California State Universities Expository Reading and Writing Course Assignment Template

The first thing that struck me while reading through this rather broad overview of the ELA classroom was that right at the beginning of the document was a section about prereading. I think that prereading is one of the keys to a successful reading experience in the classroom. It is the time when we can set our students up for success even before they delve into the complexities of whatever text they are working with. This especially caught my attention because prereading is an essential activity when working with English Language Learners. The more we are able to prep ELLs for their text and provide them with the needed tools to successfully navigate a text in English, the more successful the ELLs will be and thus, the more inclined they will be to continue to strive for mastery in English. 

One of the prereading activities that I particularity liked in this document was that of making the connection between the students' lives and the text. I think that this is so important because, why would a student work so hard to read a text if they feel that it has no relevance to them and their lives? Students need to feel as if what they are doing in school isn't just what the teacher wants but is something that is personal to them and is to help them succeed in life. Another prereading activity that I think is particularly useful (though they all are) is that of making predictions and asking questions before reading a text. I think that not only does this require the students to think beyond what they are being told and create meaning themselves but it can also be a motivator for students (especially when working with an interesting narrative). 

The other part of the document that stood out to me was the section involving summarizing and responding. Summarizing as a classroom strategy has been shown in multiple studies to improve and increase student comprehension of text. I think that it is crucial to include some sort of summarizing activity when working with a text because it requires the students to again create meaning themselves, to focus their thoughts on the text, and to comprehend the text in order to write or speak in an organized manner about the main points of the text. One activity in the document suggested having the students work in groups, with each group summarizing a section of the text that they are working with and then having the entire class come together to make one whole summary. Again, I think this activity particularly lends itself to ELLs because it breaks the difficult task into manageable sections and allows students to use one another for help. I think that this particular task would lend itself well to using a platform like google doc/google classroom and thus, encourage 21st century skills. 

The Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts Instruction in Grades 6-12

After reading this chapter about the CCSS my feelings are still mixed on the topic. I still feel that it is fantastic that we have some sort of standard to found our classrooms and teaching on (some sort of tangible standard). However, in some ways it feels like the CCSS were smashed down on paper, signed off, and then the education world was forgotten. There is so much that the CCSS don't address and they certainly aren't a fix it all. My very first thought as I started reading this chapter was that the standards should be shaped by the needs of the students. What we are teaching should be beneficial to all of our students. That seems like a no-brainer and, in a way, the standards are striving for this. However, while the CCSS do aim to achieve intellectual and academic greatness they seem to often lack in the importance of personal and creative achievement. Of course, one could argue that the CCSS are supposed to be strictly academic focused and teachers can guide students in their personal and creative growth as they see fit. But, how can students focus on a balanced school diet of academic and personal growth if the teachers are constantly trying to meet standards that only focus on the academic. Something is lacking here.
This lack of emphasis on personal growth in the CCSS also reflects (as mentioned in the chapter) a lack of care or acknowledgement of cultural diversity and instead tends to encourage (however accidentally) a push towards homogenization of curriculum. We know that all students and classrooms are different and we know that what works in one classroom could fail miserably in another. Do we still push the same agenda? Do we still try to put our students into the cookie cutter mold that strictly following CCSS would enforce? Do we forget the importance of the cultures and the diversity and individuality of our classrooms and our students? I should think not! There needs to be a balance between what the CCSS focus on (the academic and the intellectual) and what is left out (the cultural and the personal).
Finally, I was struck by the section of the chapter that mentioned how students in different SES situations and cultures may not understand why they are being asked to perform certain tasks and achieve certain standards. And why should't they be skeptical? Sometimes we look so hard and long at the academic side of things we forget to remember that the skills we teach our students need to be practical. They need to be applicable to the students' lives and they need to clearly have some sort of real life impact on the student. This is something that each teacher should consider when trying to meet a CCSS. How is the way they are teaching this standard going to impact the life of their student and is it going to make sense to the students as to why they are learning it? After all, everything we implement in our schools should be for our students and if something isn't then we need to take a step back and ask the question...why, and how do I fix this? 

Discussion As a Way of Teaching by Stephen Brookfield

After reading Stephen Brookfield's myriad of ideas, suggestions, and examples regarding classroom discussion, I think my head is about to explode.
It seems to me that there are so many different ways to facilitate a classroom discussion and some of those even contradict one another. Which way is best? I've come to the conclusion that the only way to choose a discussion activity or method is to consider your specific classroom and base the activities off of the needs and characteristics of your current students. That being said, there were a few activities that stood out to me in Brookfield's paper.

1. Near the beginning of his paper Brookfield talks about a circle activity where students sit in a circle and share their thoughts on a given topic. The students each get a chance to speak (one after the other). I think this is a fantastic way to start classroom discussions (especially if your students are unused to talking or jumping into a discussion.)

2. Another discussion activity requires the teacher to assign roles to each student. I think that this is a fantastic way to allow each student a part in the discussion while still providing some comforting guidelines and rules. I think this activity would be best for students unused to discussion or for a new classroom that is still warming up. However, this activity does require all students to participate and this brings up a question. Should all students be asked to participate in classroom discussions? Should it be required? Brookfield proposed both sides of the argument and honestly, I have no idea where I stand. On the one hand, students often need to be pushed and encouraged before they are willing to step outside of their comfort zone and participate. This often leads to the students becoming more confident and realizing that they do have a voice and important things to share. However, I also don't want my students to feel forced or oppressed when it comes to classroom discussions. I honestly have no conclusion on the matter. Again, it may simply depend on the class.

3. The last discussion activity described in the paper that I liked was another circular one where students sit in a circle, share in order, cannot interrupt, and have to find a way to connect what the person before them said to what they will share. This is a fantastic way to get students thinking in a more academic way. It is also perfect for encouraging students to listen to their peers and really consider what is being said instead of just stating their own opinions once or twice.