Literature, Pedagogy, and More

In chapter four of Not Light, but Fire by Matthew Kay, he discusses some personal reasons why a teacher might bring up a conversation about race into the classroom. I want to look some of those reasons a bit more critically. First, Kay mentions that some teachers may have bring up the conversation of race in their classroom as a way of combating a form of “white guilt”. “Guilt, when matured by reflection, can inspire a teacher to approach a sensitive subject with humility.” (119). While this is true, guilt without reflection can also lead teachers to have a discussion with the goal of trying to devillianize themselves. That is where the negative side of this kind of motivation creeps in. If a teacher does feel some kind of guilt related to systematic issues of oppression, they need to evaluate why before they try to discuss it in class. As the adult in the room, students will look up to them for understanding how to navigate these kinds of conversations, so it is important to understand how and why they feel the way they do about those topics themselves. 

Part 1: 

In chapter one, Kay argues that teachers "must commit to building conversational safe spaces, not merely declaring them" (Kay 16). He argues that in order to build a safe space, we need to build spaces of active listening. A space where people are heard and acknowledged and not ignored. In a physical space, it’s easy to build this kind of environment, creating an expectation of building off of what others say through acknowledgement rather than argumentativeness. The concept “arguing for the sake of enlightenment” rather than a need to be right. However, while I believe it is possible to do so, it becomes much more difficult in online spaces. In online learning spaces, people have become much less conversational, they can’t make a comment quietly to their neighbor and everyone must speak one at a time otherwise no one is hear. Yet you can still create the same expectation of active listening and responding to peoples points. The flow of conversation may change due to the online setting but conversations can still be, and should be had.  

Part 2: 

I believe it is extremely important to build active listening skills. In the chapter, it mentions writing down comments said in discussions that interest you. I do this all the time. Recalling what has been said can sometimes be difficult, or there may be a point that I want to return to so I have made a habit of taking notes during discussions. Building off of other peoples points builds richer conversations and often leads to larger connections being made. However, with listening, I know policing my voice is something I should work on. I often get exited and passionate about meaningful conversations and it makes me want to keep on talking and talking. However, that isn’t helpful when other people have something to say too. I have worked on being more aware of this and have been getting better, but I know I still have much room for improvement. Allowing others the space to speak is extremely important. 

Part 3: 

In Teaching Popular Culture Morrell discusses teaching poetry alongside Rap. They called the unit “Poetry in Society” and focused on how poetry and poets challenge the norm, and provide powerful social commentary. I loved how Morrell sought the integration of media that their students were actively engaged with outside of the classroom. It not only makes the class more interesting to the students, but it teaches them how to apply literary analysis to media they consume daily. As Morrell suggests, “their non-school lives were saturated with sophisticated literary practices,”. Using media they like brings out their ability and passion for understanding it. The practice of teaching historical/classic literature alongside more modern versions is defiantly something I would put into practice. Rap, and most music, is already very poetic in nature. It’s use of rhythm, structure, and themes are very much the same as poetry, which makes the two so easily comparable. I do like the idea of having students write their own poetry during a unit, however part of me is weary to do so for a final project. For me, poetry is a very personal thing and being required to share it to a room of peers can be very intimidating, if anything I could add some variety into the lesson where writing poetry and performing it is optional or even part of a group project instead.   

Lets looks at creating a list of texts using pop-culture to answer an essential question. 

Essential Question: How do we know what we know? 

The Logical Song by Supertramp (Song): The song is about how knowledge changes one’s world view but at the same time talks about how education produces conformity, as the song asks “Please tell me who I am”. Students can look at this song and how it discusses what knowledge can do to us as we continue down the path of education. Questioning what it is we know. 

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (YA Novel): If we look at this novel through the lens of knowledge and society a lot can be unpacked. While the book deals with a lot of conversations with race and police violence, how the characters navigate these things is based on their preconceived ideas of society that was taught to them. How do they know what they know? How is that connecting to their identity. 

The Meaning of Knowledge, Crash Course (YouTube): This video discusses the philosophy of knowledge and provides a more concrete understanding of how knowledge works. Crash Course is every student friendly while the philosophy of epistemology is fairly complicated.  

Book: To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee published 1960

1. Canonicity: Why do you think this text is considered to be part of the canon? Who benefits or gets marginalized from an inclusion of this text in the curriculum?

This text, though written and published in 1960, takes place in 1930s Alabama and is often a supplementary text when teaching about segregation, Jim Crow, and even the civil rights movement. However, because the text is from the perspective of a white child, there isn’t a clear understanding of what that means for black people at the time.  It doesn’t show or explain the harsh realities of the time, yet is it considered an influential and defining text of the time.  

2. Contexts: What version of a given historical period does this text tell? How would the narrative differ if someone from a different race, gender identity, ethnicity, or class wrote it?

The story is told from the perspective a young, white, girl. Someone who lacks the awareness, knowledge, and experience to understand the acts of systematic racisms going on around her.  If this same story was told from the perspective of a even a black child, there would be a better understanding of the fear and hate that surrounded black people living in the south. There would be a better understanding of why the trial that takes place in the novel is so important, and why it was important that Atticus, a white man, was defending a black man in court. Scout had to be told why this was a big deal but it never felt like a large focus for her. She didn’t care or understand that this trial was putting a mans life a risk. 

3. Literary Elements: What cultural knowledge would someone have to have in order to understand the literary elements (symbols, theme, characterization, etc.) of this text? If the text includes minority characters, are these characters complex or stereotypical?

To understand the text, one would need a very basic knowledge of the Jim Crow era. There are not many instances where the main character directly interacts with people of color so the view of its effects are extremely limited. When she is taken to the church her black maid attends she sees her code switch for the first time, but only comments on it being weird that she never heard her maid speak that way before. She goes through a little culture shock but never dwells on the experience. All of the characterization takes place  through her, so if she doesn’t have a relationship with something or someone there will be little characterization. 

4. Teacher/Reader: How does your own identity, ability, sexual orientation, age, religion, socioeconomic status, race, etc. shape your reading of this text? In other words, how does your own positionality/privilege affect your perception of this text's value?

In some ways I can relate to the main character. She is blinded by her whiteness to fully understand that racism she is surrounded by. As a child, I too didn’t understand the systematic injustice around me. However, knowing what I know now, I don’t see much value in that. I don’t see any value reading a story about injustice from a position of privilege, especially when that perspective doesn’t fully understand it. I gain nothing from it. I would rather read the same story from the perspective of someone that is directly affected by the injustice, from that I would gain, insight, understanding and would grow to acknowledge the significance of that experience. 

5. Assessments: Would a summative assessment on this text allow students to think about ways to enact social change beyond the classroom? Would it allow them to move past the four corners of the text and even a personal connection with the text to understand how this text has greater significance to current issues and events?

A concern I share with Gallagher on the CCSS is the push to keep readers within a text and only the text when understanding it. To do this will never help students understand the world around them. Texts don’t exist in a vacuum and neither should our understandings of it. A good text and a good reader should be able to make connections to the world around them, that is the whole concept of critical thinking. For example, if the students were reading 1984 by George Orwell they should be able to make connections about the digital world we live in now, threats to cyber security and how much should the government regulate privacy laws. Being able to make these connections and think critically about the texts they are reading will make teaching reading more valuable and help them understand the concepts more deeply. 

Some ways to push for critical thinking when analyzing texts: 

Ask students contextual questions about the text: what is the historical/geographical/political/cultural context this text was written in? 

Connect the current text to past texts/concepts: this will help students recognize patterns in literature and help them explore concepts more deeply. 

Ask students what advice they would give one of the characters: This will help them learn from the situations in the texts and allow them to not only consider them as if they were real but to also allow their own input. 

When it comes to CCSS or NCTE standards for teaching reading, I align more with the NCTE. Just looking at the phrasing of two, NCTE standards are more fluid and allow leeway for teachers  and students. It also as a focus on understanding the “human experience” and the relationship the student has with reading unlike CCSS. Just comparing the two standards that both focus on reading/understanding multiple forms of a text:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.7: Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.

NCTE: Students read a wide range of print and non-print texts to build an understanding of texts, of themselves, and of the cultures of the United States and the world; to acquire new information; to respond to the needs and demands of society and the workplace; and for personal fulfillment. Among these texts are fiction and nonfiction, classic and contemporary works.

1. Boyd discusses how traditional definitions of care in classrooms is politically neutral and resilience being an act of the individual. They ignore the systematic forces that affect students, their behavior is their own but what causes them to act is ignored. The students social environment and culturally constructed identity isn’t addressed when understanding who they are and what could cause them to misbehave or react in specific ways. This is why critical care is so important. It acknowledges that the students race, class, and gender are apart of their classroom identity and that cultural narratives may affect their academic achievement and behavior. 

2. Boyd also explains how different styles of teaching can me more effective. Authoritative styles of teaching can be effective when it uses “power for the students good and never as an end in itself or aggrandizement of the teachers position.”  (Boyd, 61).  At first this styles doesn’t seem to coincide well with the want to produce critical, creative, and free thinking students. However, that isn’t entirely the case. As the chapter demonstrates, giving clear and precise instruction and expectations and holding them to these expectations while at the same time understanding and respecting their identity and needs will help students be successful in the classroom. This means teachers will need to balance where and when they need to be understanding while also upholding expectations, and this balance can look differently for every student. 

Valerie and Val 

Call me Val

It means we are friends, pals 

It’s more casual, less formal 

The name Valerie is simply too full of powerful to be said so often 

When people hear my name

They begin to sing, even though I’ve never heard the song

They think of warriors, of the Valkyrie 

It comes to no surprise that my name means Strong 

VALiant 

VALuable 

VALid 

This name has lasted centuries, like the warrior it is

I do not wish to be a warrior all the time 

I do not wish to be strong all the time 

I want to save that power for when I need it 

So call me Val

Robinson discusses that students need to engage in aesthetic experiences in their learning. They need to engage their senses and be “fully alive” and active in their learning. By using multi-genre writing, students will be learning to activate their senses. Graphic novels provide a visual, different forms of writing evoke different emotion, the way something is read out loud will differ from different types of writing and levels of formality. Students need to experience writing and literature, by waking them up with multi-genre work they begin to understand not just the different uses of genre but the fluidity of it. They will begin to understand that there is never a single right way to understand the world. We must understand that “stability is essential for genres to carry out action- but they are never exactly the same because no two situations are exactly the same.” (Dean, 3). We can understand this further through everyone's individual perspective. No two minds think alike, as they say, which means even when evaluating the same situation, how it is understood between two people can be different and would be shown through their use of genre when writing about it. As Dean argues, genre is social. and being social means it will change based on the context of the writing. This change means that there will never be a single correct choice for students. If they are to engage their senses in aesthetic learning, they will need to understand how multi-genre writing will accomplish that. 

Characteristics of the lesson planning genre

Standards met: There is a list of required common core standards or state standards that would be met during the lesson.

List of Activities: This is what the class will actually be doing. Sometimes this is accompanied by the estimated time that these activities should take to complete. 

List of Materials: This helps the teacher keep track of the tools and supplies they will need for the lesson. 

Ways to Asses Learning: This can be informal or formal, but the teacher should have a way to see that students are engaged and learning. 

Differences across lesson plan models and structures 

Learning Delivery/Engagement: Sometimes lesson plans will list what types of learning styles the lesson accommodates. 

Homework: Not every lesson is supplemented with homework, but sometimes homework is listed at the end of the lesson plan

Organizational Style: The way a lesson plan is formatted can very, some look like forms that one fills out, others look a note sheet hand typed. They also very in how specific or vague the lesson plan is. 

Criteria for Excellence in Lesson Planning 

Easy to Read: A good lesson plan should be easy to read and follow. It should allow the teacher to quickly find information on the lesson plan when asked/needed to do so. 

Allow for Chance: In practice, a lesson may need to change based on the needs of the classroom. Creating a plan that is subject to change and provides a willing structure for that change will help in the planning process. 

Proper Use of Class Time: Lesson plans provide multiple activities for students, they are not just listening to a lecture and taking notes. Different activities that allow students to think and engage different parts of their brains will help them not simply retain information but also understand what they are learning. 

Potential Difficulties

Unrealistic Expectations: The student objectives may be unrealistic. I don’t have a lot of experience working with different age groups and am not familiar with the skill levels often seen with them. 

Using Required Formats: Some schools have required formats that teachers use while creating lesson plans. I am vary particular about how I organize and format things, and I might have to use a different style of organization that I am not used to. 

Time management: I am good at know how quickly I can get through a task, however for other people it can be different. I don’t want to waste time going over the same things while not spending enough time on something else. 

Question

Context: For this brainstorming activity, we will be looking into creative non-fiction writing in the form of a coming to age narrative. This genre would be good for students in 10th-11th grade, to get them comfortable about practicing the writing process. The goal for this project, would be for students to use the writing process and skills they have accumulated thus far, as a way to reflect on their life, and to communicate how they understood a life changing event.

Genre: Creative non-fiction essay  

Criteria: 

Students should be able to identify and make use of clear POV in their writing 

Students should be able to form a complete narrative, using basic plot structure 

Students should be able to apply literary devices to convey meaning to a factually accurate narrative  

Activates that will aid in success: 

Understanding the Genre: Students read example essays, and identify characteristics of this genre. 

Understanding your topic: Once students have narrowed down their topic ideas, have them outline the factual event itself without adding any of the literary devices. 

Incorporating Literary Devices Lesson: students come up with ways to creatively explain a fact or event from a list of different literary  devices

Workshop practice: Once a draft is written, have students work in groups and give each other feedback based on their reactions and understandings of each others work. 

Provide a mini lesson based on classrooms overall progress: After reading a few drafts, patters can appear based on common mistakes students are making. Create a mini lesson based on these mistakes to help students understand where they can improve their work.

Potential Difficulties: 

Students may have a hard time coming up with a topic 

Students who are used to writing analytically, may be uncomfortable writing creatively.

Students may have not understand how to format different forms of creative writing. 

A classic method to teaching students in America, is the banking approach. This method, according to Frerie, focuses not on learning, but rather memorization. A taking in and storing of information rather than thinking critically about how the subject being learned relates to the world around them. It creates a power dynamic in the classroom that is oppressive to the students creativity and problem solving development. The teacher is assumed to know everything while the student is assumed to know nothing in this scenario. The teacher often times will assert their power over the students, who cannot question it because they are told they know nothing. If this method of teaching is failing the students want/need to grow and learn, what can we change? Well, Frerie proposes that the problem-posing method would create a classroom that is open to ideas and would cater to the students needs to invent and discover. Along with this method, the framing that everyone in the classroom is both a teacher-student and a student-teacher, allows for more free thinking, differing ideas, and a larger understanding of the world around them. This method allows students to work critically with the problem they are presented with, rather than simply memorizing information. 

An example of the banking method could look like the following:

7th grade students need to learn the basic organizational structure of an argumentative essay. The teacher gives the students an outline of this structure on Monday. They are told there will be a quiz on Friday about the outline, so the students get to work memorizing it without understanding why it is organized in such a way. Here, they do not question the information, and they do not understand why it is. They do not learn but rather they recite.  Now lets take the same scenario but use the problem-posing method: 

To make sure these 7th graders understand why organization is important for a successful essay, the teacher gives them an example essay written without any organizational method. The students then will identify and separate the different sections and organize like information. After doing so, either individually or in groups, they will then organize the information in a way that makes sense, thus, creating the basic outline in a hands on way. Here, students are thinking critically about ways to organize and sort information. There is more than one way a student can reach an answer to the problem as well as there are more than one answer possible, given the student can explain their thinking process.