blog posting #2

In presenting an issue as essential to the future of our society as the New York City soda ban, the students in my English classes shall grapple with this issue in such a manner befitting the gravity of America's future. In this sense, my students will explore the literature of Bernard Malamud and Franz Kafka; particularly the novels The Fixer and The Castle, respectively. In these books the protagonists become embroiled in the slow yet certain machinations of darkening governments. Whether in Eastern Europe or here in the United States, students must confront the fragility of liberty. In this unit, students will be able to perform literary analysis, expository writing and persuasive writings.

When writing literary analysis, students will investigate literary devices such as foreshadowing, irony, symbolism and intertextuality. In writing expository and persuasive essays, students will investigate the merits of the science and economics behind the health care ban and inform as well as convince their peers of their opinions.

This unit will end in a summative interpretive dance.

blog posting #1

 The thing I most took away from Friday's class was the really useful question: why do you want to be a teacher? Even though I sort of answered that question in the process of applying to the secmac program, it was great to revisit the idea of teaching after a few weeks of hard work. It's one thing to say, "I want to be a teacher because I want to help children become educated and have access to a college education"; and it's quite another to understand the really deep implications and responsibilities involved after working with real live children. It's terrific to take a moment to pause and consider the wonderful interactions I've had with my (incoming) seventh graders.

 Speaking of (incoming) seventh graders, another thing I realized in Friday's class is that they know way more than I do about technology. So the key is, and hence the title of the class, teaching with technology instead of just teaching technology to students. They don't need me to explain how computers work (thank god), but instead I need to find a way to work with computers or text messaging or what have you in order to enrich students' learning. But thank goodness there's no MTTC test about technology!