Joe'+Portfolio+Assessed

Dear Joe: Your reflection tells a story of growth and deepening awareness, but it does not really articulate a concept of literacy or what it takes to get students to read and write. You explain what happened, but not what you concluded from it. You advocate reading for pleasure, which is a great goal. But //Lord of the Flies// is probably not the best book to read for pleasure (for some less capable readers), because it has a somber message and it explores human nature a little deeper than //Batman// or //Halloween V.// If it represents something valuable about reading, what are those elements? Why don’t we teach this novel in elementary or middle school? What does it require of readers that you have to teach them to do? I made some comments on your unit plan that might contribute to your thinking about teaching this novel. Your reflection also suggests you were not prepared to think like a teacher at the beginning of this course. I feel you are still struggling with this. You need to conceive of the roadblocks and the prior knowledge that students might lack to begin a novel or a writing assignment. In your Teacher Research Proposal, you identify this standard as significant:// Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.” // What are the tasks, purposes and audiences that students should write for? In your unit, you ask students to explicate a theme of the novel. This does not seem like a purpose for writing, but a purpose for reading. Once they know themes, what can they write about them that might make them better writers after they graduate? They won’t be writing any thematic essays, but they may have to sit on a jury and decide if someone is innocent or guilty. Therefore perhaps they should assess which characters in the novel are most guilty or more innocent? I suggested an activity for your summative assessment that might use this question. As much as you have grown, I feel you are still on the threshold of thinking like a teacher. You have been at a disadvantage without Curr 305 behind you and it was too much to make up. You obviously have the heart for this work, so I hope you will persist. 56/70