Use this space to post your book club journal about Jewell Parker Rhodes's "Mixed Blood Stew." As you post, think about what you would want to/need to think about if you were going to teach this essay--or use it in a class to teach it, what you'd want your students to know/think about in this essays.
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OVERVIEW: Students often enjoy the first part of Lives on the Boundary more than the back half where he gets more into the nitty-gritty of what he things will support excellent literacy instruction at every level. But while his personal story is compelling, it is what we learn about what should be happening in the classroom that matters most.
WHAT TO POST: To that end, complimenting what we posted about last week, and having completed Rose, please post your summary of the last chapters of Lives on the Boundary. As you do, please consider what the implications are for what should be happening in a classroom and suggest a possible assignment or way to accomplish an assignment that would be in keeping with what you understand to be a best-practice. THIS POST RELATES TO THE LAST MAJOR ASSIGNMENT OF THE SUMMER: The Assignment Design assignment asks you to consider what you've learned in class about using writing in an ELA classroom--how to scaffold writing assignments, how to use low-stakes and high stakes writing, how to use group work, how to use presentations, how to use workshops, how to (most importantly) create an assessment process that support good literacy instruction and student learning. Here is a first chance to start to think about what that looks like, what it could look like. During our first two weeks of class, we've been about confronting myths and stereotypes one the literacy classroom. We've looked at our own experiences as students. We've looked at writing instruction through the lens of history. And we've looked at how the general public and the media have understood the work of literacy instruction and teaching in general
Mike Rose's memoir of his own time as a student and teacher is the culmination of this part of the class. In Lives on the Boundary, Rose offers his own experiences as a way to ground a larger discussion of the project of literacy instruction I the United States. I am interested in hearing about what you take away from his experiences and argument. We are beginning this part of the discussion asynchronously. We'll wrap it up in a face-to-face discussion next week. For Today's Post: Please identify between 5 and 7 takeaways about teaching and learning from the first part of Rose. You can write it as a numbered list in your post, and provide some evidence from the text to support your claim that this is a significant takeaway from the text. As you post, consider the ways Rose's text challenges ideas we hold about what should be happening in a classroom, what counts as an accomplished, literate reader/writer, what the solutions to education crises should be. Think about some of the ways we've been talking about literacy instruction in class and see where Rose meets up or challenges these ideas. For Today's Response: Read your colleague's post and respond to at least TWO of them. Identify one of the following things to respond to in the texts: 1) where you agree with their takeaway. Please identify a different part of the text than the one the original poster uses to make your point. 2) where you have a different interpretation of Rose than the original poster did. Please identify the parts of the text that support your challenge. Use this space to post your book club journal on the poem "Number Theory".
Overview: When I'm on a flight I am almost always grading papers. It's just how it is. And when that happens, some neighbor I didn't entirely want to talk to notices and asks me what I teach. And when I say English they invariably say "oh, I better watch my grammar." What I want to say to my fellow traveler is that if they talked less it would probably cut down on any possible grammar errors (I hate talking to people on planes), but I don't. I just smile and say, and I mean it, your grammar is fine. Everyone worries too much about grammar.
This is no more true than it is for folks who teach English, folks who think that they should be absolute experts on dangling modifiers and the like. And, to be clear, I'm not saying you shouldn't be, I'm just saying, more than likely, you are better at grammar and punctuation than you think you are. The deficit thinking that surrounds writing and writing instruction is making you think you are "terrible at grammar." WHAT TO POST What I am hoping to talk about today is the relationship of grammar and grammar instruction to writing instruction. For this discussion board post, please include your summary and analysis of the Constance Weaver reading you had for homework. Then please answer the following two questions: What would CW say about the grammar test you just took? About how you felt taking that grammar test? Secondly, what is a "rule" that you always struggle with or simply don't understand? |
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June 2021
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