I am using the Juniors I observe at Collins high school as motivation to my Unit. The students are not performing at the 11th grade level as they should be, so I cannot plan for a performing 11th grade class. However, as hard as it is it is not easy to have to "start from the beginning" to help students create a ground work to build off of. With time I realize how I need to start taking this into consideration more as I work on my unit. Not only do I want to enrich student's knowledge with different forms of literature, but I now have this need for skill based lessons as well. As I am planning this unit, I plan on incorporating a lot of skill based techniques along with fun activities related tot he texts. My guiding questions is: In what ways do little decisions affect our lives? My expectations are to have student engage in discussions and do a lot of writing, but I also am using texts to do things like act/perform in class, use for reading strategies, and be a platform/example to types of writing in different genres.
These juniors are required to make choices in this crucial year for future college or career advancement. There are five critical issues that high school juniors deal with to increase their chances of success in college and career. The five issues are: classes and grades, standardized tests, college planning, career research, and portfolio development (Dr. Hansen.) With these issues being of importance, the students at this age group should not be offered traditional pre-packaged education without connections to the real world. The transition to college requires a comprehensive understanding of the college expectations and their analysis of their own academic preparation. Sadly, the measure is the ACT test, which often is the evidence of “failure” our minority and poor students. By implementing a lot of skill based lessons, I know I will be helping them practice for the ACT and gain knowledge on different texts and forms of literature. Besides Romeo and Juliet, I plan on using the novel Oroonoko by Aphra Ben because it shifts the focus of decision making in adolescents to decision making with adults and I feel many students may relate with the characters attitudes. Incorporating this novel with get students to think on higher levels in terms of decision making, society, and ideas of family/love. Along with that I am planning on using a poem called Hanging Fire by Audre Lorde because it focuses on worries of Adolescents from a girl's point of few, but the key point in the poem is her mother. All characters in the 3 texts I named have made decisions and acted in ways based on their relationship with their parents/family. So far, I am exciting planning on what texts to use, but the hard part is going to be in what ways do I bring them in, where in the unit plan do I place them, and what parts do I want the students to master from each.
Tatiana,
ReplyDeleteYou write:
The students are not performing at the 11th grade level as they should be, so I cannot plan for a performing 11th grade class.
I wonder more what you mean here. According to whose standards? What "should" they be doing? Here, some of the concepts referenced in Beach, et al and Smagorinsky might be useful for re-thinking commonly held assumptions about what students *can't* do, according to arbitrary standards, but rather what they can (ie scaffolding model, literacy practices, and so on). Remember that the framework you start with is just as important as the other decisions you make, as that is the place from which you start.
Tatiana,
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea of distinguishing between gradations of choices or decisions, especially when thinking about what it means to determine that potentially "small" decisions are a result of pretty big reasons, or that consequences can be of varying effects, too.
In what ways do you see the skill-based lessons factoring in to how you choose to teach these texts? That is, how will the way you help them read *Oroonooko* in such ways that will help them understand or work through your conceptual framings? That novel, for example, is a fairly dense and difficult text, so it's an interesting novel to think about when talking about teaching reading. I also like the focus on parents and family, and look forward to seeing how you make choices for skills-based lessons so as to work though analyzing what these terms mean within the greater scope of making sense of the notion of decisions and consequences.
Are you still thinking about a particular YA novel or text, too?
Exciting things aground! Looking forward to seeing your planning-in-development.
sarah