self-evaulation

Self-evaluation

This lesson unit was by far the hardest thing I have ever done in college. When it was first assigned, I thought it would be a piece of cake; boy was I wrong. I worked with my partner, Joel Crow, on this, and like Sean said, it was harder than working by yourself. However, when Joel and I got on the same page, we spent seven hour days in the library working on this unit plan together.  Our strongest aspect of our lesson plan unit, in my opinion, was the activities and texts that we had planned for the three-weeks. We picked very strong, strategic texts to match the literary device we planned to teach that day. I feel the short stories and activities we picked are directly aligned with the literary device that we had planned.

The weaknesses in our unit plan would be the time constraints with other classes and teaching that we had. I feel very strongly about our lesson plan unit, but if we had more time or no other classes, we could have made the lesson plan so much more detailed. For example, I would have loved to lit all of the big literary devices, and find a way to make it work. However, we decided on four major ones that we thought were the most important.

I learned so much during this lesson unit. I learned new things to include in my lesson plans form Joel, and I learned how much research teachers have to do to successfully teach a unit. The one major thing that I am going to take into my classroom after completing this three-week unit plan is it takes a lot of time and research to successfully plan a lesson. I also learned that planning a unit plan needs to be both fun for me and my future students.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Before I had read this book, I had heard a lot about it. Teachers and students alike told me how easy the book was to connect to since the author was local. I had always wanted to read this book, and I finally got the chance. When I first opened the boo, the overwhelming feeling of this being a story about the home-town boy overcame me. However, it soon left as the story got more and more interesting. Throughout the whole book, Alexie speaks with an honesty about him based on his personal experiences. This was very refreshing, as I thought this would turn into a story of playing the victim.  I know quite a bit about the Indian reservations that Alexie talks about as I have lived on an Indian reservation  until the age of seventeen when I left my hometown to go to Eastern Washington University.As far as my life growing up was on the reservation, I can fully agree on Alexie's claims about life on the reservation.The development and the evolution of Junior's character is something that I enjoyed very much about the book. I would love to use this story in my class for that very reason. I think this text would be perfect for a senior class. I would like to read some more of Alexie's books after reading this one to find the best way to implement it into my class. However, there are some things in the book that would be inappropriate for seniors to read in this book. I do, however, feel the text as a whole has a lot bigger meaning than those two instances, so I would for sure teach this in a class of seniors. Any grade lower though, I could not see myself feeling comfortable teaching this book to.

Night by Elie Wiesel

This was a very interesting story to me. It is both depressing and somewhat beautiful in a weird way. The way the author paints the concentration camps, and life seems so bleak and utterly depressing. I could only imagine how the author's life was like after being rescued from the concentration camps. I can't imagine the flashbacks from the pure evil and torture  the author must have endured. I found it quite strange, but while I was reading this text, I sympathized and felt bad for the young boy in the movie. However, probably due to his attitude, I did not feel the same way about the adult. Of course I did feel a little bit of sympathy for the adult, but I didn't feel it as hardly as I did for the young boy in the story. However, the speech at the end saved the story as a whole and it made me see the beauty of the story as well. I liked this story so much that I would consider teaching this to a high school class. However, I can see that due to the graphic nature of the text it could be pretty hard to get it passed. I do feel that even though the text is quite graphic, this is a story that the students could actually learn from. I don't see it getting past at all for a grade lower than seniors, so if I were to teach this text, I would teach it to high school seniors.

Graphic Canon

The Graphic Cannon is amazing. I had never seen nor heard of it before this class. Since discovering the book, I have used it in my own class to help struggling readers, and it seems to help them a lot. I see the Graphic Cannon as a good thing, but there are some drawbacks. For example, The book largely is picture based. While I understand that this will help an enormous amount of students who may be intimidated by all the words on a page of a novel, it still could be confusing to students who need a balance of words and pictures. The Graphic cannon is a great teaching source. However, I do feel there should be more of a balance of text and art to make it more relate able to students. I do plan to use this in my class, however. There are students who struggle greatly with vocab words, keeping track as we read the text as a class, pronunciation of certain words, etc. So, this is a great resource. I do feel that students should, at some point, be able to understand the words in a text, given that they do not have an IEP or 504 plan, of course. I did really enjoy this text though because I didn't have to paint the picture of what was going on in the text in my head. It was literally already painted out on the page, so I really enjoyed that aspect of The Graphic Cannon. Overall, I really enjoyed this text, and I could see how it can and will be very helpful in my future classes. It is a great text, and a great teaching resource overall.

The House That Usher Built- Poe

Department of Education College of Arts, Letters and Education 312 Williamson Hall Cheney, WA   99004

TPA Lesson Plan #__1___

Course:

1. Teacher Candidate	Connor Crim	Date Taught	3/5/17
Cooperating Teacher	N/A	School/District	EWU
2. Subject	English/Literature	Field Supervisor	sean agriss
3. Lesson Title/Focus	Theme/ analysis	5. Length of Lesson	20 minutes
4. Grade Level	7th  grade English.

6. Academic & Content Standards (Common Core/National)	CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.2 Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze its development over the course of the text; provide an objective summary of the text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.3 Analyze how particular elements of a story or drama interact (e.g., how setting shapes the characters or plot).
7. Learning Objective(s)	Given my lecture and the group discussion on Poe’s story, “The Fall of The House of Usher”, students will be able to analyze the text and determine how symbolism plays a part in discovering and discussing the overall plot of the story.
8. Academic Language demands (vocabulary, function, syntax, discourse)	Analyze Explain Discuss Discourse: Students will be discussing and explaining their analysis of the text discussed in class in pre-determined groups. They will then discuss their findings in a larger whole class discussion.

9. Assessment

Formative assessment: Students will work in groups and decide what the symbols in the story represent and how it connects to the overall theme of the story.

10. Lesson Connections

1. After my lesson, students will successfully be able to determine how symbols in the text directly affect the theme of the story, and how there are many, many different themes in the story, depending on the person’s interpretation. 2. In Sharon A. McDade’s article “Case study pedagogy to advance critical thinking” McDade talks about how important it is to teach students how to analyze text, and to understand the theme of a text to understand the text as a whole,  not only in literature but in all disciplines of study. According to McDade, being able to analyze text allows students to have a deeper and richer understanding of the text as a whole. However, she says, that there is a proper way to teach students how to analyze texts depending on what discipline we are discussing. Some classes may require a class discussion, while others may require a deep, careful reading of the text, or a mix of the two may be required. McDade, Sharon A. "Case study pedagogy to advance critical thinking." Teaching of psychology 22.1 (1995): 9-10.

11. Instructional Strategies/Learning Tasks to Support Learning
Learning Tasks and Strategies 1.    Students will take their seats and wait for role to be called. 2.    Instruction will begin. Opportunities for questions to be asked will be presented frequently to the students to ensure they completely understand the instruction material (10) minutes 3.    Students will be broken into groups after the instruction period has ended to discuss their thoughts and interpretation of the story as a whole.(10 minutes). 4.    Student discussion will end, and students will to returned to their seats for a final group discussion of the story (5 minutes). 5.    Students will write a page analysis of the story (5 minutes). 6.    Class will be released and students will hand In  their papers to serve as an exit task.
Teacher’s Role: 1.    I will point out and make sure that every student knows the learning objective of the day 2.    I will begin instruction 3.    I will allow multiple opportunities for students to ask questions if and when they have any 4.    I will break students up into discussion groups after the lesson portion of class has ended. 5.    I will constantly be monitoring the students in the class to make sure that they are on task 6.    After 10 minutes, I will ask students to return to their seats. 7.    I will introduce the students to their exit tasks 8.    I will dismiss class and collect all exit slips.	Students’ Role 1.    Students will sit in their seats. 2.    Students will have their notebooks and a pencil and be ready to take notes during my instruction. 3.    During instruction, students are expected to raise their hands if they have a question. 4.    Students are expected to remain respectful and on task during their discussion with their pre-determined groups. 5.    Students will finish their exit tasks for the day. 6.    Students will pack up once the announcement is given that they may begin to pack up. 7.    Students will hand me their exit slips as they leave the classroom.
Student Voice to Gather Students will discuss their analysis of the text. They will then write a page analysis of the poem to serve as their exit task. This will be handed in to be as they leave the classroom.

12. Differentiated Instruction

Students who are visual learners, along with the rest of the class, will be presented with a text of the story, (which they should have) that we are discussing, and easy to follow rules for their exit task. Auditory learners will be able to listen to the lecture as I talk and explain the major points and take notes while doing so.

13. Resources and Materials

1.    Paper 2.    Pencil 3.    Notebooks 4.    “The Fall of The House of Usher” short story

14. Management and Safety Issues

Students will be aware by this time that during class discussions, they are required to stay on topic and remain respectful to one another. Students will be instructed and expected to move into their pre-determined groups in a respectful manner while not disturbing other groups and other students. To make sure that students move into their groups in a safe fashion, I will be observing their activity as they move into groups to ensure the safety of myself and the other students.

15. Parent & Community Connections

At the beginning of every larger unit, a permission slip/informative sheet is sent home, which tells parents and guardians what we will be learning in class. This slip is to be signed by the parents and returned to the teacher.

Poe's The Haunted Palace, The Black Cat, The Cask of Amontillado, Fall of the House of Usher, Evening Star, A Dream and A Tell Tale Heart.

The haunted palace by Poe is a great and creepy poem. The palace is first described as a happy place, almost like a king's palace. Everyone is dancing and partying. Sounds like fun, right? Well, not so fast. This is Poe. As it turns out, the place was attacked by some evil forces. I liked this part of the poem because I like creepy stories. All of the sudden, the palace turns to a real life house of horrors.I loved this poem. I remember reading it Freshmen year, but I totally forgot this poem. It was a great, creepy, and overall great poem. It is one of my favorites by Poe.

The Black Cat by Poe was another great read. The narrator kind of creeped  me out. He has a very strange love of cats and dogs.The narrator's poor wife has to deal with the narrator's weird love of animals as he introduces many of them to her. Soon, the narrator becomes a drunk, comes home, and dig one of his cat's eyes out. Eventually, the cops burst into his house and find a cat's skull. This was a weird read for me. Poor cat.

Fall of The House of Usher by Poe has to be my favorite. That is why I choose it for my mini lesson.A man named Roderick writes the narrator and tells him to come to this really creepy house. You think the house is creepy outside? Just wait until you see the inside of the house. Roderick's sister, Madeline, dies, comes back to life, attacks Roderick, and he dies of fear.The narrator is so scared that he runs out of the house. As soon as he gets outside, the house collapses. This poem is an amazing piece of literary art. It is my favorite Poe piece that I have read.

Evening Star by Poe was another amazing read. We learn quickly that it is night time. The moon is big, the stars are bright. The moon even controls him. However, we soon learn this is a woman. The narrator happens to be this woman's slave.However, he becomes happy as he gazes off into the stars, which represent the woman. So bright and beautiful  but just out of reach. The imagery in this poem is very powerful. It is a very beautiful poem from Poe. Which is weird since I am used to reading creepy stories and poems from Poe.

A Dream and a Tell Tale Heart by Poe was the last of the readings, and i'm very happy that I got a chance to read it.We don't know the narrator, but we soon learn that the narrator has killed an old man.The old man is scared of something, and he begins to cry. Before the old man can cry out, he is killed by the narrator. The police come. They fully expect to not find anything. However, they hear a sound from under the floor that the narrator hopes that no one heard.The old man demands the police rip up the floor because the old man is still alive. The old man lays out a tale of the murder. This was a very interesting read to me.The narrator gets close to the old man, but he still kills him in the end. This kind of creepy writing seems to be very prominent in most of Poe's writing. This was a very interesting read. I;m glad I got a chance to read it. It got me a lot more interested in Poe.

The Crucible

The cruciable- play

The play is about the Salem witch trials. It takes place in Salem in 1692. One of the main characters, Rev. Parris catches a group of girls, including his niece Abigale and his daughter dancing in the woods. They were practicing witchcraft. Abigale drank chickens blood in attempt to kill Elizabeth proctor because she had an affair with her husband John Proctor. The word quickly spreads that there is witch craft happening in the town, and they demand that Rev. Parris help  them figure out what is going on. Rev. Parris does not want to acknowledge that anything is going on because his daughter, Betty was also practicing witchcraft, and he did not want to damage his reputation. The group of girls are terrified that they got caught, so they start accusing other girls of being witches.  Everyone that they accuse gets arrested and many of them get executed. Anyone who is accused of being a witch  is brought in front of Abigale and her friends who were caught practicing witchcraft, if the girls fell to the ground like spirits were attacking them, the person would be sentenced to death. Elizabeth is terrified that Abigale is going to tell the court that she is a witch so Elizabeth would be executed, and she could then marry John. Just as suspected, even though John tries to fight it, Elizabeth is arrested and carried off in chains. John decides that he will have to go in front of the court and admit to adultery. He knows he would be discrased by the town, but still it would discredit Abigale. In the court 91 names of people are presented and each get arrested. John shows up with marry warren, one of the girls who got caught dancing in the forest practicing witchcraft to say Abigale and the other girls are lying. Abigale denies the claims. One of the judges ask Marry Warren to pretend like a spirit is attacking her like she did previously with the other girls, but without the other girls doing it with her she cant. All of the sudden Abigale and her friends start acting like Mary’s spirit is attacking them. John finally has enough and admits to the court that he had an affair with Abagail. However, after his wife dismisses the claims to protect him, the judge rules him not guilty and Abigale continues to act like she is being attacked. Eventually Emily breaks down and says that John works for Satin and Abigale is right. John is then arrested. Then cut to months later where john and 11 others are to be hanged. Abigale steals all of Rev. Parris’s money and runs away. A lot of people turn against the trials and don’t believe in them anymore. John eventually is convinced to confess in order to save his own life. He admits that he works for Satin. However, John refuses to sign a confession that would be nailed to the door of the church because he doesn’t want to disgrace his name or his family’s name. Because of this John is executed. After this government by the church is essentially broken.

1.      Please explain why you chose this text. What was your rationale? For whom is this text appropriate? Please consider age, ability, and any other factor you find important. Why is it appropriate for this group of students?

I choose this text because the Salem witch trials have always been an interesting topic to be. We studied it in History class in middle school and it has always been an interesting period of history for me.  Since we studied the Salem Witch Trials in middle school, I think this age group would be perfect to read this play in. The language isn’t too complex or the story isn’t too hard to follow either.

2.      Please include some teaching ideas. How do you envision this text being used in a secondary classroom? Provide at least 3 specific ideas for what is possible with this text.

First, we could read the play as a class. When we are done reading it, I could split students into groups and have them act out whole, or different scenes from the play, editing a little of course.

Second,  I could have tem read the play and create their own salem witch trial story or play in groups, when they have finished, have a presentation day for what they created.

Third, Read the play as a class and create a visual project in groups like a poster describing the main points of the story, a comic book on poster board depicting character development, plot, themes, etc. Then have a presentation day where the students present their project with their groupmates.

3.      Please consider some obstacles to using this text. What are the potential issues that may arise from using this text? Predict an administrator’s response to the use of this text. Predict parents’ responses. Predict students’ responses.

I see a few potential problems with presenting this text to my class: One- language. There isn’t too much bad language in this play, but the word “whore” is used, and that may create a problem with students or parents. The other problem I see is the nature of the text. The play is based around lieing to get people hung. This may become an issue with parents or students who are uncomfortable with the subject matter of the play.

Readicide

I really enjoyed reading this book. I didn't know too much of what to expect, but I have read one other of Kelly Gallagher's books a couple of quarters ago, and I loved it. This book, no surprise to me, turned out to be no different. The title is a perfect essence for this book because I lost my love of reading during my secondary education. It seemed as though we were just reading to keep busy. There was no specific lesson tied to any of our readings, but it seemed like it was just buys work, for the most part. The most outrageous thing about my reading that I was required to do in high school, they were massive novels that we had to pack with stick notes, underlines, highlights, or whatever else you could possibly find to do to ruin the book. We had to mark the books because we were required to take quizzes as soon as we got to a certain point. If you failed the test, you could take it again but only receive half of the points. I believe this is what killed my reading in high school. It killed my love of reading because I was not reading for enjoyment, I was reading because I was pressured to pass the tests and so I had to read. Most of Gallagher's tips, and what he talked about in general, was very interesting to be because I went through the same experiences a high school student. I hope that my students never have to go through that. I will do everything that I can to make my students love reading, and not make them read to only pass a test, but have them read because they  want to and it connects to a lesson or unit of lessons.

I read it, but I don't get it

I really enjoyed the book "I read it,but I don't get it" The book dealt with so many situations about students and their struggles to read that I applied in my own classroom.However, I did find that a lot of the information was kind of common sense if a practicing teacher has been in the classroom longest than one full day, I do believe that students have built into them, from years of schooling, basic fundamental reading skills, and those need to be taught to fit the grade level that the students are in. This is one of the many things in the book that I knew, but in the past I have failed to teach. The best part of the book for me were the tips on how to re teach these fundamental tips for the students. No matter what class a student is in, math, science, history, English...they will have o read and re read problems or texts. If a teacher uses the tips provided in this book on how to re -teach them, the teacher is not only helping them in English, but they are also helping them in virtually every subject in school and preparing them for life outside as school and in the real world. I think it is very important to teach students hoe to critically read texts, not just read it and not comprehend what is going on in the text. I plan to teach this in my classroom every chance I get and at every grade level that I teach at With these tips, I feel that I am now ready to do this.  It will benefit myself as a teacher and the student in every class, every grade level, and, most importantly, when they enter the real world when their education career is over. Overall, I really enjoyed this book. If teachers take it seriously, it offers some very, very helpful tips for every teacher at every grade level. I would highly suggest that all future teachers are required to read this book before they are allowed to enter into their own classrooms..

Literacy and Popular Culture in Urban Education

This was a very interesting and important article for me. It made me realize that as a teacher, I do not have to teach specifically to a test without making it my own and allowing the students to learn their own way in the process. I really found it interesting when the article talked about students learning more when they were able to connect the writing in their own lives. Particularly now, I feel the social justice unit ideas were very good ideas. It lets young students to see what race really is and realize everyone should be treated equally. I liked these units because it allows students to come to these conclusions on their own without being influenced by friends, parents, or anyone else who may be in their lives. They get to come up with ideas and opinions on certain issues by themselves. I believe that as a teacher this is a vital lesson in any English class.Allowing students to have their own opinions allows them to state ideas in class and write what they really want to write about. Allowing students to do this at at young age, allows students to form opinions on their own and stick to those opinions. Having a free thinking, free expression classroom without anyone being shunned or looked down upon is very, very important to me especially where we are right now as a society where so many students seem to be scared to share their opinions because they are scared of what others may think about them. I plan to make sure this point comes across in my classroom. Every student of every race should feel safe in the classroom, and part of having a safe environment is allowing every student to share their opinions and not be afraid of doing so.

Philosophy of Education-Pedagogy of the Oppressed

This piece was about how building relationships between students and teachers is something every teacher should do. I agree with this. If the teacher and the student have a good relationship with one another, it allows the teacher to learn the student's learning style. Having a good relationship with your students also allows the student to feel safe and comfortable enough with the teacher to ask for help if they need it. However, it appears that many teachers care about the power that they hold over their students. These teachers are described as "oppressed" teachers. I have seen this during my time observing different classes. I have seen teachers who you can tell genuinely care about their students. The classroom environment seems so much better with the teachers who care about their students. The students that I seen were on task and many finished their work early. Unfortunately, I have observed classes where the teachers seem to only care about power and only making sure the students get their work done. Much like with the caring teacher's classroom, the students completed their work in class, but the positive atmosphere of what I think a classroom should be simply was not there. If a teacher has a good relationship with their students, it also allows a free-thinking classroom, which, in my opinion is absolutely necessary. I believe a teacher should learn from their students just as the students learn from the teacher.  I really enjoyed this reading. However, I also feel that most of what was in the assigned reading should come natural to a good teacher. However, this reading did remind me to form and keep good relationships with my students. I feel this should be the case with all teachers. This reading for sure reminded me of that. I will take what I read in this reading with me into my classroom in the future I feel all teachers should have to read this. It serves as a great reminded. It reminded me just how important having a good student-teacher relationship is.

Secondary Standards- Based Grading and Reporting Handbook

Secondary Standards- Based Grading and Reporting Handbook has some very interesting and very valuable information on effective grading that reflects students' abilities. According to the article, students feel grades need to be meaningful for them. Students and families want a clear indication of what has been learned, what needs to be learned, and what needs work.The only way to do this, according to the article, is teaching and grading around specific standards. I believe this is a good idea. Teachers should not be teaching students meaningless information and then testing them on it. Everything that a teacher teaches needs to be for a reason and I believe that following a certain guideline and certain standards does just that.Another thing that stood out to me is that students get motivated by success and seeing that they are growing from what they are learning. Thus, teachers should not teach whatever pops into their heads. They should be teaching information that is vital for students' growth. Sticking to standards, and teaching to those standards also not only keep the student on track, but it also keeps the teacher on track as well.I also really enjoyed the section about avoiding giving a grade of 0. In my opinion, giving a grade of 0 does not help the student in any way. It certainly does not keep them motivated. If the student sees multiple zeros on his or her report card, why should they be motivated to continue working? I sure wouldn't I believe that grades and report cards should be more informational. A report card should tell the student what they can do to improve in the class rather than simply giving them a bad grade.simply tells the student that they are doing poorly in the class. If a report card, rather than giving the student the bad grade, told them how they could improve in the class, and had specific steps on how they could improve, more than likely the student would be much more motivated to work harder in the class. Overall, I really enjoyed this article. It armed me with things I will be able to use in the classroom. It was a very interesting and informative read. Hopefully we have more articles like this in the future of this class.

Assessing and Evaluating Students' Learning

To me, as a teacher, I want parents and students alike to fully and clearly understand what is expected and what is due from them every quarter or semester, depending on what system the school is working under. Many students work hard for their grades so I completely understand that giving a zero on a given assignment or test is not a good technique. Giving a zero to a student would discourage them and in no way encourage them to improve upon their work. There are many factors to consider before giving a student a zero on any assignment As a teacher, I believe that the teacher should talk to the student and find out why they scored so poorly on an assignment before giving the student such a harsh score. There may have been factors outside the teacher's or the student's handling. My favorite and the mist useful tip in this article was the segment about feedback. Feedback on paper drafts or any other kind of assignment or test should be used to encourage students to reach their full potential rather than putting them down. Feedback should only be given in a positive way that gives students advice and steps on how to improve on the next thing that they do. When a teacher gives a student positive feedback, it not only encourages them to do better next time, but it also allows them to reflect on the work they have done and create a plan to ensure their success next time. Something I will use in my classroom that I really liked and plan to use in my classroom was allowing students time to reflect on what they did that day and what they learned. Along with feedback, this allows them to find out their strong points and the points that they need to practice on to master the subject and do better on the next thing. This article overall was very helpful. It offered a lot of tips and tricks on feedback specifically that I had not considered. I think every new teacher should read this article. Along with what I mentioned above, I plan to take many of the techniques in this article with me into my classroom. It was a very interesting and helpful read. I hope to read more articles like this in future posts.

English/ Language Arts State Standards

While I was reading the common core state standards for reading literature, I focused on grades five through eight. There wasn't a lot that surprised me in the standards. However, one standard that I think is very important is CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.8.4:
"Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including analogies or allusions to other texts." 

For my students this is the standard that I focus on quite often because it seems to be what they struggle with the most. Being able to differentiate multiple different texts is a very important part of studying English. After working with my students for quite a while on this standard, I can see them starting to improve. I believe that as a whole teachers need to follow the common core state standards. However, I have realized that a lot of the standards should also be common sense for any teacher. My only worry and concern as a teacher is I am constantly worried about hitting what the common core state stands require me to hit while I am teaching. I also have to wonder if the reason for the teacher shortage across Washington has something to do with the stress of teaching to the test showing that your students hit the state standards. If this is the case, clearly something has to be done. While I believe that the state standards are a great resource for teachers to see what their students should be learning in the classroom, it should not be what teachers should be forced to teach in their classrooms to ensure that their students pass a state test. I believe that both teachers and students would be able to enjoy class a lot more if the common core state standards served as a resource and not a checklist of what a teacher must have accomplished over a certain amount of time.

l Response to Discussion as a Way of Teaching

Discussion in the classroom is an important aspect to any class where the teacher wants students to fully grasp the content that is being taught. I have made the mistake as a teacher where I allowed myself to get so caught up into the content that I didn't have any time left for discussion with my students. I think back to my secondary education. I hated going to class because I knew I would be listening to a teacher go on and on about a subject that I really didn't care about. However, there was one teacher, Mr. Byers, he was my senior English teacher. He was great. He always allowed half the class time to discuss or readings. This allowed me not only time to make friends with my classmates, but it allowed me to hear differing views on how the material was interpreted. Every day was a great experience in his class, and the reading for this blog made me realize I want to be the same kid of Teacher that Mr. Byers was. Discussion must be implemented in classrooms because if the teachers do not allow students to voice their opinions, they are really only hearing one interpretation of the text, and that's the teacher's thoughts and opinions.
In my opinion, as a teacher, there is no point of going to class if students do not get to voice their opinions in class. That is a big part of English to me, being able to voice different opinions and different views on the material. I find that small groups work best for this. In small groups, students are allowed to freely express their thoughts within a small setting. It is important for me to make sure the groups are big enough so the all the students get a variety of different views of the text.