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(2019
final exam assignment) Model final exam answers 2019 (Index) Essay 3: Web Highlights |
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Kimberly Berlin
Reading for Pleasure in the Classroom
Two things inspired me to want to become an
English teacher: I know where to put commas in a sentence, and so many of my
grade-school English teachers did such a terrible job that I figured I could do
better. The issue most English teachers have to deal with is finding the line
between required readings, which tend to bore students, and students’ choice
readings, which fail to adhere to state curriculum standards. The best English
classes I ever had involved the use of Socratic seminars and interesting reads.
For instance, I was bored out of my mind with
The Great Gatsby but adored
The Hobbit. Both were pivotal titles
in their genres (modernist fiction and high fantasy, respectively). The worst
classes I had involved teachers who handed out a book, never talked about it
again for 6 weeks, then expected us (9th graders) to take a test on it.
As Greg Bellomy wrote in his 2017 midterm, “The
best type of experience, though, comes when students are afforded the
opportunity to learn from each other, either through in-class discussions, or
through the composition of essays.” I wholeheartedly believe that cooperative
learning allows for greater comprehension of the material. This is not to say
that a teacher should give an open-ended lecture and expect perfect results
every day. Rather, the secret is to change things up every once in a while and
make things interesting, especially utilizing learning tools such as self-guided
learning, in-class discussions, and cross-curricular modules. Bellomy also
states, “The privilege of being able to compare notes benefits students by
challenging their assumptions and encouraging them to take a second (or third)
look at a text and its author.” The assertion that comparing notes encourages
multiple looks at the text is accurate, at least in my experience. Some of my
best exam scores stemmed from study groups comparing notes, and I intend to
utilize that learning tool when I am a teacher.
In her 2017 Final, JohAnna Hunter wrote,
“Growing up, I was an avid fan of science fiction and future literature.
Unfortunately, my love for these genres was not really welcomed into the
academic classroom. The books that we read were mostly canonical texts, and I
think that most of the students either did not understand the material, were
bored by it, or simply chose not to read it altogether. This was heartbreaking
for me, because I have always loved books, and reading the texts that interested
me led me to discover more and more books that I enjoyed. For those students
that hated to read, I wanted to tell them that they just needed to discover the
type that they liked.” This has been my experience as well. Since entering
college, I have drifted away from my love of reading and now have such a short
attention span, sometimes needing texts read aloud to me via text-to-speech
program or audiobook in order to force myself to comprehend the words. I can
only assume that if the texts I had been made to read in English class had
actually been interesting, I would have never lost that desire to carry a book
with me wherever I go. This class, however, has begun to remedy that issue I
find myself having. Reading these science fiction works has revived the idea
that I can actually like a required reading. I enjoyed these texts very much and
expect that high school students would as well.
I also believe that literature classes need not
solely focus on writing, as part of the class always ends up dealing in part
with the nature of communication, whether poetry, prose, or even art that
references poetry or prose. I believe that, as we discovered in our Future
Vision presentations, even movies and video games can be used to explore the
various facets of English class, assuming control is maintained in the classroom
and content is monitored for academic appropriateness. In Brandon Burrow’s 2019
Midterm, he wrote about Ready Player One,
a book and movie about a virtual reality video game. He writes, “Technology
surrounds us. It is difficult to find a room in the modern world that lacks a
screen designed to grab our attention, ready to swallow passers-by in a portal
to the version of reality present in the programming on display. Electronic
devices are so convenient that we often do not consider how our screen time
affects our brains; the subliminal messaging and inception of ideas not our own
is covered by the hints of dopamine our brains feed us to reward us for
“interacting” with the world.” As the adage goes, “If you can’t beat them, join
them.” If your students are having a hard time tearing their attention away from
the little screen in their pocket, perhaps it would be useful to utilize a
digital medium in order to get the day’s lesson across. This would take some
creativity to implement, but I imagine that it would not only making learning
fun but also serve as incentive for improved classroom behavior/performance.
All of these are simply ideas. I have never
gotten up to teach a lesson and know next to nothing about TEKS. These essays by
other students of this class, in addition to the welcoming atmosphere and
stimulating choice of texts in this class, helped open my eyes to the
possibility that English class can actually be fun! I want to do a better job
than the teachers who made me regret wanting to read. I want to instill a desire
in my future students to do self-guided learning and read for pleasure.
Storytelling is an integral part of the human experience, and if we run from it,
we are doing ourselves a disservice and playing with a handicap. I want to give
students the best classroom experience I can, and these ideas are the first step
in the process.
