Observation reflection

1.      How many hours did you complete?

I had a total of 7 hours of observation time. Basically, I shadowed one of my colleagues for a day. Mr. Groves, a Special Needs teacher that is highly qualified in four content areas, allowed me to tag along for his day.

 

2.      How did I spend the time?

The day started with his Study/Life Skills class. Today’s topic was on communication skills. This worked out well since there was a guest in the room, me. His kids practiced introducing themselves and asking a set of rehearsed written questions. The questions were typical of things they would use in the real world. This was repeated third and fourth periods as well. I also observed him in a collaborative setting (Social Studies) where he co-taught the lesson. They were discussing the book Animal Farm and the political message strung throughout. His final class was collaboration with Integrated Science. He helped kids with getting the notes and information gathered for an upcoming test.                                                                                                                   

 

3.      How did the experience help me to strengthen at least one Kentucky Teacher Standard?

            I feel that this experience helped me understand Standard 8: The teacher collaborates with colleagues, parents and others, with a little more clarity. I have had collaborative classes before, but this was different being able to sit back and just watch someone supplement the instruction. I hadn’t realized how often and how smoothly one had to “switch gears” depending on the kid being serviced.

 

4.      Talk a little about one thing I learned because of this field experience.

            I developed a deeper appreciation for the task that Special Needs teachers undergo each and every day. I get used to the routine of coming in and my kids knowing the schedule. When I turn on the ActivBoard, they get out their daily oral language assignments and we complete this portion of the period. Then when I get out the literature book, they get theirs out and turn to the pages we will be discussing. They just know what to do. Mr. groves, on the other hand, has to conduct each day like it is the first day many times. He doesn’t gauge his day by how much he can get done. He must focus on the little steps.

           

 

Reading & Wiki lists

Kent Maikranz / Reading List

REOL 536

 

Genre / Titles you read

              I.      Non-fiction

1)      Night by Elie Wiesel

2)      A Child Called It by David Pelzer

3)      Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad  by Ellen Levine

           II.      Poetry

1)      Hate that Cat by Sharon Creech. (required for discussion – do NOT use on blog)

2)      Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Wiki post as an Art class activity)

         III.      Modern Fantasy          

1)      I, Jack  by Patricia Finney. (required for discussion – do NOT use on blog)

2)      The Giver by Lois Lowery (Wiki post as a Social Studies writing lesson)

3)      Gathering Blue by Lois Lowery

4)      House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer

5)      Eragon by Christopher Paolini

        IV.      Historical Fiction        

1)      The Teacher’s Funeral by Richard Peck. (required for discussion – do NOT use on blog)

2)      Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

3)      Troy by Adele Geras

           V.      Multicultural/Traditional         

1)      Hiroshima: A Novella by Laurence Yep (required for discussion – do NOT use on blog)

2)      Tears of a Tiger by Sharon Draper

3)      Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heros by Edith Hamilton

4)      When Clay Sings by Byrd Baylor

5)      Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko

6)      The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

        VI.      Realistic Fiction

1)      Baby by Patricia MacLachlan. (required for discussion – do NOT use on blog)

2)      Holes by Louis Sachar

3)      Anthem by Ayn Rand

4)      Hatchet by Gary Paulson

5)      Cold SassyTree by Olive Ann Burns

      VII.      Picture Books

1)      The Wednesday Surprise by Eve Bunting.

2)      When Sophie Gets Angry – Really, Really, Angry…by Molly Bang

3)      No, David by David Shannon

4)      The Hello, Goodbye Window by Norton Juster

5)      Ben’s Trumpet by Rachel Isadora

6)      Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

7)      A Pocketful of Crickets by Rebecca Caudill

8)      Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin by Lloyd Moss

9)      The Spider and the Fly by Tony DiTerlizzi

10)  Madeline’s Rescue by Ludwig Bemelmans

 

Wiki Checklist Instructions: Write the number of entries for each category you posted into on the Course Wiki (requirement is two total posts, in two different categories)

_1__ Social Studies

____ Science

____ Math

____ Music

_1__ Art

____ Reading/Language Arts

____ Physical Education

____ Other

 

Night

Wiesel, E. (1960). Night. Austin, TX: Holt, Reinhart, and Winston.

The autobiographical Night by Elie Wiesel is the first-hand account of the author's experience in Nazi-occupied Transylvania during World War II. The story is told in first person, through the eyes of the author. By telling the story through the point of view of the narrator, the emotional connection is amplified. The author is able to convey the actual emotion to the reader, such as when he describes the scene on the boxcar when they are en route to the concentration camp at Auschwitz. He describes the furious fighting over a piece of bread and how a young man actually beats his father severely in order to get the food. He then describes the feelings he experiences and the personal promise he makes to himself to take care of his own father.

Wiesel also makes use of sensory details when he describes the sight of the fire and sparks flowing out of the giant smoke stack as the train enters the camp. He also describes in detail the lingering, rancid smell of burnt human flesh and how the smell stuck in his throat. And he is constantly describing the sights of terror and despair as they unfold before him.



I would recommend using this book with older students, as the subject matter and descriptions are rather vivid. While my students can not make direct personal connections, some of them do relate on a lesser level. Some share how they have experienced similar conditions when they were evicted from their home, or when they were taken from their home by social services. So while they did not experience what it was like to live through the occupation of their homeland, they were still able to connect internally.

Book talk 2 - Troy

Geras, A. (2001). Troy. New York, NY: Harcourt, Inc..

Have you ever heard the saying, "There are two sides to every story"? This has not been true for the classical, historical story of the Trojan War until now. In Troy, a historical fiction novel by Adele Geras, we are told of the infamous 10 year long battle and siege of the city-state of Troy by the Greeks. The difference, we see the story from the perspective of two sisters, Marpessa and Xanthe, from inside the walls of the legendary stronghold. Instead of hearing about heroes and super-human feats, we see the bitter side of war. Marpessa is the personal attendant for the underlying cause of the war, Helen, and Xanthe is a nurse in the Blood Room where wounded Trojan soldiers from battle are given care. As with the Illiad, this rendition covers the final days of the war. You have heard the Greek's side of the story, now read the account from the Trojan's point of view. Then you can decide for yourself who the true heroes were.

Book talk - Cold Sassy Tree

Burns, O. A. (1984). Cold Sassy tree. New York, NY: Dell Publishing. 

Have you ever had one of those summers when the things that happened to you would be enough to fill your entire life, plus some? Sit back and let me tell you about a boy that had such a summer.

In this turn-of-the-century coming-of-age story, Will Tweedy has the summer of a lifetime. His life in the small Southern town of Cold Sassy was typical for the times. Life was slow-paced and everything moved leisurely. Nothing news-worthy ever happened. That is until his grandfather stopped by one morning and announced that he was getting married. This was big news because Will's grandmother had only been dead for three weeks and his new bride was younger than his youngest daughter. His daughters went crazy! Needless to say, this was to be the biggest scandal Cold Sassy had ever witnessed and Will Tweedy was put right in the middle. He could not avoid it and would not have tried if he could. He loved his grandpa and supported him fully. This was the first Will had seen him happy and full of life since Grandma died.

Unknown to Will, this was to be the start of a series of events that would change his life forever. Things began happening one right after the other. During the remainder of that summer Will fell for a girl from "the wrong side of the tracks", experience his first kiss, was ran over by a train, and was the first in his family to drive a car. This all happened while Will was still coming to terms with the concept of death and how it affected those left behind. Not only had his grandmother just died, but his best friend had an accident the past winter that resulted in his untimely death, and a family member would commit suicide before summer's end. And then there was Grandpa. Will was leaning about the meaning and value of life from the things he was doing. Sound interesting? Then you need to read Cold Sassy Tree, a realistic fiction novel by Olive Ann Burns to see how Will handled these situations and grew-up that fateful summer.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Coleridge, S. (1970). Introduction. In M. Rose (Ed.). The rime of the ancient mariner. New York, NY: Dover Publications, Inc..

This publication of the poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Coleridge contains prints from engravings etched by Gustove Dore'. While this poem is typically used for older students (it can also be found in an anthology I used in college), this particular format can be used for students of any age if the teacher is patient and willing to explain the vocabulary. The addition of the illustrations by the French engraver Gustove Dore' helps to explain the plot of the narrative poem. The prints are on the opposing pages of the text and are very relevant to the poem and help explain the text. The first example is on the opening pages of the poem (pp. 2-3) when the narrator is explaining how the mariner stopped him when he was with three of his friends attending a wedding.

 

The illustrations also help younger students with visualizing the story. This is demonstrated on pages 15 and 17. The content of the poem is talking about an albatross, which most students may not be familiar. The pictures depict the albatross sitting while the sailors feed and admire the bird in the first scene and when the mariner shoots the bird with his crossbow in the second. These pictures would enable the students to realize that an albatross is a large sea bird and what it looks like.

 

The prints also help students understand the events that are taking place, such as when Death and Life-in-Death are casting dice (pg. 29). In the poem, the two spirits are seeing who gets the souls of the members of the crew. Later when the poem makes reference to "lights" lifting from the bodies of the dead sailors, the print with the band of angels provides a visual for the reader (pg. 59). I enjoy reading this poem to my classes and this illustrated version has made it a favorite for my kids as well.                                                                                                        

The 698 line poem itself is a treasure for teaching the elements of poetry. First, the poem is written in ballad stanza, which is an iambic foot (unit of measure that is a pattern of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable) alternating between lines of trimeter (3 feet per line) and tetrameter (4 feet per line). Ballad stanza is what produces the song-like quality to this type of poem. Ballad stanza also has end rhyme with a rhyme pattern of ABCB. There are instances where the poem varies from this format, such as on pages 8, 52, and 60. There is also indirect personification: the Moon, the Sun, the Albatross, Death, and Life-in Death are all examples of personification. These are considered personification because Coleridge capitalized them, implying that they are names, a human quality.

 

The narrative style in which the poem is written means that it tells a story that has developing (round) characters (the wedding guest and the mariner), a progressive, complex linear plot (a story within a story that has an introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution), and a definitive setting (on a ship on the ocean). This is a lesson that I look forward to doing every year and this kids enjoy as well.



The Gods and Goddesses of Olympus

Brandenburg, A. (1994). The gods and goddesses of Olympus. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishing

I chose the picture book The Gods and Goddesses of Olympus by Aliki Brandenburg for the traditional literature selection. This particular text meets the criteria for traditional literature because it is a retelling of the oral tradition from the ancient Greek culture and has no known original author. I also chose this book because I teach a class on classical mythology and I am always interested in seeing how the stories differ slightly from orator to orator. This book covers the traditional creation story and stories of how the deities came to be in Ancient Greek society.

The format of the book varies from the normal format of a picture book in that this one contains 48 pages instead of the typical 32. Other than that, it follows the basic design. This book has pictures on every page. The book actually appears to be more of a series of pictures with captions under each one. With this type of formatting, the pictures really enhance the story being told. The pictures are framed, which means that they have borders and are contained to specific areas, except for the opening pages which are double-spread, meaning that the two opposing pages are actually form one image. On these pages the pictures actually surround the text, which gives it the illusion of framing the text, giving it importance. There is also a map of the area of the world from where the stories originated

The illustration type would be classified as cartoon of the graphic novel style. The pictures are not realistic, thus cartoon, but they are not done in a round and robust manner. They are more precise as to the actual images they represent. The shape of the drawings is complex with details given to both the subjects and the background materials, as is evident with the picture on page 11. In this picture everything is precise and detailed, even the objects in the background. The color is rich and adds detail to the illustrations. The line use is a combination of horizon and vertical/diagonal, depending on the mood of the scene being illustrated. In the illustration of the creation story (pg. 7), the lines are horizontal, which gives the picture an overall feeling of calmness and peacefulness. But in the illustrations on page 11, the vertical and diagonal lines give the impression of movement and action, which coincides with the content of the story (Rhea running to hide her baby and the scenes of Cronus swallowing the stone). The media use for the illustrations consist of pencil drawings. The drawings were then colored using washes of gouache paint and colored pencils.