Teaching video part deux

After a few near tears sighs I’ve finished my second teaching video! The actual content of the video wasn’t the issue, it was that the audio and video went out of sync somehow. I rewatched a YouTube video a good ten times but I fixed most of the issue. I’m sorry if anyone gets peeved when lips are out of sync with the audio, I know I hate it, but I did the best I could. While at first I thought these videos would be awkward and a bit of a bother I have to admit that I know find real value in watching them. I’ve noticed all of the strange things I do with my hands and that I say “um” way more than necessary. More importantly, I’ve come to realize how crucial it is for me to be careful when choosing my words, especially during conferencing.  For example, in one of my conferences, I started by saying “What do you want to change?” I feel like by starting off on this foot it created a negative tone for the entire conference. I started with a question that signifies that there will have to be changes because what you start with is never good enough.

Conferencing is something I’ve wanted to improve in since we started observing last semester. As I viewed my entire teaching video I noticed that as I walked around the room and conferenced they became exponentially better. I started asked more constructive questions and waiting for the student to find the answer themselves instead of giving my opinion as the end all, be all response. Sometimes I find it hard to know what the student needs or is looking for in a mere two-to-three minute conference. In this video by two minutes in I felt like we were finished talking. Perhaps that’s because this assignment was  supposed to be very short, to engage the reader for only six sentences but I did not talk to students for more than three minutes at all. It was good because I got to see a lot of students but did the conference have any real impact considering it’s brevity?  

I’m the kind of person that needs to say things out loud to clarify if they make sense or not. I’m always the strange person walking into the grocery making sure I have my list in order by saying it out loud or I start recounting all of the things I have to do later that day as I walk around UT. Saying what you’re thinking out loud, whether for an audience or for yourself is a good way to organize your thoughts and craft them in a way that is effective and meaningful. Hopefully, by having my student’s read their writing out loud and articulate their goals to me they will be able to become stronger writers. 

Where did my Spring Break go??

Just a little somethin' for your Monday.

I’ve finished my whole class text and I’m ready to turn it in. I thought I was being so proactive before Spring Break by starting on Half the Sky before I found out it had to be a novel but luckily I was able to continue with my non-fiction text because I am really happy with my product. In my last blog I wrote about censorship and I was debating how I felt about reading the entire text with my students.

There are really graphic parts of the book, dealing with rape and sex trafficking that have stayed with me years after I read it for the first time. What I’ve decided to do was to make the entire book available for my students and encourage them to read it in it’s entirety on their own if they feel the desire to do so but in class we will focus on maternal mortality, education, and economic empowerment as well as what they students can do to be actively engaged in worldwide social justice from home in Austin.

When I started researching what I wanted to accomplish by using Half the Sky I stumbled across amazing resources the authors of the book made available online. The website has great discussion questions and short film clips made from the full documentary. Each film clip is only about 10 minutes and perfect to share with a class as a supplement to the text. For students who struggle to visualize or make real life connections to the text the film clips feature women from the text. They will be able to put a face to the names they are reading and will, ideally, be more interested in the women’s causes they fight for.  

Looking through the resources on the Half the Sky website was a good reminder that there are countless resources to be taken advantage of on the Internet. I think as a classroom teacher it is important to keep in mind that there is a HUGE support system available to you if you make the effort to reach out. Being in our own class everyday with only students and no other adults can feel isolating. When I’ve observed I never saw adults come in the class last semester and the only ones that come to my CT’s room this semester is to check to see if the printer works! When I subbed I think I talked to one other teacher. We will need to make the effort but we will have each other when we start teaching, our facilitators, our colleagues but it’s an effort that WE have to make. 

Half the Sky, do I share the whole story?

While reading Smagorinsky and Christenbury this weekend I was inspired to start my whole class text unit. I’m a nerd, I know, you don’t have to remind me. I am planning on going out of town for a few days and then take advantage of SXSW during Spring Break so I figured I should start early and get it done before I leave while I still have this weeks readings fresh in my mind.  I started writing my rationale and thinking about the book I want to use, Half the Sky and I started thinking about whether or not it’s an appropriate choice for my 9^th grade students. I talked casually with my CT about using it but upon reflection I’m not so sure it’s a good choice. I am still planning on using it but I want everyone’s opinion.

Half the Sky is a non-fiction piece of in depth journalism that focuses on the plights of women from around the world. It talks about prostitution in India, sex trafficking in Cambodia, the safety of childbirth in the Sudan to name a few. I think these are all things that students should be made aware so they can be in tune with what is happening around the world. However, the book also goes into graphic detail about young women being raped in Africa during genocides and gives personal accounts of hardships with HIV and intergenerational prostitution. As I read the book last year I cried my eyes out at several points. Is it my place to insist that my students read such a heart-wrenching piece of non-fiction? How much say do we have in deciding what is deemed too graphic or inappropriate for our students?

I know that it depends from school to school whether or not we can decide to use books that are more violent, or sexual or racy in any sense of the word in our classroom. I’m thinking that I might not assign the entire book, and instead use certain chapters but also inviting the students to read the other chapters in their free time if they feel inspired.

I really appreciated Christenbury's section on censorship. I feel like it brings really important ideas forth about standing behind the texts you choose and how it is "in your best interst to always assume that the challenger is a person of good will." I think when a parent or an administrator challenges a text you feel strongly about it will be easy to become defensive. By looking at it from their point of view you can still stand by your beliefs but perhaps, if you're lucky, you can come to some sort of compromise.

 I think this is an important issue we will all have to face at some point as ELA teachers. I am really against banning books because of issues like witchcraft and idol worship like in Harry Potter or Twilight but Half the Sky is full of very real, very traumatic instances that might make some students, not to mention their parents, really uncomfortable. Half the Sky has such an important message and legitimate, realistic calls to action. I want to share it with my students. I am interested it discuss with everyone in class how they feel about excluding texts because of their graphic nature. Is it censorship? Or is it just propriety?   

If you'd like to have a look at the website: Half the Sky's website

Also, if you have the time NCTE's Citizen's Request for the Reconsideration of a Work of Literature  is a fantastic read.