Join the new google group for NYC teachers! See you there.
NYC Teachers.
The welcome message from its’ organizer:
I’m excited to start a journey of sharing with you. We’ll use this group to network, talk about lessons, classroom management, books, anything you want! I hope this will be a positive environment where everyone can feel comfortable, no matter what their neurosis!
A well-written blog, by a math teacher in California:
understanding.
[via Reflective Teacher]
I’ve sort of been feeling my way around teaching this AP Language and Composition course. I’ve never taught AP before, I didn’t take it in high school, and because I didn’t know I was teaching AP this year, I didn’t have the opportunity to attend any workshops or conferences over the summer. I’ve just been doing the same thing with my AP class that I’m doing with my seniors. It’s not enough for them. I need to get them ready for the test and they need to move faster, with more challenging material.
Part of my problem was knowing where to begin and what resources to use. I knew there was a reason I hung on to my textbooks and anthologies from my freshman year writing workshops. One of them, “A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers” appears to be something I use as my text for the class. It has an introduction that talks about how to read critically, lots of readings, broken up by universal themes, with introductions and questions in each section and it has a chapter in the back on rhetoric, along with a glossary of rhetorical terms. Perfect, considering that AP Lang and Comp is basically a course in rhetoric. We’ll continue reading Invisible Man. I’ll probably assign the readings from the text for homework and have one or two days week devoted to working through the readings and going over the questions. I also need to start giving them practice exams and doing in-class timed writings.
[I must admit: I was spurred into action on this when I saw today that one of my colleagues, who is teaching AP Lit and Comp, gave his students a practice AP exam as their marking period final. Eep. I'm behind!]
My plans to teach Invisible Man hit a little snag. About half of our copies are missing, and we only had 20 to begin with, apparently. My AP is trying to order more copies for me (we already used up our book money for the year, I think). In the meantime, I’ll just violate every copyright rule in the book and xerox off the chapters. I suggested to my students that they could get their own copies in the meantime, either from the library or purchasing their own.
One of my bad habits is to wing the reading of a book with my class. I stay a few chapters ahead of them and make up my lessons as I go. I avail myself of existing resources as much as possible. It’s something I have to work on, but in the meantime, I was up early this morning reading the Prologue and first chapter of the book. My plan is get my hands on a copy of Louis Armstrong’s How Did I Get So Black and Blue, since that’s the song the narrator listens to while high on a joint. I’m hoping that my students will pick up on the fact that he’s tripping a little as he listens to the song, because a lot of what he thinks as he’s listening to the song is, well…trippy. For weak readers, I think it could be confusing. Or not. We’ll see. Apparently, there is also a film version of the book. I have to rent it and see for myself whether I want to show it to them.
In more exciting news, we have not one, but two field trips coming up! I’m taking my seniors and AP class to see the Africans in the Americas exhibit at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. That’s in two weeks. The next field trip is in November. We’re going to The Museum of the Moving Image in Queens. We’ll get a tour of the museum, where they get to play with all the equipment, and see In The Heat of the Night, in connection with Invisible Man. I haven’t been to see either exhibit, so some visits are in order. Good thing both are free…Schomburg is free for everyone, and Moving Image is free for NYC public school teachers.
So, in response to my frustration at not being able to get access to the laptops whenever I want, namely during zero and first periods, I’ve decided to just go ahead and do the web-based research project with my 5th period class. I’m a little nervous about it because that class is bigger than either of my morning classes, and they are not as attentive, or driven as the kids in my morning classes. So, I’m not entirely confident that they have the ability to be mature about this and will take it seriously. (I think I’m also slightly traumatized by my experience with the 9th graders last year.)
I’ve decided to have my students form research groups, instead of working individually. This is mainly so that I only have to grapple with one laptop cart, instead of two or three. The collaboration will do them good anyway.
I’m focussing on three Web 2.0 programs– del.icio.us, Elgg and Wikispaces. I’ve already set up a Wikispaces account. I’ve started to work out exactly what I need to teach or show, in order for my students to work independently. I envision that they will use the Elgg as a thinking site, to record their compiled data and research, and to create an annotated bibliography. The wiki will be used to present their research, and will be their final product. This is a little different from what I’d previously envisioned.
We’re reading Invisible Man, so their research project will be based on the issues in that book–race relations and so on. I got some ideas from the Tech Thursdays meeting tonight about how to assign/select topics. I think it’s harder for a group to decide on a topic, than an individual. Susan suggested that I brainstorm ideas with the class, pick an issue from that list, then have groups design an inquiry question about the selected issue. She also suggested the possibility of using Paul’s 10 Self, 10 World Questions. Gina suggested that each group could have a different issue, then within each group, each member would research a different aspect of the issue. All very good ideas! I’m leaning towards Susan’s idea, having each group create and answer an inquiry question. This is for practical reasons. With groups sharing laptops, there would be too much demand on laptop time if each student had their own topic.
More on this later…I’m still trying to track down my school’s copies of Invisible Man!
I’m teaching Invisible Man, starting tomorrow. I found this great resource, which has given me a lot of good ideas. I’ve decided to ask my students to keep a reading journal while we read the book. When we finish the book, they will use the journal to write a critical/literary analysis essay. I haven’t thought this through too much…my planning time this summer was spent worrying about other things! Alas.
My seniors have to begin a research paper. I’m working on getting access to our mobile laptop lab, because I want to do a web-based research project. I set up a wiki for the project already, and still need to set up a blog. It might be all for naught if I can’t access to the laptop lab carts.
I graded papers here this morning. Welcome to the Bronx!
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Today, NYCWP went another a walkabout, this time to Queens to check out the Noguchi Museum and Long Island City. Our “assignment” is to use the pictures to generate some writing. I’ll try to use one of mine but I think it would be more interesting to use someone else’s photo as inspiration.
The New York Times’ Great Read in the Park is next Sunday, October 15th. I’m thinking I might take my nieces, since Target has a Children’s Stage at the event. Then again, I might go by myself so I can have some fun with the books and authors, without little kids to worry about!
[It occurs to me that this event replaces "New York Is Book Country." Does anyone know?]
