[PYTASH] Chapter 7

In her lesson on Julius Caesar in conjunction with test preparation, she makes a good point on pg. 157 about multiple choice practice. She states:

"I would never waste valuable preparation time writing multiple-choice questions, compiling character identification lists, or composing true/false questions for an assessment of our classroom literature. You can find such items for almost any classic on the internet or in published study guides. Moreover students will invariably point out how my homemade multiple-choice questions are vaguely expressed and defend their incorrect answers with reason. I give up."

She recognizes the futility that comes along with this type of rote testing. By instead focusing on developing their critical thinking skills, she shows that the ability to answer the multiple choice questions will come along with it.

I think ending our blogs about using classics in the classroom with this quote is more than appropriate: "Playing games with the classics accomplishes nothing."

[PYTASH] Chapter 6

This is it. This is the chapter I needed in this book. How to design a lesson. This was full of really awesome information. The 8 steps were a great way to break down how to set up a successful lesson plan and meet everything we need to as teachers and hopefully keep kids interesting. Teaching isn't mathematical and sterile, but there needs to be some real structure and a "right" way of doing (in an amorphous kind of way, but "right" nonetheless).

A lot of the figures/handouts she showed may have only been applicable to The Odyssey, but their form and purpose in the lesson could be used anywhere, especially with classic literature. Seeing her actually apply the last 5 chapters felt great.

[PYTASH] Chapter 4

I hate that I feel like I'm complaining about the chapters this time around, but I really wasn't fond of this one, either. Not because what it's telling me isn't useful information, it's just very basic. The structure went like this:

Here's the elements.
Here they are applied in a story.
Here's the structures and devices.
Here they are in a story.

If this was a book of lesson plans, then yes, I am very grateful for what she had to say. It was a good refresher, but she could have just said "hey, teach this stuff. It's good for your kids" and been on her way to something with more depth that I really need to know more about.

Yes, students need to know these things, and that is a great starting point. I am thankful to be told and reminded that X, Y, and Z are good to be taught in the classroom. I just really want to know more about the HOW to teach them. I want more classroom examples and different lessons that have taught the elements and literary devices and how they went over and what could have gone better and more teacher input on this, etc. etc. Not the definitions of the literary devices and plot structures that I already knew.

[PYTASH] Chapter 2

Because I'm a book worm, I was excited coming into this chapter to see how Jago would go about getting students to learn new words. While I was pleased with her instructions and the general feel of the chapter, I still felt like it didn't address the core of the problem: students don't read. She sort of glosses over that point by saying empty phrases about how kids need to read more, but then doesn't actually address how to do this. I'm not saying I have an answer, but she doesn't either. They're not going to learn if they're not interested. It needs to be more than an assignment and it needs to feel like its part of their life to really affect them. She says this, which I really liked:

"The key learning that I try to achieve is that learning new words is a natural act. So much of what happens in schools seems artificial to students; a series of meaningless assignments that they perform for the teacher or else fail."" - pg. 27

I think that is really great. Making school and learning feel natural. But that phrase is empty. It doesn't show me how to do that. Maybe there isn't a way to just be like "here's how you make learning feel natural," but I think it's a key point missing from this book and any other education book I have read. It is one thing to say "learning should be natural" and a whole different thing to actually teach me how to do that.

I also think the entire chapter oversimplified language acquisition. Having taken linguistics where we discussed language acquisition, it's far more complex than that and learning new words isn't just "read and have them talk about the words they don't know." By high school age, we've already accumulated much of our vocabulary, it's just not that simple of a process. I think it gave a few solid exercises, but it just didn't have the depth I think we, as future educators, need at this point in our (pre)careers.

[FOOT] Firestone Experience

During my time at Firestone, I had a solid amount of work time with my student. Even though he had to leave after school was over, from 2:15 to 3:30, we got a lot accomplished each week. I'm actually really glad for the time because he was a super nice kid who was honestly trying to pass the OGT, and his effort to understand showed. I am confident he will do well on the OGT and that our time together had something to do with that.

As for multi-modality, it was a bit lacking in our actual use. In fact, it was completely absent beyond using the calculator on my phone to do a few math problems (before we switched back to English for the remainder of the time). Infusing multi-modality into test preparation is a bit more difficult than it sounds in my head. By nature, tests are not full of multi-modalities. It is a student and a piece of paper and a pencil. So, studying for something that doesn't have multi-modalities can be hard using them because they don't require them to exist. If I were to use multi-modal concepts while preparing for a test, I would use smart boards and non-traditional texts. However, I do find the use of traditional test preparation to still a more needed space in the classroom.

Because a lot of test studying in the classroom is not done on a one-on-one basis, the use of a SmartBoard could help keep things interactive and utilizing students to their full potential. Students could use it to answer questions or to visualize something in a text or keep track of things they know about a piece while they're reading. It would be like simulating the test and having the SmartBoard act as the scrap paper that everyone could see and collaborate on. It also helps hold students' attention because of it being technology oriented.

To pair with the technology of a SmartBoard, using non-traditional texts like graphic novels, manga, or a film can help bring a new thought process to the students and engage them in a way books don't. As long as the questions asked still aid in the test preparation, it will be a positive influence because of the way it keeps their interest and gets student out of the monotony of just reading test questions and answering. Bringing forth the same type of questions with different types of texts will also help them realize these same questions can be applied beyond just a book, so they may find the information more worthwhile.

However useful both of these may be, though, I still believe they are less worthwhile than using traditional test preparation. Just a simple google search of OGT Test Preparation Materials gives you a plethora of sites to use. The top link is even test materials released by the ODE. It comes from the root of standardization: you have to teach to the test. As much as we all wish knowledge was amorphous and that personal responsibility is enough, we need to make sure students are on some sort of track to a normal level of intellect. ANd because of this, we have to teach particular things in a particular way. And to go outside of that risks failing the only thing that matters: the test. Students aren't humans in this game; they're a test score. Welcome to standardization -- get used to it.

As for test preparation, tests, and the growing meaning of "literacy," I think it's more of a rebranding than an expanding definition. Built into new technologies are old. It's a pyramid. Without language (which is part of the "old" regime of literacy), computers don't matter beyond pictures. So, to have that second level of "new" literacy ("computing" etc.), you have to have the prior. The second level is dependent on the first. And, you can learn the first using the second. They are intertwined. But, I also don't see these new multi-modalities entering standardized testing anytime soon. Students aren't going to be tested on their knowledge of video games or ability to operate microsoft office by the government any time soon, if ever. And teachers are already so pressured to meet the current standards, they dont' have time to branch into the new literacies as much as they could because they need to make sure their students pass the current ones. It's really a never ending cycle.

I don't see multi-modal literacies merging into test preparation very easily or very commonly soon. Because it isn't tested, it isn't taught. There's no time for it. Students need to know what type of questions are coming at them and how to figure out the answer. Not how to use a SmartBoard or analyze a film in a similar way you would a book. We don't allow for this creativity to flow in the classroom when it comes to testing. The film won't help as much as a day spent doing traditional test prep, and teachers are aware of that. It may be boring, but I think students know that, too. While working with my student, even he was aware of it. He was focused and knew that this was going to help him pass, and that's why he was there. He didn't want to do anything super crazy interesting. He wanted to learn to take the test correctly and pass.

In the future, I see it integrating more, and as a future teacher, I hope to be a part of that wave. I think more technology become subsidized by the government and plateau's a bit for them to control and keep in check, it will be implemented and monitored in schools more. It will start to become a necessity for life (more than it is now) and forced into schools and literacy. However, I still remain skeptical as to how it will be used for/during test and test preparation and can only work towards finding a way to make it work in the future.

[FOOT] Pleasure Texts

I thought for my "pleasure reading" post, I would talk about a few albums I've been into lately since music is such an important part of my life and then talk about a concert I recently went to.

This is a band named The Motel Life. They released this record, Retreat, this past summer, and I really love it. It's about feeling defeated and getting through those circumstances. It uses a lot of really great metaphors and the musicianship is top notch and very consumable. It's an indie-rock record, but it's very catchy and calm. I highly recommend this band to just about anyone who even listens to music. Check out their tunes on bandcamp where the whole record is streaming.



This is a new song by a band I've been listening to since I was in middle school, Taking Back Sunday. They recently had a re-vamp of their line-up to the original members from their 2003 record Tell All Your Friends. This song is off their upcoming record that's supposed to be released this summer (June 28th, to be exact).



Also, I recently got to see my favorite band, Dance Gavin Dance, perform live last night (March 30th). They are a progressive post-hardcore band from California. What was special about this performance is that this tour (and their most recent record) had 5 of the 6 original members of the band, which they hadn't had since their 2007 debut full-length, Downtown Battle Mountain. I talked about this record during my powerpoint presentation earlier in the year. Anyhow, the performance was great and it was awesome to see one of my favorite bands with (most of) their original line-up. The opening bands who were on the tour weren't anything special to talk about, but the band I Wrestled A Bear Once played, and they're a very weird experimental grindcore act that I think is...well, an interesting listen, to say the least. It was a great time, and I love being at concerts. A band I was filling in for even opened the show, so I got to share the stage with one of my favorite bands last night. Here's their most famous song, "And I Told Them I Invented Times New Roman."

[FOOT] Film Festival Experience

Having spent some time at music festivals, I was interested to see how a film one would go. Seeing as films are presented a bit differently than films are, I was expecting it to be a lot different but still under the same "festival" ethos in its presentation. I was mainly correct, and I really enjoyed the experience.

Paying $12 for a ticket to a movie sucks real hard, but at least it was a good movie and the atmosphere was solid. I actually didn't order my ticket online like most of my classmates did, but I also wasn't super picky with what I wanted to go see. It's always nice to be downtown. As much as people rag on Cleveland, it could be worse -- we could be Detroit. I found the only thing that bothered me was that they didn't seat movies until 15 minutes before. It does make sense, though, because there are so many movies being shown and only so much room to play them all.

Will I go back? Probably not. I'm not really a film person. I like books and music, but I am just not a visually stimulated individual, so most movies bore me and I see no artistic or intelligent value in them. Maybe if a friend of mine drags me to one, but other than that, this was more than enough film festival experience for me. Good times, for sure.