Kittle Chapter 9& 10/ Composing A Curriculum

What is the goal for the English Teacher? Have you ever considered this question? Aspiring English teachers or seasoned teachers, what is the goal for the English Teacher? Is our goal to prepare them for college or to develop them to be better writers? What about the students that aren’t going to college? What if they desire to pick up a skill or trade? How can you effectively reach the students that are trying to score higher on the SAT’s, while pouring into the student that is going into mechanics? If I can distill all of these questions into one question it would be, “How can we show students the worth of the English Language in every sphere of life?”

I must say, I do appreciate the answered questions I’ve received from Kittle within chapters 9-10. One of the questions that boggled my mind was, “What is the balance of letting students write what they wish while at the same time staying faithful to the curriculum standards that are in place?” The Great Gatsby is such a rigid story but I love the model she gives. Give them topics that reach out to them! Give them topics that won’t let them go! That was addressed with creativity and imagination. I appreciate how she give this statement, tells us how it’s done then she gives us the model in the person of Mr. Woodman. As an English teacher, I want to be unconventional but I also want to stay connected with the reading.  

I appreciate Jason’s narrative-style approach on introductions. I take solace in that because I’m a story-teller and I love hearing people stories and journey’s in life. I was so disconnected from Introduction A than I was with Introduction B. I love the illumination that the narrative story displayed for the Scarlet Letter. The transition was smooth. The personal story made me want to read more about the Scarlet Letter.

            The Composing A Curriculum article was a great article. The one thing that grabbed my attention for the whole article was, "If you prepare to fail, you fail to prepare." Jim Burke emphasizes the need for preparation as a teacher. Students know when their instructor is not prepared. In addition to that, another thing that convicted me in the article is that when you are making plans and curriculum's around a book, you must know that book inside and out. You can teach effectively what you have went though and experienced. A great teacher has searched diligently and plunged deep into the depths of the book,to grab the pearls that lay at the bottom. 

                       Thoughts, Ideas and a lot of Writing! (Write Beside Them, Ch: 1-6)
                     
 

"...teachers are more powerful than parent pressure, any textbook, workbook, curricula, or central office directive...Teachers make the difference, not tests. What power--what opportunity--lies in our hands." (Page 3, Chapter 1)

I believe the whole book resounds off this one quote from Kittle. This one quote from chapter one gave me courage, looked me in the eye and told me I am more that just a robot, teaching kids a discipline. I am more than just a body instructing kids to be test-takers. I am more than average. I love the boldness that Kittle emits from her writing. It's almost like, "Yea, I'm a teacher and I take my job very seriously and I could care less of what you think", of course in a more respectable way though!

Kittles bold remarks caught up to my own soul as I was convicted by some of her protest against educators and teachers who teach writing, "You can't teach writing unless you write yourself". I thought to myself, "When was the last time I wrote?" And not just an essay or reflection for class but seriously pouring my heart out on paper? I was totally condemned but my condemnation didn't lead me to despair. Instead, I used those feelings to fuel my desire to write. I MUST write. Writing won't be easy because it is a discipline. However, the lives changed and impacted are far worth the sweat.

Speaking of discipline, I love how Kittle allows us as readers and teachers to look at her own techniques and models. "I believe that the only way I'm going to be able to teach writing tomorrow is because I did it today." I connected with that. If you prepare to fail, you fail to prepare.
What I found pretty cool and comforting was that Bomer said, "We are the stories we tell". For students that claim they can't write, I love how Kittle dismisses that excuse with saying, "Anyone cam write because everyone has a heart." Beautifully poetic yet so true. I love how Kittle makes room for growth. Yes, everyone can write however, it all takes time. Habit makes writing easy as well as risk-taking and fluency. When you have a lot of playful writing it leads to a comfortable voice.

I thought all of that information was needful because everyone is bound to have students that are just not confident and don't believe in their own writing abilities.

Chapter five gave me insight into a lot of thoughts that wouldn't have even begun to cross my mind on its own. On page 39, she speaks of talking to a friend who has twenty-five students, and six lost a parent before the age of fifteen. That made me think. In writing, teachers will have to reach outside of their own experiences to understand students. That is not an easy thing. It could actually be quite painful. I remember my creative writing teacher from high school having us do a piece of work from our hearts, by the end of class everyone was crying because someone shared a "piece" of their childhood scars of molestation and abuse. "Emotion is the engine of the intellect: we write more powerfully when it is from the center of we are."

I think most of my questions come out of chapter six because I believe its the cloudy sticky arena of "Writer's Workshop".

First question of mine: "What are we to do with students in Writing Workshops that are drastically off their reading and writing level?

Second Question: Kittle states that students will perform better when they are interested in what they are reading and writing. What do we do about the times when the work assigned might be "uninteresting". Does this also mean we bend our plans to suit their fancy?