The greatest lesson I learned from the argumentative writing text is the importance of providing justification and evidence for the claims we make. For quite a while, there was this idea that everyone was entitled to their opinion. The problem with this is that everyone does indeed feel they are entitled, and that's not the best trait of character for someone to have. Being able to use reason and wisdom to explain what it is that you feel is more important than simply blurting out your thoughts because you feel you can. I liked that the book focused on this and gave anecdotal references as ways to teach the concept rather than simply being a "do this" type of text. I especially liked the activities that promoted making a claim and gathering appropriate evidence that supported that claim, like the one that involved the students trying to figure out what really happened in the picture of a police case. I'm going to try activities like this to help my students become more comfortable with making claims and adequately justifying them.
There have been a couple of things that I learned while this class, some new and some only additions to previous knowledge. I think one of the biggest, though, was that I finally found out what I'm like as a writer. I tend to leave open-ended questions or make comments that force people to think of the content in different ways. I also tend to go to strange places when given creative freedom in my writing. In regards to digital writing, I found out that I like blogging a lot more than I originally thought I would. I might try to keep up my own blog that pertains to my hobbies, but I'm not sure if I'll have the time to do so, or the commitment to stay on top of it.
There were definitely some things that I learned or were introduced to that I would like to try in a classroom, like Class Dojo and that online quiz game that I cannot remember the name of. I think students will appreciate not having to lug around physical papers in my class, as I'll have all papers submitted online for grading and commenting. To me, it's a much better way to organize a class that involves quite a bit of writing and helps to keep everything in one spot that can be accessed at any time. I can definitely say that my biggest challenge this semester was staying on top of the writing assignments. I did not turn everything in when it was due and I appreciate the patience of the professor in this regard. On the other hand, I do feel like my biggest successes came in the form of my writing demo. I felt like I did a good job on that and everyone seemed to respond well. Overall, it's been a pretty good semester and I appreciate all of the help that everyone has offered! Recently I discovered this cool website that allows you to make storyboards for various educational concepts that your students may find difficult to take in. It works in somewhat the same manner as BitStrips and lets you visually show examples of concepts such as plot twist, inner dialogue, and conflict. I actually used this in my classroom the other day to teach the four different types of literary conflict (man vs. man, vs. self, vs. society, vs. nature). It turned out great, and even my lower students were able to understand that content quite easily. I would suggest using it when you are already thinking of using a visual aid.
So, there have been a couple of times in my classes that I have recognized a certain piece of pop culture that my students have, be that a show, movie, book, or video game. For example, I have a student who is obsessed with Doctor Who, while I've caught another student drawing the symbols for the four nations of Avatar; there was even a student humming the bass line to "Seven Nation Army."
Obviously, these bits of pop culture are important to them, since they like enough to present it to the outside world. I feel the same way about the things that I like, so I tend to engage them in conversation about it. It's always funny watching their faces light up when they realize that I know what it is that they are drawing/talking about. I guess, to them, the 'older intern' shouldn't know about those kinds of things and it's cool when they do. I can tell you from experience that I have a better report with these students, since they know that I can relate to them on their level of interest. Now, the point of this blog was not to make it sound like I'm the cool, hip intern with the inside scoop on what's trending, but rather to tell about my positive experience with relating to student interests. I know we've heard it in our professional classes already, but I can tell you it's definitely true. Once the students see that you're not this teaching machine that's so far removed from their world, they will begin to build a genuine relationship with you, which, of course, will mean better interactions in class! During my internship, I've noticed some common issues that my students are having in regards to their writing and I thought it would be interesting to see if anyone else's students are having the same problems.
I think one of the biggest issues that some of my kids has is their tendency to never end a sentence; they just keeping going on and on. It's like the drive-thru scene of "Dude, Where's My Car?" Now, naturally this follows their thought process of, 'this happened, and then this, and then this,' but it's still very annoying to read through. I've tried helping these kids by suggesting that they break up these page-long sentences into separate sentences, but many of them seem to have trouble grasping that concept. Another big issue that they seem to have is proper pronoun usage. There are a lot of he's and she's, but not very many names to accompany them. This is a simple fix, of course, but it's fascinating to see so many students forget to associate their antecedents with their respective pronoun. An honorary mention would be the use of commas, although this is a tricky area that even many undergraduate students have trouble with. To many of my students, they know what a comma is and that they have to use it, but they don't really know when it is appropriate to do so. As a result, they end up 'sprinkling' commas wherever they feel like they look best, just trying to get them on the page. My supervising teacher and I don't take off points for improper comma use, but I try to explain to them the best times to use commas ("say the sentence out loud, and whenever there is a pause in speech, that's where you would put a comma in the sentence). These are things I've noticed my students having trouble with. Is anyone else having the same issues? After looking some of the various tech tools for education, I've discovered I would be considered a visitor to these sites. While I am quite tech savvy, I did not know about a lot of these site and tools, let alone know how to use them properly. I will definitely be looking into these various sites further in the future.
I am most familiar with Skype, Google Docs, email, text, Facebook, Wikis, and YouTube. I use these types of technology on a daily basis in relation to my own interests. I always knew that I could use these sites for when I am a teacher, especially Google Docs and Wikis, since they help with interclassroom communication. For as far back as I can remember, I have played video games. To me, video games are a huge part of my life, just as much as someone who likes to read romance novels or study the history of Charlemagne. I can say with honesty that I have learned just as much from video games as I have in school when it comes to story-driven moral lessons. There have been games such as the Mass Effect series that have demonstrated to me the importance and use of dialogue within a story, and there have been ones such as Journey and Shadow of the Colossus that have shown me how much can be said with little to no dialogue. It is because of these lessons I've learned that I feel video games could be a great help in the educational field. Aside from the physical and mental benefits of regular video game play (increased hand-eye coordination, faster information processing, more efficient decision-making skills, etc.), students could potentially develop a deeper understanding of plot devices withing a narrative. Due to the very engaging nature of video games, students who actively play and pay attention to the plot of the game are more likely to remember it than if they had simply read it. This is not to say that memorization is definitively better in the case of video games, but it can be said that for certain students it would be much easier. I will definitely use video games in my classroom when I am a teacher. I feel like they are a more accessible and enjoyable form of media for most students, as they are actively engaged in the story instead of being passive observers. The type of games I would use would be short, narrative driven games, as they would be the most useful in an English/Language Arts classroom. I know that a potential problem would be the lack of universal access to a gaming console or computer, so I, of course, would not make playing the game a requirement in the curriculum. Instead, they would be offered and suggested as supplementary materials to the related text that we may be reading. Hopefully I will be able to prominently employ the use of video games in my class when I am a teacher. I also hope that more educators catch on to this untapped and potentially beneficial educational mode. Hello!
As you may already know, my name is Marcus Porche and I'm an English/Language Arts Education Major at UCF. I'm currently in my Internship I and am also working a part time job. I like to read, play video games, Magic : the Gathering, write short stories, and play bass guitar. In regards to education, I am most interested in the practical methods of teaching. I find myself most comfortable in the thick of things, doing the active part of teaching. While I do still have an interest in the theoretical and research-based part of education, they are not my main concern right now. Maybe someday, when I'm a little more comfortable with the basics, I'll delve into these fields of study. My main inspiration for teaching comes from the fact that I love to help people solve problems they may have. This doesn't mean me telling them what to do, but rather giving them advice on how they may better approach the situation. So far, I have had positive results in my internship classes helping those students who may be a little confused over what it is that they are doing. Whenever I'm able to help a student through their work and see them arrive at their own answer, I'd be lying if I said that I didn't get extremely proud and happy, for me and them. |