Kittle chapters 9&10 and weekly readings

     
               To alienate human beings from their own decision-making is to change them into objects.” 
                                                                                  ― Paulo Freire

                                       

        “The oppressors do not favor promoting the community as a whole, but rather selected leaders.” Paul Freire in his book "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" writes about  a long existing power struggle in the education system as we know it today. In this power struggle teachers withhold from getting to know their students on a deeper level. Educators believe  they are the main and only source of power and knowledge in the classroom. Teachers attempt to maintain a professional relationship with their students in order to establish and hold on to their perceived sense of power. Often, teachers believe they know what is best for the child. Throughout my very short time learning the history and current condition of education I realized the only thing missing was and is the voice of the child. Admittedly, The power the teacher upholds at time is not asserted purposely but subconsciously. With comments like the ones the teachers in Kittle's chapter nine express so nonchalantly, power is assumed and the learning is exhibited on the child rather than discussed with the child. The teacher as the giver and student as receiver is where Freire's theory of Banking Education comes to play in the classroom. Teachers believe students are blank and empty vessels waiting and wanting to be filled by their teacher's knowledge. This is obviously wrong because students have their own lives outside of the 8 hours they are in school. When Kittle's colleague  says "well of course if you let them just write about themselves they will. That’s easy. Literary criticism: that's hard." This colleague presents the idea that what she knows how to do is better than what the students know how to do and in order for them to be successful they must forget self and focus on what the school considers valuable. With low graduation rates and high drops out rates and a number of students claiming "school is not for me", I do not think this way of educating students is working so well. 

     
        I respect Kittle for a number of reasons. She puts the needs of her students first. She sits and asks herself what can make education more relateable and enjoyable for these students. I like to believe leaders are actually the best servants. When asked to lead a group of people I find that learning is more effective when the knowledge is  flowing from both directions. Kittle remembers a time with her husband where she completely blanks out at the hardware due to her lack of interest in tools; she understands why her students may blank out during a lesson forcibly given to them on a topic they do not enjoy.  Kittle in her school's circular deeply think about ways they can enrich their readers and writer. Her collage Jason shared a piece with the class on his own analysis of The Scarlet Letter including some introspect to his personal life, because of his sharing and model analysis Jason is building a community in his classroom: a community of self assessment, openness and trust. This type of environment help students who may be used to the overbearing ad restricted emotions that come with academic writing. As Jason and Kittle have done, teachers should make the exchange with their students an equal one.

    
      In chapter 10 Kittle speaks about multi-genre projects. I have never done one throughout my education and the thought of administering one to a group of 30 students gave me a bit of anxiety. What I adore about Kittle is she does not harbor any secrets. And what she does for herself, she does for her students. There is no separation in approach or behavior. Kittle admits she is no expert at blending genres but she knows Don Murray is and so she will follow closely behind his works to gain a deeper understanding. In her write along them class, Kittle is an advocate for mentor text, she not only advocates for them in her classroom but she uses mentor texts in her personal and professional life. To admit one does not know something is to create a pathway to new information, new knowledge and new wisdom. But to act as though one is an expert in it all is to close all doors and gates to true knowledge. The doors are always open in Kittle's classroom. 

In relation to circular planning Chapter 14 of Milner and Milner: “Planning Lessons” helps new teachers and even veteran teachers who feel as though they are stuck in the question of how do I plan? This question hits home for me. Even today, though I now understand the components of a lesson plan and what to include in one, I find myself asking questions such as “do I write the lesson plan a night before based on my student’s comprehension of the work from the previous lesson or are my weekly lesson plans written during the weekend? How do I pick a unit to write about and when do I create unit plans, in the summer? Planning, though slowly making more sense to me is still a relevant question I struggle with. For students who have not yet created a lesson plan the advice given to Milner is perfect, “write down all of your ideas…just get it all down on paper….take one of those ideas write as much as you possibly can on that concept. Each sheet of paper represents one lesson”. I was completely taken away by the simplicity of how to write a lesson and wish I had learned it this way before I was given the templates to fill out. Lesson plans are only a delivery system of the ideas that one has in their head! There is no need to complicate a lesson plan, a lesson plans only exist to make sure teachers do not stand in the front of the classrooms singing songs of "umms and what else did  I want to say?"

Where I see Milner and Kittle agree with Freire is in their belief that the student is also involved in the lesson planning. Teachers cannot expect to teach what they what and how they want to a room full of different learners and expect to effective. Milner reminds teachers that lesson planning is a “balance awareness of personal needs of your students and circular guides and textbook resources.” Though some teachers are given lesson plan guides, delivery and execution is in the hands of the teacher. During my grad school experience one of my professors allowed the last 6 weeks of school to be decided by students and to be taught by students! The last 6 weeks o f school was student picked and student led while the first weeks of school were picked by her and monitored by her. If teachers can find this balance in creating their circular then all parties will benefit. Though this chapter  along with Burke's Composing a Curriculum was quite informative and helpful including timing tips, flexibility and instructional design, even Milner expresses that lesson planning includes homework, paper load for the teacher, routines and classroom management. So though I do think reading about it helps, there is nothing that can prepare a teacher for those aspects other than being in front of your students. 

Kittles Podcast & Kittle chapter 6

      I absolutely loved listening to Kittle's podcast! She made herself vulnerable by revealing those who have helped her through her writing process  and the times she didn't feel that she was an adequate writer. Listening to a woman who has won awards for her writing speak about her fears and issues along the way, makes listeners like me who are still on the early phases of their writing journey extremely encouraged. I always say this but I truly do appreciate my graduate school experience. I am truly learning and picking up on ways I want to manage my classroom when I am trusted with one. Hearing Kittle speak on her family life growing up with an abusive father and hectic household reminded me the power that writing has. I myself began writing because I was filled with so much emotions about everything in my life. I kept journals and diaries and songs and stories under my mattress right up to my senior year of high school. Writing was more than an outlet it was how I spoke to the rest of the world and more importantly how I spoke to myself. Though I loved all my English teachers throughout my middle and high school education, personal writing was not really encouraged. I wrote in my home journal about me and then I wrote in my school journal about the book we were reading. But what about students that didn't have journals at home? How are they supposed to speak to the world or speak to themselves? Kittle brings up this point very beautifully. Writing is a way to engage with the world and often standardized testing and such take away this mode of communication from students. Students forget that writing is thought on paper. Writing instead becomes a strict formula to be followed. I really did enjoy listening to Kittles speech, it honestly made me take her book a little more seriously.
   I  love the idea of a clipboard to make sure you get to every student during the day! Wow! I also love the statement where she explains she doesn't revise plans. Its so easy to hear a plan that you know may not go so well and want to shut it down, but part of the process of developing ones self as a writer is to be able to take a look at ones own work and determine what works and what does not, as oppose to others revising for you. The chapter focuses on students writing and learning at their own pace, Tuesday's can't be devoted to editing and Thursday's polishing. What if one spills into another? Then the students pacing and time spent on their work will not be genuine. But I also asked myself, aren't there due dates? Ultimately students work are being timed and graded. In my writing workshop class I completely forgot I we being graded because the teacher and class encouraged me to challenge myself as a writer but due dates haunted me like scars from s drunken night one can not remember. I had to have my draft by a certain day and then the final paper by a certain day. Though this teachers students how to write in a timely fashion, it can cause the writing to be less genuine. Which is where maybe free write journals would be a good asset. I think I'm writing as I'm thinking at this point.
     Overall Kittle is a very vulnerable writer and is transparent with her readers. These are two important characteristics to posses as s writing teacher.

Reflection x 3

Reflection on The Humans: 
While reading the Play Humans, I actually enjoyed it at first it. The play seemed to set up the characters well and allowed us to get to know each character through the dialogue. The family almost reminded me of my own, (with a bit of a cultural twist of course, since I’m Nigerian). My sister wants to do law, just like the older sister in the play and when one of us is caring, the other is mean. We kind of take turns depending on the situation but mostly, were good people just like the sisters in the play. My mom is extremely critical but she’s also very loving and caring. My step dad is the understanding one who doesn’t want to put his problems on others. So overall, I would say this play portrayed the average family dynamic, well the average  middle class American family. Though the family did not complain or drown in utter despair of their financial troubles, they did discuss them.

       While reading this play, as  I originally mentioned  I was drawn in by the relate able conversations, but soon started to see no point in the play. But honestly since I’ve been reading plays there never usually is a point to them. A lot of plays are arbitrary and ambiguous and yet are critically acclaimed. Maybe its because I'm not apart of that world. I tell myself maybe I just don’t have an eye for “art”. Maybe one is supposed to find the meaning of art and plays on their own, and there are no set findings or meanings.
     So though plays are not my forte, there are a couple of learning experiences I would employ in the classroom that I experienced while reading this play. One of them is read the beginning before you read the play. Shamefully, I scrolled past the first couple of pages and just immediately dived into the play. Longing to have further understanding, I scrolled to the top of the play and  I saw a poem discussing fear. Right away I realized there was an underlining theme of fear in the play. Everyone had either tried to avoid their fears or was outward and open with it. In my opinion, the play built up a lot, and instead of going further, the information, ended up staying in the perimeters of the discussions they were mentioned in. Erik, who I believe is having panic attack and flashes unfortunately, was the only one who saw  his fears play out in front of him. Overall, the theme I took away from the text was family and fear and how though the two can coincide, family cancels out fear. I didn’t find the text funny, I didn’t know it was supposed to be till I goggled it actually. I guess that would depend on the delivery of the lines by the actors. 

A play like this I probably wouldn’t use in my classroom, only because I myself do not know how to tackle it and wouldn’t feel adequately prepared.

Reflection on EF's visit to a small planet:
This was a very easy read. Its funny to me that in my first reflection I mentioned that I am not apart of a world where I understand plays, or rather sometimes I think plays are not meant to be understood just felt, or maybe as I mentioned earlier the meaning of plays lie  in your relation to the text. But reading this specific text on how to approach plays is a wonderful tool to use in the classroom for students who think like me. It is important to know the world in which the play takes place is not the world that we live in. If we read it as much, as readers we will not take away the depth of the play because our minds will not pass the possibility of the actuality of the events.
    Mood is also a key element in enjoying a play. And truthfully sometimes I forget plays are for enjoyment. While reading the play I automatically started looking for connections and foreshadowing and other literary devices and completely forgot that plays are a form of entertainment! Remembering plays are "small planets" puts a lot into perspective for students who are unfamiliar with the genre.

Revisiting chapters 1-5:
In chapter  I enjoy how Ms. Kittle laid out her vulnerable thoughts for us and then combated those thoughts. Being a teacher is about being transparent, often we believe as teachers we must be perfect and secretive and flawless for our students. However that is not the case, "we just need to be a little better than them". And I love how she mentions reading about writing is pointless if you do not practice your writing. Since the start of this semester I take ALL my writing assignments will joy, I see them as an opportunity to practice my writing and therefor improve my writing. Admittedly I can be pleased with producing mediocre work as long as it hits the requirements. But I only end up playing myself *Dj Khaled voice*. So I made a mini agreement with myself to write and practice more often. Chapters one through five gave much insight on Kittle's teaching style and pedagogy. Entailed in these chapters are strategies writing teachers can employ in the classrooms; free writes, writing journals and teaching how to rewrite and edit are all useful tips and tools to use in the classroom. I truly do appreciate Kittle backstage pass to her journey as a writing teacher.