meeting on the path: teaching secondary english

Meeting on the PathMutual authentic discussion and discovery in the Secondary English Language Arts (SELA) classroom

Ashley Daniel FootTransitions Consultant,

Adult Education and Vocational Training Lester B. Pearson School Board

January 15, 2013

Meeting on the PathMutual authentic discussion and discovery in the Secondary English Language Arts (SELA) classroom Who am I?

• A Mcgill grad (2011) - who took this class last winter. Some of my friends are in this room, and I can’t wait for us to be colleagues. The end is in sight!

•I spent 2 years (a long time I know) teaching secondary english language arts, journalism, drama and more at the Pearson Adult and Career Centre in Lasalle, Quebec

•I was recently appointed to lead the transitions department at the Lester B Pearson School Board. In my new role, I attempt to identify, support, and place students who may be better suited to completing their education in an adult education, vocational, or even distance education setting. I also work with universities such as McGill, Concordia, and Bishops to encourage novice teachers to try teaching in alternative learning environments

•Someone who is continuously interested in getting students and teachers to talk in a mutually respectful, natural and meaningful way about real life concerns while also pursuing academically rigorous learning situations.


What I’m going to do today....•Scrapbook of impressions, thoughts, feelings, ideas, lessons, musings, rants on life in the SELA classroom

•4 of you will become guinea pigs and do some “insta-teaching” using some materials I brought with me...

•Our SELA student guests will present....

•If we have time, we’ll do a resource sharing roundtable...

•Mitchell Miller, Coordinator of Student Life at McGill University will share some insights into informal learning, building a career outside the classroom


•Deborah Appelman (2000) cites bell hooks’ contention that we want our students to become “ ‘enlightened witnesses,’ critically vigilant about the world we live in” (p. 2).

•But isn’t the word “witnesses” too benign? Don’t we want our students to essentially denature the culture with which they exist in? Don’t we want them to be able to unpack and explode the status quo?

•Appelman even argues that teaching is an “essential political act” (p. 8).


“ some part of me always goes into a learning situation with the hope of changing minds, healing hurts, and initiating a discussion about serious issues borne out of mutual respect and shared objectives.”

- written in a paper for this class....


I could go on at great length about the power we wield as teachers--and my great fear that too many of our colleagues and peers have entered the profession to exercise that power unjustly. I believe that this class gives you an authentic forum to discuss those issues.


“I entered the classrooms with the conviction that it was crucial for me and every other student to be an active participant, not a passive consumer.”

- bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom, London: Routledge. 1994


“Progressive, holistic education, "engaged pedagogy" is more demanding than conventional critical or feminist pedagogy. For, unlike these two teaching practices, it emphasizes well-being. That means that teachers must be actively committed to a process of self-actualization that promotes their own well-being if they are to teach in a manner that empowers students.”$ $ $ $ $ $ $ (hooks, 1994, p. 15)


As an educator and now as a consultant, I’m entirely preoccupied with that idea of self-actualization that promotes a sense of mutual well being between student and teacher. I’m interested in an english language arts classroom that results in students who feel, not just competent-- but supremely qualified to express themselves (and their constituent opinions and beliefs) in words, both spoken and written; and, who can harness the ideas of others to both inform their own opinions and strengthen and support their arguments. $ $ $ $ $ $


Of course nothing was quite as elegant as I'd hoped for in the classroom as it was on paper. Some of my lessons fell a lat, some of my discussions produced less than thrilling results. But what surprised me most was the unpredictability, the little gifts --and insights-- that my students added to our lessons$ $ $ $ $ $


$ “If I am to have a successful career as a SELA educator, I realize that I must embrace change, welcome difference, and forever seek new and varied teaching and learning experiences. As someone who values the myriad voices that make up our life’s journey, I cannot wait to hear the authentic voices of my own students in glorious concert with my own learning story.” --more from my research paper prepared for this class

And find them I have......•The student with almost a dozen children who complained that I did not teach with a strong CHRISTIAN worldview (it ended well for us and we keep in touch)

•The student who came to my class virtually naked and needed to be ‘redirected’ to the vice-principal’s office. (it did not end well)

•The refugee from Iran who wanted to become a filmmaker and is taking beginner courses (and succeeding) at Concordia

•The student from Ethiopia who failed Secondary I English five times.....

•Having a security detail posted outside my class to ward off a mentally unstable student!

•The colleague who relishes tearing into their students at the slightest sign of weakness

•Teaching the same students for 4 hours a day, 5 times a week.

•Class sizes of almost 50 students!

And find them I have......•Dealing with broken students who NOBODY believes can do anything•Countless moments of meeting students in jails, mental health rehabilitation facilities, juvenile detention centres, district wide detention rooms etc..•Numerous interactions with deeply concerned and emotional parents who wonder where things went wrong•Calling, texting, messaging, Facebooking a student at all hours of the day to engage them in some minuscule way (in my role, I am not in the slightest bit afraid to engage students on social media if there’s a chance I could get them to darken the door of a classroom again•Realizing that nothing I do will stop a student from dropping out and returning to drug use, prostitution, crime etc... •Realizing that sometimes even the smallest moment between a student and a teacher can have profound impact•Confronting the bullies of a gay student and attempting to extract a teachable moment-- we teach all the students in our classes•Listening to the remarkable stories of courage our students have to offer

a key component of my job is to put students back into the classroom. However, I have grave concerns about the state of that classroom.

What should a SELA class achieve?

Well, glad that you asked....

What should a SELA class achieve? READING

My students will know how read. If they don’t, then what’s the point of any of this?

Do my students know how to extract meaning (facts/feelings/emotions) from a text?

Can my students perceive the emotional/discursive powers of text?

Can my students derive pleasure from the text? Can they see beyond the text? Can they

denature it? Can they harness it?

you will have your own ideas--some of them might seem radical to others, but they need to make sense to you--- AND, you NEED TO HAVE THEM!

WRITINGAm I willing to take the time with each

student/the class to really work on their writing? If not, then really-- what are you

doing? Am I willing to be patient?

Do my students understand the structures of a text? Can they organize their thoughts in

writing? Am I willing to address grammar issues that crop up in the writing process?

How are reading and writing related? What about revision? How can I develop good writing

habits in my students, when I myself don’t really write that much? What can I do to hone

my skills as a writing teacher?

Let’s take a grammar break...


Ok, so now it’s your turn...


LISTENING/VIEWING LESSON (but so much more than that...)

On the next slide is a video.... your job, brave volunteer, is to use the material in the blue folder to

a) introduce us to the videob) guide us through a viewing of the videoc) get us to talk about the videod) get us to understand the concepts in the video.... how you do that is up to you...


READING LESSON Ok, brave volunteer. There’s a poem

to share with the class in the folder. There are copies for everyone.

Your task: a) Explicate the poem (or get us to do it) b) See if we know how to read the poemc) Highlight some of the literary devices used in the poemd) Any new vocabulary words to look at? e) Surprise us with your insights or ideas


Shell Silverstein from “Where the Sidewalk Ends”


WRITING LESSON

Now it gets harder. Very little help will be given to you, brave volunteer.

Your task: a) Use the video on the next page.b) Use the example on the next page

Use both to try and make us write...good luck.


WRITING LESSON


WRITING LESSON

“For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.” -Ernest Hemingway

Go to http://www.smithmag.net/sixwords/

http://www.smithmag.net/sixwords/

http://www.smithmag.net/sixwords/


SPEAKING LESSON

In your folder is an excerpt from David Ives’ brilliant play, Sure Thing . All of us will have a copy of it. Your job is to try and get as many of us to participate. I am interested in the way that you facilitate the activity, how you “side coach” and how you encourage us. Good luck.


Now let’s hear from our special guests....


MattiHelen

Ali


I’m going to share the rest of the class with Mitchell Miller. He’ll also be with you this Thursday. It’s been a pleasure to join you today. If you want to download my presentation, it will be available on www.AshleyFoot.ca tonight..

http://www.AshleyFoot.ca

http://www.AshleyFoot.ca

meeting on the path: teaching secondary english

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