the way out of slavery.  He tricked or bribed little boys to teach him to write, “This bread I used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who, in return, would give me that more valuable bread of knowledge” (The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass Chapter VII).   It became even more imperative for Douglass to learn vocabulary when he first heard the word “Abolition.”  Understanding the meaning of this one word becomes crucial to his life and attainment of freedom.  Douglass writes about his deep understanding of education and slavery’s inability to coexist.

Does our culture value the sustenance of knowledge to this degree?  How can we as students and educators foster the idea that knowledge is crucial to our survival?  During class today, students shared mixed opinions about these questions.  Most students began our discussion by thinking about how education is essential for our eventual success, but I urged them to think of specific pieces of knowledge that can become a matter of life and death.  From there, they began to think more deeply about what knowledge people need to have to travel safely in different countries, what knowledge doctors need to have in order to effectively treat patients, and what knowledge military leaders need to care for their troops.  Some students who have lived in different countries offered stories about how lower classes of people in other countries had to work incredibly hard to gain admission to high school and college to better their lives and to help their families.  

As students continue to read and study The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, I hope that the mere discussion heightens students’ awareness of education’s role in our lives.  While we are fortunate to live in a fairly safe and free country, it is important to remember that our ability to seek knowledge and express our ideas is a gift and we should seek to develop our knowledge even if the stakes are not quite as high those Satrapi or Douglass faced.  

NCTE 1st Day's Inspiration

This afternoon, I arrived in the windy city of Chicago very excited to get to NCTE!  After the many months of preparation to present, and the more recent stresses of packing, travelling, and preparing sub. plans, the first day alone proved that it was all worth it!

The first workshop I attended was “Talking Writer to Writer: Rediscovering the Power of Conferring” with Douglas Kaufman, Penny Kittle, and Linda Rief.  The session was absolutely inspiring!  Kaufman opened the session by stating, “The writing conference is a learning event.”  And then the whole room wrote by responding to three effective quick write prompts.  The presenters paid tribute to Donald Graves and it reminded me of a video I used from him that made such a difference in my writing classes last semester: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ_sXJKiiSA.  To build a writing community, you need to write together, and that was exactly what we did during this session. 

It was interesting to watch the three videos the presenters showed of writing conferences with their students because it was easy to see how coaching writing is a skill (not a formula) and how it looks different depending on age groups.  Some of the best advice the presenters gave about writing conferences:

•      Go into a writing conference like a listener and writer and try not to push your agenda too much.
•       Try to encourage students to walk away from the writing conference wanting to write more.
•       Shorter writing conferences tended to be more productive.

This evening, I was able to listen to Natasha Trethewey read parts of her book, Native Guard.  Her speaking about cultural memory, personal history and what gets erased from cultural history was captivating.  She said that she often asks her students to think about themselves as historical beings.  I enjoyed hearing her read her poetry and like many reviews of her writing, I found her style to be very polished, yet accessible.  I’m hoping to use some of Trethewey’s poems when I teach The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (“NATIVE GUARD” 25), Kindred, Beloved, and To Kill a Mockingbird (“SOUTHERN GOTHIC” 40).  Professor Trethewey signed my book and told me that one of her favorite writers is Seamus Heaney.  

I came back to my hotel room tonight feeling so inspired by the sessions I attended today.  In reviewing some of my students' digital portfolios today, I tried to respond to some of their updated posts with conferring strategies I saw today.  The first session reminds me that coaching writing is a difficult practice and I need to be critical of my role in helping students improve their writing.  Watching the presenters review their conferences on film made that so much more apparent and I really appreciate their willingness to show what they've learned from effective and ineffective writing conferences.  

High School Reading Resuscitation

             Launching an independent reading program has been my goal since I started out as a student teacher six years ago. Last year, I was able to start the program in my elective classes. Most students who already liked to read continued to read and enjoyed the program.  However, I felt like I failed to draw in more reluctant or disinterested readers. 

            When speaking with a colleague, she cited Kelly Gallagher’s Readicide and just how difficult it is to encourage a love of reading in high school.  It seems like most of my students only read when they need to for class.  Over my past five years teaching 10^th grade students, I can easily name only about ten students who I discovered loved to read.  I think that there were probably more, but high school curriculums leave minimal time to develop an independent reading program.

            Nevertheless, I’m determined to make an independent reading program work in my high school classes.  I brainstormed the following list, but I’d love for you to share any ideas you have for launching and maintaining an independent reading program.  If any students are reading this, please tell me about any suggestions you have that would encourage you to read.

1. Make books’ purpose obvious: A colleague put posters around the room with different reasons for why we read.  (Examples: “I read to gain knowledge,” “I read for enjoyment/entertainment.”)  Following her idea, I’ll have students to go to signs to discuss the reasons why they read. 
2. Make books move:  One of the best strategies for teaching students how to be readers is called a book pass.  My college professor, Dr. Emily Meixner, used this strategy to take a selection of books of interest and have students sit in pairs and pass the books around the room.  Each pair gets about 2-3 minutes to browse through the book and rate it on a note-taking sheet.  It helps non-readers to talk with their peers about books, read the back cover, and select books they like.  
3. Make books visible:  A couple of years ago, I started bringing books into my classroom.  My desk was covered for a couple of weeks and I felt like I should organize them and put them away in the cabinets.  Before I got a minute to do so, a student started asking me to borrow some of them.  Each week, she borrowed at least two.  I would not have known she was the avid read she was unless I had a cluttered desk.
4. Make books accessible: I’m planning a day to take my students to the library to pick out books to read.  It is going to be a class requirement to have an independent reading book with them every day.  I plan to provide students with at least 20 minutes a week to read in class and my hope is that they’ll read on their own if they have their books with them everyday. 
5. Make books the topic of graffiti: My school librarian and I are going to put up butcher paper around the library for students to use to discuss book recommendations. 
6. Make book recommendations visible: Prior students submitted reading recommendations on a Google spreadsheet, so I plan to share this with current students. 
7. Make books the reward:  I’m a bit unsure about this strategy.  The joy of reading should be the reward.  I hope that some of my students will get to that point.  To give them a little incentive, I informed students that if they read at least two outside books by January, they will earn extra class currency (Each class writes an honor code at the beginning of the year and students get 3 American Lit. dollars to use for extensions or extra points on an assignment) for 2^nd semester.

Please add more suggestions for launching or maintaining an independent reading program in high school.

You Gotta Be The Story: Joining the Writing Community

When I began my creative writing class this past semester, I was looking for new and innovative ways to launch the new course.  I like teaching semester courses because it feels like September in January! 

Needless to say, I came across a great video by Donald Graves.  His advice may seem simple or obvious, but is extremely effective: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ_sXJKiiSA.

So, for the first two weeks of class, my writing classes have written a good amount, read their work to the class, and offered constructive feedback.  In fact, I modified the workshopping process a bit to include:

1.     A writer volunteers to read his/her work.

2.     Another writer is called on to summarize the story.

3.     The writer can clarify or other students can ask questions to make sure they understand the story.

4.     Students offer constructive feedback. 

I find that calling on students randomly to summarize the story helps keep students focused and attentive.  However, I find that the real key to making this work is my participation.  I feel like I have finally been able to stress that we are a writing community because I too wrote a story, read it aloud, and listened to my students for their suggestions and feedback.  In fact, after I read, a student was chuckling a little to himself.  I asked him about it and he smiled and said that it was kind of neat to be able to criticize the teacher.  After jokingly reminding him who decides on the grades, I listened as my students offered some really good suggestions for ways I could add to my story and clarify a couple of parts. 

How can I expect them to value writing and sharing if I don’t participate?  I have a new-found respect for my students because we are part of this community together and I look forward to a growing as a writer with them this semester. 

For the Love of American Literature

Any American literature teachers, students, or researchers out there?  Anyone who just loves American literature?

Call for Feedback: American Literature Research Paper Pairings

Please review this list of possible options I plan to suggest to my American literature students for their research papers in the spring that focus on developing a comparative argument and supporting their writing with literary criticism.  In the past, students were sent off on their own to read and write about an American author.  It was daunting and most students didn't know where to start to find two works.  They'll still have options, but I want to help them along a little more and suggest pairings that will work and they'll enjoy.  Please add comments if you have any suggestions or email me at michellelblakely@gmail.com.

American Literature Research Paper Ideas for Sophomores: Please Give Feedback!

College Preparatory Level:
1.  Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club

Gene Luen Yang, American-Born Chinese

Amy Tan, “Mother Tongue”

2.  Julia Alvarez, Saving the World or Before We Were Free

Laurie Halse Anderson, Fever

3.  David Guterson, Snow Falling on Cedars

Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, James A. Houston, Farewell to Manzanar

4.  Chaim Potak, The Chosen

Art Spiegelman, Maus I

5.  Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Flowers for Algernon

6.  Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin in the Sun

Harlem Renaissance Poetry Selection

7.  Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

Kurt Vonnegut, “Harrison Bergeron”

8.  Richard Wright, Black Boy

Richard Wright, “The Man Who Was Almost a Man”

9.  Bobby Ann Mason, In Country

Thom Jones, “The Pugilist at Rest”

10.  Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

Mary E. Lyons, Letters from a Slave Girl

11.  John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

Honors Level:
1.  Amy Tan, Mother Tongue, The Joy Luck Club
2.  Julia Alvarez, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent
3.  David Guterson, Snow Falling on Cedars

Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, James A. Houston, Farewell to Manzanar

5.  Chaim Potak, The Chosen

Art Spiegelman, Maus I5.  A Raisin in the Sun, Harlem Poets

6.  Michael Dorris, The Yellow Raft in Blue Water

Sherman Alexie, “This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona” or “How to Write the Great American Indian Novel”

7.  Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

Kurt Vonnegut, “Harrison Bergeron”

8.  Richard Wright, Black Boy

Richard Wright, “The Man Who Was Almost a Man”

9.  Bobby Ann Mason, In Country

Thom Jones, “The Pugilist at Rest”

10.  Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

Mary E. Lyons, Letters from a Slave Girl

11.  John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

Karen Hesse, Out of the Dust

12.  Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior

Adeline Yen Mah, Chinese Cinderella

How to Teach with Google and a PLN in Bliss

Link to Google Presentation & Valuable Resources

On Wednesday, I had wonderful opportunity to visit my Alma Mater (The College of New Jersey) and share my passions with aspiring English teachers.  My secondary English teaching professor, Dr. Emily Meixner, does a wonderful job of keeping in touch with alumni so that they can come back and share their experiences in the field with ENGT students at different events and “How to Teach” seminars.  As an undergraduate, I always enjoyed these workshops because I was able to see many practical applications of the English teaching methods we learned about.  It was very rewarding to return and share what has made a significant impact on my teaching. 

Over the past couple of years, I’ve truly embraced technology as a secondary English teacher.  Though I admit that I can sometimes be overly zealous about using technology, I began the seminar by noting that I promote using technology not merely for the sake of using technology, but for meaningful educational purposes.  I showed a short clip from Rutgers English Department’s  Richard E. Miller’s “This is how we dream” video because I think it presents the most compelling argument I know for English teachers to value digital literacy and new media. Richard E. Miller’s presentation illuminates how influential digital proficiencies will be in students’ professional lives.  Although Miller has published books and articles, he recognizes that the information he delivers in this video on YouTube is somewhat more effective because it reaches wider audiences faster than if he had written it in text and published the information.  In fact, Miller first delivered this video presentation to the Modern Language Association in 2008 and notes that it acquired 9,000 views in the first three months and “changed his travel plans virtually every week.”

I also showed undergrad and graduate students (http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/appsatschool.html) how Google Apps for Education is spreading across the world in higher education.  I shared technological tools  (Google Apps and Jing, which are both free) I’ve used to foster active reading, collaborative writing, and improved feedback.  I shared some resources for developing a Personal Learning Network (PLN, but afterwards, I really wished that I emphasized how developing a PLN on Twitter has provided invaluable networking tools. Reading various blogs and participating in Twitter discussions (like #edchat or #engchat) awaken me to so many interesting things that teachers, principals, and librarians do.  For current students seeking teaching jobs next year, I can’t think of a better way to familiarize themselves with educators across the globe and make connections with teachers and principals that share the same values (I’ve actually seen many tweets about teaching openings).  I’m fortunate to work in a school that inspires me every day in different ways, but I’m also thankful that my connections on Twitter, Ning, and Blogger keep me in touch with the ways other educators make a positive impact on the schools in which they work.  

From only a few months of student teaching, people who attended the workshop shared great resources and examples of student work.  Their students have used texting in the classroom (as a type of back channelling) and I saw amazing book trailers and got a lot of new ideas from talking with them.   I thank them for sharing and inspiring me to try new things and follow new blogs like this one: http://lastingrosebud.blogspot.com/.  

Some final thoughts and suggestions:

                       - My best regards to The College of New Jersey and thank you to all of you who attended. 
      -  Take any classes you can with Dr. Meixner and Professor Sowder; they always inspire me to be better.
      - Start small.  Use Google forms for simple surveys (only you need a gmail account and students just need a link to the form).
     - Develop a Personal Learning Network (PLN) online (via Twitter, Ning or whatever works best for you) that will foster your learning and move you to collaborate with people outside of your typical teaching/learning community.
       - Model good digital citizenship for your students.  Show them how to be 21^st century learners and positive contributors to online writing communities. 
       - Please keep in touch so that we can continue to learn together and collaborate in the future (Email: michellelblakely@gmail.com or Twitter: @michelleleandra).

Questioning Wikipedia: Enhancing Research Skills with Google Apps

In prior years while teaching The Crucible, I found that students became so involved in the play that they’d often forget that the characters are representative of the true historical figures.  I constantly would point students to the historical note Miller includes at the very beginning.  I suppose I should feel fortunate that students were getting into the drama, but I wanted the history to be more at the forefront of their thinking.  

Consequently, I wanted students to find out more of the background information about the real lives of the people Miller dramatizes.  All seventy-five students had to add a fact to the spreadsheet above about the people Miller writes about from the Salem Witch Trials or facts on Arthur Miller and McCarthyism.  The reason why a Google Spreadsheet is an essential tool is because students had to review all other students’ responses in order to research and contribute a new fact.  Even though it was a fairly short assignment, all of my American literature classes collaboratively completed in-depth research because they built their research on many other students’ work.  

The three right hand columns in yellow were not apart of the original assignment.  I spoke with my high school’s media specialist, LaDawna Harrington, about helping students begin to evaluate their sources and she suggested the three tasks listed below.  Students had to “do a background check” of the writers of their original sources and then compare their research results to the same topic searches on Wikipedia.  This was a short assignment, but I reinforced the importance of summarizing research in their own words and evaluating the credibility of the sources.  For the reflection part of the assignment, I emphasized that it was okay if they did not find the most credible sources, but it is something to recognize and learn from.  

Many students reflected on how most of the information they found was comparable on Wikipedia, but how one source is never enough to validate information.  One student wrote, “Because the information in the original article and the Wikipedia article were very similar, it’s implied that this information is probably accurate. However, it certainly stands questionable when referencing Wikipedia whether the information is correct or not, and that will be kept in mind.”

Another wonderful aspect of the spreadsheet is that I was able to share it with some of my students' history teachers as well as our school librarian. Sharing our resources will help us make cross-curriculum connections and I value their imput on the students' research.