Jennifer+Gibson

= **Teaching Inquiry Post** =

__ 1. A brief, thoughtful write-up that describes the classroom and school context and a description of the issue or problematic situation. __

For my placement, I’ve observed and taught 7th-grade students in one out of three 7th-grade teams ranging from 15-30 students per class period for 55 minutes each. Each language arts teacher from each 7th-grade team teaches the same kind of content, and assesses student performances using the same standards. In other words, every 7th-grade teacher teaches the same novel, chapter, writing/reading strategies, and learning activities every week. The principal wanted teachers to integrate life skills into their learning activities, so students would acquire and develop those skills over the course of their enrollment at Lindley Middle. My issue took place with my 7-d students, for an assignment in which they were instructed to silently read a chapter from Sharon Draper’s novel, //Forged by Fire//, and answer the following writing prompt on a half sheet of paper before the end of class:

Describe two life skills in which Gerald or Mr. Washington uses throughout the novel. Choose only one of the two characters listed and include 2 specific examples from the novel or chapter you have read.

Students were required to integrate their understanding of two of the following life skills into their literature responses: resourceful, helpful, responsible, honest, and proactive. Many of the students’ responses indicated a basic understanding of what they read, but showed little to no evidence that they could demonstrate how to cite their understanding of life skills directly from the reading. In other words, many students simply stated events from the story without describing at least one life skill and without describing how those events show the character’s ability to use a particular life skill. For instance, many students said, “Mr. Washington is a good person. He took Gerald to McDonalds and helped Gerald put Jordan in jail.” Only a few students properly cited the event/examples using either direct quotations or paraphrased ideas, and they successfully described two life skills in association with the character and how that character demonstrated use of those skills. Many students, however, received low B’s to D’s because their responses indicated that they did not follow the directions in the prompt. What makes this outcome more problematic is the amount of time students had to complete this activity, and the fact that many of these students were showing significant growth in reading and writing from previous assignments and test scores. Either the students who received lower scores did not make use of their time wisely—since they were given twenty-five minutes to complete their task—or they were not given adequate opportunities to practice how to cite their knowledge of two life skills from their reading. Specifically, I was looking for transitional phrases at the beginning of their responses such as, “For instance, in chapter 5…In other words…for example…” to adequately explain their understanding of the two chosen life skills. My collaborating teacher and I specifically covered this concept in our narrative unit and narrative essay, so students should have been able to include at least one of those transitional phrases in their work.

__ 2. One or more artifacts that illustrate the topic or problematic situation (e.g., an assignment, an example of student work, a rubric, dialogue from a specific conversation) __


 * Assigned task**: Read Chapter 17 from //Forged by Fire.// Describe two life skills in which Gerald or Mr. Washington uses throughout the novel. Choose only one of the two characters listed and include 2 specific examples from the novel or chapter you have read.

Note: Unfortunately, I do not have a rubric handy to submit to this post. In their defense, students probably would have done better with their responses if they were given a rubric to follow during the course of this assignment.

__3. Guiding/framing questions (i.e., questions to spark the group's discussion, ones that will lead them to consider possible solutions to the topic or problematic situation you describe.__


 * Is it possible that students needed more time for specific guided practice to complete this assignment more accurately?
 * Even though students were given twenty-five minutes to read and respond, was it enough time for them to complete this task?
 * Even though students were not allowed to talk during this assignment, would students' responses reflect a deeper understanding and greater demonstration of citing their understanding if they were allowed to work in partners?


 * Reflective Practice Assignment **


 * Describing the context of the unit for which I taught the lesson. **

My 7th graders had just started a persuasive unit, and had just begun to finish the last 3 chapters of Sharon Draper’s Forged by Fire. To assess their ability to cite textual evidence, students participated in a classroom talk show. The activity started off with an activator in which students were shown a short clip from Oprah’s show, featuring Dr. Phil as a co-host. The idea behind this viewing was to give students a context for a talk show in the event that they were not familiar with a talk show. To my surprise, many students knew Dr. Phil and Oprah. Following the video clip, students at each table were instructed to write down two to three questions for one of the main characters of the novel—Monique, Angel, Gerald, and Jordan—on index cards for the instructor to collect before the discussion. Since students were going to role-play a character, I was the talk show host. Each table group was assigned a character, so that when the host read a question aloud—a question directed specifically towards a table group’s assigned character—one person from the group would respond as that particular character. Following the talk show, students took a class survey of the characters from the discussion to vote on which of the characters’ responses were the most convincing.


 * My goals for this lesson. **

For this lesson, I had two learning objectives in mind: 1) students use questioning as a basis for guiding and framing their understanding with literature, and 2) students apply their understanding of literature to engage in meaningful discussion, persuading others to see their perspectives by using textual citations to convince their peers. Since students were practicing the UNRAVEL reading strategy in previous lessons with reading a passage’s follow-up questions, I wanted them to practice formulating their own questions pertaining to the class novel, so their questions would lead the entire class into a meaningful discussion about their class novel. Furthermore, I wanted to assess their understanding of the novel and their ability to persuade their classmates using direct references from the novel.


 * How I was or was not successful in reaching the goals for my lesson. Discussion of the parts of the lesson that went well, and how those parts contributed to the success of the lesson, or how those parts of the lesson that did not go well and why. **

I would say I was partially successful in reaching one out of the two learning objectives, since many students came up with thought-provoking questions for the main characters, demonstrated adequate knowledge of the novel, and remained engaged throughout the entire lesson. However, I’m not sure my students were as successful with using textual citations, since none of them referred to specific chapters or page numbers to illustrate their points in the activity. During the planning process of this lesson, I failed to consider how students would practice textual citations in addition to their original responses. I did not give students time in class in previous lessons to walk students through finding and citing quotes or paraphrasing the quotes before going into this activity. Even though I did not successfully help students achieve the learning goal, I was, however, successful with helping students use questioning as a way to test their understanding and curiosities they had as they read through the novel. I was very successful in making the activity enjoyable and engaging to students, since I made sure I pointed out to students that they had some excellent questions to bring to the table. Because students had the opportunities to hear their questions read aloud in front of their peers, they were engaged and remained on topic with the discussion the entire time.


 * Adjustments I made throughout the day, or will make. **

This lesson will certainly need some adjustments. To ensure that students can adequately apply their knowledge using quotes and/or paraphrases, I will try to integrate one or more mini lessons before the talk show lesson to help students pick out significant quotes from their reading assignments and help them to understand transitional phrases that indicate a textual reference using, “for example…in chapter…on page…Gerald says…” I also want to try this activity with Nikki Grimes’s //Bronx Masquerade// since the book is centered on a group of individuals giving their own perspectives on life in the form of poetry. This activity may even work just as well with a poetry unit.


 * How this lesson will fit into my future unit plan and how well this lesson scaffolds and/or integrates into the next lesson? Theoretical principle and/or project that ties this lesson from my coursework? Why I would use or not use this lesson. **

The beauty of the talk show is that it can be adapted to teach any piece of literature. I am using this same concept for one of my semester plan units—Chaucer’s Canterbury Unit as a performance task. If I had considered a better form of assessment for my 7th graders, such as a quick write instead of a survey, I would have had a better idea of what students already knew about citations, and how I could use that knowledge to frame the following day’s lesson.


 * Hypothetical Scenarios Wiki Posts **


 * Scenario #1: ** A student raises a hand and says, “Terry is crying.”


 * Nirvana: ** Ms. Gibson, Terry is crying. [whispering]
 * Ms. Gibson ** : Thanks, Nirvana. [turns towards Terry] Terry, do you want to talk in the hall? [no response from Terry] Okay; I’ll give you some space. If you need anything, let me know. [turns back to Nirvana] Let’s give her some space. Thanks for letting me know.

[10 minutes later]


 * Terry: ** Ms. Gibson, can we talk outside for a moment?
 * Ms. Gibson: ** Of course. [Ms. Gibson informs the substitute before stepping out into the hall] What’s going on Terry?
 * Terry: ** Can we walk to the counselor’s office?
 * Ms. Gibson: ** Lead the way.
 * Terry: ** So earlier today, somebody told me that I have anger management issues, and it really got to me that they said it.
 * Ms. Gibson: ** Was it a student who said it?
 * Terry: ** Yeah. Actually two students.
 * Ms. Gibson: ** I’m so sorry. Can I ask how this conversation started?
 * Terry: ** It started this morning on my way to school; It happened on the bus. Two of the girls sitting in the back seat moved to the middle seat behind me to talk to someone in that seat. I overheard them talking about me, saying that I have anger issues. I didn’t look behind to look them in the eye in fear that I might punch them or do something stupid. I wasn’t sure if they knew I could hear them, or if I should even care what they think about me. They have no idea how difficult it is to live this way.
 * Ms. Gibson: ** If it helps, I too struggled with anger when I was growing up. I bottled up the anger and let it burst during the most stressful times and moments for me. Moments in which I would have had to pay a large price for not handling the situation more maturely if I had acted on every immediate impulse to lash out. Terry, words do hurt, and overhearing a conversation about you between students who don’t even know you is disheartening. It is disappointing to know that some people feel it is their place to pass judgment.
 * Terry: ** For the longest time, I’ve felt so completely alone because of the way others perceive me.
 * Ms. Gibson: ** Nirvana seems like she’s being a good friend.
 * Terry: ** Yeah, she’s one of my friends.
 * Ms. Gibson: ** When you’re around your friends, do you feel differently about caring what others think?
 * Terry ** : Mostly.
 * Ms. Gibson ** : That’s a good place to start. Try focusing on the moments you’re hanging out with your friends during those rough moments. We need to find a way of helping you channel your anger.

[Knocks on the counselor’s door] [No response from Counselor Young's Office.]


 * Ms. Gibson: ** I don’t think Ms. Young is in her office. I’ll get her email address and ask her to meet with you at her earliest convenience.
 * Terry: ** Thanks.

{//Ms. Gibson asks Ms. Mulley across the hall for Ms. Young’s email].//


 * Ms. Gibson: ** I’m so sorry to disturb your class. Terry needs to meet with Ms. Young and I don’t have her email.
 * Ms. Mulley: ** Not a problem. I’ll get that message to her ASAP.
 * Ms. Gibson: ** Thanks so much.

[15 minutes later…Mulley enters]


 * Mulley: ** Terry can see her now.
 * Ms. Gibson: ** Thanks. Terry, do you want to leave your stuff here?
 * Terry: ** Yes, Ms. Gibson.

{During the following class period…] //Terry Enters…//


 * Terry: ** Thanks for being so understanding about my situation. Ms. Young wants me to see her during advisement every day this week.
 * Ms. Gibson: ** Awesome! I’m glad we’re getting this worked out. If there’s ever anything you need, my ears are always open.


 * Scenario #2 ** :Just as the class begins a quiet activity (a 10 minute writing) a student, the same one who’s done this several times this week, gets up and sharpens his pencil.

Friday’s Entry for Week 2

Briccio sharpened his pencil for the hundredth time this week in 4th period. During the warm-up segment of the lesson, he sharpens his pencil while he should be in his seat along with his classmates silently working on their journal entries. Rather than calling him out in front of his peers, I pulled him aside to discuss the issue with the pencils. I’ve tried talking to him about his behavior, suggesting that he sharpen his pencils before class commences with the warm-up entries. Apparently he’s had some behavioral problems in his other classes, so it explains the “I don’t know” look he gives me when I ask what he thinks we can do to improve. All I could really do is focus on straying away from emphasizing strong authoritarian responses, and pose a possible solution. “What if I had a pencil sharpened and ready for you to use at the beginning of every class?” I offer. “Okay.” He responds.