Part 6: The Return of the PLO's.

When I started this program I was not aware of what the abbreviation ELA meant.  I really had little vision of what the classroom would look like, probably because it had been so long since I had been in an ELA classroom, and the memories that I did have of English class were not overly positive.  I didn’t really have a vision of what my class would be like, but after this course I do feel like I have some more ideas and approaches to use to allow the students to experience oral and written language.  In other words, my vision for my ELA classroom is constantly changing as I learn new things and have new experiences, and I feel that it will continue to change.

PLOs:

I didn’t know what a PLO was before this program started, I really had no idea that the curriculum was so flexible for teachers.  Although I was very intimidated by that at first, I now really see the value this has for teachers.  We are able to create our own curriculum that works for us as teachers and works for the students that we have that year.  Although the task is pretty daunting to create your own program, the advantages for a teacher with experience are limitless. 

Nancie Atwell:

Reading Nancie Atwell’s book, In the Middle has been a great learning opportunity for me.  It seems that Atwell’s approach works extremely well for her, and she has spent many years refining what she does in her classroom and is able to modify activities for her students.  I think I would really have to spend some time modifying things so that it would work well for me, but I do find this a good reference book.  It is one of many great resources that exist out there for teachers, and a method to help with student engagement.

Mini- Lessons

I really like the idea of the mini-lessons that Atwell writes about.  I am a firm believer that teachers simply talk too much in class and there is just too much lecturing and not enough active involvement with the students.  Mini-lessons are a way to deliver smaller amounts of information that are actually relevant to what the students need to learn at this time.  Atwell’s approach of getting on the same level as her students (using a small char so she is sitting at their level) also works well in this type of situation.  She is able to convey manageable chunks of information so that the students can grasp the concepts of what she is talking about.  She works with her students on relevant topics that appear in their writing, in that way keeping them engaged in learning.

Engagement

This seems to be the thread that is connecting many of our classes, keeping students engaged in their learning.  This shouldn’t be taken lightly, this is a monumental task to accomplish as a teacher to all of your students all the time in all of your courses, but it is something that should be attempted in all classes.  Relevancy goes along with engagement, in fact they are probably one and the same thing, if students feel that what they are doing is relevant to them then they will become engaged in it.  Keeping students engaged is more difficult than it sounds, but many of the strategies in class that we talked about in class I find could be very effective.

Many of the lessons that were created by the students in my 302 class were very engaging and would be fantastic to use with ELA students and I look forward to trying some of these in class.

Service-Learning

I hope I can create some projects on service-learning for use in the classroom.  The small amount that I know about service learning and the projects that I have done with students in the past on service (outdoor-related service projects) are a great way to get engagement and ‘buy-in’ for the students.  If they can truly make a difference in what goes on in their communities, then engagement is taken care of.   It’s a bit of a mouthful, but Learn and Serve America grant program, defines service-learning as:

A method under which students or participants learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully organized service that is conducted in and meets the needs of a community; is coordinated with an elementary school, secondary school, institution of higher education, or community service program, and with the community; and helps foster civic responsibility; and that is integrated into and enhances the academic curriculum of the students, or the educational components of the community service program in which the participants are enrolled; and provides structured time for the students or participants to reflect on the service experience." 

Exposure and Choice:

I hope my classroom will offer students a chance to choose what they will write about and speak about in class.  Rote learning of books that hold no interest for the students are some of my memories of ELA, and hopefully the students I will have will be able to make some real choices.  I feel that students need to have that exposure to multiple types of writing and be exposed to multiple ways of oral expression.  The articles we read in class talked about giving students lots of choice, instead of simply making them write about things they have no interest in.  Along with choice and exposure I hope to be able to make the material relevant to the students.

Student Teaching:

I hope that students will stay engaged and interested by helping to teach others.  It is an impossible task to reach every student on every level with every activity by a teacher, and I hope that I can create an environment where the students feel safe to share their ideas with each other and help to teach other.  So much learning happens at the peer level, and hopefully in ELA students will learn by listening, reading, and writing with other students.

Vision and Change:

I still feel like I lack a vision for what my classroom will really look like and I feel comfortable with that.  But I feel that now I have some tools that I can use to create a classroom, and I have more ideas for what might fit into a classroom setting with students.  The amount of resources and help available for teachers is staggering, and I think that I would be foolish to not take advantage of everything that other teachers and the internet has to offer.  I’ve realized that the PLO’s can be a great asset in planning a curriculum if looked at from the right perspective.  I’m excited to try some things out in a classroom, make some mistakes and learn with my students through experiences that we’ll have together in the classroom.

Writing and Representing

I think it is safe to say that most parents look forward to their child’s first words.  These first recognizable sounds are one of the major milestones in a child’s path towards learning to communicate effectively.  Soon the child will speak in full sentences and soon they will be able to represent some of their ideas with pictures.  Children are ‘taught’ to represent their words symbolically through letters, and parents and teachers applaud them every step of the way.  However, at some point along this path the praise and excitement about language stops.  I can not imagine a parent saying “What a fantastic five-paragraph essay you’ve written about your summer vacation…let me put that in the scrapbook next to your first tooth…”  Where did the excitement for learning and language go?  Has language simply become a way to achieve a goal, and a means to complete the next book review for English class?  Are students simply completing the next assignment to please their teacher and make the grade? 

Although I believe book reviews have their place (somewhere…) there are more than 5-paragraph essays and Shakespeare plays for students to be exposed to.  Writing is a great way that young students can begin to communicate more than just summaries of texts they have read.  Writing can also be a way to communicate feelings and emotions.  Donald Graves defines writing as a “…medium with which people communicate.”  Communication for middle school students is seen in a countless number of ways.  From texting to talking to writing to drawing, it seems like all these young people do is communicate at some level all day long.  In order for students to improve their communication skills, they need to be exposed to various writing styles.  They need to practice writing in various modes and they need learn to respond to a diverse range of writing styles and do so in a manner that has some meaning for them in these formative middle school years.

Firstly, students need to be exposed to various styles of writing and representing so that they can further their understanding of the communication/writing process.  This blog could simply not cover all the range of writing styles available to students today.  Magazines, blog posts, web pages, twitter feeds, fiction, non-fiction, poetry and technical writing are all mediums that students should have exposure to.  They need to learn what makes these styles of writing unique.  Students should also realize that there are other ways of expression besides the written word.  The rise of the internet, picture books, graphic novels and the like are all viable mediums of writing and representing.  According to the IRP (p. 15) these all meet the requirements of a ‘text’ – showing the “diverse range of materials… from which we construct meaning.”

Atwell’s writing workshop approach gives students a lot of exposure to various styles of writing.  She believes that “social relationships come first” and that she can use those relationships in the classroom to help students see other styles of writing.  She gives an example in her book about a student that simply didn’t really see what poetry would do for him until he was exposed to another student’s poem.  The other student’s poem was about her parents’ divorce, and this showed him the power of poetry, and he soon wrote a poem for a recently departed friend of his that went to another school. (Atwell, p. 72)  Young Jack in Sharon Creech’s Love That Dog eventually wraps his head around poetry and realizes that it is a medium that he can explore.

Now that students have had some exposure to these various styles of writing, I believe they need to practice some of these styles of writing, and learn how to express themselves.  In Romano’s article, Writing from the Inside, he stresses that students need to write in a variety of genres.  Romano stated in his article “I don’t want students to become Johnny-One-Genres” and this speaks to this idea about exploring various styles and practicing various types of writing.  According to Romano, different genres have the opportunity to teach students different things and they will become better writers as a result.

However, I don’t believe that simply proposing a style of writing to these students will be effective; they need to care about what they are writing about and write about things that matter to them.  The article Structure and Freedom by Casey and Hemenway talks about students losing the motivation to write because they are forced to write about things that don’t really matter to them in order to “…please their easily pleased teacher.” In her article The Importance of Choice Kittle wrote “I want to...teach writers, not writing.”  Without choice students are “…unlikely to value any outcome of this…beyond a grade” and “…see no audience beyond the teacher, no purpose in their lives outside of school.”  Although giving the students choice presents its own unique challenges, Kittle writes that choice expands thinking, feeds the teacher and the writer and helps prepare the student for college.  Young people are filled with ideas, and choice may give them the opportunity they need to express those ideas.  The IRP allows teachers to have a very broad approach to this.  The overall aim of ELA from Grade 1-7 from the IRP is…

“The aim of English Language Arts is to provide students with opportunities for personal and intellectual growth through speaking, listening, reading, viewing, writing, and representing to make meaning of the world and to prepare them to participate effectively in all aspects of society.” (IRP, p. 2)

Can this be done simply by doing book reports, 5-paragraph essays and reading books that they have no interest in?

Adolescents are emotional young people, and are starting to realize that there is more to the world than just their own ideas.  Service-learning is one way that we can get students engaged and excited about matters in their local community, pushing them a little further into society as a whole.  In the article by Chiaravalloti (2009) students were engaged in a project that included “11 different multimedia projects to use in educating their local community…”  The students researched a real-life problem, that of global warming and researched ways that they could go about making real change in their community.  Students in this article wrote scripts for a radio commercial, wrote an advertisement in a local newspaper, made a tri-fold brochure, and created a webpage as well as other types of writing as representing.  The learning in a project such as this one that extends the entire school year is difficult to quantify, but it showed the students that they have value, which I feel is an innate desire of all people, and especially young students.  This project is one example of how to get students engaged and excited about writing and representing.  Students can learn that their writing can actually make a difference and actually “effect change in their community”.

Atwell echoes this theme of choice and meaningful writing in her book, In the Middle.  Her ideas about writing territories are a great way to get students thinking about things they would like to write about and a great method for keeping them engaged.  Young people have so many interests at this age, and Atwell uses her own writing territories to stimulate ideas for her students and allows them to add to their territories throughout the year as new ideas come into their heads.  This fits well into the IRP’s general descriptions of the three types of writing: personal, informational and imaginative.

With all of this exposure and practice, students need to enjoy writing and use their imaginations.  Using interactive activities and strategies such as jigsaw or tea party can help keep student engagement in writing. (class discussion, October 2011)  The book by Gail Thompkins, 50 Literacy Strategies has some interesting ideas for teaching literacy to students that can help keep them engaged and to help them use their imaginations.  Students are starting to be pulled in many different directions in middle school, and this is a critical time for students in the arts, and a time when feedback starts to mean something to them.  I don’t believe that we should be ‘coddling’ our students, but they do need to feel some success in their writing.  If students do not feel some sense of self-efficacy in their writing, will they want to continue?  The more anecdotal methods of assessment may help students feel more success in their writing instead of striving simply for a letter grade, and hopefully this will also help them enjoy writing more. (class discussion, November 8^th, 2011)

In order for students to succeed as good writers, they do need to learn about writing at the most basic level.  Effective grammar and proper syntax are skills that are essential to writing and communication at all levels.  I’m not saying that creativity should not be considered, but students do need to learn the basics.  Instead of boring worksheets and long-drawn out lessons on grammar and punctuation, Atwell presents the idea of mini-lessons.  These can be short 5-10 minute lessons about topics that come up in the students writing that are important to them, and that will make them better writers.  These lessons can also be longer and more interactive, but they are not the 50 minute lectures on punctuation that I remember in school.  Atwell uses texts and examples that are relevant to the student and also involves their own writing in these mini-lessons so that they stay invested in their own learning.

Finally, now that students are beginning to have a more conscious thought process, they can begin to respond to various writing styles by analysing ideas and forming opinions (IRP).  I believe that this stage in their writing career is a critical one for young students, as they are beginning to discover who they are and can begin to express this through their own writing.  When responding to writing styles, Knoeller notes that there are mainly two genres used: formal analytic essays and informal personal response.  Although these have their place in writing, his idea of imaginative response presents a much broader way to respond to texts.  In his essay, he defines imaginative response as “Imaginative response can be defined broadly as responding to a piece of literature by writing creatively in any imaginative genre other than exposition and argument.”  This could take the place of a writing a narrative, a poem, a drama or others as defined by Knoeller.  He feels that this creates much more insight and the students create much more “fruitful results” with a more creative approach to analysis.

In the digital age, writing and representing will continue to be a part of our culture and I think now there are more and more opportunities for young students to express themselves.  Casey and Hemenway’s article Structure and Freedom has a great example of a young girl that lost the desire to write.  This young girl Paige, really “…wished she could tell teachers what she knew about writing”.  If we, as teachers spend more time listening to our students and less time talking at them, we will begin to realize that students have things to say and need a medium to express themselves.  Students can have exposure to writing, practice writing/representing and reflect on their own work and others if writing and representing are presented in a way that is relevant to their lives.

Atwell, N. (1998). In the middle: New understandings about writing, reading and learning. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook Publishers. 

British Columbia Ministry of Education. “English Language Arts, Kindergarten to Grade 7: Integrated Resource Package 2006.”

Beers, K., Probst, R. E., & Rief, L. (2007). Adolescent literacy, turning promise into practice. Heinemann Educational Books, p. 167-178.

Casey, M. & Hemenway S. I. (2001). Structure and freedom: Achieving a balanced writing curriculum. English Journal, 90(6), 68-75.

Creech, Sharon.  Love That Dog.  HarperCollins, 2001.

De La Paz S, Graham S. Explicitly teaching strategies, skills, and knowledge: Writing instruction in middle school classrooms. Journal Of Educational Psychology [serial online]. December 2002; 94(4):687-698.

Kittle, P. (2007). The importance of choice. In K. Beers, R.E. Probst & L. Reif (Eds.), Adolescent literacy: Turning promise into practice (pp. 209-212). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Educational Books.

Knoeller, Christian.  Imaginative Response: Teaching Literature through Creative Writing.  English Journal, Vol. 92, No. 5, May 2003

Tompkins, G. (2004). 50 literacy strategies : step by step. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson/Merrill/Prentice Hall.

Woolfolk, A., Winne, P., Perry, N. (2011). Educational psychology. Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Pod/Videocasts/Voicethread in classroom

Podcasting/Voicethread in the Classroom:

In this blog I am discussing the ideas of podcasting and using voicethreads in the middle school classroom.  Although the technology has changed somewhat, this concept of recording one's voice and comments has been around for quite a while. I remember as a young child making cassette tape recordings for my Grandmother, who lived too far away for us to visit, but she loved to hear our voices.  A podcast is really an extension of this in a digital format.  I used  to listen to a lot of podcasts, and after listening to a few from the Willowdale school, I can see how this could be applied to a class and how incredibly creative kids can be!  They are probably much more comfortable with the new technology than their teachers are.

I think part of the reason that I'm finding it a bit difficult thinking about using technology in the classroom is that technology wasn't used much when I was in the public school classroom.  We had a few computers at my elementary school, and they were used mainly for typing programs and very basic word processing.  I suppose now technology is integrated into the classroom, and students likely have much more access to it now than they used to.  So, I suppose it makes sense that we begin to look at using audio in the classroom for English Language Arts.  What a great way to get students to speak out in a format that is a bit 'safer' than public speaking!

I can see this being very effective for some students.  The opportunity to produce, direct, act, write, edit your own video/audiocast or voicethread uses a variety of skills and could easily be integrated into the PLO's for any grade.  For example, students could learn how to do research if they are doing interviews, and learn how to write/act in a play.  The obvious positive points are improving oracy, and through a way that perhaps even shy students can 'perform' in front of an audience, without having to have the audience in front of them.  They will hear their own voices, and even have the chance to have that voice heard around the world.

If the students are all working on a project together, such as commenting on a voice thread, then the students will work on their teamwork.  If every student has to make a comment on a piece of artwork, it can help the teacher see that the students are understanding.  Peer-learning is a very effective way to teach as well, and some more advanced students could be helping some of the less advanced ones.

Research/Sites/Links/Ideas: I did some research and looked into how this technology could be used in the classroom and found some interesting sites relating to voicethreads and podcasting in the classroom.  I decided to post the links here instead of re-iterating some of the great ideas that are in the below links.

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ - fairly simple open-source audio editing program

https://mysdlax.lacrosseschools.org/groups/couleekids/ - a good example of how podcasting can be used - by a middle school class

http://khanacademy.org - Although this is not podcasting/videocasting, the idea is definitely there.  This could definitely be a place the people go to get more information or ideas, or it is something they could do in the classroom.  I believe we're going to be learning more about the Khan Academy in our technology class coming up.  The flipped classroom idea is a fascinating idea!

http://millsmurfee.blogspot.com/  - a second grade class using podcasts

http://www.downs.kent.sch.uk/podcast/?pid=10&type=podcast&title=The+Downs+FM+%28Podcast%29 - a good example of a primary school using podcasts

http://chatt.hdsb.ca/~elses/boylit/Podcasting%20in%20Education - This site had some great ideas and direct links to some other useful podcasts, it's a great place to get some ideas about podcasting.

http://poducateme.com/guide/ - This site provided an interesting guide to podcasting and some ideas for it's use in education

http://voicethread4education.wikispaces.com/ - a good site for getting some ideas about using voicethread in the classroom

http://voicethread.com/?#q.b908650.i4836718  - This was a good voicethread on some of the ways you can use these in a classroom.

My first voicethread: I thought I'd try making a quick voicethread just to try out the technology and perhaps some ideas for using voicethreads, etc...in the classroom.  Many of the ideas I got from the above links.  Upon reflection I had a lot of trouble with the technology, I found the program rather difficult to work with and I would need more practice to make a better voicethread and make it applicable to students.

Here's the link to my voicethread.  It's just got a few ideas in it about how it could be used in class but needs some more work to be a complete one,I just wanted to get an idea of the technology.

voicethread.com/share/2332734/

IRP - Friend or Foe?

Can the IRP's help you as a teacher?  Or are they merely a hindrance?


I have never looked at IRP's before starting this program, and to be honest - they were pretty daunting at first.  The IRP's have a tremendous amount of information in them and at first glace seemed pretty overwhelming to me.  I believe they provide a great outline for teachers to follow, but there is more than one side to every story.  As mentioned in the title of this blog, they can be both friend and foe to the teacher...

Flexibility (Friend) - The IRP's provide a great amount of flexibility for the teacher.  The expectations are well laid out, and the sections detailing the PLO's for each grade are clear for the teacher to follow.  Although there are a lot of PLO's for each grade level, and they are 'mandated', I believe an experienced teacher would be able to make good use of the IRP's in order to create his or her own version of the curriculum that works for them.  This type of flexibility would allow the teacher to use current texts that have some relevancy to the children.  I believe a good teacher can change things constantly as they have a new group of students, and the IRP's allow for this type of flexibility.


Flexibility (Foe) - For the beginning teacher, I feel that flexibility can also be a disadvantage.  The IRP's do not lay out every day of instruction, and the thought of designing an entire curriculum based on some Prescribed Learning Outcomes seems very daunting to me, as a beginning teacher.  What are good appropriate texts, and what are some good writing activities?  Although there are some ideas in the PLO's later, the task of creating a years worth of curriculum may be quite daunting to the new teacher.  If we are supposed to "go outside the box" when teaching, how do we really know what the "box is?"  Some teachers may want to have more structure laid out for them.  I'm not certain about having the curriculum completely prescribed (Week 1, Class 1 -teach...., Week 1, Class 2 teach...) but an outline may help beginning teachers.


Previous Instruction (Friend) - Since the IRP's are very well laid out in terms of what is taught in teach grade, it is easy to see what the students were taught last year.  This gives the teacher somewhere to start as well as an end goal for this year and next year.


Previous Instruction (Foe) - Since the curriculum is not "laid out" for teachers to follow a written flowchart of what to teach each day, some teachers may not end up teaching to the IRP and therefore the students may not have the understanding they need to go to the next grade level.


What do our students look like in ELA and how do they learn?

Principles of Learning

Learning requires the active participation of the student.

People learn in a variety of different ways and at different rates.

Learning is both an individual and a group process.

ELA today has changed since I took it in school.  From all that we are learning in all classes, students need to be engaged by learning material that is relevant for them.  That concept is prevalent throughout Nancie Atwell's book, In the Middle.  In this book she talks about working with students in helping them create from their own experiences, and write things that mean something to them.  Students learn more when they enjoy what they are doing, so it is the job of the teacher to ensure constant student engagement through meaningful activities. (Atwell, 1998)  Early in Atwell's book she writes about how she came to the realization that ELA is more than a teacher dictating what needs to be done.

"I liked being creative, setting topic and pace and mode and orchestrating THE process, taking charge...If responsibility for their writing shifted to my students, what would I do?"

When I went to school, I remember being dictated too constantly, especially in ELA.  I remember being told to read this particular book, and write a report on it.  Next we read this particular play by William Shakespeare, and then act it out in class.  Then, we would do reading comprehension.  Then debates.  I don't remember much creativity by the students, in fact I don't remember much of it at all, but I do remember my music classes vividly, where we had the creative outlet to pick our own music and perform some of our own concerts, etc...I think in many ways it is easier to be the dictator, and have curriculum established long before the students even arrive in class, but is this good teaching?  I think good teaching needs to be dynamic and flexible - changing according to the needs of your students you have at that moment.

If we follow the Principles of Learning as laid out in the IRP's, then today's students really need to be involved and engaged in their own learning.  They need to be an active part of the learning process, and simply assigning a book to read and have the students write an book report on it will very likely not keep them engaged.  They need to have the opportunity to choose books and write on things that matter to them, not simply what they last class did the previous year.  I think all students have 'something to say' and I at this stage it is our job as teachers to help them creatively express themselves, whether that is through speaking, writing, or reading.

Students all learn very differently and ELA students will have varying abilities in terms of writing, reading, representing, speaking, viewing and listening.  We all learn a lot when we are able to teach others, and students are no exception.  Spending time using students as coaches for other students will help all the students become more versed in ELA.  Introducing group activities as well as individual ones will help students learn more as well.

Our students in middle school will be incredibly diverse.  They will have developed their ability to use language at different times.  They will have different relationships with their parents, teachers and peers.  They will all be at varying stages of emotional, physical, and cognitive development and will be going through a constant process of change.  They may be from different races.  They may learn information differently.  They might have learning challenges, or they may be a gifted learner.  This list could do on for pages, and pages...Simply put, all of our ELA students look different, and they all learn differently.  The wonder and power of diversity in the classroom.

Education can function either to create passive, risk-free citizens or to create a politicized citizenry..At issue here is whether schools of education are to serve and reproduce the existing society or adopt the more critical role of challenging the social order so as to develop ad advance its democratic imperatives. (Henry Giroux and Peter McLaren)

Atwell, N. (1998). In the middle : new understandings about writing, reading, and learning. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook.

English Language Arts K to 7: Integrated Resource Package. (2006). British Columbia, Canada: Ministry of Education.  http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/irp/pdfs/english_language_arts/2006ela_k7.pdf

Woolfolk, A. & Winne, P. & Perry, N. (2012) Educational Psychology (5th Ed.) Toronto, Canada: Pearson  

Diversity photo from Creative Commons.  Development Works Photos. 

Books photo from Creative Commons.  By Jenn Calder 

Introduction, history and expectations of English Language Arts in the classroom

My name is Greg Barmby, and this is my first (well, second besides EDCI 336…) attempt at blogging.  Not having much experience with blogging, I am curious to learn this "new" type of technology and how I can use it.

Writing in English has never really been something I have done on a regular basis, and I struggled with it in high school and through various parts of university.  Luckily my first degree was in music and the only writing I had to do was writing music, which was and is much easier than writing an essay!  In fact, even the word ‘writing’ to me has always meant writing music.  I suppose part of that has to do with the fact that I learned to read music at about the same time or maybe even before I learned to read written text, so it has always been easy for me to ‘read and write’ music, but the writing in terms of ELA always been a challenge for me.

As for the question posed in this assignment – I am really not sure of what to expect in terms on ELA in the classroom.  I remember very little about ELA in my middle school/high school experience, there are some latent memories of book reports and Shakespeare maybe, but somehow I managed to get through Grade 12 English having never written an essay.  I never learned anything about the standard 5-paragraph essay that everyone else seemed to know by the time I got to university.  In this respect, it’s difficult to know what to expect because I have little to compare it to, and have not seen a traditional middle grades classroom since I was in middle school myself. 

I expect:

·       ELA will look very different than when I was in middle school.

·       ELA will look rather chaotic at times.

·       ELA will sound rather cacophonous occasionally.

·       ELA will be like nothing I have experienced before.

·       ELA will be a teaching challenge worth pursuing.

Above all else, I expect to learn as much or more than my students.