California State Universities Expository Reading and Writing Course Assignment Template

          While reading the standards for California, I noticed that they are in tune with their educational system. It is simple, yet detailed on what they expect from their students. I’ve always thought pre-reading is vital to assigned texts. When I teach, I want to make sure that my students “[survey]  the text and [consider] what they know about the topic and the text itself, including its purpose, content author, form , and language . . . helps readers develop a purpose and plan for reading” (33). I remember in English college classes, we were expected to read the biography of the author, so we had background knowledge. I like how their standards connect reading and writing, together. When I read a text, I have to process what I just read. This is how students process reading as well, they will ask questions, disagree or agree with the author, and gather evidence from the reading. This is an issue we have in school’s today. I notice while in my placement class that students don’t have time to process what they just read, and the teacher will automatically go straight to the writing prompt. This is when students can’t “imagine the trajectory their own argument might take as they develop their thinking and plan to convince readers of their stance” (35). Why do teachers not give enough time to students? Is it because they don’t have much class time? Are they in a rush to finish their unit plan, and move onto the next thing? When I’m a teacher, I want to be able to meet all the criteria for the state standards, but I also want my students to understand what is being taught. If they don’t understand what is being taught about reading and writing, how are they going to connect reading and writing together?

English Language Arts Common Core State Standards

               I like how students are required “to read stories and literature, as well as more complex texts that provide facts and background knowledge in areas such as science and social studies” (Common Core State Standards Initiative). I feel this is important not only for students, but for teachers as well. Teachers from the English department can correlate with teachers from other departments. This team work between teachers can create positive relationships, and the lessons can be linked together in some way. It is stressful that the main reason for these common core standards are to prepare students for college. That puts an abundant amount of pressure on me as a teacher and on the students. What if my students do not pass the test? What if they do not get anything that I teach? Going exactly by the book will be difficult for me, but I feel it is vital to make these lessons as fun as possible for the students. In my composition class, I read in my textbook that the author lets her students pick what they want to write about in the beginning. Why does she do this? Because she wants her students to engage in writing, but at their own pace and their own time before they dive into the deeper material that is required by the state. If you throw a student right into an essay about the use of symbolism in Lord of the Flies, they won’t have any interest in the essay. Instead warm their writing up with interesting prompts. For example, have them write five truths and one lie on a piece of paper, share it with their classmates/group, and then write about one of their truths in a personal narrative essay. Warming my class up to the idea of writing will benefit in the long run because when it comes time to write about the use of symbolism in Lord of the Flies, they won’t feel so unprepared and lost.

"Discussion As a Way of Teaching"

I really enjoyed reading each of these lesson plans that involve discussion as a class, or a group. It made me realize that most of the time, I won’t have to lecture and bore my students. Instead, I can mingle discussion time into my lesson plan. This way the students can get to know one another and hopefully become close knit as a class. I know this applies to my life because when I was in philosophy class back in community college, our professor was one I will never forget. His name was Professor Bagwell and he made sure every class day was student led. He would start off the discussion with a prompt or a question, and would then let our minds run wild with answers and fighting opinions. I always loved going to that class because I knew I didn’t have to listen to someone drone on about dead old philosophy guys. This is how I want my class ran. Where the students perform most of the teaching, and they are teaching one another. Educating my students to be a part of a community is what I strive for because if we aren’t together as one, the whole class will fall apart.

One of my favorite discussion plans was conversational moves. I, as the teacher, would have flashcards that have specific moves on them. For Example, “Use body language to show interest in what different speakers are saying”. Each student will have a specific move, and some can repeat. This idea can be used in a Socratic seminar, and all the students can sit in a circle with a specific move in their hand. They will keep their move a secret until the very end, this will allow students to guess at times in the discussion what they think their peers’ moves are; like an element of surprise. It also teaches students to communicate and think critically with one another. In addition, it builds the discussion to work towards more thoughts and opinions. There were some discussion lesson plan ideas I didn’t like. For example, I thought critical conversation protocol was confusing, I had to read it twice and I still didn’t get it. For something that confusing, I will make sure to model the activity for my class.