Are you a poet?

My experience with poetry has been somewhat ok. I have never really jumped for joy when reading it, nor have I ever hated it. Back in elementary, middle, and high school, I was made to write poetry by the majority of my language arts and english teachers. I never got any fancy mancy award for them...just an occasional "good job". I guess that's why I never got into it. I felt like none of my teachers were really into it. However, I'm willing to pick it up and try it all over again.
My guess if I were to have a favorite style of poetry, it would be free verse. I like telling stories through my writing and having no restrictions or silly rules to follow would definitely motivate me to write poetry more. I also love, love, love funny kid poems. One of my classmates posted a great link to a poetry website the other day www.poetry4kids.com and I really loved it. There is some great funny poems about silly kid stuff up there. My favorite one was "My Excellent Education".
Hands down, I will definitely incorporate poetry into my classroom and I will fix the mistakes that my language arts teachers made. I won't just teach poetry because it is a part of the curriculum, but actually have fun and engage the students in it. It's a big difference from just reading poetry aloud like a monotone mannequin...than making the poetry really come to life...

It's the number one thing on my Christmas List...

Thanks to Dr. Duncan, I have proudly added "Freedom Writers" to the top of my Christmas list. I'm not a movie or a television junkie...and my friends will be the first to tell you that they think I'm weird for not watching a lot of television, but I really want this movie now. I recently told my dad that I would like to thank him and mommy for not allowing me to watch a lot of television growing up. It has resulted in me finding other cool super activities to occupy my time..and also resulted in me being a great babysitter (kids love my crazy imagination). The clip that Dr. Duncan showed us in class from the movie "Freedom Writers" was simply uplifting and refreshing. I know it was a film totally based on acting...but it had my full attention. If only teachers could allow students to "vent" like that without any type of consequences later (teacher or student)...the world would definitely be a better place. There would be less criminal activity and even New Yorkers would flash you a big smile, and say "hey y'all" if they ever saw you in a pizza joint in Upper Manhattan.

I would like to share with you that immediately after I left my Language Arts class, that I called my daddy on speed dial (he's #4). I shared with him about how we watched this great clip in class. He immediately asked: "Was this from the movie Freedom Writers?". I was shocked. Daddy had already seen this great movie and did not even bother to share it with his favorite daughter. I was like "Yessss!" Then I told him how I wanted, needed, better yet, I would die if I did not receive this movie as a stocking stuffer this year. And he says, "Ummm...sweetheart. I have that movie on DVD here." Whattttttt? And I never even noticed. Shows you how much I really do pay attention to movies and television. To make a long story short, I plan to go home this weekend to watch Freedom Writers with my family :)

Well back to the educational part...I think that "talk" is a wonderful thing to have in our lives. Just a side note: My drawing on the board symbolized, that whatever language you speak (Spanish, English, American Sign Language), communication is the key to successful learning in the classroom. And it really and truly is. Without communication skills, teachers would never be able to assess students' work and provide feedback. Without communication...this world would be a lonely place.

Peer Conferencing

The peer conferencing that I experienced with my classmates was extremely helpful. It's always good to get a second and third opinion on a paper. I feel like I'm really tough on myself when it comes to submitting papers; so most of the things that were addresses were errors that already recognized. However, there were a few things that I had in my paper that I thought were awesome, and my peers thought it would be a good idea to leave them out. I really liked that they were very honest with me because it only will make my paper better. My eyes doesn't necessarily always catch every little grammar error, so I was very thankful for the extra help. Peer conferencing is often a practice I utilize every now and then. After the eye-opening experience with my colleagues, I will try my best to try to use it more often. I learned that it doesn't matter what I think of the paper because I am not the audience...the readers are! Therefore, I should be getting a potential reader to correct the errors.
The pros of practicing peer conferencing in the classroom is allowing the students to build trust with one another and talk effectively about writing. Students also like peer conferencing because it gives them time to feel like they are in control; and this is especially important to middle school students. The cons of this exercise is that the teacher has no control over what is said during the peer conferencing. Teachers should be careful to watch for constructive criticism and not just criticism. Another con is that peer conferencing may bring down a student's level of self-esteem is they are not top-notch writers. Teachers should be weary of this and should be knowledgeable about what to do if it does happen.

Digging in the archives...

My past experiences with Literature Circles was great! I had great Language Arts teachers in 4th and 5th grade and Literature Circles was definitely their forte. I remember reading Shiloh in my literature circle in fourth grade. It was intriguing and it taught us about growing up and letting go. I really like the fact that we were "on our own" and it was almost as if we were teaching each other. The only complaint that I really had was that I was always the Discussion Leader and we never switched roles. Therefore I felt like most of the weight in my group fell on my shoulders. I did like the big project we did at the end. We had to go to the local animal shelter and "adopt a pet". Basically we had to advertise and rally for "our" pet to be adopted. I remember having a Beagle and getting someone to adopt him within two weeks. What can I say...I'm a recruiter!
In sixth grade I had another experience with Literature Circles. This time I read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. I didn't particularly like this book because I could never understand the "magical stuff". My sixth grade teacher was big on "magic" and everything we had read had something to do with flying animals or walking wizards. I liked what we did we the book because we rotated roles. If it would not have been for rotating roles, I would have quickly lost focus.
While we did have Literature Circles in fourth grade, we also had Writer's Workshop. I used to think it was the devil! I saw no point in writing in class for 40 minutes, just to have my teacher bleed all over the darn thing. I wasn't as great as some of my friends in writing and they used to make fun of me because I was the "world's worst person" at getting a paper started. Then they used to look at my papers when I got it back and would laugh because I had the most red markings. Fourth grade is when I started disliking writing. We had to follow the 5 paragraph rule and I never got to finish what I was writing about. Good thing my seventh grade teacher fixed this. He made writing an activity and not a chore. Thank you Mr. Proctor!

The chapter book that almost brought me to tears...

Last semester when I took EDU 255, I had no idea that reading this children's book would influence me to include it in my classroom library. I stumbled across the book while reading in literature circles with my peers. After reading "Esperanza Rising" by Pam Munoz Ryan, I knew that middle grades ESL students would fall in love with it. The theme of the book is all about growing up and overcoming daily struggles of being in a new place. I immediately knew that my students would relate to it by being English Language Learners. I can only imagine all of the pain, excitement, and overwhelming feelings that ELL students have by being citizens in a new country. It's almost like dropping someone off in the middle of nowhere. You have to just pick up the pieces and move on; even if you don't want to.
I could use this book in many ways. I could use it to get my students to open up about there feelings of being in a new country and adjusting to change without losing their heritage. I could teach them that it's ok to find a true friend to release your emotions to. This chapter book is very powerful in those ways alone. I could also use it to celebrate their heritage. Maybe using it during Hispanic Heritage month would be ideal since the author is of Latino descent. I just cannot wait for the day to buy classroom copies for my kids...it will be an emotional ride...of one I am willing to take with them.

To Blog or Not to Blog?

So I think this response to this question is pretty predictable for me. I LOVE BLOGGING (almost as just as much as I love talking). I enjoy blogging and being reflective because it gives me time out of my day, just to do nothing but think and write it down. Most of the time I do not see blogging as just another assignment from another professor; but something that will genuinely prepare me for the real world and just growing as an individual.

Everyone who knows me can easily tell you that I am the world's BIGGEST chatterbox :) I talk all the time and when I'm not talking, I pretty much think about what I'm going to talk about next. Pretty sad, huh? Yeah I know, but it's just the way I was made. I like to express my opinions to others and let my thoughts become statements. So I think of blogging as that extra ear whenever nobody else wants to listen to me. I mean...I can always rely on a keyboard and a blog posting to listen to what I have to say...

The Roles of a Teacher

Teachers become very important figures in their students' lives. The "Teacher Roles During Language Arts Instruction" chart in our book illustrates just how heavily involved in the daily lives of their students. I feel like most of them such as Organizer and Facilitator are self-explanatory; but there are other roles that we often do not stop to think about. Some children rely on their teachers to get them through the day. Others think that school is just a waste of their precious time. Either way, it is our job to make them feel loved at school.
Being a role model is very important when taking on the profession. Children and parents watch your every move and they all expect you to be perfect. Almost like being the apple of their eyes. Demonstrating appropriate classroom behaviors and daily activities are vital. Most of the time children believe that their teachers are equivalent or just as important as their parents; so we have to set the bar and raise it often.
Looking over this chart made me aware of how important the many roles of a teacher are. It is our job to become involved in our classrooms and make it a safe environment. I cannot wait until the day that my students become the apple of my eyes.