Matthew+Campbell



My name is Matthew Campbell and my hometown is in Mullica Hill, NJ. I am currently a senior at Clemson University studying for my degree in Secondary Education: English while also minoring in Athletic Leadership. I am a full time student and my plan is to one day become a teacher and a coach either here in the state of South Carolina or somewhere else on the eastern side of the country. Teachers and coaches have always impacted my thoughts and feelings on all matters of my life and helped me become who I am today. Soon I hope to become one of those positive influences and give back some of what was so graciously given to me. I also hope that I will be fortunate enough to travel outside of the country in the near future, as I have always wanted to travel overseas. I enjoy being active and participating in sports whenever I have the chance, but I also appreciate my alone time where I like to read and write. I hope that when my teaching career is over I will be able to practice more serious writing and pursue my goal to someday have something published. Maybe the local newspaper will take pity and give me a small column next to the weekly horoscopes.

=EdSec 424= =Unit Plan= Matthew Campbell 12/6/2012

** The Great Gatsby: ** ** The Devolution of the American Dream **

** English III Honors ** ** 10th Grade ** ** Teacher Candidate: Matthew Campbell ** ** Cooperating Teacher: Mr. Todd Howard ** ** University Supervisor: Dr. Bea Bailey ** ** Clemson University **

This unit focuses on the theme of “the American Dream” specifically as it applies to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel //Great Gatsby//. This unit will also introduce the modernist era to the class and work with historical topics such as: the roaring twenties, jazz, and technological advances like the automobile. The theme of the American Dream has been central to the students’ lessons since the beginning of the school year and now they will be able to trace it into the modernist era. By tracing the theme throughout the school year, the unit can develop a broader understanding and a sufficient knowledge base to analyze several points of criticism. The early focus of the unit is to scaffold a significant level of comprehension for modernism and the development of the American Dream in the 1920’s so that the students will be able to critically analyze Fitzgerald’s novel //Great Gatsby//. By slowly introducing new material to further the students’ comprehension, the unit can adhere to Lev Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development where the students stay within their ability level but are challenged enough to keep improving on their skills. In the case of analyzing the American Dream, the goal is to have the students develop beyond a basic understanding and definition and move into critical analysis using examples for the text. One of the central questions to the unit is whether the American Dream is in a state of evolution or devolution in Fitzgerald’s //Great Gatsby// and how the answer to that question shapes the framing of each individual character. The novel is complex in its character development and few (if any) characters come forward as strong and positive figures throughout the whole text. Many of the characters are tainted by one condition or another, introducing a secondary theme that shows the flawed nature of humanity and how that limits individual success. The unit looks at the significance of the American Dream because it is a relevant topic for all of the students. The ability to achieve the American Dream is an ambiguous, fluid, and sensitive topic to approach, but it is also a valuable thematic discussion for a classroom because it embodies other key areas of interest like racial divides, class structuring, and the concept of “the other.” By analyzing the American Dream in conjunction with the //Great Gatsby//, the class will question how easy or difficult it is to attain the American Dream and to which individuals the dream is offered. The unit will provide the students with an opportunity to expand their understanding of key concepts, but also to develop personal wisdom about how cultures function and how society shapes what it is important to a town as well as each person. The lure of conformity and reaching above one’s current position are what drive characters like Gatsby to a stature they are unable to maintain in the text; however, in the classroom the students will be able to generalize this character situation to the limitations that communities place on individuals today and whether this shapes a person’s ability to achieve success or not. This extrapolation of certain character experiences is what will allow the students to grow as individuals and develop wisdom that stretches beyond the analysis of a literary text.
 * __ Unit Rationale/Overview: __**

Students will be able to… __ Reading Standards for Literature: __
 * __ Unit Objectives: __**
 * 1.) **** Implement evidence to support their claims **

1.) Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. __ Writing Standards __ 2.b. Develop the topic with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience’s knowledge of the topic. __ Reading Standards for Literature: __
 * 2.) **** Determine a central theme: **

2. Determine a theme or central idea of a text and analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific details; provide an objective summary of the text. __ Writing Standards __ 1. Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. a. Introduce precise claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that establishes clear relationships among claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence. b. Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly, supplying evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience’s knowledge level and concerns. __Speaking and Listening__: 1. Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups and teacher-led) with diverse partners on //grades 9–10 topics//, //texts//, //and issues//, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. a. Come to discussions prepared, having read and researched material under study; explicitly draw on that preparation by referring to evidence from texts and other research on the topic or issue to stimulate a thoughtful, well-reasoned exchange of ideas. 3. Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, identifying any fallacious reasoning or exaggerated or distorted evidence 4. Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task. __Language Standards__: 3. Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices form meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening. 5. Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. a. Interpret figures of speech (e.g., euphemism, oxymoron) in context and analyze their role in the text. b. Analyze nuances in the meaning of words with similar denotations.
 * 3.) **** Generate counter-claims **
 * 4.) **** Generate paired and classroom discussions **
 * 5.) **** Apply knowledge of language **


 * __ Performance Expectation Guides/Enterprises __** **(NCATE 4.2, 4.3, 4.7, 4.10)**
 * Major Literary Enterprise: **

Description: This enterprise is the final product of the unit for the students along with their presentations of the project. The students will be creating a research essay that includes critical essays and their own well developed thesis to defend a stance on whether //The Great Gatsby// is a novel that illustrates the evolution or devolution of the American Dream. The presentation will allow the students to verbally defend their thesis with evidence and context from the text that they have found in their research.

** Performance Expectation Guide (PEG) **

** The Evolution or Devolution of the American Dream ** ** (NCATE 4.2, NACTE 4.3 NCATE 4.7, NACTE 4.10) **


 * Overview **

Our objective is to produce a short research essay that takes a stance on whether the American Dream is evolving or devolving in Fitzgerald’s novel //The// //Great Gatsby//. By incorporating the information the class has learned in the earlier units from the American pioneers all the way up to our current novel //The Great Gatsby// along with critical essays researched at the media center and at home,the class will be able to create awelldeveloped and well-supported thesis. This project will allow us to use our prior knowledge of the American Dream to help start our investigation into the literary text and search for new ideas while formulating our own. This project will help us see how the American Dream applies to each one of us individually, and whether the dream truly is achievable.


 * Game Plan **

Does the American Dream evolve or devolve? Does it apply to everyone or only a select few? Has the focus of the American Dream changed? The key question can be asked and answered in many ways, but your answer must be decisive and clear with a well focused thesis. Start thinking about what you want to focus on so that you can take notes and hold onto the various samples that will be discussing in class. During class time we will be reading and discussing the main text //The Great Gatsby// as well as a couple literary critiques to start getting comfortable with incorporating evidence into our work. After our discussions the class will have some time in the media center to search for additional sources on the database and the websites that the media specialist has found for our usage (NCATE 4.3). You will be looking for recent critical essays and articles (from 1950-today) to support your thesis. Use this time wisely as you will need sources cited in your research to earn a high grade. During this time each student should be developing a thesis and supporting his or her stance with the information we are finding. When we finish in the media center we should have a decent start to a rough draft for our research papers or at the very least the materials to produce a rough draft. Following the media center research, time will be set aside in class to further develop drafts, have paper conferences, and time to peer edit papers (NCATE 4.2). The class will be notified of these dates at a later time and should come to class with a draft to work with on these assigned dates. The final paper will be due the last week of the unit and will be briefly presented to the class by the creator in a 3-5 minute explanation of the research and what you have found. You may choose to make a PowerPoint or another visual aid for the presentation to help you but it is not required (NCATE 4.7). Let’s learn something new together!


 * Calendar (days are not necessarily consecutive and do not take up full class time) **

Day One: The students will be introduced to the research project and given the PEG on the first day of the unit. Day Two: Students will be introduced to literary criticism on //Gatsby// and taught how to cite evidence within their work. Day Three: Students will be given time in the media center to complete research while using the media specialist as a reference guide since she has been informed about the assignment and has resources put aside for this class (NCATE 4.3). Day Four: Students will finish up their researching and begin working on their rough drafts. Day Five: Students will work in class to peer-edit and have writing conferences with teacher (NCATE 4.2). Day Six: Students will turn in papers and present their findings to the class.
 * Standards: **

__ Reading Standards for Literature: __

1.) Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. __ Writing Standards __ 2.b. Develop the topic with well-chosen, relevant, and sufficient facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience’s knowledge of the topic. __Language Standards__: 1. Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.


 * Evaluation: **

To Earn an A You Must:

have a total of at least 3-5 sources and a works cited pages (at least 2 sources not used in class)

defend your argument with research and evidence

meet page requirement of 3-5 pages

integrates a well developed thesis that expresses the evolution or devolution of the American Dream (or a similarly approved topic)

presents research to class (3-5 minutes) (NCATE 4.7)

To Earn a B You Must Meet All But One of These Standards To Earn a C You Must Meet All But Two of These Standards To Earn a D You Must Meet All But Three of These Standards To Earn an F You Meet 2 or Less Standards


 * In Process PEGS/Enterprises: (NCATE 4.10) **

Descriptions: These in-process enterprises will be used during the unit to build upon the skills that will be necessary to complete the research paper at the end of the unit. The assignments all incorporate at least one factor that will benefit the students when it comes time to complete the research assignment. This is done so that the students can become comfortable with the processes before the final examination and to build a level of progression for the students so that they can achieve without too much stress.

** Poetry PEG ** ** America’s Image ** You will be comparing two poems, “Let America be America Again” by Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing” to analyze what they have to say about the American Dream. You will be read the poem by the teacher (me) and then given time to discuss your ideas with a classmate. Once the discussion is over, you will then write a short response that compares the two poems and their interpretations of America and how this representation can be applied to the American Dream. When you reach the writing stage of the period you will need to use textual evidence from the poems and information gathered from previous and today’s class period to relate the poems to the American Dream in a clearly defined thesis. You must extract at least one textual piece of evidence from each poem and use that evidence to relate to the larger theme and your thesis. If you compare the two poems without connecting the poems to the theme of the American Dream or your thesis then you cannot receive full credit for the assignment. The goal is to gain practice incorporating evidence from multiple sources to defend one viewpoint like you will have to do for the research paper at the end of the unit. You will be given full credit for this minor assignment if you complete the following: 1.) Cite at least one textual piece of evidence from each poem 2.) Connect the evidence and the poems to the American Dream 3.) Have a clear thesis Failure to meet these requirements will earn you only partial or zero credit depending on the amount of information missing (completing 0 of the requirements earns a 0).  ** Website PEG **  ** Guilty or Innocent? **  You and your group will be creating a Facebook group that either defends or incriminates George Wilson for the murder of Jay Gatsby. Using textual evidence you and your group will have to assemble a defense or an accusation for George Wilson and his position on the murder of Gatsby. This project will help you to solidify an argument, which will help you form your thesis when it comes time to write your paper, and identify counterarguments, which you will need to learn how to do if you are to become an effective writer.  You and your group will sit down and reach a consensus on whether you believe George Wilson is a criminal or a victim in the story. Once you have reached a decisive stance (you must choose one or the other) then your group should begin to collect evidence from the novel that supports your stance which you can include on your web page. Your group must have at least three supporting reasons from the text as to why your page defends or accuses George. On the page you will want to persuade other to join your cause and reasoning, so try to make the page as attractive looking as possible and dissuade others from joining the opposing side. Use images from the web, quotes from the book, and other appropriate tools at your disposal to make a more compelling case than your adversaries and find fault in the opposition’s argument. Your group will earn an A if you… 1.) Have three supporting facts with citations from the novel 2.) Have a clearly defined stance on whether George is guilty or innocent 3.) Identify an opposing argument and attempt to disprove it ** Film PEG/Minor Assessment **  ** What Stands Out? **  You will be watching various version of as select number of scenes from //The Great Gatsby// as it is portrayed through the various film adaptations. What I want you to be aware of is how each film makes subtle changes to the scene and how do these changes affect the overall interpretation of the scene. As we watch the video I want you to write down what you see as your notes will help to facilitate the discussion new have after the video and will be collected.  As you watch the videos take notes on the various changes you see so that you can recall the information when we come together as a group. Make space to add more detail or make a claim once the video has ended. Use this information about how subtle scene interpretations change the movie to influence how your interpretations of the text will affect your research paper. If you hand in a piece of paper with your own hand written notes you will receive full credit for this minor assignment. Failure to do so will result in no credit.
 * Overview: **
 * Game Plan ** :
 * Evaluation: **
 * Overview: **
 * Game Plan ** :
 * Evaluation ** :
 * Overview: **
 * Game Plan: **
 * Evaluation ** :

Role call and filling out folder for dress code violations and ID badges (5 mins) Pre-assessment: The students will be questioned about their previous lessons on the thematic development of the American Dream and what they can recall about the subject. Questions like: What makes up the American Dream? To whom was the American Dream being applied? And how did the American Dream come about? Will facilitate the discussion into our unit on Modernism and //Gatsby// (5 mins) Introduction to Modernism: The students will be introduced to the literary movement and concept of Modernism. The class will see a brief PowerPoint with the outlines of the literary movement to develop their comprehension of the era prior to reading //Gatsby.// In addition to the PowerPoint the students will see pictures and hear some music samples from the jazz music of the era(15 mins) Introduction to main text and the major enterprise: The students will then be informed that the major text for this unit will be //The Great Gatsby// by F. Scott Fitzgerald and given the PEG for the major literary enterprise that will be ongoing throughout the whole unit. (5 mins) A Look at Poetry: The lesson will then shift slightly to a poetry lesson that incorporates themes and ideas that relate to the central text and unit concept. The poems will be “Let America be America Again” by Langston Hughes and Walt Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing.” These poems will be read by me out loud and discussed as I read to the class. Specific points in the poem will be marked to stop and ask the students for their opinion on what they see developing and their perception on how these programs relate to the American Dream. Once the readings are done the students will turn to a partner and discuss their interpretations of the two readings and their connections to the American Dream. The students will then compose a short piece of writing (See Poetry PEG) where the student will compare the two readings and how each one relates to the thematic elements of the unit. The reasoning behind this assignment is to get the students comfortable working with multiple text to answer one question as they will need to do this in their research papers. (50-55 mins) End Class Discussion: The class will then come back together as a whole to discuss their opinions and what they have found and whether the assignment was easy or difficult to connect the two pieces of writing (5-10 mins) Role call and filling out folder for dress code violations and ID badges (5 mins) Pre-assessment: The students will be asked if they remember who the author of //The Great Gatsby// is and what the modernist era incorporated in terms of literary changes. These questions serve not only to open the topic of the day, but to connect the previous day’s lesson to today’s lesson and make it clear to the students that the unit as a whole is connected and should be considered important information. (5 mins) Introduction to the Author: In this class period the students will be given a presentation on the author F. Scott Fitzgerald who was the writer of their primary text for the unit. The students will see video clips from Fitzgerald’s biographers as well as pictures of the house that he used to live in. (25 mins) (NCATE 4.6) Assigning Class roles for Reading: Character roles will then be divided up amongst the class and given in order of when the students will in the classroom. (5-10 mins) Begin Reading: The class will then read the first chapter of //The Great Gatsby// in class with frequent interruptions by me to emphasize key passages, ask students for their interpretations/predictions, have a general discussion, or mention subtle details that the students might not recognize due to unfamiliarity. This first reading will be my time to really focus on demonstrating how to read the text critically and foster critical reading strategies for the classroom. This will be accomplished by simulating think-aloud moments, self-questioning during reading, looking back into the text, and synthesizing the information from passage to passage to develop a strand of meaning. I want to show the students what I am looking for in their critical interpretations that will later guide them in their research papers. If I do not model this information first, I cannot hold the students accountable (40-45 mins). (NCATE 4.5) (NACTE 4.9) Reconvene: The class will then briefly discuss how the reading of the first chapter can help start predicting ideas for what the students will write in their research papers and how they will look to approach the topic of the American Dream in //Gatsby//. The focus can be centered on the lifestyle and material possessions (e.g. Gatsby and Nick’s houses) and how they relate to the success or failures of an individual. (5-10 mins) Homework: The class will be asked to read Chapter 2 of Gatsby for homework by the next class period and continue to focus on how the characters achieve or do not achieve their goals in life. Role call and filling out folder for dress code violations and ID badges (5 mins) Pre-assessment: The students will be asked to recall information about the author and modernism from the previous two days so that they can begin to synthesize the material as part of one larger unit and begin focusing on how all of these elements can help them to answer their research project. (5-10 mins) Reflection on Reading: The class will hold a discussion on chapter two and how their interpretations of the reading have shaped their views of Nick and Gatsby and whether they see a change in the dynamic of the American Dream from prior units. The discussion should be allowed to explore different interpretations but always be geared back towards how the interpretations and discussion will better develop the students understanding of Fitzgerald’s representation of the American Dream. Popsicle sticks with students’ names may be used to facilitate the discussion and make sure every student has the chance to participate. (20 mins) The Stonecutter
 * __ Procedures: __**
 * Day 1: **
 * Day 2: (NCATE 4.5) (NCATE 4.6) (NACTE 4.9) **
 * Day 3 (NCATE 4.4) (NCATE 4.8) **



The class will then have a minute or two to stretch before we move into a new reading of Japanese Folklore that is titled “The Stonecutter.” I will explain to the students that we are reading “The Stonecutter” because it addresses the issue of mankind and what people would do if they were able to become anything that they wanted. I will ask the students to pay particular attention to how the main character in this story can be connected to one of the characters in //The Great Gatsby//. The reading is fairly brief and will be read aloud by myself. When the reading is finished I will ask the students to turn to a partner and discuss which character in T//he Great Gatsby// relates the best to the man in the Japanese story. After significant time has been allowed for the students to comfortably express their ideas, the students will write a short paragraph connecting one of the characters from Gatsby to the stonecutter using character descriptions and evidence from the texts to support their claims. (45 mins) (NCATE 4.8) Larger Group Discussion and Reasoning The class will once again convene as a group to discuss their ideas as to whom most closely relates to the stonecutter and why. The class will have to defend their assertions using information from the text to support their answer. The discussion, therefore, will have a twofold reasoning. The first is to use and cite evidence both within the student’s writing and speech so that they can become comfortable doing this before their research paper. The second is that it generalizes the theme of the American Dream to other cultures and influences. While we are discussing the American Dream and how it applies to our country and our times, the fundamental ideas and concepts that build up the American Dream are relatable throughout different cultures and should be expressed to the students through different mediums so that they can develop an appreciation for other cultures besides their own (15-20 mins) (NCATE 4.4). Homework: The students will read Chapters 3 and 4 of Gatsby over the longer break between classes (feel comfortable assigning this because they are honors classes who have done homework regularly) and continue formulate thesis ideas for the research paper by writing down notes on key passages and always reading for the connection to the American Dream.

Art The painting is a nice portrayal of the ideal household that was to be viewed under the American Dream of the 1920’s. The large white pillars and the flashy red door with a wide open yard and a pleasant neighborhood signify the ideal American experience.
 * __ Resource Palette: __**** (NCATE 4.1) **
 * Central Text ** :
 * The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald)
 * The Great Gatsby will be my primary text for the Modernism Unit. The text incorporates themes of the American Dream, Love and Lust, Human Nature, Class Struggles, New and Old Money, as well as others. For my unit the themes of the American Dream and Class Struggles will be the central focus for the students.
 * Short Stories ** :
 * The Man of the Crowd (Edgar Allen Poe)
 * This short story covers topics such as isolationism, stereotypes and generalizations. This would also be a chance to speak on Poe’s creating of the detective story.
 * A Jury of Her Peers (Susan Glaspell)
 * This short story by Susan Glaspell is an interesting tweak on the detective/murder mystery story. The tale follows two women on their search to pin a murder that the male investigators cannot solve. The story is useful because it creates a social dynamic between the men and the woman that can correlate to the relationship divides in //The Great Gatsby//. Character dynamics and development will be important for the web page assignment and the research project.
 * The Golden Honeymoon (Ring Lardner)
 * “The Golden Honeymoon” is useful in a similar way as “A Jury of Her Peers” is because the characters, specifically the man and the woman on the honeymoon, go through intense character developments that can mirror some of the relationships within //Gatsby//. The wife is actually falsely accused of infidelity by the husband at one point, creating a turning point in the story much like the turn point that is featured in //Gatsby//.
 * The Interior Castle (Jean Stafford)
 * “The Interior Castle” by Jean Stafford is an abstract connection but an effective one nonetheless. The main character suffers a car accident (direct connection to the story there), but rather than causing a devastating death, this character suffers severe injuries that forces the woman to live inside her head. The connection between the main character in this story and Gatsby’s character could draw some very interesting parallels.
 * Young Adult Literature: **
 * The Stonecutter (Japanese Folklore)
 * This Japanese Folktale wonders if humans had a chance to change into anything that they want, would they want to be anything besides who they are? This can easily connect to Jay Gatsby and his attempt to become something that he is not. The students can also see how the fundamental views of the American Dream can stretch beyond American culture and be seen in other cultures.
 * Nonfiction Texts ** :
 * The American Dream Unhinged: Romance and Reality in //The Great Gatsby// and //Fight Club// (Suzanne Del Gizzo)
 * This article by Del Gizzo discusses the theme of the American Dream and how it comes apart in stories like //Gatsby// and //Fight// //Club//. The article also draws on the parallels between //Gatsby// and //Fight Club// in a manner that could elicit student interest and make //Gatsby// more relevant through comparison of a more action filled story. The article focuses on style, characters, and thematic approaches.
 * Fiction as Greatness: The Case of Gatsby (Arnold Weinstein)
 * This article by Weinstein is especially useful because it ties together a large amount of criticism on //Gatsby// while still addressing some of the key components such as: the American Dream, character analysis, and historical analysis. I list this article by Weinstein and the article by Del Gizzo so that I can give the students excerpts and examples of what criticism looks like and how to approach it.
 * Poetry ** :
 * Let America Be America Again (Langston Hughes)
 * This beautiful poem addresses Langston’s belief in reshaping America, because the current America does not accept all equally. The poem brings in an element of diversity that will broaden the unit’s capabilities and allow the students to discuss class struggles in terms of divides other than money. It also directly references American dreamers within the text.
 * []
 * Walt Whitman "I Hear America Singing" is about the backbone of America and the workers. This poem will offer an interesting contrast to the typically received American Dream where the romanticized individuals are the elitist of the community. By comparing this poem to how //The Great Gatsby// romanticizes certain characters, the students can begin to deconstruct the thematic elements of the American Dream within the novel.
 * Music ** :
 * []
 * This is a youtube video that contains the song from the roaring 20s Crazy Rhythm by Roger Wolfe Kahn & His Orch., 1928. The video will be a nice addition to teaching the historical context of //Gatsby// because of its connection to jazz music and flappers of the time period.
 * []
 * Evening Star Irving Aaronson & His Commanders. This is another jazz video that plays a soundtrack from the 1920’s. The music could be a nice addition to the presentation on Fitzgerald or the background of the 1920’s. The music could even be played quietly while the children write to get them in the sense of the novel’s timeframe.
 * The Vacant American Dream (Luiz Teles)

|| ||
 * Pictures ** :
 * This picture will give the students a nice reference for when the novel addresses women flappers. The picture will provide a memory enhancing cue for the students to tie the characteristics of the flappers to an image of woman that could have been what the novel suggests they may have looked like.
 * DVDs: **
 * The Great Gatsby (multiple renditions)
 * The novel has actually been converted into several movie additions, the newest of which is scheduled to come out early next year. It is interesting to show the children video clips of the same scene to show the different interpretations that directors can have of the same text. This can both validate originality and show the strength of persuasive viewpoints.
 * Timeline ** :
 * []
 * This timeline is a nice addition to the presentation of the 1920’s and the culture that surrounds the novel. Jazz is an influence of the time period and a worthwhile mention to have the students adapt their minds to the time frame and give them more cultural capital to relate to within the story.
 * Websites: **


 * http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/july-dec96/fitzgerald_09-27.html
 * A PBS Newshour interview with the renowned Fitzgerald biographer Prof. Matthew Bruccoli, and author Joseph Heller, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Fitzgerald's birth. This interview will be a nice addition to the presentation of Fitzgerald to the students.
 * []
 * Prohibition pictures from the Discovery channel. These pictures will serve as a minor additional source to further elaborate on the culture and historical happenings of the time period.
 * A Five Part series with the biographer of F. Scott Fitzgerald:
 * [] Pt.1 of F.Scott biography
 * [] pt. 2
 * [] pt. 3
 * [] pt. 4
 * [] pt. 5
 * These videos give a lengthy biographical view of the author Fitzgerald. Portions and excerpts from these videos can be used to enhance the presentation of the author to the students so they can better understand the mind behind the story.
 * []
 * Houses that he lived in and that were in his neighborhood. These photos will be interesting for the students to have a chance to view where the author worked and where he grew up. The historical information of the author will allow the students to better connect to the story and its thematic elements.
 * wolfweb.unr.edu/homepage/mckennar/Modernism(s)_files/Modernism(s).ppt
 * Modernism power point, University of Nevada Reno. This PowerPoint gives a brief overview and a nice introduction to the era of Modernism and its impact on literature at the time. The PowerPoint also comes from a credible source so it can function to show the students a practical application to finding quality resources.
 * [|www.public.asu.edu/~kheenan/courses/472/f05/powerpoints/modernism.ppt]
 * Arizona State Modernism PowerPoint. Similarly this PowerPoint is an alternative or an additional set of slide that can be incorporated to show the effects of Modernism on the time period and how The Greta Gatsby functions as a modernist novel.

=Ed Sec 324=

To teach English/Literacy for love and wisdom requires a lot of work and a lot of patience, but the payoff is always worth the effort put forth. Nothing is more enjoyable than being around a group of people engaged and excited about a topic and voicing their opinions openly. To achieve this open display of ideas teachers must work tirelessly to show their students that the magic lies in the ideas embedded in these forms. The conversation of ideas and the flow of information is the beauty of literacy. The interactions that enable us to grow and mature while building relationships and gathering a perspective of the things around us. To open the students' minds to literacy of all kinds the teacher must show the students that there is in fact something to be learned, something to gain and something that will benefit all of the partakers while leaving a desire to come back for more.

Only when a teacher can bring out the desire in each student will they be able to reveal the powers of literacy. In order to do so the instructor has to reach out to some individual connection that will tie each student to the lesson. Having a student fully engaged requires the student to have something personally invested in the lesson or conversation. To do that a teacher must know their students. You cannot teach love and wisdom by preaching to the masses. Something this powerful is learned on an individual level and that occurs by finding the individual pieces that will draw each student into the lecture. Aspirations, likes, dislikes, problems, hopes, fears, and all emotions and personally relevant information has to be brought to the forefront if students are going to connect with your lesson.

The best way to start is always with you, the teacher. As the instructor you are the model and the design for how the students will engage the class. Give teaching everything you have, invest your own emotions, your own time and your own passions and the students will follow. Take a lighter approach and so will your students. The interest of the students is correlated to the interest of the instructor. Set the standard and the room will open to your effort. Teaching in this way is exhausting, but it is also the most rewarding.

=Ed Sec 324=

//Matthew Campbell 9/8/2011//
What is English? Please share in your own words how the field of high school English has evolved over the years. What were the major conferences and/or leaders who have influenced the field. What is it today? Do you think we should change the title of our discipline to Personal Studies? Why or why not? What would you like to see the field of English become in the years ahead?

It is ironic that English is a subject where the quality of your word choice can make a difference, yet the subject cannot be easily described in words. English covers so vast an expanse that it would be difficult to get the same definition of what is English from two different people. I personally think reading/writing/grammar because that was what was instilled in me through my education. Yet English also covers critical thinking, communication of thoughts and structured arguments along with other ideas I am sure to have left out.

English has certainly altered its perceived purpose over the years, typically as a result of the nation's latest concerns and recognized need for changes in education based off of global events. In the earlier stages English was a call to "national unity" and "the common good" as a way of extinguishing the diversity of language into a more convenient national language (22). The diversity of our melting pot was seen as a threat to our culture so English courses were called to assimilate the populous to the more favored "one language" way. Much later in the 1960's The Dartmouth Seminar would have to respond to the panic spread by Sputnik and the collective worry that our schools were subpar in their educational procedures compared to the Russians (25). After the seminar English education pushed for making something out of language (personal growth) rather than having language work for the individual. The key here was that English finally expanded beyond the confines of a nationalistic banner and started to focus on the individual. Unfortunately, our educational system will likely never been seen as working well as each era sees new faults within the system. In fact the publishing of //A Nation at Risk// in 1983 even went so far as to blame the educational system for the falling national economy. As each crisis hits our country our curriculum will alter to reflect what the public feels our students are falling behind in the most.

If the educators wish to change the name of English studies to Personal Studies to bolster its image, I feel as though the results would come out just as favorable as the connotations currently given to English studies. English may not be looked on positively by the majority, but to switch the name to personal studies I fear would foster more of the same criticism that English is already receiving. People worry that English as a study is hard to assess and therefore difficult to prioritize as there is no solid means by which to evaluate how the students are progressing within the subject. The author even calls attention to the need for delicacy when picking a title as he planned to name the book "Personal Studies: Literacy for Love and Wisdom" but chose rather to stay with "Teaching Literacy for Love and Wisdom" because he felt "in a time in which the American people clearly, a least for an interval, responded to a call for transformative change, said the same thing in clearer and more immediate language" (72). The titles of things are important and while I applaud the ideas behind the personal studies movement, I feel as though the title would be poorly received by the public, if not for only a misinterpretation of "personal studies".

For the future of the English field I am unsure of how we should proceed forward. Right now the method of adapting to the most recent culture and global shock wave can be tedious and expensive in both time and money as the schools must react and switch their criteria to fit the latest standard. Certainly there must be a way to advance the field without changing the fundamentals behind a set of criteria. Maybe another council of higher educators would be able to construct central criteria that all schools can adapt and build off of as new teaching information arises. While I doubt this is very plausible to actual undertake and put through the works, it is my vision of a better tomorrow.

=**Ed Sec 324**=

//Matthew Campbell 9/15/2011//
What is meant by the evocative dimension of a literary transaction? Explain what this is and give examples. Then, begin to imagine at least two ways that you could encourage the evocative dimension within your future English classes. Do you see any evidence within the field that the evocative dimensions is being encouraged within literary transactions and instruction? Please share.

The evocative dimension of literary transaction involves the incorporation of some part or the touching on some part of the student's personal life. The elicitation of life and the experiences of life through reading draw the reader more into the lesson and the transaction becomes more meaningful (77). In a way this dimension is the creation of a bridge between the material being presented and the student. By drawing connections to the material and conjuring up multiple pathways that will connect the student's memory to the material they will be more receptive to learning and store the material longer in their memories. By breaking down barriers, the reader actually immerses themself in the world of the literature, rather than viewing the work from the outside (78). One way this bridge is made is through "frontloading" activities that connect the reader to the future material. For instance a tale of heroics would be front-run by an activity that draws out the reader's sense of accomplishment or achievement. Whatever the material presented, the teacher would be better served to draw out the focus of the material or at least some personally connectable portion so his or her students could be better prepared to express their own thoughts and feelings freely through the text.

In my classroom the evocative dimension would be a nice way to frame the piece that we would read. For instance if we were going to read the //Odyssey// then it may be beneficial to have my students relate their sense of travel and family relations to have the concept ready in their mind when they approach Odysseus. If we were to read //To Kill a Mockingbird//, before reading I may have the students create a list of moral rights and wrongs, or develop a definition of justice on their own to frame the court case and the themes presented most heavily with Atticus. These little activities would just be used as a precursor so the students have it within their minds the challenges and/or emotions the characters are going through as they read the text.

In some ways I see the evocative dimension being used in the classroom, but not as commonly as it probably should be. The more connections a person makes to any topic the easier it is for that person to recall the information, so it is reasonable to think teachers would want to draw as many personally relevant connections to the material as possible so their students remember the material they teach. The difficulty is that every student is different so some teachers find that it is just better to give a general lesson that tries to reach as many students as possible. Some teachers do not bother with this at all and just lecture and what the student retains is what they retain. Interestingly enough, these types of teachers are not divided by subject as I may have once thought. There has been a large push for science and math classes to become more interactive to help students become more involved with their lessons. On the other side I have seen some English classes that are lecture only. So while I do not think that the practice is as widespread as it possibly could, I am happy to see that this push is being made in all subjects and not just the English field.

= = =**Ed Sec 324**=

//Matthew Campbell 9/22/2011//
Do you agree with the Harold Brodkey quote at the beginning of Chapter 5? Here is is again so that you can copy and paste it into your own wiki page: -"Reading is an intimate act, perhaps more intimate than any other human act, I say this because of the prolonged (or intense) exposure of one mind to another." (Brodkey) As you think about this quote, please reflect on how the Connective Dimension of the Aesthetic, Transactional Response relates to it if at all. Please share at least two ways that you might encourage your future students to connect to the implied authors of texts. Are you seeing examples of ways that English teachers help students connect to authors? Please share.

I believe that Brodkey's quote has the potential of reaching the level that he addresses. I feel that there is a moment, or a threshold per-say, where once the reader crosses over they are fully engaged with the text. Whether it is by the way the text is written, the way the characters speak to the reader or just the content of the piece itself, there is something within the text-reader transaction that takes in the reader and fully absorbs their mind into what they are reading. The key is that they have to get to this point, as it is not there at the start of novel.

Here is where the evocative dimension comes into play and can determine how much the reader becomes involved with a text. The more successful the text is at drawing on the readers past experiences and emotions, the more likely the reader will become engaged. The text has to spark an interest in the reader or touch on something relevant. Otherwise the exposure of the author's mind to the reader will be passed over and not integrated into the reader's mind. There is a personal level that must be reached, and this is expressed in the statements of readers like Cora who felt like they were "getting to know a very kind and sensitive person who has a powerful heart" (93). The words on the page must become something real for the reader, something more than just an exposure of one's thoughts, but rather an experience for which the reader can become a part of the world the author is creating. If the reader can be engaged at a personal level, the intimacy of that moment is as real as any other human interaction.

To have the readers connect with the author I feel as though the readers can be helped by growing to understand the way "messages" can be sent through a text. For instance I could discuss with my students why a fiction writer would chose to talk about a certain theme in a fictional setting with fictional people rather than a real place with real people. What does the author gain by creating a different environment and original character interactions? By discussing whether or not a story changes based on who it was written by and in what time, the students can discuss what they feel is important about an author. How much does the time period affect the writing? Does it make a difference that the text was written by a man from a woman's perceptive? Why would a female author want her story to seem as if it had been written by a man? These questions will help the students to open their minds to not only the different styles or writing, but also to the purpose and power behind authorship and implied authorship. A further way to connect the students is through trying to discuss why the author felt their message (or the message that the students gathered from the text) was important to relate? By divulging into the purpose of the text, attempting to answer questions that ask why and how come, the students will grow to better appreciate (hopefully) what it is the author may have been trying to accomplish. Once you start tackling the intent and higher purpose, it becomes much easier to connect and work with a text.

The way I have seen teachers attempt to connect students to authors is through various means of giving author backgrounds. For instance, if the teacher where giving a lesson that included a text of Chaucer they might begin by giving some details about his life, e.g. when he was born, what languages he learned, what king he was ruled by, what jobs he held and so on and so forth. To me this can be hit or miss. If the details are just life facts then the connective level of the information will be minimal and besides framing the text it may not do much for the student in terms of becoming engaged. What I think works better is when the teacher gives personal details. What kind of person was the author, what type of personality did they have, how did they respond and react to others. By learning about the person on a more intimate level you become more receptive to their work and what they might have to say. Also, it provides another route for discussion as the readers can debate whether the author istrying to relate actually feelings that he or she is holding at the time, or is the author trying to reach a point of view outside of what they may believe on their own. By diverting some attention to the author it allows more pathways for discussion, but the key is always on the level of engagement that the text, and in this case the teacher can bring to the reader.

=**Ed Sec 324**=

//Matthew Campbell 9/29/2011//
After you have read and reflected up "The Reflective Dimension" of the literary transaction, please share how you would encourage the entire literary transactional approach (guiding students through the evocative, connective and reflective dimensions of the literary meaning-making process) for the book Posted! No Trespassing! that you were given in class. How could you begin to develop a unit that would help students connect their personal experiences to the text? How would you help them make connections with the author, the zoology professor at Dartmouth, Professor Griggs? Then, how would you help them use the wisdom they have accrued to transform their worlds? How will you help them "live more artfully and meaningfully in the real world?" Elaborate as fully as you desire. I'm eager to read what you have imagined! Also, don't forget to share ways that your cooperating teacher or other teachers are encouraging the reflective dimension in their literary studies.

Depending on the age of the students would depend on how I would start my lesson. In the evocative stage if I had younger children I would do an exercise where maybe they would act out what it like to go through a safari or visit a zoo so they can practice seeing things from the animals perspective. If I had older kids I would have them do a Thoreau exercise where they would have to go alone into a wooded area (maybe a secluded area depending on what there is around us) and reflect on their experience. did they feel relaxed, were they anxious, did they watch the different animals around them, is it different seeing animals in the woods then say the neighborhood homes and streets or even a zoo? Perhaps I would use a questionnaire to have the students reflect on this matter or maybe have them write their own reflections. Either way the key is to have them feel out of place or rather feel as though they were entering the animals' home rather than a place of human ownership.

Once the students have had this experience then I can talk to them about Griggs "cabin in the woods" and the reasoning behind his story. As a professor of zoology what is Professor Griggs trying to accomplish by writing a book about his experience in this new place. Would the professor sympathize with the animals taken out of place? After experiencing some time alone in a roughly similar condition, will the students be able to enter into the author's mind? Can we sympathize with his cause? Is it a worthy cause and one worthy of looking into? Now the questions can become deeper and more meaningful as we dive into the type of questions that start to ask the students' opinion of importance, fairness and animal treatment. Now that the students minds are ready then can dive into the book, knowing what to expect but also being more receptive of what they may be reading. When you frame the book to be important the children will look deeper than the pictures on the page, they will see the lives being affected by the story unfolding.

After the story is when the discussion can really expand within the classroom and touch on the students' lives. We can expand into topics that the students may have before been uninterested in but now feel as though they can state a comfortable opinion in the matter. Questions such as the ethical use of massive lumber fields, mountain top harvesting, deep mining and water treatment that all affect a type of animal life in one way or another; progressing further to larger questions of possession and property. Because humans have a written document stating claim to a land are the animals living there to even be considered in terms of how the property is managed? Are animal rights a worthy cause to pursue? I would love to go into a Socratic type of seminar in this phase where with a few feeder questions the class could really dive into the moral and ethical questions that the story can address.

In the teaching field I have only been to a couple classes but I really enjoy how my teacher is running her larger project with her English II class. They are learning about Greek Mythology so they are going to the library first to do some research on heroes and then they slowly progress in stages to the point where they will make their own hero. The process is used to illustrate the creation of the myths and legends and how the ideal hero is formed. I loved the idea of the students making their own heroes first so that they can compare the values that they used in their own projects to the values that they will see in some of the myths and legends that they read.

=**Ed Sec 324**=

//Matthew Campbell 10/5/2011//
In the chapter on Aesthetic Education, what were the qualities of the four teachers who were striving to teach for love and wisdom that you most admired and would like to embody? Please explain

Sarah: What stood out to me from reading Sarah's view on teaching was the idea of attainable goal setting. Sarah is known for experimenting and finding new and innovate ways to do things and is not afraid to fail when learning something new. As she describes it is all fine and well to take a step back as long as you take two steps forward. The use of standards in Sarah's mind could not be the same for every student, just like you cannot expect every student to be 6 feet tall. The key is to find the space of improvement that is attainable for each child. The zone of proximal development is a concept that Sarah would look at for her teaching style.

Andrew: What is most remarkable about Andrew's methodology is the connective level he reaches with his students and the positive atmosphere he creates in his classroom. Emphasizing the need to connect the story of the inquiry to the story of his students' lives, Andrew is able to make the lesson more meaningful for both his students and his own pleasure. His ability to elicit emotions allows everyone to connect with the material on a more personal level as he simply guides them through the course.

Debra: Debra was most intriguing for her view on story telling and the perception it gives to history. As a teacher she tries to educate her children in a way that allows them to see how these stories of the past have been interpreted and shaped over the years and how they are all active participants in the story telling community. By enriching their knowledge and expanding their understanding of how these stories are shaped the students take a larger hold on their views and philosophies, start asking more pertinent questions, and really start to think about the world around them.

Rachel: Mental fortitude and a desire to be better are two of the characteristics that make Rachel an effective teacher. Her willing to always revise and realize that there is always something to improve on. Through the strength that she possesses Rachel continues to grow as a teacher as she holds herself to a high standard while still having enough self awareness and confidence to realize when something does not go quite right that it should be fixed. The flexibility that Rachel showed to her students was unique and encouraging. To see a different type of openness and willingness to work with students showed me how Rachel was smart enough to see that in order to get better both sides would need to work together in a cooperative fashion.

I really like how my observing teacher tries to reach her students with her lessons and then reflects on what she has taught that day. She has notes that she keeps of how the days lesson went, what she thinks she can do to improve and how the class responded to the lesson. These notes are invaluable feedback that she stores to continually improve herself as a teacher.

=**Ed Sec 324**=

//Matthew Campbell 10/13/2011//
In the chapter on Aesthetic Democracy, the opening quote is this, "I've never been in a classroom that was a real community before. Is this your situation? Why or why not? What would it take for the "third space" to come into being, a space "in which the students took in one another's life"? Be as detailed as you can be at this point in your career. How do we help students move the third space from the inward to the outward world? Explain (if you dare).

I have actually been in a couple of these classrooms before and it is one of the reason's I love the field of English. I am not saying that these classrooms do not exist outside of English, I am simply stating that in my personal experiences these "community classrooms" have always been in my English class. If I believed in coincidences I would say this might be one. The first class I felt this sense of unity was my junior year of high school in my American literature course where by the end of the year I could not make a point in that class without thinking of how all of my classmates would approach the topic as well. We had became so open and so involved with our conversations that we truly began to see one another and how each of us thought about the different topics. My thoughts were no longer simply how I saw Emerson's cabin, but how the class saw the cabin as a whole. I could look at the cabin with 36 eyes yet still know how I personally felt. It was not that I lost my individual thoughts, it was that my thoughts had now become part of something larger and much more encompassing than just myself.

Creating this "third space" in a classroom is challenging and the process is not quite how I would of pictured it to be. For instance I would have assumed that having a classroom where everyone starts off already friends would generate this kind of environment easily, but there is a different between the openness of friendship and the occurrence that happen in a third space. I have been in classrooms where I have known everyone going into the class and we have not exhibited anything really close to this kind of open engagement. On the other hand I have walked into classrooms knowing no one and left feeling as though I knew some of the people in class better than I knew my own friends. Naturally the environment has to be facilitated and encouraged by the teacher, but there is also a sense of comfort and acceptance that has to be brought out for this third space to evolve. Ideas can flow all around the classroom, but it is not until these ideas become relevant to the whole and challenge the students minds that they will begin to involve their hearts into what they say. You can tell when a student is speaking passionately about something they care about or about something that they think matters, so it is important to strive for this kind of talk, explore the activities and the questions that evoke a personal response, not just a mental one.

To move a third space from the inward to the outward world the student must be in an environment where the third space can survive. If a student feels that when they put their ideas out to the group their thoughts will be subject to ridicule, judgment or indifference, then the student will not feel comfortable or safe enough to speak freely. A classroom of acceptance, respect and ultimately care is what we should all strive for in our teaching. Nothing motivates someone to speak more than knowing that the listeners are personally affected by what they say and are emotionally engaged in the conversation. As a teacher you evoke this by being energized yourself, have passion and emotion when you speak, be an active listener and have a positive yet emotional response to what your students have to say. The more the teacher becomes invested the more the students will want to share.

I have a great co-operating teacher but just like everyone else there are some things that she even admits she needs to improve on. In her classrooms there are some classes that show signs of promise towards becoming the community we see developed in the third space, but there are one or two where the hearts just are not in the right place. My teacher works very hard and is very professional and impressive with what she can do in the classroom, however there are some times when I wish she would give a little more to her lessons. They are all well thought out and all very intriguing, but sometimes when she is giving the lesson for the second time her heart just is not in the same place and there is not as much conviction in what she says. Obviously this is much easier to say then do, day in and day out, but in order to reach this level of a class I feel as though the students need that response which they may not always get. To be fair I am being very picky because my teacher is fantastic, but I believe everyone can get better at what they do and this is just one of the ways I think that could happen.


 * Unit Rational**:

Who or what decides who you are? What determines how you view yourself?

I see this as a possible study for an American Literature course, but the main focus will be on the students and the personal relevance that the text will have to their lives. The students will start with an introspective look as we discuss authors such as Thoreau and Emerson and then progress into other means of identifying who we are. The lesson could include pieces such as To Kill a Mockingbird and Uncle Tom's Cabin to discuss question of race and how that affects personal identity. Maybe we will delve into harder topics such as Tony Morrison's Beloved and the concept of the dual mindset. From the community aspect and how the group can affect our self-perception the class could read texts like The Giver or even something more serious like Night or Anne Frank's Diary to show the power that acceptance and social recognition have on identifying who you are as a person. I am also considering an appropriate text that would discuss the issues of gender and how gender influences a person's self-perception. I chose this pathway through literature so the students could find themselves within the text. I want to make reading a self-discovery just as much as I want it to be an academic process. The relevancy to this course is that the students learn about authors and styles, but more importantly how to perceive their own lives through the words of another. Some may feel that this method does not take the academic approach seriously enough and that it does not advance the students minds as more structured course plans would. To this I say that nothing is ever truly learned until it becomes a part of your life, and the way something becomes important to the individual is to make that information and knowledge relevant. Nothing is more relevant than something that requires you to look introspectively and judge your own values and thoughts. In a way this process allows the students to grow their minds more so than the other course objectives because it requires the students to evaluate their own concepts and values directly.

= = =**Ed Sec 324**=

//Matthew Campbell 10/27/2011//

 * How do the teachers cited within the chapter "What Can English Become?" try to help students relate to and love authors? How will you help students do this within the context of your proposed unit

The teachers in the chapter "What Can English Become" all seem to bring with them a sense of energy in one form or another. Whether it is enthusiasm for the material they are teaching or the progression of their own students, the teachers are encouraging the class to become involved. The enthusiasm is effective in that the genuine level of concern and care for what the class is learning helps the students to be more readily influenced by what the class is going through. One of the helpful hints given by the teachers was to encourage student to student interaction because the communication between the students forces them to take on another perception besides their own. The other two hints dealt with being patient with resistant students, giving them the time and space they need to get comfortable and also to keep in mind the standardized measures, but to not teach solely for the sake of better test scores. The factors help to contribute to the students' personal growth as maturing people as well as an expansion of their minds.

The methods that I will focus on in my units always come back to personal connection. No matter what material we are covering the students should always be aware of how they are seeing themselves within the text or material. Whether through one on one conversation with a peer by their side talking about the text, a class discussion, or a reflective piece trying to connect the student to what is being learned, the job that will always come first for me is to make what we are learning relevant. If I can accomplish this then I will be able to delve into the more typical questions and measurements of knowledge in the classroom. First we connect, and then we expand. If I want the students to understand the author's message I want them to understand what the message means to them first. This message may change over class time or it may be strengthened. My job is not to make or break ideas; it is to encourage personal growth and discovery of knowledge through personal discoveries. If the kids cannot make sense of the material on a personal level than their knowledge serves them no real use in the world.


 * Text Selections**:

(Only some will be chosen but all possibilities are being listed at this stage)

Invisible Man Catcher in the Rye To Kill a Mockingbird Red Badge of Courage Giovanni's Room Beloved Haroun and the Sea of Stories The Giver White Tiger Pride and Prejudice The Great Gatsby

=**Ed Sec 324**=

//Matthew Campbell 11/02/2011//

 * How could you use the //Dynamics of Writing// structured process approach to teach for love and wisdom? Please explain in rich detail. Also, explain how you might use this approach in your forthcoming unit? Begin to brainstorm. Finally, are you seeing bits and pieces of the structured process approach to writing within your field experience? Please explain.

When reading this chapter the portion that stuck out the most in my mind was the section on "your own beliefs" where where a list of twelve oppositions where given to help the reader start forming their own philosophy on how they would approach writing. Out of these components the ones I feel most concerned about are the integration of the writing into the other coursework and teaching students versus teaching the subject. In my mind the writing needs to be well in placed within my lessons, otherwise the writing itself will seem distinct and apart from the rest of the class which is not my intention. I want writing to become infused with the students thought processing so when the time comes for them to write it is more of a continuation of what they have already been discussing not a separate assignment. I also want the students to expand on their own ideas and not be constrained to the material of the subject. While there will be some structure as I do think it is important for kids to learn to write in the traditional form of grammar and have some type of idea of where there writing should be going, I want to give enough leeway and enough freedom to allow personal growth and not simple a product to meet a standard.

Ways I can introduce this into my unit are to develop class discussion and the readings in a way that will make writing opportunities available but also not seemed forced. For instance the method of discussing the material with a partner and then having the partner write down what their peer has told them and then addressing it to the class is a way to incorporate the writing with the discussion without making it feel like some set apart. Integration is the key for my lessons. Another example may be to have students begin by writing there ideas or preferably questions down on their notebooks and then using these questions as a facilitator to the class discussion. When we work on larger assignments like essays I can have the students peer review and hold them accountable for a minor grade on how well they peer review their partner (more an effort grade than anything), and walk around the class and get a feel for what the students are interest in and how they react to other student's ideas.

In my field experience my teacher expresses her difficulty in having the kids write much beyond a paragraph in class because a lot of them are on course for the tech prep level and are limited in their writing ability. Still she tries to find creative ways to implement the fundamentals of writing structure and still make the paragraphs and larger pieces that they write interesting enough to hold the students' attention. There is definitely some difficulty here when the skills are low enough that you almost have to teach from scratch.

Baily's Bets:

__Narrate own reading__: One of my favorite things as a student was when my teacher would read passage for us in different tones and dialects to bring the story to life. In my own lesson plan I know that certain texts such as Catcher in the Rye, Invisible Man and Red Badge of Courage could be explored more freely in discussions if i opened the passage with a certain tone and than brought question as to why I placed an emphasis on such and such a line or a certain characters response.

__Cultural Literacy__: For my lessons cultural literacy is something that will have to be continually revisited and checked upon to make sure that all the students have the same amount of knowledge going into a novel or poem as the rest of there classmates. I can see this needing to be done for text like To Kill a Mockingbird, Invisible Man, Catcher in the Rye and essentially all of my main text that will likely have a some degree of variability in the classroom as to what each student is aware of coming in.

__Literature Circles__: If I have a higher ranged English class I may assign them a choice of books for an individual read during the semester and at a given point I will have them join in groups of students who are reading the same book and discuss the text and the thematic elements, any confusion, and most importantly how they are connecting and why they chose the book they did.Then as a group then can come together to present to the class what they have garnered about the book they have read.

__Speculation__:I like to use speculation as a writing exercise but also as a group discussion format. When we begin reading I would like the class to pause at a certain point and write maybe a paragraph or so about how they feel the story will progress or if they are uncertain write about how they want the story to progress. Later the class can come back and talk about their predictions and whether they came to unfold as right or wrong. I could follow this up with another writing assignment if I wanted to later in the discussion of the novel and have the students compare what they predicted to what actually happened and why they thought there might be some discrepancies or why they were right in their presumptions.

__Debates__: Large class debates are not too far a cry from a class discussion, but it may help to try and have students take a side and make a stance. This way when the students have to write tehir larger essay they can go in already knowing the different sides of the the larger issues. Essentially the debates would be a precursor to their paper writing as the class hammers out the difficult passages and the main issues of the text in a way that forces them to create an argument, much like their papers.

=**Ed Sec 324**=

Representing My Vision (Chapter Reflection)
I have a rough idea of how I expect to teach writing when I enter the classroom. For the purpose of this example the kids I will be teaching are entering the 10th grade. The students will likely come from a rural setting and there is bound to be a wide variety in terms of the financial security, ranging from below the poverty line to affluent. Again for the purpose of this example I predict many of the students will be towards the lower end of that spectrum, from lower-middle to poverty stricken. I do expect that most of my students will know English as there first language. Had I more students that were learning English as a second language I would probably spend more time on the grammar and basic understandings of the language. The results on the difference in learning styles is mixed for me. While I do believe that some people //prefer// to learn a certain way, I believe that everyone is capable of learning in every method of teaching. While some methods obviously work better than others, it is still a good idea to use multiple methods when presenting a topic because using the students' preferred methods will increase their willingness to pay attention.

Writing to me is a form of communication. It is a process that allows ideas to flow but also be structured. When you write something down you are encoding a message or rather a thought that will be presented and decoded by the reader. This process of encoding and decoding is what makes writing so fascinating because the process can never be done the same way by two different people. What one person decodes will always have some degree of difference from what the other reader has decoded. These differences are what lead to conversations, growth and understanding. They are what allow are minds to perceive things in new ways and reshape the world around us. That is why in my class I will try to foster an environment that not only brings out the students voices through their writing, but also opens their minds to the experiences of others.

In my room the key is in the variety of writing experiences. The more doors to writing that the children have the more likely they are to connect with at least one of the forms. Simply by default they will prefer one method over the other and will be encouraged when that writing experience is revisited as opposed to one of their lesser favorites. All of the writing exercises I plan to use (journal entries, reflections, essays, paragraphs, creative writing assignments, etc) will be in attempt to promote the students voice and encourage bold ways of approaching new topics. Correct grammar will be more important in some areas than others. For instance the journal entries will be personal and therefore correct grammar is what the student chooses it to be, whereas the final writing pieces will be revised and more closely monitored for grammatical errors. The reason behind the journal entries (which I plan to set aside some time before every class for the students to write in their journals) is to get the students ideas flowing and get them comfortable with seeing their hand write their thoughts down on paper. The only way to get better at anything is to practice it, so the students will have plenty of practice on turning their thoughts into words on the lined pages. As far as options on assignments are concerned, the students will typically have a choice among a few ways to go about the assignment, but the choice will be determined ahead of time by me.

Oral discourse goes hand-in-hand with writing in my book. The more ways the student can effectively communicate their ideas and tie those processes together the better. A students should not see discussion, personal writing and essays as three separate things. they should see all three as ways to communicate the same ideas. That is why I like to have teacher conference with students, especially during a larger assignment, because it helps the student shape their thoughts and allows the teacher to get a feel for what the student is trying to express. While peer review is nice because seeing what another student has done with the same assignment is always helpful, I do not see the feedback being critical enough to actually help the students progress much with their writing. However seeing another ideas and formulating thoughts in a larger space than your own head is great for building ideas for papers. That is why I would like to lead up to all of my writing assignments with discussion, either small or large groups. The discussions will help the students start brainstorming their ideas and when they hear something from a classmate it can generally trigger a response which then flows into more and more ideas. The shifting, molding and expanding of ideas is what the communication process is all about and writing is just one of the means to do so.

The learning environment in my classroom will be open and promote new ideas. Every voice should have a chance to show what they bring to the table. Whether they contribute more through their discussing or writing, they key is to have the students progress in a helpful and healthy way. In some ways I would be an old school teacher because I do not like to use a lot of technology. That is not to say that I am not open minded to new technology nor that I will not use technology in my classroom. But to me their is something more personal about open discussion and talking face to face with one another that promotes growth and ideas much more than a projection screen, however cool it may be. I want my class to be relaxed and talkative so that people are more willing to share and less afraid of what others may think of their ideas. It is difficult to grow in an environment where you are constantly feeling judged.

Assessment to me is 75% effort and 25% proficiency. The numbers and tags will make sense in minute. If a student does all of their work completely and participates even if their ideas are off base and show gaps in knowledge of the subject I think that is meeting the minimum standards and deserves no less than a C (hence the 75%) because they brought what they could to the table and ultimately it is on me to better improve their knowledge and give them another chance to redeem their score. The method of increasing and decreasing from this base score is fairly straight forward. the more mastery over the material combined with the effort of complete all things will lead to higher grades, whereas lack of effort and a failure to show any progression is a warning sign that something in my plan is wrong and I need to divert my attention to what is holding this student back. Essentially assessment for me is a scale as to how the students are responding to my lessons. Because of this I try not to punish them for my failures in presenting the material and also offer ways of redeeming a bad score.

Identity: The people, places and things that make us who we are.

EdSec 324 Resource Palette

__Canonical Literature__
 * Ralph Ellison. //Invisible Man//. This novel traces the story of a nameless back narrator who grapples with issues of race, societal pressures and ultimately finding his own voice.
 * Harper Lee. //To Kill a Mockingbird//. This novel follows the life of the Finch family and there small town in Maycomb, Alabama after the great depression. Issues raised in the novel deal with race, education and complex identities.
 * Stephen Crane. //The Red Badge of Courage//. This shorter novel follows a young adult as he enlists himself in the civil war and struggles with the process of coming of age.
 * Jane Austin. //Pride and Prejudice//. This novel follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet while she and her family tackle issues of marriage, morality, adolescence and education.
 * Charles W. Chesnutt. “Po’ Sandy”. This short fictitious piece tells the story of Po’ Sandy and touches on topics such as race, the mystical, property and equality

Supplementary Texts
 * Young Adult Literature
 * Lois Lowry. //The Giver//. This novel tackles the issues of knowledge, self vs the community, emotion and the power of choices as the main character faces a plethora of dilemmas that will ultimately determine his future.
 * Nonfiction
 * Supplementary works

Music

DVDs / Videos

Resources for Teachers