Blog Fourteen

Reflection

 On signing up for this course, I never bargained for the challenging journey ahead of me. As the weeks progressed, I felt frustrated because much of the concepts and information was foreign to me. I did not experience such concepts of teaching literature at school and found it difficult to imagine how these concepts could be applied in the literature classroom.

Through this portfolio, I was slowly able to understand the concepts of Teaching Adolescent Literature. I began to realize the importance of this course and perhaps, the difference it would have made in my literature classes at secondary school, had my teachers adhered to these concepts. I can now see the value of connecting personal experiences to literature and being able to respond to literature in a personal manner. The knowledge and understanding that I gained through completing this portfolio is one of a kind. When I do commence teaching at a secondary school, I will without question, apply all what I have learned to ensure that my students get to experience and enjoy literature in such ways that will move them one step further to becoming aesthetic readers.

Blog Thirteen

Lesson Plan: Using Role Play

Subject: English Literaturre

Topic: Characterization

Strands of language

Arts to be employed in: reading, writing, listening, speaking

Duration: 80 minutes

Class: Form three

Age: 14-15

Objectives: students should be able to

1.     Use role-play to deduce the rules that govern all relationships(families)

2.     From the role-play students are to deduce the consequences for breaking rules

3.     Recognise the importance of effective communication by identifying the reasons for the miscommunication between Margaret and her father, Mr. Cruickshank

4.     State clearly, possible methods for resolving conflict with families

Instructional strategies

To be employed: role-play, guided questions

Materials/media: basic props (hats, scarf etc), text: Harriet’s Daughter, journals, slips of paper in plastic bag

Introduction: scenario: ‘You have come home late on a school night without informing your parents. Upon arrival, your parents ask for an explanation’.

Procedures:

1.     Students will form groups of three.

2.     Students will be given the guidelines for developing their role-play. In the guideline students will be given the instructions to plan their role-play. Students have five minutes to prepare their presentations.

3.     Students will dip for the order of the presentations.

4.     Students will end their planning when the first group presents because they will be instructed to take notes during each presentation paying particular attention to the problem, the causes of the problem, how each person (parent and child) behaved and the solution to the problem.

5.     Students will perform their role play within a three minute duration.

6.     As a class students will engage in a guided discussion based on the points identified in step five, immediately after performances.

7.     Students will then be instructed to turn to the section in the novel where Margaret is confronted by her father after her late arrival from school.

8.     Students will read the section aloud.

9.     The teacher pauses at strategic points to ask students questions such as:

Ÿ  What would you have done if you were Margaret?

Ÿ  Why do you think Margaret saw nothing wrong with her behaviour?

Ÿ  Why do you think Margaret’s father was upset?

Ÿ  How else do you think Margaret’s father could have dealt with her?

Ÿ  How do think Margaret felt after her father’s scolding?

Ÿ  If you were Margaret would you have continued her behaviour?

Ÿ  Have you ever been in a situation similar to Margaret?

Ÿ  What was your reaction?

Ÿ  How did you feel about upsetting your parents?

Conclusion: Students will be asked to write a letter in their journals addressed to the character Margaret OR Mr. Cruickshank expressing their feelings about the characters reactions in the situation where Margaret came home late from school. They must focus on the problem, how the problem was handled and the appropriateness of the strategy used to deal with the problem.

Evaluation: Students’ performances and journals will be assessed with the use of a rubric.

Blog Twelve

Evaluating the Reading Strategy: Collaborative Strategic Reading

Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) developed by Klingner and Vaughn (1998), is an excellent strategy which can be used before, during and after reading. It can work well in classrooms made up of mixed ability students and can help to improve the reading comprehension skills of students. It allows students to work together in groups which will improve their team skills and to also determine their individual learning achievements through the use of the CSR learning logs.

Students are also allowed to make predictions and form personal responses to the literature which makes the experience more fun and interesting in the CSR. They can discuss the literature in a ‘life-filled’ fashion that will only probe them to read more. Students get to discuss their thoughts about the different aspects of the literature and to also hear the thoughts of others. They also gain the opportunity to clarify any misconceptions they may have about the literature in a non-threatening environment. In small groups of four, even the shyest students will experience an urge to speak up and express their ideas to the rest of their group members. Although it may take time to implement the CSR, using this strategy will definitely be of most benefit to the students in the Literature classroom.

Blog Eleven

Using Strategy for Reading: Collaborative Strategic Reading

                                                                 

                                                                        

In an attempt to make use of Collaborative Strategic Reading in the ninth grade classroom, I will use the novel ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’ by Harper Lee to teach characterization. The character to be focused on for this lesson is Arthur ‘Boo’ Radley.

In chapter thirty, Scout who is the protagonist of this novel, finally understands the circumstances surrounding Boo Radley, which has made him a recluse who never leaves his house. Boo is the result of his immediate setting- an intelligent individual, emotionally damaged by his cruel father. Boo also represents a ‘mocking bird’ in the story, as he is a good person injured by the evil of mankind. I will now discuss how I will get students to think at such a high level using the CSR strategy.

The class will commence with an introduction of the topic to be covered for the day which is ‘Symbol in Boo’. Students will then be assigned to groups of four made up of students of varying ability. Students will be allowed to choose their roles for the day. The possible roles are:

1. Leader- tells the group what to read and what strategy to use next.

2. Clunk Expert- Uses clunk cards to remind the group of the steps to follow when trying

                            to figure out the meaning of their clunks.

3. Gist Expert- Guides the group towards getting the gist and determines that the gist

                          contains the most important ideas.

4. Announcer- Calls on group members to read a passage or share an idea.

 Cue Cards which outline procedures to be followed in the cooperative learning group and responsibilities of each role in the group will also be provided.

Example of Cue Card for the role of leader:

Figure 1: CSR Leader’s Cue Card
Before Reading	During Reading	After Reading
Preview Today’s topic is _____. Let’s brainstorm everything we already know about the topic and write it on your learning logs. Who would like to share their best ideas? Now let’s predict. Look at the title, pictures, and headings and think about what you think we will learn today. Write your ideas in your learning logs. Who would like to share their best ideas?	Read Who would like to read the next section? Click and Clunk Did everyone understand what we read? If you did not, write your clunks in your learning logs. [If someone has a clunk] Clunk Expert, please help us out. Get the Gist It’s time to Get the Gist. Gist Expert, please help us out. Go back and repeat all of the steps in this column over for each section that is read.	Wrap up Now let’s generate some questions to check if we really understood what we read. Remember to start your questions with who, when, what, where, why, or how. Everyone, write your questions in your learning logs. Who would like to share their best question? In your learning logs, let’s write down as much as we can about what we learned today. Let’s go around the group and each share something we learned. Compliments and Suggestions The Encourager has been watching carefully and will now tell us two things we did really well as a group today. Is there anything that would help us do even better next time?
Adapted from Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts. (2000). Professional development guide: Enhancing reading comprehension for secondary students-part II. Austin, TX: Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts.

A CSR Learning Log sheet will also be given to each student.

Figure 2: CSR Learning Log
Name:_______________________________	Date:_______________________________
Brainstorm: What do you already know about this topic?	Predict: What do you think you will learn by reading this passage?
Clunks: Please list your Clunks.
The Gist (main idea): Write the Gist of the section you read.
Make questions: Make questions about main ideas.	Review: Write something important they learned.
Adapted from Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts. (2000). Professional development guide: Enhancing reading comprehension for secondary students-part II. Austin, TX: Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts. For use in the classroom, this figure should be expanded to fill an entire page.

The groups will discuss amongst themselves, headed by the leader, all the knowledge they have already acquired about Boo Radley before beginning to read the chapter. The Announcer will then call on members of the group to begin reading. The Clunk Expert and Gist Expert will take up their chosen roles and begin to document any difficult aspects as well as main ideas they encounter during reading. The students will then Wrap up after they have generated questions and reviewed the main ideas. The students will also document their groups discussions on their individual CSR learning logs. The whole class will then engage in a whole class Wrap up discussion guided by the teacher. The findings of each group will be discussed and used to engage students in critical thinking,  until they are able to understand the character of ‘Boo’ and his ‘symbol’ (i.e. a mocking bird) in the novel. Students will also be encouraged to relate Boo to their own personal lives and to consider how they would deal or cope with the same settings surrounding Boo. By doing this, the students get the chance to ‘Find Oneself in the Story’.

Source:

http://www.ncset.org/publications/viewdesc.asp?id=424

Addition to Blog Ten

The Two Instructional Elements found in CSR.

The Element of Reciprocal Teaching

The Element of Cooperative Learning

Blog Ten

Strategy for Reading: Collaborative Strategic Reading

            According to Bremer, Vaughn, Clapper and Kim(2002), Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) is a reading strategy that combines the two instructional elements of Modified Reciprocal Teaching (Palincsar and Brown,1984) and Cooperative Learning (Johnson and Johnson,1987).  CSR currently consists of four comprehension strategies that students apply before, during and after reading in small cooperative groups. Preview, Click and Clunk, Get the Gist and Wrap Up are the four strategies that make up the first of two phases for implementing CSR.

Phase One: Teaching the Four Strategies

1.      Preview

Preview is used before reading the text for the lesson. It is the strategy that activates the students’ prior knowledge. It consists of brainstorming and making predictions about what they will read to generate their interest. The teachers probe students to determine what they know about the topic and what they think they will learn from reading the text.

2.      Click and Clunk

Click and Clunk is the second strategy and teaches the students to monitor their understanding during reading, and to make adjustments when they realize they have failed to understand the text. A ‘Click’ is described by the teacher as good understanding of an aspect of the literature while a ‘Clunk’ is the opposite of a ‘Click’.

3.      Get the Gist

Getting the Gist is also a strategy which deals with helping students to identify the main ideas during reading. It helps the students focus on important ideas rather than unnecessary details and can be acquired through the use of questioning.

4.      Wrap Up

The fourth strategy of CSR occurs after the text has been read. In this strategy, the students engage in generating questions about the texts and reviewing what was learnt in the lesson. The teacher also encourages students to generate some questions that require answers that involve higher-level thinking skills rather than just recall. Students then write down what was learned in their learning logs.

Phase Two: Cooperative Learning Group or Student Pairing

 Once students have learned the four strategies and have developed proficiency in applying them in teacher –led activities, they are now ready to apply CSR in their peer-led cooperative learning groups. During the cooperative activity, the teacher’s role is to circulate among the groups, clarifying clunks, modeling strategy usage, modeling cooperative learning techniques, redirecting students to remain on task and providing assistance to students (Bremer et al, 2002).


Websites with more information about this strategy:

www.dldcec.org/pdf/teaching_how-tos/using_collaborative.pdf

www.sedl.org/cgi-bin/mysql/buildingreading.cgi?l...15

nepc.colorado.edu/.../Vaughn%26Klingner_TeachingReadingComprehensionthroughCSR.pdf

Source:
http://www.ncset.org/publications/viewdesc.asp?id=424

 

Blog Nine

Stages of Literary Appreciation :Reflection

            My literature teacher drags into the classroom with the novel of focus swinging at her side. She lifelessly greets the class, which makes me glance at my watch to start subtracting the number of minutes I must endure this anticipated episode of misery from the present time. She sits at the side of the teacher’s desk and crosses her legs – a location and position she will remain in for the rest of the lesson.

            We are then instructed to open our novels and one student is randomly selected to begin reading aloud. Readers are changed constantly in an attempt to ensure that we are paying attention. After some reading has occurred, another set of random selection begins to answer questions based on what was just read. Thankfully, the bell which signals end of class rings and saves us from ‘death by boredom’ for now, as this routine will continue in the next literature lesson.

            Had my literature teacher considered the stages of literary appreciation, she would have realized that we were at the level of ‘Finding Oneself in a Story’. She would have taken into account the fact that we were becoming discriminatory readers and are no longer satisfied with knowing only what happened. She would allow us to discuss why events in the literature happened and connect the happenings to our own personal experiences. She would assist us in our quest to finding out about ourselves by planning lessons that allowed us to talk and interact with our peers. She would also select texts that are right for our level in the stages of literary appreciation.

            As a teacher, my selection of texts will include realistic fiction, contemporary problem novels or wish-fulfilling stories and will all be Young Adult Literature. These texts are suitable for their age and level in the stages of literary appreciation. These books will be of interest and relevance to my students, as they will read about lives of characters which may be similar to their own. I will also allow students to respond to the novels based on their personal experiences through group work and response journals, in an attempt to get them to justify why characters behave a certain way and why events happen in the texts. I will allow them to speak about their likes and dislikes of the literature and develop activities that encourage them to engage in critical thinking. I will also ensure that whatever activities I use in the classroom will be student-centred rather than teacher-centred in nature. I will present the literature in a manner that brings it to life in order to captivate students and perhaps encourage them to read more in their mission to find themselves in literature.

            In order for students to appreciate literature, it is up to us teachers to ensure that we can meet their needs at the correct level in the stages of Literary Appreciation. By making the students experience pleasure and profit from their reading, viewing and listening, we will be moving a generation one step closer to becoming adults who are intellectually stimulated to read for personal fulfillment and pleasure.