Meredith+D's+Action+Portfolio

Twitter @meredur My placement is with Gayle Alford at Knightdale High School. She teaches English 12, English 12 Honors and AP English.

For the most part, with few exceptions, I enjoyed Shakespeare as a student. I don't know if I ever had an exceptional Shakespeare instructor, but I enjoyed the words and language far more than most students in my classes. I do have a distinctive memory of a teacher, who recently retired, playing clips from //Macbeth// and yelling "avert your eyes!" during the few occasions of nudity during the play. He did the same when we watched //The Crucible// so it became one of his catch phrases. I recall enjoying //Hamlet// the most out of everything from Shakespeare, purely because we spent the more time dissecting the text than we did in other classes. We were also able to construct our own meanings, whereas my other teachers had just told us what the text meant.
 * Class 12- 11/6/13**

I agree with Tolaydo about Shakespeare needing to be seen to be fully understood. I knew the plot of Othello and much of the analysis, but it wasn't until I saw a movie featuring parts of the play that I really understood. I think his techniques for teaching Shakespeare are really helpful and would be good to use in the classroom. I always enjoyed acting out excerpts of plays and I think it really makes the medium more relatable.


 * Class 9- 10/16/13**


 * Class 8- 10/2/13**

My possible topics for minilessons are most commonly misused homonyms, how to form a contraction and how to choose a synonym.
 * Class 7- 9/25/13**
 * 1. Atwell //In the Middle// Minilesson**

We've been "talking" all semester about correct language use and how the correctness is determined by a number of factors, not all of which are controlled by the teachers. I was interested in the idea of the school as a place where one type of language exists that students don't use anywhere besides the classroom. I think in many ways this is true, but it doesn't mean the language of education has to be limited to schools. Understandably, most students don't use the same language out of school that they do in school, specifically because no one is grading or monitoring their language use out of school. And like it said at the beginning of the chapter, a student must //want// to change something about their language for it to really take hold. If I want to spell your or you're like ur than that's what I will do outside the classroom.
 * 2. Takeaway from Ch.3 Andrews**

//9/23/13- Two tweets posted to Language Today//

Andrews Text What a Trip! 1. I would probably tell my close friends and maybe my family about a great party I went to on my trip. People who know what I'm like at a party would probably find this more interesting and those I share my social habits with would understand. 2. I would definitely tell my family and teachers about historical sites I visited on my trip. I think they would be more likely to share that interest with me than most of my friends. 3. There are very few people that I'm ever entirely open and honest with but I would share with those close to me the details of how much I enjoyed my trip. I would likely tell anyone who asked that I had a great time but the details I reveal would vary by how close I was to the person.
 * Class 6- 9/18/13**


 * Class 5- 9/11/13**




 * Class 4- 9/4/13 Envisioning English**
 * a. 1-1** If someone asked me today why I wanted to be an English teacher I would probably answer, "Because I want to be as inspiring and motivational to students as my teachers were for me".
 * b.** On the scale of traditional to student-centered, I find myself falling more towards student-centered on almost all the topics. I've seen a lot of positives come from alternative schooling methods and I think there's something to be said for these styles of education. At the same time, for many students, a traditional method works really well. My problem with the traditional methods of education is that they can be very limiting and are not necessarily accommodating to the changing needs of students and educators. Education is, after all, about the students so shouldn't we be appealing to our consumers?
 * c.** I hadn't really thought of myself as an "alternative" teacher before, because I really just see myself doing what needs to be done for the benefit of my students. If I'm teaching a class about communication, it doesn't make any sense for me to have my students sit in rows where they can't talk to each other. I think there are positives to many different styles of teaching and as with everything in education, it's about balance.

//Three tweets posted to Language Today//
 * Class 3- 9/2/13 Online Professional Identity Status**
 * Who I am Online**


 * Class 2- 8/28/13 ELA Standards**
 * a.** I think the NCTE Standards are very well-rounded and include all of the topics that are important to language arts education. They make mention of ESL students which is interesting because North Carolina is a state with a large number of non-native English speakers, especially students in schools. I'm glad they also include using technology in their list of requirements because that is so essential to a student's education in today's world.
 * b.** The NC Common Core Standards are very thorough, but I find them confusing and perhaps too detailed to easily understand. The format is confusing and the language used is not the easiest to understand. If I wanted to explain to my students why we were doing something, and show them the standard, it would likely confuse them more. It's good that they're detailed, but maybe not the best resource for teachers.
 * c.** I think there are certain themes that connect the two standards (literacy, communication, understanding, comprehension) but the way they are presented is entirely different and really designed for different audiences. I could easily show the NCTE Standards to students and parents to show the goals for the semester, but explaining the Common Core Standards to anyone would be a headache. The NCTE Standards actually say "students" in each standard which shows they see the students as human beings and less as numbers. Common Core seems formulaic by comparison. They don't seem to care as much about the students as individuals with unique learning abilities and struggles.

This was the kind of article that I had wanted to read for quite a while, but hadn't had the class or platform to present it. As a new teacher, of course one of my biggest fears is that first few days of stepping into a classroom for the first time and then coming up with something to say to the students in front of me. As a former camp counselor, I realize that the first day of school is very much like the first day of camp. It's a struggle to show off new accessories, develop authority and present a sense of self between adults and students. The format may be different between camp and school but the adults still want to show that they're in charge and the kids want to stand out and fit in all at once. I really like the metaphor that Tchudi and Mitchell presented of the teacher as a midwife, there to assist and offer advice through the process, but not there to do the work. I think our growth as teachers comes from seeing our students grow and develop, so our job should be to present the information, help with understanding, but allow students to draw conclusions and make their own discoveries. We can offer advice and guidance but it is eventually up to the students to use what we've given them. I really like the idea of starting the class with writing assignments because it provides the dual benefit of getting to know your students and being able to evaluate their writing ability. I would ideally start every class with a short writing assignment to get minds rolling and pencils moving, whether it is just a free-write or a specific topic. Following this with open discussion gives students a chance to have their opinions heard or to reflect on their opinions in comparison to others. From camp, I know a lot of ice-breakers and name games that can be silly but also ones that really help you get to know your students or campers.
 * Class 1- 8/25/13 "Getting Started" Tchudi & Mitchell Ch. 5**


 * Class 1- 8/25/13 Postman and Weingartner's //Teaching As A Subversive Activity//**
 * a.** Teachers who encourage their students to continually ask questions will receive more than just answers; their students will have a greater understanding of the subject and will have an interest in critical thinking.
 * b.** The authors of this piece are asking us to question the basics of measuring education and learning and determine whether the current standards are all that they should be. They ask a lot of questions and very rarely give answers which makes the reader think about the information presented in a very critical way. The article doesn't necessarily criticize the current education system but instead asks questions that could lead to a system more geared toward the needs of students instead of what the standards dictate.
 * c.** Are questions about education meant to be more abstract or direct? Why do we use standards in education if we don't use them anywhere else in our lives? Would education be more productive if standards were changed to be more open-ended and interpretable?
 * d.** I think asking questions like this would be a good way to start the school year as well as in the middle and at the end of the semester as an easy evaluation of the curriculum and my own teaching. I would also like to keep questions about standards in mind while teaching because of the variation between them and what students can achieve. In general it would also be good to have the question of "Is this worth knowing?" while in the classroom.
 * e.** What would you like to learn this year? Why is English an important part of your education? What parts of English do you find useless or unnecessary? What is something you haven't gotten out of previous English classes that you would like to have this year? Why is it important to ask questions in education? How should it be measured whether or not you've learned something?