Indirect lesson plan - My lesson was about using pictures to indirectly learn how to use first, second and third person.
Hope to hear from you guys! Thanks!
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Reflection on the National Writing Project Conference
(Original Image source: Click here)
Walking into the National Writing Project conference I arrived around 8:30am – just on time. Immediately I sat down and waited for the speakers to commence. The first two speakers spoke about how Thomas Newkirk impacted their lives. One of the women said, “question the status quo rather than be complacent.” That really grasped my attention because after reading “1984” and taking a class with Professor Feldstein I really have started questioning EVERYTHING. I have questioned aspects about my life like how the government regulates money and how society views social media. She also spoke about how she asked Newkirk to look over her papers and edit them. When Newkirk met with her about the papers he did not exactly criticize the papers or edit them but instead he explained, “What he had learned.” That was amazing and so fresh it made me really go “Wow.” Professors and editors who usually edit papers deconstruct, criticize and usually change up the whole paper when they are asked to read it over. Newkirk did the complete opposite, which in my opinion many writing teachers can learn from that. Many times when we look over papers not only do we use a red pen (which radiates negativity) but also we cross out and leave negative comments alongside the papers. Those actions can leave a permanent scar on the students’ thoughts, views on their writing abilities and egos. Work that they thought was amazing is now work that was deemed as “crap.” Now this is not the case all of the time but it is the case many times.
Finally Thomas Newkirk the keynote speaker started speaking and he kept my attention throughout his whole speech. Something that really stuck with me was how he did not stand on the podium he wanted to be with us, his audience. He also stuttered at a couple words while reading his PowerPoint. I really paid attention to these things because of what one of my professors said. She said that we must show our students that we are human too and that we also make mistakes in our writing – educators are not perfect. Newkirk did this subtly as well by showing us his imperfections. Yes, Newkirk is successful and an amazing man but he is one of us, he is an educator. One of his main points was that narrative is the prominent and central way of how we see the world. So his question was why does the common core standards leave out narrative? I agree with him about how narrative is the central way of life. Back in high school I learned more about watching a civil war movie or reading a soldier’s memories about the civil war than reading any boring textbook about the civil war. Newkirk also touched upon thesis and how it should leave the reader with an “itch” to keep reading. I think that is a piece of advice I will try to carry with me now throughout my whole life.
In my first workshop I attended the “Overcoming #NoviceTeacherFails” option. We were walked through a series of questions and at the end of maybe 10-15 questions we were to write a manifesto (which is a written public declaration which uses many adjectives to motivate yourself or people). Instead of explaining my process I would much rather show the product so here is what I came up with:
I loved this workshop, it showed me yet another way of using creative writing to learn and motivate. I am printing out the manifesto and framing it on my wall as a reminder to always be the best I can be. I probably will make one for my classroom too once I am a teacher. I left that classroom very inspired and I am reminded as to why I am here at Rhode Island College and why I am becoming a teacher.
In my second workshop I chose to go to the “Highlighting the Positive: A Way of Reflecting, Revising & Evaluating.” The teacher there was Keith Sanzen who is an 8thgrade English teacher. He explained his beliefs in grading and how he would much rather track progress in writing much rather than stamp an “A” or a “D” on a paper. His grading method was to check off things like the student had a “clear theme and purpose” or the student “used capitalization correctly.” At the end of his unit if the student had accomplished all of their goals he would give them an “A” and if they did not he would work with the student and make sure that they got that “A” or “B.” I like his thought process on grading because he is making sure his students are accomplishing everything a good writer does. He also expressed how students who receive “A’s” feel like they are accomplished and throw their papers away meanwhile students who receive “D’s” feel like failures and stop trying. His method works because both the “A” and “D” student will always be working toward a goal whether it be to improve their spelling, using strong word variations and working on having effective imagery/language use. Many of the other teachers in the class felt like they would not know what to do when a parent came in and asked for a progress report. He said he kept a detailed record of what the students have accomplished and would pull out the papers when the parents would arrive. Sanzen would then point out what the student needed to work on and what they had already accomplished. I left that classroom with a good tool for when I have to start grading papers and a new way to look at grading.
All in all I am happy that I attended the conference. It was an “eye-opener” and it inspired me to keep working on becoming a teacher and to look at writing as a skill we are always working on. It is an experience I will never forget and now I feel like I remember why I am majoring in education and most importantly writing. I will hopefully continue attending these conferences because I have realized that it is a very important tool for teachers. I learned a lot and grew as a writer in those couple of hours, a very well spent $25.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)