How I became interested in my topic

I became interested in my topic years ago when I figured out middle school kids somehow got into poetry when I gave them some. I think I also got really interested when the kids I gave it to years ago moaned and groaned, etc. and said, "Poetry is stupid. It's only for the smart kids. I hate it. I don't get it. It's crazy writing no one understands. Don't even get me started on Shakespeare!" I was so sad to hear this, considering my totally harmless but nonetheless unhealthy obsession with some specific poets (Poe, Kerouac, Ginsberg, Hughes, Dickinson, Whitman).

I thought maybe if I showed them what I liked about the poets, they could develop the same if not even more unsettling obsession with them, too! I thought, like many others, that music and poetry were the same, one with, one without music behind it. That alone seemed like my easy way in---hook them with stuff they already do and slip in the stuff I do, which they would totally enjoy if they'd just relax about it for a second. (This could easily be said of the entire USA though.)

In regards to the "skills" population of kids, I became super interested in what they had to say because though I may have already taught the same poem 2, 3, or 4 times in the same day, when those guys read it, I had to reread and pause during our discussions several more times than in my other classes. This is SO not to say that my other classes didn't think critically or in an outstanding way with the poetry---they often did. But, more times than not, the class that sent me for a complete loop was the team-taught, "skills" class.

When a kid asked me to rotate a piece of Picasso's art on the overhead 90 degrees, "just to see what happens", I became over-interested in researching what all these ocurrances had to do with one another: what's up with the lower-level reading kids making crazy brilliant statements, observations, and guesses (or..."inferences"...or whatever the professional term may be) at poetry I thought I really had a handle on. One year, I had a kid explicate a poem for me that I had to do for a grad school assignment (He knew way more about the black death and the song "ring around the rosie" was in the poem a few times---he had to teach me what they had to do with one another and I took notes!). I totally got an A on the assignment (yes, I told the teacher and handed in my OWN work...don't freak out!). But I did get an A and I think the kid's help is the reason.

So...I love poetry. I love to teach. I love to teach the "skills" kids who think so far out of the box, they wouldn't know what to do with the box if it knocked them over (ahem...CSAP---hello!?) with a hammer....and I love to learn from my kids (selfishly, but, hey)....so I am finally wondering how that happens, I guess....how's that for short and to the point!? Ha! (I think of the blog as a place to draft....Now...how the heck do I put this in some sort of professional, concise manner??? Ha!)

my question

so....we figured out that if we broke down (not HAVE a breakdown) the conference's deadline draft into parts, blogging once a week on each part would take us to the next meeting! thanks stacey for figuring that out! what an easy way to force me to a.) blog and b.) get this deadline draft underway.....very cool.

my question is: why do the "skills" kids excel at reading when reading poetry when these are the kids labelled "poor readers"?

what i think i'll do with this is make it the core of my presentation, but not really answer it exactly. (tell me what you think...?) i think it will be my motivation and ultimately what causes me to reflect and review what steps i take at school to prepare the kids for the third quarter poetry unit. i do the same prep with all my classes, but i think i may do more "coaching" or motivating with my "skills" kids in my team-taught class.

i need to review what lessons i have used in the past. i need to review the interview i emailed my teaching partner for the class in question. i need to maybe think about things i tell my classes about the ways they learn and think that may be motivating them somehow.

i have a hunch that by telling the kids what i see them doing, i connect with them because i get the feeling that they're saying "hey, she gets it...she gets me" somehow? sounds a little cheesy at this stage....i'll keep working on it though.....

so, even though i still have pretty much the same question i had in the summer, i think i will be taking a different path towards answering it---i think using research is good, but i think i will use the things i do already to attempt an answer....hmmmm.....

No. I wasn't kidnapped---just busy!!!

so far, i've just been spending my time reading and getting to know my own students. i am ready to focus on data collection right about now, though, according to my timeline, i should be pretty much done with that now. woops. ha!

i have to admit i am just loving my students this year. i have laughed so much already. i've laughed to the point where i am hunched over and have to take a pause. selfishly, this has been my complete focus so far this year. i used to have that a lot, and last year, i got that maybe once or twice, but not often. i am adjusting to my district's new curriculum maps, our school's crazy pace in first quarter, and my getting up with an alarm again.

luckily, i team teach with a brilliant special ed professional who is always an advocate for the kids. i am learning a lot from her this year, like i used to be able to do, since the kids enjoy being there and are not a problem, rather a partner in class. my team teacher for our skills class is also a part time "instructional coach" for our building, which is another crazy district-mandated, (though not clearly defined), position where she can share her research and experience with the rest of the staff. basically, it frees up some of her day to help the rest of us improve our own teaching, since we rarely are able to do so alone.

so, this week, she taught my first two sections, modeling a new way of reading text as a group. for my last two sections of the day, i tried it and she watched me. every class loved it! i was also free to watch our team-taught class try it and scribe the events of that section. so i hope this is useful info/data for my research, too. i am pretty sure it is. i just need to go through it and maybe categorize it or match it to some of the things i am reading about special ed kids and reading/poetry/self-efficacy, etc....i think the more organic model of team-teaching will help me with my research, too. we are modifying the other district-mandated way of teaching our classes and visiting with the computerized reading program less this year, only to use it as a starting point, supporting it with what we know works with our kids.

so, i am having a killer year so far and am refreshed by that. i laugh every day, which is something i missed so dearly last year (kids last year were largely neglected, mistreated, misbehaved, missing skills, and lost....sad, sad, sad). i am excited to include research and data collection into my classes this year. the kids this year have positive intentions and will try in earnest, i think, to aide my research.

so, inquiry group, i think i just maybe need to bounce ideas off of you and, again, just hear what you would do as far as data collection---maybe brainstorm some more so that i can try all sorts of new, crazy things in my classroom!!! i think i lost momentum and your ideas and energy should push me right back into research mode! i look forward to hearing what you're up to and telling you what i find out. oh---one concern i have is that our poetry unit (isolated unit, though i throw poetry in class all year long) won't start this year until third quarter, which does NOT cooperate with the CSUWP conference, so i may need your ideas about THAT! thanks ahead of time! :)