Posts

Teaching Diverse Type of Notebook Entries:

 I'm a first year writing teacher and a few techniques that I've noticed my students do well in when writing is writing about memories and writing about things they visualize or see.  Reaching into memory: A notebook entry should be personal. I don't think it should require students to write about the lesson or instruction.  A notebook gives students a voice, they're able to think about and express their valid feelings on a piece of paper. It should be there safe space. Memory of our lives and experiences that we deal with on a day to day basis. Most prompts like this are tailored for students to tell us things they've experienced in the past and how it affected them in a positive or negative way. Somethings could be difficult to let out, but this may be an outlet for students to talk about it and release their feelings. This is one of my stronger points in my content area. Most of my students do not struggle to right about things that they are familiar with because...

Blog post 7: Slice of Life.

 "KELLY WAKE UPPPP!!!!" My boyfriend whispers loudly as he frantically shakes me. My eyes pop open in the pitch dark. He whispers again "Do you hear that?" *silence* ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. We decided to buy a new dog yesterday, his name is Hendrixx. It's 3 A.M. and he is whimpering so loud that our neighbors can probably hear him. I jump up, and cut the lights on to find him peeing on the floor. Yay me. I clean it, feed him a little and put him back to bed so that I can get my rest. He's like a rea human being, birth control if you ask me. What seems like 5 minutes pass and I'm back up at 8, taking him to go use the restroom outside, feed him, clean him and lock him up in the cage. I clench my stomach as I'm on the elevator because reality hits me. It's that time. I pop some 800 MG Ibuprofen and lay back down until my first class. Everything works out fine this week because I work from home, technically for 14 days until I'm back in the classroom...

Blog Post #6: Book, Head and Heart Strategy.

  The New Kid: Book, Head, Heart connections that I discovered in the book were: In the Book, the author wants me to know how it feels to be a black individual in society. The troubles that kids have and microaggressions with diversity. The feeling of not being able to be yourself outside of your walls at home because you are too afraid that people will judge you. In my Head, while I was reading; what surprised me the most was the fact that, there was a teacher at the school who taught for 14 years. He was still labeled "coach" after continuously telling others, he did not coach. He was just a teacher. This is another way that the author is trying to show us stereotypes inside of the book. Just because the teacher was black, he automatically was labeled "coach". In my Heart , the feelings that I had while reading this book felt too real. I've been in several situations as Jordan, the kid who moved to a more expensive and non-urban school. I could relate to h...

Reading as Thinking: Blog post #5

     Most people have different reactions and feelings when they read. Some people don't see, think or feel anything, while others feel like they are one of the main characters inside of the book. To me, when reading something that I'm really interested in, I am more than likely to feel like I am a character inside of the book. I too often, get so absorbed in it, that I feel like I am in a movie with the characters. When I am reading, I visualize real life movie scenes inside of my head. My favorite type of novels are African American, Young Adult Non-fiction books, these books are extremely relatable to me and my lifestyle. A few are Dear Martin, Jackpot, The Hate U Give, Concrete Rose, etc. Being that these are very relatable to my childhood and adulthood life, the plot and how the story is told makes for an opulent movie that plays inside of my head. When I am reading dialogue in between the characters in the book, I feel like I am apart and I'm included in the book. I...

Habits of Reading/Writing life. Blog post #4

  How can healthy habits influence more reading and writing? 1. How does your  book travel around with you? What exact part of your, backpack, pocket, purse, or whatever is involved? Things such as carrying a book or a writing journal around is very important. This habit allows students to be more intentional. Carrying these things show that you practicing being mobile and ready to use them when you have a small break or are ready to be creative. 2. What are the regular sections in your day? What little reading appointments  might be possible in there? Do you map or plan out your day; if so, do you pencil time in to practice reading and writing? Allotting maybe 30 min to an hour a day to work your brain in a productive way can help you practice healthy habits as it ties into these educational things. 3. What are some possible places for reading? How might different places go with different types of reading? Like what could you read on the bus, in bed, at the kitchen table...

Slice of Life Blog post.

 Reading and Writing are the 2 most important things in life. They are the basics of everything. Think about all subjects in school. They require you to read, comprehend and respond (write). Some people believe that technical and STEM geared subjects and jobs are more important but again, in my opinion you still have to obtain a level of comprehension in order to excel at this. It doesn't matter what type of job you have, at the end of the day, you still need to know how to read. Reading helps with communication, talking, interviewing, it helps broaden your vocabulary as well as expands your mind and thoughts. I think that most kids these days think reading is boring and they don't need it. I am trying to change that narrative especially with the kids I work with. Most kids who hate reading and writing are not good at it because of the simple of the fact that they are not raised to think that these things are important. A lot of this always falls back on how they are raised or ...

My literacy experience throughout school.

     I see a lot of differences when it comes to school and literacy from now, being an educator to years ago when I was actually the student inside of the classroom. My literacy experiences throughout the grades 6-12 were not very good. My comprehension and reading skills have always been above average because my mom would work with me at home at a young age. As far as school, I don't think that I've really had a teacher that made reading fun and interesting. As good as I was at it, reading has always been boring and impassive. I was in GT (Gifted and Talented) classes and I feel as if that was a reason why reading was not engaging. We were expected to already know the text as we rea such as vocabulary comprehension, settings and book comprehension. We really didn't have classroom discussions about the books.      On the topic of books, I really don't remember any books that impacted me. We didn't really read any diverse books that grabbed my attention. I ...