assignments ENGL344 Young Adult Literature "How We'd Teach This" group presentation
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How We’d Teach This Book
At a certain point, you’ve just got to start coming up with assignments. Here is a first effort. In conjunction with our work in week one of thinking about multi-media, this assignment asks you to think, not just about a text, but about the media you could bring in to support the teaching of it. How do the two things support each other? Support literacy skill-building?
For this assignment, you and your book club group mates will be given an example scenario class to teach your book to. Just to make things easier, we’ll use the scenario classes we’ve already established so far this semester. I’m listing the groups here, and I’m including the class scenario I picked for you. Just so you know I very literally pulled a scenario and a group number out of a hat to do this. I couldn’t think of any other way. You’ll notice the group numbers correspond to the group emails I set up in Microsoft outlook.
Group One: Brockton 12th Grade IB English Class
Brockton High School to let you teach this book in a 12th grade English class that meets the outcomes for the International Baccalaureate Programme. Th IB is sort of like an internationally recognized version of AP. You can read about it here. Some quick facts about Brockton High (from Wikipedia, so, you know, grain of salt) and in general:
You are teaching a class of 30 8th graders at Whitman Middle School. Here is a class picture. The class you are teaching is majority white. There are two students who identify as African-American. Just over ½ of the class are young women. None of the students are first generation American, but a few students have grandparents who immigrated, mostly from Ireland. More likely, the majority of students have great-grandparents or great-great grandparents that came from to the US during the great migration in the late 1800s—Italy and Ireland mainly. Your classroom is well-equipped. Students have ipads for use in the classroom and all of the students have internet access at home as well as at school. You maintain a teaching website where parents can check assignments. The parents at Whitman are, more or less, invested in their children’s education and pay attention to what is going on in the classroom. You have 7 students on IEPs ranging from high-functioning spectrum to ADHD mix. Two student are on IEP for cognitive processing problems.
Group Three (This is a scenario I haven't used in our class yet):
You are a teacher in a classroom of 35 8th graders in Dorchester, MA. This is a public charter middle school where students apply to attend by lottery. The students in your classroom are majority African American with a significant immigrant population from Haiti. There is a smaller population of Latino students, mostly Dominican. Some are new to the country, and others are the native born students of immigrants. Many students speak a different language other than English in the home. Many of your students are not cared for by people other than their parents or are cared for by grandparents and parents in a multigenerational home. Many travel very far or have to take public transportation to get to school. Most of the students in your classroom qualify for free lunch and attend the afterschool program available at the school. This charter school focuses on science and technology. Every student has an ipad of their own that they use in class (if the teacher chooses to use it) and at home.--though not all students have access to internet at home. You are the only teacher in the classroom. You have no budget for supplies through the school.
Group Four: BR 9th Grade College Prep Class
You are teaching a 9th grade College Prep English class at Bridgewater/Raynham high school. You are working with a class of 35 students: 34 students are white, 1 student is Cape Verdean, 19 are female, 16 are male, one male student is openly gay.
The BR pass rate on the 10th grade MCAS is 84%.
Roughly 85% of the students in your class come from a household where at least one parent has some college education. You have two students in your class whose parents are on the faculty at Bridgewater State University.
You have limited access to technology in the classroom, but your students have access to computers, phones and the internet at home.
You can familiarize yourself with the school here.
What you need to do
1. You and your groupmates will be responsible for selecting a text to teach. You have a few options here:
2. Once you’ve selected the text(s), do some modest research about 1) literacy instruction as it relates to your student population (similar to the essay about reading we’ve had in class or that you worked on for your pecha kucha) and 2) scholarship on either the text you are using to teach or texts in that genre (like the supplemental essays we’ve had in class).
NOTE: You don’t need to go over-board on this. If each person in your group locates one piece of scholarship and in doing so you cover both parts of the research requirement, you are golden.
3. Identify multi-media and/or supporting materials you would bring in as part of teaching that text. There is a lot you can do with this. It’s probably the most creative choice you’ll make: movies, TV, radio, news items, non-fiction, art-work, dance, field trips, whatever. I’ve got no specific number in mind. One might be right. Three might be right. Seven is probably not right, but I’m open if you can make the case.
4. Design a short assignment. I am not an education teacher and I don’t know about nor do I care about the ins and outs of unit plans. I’m looking for five things:
5. Give a presentation, as a group, to our class during our 31 July 2018 face-to-face class. Each group will have 15 to 20 minutes to present. You should include the following:
In order to earn a B you need to (this assignment is worth 10% of you final grade):
In order to earn an “A” grade on the assignment, you must do all of the things described above and achieve a level of thoughtfulness in how you address the five elements of the assignment you are designing.
In order to earn a “C” grade on the assignment, you must be present for your presentation on the 15th. Failure to do so will mean you fail the 10% of your final grade
At a certain point, you’ve just got to start coming up with assignments. Here is a first effort. In conjunction with our work in week one of thinking about multi-media, this assignment asks you to think, not just about a text, but about the media you could bring in to support the teaching of it. How do the two things support each other? Support literacy skill-building?
For this assignment, you and your book club group mates will be given an example scenario class to teach your book to. Just to make things easier, we’ll use the scenario classes we’ve already established so far this semester. I’m listing the groups here, and I’m including the class scenario I picked for you. Just so you know I very literally pulled a scenario and a group number out of a hat to do this. I couldn’t think of any other way. You’ll notice the group numbers correspond to the group emails I set up in Microsoft outlook.
Group One: Brockton 12th Grade IB English Class
Brockton High School to let you teach this book in a 12th grade English class that meets the outcomes for the International Baccalaureate Programme. Th IB is sort of like an internationally recognized version of AP. You can read about it here. Some quick facts about Brockton High (from Wikipedia, so, you know, grain of salt) and in general:
- The high school is 60.9% African American, 20.8% White, 2.5% Asian, 12.3% Hispanic, and 3.5% other. In 2016 it was made so everyone could get free lunch. Out of its 4,250 students, 2,161 are male and 2,089 are female.
- In 2005, 98% of the senior class (850 students) graduated. In 2008 78% of the graduating senior class planned to pursue a college degree.[citation needed] In 2006, Brockton High School was a recipient of the National School Change Award.[citation needed] Brockton High School was one of 7 schools in the United States to receive this award. Out of the seven schools, there were only two high schools.[citation needed]
- In 2008, Brockton students had a higher level of improvement on the English MCAS than 90% of the Massachusetts high schools. By 2010 it was one of the highest performing schools on the MCAS.[7]
- Keep in mind that 12th grade Lit is often a British Literature Survey. The IB syllabus is a little more adventurous. This might help or hurt.
You are teaching a class of 30 8th graders at Whitman Middle School. Here is a class picture. The class you are teaching is majority white. There are two students who identify as African-American. Just over ½ of the class are young women. None of the students are first generation American, but a few students have grandparents who immigrated, mostly from Ireland. More likely, the majority of students have great-grandparents or great-great grandparents that came from to the US during the great migration in the late 1800s—Italy and Ireland mainly. Your classroom is well-equipped. Students have ipads for use in the classroom and all of the students have internet access at home as well as at school. You maintain a teaching website where parents can check assignments. The parents at Whitman are, more or less, invested in their children’s education and pay attention to what is going on in the classroom. You have 7 students on IEPs ranging from high-functioning spectrum to ADHD mix. Two student are on IEP for cognitive processing problems.
Group Three (This is a scenario I haven't used in our class yet):
You are a teacher in a classroom of 35 8th graders in Dorchester, MA. This is a public charter middle school where students apply to attend by lottery. The students in your classroom are majority African American with a significant immigrant population from Haiti. There is a smaller population of Latino students, mostly Dominican. Some are new to the country, and others are the native born students of immigrants. Many students speak a different language other than English in the home. Many of your students are not cared for by people other than their parents or are cared for by grandparents and parents in a multigenerational home. Many travel very far or have to take public transportation to get to school. Most of the students in your classroom qualify for free lunch and attend the afterschool program available at the school. This charter school focuses on science and technology. Every student has an ipad of their own that they use in class (if the teacher chooses to use it) and at home.--though not all students have access to internet at home. You are the only teacher in the classroom. You have no budget for supplies through the school.
Group Four: BR 9th Grade College Prep Class
You are teaching a 9th grade College Prep English class at Bridgewater/Raynham high school. You are working with a class of 35 students: 34 students are white, 1 student is Cape Verdean, 19 are female, 16 are male, one male student is openly gay.
The BR pass rate on the 10th grade MCAS is 84%.
Roughly 85% of the students in your class come from a household where at least one parent has some college education. You have two students in your class whose parents are on the faculty at Bridgewater State University.
You have limited access to technology in the classroom, but your students have access to computers, phones and the internet at home.
You can familiarize yourself with the school here.
What you need to do
1. You and your groupmates will be responsible for selecting a text to teach. You have a few options here:
- You can select a text we are using in class or another contemporary YA text.
- If you are selecting a text we aren’t using in class, ask me about it first just to be safe. You will need to provide a short, short summary to the class as part of your assignment
- You can select a pair of texts, a YA text and a text that would appear in the frameworks for your class scenario grade.
2. Once you’ve selected the text(s), do some modest research about 1) literacy instruction as it relates to your student population (similar to the essay about reading we’ve had in class or that you worked on for your pecha kucha) and 2) scholarship on either the text you are using to teach or texts in that genre (like the supplemental essays we’ve had in class).
NOTE: You don’t need to go over-board on this. If each person in your group locates one piece of scholarship and in doing so you cover both parts of the research requirement, you are golden.
3. Identify multi-media and/or supporting materials you would bring in as part of teaching that text. There is a lot you can do with this. It’s probably the most creative choice you’ll make: movies, TV, radio, news items, non-fiction, art-work, dance, field trips, whatever. I’ve got no specific number in mind. One might be right. Three might be right. Seven is probably not right, but I’m open if you can make the case.
4. Design a short assignment. I am not an education teacher and I don’t know about nor do I care about the ins and outs of unit plans. I’m looking for five things:
- What are your end-goals for this assignment—so, essentially, your learning outcomes for this lesson?
- What will you do with students to support their understanding and success as they read the book?
- How will you integrate the media so that it is supportive and fully a part of the assignment and not just another thing they have to do?
- What will the culminating assignment/project/whatever look like where students demonstrate that they’ve met the learning outcomes?
- How will you assess it?
5. Give a presentation, as a group, to our class during our 31 July 2018 face-to-face class. Each group will have 15 to 20 minutes to present. You should include the following:
- First and foremost, most of all, you need to be engaging. I hate boring group presentation. So think seriously how you could involve us? Could we write? Could we move around? Could we take a survey? Play a game? Is there a part of your assignment we could do? I don’t know, and you only have 20 minutes max, but why not make it interesting for everyone involved.
- You’ll need to, of course, identify your class what texts you are using and, if it isn’t a text we are familiar with, hit the highlights of what we need to know to understand your presentation.
- You’ll need to identify your supporting materials. If it’s possible, you can pass out samples or show us part or all of what you would use with students.
- You’ll need to give us an overview of your assignment, hitting all five of the points identified in number four above.
- You don’t have to have a powerpoint or a prezzy, but you can.
- You should have a handout that serves as a guide to your presentation with enough information that your classmates could use it to plan their own version of your lesson in a possible future classroom.
- ON THE DAY OF THE PRESENTATION: Each member of the group will turn in their own, two-page, typed reflection on the lesson: what you like about it, what you’d do differently if you were doing it all by yourself, other ideas you had that didn’t make it in to the presentation, how you contributed as a group member, and who in your group did a really fabulous job of being a member of a group.
In order to earn a B you need to (this assignment is worth 10% of you final grade):
- Work with your group in a professional way.
- Do your presentation during the 31 July 2018 class date.
- Turn in your two-page individual reflection described above.
In order to earn an “A” grade on the assignment, you must do all of the things described above and achieve a level of thoughtfulness in how you address the five elements of the assignment you are designing.
In order to earn a “C” grade on the assignment, you must be present for your presentation on the 15th. Failure to do so will mean you fail the 10% of your final grade