SED 445 Cheryl's Writing Space

When previewing Ms. Christensen's chapter, I read all of the poems first before reading the actual content.  The poems were beautifully written.  They were unstructured and stirred different emotions.  I must admit that although I enjoy reading poetry, I struggle to write poetry on any level.  I'm a bit envious of my peers who not only enjoy poetry, but also have a wonderful talent for writing it as well.  The poem that I am going to share with the class is one written by my oldest daughter when she was in sixth grade.  I remember her ELA teacher, Mrs. Silva, instilling a love of poetry and encouraged her students to publish their own books.  Poetry is definitely an area that I do not enjoy teaching, it intimidates me.  Thinking back to previous poetry units, especially in the primary grades, I remember using templates where students could simply fill in parts of speech that they would use to describe themselves and then, viola!, a poem!  Thi...

The three readings this week resonated with me in different ways.  Being a student, in addition to teaching a team of students, I look at all opportunities to add to my existing tool box.  Each of the readings enabled me to add to my resources and/or challenge me to reflect on my own practices. Initially, I was excited to learn about infographics and the prospect of creating one for my critical essay.  After better understanding the purpose of an infographic, I decided that it may not be the best medium to use for this assignment.  Turner and Hicks state, "Effective infographics rely on a tightly focused message, they rarely present an alternative perspective, let alone a fully formed counterargument."  As we discussed in class, and especially with Ms. Richer, standards are a part of our teaching.  Educators need to understand the standards and then create lessons that balance high expectations along with scaffolding and differentiation to enable all stud...

After reading Turner and Hicks, I wanted to go back and reteach my argument unit.  Although I found Chapter 1 to be very dense in content, it was necessary to lay the groundwork for the rest of the book.  Chapters 2 and 3 provided so many activities that I could use in my classroom.  From my earliest education courses, professors have discussed ways to make learning meaningful.  Students need to connect to the content in a personal way in order to be vested and engaged.  A professor at CCRI used to say, "Kids need something to hang their hat on."  The activities that used Yelp and Amazon were excellent examples of how to engage students in digital writing by using content relevant to them.  Additionally, students had the opportunity to have real world experience in crafting rebuttals from the actual comments posted on their reviews.  Turner and Hicks state, "Careful reading of arguments in social media shows the ability to respond to counterclaims...

In reading the article, "No Longer a Luxury:  Digital Literacy Can't Wait," I found myself nodding to the five practices that destroy digital literacy.  I was not nodding in agreement, but acknowledging that I am guilty of doing each and every one in my classroom at one time or another.  This is truly an area that we, as educators, need to address.  The question is how to do this with educators who have been teaching for years?  Excellent teachers who may be intimidated to admit that something is new and unfamiliar.  In my building, we are fortunate to have great resources within our faculty.  Administration recognizes this and offers professional development sessions given by our faculty members.  In an effort to offer opportunities to teachers, information about software programs and Google apps/extensions is often relayed through an email.  Having a faculty member give a demonstration is far less intimidating for some as opposed to watchin...

Ms. Crenshaw's Ted Talk was one of the most powerful pieces of video that I have viewed in quite awhile.  As she read the list of names in the opening, I was curious to see who would remain standing and what they had in common.  Ms. Crenshaw stated, "If we can't see a problem, we can't fix a problem!"  Just as she shared how Emma struggled with multiple injustices, so do many of our students.  We have shared in class the many challenges that students bring into the classroom on a daily basis.  However, some students deal with one challenge, while others deal with many.  When these challenges intersect, how do we best serve the student?  Which challenge poses the greatest obstacles or is it a combination of them all?  Do these combinations change daily?  I'm willing to say they do, as they do for us as well.  The term intersectionality reminds us, as educators, to acknowledge the many challenges that some of our students face.  I wa...

Blog #2 In writing this post, I hope that I do not "water down" Thomas' opinions or the greater picture.  It is so true that simply telling students to work harder is not going to instill "grit."  It is also true that students bring emotional baggage to school everyday and at times you will wonder how some children make it to school in the morning.  Home life and economics play huge roles in the lives of our students.  It would be incredible if we could wave a wand and make poverty disappear.  Since we cannot do that, we as educators do the best that we can when the students are with us in class.  Offering free and reduced breakfast and second chance breakfast is a temporary fix to a huge problem.  Check-ins with students during advisory help to identify students who may need additional support, such as guidance counselling or peer mediation.  Now, we have the task of educating all students, setting high expectations for all and doing what is ne...