Morning Page: Thursday, 6/28/07
How does your investment in your research question and the students’ BK about your topic affect the research?
I wonder about this topic because I was typing up questions for some of my colleagues this morning over email. It occurred to me as I was typing that it is a possibility that my own enthusiasm for my topic might in some way skew how the kids react to it. At first, I thought this would be a good thing, that a teacher’s enthusiasm should be evident in her teaching. Anything else would be boring, wouldn’t it, on the part of the student and, I would imagine, the teacher. Who wants to sit in that class? But, the concern I have for that regards the actual research. Does it taint it? Influence it?
I often feel troubled somehow about how the kids enter my class thinking about poetry, or worse yet, not thinking about it at all. That sort of sounds awful, but some teachers just don’t like poetry and either teach it because they’re told to or don’t teach it at all. I’m that way with certain things. I skim over grammar and root words, I’ll admit it. I’d rather get to the more fun things to teach for me. And maybe that’s where the enthusiasm element comes in. It’s more than possible that the kids pick up which things I’m more enthused about teaching and then it’s contagious. This is not to imply that all kids live for poetry once they’ve read it in my class---quite the opposite. Though, I would have to say the kids seem to have at the very least a different appreciation for it and for what they, themselves, can do with it. Many do really get into it, however. I think that maybe they’ve also only been exposed to the basics of poetry in their short 14 years (limericks, haiku, etc.) and the crazy, abstract things appeal to them somehow. Or maybe it’s all of the above: they’ve only seen a little poetry so far, other teachers are not as comfortable teaching it as I am, and I am overly enthusiastic about it.
All of these elements intrigue me almost as much as what the kids actually do with the weird stuff I put in front of them. Once they settle in with the rule-less environment, they find they have some degree of investment in sharing their ideas about it and passion or conviction can be heard in their discussions. Not every day, certainly. But it’s there. And I just wonder why. What can I do to ensure it’s always there? Can I transfer that kind of feeling into everything I teach, including (gulp) grammar, etc.?
Friday, June 29, 2007
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Wednesday, 6.27 morning pages
Wednesday, 6/27/07
If my research were a car, it’d be an old-school, original VW bug….small, not totally safe, full of personality, weird to look at, and something that can be used for years (I hope!)…
If my topic were a color, it’d be yellow…..I don’t really know why, but that’s the color I think of when I think of the kids that intrigue me…
If my topic were a weather pattern, it’d be…..a flood….insert obvious metaphor here (flood of information, flood of inspiration….flood….lots of everything all at once….overpowering)
If my topic were food, it would be an anchovy pizza…everyone likes pizza but hates the gross anchovies….everyone who teaches loves to teach their passion but not everyone can enjoy teaching special needs kids
If my topic were an animal, it would be…my cat…she is tiny but totally the boss of our house….she is moody and unpredictable and can take down a dog of any size….i think this research is unpredictable (as is the nature of our profession which is the coolest part of it) but and mysterious to me and I enjoy reading more and more about it, just like I love to watch my cat leap off the couch onto our poor, unsuspecting chocolate lab….I'm the lab
If my topic were a TV show/movie…it’d be the Odd Couple….one of my all time favorite shows….the kids I’m curious about the most are a mix of both Oscar and Felix from one minute to the next and crack me up as they try to fight it out internally right in front of me as they earnestly ask a question or make a comment….their thinking reminds me of that show too because it is unconventional and something some might consider safe to just get by with and not edgy or possessing any hidden spunk
If your topic were a famous person…it would be Mattie Stepanek….a child poet who passed away from the genetic disease he knew from the start would kill him…his peaceful words and wise insight into the world are startling and prophetic…they have a hauntingly precise tone to them that innocently strikes one’s core
If your topic were a country…it’d be Germany----once divided ideologically and politically but reunited now. Not all Germans are totally happy with it, but can at least see the some of the reasons for the reunification and all can speak the same language and share the same history and culture now.:???? Special and regular ed sharing ideology and methodology…????? This metaphor is still under construction……….
If my research were a car, it’d be an old-school, original VW bug….small, not totally safe, full of personality, weird to look at, and something that can be used for years (I hope!)…
If my topic were a color, it’d be yellow…..I don’t really know why, but that’s the color I think of when I think of the kids that intrigue me…
If my topic were a weather pattern, it’d be…..a flood….insert obvious metaphor here (flood of information, flood of inspiration….flood….lots of everything all at once….overpowering)
If my topic were food, it would be an anchovy pizza…everyone likes pizza but hates the gross anchovies….everyone who teaches loves to teach their passion but not everyone can enjoy teaching special needs kids
If my topic were an animal, it would be…my cat…she is tiny but totally the boss of our house….she is moody and unpredictable and can take down a dog of any size….i think this research is unpredictable (as is the nature of our profession which is the coolest part of it) but and mysterious to me and I enjoy reading more and more about it, just like I love to watch my cat leap off the couch onto our poor, unsuspecting chocolate lab….I'm the lab
If my topic were a TV show/movie…it’d be the Odd Couple….one of my all time favorite shows….the kids I’m curious about the most are a mix of both Oscar and Felix from one minute to the next and crack me up as they try to fight it out internally right in front of me as they earnestly ask a question or make a comment….their thinking reminds me of that show too because it is unconventional and something some might consider safe to just get by with and not edgy or possessing any hidden spunk
If your topic were a famous person…it would be Mattie Stepanek….a child poet who passed away from the genetic disease he knew from the start would kill him…his peaceful words and wise insight into the world are startling and prophetic…they have a hauntingly precise tone to them that innocently strikes one’s core
If your topic were a country…it’d be Germany----once divided ideologically and politically but reunited now. Not all Germans are totally happy with it, but can at least see the some of the reasons for the reunification and all can speak the same language and share the same history and culture now.:???? Special and regular ed sharing ideology and methodology…????? This metaphor is still under construction……….
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
6/26 tuesday morning page
Artist Keith Haring began his career as a graffiti artist….who many people didn’t think would amount to much….Have I given any thought to looking at any research models in the other arts to help develop your own research question?
Wow. This is an insightful prompt, which comes as no surprise to me, considering the author. Well, I think Albert Einstein flunked out of high school, and I know Bill Gates dropped out of college. I really, really like the idea of people who other people doubt really hitting something out of the park, whether it’s CSAP, a test, a presentation, a football game, or whatever. I try to give my kids examples of this kind of stuff as often as I can and some of the posters in my classroom are about failure (Michael Jordan has a really good one) and what can come of it. I think kids just don’t get taught “life” much and therefore are so busy figuring that out that they forget to see themselves in it; therefore, I feel they don’t understand their own potential. Or at least some kids that I tend to fixate on early in the year. I think my own personal experiences have made me ultra-observant to kids in that predicament. They are overburdened too early and I sometimes take time in class to teach them that it doesn’t really have to be that way, that it’s not that way for everyone and that if they could see into other kids’ homes, they’d see more comfortable, functional dynamics.
So I love the idea of using models in other arts to develop my research question. I just don’t know of many and wonder if I’m versed well enough in other arts to do them justice? But I like it. I like the idea of it. I use a lot of art in my class, as do many of us, I would imagine. Sometimes we make the art, but in terms of poetry especially, we try to explicate a piece of art as we would a poem (Can one really explicate a piece of art? What is the verb for what one does to a work of art? Explain? Tell the story of it?). It certainly feels natural to include art in a literacy class. I often think of my class as more of a humanities class, which I also try my best to explain to my kids. We talk about ethical and political issues often as a result of looking at Picasso’s “Gernica” or reading one of many of Ginsberg or
Whitman’s poems. It’s interesting. The kids have a lot of ideas and are often willing to support them, once they can take a temporary leave of all the other garbage they’re worried about and just put it out there and see what happens. They know full well they’re safe to do so in my class and that saying or doing anything to just please me makes me want to vomit or throw a temper tantrum, so that is never an issue.
Should I try to incorporate more artistic research in my own? Or musical research? Would that be broadening my scope too far or would it be a nice companion topic to what I’m already doing? Thanks for the idea! I would imagine that I’d come across different disciplines along the way anyway, but now I am more open to including it!
Wow. This is an insightful prompt, which comes as no surprise to me, considering the author. Well, I think Albert Einstein flunked out of high school, and I know Bill Gates dropped out of college. I really, really like the idea of people who other people doubt really hitting something out of the park, whether it’s CSAP, a test, a presentation, a football game, or whatever. I try to give my kids examples of this kind of stuff as often as I can and some of the posters in my classroom are about failure (Michael Jordan has a really good one) and what can come of it. I think kids just don’t get taught “life” much and therefore are so busy figuring that out that they forget to see themselves in it; therefore, I feel they don’t understand their own potential. Or at least some kids that I tend to fixate on early in the year. I think my own personal experiences have made me ultra-observant to kids in that predicament. They are overburdened too early and I sometimes take time in class to teach them that it doesn’t really have to be that way, that it’s not that way for everyone and that if they could see into other kids’ homes, they’d see more comfortable, functional dynamics.
So I love the idea of using models in other arts to develop my research question. I just don’t know of many and wonder if I’m versed well enough in other arts to do them justice? But I like it. I like the idea of it. I use a lot of art in my class, as do many of us, I would imagine. Sometimes we make the art, but in terms of poetry especially, we try to explicate a piece of art as we would a poem (Can one really explicate a piece of art? What is the verb for what one does to a work of art? Explain? Tell the story of it?). It certainly feels natural to include art in a literacy class. I often think of my class as more of a humanities class, which I also try my best to explain to my kids. We talk about ethical and political issues often as a result of looking at Picasso’s “Gernica” or reading one of many of Ginsberg or
Whitman’s poems. It’s interesting. The kids have a lot of ideas and are often willing to support them, once they can take a temporary leave of all the other garbage they’re worried about and just put it out there and see what happens. They know full well they’re safe to do so in my class and that saying or doing anything to just please me makes me want to vomit or throw a temper tantrum, so that is never an issue.
Should I try to incorporate more artistic research in my own? Or musical research? Would that be broadening my scope too far or would it be a nice companion topic to what I’m already doing? Thanks for the idea! I would imagine that I’d come across different disciplines along the way anyway, but now I am more open to including it!
Monday, June 25, 2007
6/25 morning pages
topic: what's your plan for the ai and your research?
well, since i've changed my topic a million times, my plan for this summer is to get my act together. how's that? i need to research some things that i plan to look into further during the next school year. i have a book or two to read and many journals to sift through. i am excited that i messed up so weirdly and have kind of reversed the order of things (i didn't do any research last school year) because the next school year will start off more focused, i think.
my topic, simply put, is roughly about how the special ed kids in my classes excel doing things the other "regular ed" kids don't do so well. i have been lucky to work with some crazy special ed teachers who are willing to try new things with my classes and challenge their kids daily. by doing so, having some special ed kids in class has enhanced the climate and thinking going on in there. i also wonder how my "special ed" class (labels are sooo silly) can take a subject and run away with it when my other classes are okay with it, but simply don't always take my breath away like the kids who are not supposed to be able to do it.
i’m excited to find what’s already out there and hope to add something new and relevant to it all. we’ll see! (disclaimer: this is the fourth time i’ve typed this entry—it keeps erasing my stuff!!!--- and i really did have some more brilliant things in the first draft that i’ve now forgotten, but you get the idea…..)
well, since i've changed my topic a million times, my plan for this summer is to get my act together. how's that? i need to research some things that i plan to look into further during the next school year. i have a book or two to read and many journals to sift through. i am excited that i messed up so weirdly and have kind of reversed the order of things (i didn't do any research last school year) because the next school year will start off more focused, i think.
my topic, simply put, is roughly about how the special ed kids in my classes excel doing things the other "regular ed" kids don't do so well. i have been lucky to work with some crazy special ed teachers who are willing to try new things with my classes and challenge their kids daily. by doing so, having some special ed kids in class has enhanced the climate and thinking going on in there. i also wonder how my "special ed" class (labels are sooo silly) can take a subject and run away with it when my other classes are okay with it, but simply don't always take my breath away like the kids who are not supposed to be able to do it.
i’m excited to find what’s already out there and hope to add something new and relevant to it all. we’ll see! (disclaimer: this is the fourth time i’ve typed this entry—it keeps erasing my stuff!!!--- and i really did have some more brilliant things in the first draft that i’ve now forgotten, but you get the idea…..)
Saturday, May 19, 2007
new ideas???
i was just talking to someone last night about our classes and i am wondering if i ought to change directions with my t-r. my thinking for this is that i should research something i am passionate about. honestly, in april and may, i'm passionate about finishing the year and preparing my students. like the author of this week's article mentioned, i, too, really get to know my students at this time of the year and research is the absolute last thing on my mind.
here's what i was talking about with my friend for almost 3 hours yesterday (also you should know that i talk about this all the time---the problem is: is it research-able?)....i have a personal theory (that sounds even sillier on the screen here than when i tell my friends out loud) that poetry is best taught in 8th grade. here's why: i think they are not "too cool" to do the weird things i ask them, but they are just mature enough to do the weird things i ask them. next year, they will be "low man on the totem pole in high school" and obsessed with appearing cool and finding their way around their new school building to worry about trying new things in class. i am upfront and honest with the kids about this. they seem to like the theory i have of them so they try really hard to do fun and weird things, like laying under a tree to write a transcendental poem about trees or life or whatever.
also---and here's where my passion is---i teach a "special ed" class where everyone hates paper: paper is the enemy. they don't like to read what is on it and hate hate hate to put anything on it. hate hate hate it. but they do it daily for me because there are no rules for what they write (morning/daily pages). lately they even like to read them out loud and try to out-do one another. they also reeeeeally dig poetry. it, too, has no rules or right answers in my class----as long as they can explain themselves and their opinions about it. so, for instance, if they read whitman or thoreau, they can say it's about their big toe as long as they have sustantial evidence for their reading of the work. so i give them shakespeare's sonnets and e.e. cummings and kerouac and they blow----my----mind with the things they say and think and even the resource II kid (a.k.a. "gain" in our school, which is a self-contained special ed class-----usually----but the teacher is a good friend of mine and she sends me some of her kids for social reasons, usually, but when we read cummings, this kid took OVER the discussion). she corrected other kids and defended her thoughts about a short poem. and just for background knowledge, this kid used to hide in her jacket or run away any time someone even said hello to her in the hall. this is 2 years later, i understand, but she dominated the discussion. really. other kids in her resource class are autistic or have down's syndrome, etc. she is identified as "speech language"....issues talking. not the other day.
and they all did that. i heard yelling and "no...it's this way because it says this and i can imagine this in my head and i think those letters are like that and that word is on its own line because of this...." what? they read (on average) 4 years below grade level and they are tearing APART cummings and kerouac. i told them i really could only explain maybe 3-4 poems out of a packet i gave them and it was their job to tell me the rest. my "average" classes try to do this, and usually do well, but not with the passion these kids showed me the other day. towards the end of it, i thought of recording it, but it was waaay too late. i give them art to look at and they ask me to turn it 90 degrees or upside down....different way of thinking.....but these are also kids who detest abstract ideas....but they get art and poetry???
then, instead of racing out the door or somewhere else in the room at the end of class, i saw their heads in their packets as i tried to tell them one more thing before they left. i stopped mid-sentence and just shut up and watched them----all of them---even the kid who butts heads with me daily----all at-risk kids-----all of them----reading and tuning me out.
who knows? it's may. maybe they just like the change of pace from the computerized reading program (yuck) that the district purchased for them to use ad-nauseum (sp?).....i don't know...but this seems to happen every year, though i don't have much to go on as far as statistical info....maybe it's the short text they like....or knowing i don't know all the answers....or it's my own passion for the genre....who knows....but is it researchable? i could get a survey together this week and ask the kids......
my point (and there is one somewhere) is....my at-risk kids (aren't they all?) really get into poetry....they amaze me with what they say and try.....can i research why that is? or is it just something that is and isn't something to prove or anything? it's on my mind a lot and therefore something i thought i should look into further, but how? thoughts?
here's what i was talking about with my friend for almost 3 hours yesterday (also you should know that i talk about this all the time---the problem is: is it research-able?)....i have a personal theory (that sounds even sillier on the screen here than when i tell my friends out loud) that poetry is best taught in 8th grade. here's why: i think they are not "too cool" to do the weird things i ask them, but they are just mature enough to do the weird things i ask them. next year, they will be "low man on the totem pole in high school" and obsessed with appearing cool and finding their way around their new school building to worry about trying new things in class. i am upfront and honest with the kids about this. they seem to like the theory i have of them so they try really hard to do fun and weird things, like laying under a tree to write a transcendental poem about trees or life or whatever.
also---and here's where my passion is---i teach a "special ed" class where everyone hates paper: paper is the enemy. they don't like to read what is on it and hate hate hate to put anything on it. hate hate hate it. but they do it daily for me because there are no rules for what they write (morning/daily pages). lately they even like to read them out loud and try to out-do one another. they also reeeeeally dig poetry. it, too, has no rules or right answers in my class----as long as they can explain themselves and their opinions about it. so, for instance, if they read whitman or thoreau, they can say it's about their big toe as long as they have sustantial evidence for their reading of the work. so i give them shakespeare's sonnets and e.e. cummings and kerouac and they blow----my----mind with the things they say and think and even the resource II kid (a.k.a. "gain" in our school, which is a self-contained special ed class-----usually----but the teacher is a good friend of mine and she sends me some of her kids for social reasons, usually, but when we read cummings, this kid took OVER the discussion). she corrected other kids and defended her thoughts about a short poem. and just for background knowledge, this kid used to hide in her jacket or run away any time someone even said hello to her in the hall. this is 2 years later, i understand, but she dominated the discussion. really. other kids in her resource class are autistic or have down's syndrome, etc. she is identified as "speech language"....issues talking. not the other day.
and they all did that. i heard yelling and "no...it's this way because it says this and i can imagine this in my head and i think those letters are like that and that word is on its own line because of this...." what? they read (on average) 4 years below grade level and they are tearing APART cummings and kerouac. i told them i really could only explain maybe 3-4 poems out of a packet i gave them and it was their job to tell me the rest. my "average" classes try to do this, and usually do well, but not with the passion these kids showed me the other day. towards the end of it, i thought of recording it, but it was waaay too late. i give them art to look at and they ask me to turn it 90 degrees or upside down....different way of thinking.....but these are also kids who detest abstract ideas....but they get art and poetry???
then, instead of racing out the door or somewhere else in the room at the end of class, i saw their heads in their packets as i tried to tell them one more thing before they left. i stopped mid-sentence and just shut up and watched them----all of them---even the kid who butts heads with me daily----all at-risk kids-----all of them----reading and tuning me out.
who knows? it's may. maybe they just like the change of pace from the computerized reading program (yuck) that the district purchased for them to use ad-nauseum (sp?).....i don't know...but this seems to happen every year, though i don't have much to go on as far as statistical info....maybe it's the short text they like....or knowing i don't know all the answers....or it's my own passion for the genre....who knows....but is it researchable? i could get a survey together this week and ask the kids......
my point (and there is one somewhere) is....my at-risk kids (aren't they all?) really get into poetry....they amaze me with what they say and try.....can i research why that is? or is it just something that is and isn't something to prove or anything? it's on my mind a lot and therefore something i thought i should look into further, but how? thoughts?
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
what the heck am i researching?
i have just a few million questions for anyone reading this about my research topic. i'm not sure what to focus on and then i have concerns about collecting field research before the end of this year.
first, i am interested in many topics. i would maybe like to research kids who enter the 8th grade unable to read or who might read significantly, significantly below their "grade level," whatever that means (1st, 2nd, 4th grade reading level). we have so many diagnostic tests that are not compatable with one another, i don't know where to begin regarding someone's actual definite level. i am curious about brain research and teaching strategies, but don't know how to collect anything from my kids. this is not the time of year we do any diagnostic things. it is also a time of year when the 8th graders who will be moving to high school do a good deal of reflecting and preparing for next year. we don't really do any new reading strategies, etc.
second, i would kind of like to know why kids don't really run their own writing groups as well as adults do, other than the obvious age issue. i didn't really do writing groups this year due to almost 30 minutes having been chopped off of each of my class periods. my adjustment to the time difference wasn't what i would call smooth. so i cut it out, but kept author's chair. i wondered last year why some kids really got into writing groups and some just hung out. my instinct is that some kids like writing and some just go through the motions until my class is over and that this is not really a researchable topic.
who knows? i have lots of concerns and i want my topic to be something i can try out in my classes next year. i would like my topic to be something that improves my teaching and that teaches me something immediately useful for my students.
so.....having no real formal research experience, what are your thoughts and what would you suggest? any comments are welcome!!! i'll keep brainstorming, too!
thanks!
first, i am interested in many topics. i would maybe like to research kids who enter the 8th grade unable to read or who might read significantly, significantly below their "grade level," whatever that means (1st, 2nd, 4th grade reading level). we have so many diagnostic tests that are not compatable with one another, i don't know where to begin regarding someone's actual definite level. i am curious about brain research and teaching strategies, but don't know how to collect anything from my kids. this is not the time of year we do any diagnostic things. it is also a time of year when the 8th graders who will be moving to high school do a good deal of reflecting and preparing for next year. we don't really do any new reading strategies, etc.
second, i would kind of like to know why kids don't really run their own writing groups as well as adults do, other than the obvious age issue. i didn't really do writing groups this year due to almost 30 minutes having been chopped off of each of my class periods. my adjustment to the time difference wasn't what i would call smooth. so i cut it out, but kept author's chair. i wondered last year why some kids really got into writing groups and some just hung out. my instinct is that some kids like writing and some just go through the motions until my class is over and that this is not really a researchable topic.
who knows? i have lots of concerns and i want my topic to be something i can try out in my classes next year. i would like my topic to be something that improves my teaching and that teaches me something immediately useful for my students.
so.....having no real formal research experience, what are your thoughts and what would you suggest? any comments are welcome!!! i'll keep brainstorming, too!
thanks!
Saturday, April 7, 2007
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