Tra-la-la-La-la

I must confess that at the current time in my life...I don't have a favorite poem. I know, know probably a shock and to some a slight disappoint seeing as I want to be a future teacher and all. However, I can't say I feel the same deep sense of lament about this situation (since this is of course what you all are feeling..lol). Do we all have favorite numbers? I highly doubt it...so do we all have to have favorite poems? Not in my opinion. That being said, I often write my own poetry to vent and process feelings I can't yet talk about or get a good handle on and I feel very comfortable with this form of wirting.
So how do I use my favorite poem in my future classroom, when it doesn't yet exist? To be very blunt, I won't. One thing I am very conscious of and believe whole-heartedly in is dealing honestly and being real with my students. So I won't lie to them and come up with some random poem as my favorite if it's not. And similarly, I will never require them to put on a front of loving math for my sake. If they truly do love math, I'm all for it (and those students get two stars instead of one...not really), but I get that math is an acquired taste that a lot of my students will not possess. But competency in math and a solid understanding in math concepts will be useful in their life, so as a their teacher therein lies my job. My students can hate math as much as they want, but it is my job to help them understand its importance and help them achieve the skills that will allow them to excel in life.

Cuz hate or love it, they'll be usin math in their life
And if they don't get it, it will cause them strife
And I hope with me
They'll get at least a C
But they should shoot for A's, and be proud of a B.

Man, I crack myself up (yes, it's corny). But for those of you that don't know, with a couple of tweaks, I just connected rapper Fifty-Cent to my math class. So stop hating and realize that poetry comes in many different forms. :)

I'm out,
Melissa

Silence: Golden or Grotesque?

"Children should be seen and not heard." If you grew up in the United States and haven't heard this old cliche at least once in your life, NEWSFLASH: You have been living under a rock! This idea has naturally made its way into classroom, a condensed environment reflective of society (like Campbells is a condensed can reflective of soup...j/k...I love me some Chicken Noodle). We expect students to sit quietly for hours, and speak only after they have raised their hands and been called upon. I can even recall the cafeteria ladies controlling our conversation with a traffic light during lunch (who would have thought...smh). And even after being called, we only are concerned with them adressing the topic at hand or answering the question that was asked. Adults frequently overlook the value of a child's voice. Their ideas and opinions are often looked down upon as frivolous and insignificant. How do we expect to get to know and understand them if we keep them silent, constricting their input by curriculum. I pray and hope that I am able to support freedom of speech in my future classroom. I would love my students to reach the point where they are fueling their own learning while answering each others questions. Now I know that talking is not the singular form of communication. But as demonstrated in our class chalk talk (an exercise in which a conversation is held solely through wiriting on the board), though eliminating talking can cause a student to be more reflective and concise, it can also mask things that could be beneficial to the experieince of having them in our class as well.

And I feel like I'm naked in front of a crowd 'cause these words are my diary screamin' out loud...

Writing personal narratives for classroom assignments can be dangerous territory for students, especially if peer conferencing is involved. However, it can be very beneficial for everyone involved if gone about in the correct way.
First of all, a very open and trusting environment is needed. I think this is important because the works being produced and evaluated are the individual creative works of the students. The writer takes risks and share pieces of themselves that they probably have feelings about therefore extreme care should be taken when critiquing their paper. Plus if you are presenting to strangers, they may not be as comfortable correcting your work honestly as someone who knows you. On the other hand, exercises like peer conferences help with teaching students to properly handle constructive critisicm, a skill they will find helpful in the real world. And from the other side of the table their peers learn how to be tactful and considerate when offering assistance to others which will be useful in a society where people get so easily offended. Not too mention the obvious grammar and language skills they are gaining in the process. Sometimes in the midst of their own writing students are not able to see mistakes or struggles they have, but if you ask them to read someone else's paper they might be able to understand or pick up on these concepts easier.
I know personally I feel very vulnerable through my writing but when writing to a vague audience it's not so bad. My dad picks at me sometimes because I'll ask him to proof an assignment, and then when he comes back with suggestions I get disheartened. It's definitely a challenging thing for me to let others read my work with feedback in mind because I feel like by letting them change things, it's no longer mine.
I guess I have mixed feelings all around.