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Midterm
The first half of this semester has been enjoyable
and fast paced. So many things have happened already and time has flown by. But, I am still learning and I feel like I have been right there on board for everything
that has happened. Even if that means, on board the bus to take a ride around
town or on board in a non literal sense with the class as we work together to learn.
This semester has definitely been a learning experience that is for sure.
First thing is first, my own evaluation of my
performance based on a letter grade. I have completed a number of assignments
in the first half on time including all of the reflections on my website (weekly reflections and Four Corners Storytelling
Festival reflection), the session scribe reflection on the course blog, my work on the family oral history project and my
work with the children in Charlotte’s
classroom. Plus, I haven’t been absent one time this semester. So, for the effort and quality work that I have produced so far this semester, I would give myself an A.
Next, my suggestions for my own further development
will include staying until the end of class (after October 25th, October 18th last Koogler football
game and October 25th I will be out of town) to make sure that I don’t mis out on any learning opportunities. Other than that, I don’t have any more suggestions for myself. I have been putting in a lot of work and effort to make sure that I take care of business and that I finish
everything required of me. In addition, I want to make sure that I am fully prepared
to be the highly qualified teacher that I need to be for my students. Therefore,
I must continue to work hard like I have been for the first half of the semester.
Finally, I will be including the suggestions
for class activities or for the professor to better support learning. First,
I really am a proponent of working with children in the classroom. Getting practice
teaching students is the best way to learn how to teach students. I enjoy spending
the time in the class, but I realize that there is definitely a need to learn about the multi-faceted classroom that exists
today, especially when the subject matter in this class deals with educating linguistically diverse students. So to make a short story long, I think that the class should continue just as it began, work in the classroom
for the first half, and then work in the college classroom studying and learning about methods and procedures and reflecting
on our experiences in the classroom. As far as ways that the professor (Francis)
can better support learning, I can’t think of any because I have had plenty of support thus far. All that I need is for the support lines to stay open if something should show up and require extra support
from Francis.
-Reconceptualist-
After some thought about this term and whether I am a reconceptualist or not, I decided that I am a reconceptualist and
there is a need for reconceptual thinking in the classroom. As a reconceptualist it is my job to point out that there
are many aspects of education (especially literature) that are culturally and socially biased. Furthermore, there
are many other aspects of education that have an underlying message that effects the content. It is important that
the students are well aware of this and that they are able to think critically about what the underlying content means to
them and what affect it has on their thoughts and feelings towards others and themselves. Also, it is important that
my students understand that there is a need to respect everyone and recognize that everyone is different. But, at the
same time every student can add something positive to the overall scheme of things and no one should be put beneath any one
else. Finally, because of the cultural diversity that exists today, it is more than necessary for the students to learn
to be adaptive and be able to work with people who are different than they are.
Story Tellers' Festival October 12, 2007
I was able to attend the festival from 9:30 to 12:00 on friday. The first tent that I went to was the San Juan
Tent. At this tent was the talented story teller Syd Lieberman. He is the one who looks like Sean Connery.
His stories were very entertaining, especially for the kids (I even had a good time). Syd attempted to involve the children
into his stories as much as possible. For example, one of his stories about a wise man included volunteers from the
audience that he hand picked. Furthermore, he asked the audience for a number of things including ingredients for a
stew and to make certain sounds when instructed to.
The children really enjoyed the stories, probably because they were so involved in every story. He allowed the
children to be creative and silly, which really works well with children. Syd even included a story that was able to
instruct the kids on how to scare their friends. He told them that if you tell a supposed "scary" story to your friends
and you continue to talk quiter and quiter the audience will become more captivated and pay closer attention. Then,
at the suspense time of the story suddenly yell and the audience will all jump. This tactic was proven to be true when
he used it in his story (before he told us about it). We all jumped when he yelled right after he had lulled us to sleep
before.
Syd Lieberman is an excellent story teller who is able to actually become his characters or make the characters
seem real and believable (this is a true statement because in one of his stories he actually plays the main character,
the fat spider). This was even more evident when the junior story tellers performed. Mr. Lieberman's characters
were much more well developed and his stories seemed to be the perfect length without too little or too much information.
The next tent I visited was the Animas Tent where Andy Offutt Irwin from Georgia performed. He had a
comedic approach to story telling (probaly because he was comedian at disney land). He was very talented and entertaining.
His sound effects were amazing and he was also able to get the audience involved. His style was much different from
Syd's but his story telling method was just as affective (he reminded me of one of those stand up comedians on tv and
he was good at what he did). Andy was so talented that one little kid asked him how he was able to make the water splash sound.
His response was that it was his job (which he was able to answer and continue his story with ease).
His stories were also well developed with just enough characters and just the right length. The most common
similiratiy between both story tellers was the fact that they both were able to skillfully include the children
into their stories. This was a fun event that would be a great choice for any school for a field trip
(a lot of schools agreed with me).
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