Welcome to the 2013 Pennsylvania Writing and Literature Project's Invitational Summer Writing Institute. We are so excited to get started with such a wonderful and talented group.
We will write our blog on this page, posing questions, offering thoughts and opinions and sharing ideas in this forum. Our writings will be more sporadic than many of our participants, but we will be writing!
We hope you're looking forward to this experience as much as we are.
Sincerely,
Brenda and Rich
My First Impressions of PAWLP
ReplyDeleteMay 3, 2013PAWLP Institute
My first day at the institute? Oh, how do I respond and not sound like a suck-up? It’s not possible, so here goes- I LOVED IT!! But, pretty much I have always loved learning. I am excited to collaborate with my peers, and learn new teaching techniques. I don’t want to be that teacher who pulls out the same lesson plan year after year, just changing the date. I want to share in innovative techniques to encourage middle-schoolers to write, thus also honing my craft. Conversely, with Core Standards looming over teachers and driving our curriculum and pedagogy today, I want to make sure I have the knowledge to achieve all objectives.
The only down side is that I really don’t write for pleasure, and haven’t done so in years. I used to keep a journal/diary, but slowly stopped doing so because life got in the way. I have found that I don’t have time after a long day of school, writing lesson plans, and grading three-page papers to sit down, relax and write for pleasure. Additionally, I haven’t written a formal piece of writing in six years. This part really worries me! I am not sure I will excel in this area, and being a Type A person, failure is not an option. I am worried I won’t be able to keep up due to my busy life-style.
I also loved that we got to write in class. There were so many ideas offered and I didn’t want to stop writing. From the very first day, I was able to leave with ideas to implement in my Monday’s class. I was excited.
Overall, I am excited to be working with such dedicated and talented teachers. I will learn so much from you. Thank you in advance!
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ReplyDelete“The Banking Concept” by Freire
ReplyDeleteOne of the life lessons I’ve learned is not to be someone I am not and to admit when I don’t understand something. Well, while reading this article I was thoroughly confused. There were several terms that I had to look up to further comprehend what I was reading. I had to sit under a bright light as to not fall asleep, reread several times, and take notes. Once I took all the previously mentioned precautions, I was in a better place.
At times, I felt the article was harsh and critical of teachers; for example, the author says, “The banking concept of education, which serves the interests of oppression is also necrophilic.” Wow! This was difficult to read especially when necrophilic, by definition, means “Obsession with a usually erotic interest in or stimulation by corpses.“ This is a horrible image to paint and use it to refer to some teachers. Secondly, it’s insulting to read that I may be considered an “oppressor.” This too is a strong term to use.
Dissimilarly, I can understand the banking concept as it relates to “depositing” information but not asking students to think from themselves, and that students are asked to memorize, but not internalize. In addition, I do agree with the statement, “Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other.” This does go along with the Harste and Leland article where inquiry should be the center of instruction because it asks students to be part of their own learning. I suppose that inquiry and problem-posing method are similar in that they both encourage students to be active co-investigators.
Overall, I felt this article to be a little over-zealous in its use of debasing terminology in order make a point. I felt that the Harste and Leland article made its point without the “digs” and insults.
“On Getting Lost, Finding One’s Directions, and Teacher Resource” by Harste and Leland interesting.
ReplyDeleteI found the article “On Getting Lost, Finding One’s Directions, and Teacher Resource” by Harste and Leland interesting. The author’s made valuable points; for example, never value programs over people. I believe that districts spend so much time and valuable resources looking through prescribed curriculum, in which all teachers at every grade-level must agree upon, that that they forget that we have so many levels of readers. Can teachers find balance when we have a cookie cutter society?
I also agree that choice is important. Giving a central theme, then asking an essential question works well. Conversely, students can choose a themed-book at their own reading level. The problem I have is grading. Our district is very grade-oriented and it must be “fair” across the board. With this said, we also don’t have the resources at school. We’d love to have themed units, such as racism, survival, memoirs, social injustice, etc. but we don’t have the resources to achieve this end. Also, how are we as teachers to ensure our students are aligned to Core Standards? With our careers at stake, that is a question that needs to be addressed. Also, how do we monitor this? Unfortunately, we are a standard-based school district, which really doesn’t allow for individuality.
In theory, this article is ideal, but I’m not so sure in reality it will stack up to what our district wants. Students do explore this method in Challenge classes, but not in the regular classroom. We do ask essential questions like “Is the Truth the Same For Everyone?” Then students look through the prescribed literature to find the answer, although there really isn’t one right one. Alas, the literature is still assigned and there isn’t choice there. I think I would need some staff-development in this area.