MSU Teaching Standard 2:
Works with Students as Individuals
Description of Standard: "Teachers accept and value what students bring to school and scaffold learning by using students' prior knowledge, prior life experiences, personal life goals, role models, values, and talents. This requires learning about students through observation, interaction, and discussion with parents and colleagues, as well as adapting curriculum when necessary."
As acclaimed researcher, author, and veteran English teacher Peter Smagornisky writes, "when asked 'what do you teach?' some teachers answer 'students.'" He then continues by contending, "rather than viewing themselves as subject-area specialists, [these teachers] see themselves first as teachers of the people who are in their care." This distinction, in my humble opinion, is vital. And, in fact, this philosophy encompasses the very crux of my teaching philosophy, for I view myself as a teacher of students first, and as a teacher of curriculum second. As such, I seek to forge meaningful relationships with each of my students on daily basis by greeting them by name as they enter my classroom and strive to create a cohesive classroom community by sharing "happies" and "crappies" from the week prior, almost every Monday. Working diligently to establish and maintain a caring learning environment not only changes the tone of the classroom, it also creates a more meaningful, open space where real and relevant learning can occur. Incorporating and validating students' funds of knowledge in the classroom--their background, their experiences, their interests, their opinions, and their voices--ultimately brings learning to life.
Where I'm From Poems
In order to initially and immediately establish an empathetic, caring learning environment at the beginning of the year and learn more about my students' personal lives through their own words and on their own terms, I asked them to write a "Where I'm From Poem." "Where I'm From Poems," developed by brilliant writer and English teacher George Ella Lyon, are structured poems that simultaneously allow students a great deal of creative liberty in sharing aspects of themselves in detailed, deeply and beautifully poetic ways. Above you will find an example of the adapted template I used, as well as three student "Where I'm From Poem" examples :).
Download the link below for the full lesson plan:
Download the link below for the full lesson plan:
ohs_internship_where_im_from_poem_lesson_plan.docx | |
File Size: | 87 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Individualized Essay Feedback
Writing is an individual, deeply self-reflective process. Thus, each and every student has their own unique writing style. As an English teacher, this is one of the most incredible and simultaneously challenging aspects to consider in assessing student writing. Over the course of my internship year, I truly grappled with the question of how to fairly and constructively assess each students' writing development while also encouraging their individual writing voices. However, in my efforts to do so, and as demonstrated through the examples provided above, I spent a great deal of time (approximately 25-30 minutes per paper) delving deeply into my students' work before offering them individualized, extremely personal feedback. This feedback consisted of at least 2 areas of positive affirmations of a particular students' writing, as well as at least 3 areas for development for them to consider in their revisions and future writing assignments, both in my own class, and beyond.
"Letter To…" Agentive Change Project
I stand firm in my belief that the best learning opportunities are relevant and real ones that transparently transcend the classroom. The "Letter To…" agentive change project described above truly exemplifies my diligent efforts to make learning meaningful in for each and every student while also striving to inspire social change. More specifically, through this assignment, I encouraged student autonomy as my seniors individually identified an unjust policy (at the local, state, or federal level) that they strongly wished to change in society. After choosing a topic that they felt passionately about, students then worked collaboratively to write a formal letter to the appropriate audience. They then formally presented this material to their peers and received constructive feedback from them. Lastly, they were persistently encouraged to take a stand and use their democratic privileges--their voices--to seek out their appropriate audience and address this issue with them by attending and presenting this information at an open meeting with a local, state, or federal representative. Students worked ferverently on this project and astounded me with their articulate, mature formal writing and presentation styles.
Samples of students' collaboratively written formal letters are evidenced below:
Samples of students' collaboratively written formal letters are evidenced below:
Inquiry Project: Essay Peer Mentoring
The handouts and slides presented here demonstrate the research I conducted as part of an inquiry project for my graduate level Michigan State University coursework. More specifically, my inquiry focused upon the ways in which peer mentorship relationships between my sophomore and senior students would impact my sophomore students' essay submission rates and writing development. The results were inspiring and humbly startling, as is evidenced above. In my humble opinion, this work effectively demonstrates the ways in which I encouraged student leadership on the part of my senior students and sought to encourage my sophomore students to begin viewing writing as a process and a journey, rather than merely a destination--an objective I have strived to achieve over the course of my internship year.