Course Synthesis

As an English major, a course on literacy is right up my alley, and I feel like there are several things that I can take away from this class to implement in my teaching. Of course, comprehension strategies are something I had already considered in connection with teaching literature, but I really like the idea of thinking about before, during, and after strategies to make sure I support students all the way through the process. I also thought that I would not necessarily have thought to incorporate "think alouds" or other metacognitive strategies, but can see how this would be helpful, particularly for struggling readers who do not naturally utilize metacognitive strategies on their own. As a history and political science minor, I really like the different ideas of breaking up and utilizing a textbook. Way too many history teachers hand students a textbook and worksheet and leave it at that. I could incorporate some of the activities we did in class, like the idea of using guided imagery as we read battle descriptions, or giving quotes from a historical person, making inferences about personality traits,and then reading about events that that person was involved in to see if their actions matched our expectations. I like the idea of giving students a problematic situation- such as what should the U.S. do with Guntanamo Bay?, and then reading texts for answers.

The vocabulary instruction guidelines we learned will really help me in knowing which vocabulary words to select for instruction. While teachers are tempted to just go through a list of suggested words that will help high school students expand their vocabularies for ACTs and SATs, I know that I will systematically select words from those lists to focus on that are thematically related to our essential question and learning activities. Making sure that the students have authentic contexts to read, write, hear, and speak vocabulary words will be much easier if they are interwoven with the topics we are studying. I can see myself utilizing morphemes to teach many of the Latin-based terms in political science, or a semantic features chart to compare different government structures.

In the area of writing, of course I am used to working with the six traits of writing in producing and evaluating writing. I liked the idea of teaching on just one or two traits at a time and allowing students to focus or practice on that aspect of writing. I think that writing is an area that I want to focus on in both my subject areas and will try to present writing exercises at all three levels of writing. I think the idea of providing audiences for the assignments other than just the teacher is also an area that I will want to work on. I see myself having students prepare their own supreme court verdict for a current case that draws upon previous supreme court case law, or having a student assume the role of a character in a novel and produce a letter to another character in the story. A satirical letter to the editor on a school-wide topic could be an applicable way to teach satire, or having the students assume the role of William Jennings Bryan and compose a speech to present in congress on whether the U.S. should annex the Philippines would all be great activities that would help students to learn content and improve their writing skills.

For me, oral language has been one of the most helpful ways for me to understand literature. Class discussions, small-group, or partner activities are really helpful in making sense of texts whose meaning is not explicit. I thought that the article we read gave some good tips on how to conduct class discussions in ways that will lead to meaningful conversations. I think one place I'll start is to ask questions about the things that make me wonder when I read- why did the author use this word? Why did this character say or do that? If I'm wondering and don't have a concrete answer, then I know that I will be asking an authentic question in which the students can express opinions and we all learn together. I think these kinds of discussions will be a good start to critical literacy activities in the classroom. Creating an environment in which I don't have all the answers and am not the only authority on learning will leave my class free to question what they have been taught, analyze and formulate their own opinions. Along with this, I will give opportunities for students for students to "peel back the curtain" and see the underlying biases, prejudices, and motivations that drive authors as they create and readers as they interpret. I've always thought an interesting thing to do in a history classroom would be to teach an event, and then read selections from textbooks written at different time periods about the event. I think it would be revealing to see how differently the event might be interpreted according to the bias of different time periods. Another thing I would be sure to include in an English class is a discussion on the canon, which is made up of predominantly white male authors. We would explore issues of what makes good literature, and if the selections are justified, or which books should be there that aren't. I would be sure to offer texts from other perspectives as well as opportunities for students to self-select a text on occasion.

I think digital literacy would also be a component of critical literacy as students learn where to find and then to evaluate sources. I thought the activity we did in class where we simulated internet search results and ordered them from 1-10 could be a useful activity in both English and History classes. Incorporating digital literacy formats in class will also be engaging for students who are very familiar with these- creating twitter tags as a way to practice being concise, creating a facebook page for a character in a book as a comprehension activity, or creating a class blog or website where material can become social and interactive are all ways I can see myself using digital literacy.

After taking this course, I feel like I am ready to hit the ground running with these strategies and ideas for learning activities that implement them.