Learning Letter

When we were told at the beginning of this course that our final project included the completion of no less than 15 EdTPAs, my brain began spiraling into a state of insanity. However, upon the final moments of putting together my unit plan, I was filled with a sense of accomplishment that I feel so rarely. It was a wondrous feeling deep within my chest, the feeling that I will be a teacher someday. Until this quarter, I had known that I was on the path towards becoming a teacher but the thought had never quite made the deep connection. However, now that I have experienced writing more lessons and actually teaching some of them, I now fully realize that I am going to be a teacher soon. Throughout this course, many of the lessons we have done have helped me to come to this realization. I think that the most helpful of the lessons we have done were the Unit Plan, and the Mini Lesson.
While the unit plan was a horrible gauntlet of torture, it was also an incredibly valuable experience that I am glad I had the opportunity to partake in. It gave me the opportunity to really see what I could do as a future educator. I had never thought of how difficult it is to put together an entire unit, and my already massive respect for teachers has grown much larger because of it. The mini lessons were also incredibly valuable to me because they showed us what we were doing well as teachers, and some specific things that we can improve upon. Having the discussion at the end of the mini lessons is a brilliant idea. It is a fantastic resource to have the chart created by the discussion at your disposal, as it allows you to immediately improve your teaching skills.
The book talks were another item on this course's list that gave me some experience in front of the classroom. However, that is not entirely where I feel they were most valuable. While it was good to stand in front of the class and talk about my book of choice, what I thought was truly of import was viewing my classmates presentations. Seeing their book choices allowed me to expand my library of books that I may be able to one day use in my classroom. It was good to see so many books that I had never read before and be able to add them to my list. One day, perhaps some of them will be taken into my own future classroom and help me to shape my students' learning.
Aside from the actual paperwork for this course, another thing I found to be of significant value was the lessons on inclusion of popular culture, and social justice in the classroom. I had never considered the importance of these two aspects of modern life in a classroom setting. I recall experiencing them within my own education, but had never thought much more of it. I had not realized how inclusion of popular culture in lessons helped to gather my attention to the topic. Now that my eyes have been opened to the many possible uses of popular culture and social justice as a tool for the classroom, I have found yet another tool to add to my arsenal when it comes to actually teaching.
When I started this course, I had little idea of what it meant that I was going to be a teacher. I didn't truly understand exactly what it was that teachers do aside from standing in front of some people and talking for an hour. However, now that I have had the opportunity to complete this course, my idea of what it means to be a teacher has developed more thoroughly. I now have at least a small idea of what it is going to be like to stand in front of my own classroom someday and teach them lessons that I myself wrote.

Foreshadowing in Ligeia

Passage 1
 “O God!” half shrieked Ligeia, leaping to her feet and extending her arms aloft with a spasmodic movement, as I made an end of these lines — “O God! O Divine Father! — shall these things be undeviatingly so? — shall this Conqueror be not once conquered? Are we not part and parcel in Thee? Who — who knoweth the mysteries of the will with its vigor? Man doth not yield him to the angels, nor unto death utterly, save only through the weakness of his feeble will.”

 And now, as if exhausted with emotion, she suffered her white arms to fall, and returned solemnly to her bed of death. And as she breathed her last sighs, there came mingled with them a low murmur from her lips. I bent to them my ear and distinguished, again, the concluding words of the passage in Glanvill — “Man doth not yield him to the angels, nor unto death utterly, save only through the weakness of his feeble will.”

 Passage 2
 In halls such as these — in a bridal chamber such as this — I passed, with the Lady of Tremaine, the unhallowed hours of the first month of our marriage — passed them with but little disquietude.That my wife dreaded the fierce moodiness of my temper — that she shunned me and loved me but little — I could not help perceiving; but it gave me rather pleasure than otherwise. I loathed her with a hatred belonging more to demon than to man. My memory flew back, (oh, with what intensity of regret!) to Ligeia, the beloved, the august, the beautiful, the entombed. I revelled in recollections of her purity, of her wisdom, of her lofty, her ethereal nature, of her passionate, her idolatrous love. Now, then, did my spirit fully and freely burn with more than all the fires of her own. In the excitement of my opium dreams (for I was habitually fettered in the shackles of the drug,) I would call aloud upon her name, during the silence of the night, or among the sheltered recesses of the glens by day, as if, through the wild eagerness, the solemn passion, the consuming ardor of my longing for the departed, I could restore her to the pathway she had abandoned — ah, could it be forever? — upon the earth.


Passage 3

An hour thus elapsed when (could it be possible?) I was a second time aware of some vague sound issuing from the region of the bed. I listened — in extremity of horror. The sound came again — it was a sigh. Rushing to the corpse, I saw — distinctly saw — a tremor upon the lips. In a minute afterward they relaxed, disclosing a bright line of the pearly teeth. Amazement now struggled in my bosom with the profound awe which had hitherto reigned there alone. I felt that my vision grew dim, that my reason wandered; and it was only by a violent effort that I at length succeeded in nerving myself to the task which duty thus once more had pointed out. There was now a partial glow upon the forehead and upon the cheek and throat; a perceptible warmth pervaded the whole frame; there was even a slight pulsation at the heart. The lady lived; and with redoubled ardor I betook myself to the task of restoration. I chafed and bathed the temples and the hands, and used every exertion which experience, and no little medical reading, could suggest. But in vain.  Suddenly, the color fled, the pulsation ceased, the lips resumed the expression of the dead, and, in an instant afterward, the whole body took upon itself the icy chilliness, the livid hue, the intense rigidity, the sunken outline, and all the loathsome peculiarities of that which has been, for many days, a tenant of the tomb.

And again I sunk into visions of Ligeia — and again, (what marvel that I shudder while I write?) again there reached my ears a low sob from the region of the ebony bed. But why shall I minutely detail the unspeakable horrors of that night? Why shall I pause to relate how, time after time, until near the period of the gray dawn, this hideous drama of revivication was repeated; how each terrific relapse was only into a sterner and apparently more irredeemable death; how each agony wore the aspect of a struggle with some invisible foe; and how each struggle was succeeded by I know not what of wild change in the personal appearance of the corpse? Let me hurry to a conclusion.

Mini Lesson Edtpa

Department of Education College of Arts, Letters and Education 312 Williamson Hall Cheney, WA   99004

TPA Lesson Plan #___1___

Course:

1. Teacher Candidate	Matthew Hrycenko	Date Taught	11-13-17
Cooperating Teacher	Sean Agriss	School/District	Eastern Washington University
2. Subject	English	Field Supervisor	Sean Agriss
3. Lesson Title/Focus	Phrenology as Foreshadowing in Ligeia by Edgar Allan Poe	5. Length of Lesson	20 Minutes
4. Grade Level	10th

6. Academic & Content Standards (Common Core/National)	RL.9-10.5: Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it, and manipulate time create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.
7. Learning Objective(s)	Given the text of Ligeia by Edgar Allan Poe, students will demonstrate their understanding of how authors use foreshadowing to create tension by completing the worksheet on locating foreshadowing within the text.
8. Academic Language demands (vocabulary, function, syntax, discourse)	Language Function: Interpret Language Demand: ·         Interpret information within the text to see how it foreshadows the events to come (Syntax). ·         Share and justify ideas about how the text uses foreshadowing during whole class discussion (Discourse). Vocabulary: ·         Phrenology ·         Foreshadowing Language Support: ·         Provide an example of how to locate textual evidence to support foreshadowing. ·         Provide verbal feedback to students during whole class discussion. Syntax: Complete worksheet using quotes from the text and rationales to explain how they foreshadow future events. Discourse: Sharing their ideas about foreshadowing in the text during whole class discussion.

9. Assessment

Worksheet: Name___________________________ Foreshadowing in Ligeia by Edgar Allan Poe Students will locate quotes within the text of Ligeia which foreshadow future events and justify how each quote accomplishes foreshadowing using their own words. Quote from the text Justification of foreshadowing Students will read the text and locate quotes which show foreshadowing, and then rationalize how they think each quote accomplishes this. This will provide summative assessment because it will allow the teacher to examine the accuracy of the students’ work and provide written feedback on the graded worksheet. This provides formative assessment through verbal feedback from both the teacher and students’ peers during whole class discussion.

10. Lesson Connections

According to Connie M. Moss and Susan M. Brookhart in their book Advancing formative assessment in every classroom, teachers must share their learning goals with the students and make sure that they understand them. This lesson accomplishes that goal by stating the learning objective and standards to be addressed and by having students locate quotes and rationalize how those quotes are examples of foreshadowing. Also, feedback from both the teacher and the students' peers provides students with support to recognize "which knowledge and which skills are strong and which are weak" (Moss & Brookhart, p. 45). In order to complete this lesson, students will need to understand what foreshadowing is and how to locate and cite information from a text. Students will have read the text of Ligeia prior to this lesson.

11. Instructional Strategies/Learning Tasks to Support Learning
Learning Tasks and Strategies Sequenced Instruction
Teacher’s Role Teacher writes the learning objective and Common Core State Standard on the board. Teacher poses the question, “What is foreshadowing, and how might an author accomplish foreshadowing in a story?” Teacher points students back to the reading of Ligeia. Teacher introduces concept of phrenology and shows how Poe uses it to foreshadow the events of Ligeia Teacher passes out and explains worksheet and provides time for students to complete it. (20 minutes). Teacher gathers the class back together for whole class discussion on worksheet (10 minutes).	Students’ Role Students observe the learning objective and Common Core State Standard, and then restate it to the teacher using their own words. Students answer what they think foreshadowing is and how an author goes about incorporating it. Students bring out their copies of the text Students observe example of how to locate foreshadowing. Students collect and work on worksheet individually. Students discuss as a class examples of foreshadowing within the text and why foreshadowing is important.
Student Voice to Gather Students will observe the learning objective and repeat it back to the teacher using their own words. Students will discuss what they think foreshadowing is and how it is important within a text.

12. Differentiated Instruction

The classroom being taught includes several students with Section 504s for Attention Deficit Disorder. The lesson accommodates these students by using a short story that is not very long and is very quick to read so students will have a less difficult time paying attention to the whole class reading part of the lesson. Students will also be provided with verbal encouragement throughout the individual and group work portions of the lesson. The topic of the story and the way it is written is very strange and mysterious, which will engage students’ curiosity about the text. Students with auditory learning styles are provided with verbal communication with both their peers and the teacher to drive the lesson. Students with visual learning styles will be able to engage with the aspect of the lesson incorporating phrenology due to its nature of being highly descriptive of physical features. The text is also very visually descriptive which will help visual students to picture the characters.

13. Resources and Materials

1.    Ligeia, by Edgar Allan Poe (1838). 2.    Materials needed includes the presentation on phrenology, a white board, and a marker. 3.    Writing prompts

14. Management and Safety Issues

The teacher will walk around the class and ensure that the class is silent during individual work. During whole class discussion, teacher will mediate discussion to ensure that the class remains on topic.

15. Parent & Community Connections

Students can look for foreshadowing when viewing most forms of media, such as movies or books, alongside friends and family. Students will also be able to examine historical events through the lens of foreshadowing, and see how events could have been prevented or changed and how to adapt plans for the future.

Wiesel's "Night"

The Holocaust is a topic which most people have at least a base understanding of. However, it was long enough ago that people really don't have a very good understanding of what it was actually like to be prosecuted in a way as extreme as the Jews were during this time. Nor do they understand what it was like to actually live within those conditions. "Night," by Elie Wiesel, provides readers with a gateway into those experiences. It is almost an ethereal and unreal experience just reading the book and seeing what kind of horrors were committed during this time. Even the characters in the book don't seem to believe what they are going through. This is especially evident when Eliezer's teacher, Mosha, returns to the town with his story of the Gestapo slaughtering everyone aboard his train. The idea is so absurd that even his own townspeople don't believe him. Shortly after, we are introduced to an even more horrifying scene where the Germans are throwing infants to their deaths in a furnace. All of the ideas presented within this book are almost too horrifying to imagine, and yet we must accept them to be true representations of what happens. It is easy to understand why someone would want to deny the possibility of something so terrible, and yet this book and many others like it provide proof to show us the true terrors that were committed. It provides readers with the chance to experience a moment in history which they otherwise would never have been able to.
In terms of approaching this book as a teacher, I can certainly see how this book may be of use in the classroom. It may not be for the faint of heart, but it is still a resource to further students' understanding of the Holocaust. It provides an opportunity for students' to develop both their skills in English as well as history.

Sherman Alexie's "Absolutely True Story of a Part Time Indian"

This book has been a breath of fresh air for me. As a white man having grown up in a middle class family in a predominantly white area, I have very little experience with the inner workings of most cultures outside of my own. This book has provided me with a bit of insight into a culture that is right on my doorstep, yet I have never actually encountered myself. The story does a good job of pulling the reader into the narrator's shoes, which helps to give an even more in depth experience to help readers gain an understanding of how his culture functions and what it is like to live as a part of it. The fact that it was written by a person who has dealt with these experiences themself further adds to the genuine quality of the story. Being a white man, I often hear about people dealing with struggles of race but it is extremely rare for me to have a moment which has any kind of resemblance to that. This book provides me with another tool to help me to understand what it is like for people to deal with that kind of a struggle. The differences between the experiences Junior has at the white school and the school on the reservation also help to show what it is like for people of other cultures trying to find themselves within cultures outside of their own, and the process of the mixing of cultures. The place where I live is populated mostly by people of the same or similar culture to my own, so I don't often get to experience other cultures, let alone immerse myself completely in them like Junior does.
I think this book will prove to be something that would be useful in the classroom as well. If I am able to create a unit around this book, which shouldn't be too hard to accomplish, it will provide my students with the opportunity to have the same experience I did when reading this book while still pushing them to meet quite a few Common Core State Standards.

Kelly Gallagher's "Readicide"

Kelly Gallagher has put to words exactly how I feel about standardized testing. Approaching standardized testing from the mindset of a student, I have long felt that the use of standardized testing within schools as it currently stands has done more to detract from my actual learning than it has to benefit it. Classroom after classroom has spent valuable time teaching me how to read through trick questions to figure out what they are actually asking rather than teaching me the material that the test is supposed to be assessing me on. Just as Gallagher says, the overemphasis on test-taking is detracting from our students growth as not just readers but also as scholars of other areas as well. When reading through the lens of taking a test, students will be uninterested in what they are reading and thus the quality of their learning through that reading will deteriorate. One thing that Gallagher makes a point to mention is that he is not against having standards for students to reach towards, but the problem lies in there being too many standards for a student to have time to truly grasp at any of them. Teachers are forced to prep their students as much as they can for these tests and ensure that enough of them pass or it reflects poorly on the teacher. This time spent in forced preparation takes away from weeks worth of valuable learning time where the students have actual opportunity for growth. Gallagher also makes a point to mention how standardized testing doesn't do anything to help students who are struggling with their reading, rather it forces schools to set aside their struggling students need for more help. In pretty much every way you look at the equation, standardized testing as it is right now only detracts from students learning and their abilities as readers.

Cris Tovani's "I Read It, But I Don't Get It"

As my current self, I love to read. As soon as I see a book that I might be interested in I hop on to Amazon.com and buy a copy to throw on my bookshelf. It is rare for me to find a text that I struggle with. However, I have not always been an avid reader. All through high school I found myself completely bored with reading. I hated to read back then, so sitting here now reading through Cris Tovani's book "I Read It, But I Don't Get It," I can really sympathize with struggling readers or students who are merely uninterested in reading.
What I really appreciated about this book was the strategies it supplied for teachers to help students who are struggling. One such strategy which I felt was of particular use was the strategy of connecting the reading with the struggling student's own life. This helps them to feel connected with the text which will make it easier for them to follow along and grasp the concepts presented within it. It may be difficult for students to make these connections between their lives and the text, so the teacher must help to facilitate them.
Another thing that the book talked about  which I thought was important was that teachers must be good models at reading for struggling students to get a better idea of how they should be approaching the text. Reading is more than merely understanding each word and sentence, it requires the reader to make connections between each individual piece of the text. While this may come naturally to us English majors, for students who are struggling it is much more difficult to make those connections.

Teaching Social Justice in Theory and Practice, by Caitrin Blake

This article opens with the line, "Historically, classrooms have been the stage for social change, providing a venue to promote and accelerate new ideas." Classrooms are not merely a place for education, rather they are a place for empowerment and development. Caitrin Blake defines social justice as "hope to build a society in which individuals have equal access to resources and receive equitable treatment regardless of their race, gender, religion, sexuality, income level or disability." The way to do this in the classroom, she adds, is to foster conversation around these topics. The thing that stood out most to me about enabling this conversation and making it effective was changing the classroom dynamic to ensure that students view one another as "co-learners" rather than as adversaries when discussing these issues. This allows students to not be afraid of disagreeing with one another as well as not viewing each other negatively when they do disagree. The article also encourages teachers to explore classroom ideas from diversified viewpoints. Rather than viewing the Civil War from a exclusively white or black perspectives, one should include every perspective they can. This allows for students to have a better understanding of people who come from different backgrounds than they do and opens their perspective. Turning the classroom into a community of discussion provides for a way for the students to feel safe when talking about their ideas and viewpoints, which is necessary for them to understand each other and for their ideologies to evolve and expand.

Duncan-Andrade and Morrell’s "Critical Pedagogy in an Urban High School English Classroom"

The part of this article that I found to be the most interesting was the section on teaching hip-hop music and culture in the classroom. In urban environments, things like hip-hop and rap have a tendency to be very popular. In the same places, education often suffers. It was phenomenal to read in this article about how they combined hip-hop with the English classroom in order to help students understand the material they were working with. Hip-Hop and rap are very frequently underappreciated, being considered by many to be of lower culture and not of any literary value. However, in reality they are of the same high culture as the more archaic literature that is found in a standard English classroom. Elevating something like rap or hip-hop which students enjoy and connect with and using it as a tool for them to work with in order to grasp the same material makes it much easier for them to complete the tasks and much more interested in actually doing the work in the first place. I would be ecstatic to adapt a lesson like this into my own classroom in the future.

Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Chapter 2

This article really struck me when it talked about how teachers talk too much. For several years now I have begun to pay attention to the different ways in which teachers teach. In my own experience as a student, I have found that teachers who really heavily upon lecture and directing all of the instruction themselves end up falling short in helping me to retain the information which they are trying to convey. I find myself getting drowsy at their lengthy speeches, and my mind has a tendency to wander. However, when teachers ask of the students to participate more in the lecture and transform the lesson more into a discussion, then I find that I really flourish. Discussion in the classroom where students lead a lot of the lesson themselves seems to be, at least for myself, a much superior method of teaching. It provides the class with many differing interpretations and reactions to the same information and allows students to individually expand upon their own ideas, rather than everyone just sitting and falling asleep to someone standing and talking at the front of the room. The idea presented here that teachers talk too much really resonated with me because I have already felt for some time now that is the case, and that needs to change. I would be happy to read more on the effectiveness of discussion based classrooms and ways for the teacher to avoid lecturing.