Michele Fields
The idea of creating an educator's guide is something that can be very useful for all educators. As I completed the overview about the book, Dear Martin and the author, Nic Stone, I gained a lot interesting knowledge about the author. She spoke of putting herself in other's shoes and how it changed her perspective of how she viewed the world. This change made her want to tell the stories that weren't being told and about diverse characters in non-stereotypical roles, such as Justyce in Dear Martin. As I read Dear Martin, I was reminded of a quote by Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Adichie, "the single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story." (Christensen, 2017, p. 72).
Our educator's guide has many opportunities for students to analyze the text during and after reading it, have deep and meaningful engagement when completing the tasks incorporated in our educator's guide and to collaborate with their peers in a small or whole group setting. The act of caring is a pedagogical objective requiring that teachers value students' cultural experiences and associate youth culture with positive impacts on student effort, increased engagement with course content, and improved academic achievement. Camangian also discusses how taking a sociocritical literacy stance can maximize students' abilities to read, write, think, and communicate by drawing from their funds of knowledge (Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez, 1992). Our educator's guide is a great resource for students and educators.
References:
Hinchman, K. A., & Appleman, D. (2017). Adolescent literacies: A handbook of practice-based research. Guilford Press.
Christensen, L. (2017). Reading, Writing, and Rising Up: Teaching About Social Justice and the Power of the Written Word. (2nd. ed.) A Rethinking Schools Publication.
Liubov Nicholas
This assignment shifts my thinking about adolescent literacy development. To begin with, a specific set of believes that I bring with me to the classroom is important as it guides me to reflect on the way I teach. Therefore, it is necessary to explore my identities that shape me as a teacher and manifest in interactions with my students. When I reflect on my attitudes and beliefs, I support students’ learning. “Effective instruction does not usually occur unless teachers also take some time to attend to their own attitudes and beliefs about language and culture” (Templeton & Gehsmann, 2014, pp. 156).
Next, creating educator’s guide makes me think about how I can change the education “landscape” in my class, and how I can provide equitable learning experiences to all students. This makes me think deeply what I know about issues of racial and social justice in the Black community nowadays. I must welcome my students’ differences and help them to feel an integral part of my classroom.
Furthermore, reading Dear Martin novel with the students offers adolescents and educators opportunities to explore the complexity of human being nature. Ivey and Johnson (2017) tell us not to resist assigning these books to students even when the book students choose “was somewhat alarming”. Including these types of texts allows students to “navigate their present and future lives” (Ivey and Johnson, p. 160). As I was creating the educational guide, I was reflecting on my teaching experience. I believe the activities described in the educator’s guide will open up spaces in the classroom for important conversations about race and social class. It opens sliding glass doors for others though discussion about different experiences. The activities in the educator’s guide will also help students to see a book as a tool for their own development. Ivey and Johnson (2017) state that “reading about characters experiencing phenomena at the far edges of students’ own experiences is quite useful because it creates the opportunity to think through the consequences before they encounter similar situations ahead on” (p. 161).
In my opinion, this novel will engage adolescent readers and motivate them participate in a discussion and other writing assignments. Hitchman and Appleman (2017) recognize the importance of creating a positive classroom atmosphere, where writing assignments involve “topics and purposes that are personally meaningful to students in and outside of the classroom” (p. 445). The educator’s guide creates opportunities to directly engage in real-world issues and lead to discussions about the very serious topics. Templeton and Gehsmann, (2014) explain that teachers need to develop and support reading from a critical perspective. “Close reading and evaluation of these texts will help your students understand better how to think and craft their own purposes for reading and writing knowledgeably and critically” (Templeton and Gehsmann, 2014, p. 368). According to Lewison et. al. (2015), critical literacies focus on identifying social practices that keep dominant ways of understanding the world and unequal power relationships in place. Therefore, knowledge about culturally relevant pedagogy influences my instructional decisions and shifts my thinking to ensure that marginalized students become “subjects in the instructional process, not mere objects" (Ladson –Billings,2014, p. 76).
In order to provide students with more equitable opportunities to learn, I must view students as individuals allowing them to open virtual school bags and bring their knowledge, culture, and experience into our class discussions.
References:
Hinchman, K.A. & Appleman, D.A. (2017). Adolescent literacies: A handbook of practice-based research. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Ivey, G. & Johnston, P. (2017). Emerging adolescence in engaged reading communities. Language Arts, 94 (3).
Ladson-Billings, G. (2014). Culturally relevant pedagogy 2.0: a.k.a. the remix. Harvard Educational Review, 84 (1), 74-84.
Lewison, M., Leland, C. & Harste, J.C. (2015). Creating critical classrooms: Reading and writing with an edge. (2nd ed.) Routledge: New York.
Templeton, S., & Gehsmann, K. M. (2014). Teaching reading and writing: The developmental approach. Pearson.
Abbie Haynes
Throughout the process of creating and learning more about educator’s guides I have continued to reflect on my teaching and learning. I continue to think about how I can help shape my students thinking and create an environment that is safe and motivational for all students. Templeton and Gehsmann (2014) state, “Becoming a culturally responsive teacher begins with learning about the backgrounds and environments of your students. This is critical,” (p. 159). As an educator, it is so important to connect with and get to know my students. When we welcome and encourage our students’ background and experiences into the classroom, we are asking them to invest in their own learning and education.
When it comes to adolescent literacy, I have always understood that reading and writing correlate but have recently realized more of the importance. The researchers recommend engaging students in writing that is most meaningful to them (Hitchman & Appleman, 2017, p. 445). It is most beneficial for educators to use outside of classroom knowledge students possess as a vehicle for learning. When creating the discussion questions and activity based on the theme of Dear Martin, I referenced the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. I wanted the students to be able to work together and collaborate when discussing and completing the activity. There are many discussion questions that will encourage deep and meaningful conversations. The questions do not particularly have a right or wrong answer, the goal of the discussion would be deepening the students thinking about literature. By incorporating our students’ lives into the curriculum, we promote students’ motivation and engagement not only in writing, but in all subject areas.
References:
Hinchman, K.A. & Appleman, D.A. (2017). Adolescent literacies: A handbook of practice-based research. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Templeton, S., & Gehsmann, K. M. (2014). Teaching reading and writing: The developmental approach. Pearson.
Emily Price
What knowledge have you gained from creating your educator’s guide?
After creating this guide, I now have a better understanding of how the process of reading and writing are interconnected with one another. Before creating the guide, I understood that to become a better writer you need to read, but after exploring different articles I now comprehend that many specific skills correlate between the two activities. In order to read, students need to be able to decode words and comprehend what is being read; similarly with writing, students must construct words using phonological knowledge and create meaning for their audience. Reading and writing are also connected because teachers can use each skill to teach each other. Studying literature that displays exceptional styles of writing allows students to observe first hand what strong writing looks like and can therefore emulate it in their own writing. Finally, one of the biggest transactions between reading is writing is how they motivate the continuation of one another. In Adult Literacies it states "A "lived-through" experience in reading, then, is not simply a "personal connection" rather, it conjures up participation within the text itself and participation in the new poem we create while we read" (Hinchman & Appleman, 2017, p. 260). As people read, they connect to the text in a way beyond noticing something familiar; it inspires them to record their thoughts to the written work in the margins and create a written piece themselves in response to what they have read.
How did you use what you have learned about adolescent literacy to create this guide? For example, how did your knowledge about adolescent literacy influence your instructional design decisions?
What influenced me the most when creating the post-reading activities for the guide was the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. I wanted to be sure that each activity chosen was rigorous enough and aligned with the skills that should be taught for 9th and 10th graders. I also wanted to be sure that a variety of standards were being covered (Reading Literature, Reading Informational Text, Writing, Speaking and Listening). After identifying specific standards I wanted students to demonstrate mastery of, I selected activities that could incorporate multiple of them at one time. My goal with these activities was to allow for flexibility and choice for each student so that they could demonstrate the skill in whatever way was most engaging and meaningful to them. This is important because, "We don't want to build compliant readers; we want to build engaged readers-and we believe this engagement springs form providing students with choices" (Gallagher & Kittle, 2018, p.79). Students have the option of how they would like to complete the timeline, what activist to research, and what multimodal video tool they would like to use to record their book review.
In addition to this, I wanted activities that encouraged collaboration among peers and incorporated technology, which is important in adolescent literacy. This is seen during the "Dear Activist" activity where students must research an activist and write a letter to them together. This is productive because "Opportunities to work together on writing assignments not only allow students to learn from each other but also create learning situations that are likely more fun and engaging for students who are typically less motivated to complete assignments" (Hinchman & Appleman, 2017, p. 448). Using technology for researching and writing the letter allows texts to be more easily accessed and for students to work together more efficiently, since they can all write the letter at the same time using specific applications. Also, by having students reply to each other's videos around the story's central message and character development, students are "exposed to new viewpoints that differed from their own, resulting in the appropriation of new ways to interpret ideas" (p. 293). These replies might not be to focus on "correcting" their peers as much as noting different interpretations of the text they had and if they agree or disagree. The use of technology allows for multiple students to view a single reflection and for replied to easily connect to and be built off one another.
References:
Gallagher, K. & Kittle, P. (2018). 180 days: Two teacher and the quest to engage and empower adolescents. Heinemann.
Hinchman, K.A. & Appleman, D.A. (2017). Adolescent literacies: A handbook of practice-based research. New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Courtney Brocato
What knowledge have you gained from creating your educator’s guide?
My greatest takeaway is that I struggle with Common Core State Standards. When I was creating the journal prompts, I wanted to create questions that challenged the status quo- that really dug deep into the racial issues this book brings to light. However, I had a hard time linking some of those questions back to reading standards. In a sense, the reading standards are very vague but also incredibly specific. That's why I brought in the Social Justice Standards. Hinchman and Appleman (2017) brought up that students were not consulted in the creation of Common Core Standards. As an adolescent educator, I know my students want to talk about the topics I mentioned in the journal prompts. I prioritized my students wants and needs over arbitrary standards. I prioritized the critically thinking and principles of Social Justice Standards over Common Core to give my students the skills they need to participate in a democracy. It's important to note that I felt comfortable doing so because all of the other activities directly linked to the standards. Teaching is a balancing act. There is a time and place for CCSS. There is a time and place for Social Justice Standards. We must incorporate both in order to create well-rounded students.
This assignment also further demonstrated that coursework alone cannot fully prepare someone to teach a particular field. Teachers needs to be in the classroom to accurately determine what needs to be done to reach adolescents. When looking over the activities my group members designed, I found myself thinking of my own students. I know that some of the activities presented need to be modified in order for them to gain meaning and understanding. I know that a lot of prep work needs to be done in order to prepare my students for the types of conversations I'm wanting to have involving the journal prompts. I know that more pre-reading activities will be needed to provide adequate background knowledge. Educators need to keep the words of Gallagher and Kittle (2018) in mind, "Every year, we believe we must rewrite curriculum so it is responsive to the mosaic of our students and our changing world" (p. 9).
How did you use what you have learned about adolescent literacy to create this guide?
As I was creating the journal prompts and reviewing the activities, I had my adolescents in mind. I know what's relevant to them, which Gallagher and Kittle (2018) identify as a key component to engagement and achievement (p. 10). With this knowledge, I knew how they would respond to certain activities and I tried to offer feedback to make them more accessible. Given my experience, my understanding of adolescent literacy is different from my group members. It's not based on readings and videos; it's based on six years of lived experiences. Not all adolescents are the same. What works for one teacher and set of students might not work for another set. What's important is to incorporate the basic principles of culturally responsive instruction: celebrating and affirming multiple literacies, celebrating and affirming multiple identities, allowing for choice, and challenging the status quo.
References:
Gallagher, K. & Kittle, P. (2018). 180 Days: Two teachers and the quest to engage and empower adolescents. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Hinchman, K. A., & Appleman, D. (2017). Adolescent literacies: A handbook of practice-based research. Guilford Press.