11/20/11
LAE 4530.001
Tara Payor & Nina Graham
For the final lesson, Ms. Rich wanted me to go over a poem with the students, "Father and Son" by Tomasz Jastrun. The poem was from Springboard and the students used it to read along though I did not use Springboard's lessons. For a pre-reading, I decided to use a "Tea-Party" strategy, a strategy in which students are each given an index card with one "random" line from the poem. Students go around trying to find as many different cards as they can to gather a greater understanding about the poem they are about to read. Later, in groups, they predict what the poem will be about based on the groups' cards and what they've seen on other people's cards.
After reviewing the video, I immediately noticed that the students were not understanding the directions quickly enough. I did see this problem while teaching, but did not understand why they weren't following along, I thought I was being clear enough. Watching the video showed me that while I was somewhat clear on the instructions, it is difficult to grasp something that has never been done quickly enough, even something simple like a Tea Party. Throughout all the other lessons I have taught, I have had written directions up on the board and students have still had questions about what to do even though what they're asking is answered in front of them. That's why this time, because it was more simple and social, I thought it wouldn't be necessary.
The Tea Party seemed to be fun for the students. Some of them enjoyed getting out of their seats and mingling while others stayed put and let others go to them. When we shared predictions on the poem, some groups got the prediction "right," they guessed that the poem would be about a father and son (that part because the title was written on the board) and that they were going through difficult times. Others took the poem to be about a romantic relationship that has some sort of problem. Depending on the lines each group had, especially depending on whether they had the line "crutches and cane," they came up with predictions about different kinds of relationships. Their commonality, though, was that each group predicted a relationship.
One group wrote, "This story is about a girl with a crush on a boy who finally lets her feelings out and they begin to develop a friendship and in the end they get together." This seemed to be the common romantic relationship response. I was aware that a lot of students would immediately think this, especially because they are sophomores in a high school, so I used some of the lines that would not be interpreted romantically more times than the others. Still some groups did not end up with these lines, those that did were confused by their predictions and how a line such as "crutches and canes" would fit in with a young couple.
Another group seemed to respond differently from the rest, "A guy whose thoughts are weak and he feels that no one wants to listen to him. He seems to be scared of rejection." While I can see how the group would end up with such a response, I found it to be reflective of some issues students of this age might be going through. I felt that the Tea Party was great in letting students use their prior knowledge and personal experiences to express and connect themselves through the text. It was also a great for the teacher, I know feel as though I understand these students better even though I've only taught three lessons with them.
Their differences in responses can be seen here too, "We think it's about a person who's died and a loved one who's talking about what he's going though/what he's feeling." Perhaps the student in the group who suggested the idea of death has experienced the loss of a loved one and so made that connection. It's at this point that asking how or why they got these individual responses is important. While I did ask, I felt their answers as to how they got their predictions were a bit short-handed because they only told me how the predictions connected to the lines in their group. I want to know how these lines engaged them personally. Perhaps some students do not want to share how they made certain connections. Of course, that is up to them.
After the Tea Party, I took Ms. Rich's suggestion of filling out a TP-CASTT with the class. It went over well enough in first period, but was dull so Ms. Rich suggested I change it up by having students in groups that would each handle one section of the TP-CASTT, later going up to the class and presenting it so the rest of the groups would copy their answers down. She also said that they would be more entertained if volunteers would read the poem from in front of the class. In this way, the other two classes were a lot more fun and involved than first period, but we also didn't have enough time to finish in either one of these classes. Ms. Rich was great in helping me come up with a new idea on the spot for the next two classes. These simple switches really helped out. I felt more energized and the students seemed to want to do the work more.
The TP-CASTT fit in perfectly in this poem because it used categories of the same things I wanted to go over with the students. This during-reading strategy included "shifts" in a poem, something important to interpreting the meaning of "Father and Son." I tried my best to get the group that went over shifts to understand what a "shift" in a poem is. It was difficult to explain these categories when there was so little time, if I had been with them everyday I'd be able to dedicate time to simply knowing what is being asked and what they need to do for this strategy so that the next few times they're used, they are more quick to adjust. I didn't want to direct them to my interpretation of the text, but still gave them some tips on what shifts they should hone in on (e.g. shift in speaker, shift in attitude, etc.). While I was circulating in one class, one student told me he thought the speaker changed from the son to the father in one stanza to the next but that there was a time change and the son became the father. In other words, the son grew up and while before he was talking about his father, he is now talking about his own son. This was a very similar interpretation to the one I got so I asked him to present his idea when his group shared their category (shifts). Knowing that such a well-developed interpretation came from the group focusing on shifts has helped me realize that each group really does become an expert on their focus. While I knew this before, I am now able to believe it, this is also something I didn't notice until now that I've reflected on it. It's exciting to know that it works!
One thing I didn't like about the TP-CASTT is that it's time consuming and students cannot engage with the text directly. While they may be reading it and analyzing it, the analysis is done on a separate sheet of paper instead of being done directly on the poem. For me it's always been fun to analyze poetry because I can make and see the connections I'm making, drawing arrows and so forth to illustrate my thoughts. This is something that happens to work better for me and may not work with every student, but annotation is a valuable skill they should all learn as it does not rely on an outside strategy or tool.
Originally, I had planned on having the students write their own poems, mimicking "Father and Son," after the first two activities, but I quickly found out that there simply is not enough time for that. I am still very used to being able to do a lot in very little time in a college classroom. I had planned for the Tea Party to take 10 minutes, the poem analysis 20, and then they'd have 20 more minutes to write their own poems! Perfect! Not really, it didn't work out that way so now I have a better feel for just how little time teachers really have. The good news, however, is that I had a back-up in case there was too much time left. Though I do feel the personal mimicking poem would have helped the students tremendously, it would have had to be something left for the next day or left alone.
Something I noticed in the video is that I like to hide behind the papers I'm holding. I don't know if I do it out of nervousness or if it's just a habit, but I may be projecting an impression of vulnerability upon the students by doing that. I certainly don't want them stepping over me. To stop that I may just have to evaluate myself while I'm not directly instructing. Being aware of habits alone is helpful in stopping them.
In her evaluation, Ms. Rich mentioned I need to work on probing student response and engaging in their prior knowledge. I find this difficult because I don't really know these students and don't know what they've gone over in this class or any of their other classes. Know what their unit is covering as well as their past units would help with this too. Still, I understand it's a weakness.
One thing she mentioned I was good at was circulating. I like the more interaction I get with students when I circulate so I don't find it to be a chore. If anything, it keeps me from being bored so it's easy for me to remember that I should circulate and see how students are doing with their group activities.
The video also helped me see that I tend to lean on my arm, making it look weird because I'm double-jointed. While this isn't particularly horrible of a habit, the bend in my arms has distracted people and students before. I don't care if my students notice I'm double-jointed, but I don't want it to create a disturbance or take classroom time. It's something that can't be helped at times but that I may want to keep in mind, especially with certain classes. Thankfully it hasn't come up in a high school setting yet.
Poem:
Father and Son
by Tomasz Jastrun
Translated by Daniel Bourne
Here is not good enough
And he looks at me with reproach
But what can I do
I'm not about to offer excuses
So I let my silence speak
Finally he hugs me
As if he suddenly realizes
We have to get along
To come to an agreement
There is no one else
To deal with
And after a while
We both get to work
He collects
Old bus tickets
I fuss with words
Out of which I can whittle
My crutches and cane
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