Personal Reflection

1. Reflect on the work you’ve completed in the course (book talks, unit plans, etc.)

My favorite part of this class was the book talks. I learned about so many new books and found so many interesting topics to look farther into. I found that some books were not my style, but I could see students that I currently have that would be interested in them. As for the articles we did, I enjoyed learning about the edTPA that we will have to be doing very soon. I also enjoyed learning about creating my own teaching statement. These things will help me in the future. The books that we read could be used in history or language art, so I enjoyed finding things that cover both of my interests for teaching. The final 3-week unit plan that we had to work on was hard but very helpful. I found new ways to look at language arts in connect to other subject areas. I wish that I had been able to teach the unit in a classroom and seen how I would have changed it after teaching it.

2. Reflect on the theories and concepts we explored in readings and discussions

I think my favorite theory that we discussed was “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”. This was the most informative to me because I have often wondered where the line is between the teacher learning all the information and the students learning how to find information on their own. Often times, articles are given, or readings are given, then we expect students to feed us back the information in a specific way. I observed a change to this idealism this quarter. In my placement I saw students given a couple articles to read. Once they read the articles they had to get onto the online data base and expand their research on a specific part from the articles they already read. This was an argumentative essay that students had to find their own research to support their argument. The entire time the students were working on this assignment I kept thinking back to “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”. As teachers we always need to remember that our students are the learners, and for them to succeed we must teach them the skills needed to work it out on their own.

3. Reflect on how you think your participation in this course has influenced your thinking about yourself as a teacher

I know that I need to improve a lot as a student and teacher. We all have room to improve. I work really hard on somethings and not so much on others. I lose focus because of my own personal issues in life and often forget to check back in with my professor to make sure that I am on point. This quarter was hard for me. I had to learn to juggle more than I have ever had to do. Things got forgotten or left on the back burner. I need to do better organization in the future and focus on all that needs to be done well before it needs to be done. If I learn a better way to organize than I will be set.

Edgar Allan Poe

The Premature Burial (217)

Of all the ways to die there is no easy way, but to be buried alive must be one of the worse. We can appear dead or in a sort of suspended animation. Who is sure where the line between death and life truly lies. We have no way to tell. It is easy to say someone is dead or alive, or at least that is what we are led to believe. To bring someone back to life is another feet in itself, we must examine what it does to the body and to the people who witness it. To be touched by a soul that had been lost and then revived was a daunting thing, and it scared the people who witnessed it.

A Valentine (776)

Poe loved someone once and he describes how it felt all the way to the end. He has hidden the name of the person he loved in the poem and what I have found is that the person’s name was Frances. It must have been a great love and a great feet to put their name into the poem the way he did.

To – – (778)

To a mystery person Poe asks why he thinks so often of them. He wonders what has brought these thoughts to his head. Could it have been a dream? He now stands “motionless upon the golden Threshold” looking out upon a dream, waiting for an answer.

A Dream (833)

Does a dream only happen at night? Or do we have dream states during the day? Can some of our experiences throughout the day almost seem like a dream? In this poem Poe addresses the question of his dream is really a dream because it happens during the day.

Rationale

Poe wrote many great poems and short stories that are still widely praised today. What students can learn from Poe is how to take their thoughts and dreams and put them into words to share with the world. I personally have never cared much for Poe because I thought he was dark and over praised. However, after reading new poems and short story of his I can see that he had a wide variety of writing that he did. He used his life and dreams to write. We can all do this. A good age range for this would be high school because they would be able to understand some of the language that Poe is using better than a younger student. 

Teaching Ideas

1)      Some students may find it fun to write a poem with someone’s name embed in it. To mimic what Poe did in A Valentine. They could write a poem about someone they know and then change it slightly so that each line contains a letter like Poe did.

2)      Another idea would have students write a poem about a dream or dream like experience they had. This will help them translate what they are dreaming or thinking to words to share.

3)      Something else students could do is pick a Poe poem and write their own in a similar format. This helps them learn different ways of writing poems or short stories.

4)      One final lesson idea would be to have students write short stories that convey a thought or idea off a list. The list would be created by some of poems short story titles or his poem titles.

Challenges

Students: Kids may not be interested in Poe, but we can help them get more involved by giving them options of what to read and options of what to write. Like the lesson plan is to have students write short stories but they must pick the topic by using a title from one of Poe’s works to do so. This can show them how to see things from multiple perspectives.

Parents: Some parents may believe that Poe is outdated and overused. One way we can bring them on board with them is tell the lessons that we plan on using and how it can help their children become better writers and help them also to express their feelings.

Administration: Poe is still used in the public-school system, so I think they would be willing to let certain works to be admitted, but we still must be selective because some of his works can be a bit dark and depressing.

Night

Rationale:

Our world is filled with evil and to not repeat the mistakes of the past everyone needs to know the mistakes. Our world has seen some awful things with the Nazis. This is a great book to discuss in History class or in Language Arts class. This book is a real-life account of the things that happened when the Nazis tried to change things in Europe. There is a lot of symbolism and imagery in this book that can help students to learn how to write using symbolism and imagery. This book should only be taught to 11^th or 12^th graders because they will have more maturity to understand the content of the book.

Teaching Ideas:

History: By teaching this in a history class we can show students the impact of the Nazis decisions as well as compare this story to others that have been written about that period in history.

Language Arts: This is a great book to use for imagery and symbolism. As we work through the book we can have students analyze different things that are brought to the readers attention. For example, the title Night is an example of symbolism and represents death and the death of Wiesel’s childhood. Once we understand this symbol we can compare it to later symbols such as fire, silence, and corpses.

Challenges:

Students: This book is a bit graphic and is based on real life experience. Students will have to be able to understand that they are reading this to better understand themes and look at this as a historical piece of evidence.

Parents: Some parents may have an issue for this book due to the very vivid imagery and the content. As a teacher we must explain to them our rationale for teaching it and explain how we plan on using the content to help students learn.

Administration: The administration may have an issue with this book only because of some of the things that are discussed in the book, but this book is a real-life account of events and should be approached with that in mind. Explaining to the administration and parents the rationale and how to discuss certain topics in the book will help the students to understand it better.

Into The Wild

Rationale:

This book offers students a look at the difference between nonfiction and fiction. We can see in this book how nonfiction events can be just as powerful. This book covers important topics such as family dynamic, changing your life, and how we live our lives. Students can see how someone can want to change their life based on how they grew up.

Teaching ideas:

To have the students better understand the characters we could have them analyze the relationships between father and son and how it influenced the choices made in the book. Another thing to consider is have the students write what they would have done differently to go live out in the wild like this. What they would have wanted to make sure to bring and what choices they would have made differently. There are 3 things that I would want my students to analyze while reading: alienation, individual and society, and nature. These three things can be analyzed together or separately, but one thing the student needs to understand is how they work together and how they do not.

Challenges:

This is a book based on real events and that can be hard for some to read, especially since the main character dies at the end of the book. For students: we need to outline the events and make sure to keep going over that how the ending could have been avoided. Making sure that students understand what they are to learn from the book. For parents: lay out the rationale for reading this book and why it is important for students to read this book instead of a fiction story that covers the same issues. For administration: it is the same as the parents we need to lay out the rationale for picking this topic and why it is important to cover this book instead of another.