The chapter on co teaching was very eye opening in the sense that it seems to speak to our fears as teacher candidates who have not had our own classrooms quite yet.  The fears that everything is not going to go exactly to our expectations is a realistic fear, however there are ways that we can cope as teachers in the moment.  In this reading the professor realized that the way he was approaching the students may have been a bit awkward but slowly started to connect with the students when he started to talk about himself.  I can see this as a good technique to reach out but to be wary of how much we do say as first time teachers.  While it is important to feel connected with our students, there is a point where we draw the line so as to make ourselves look professional.  I agreed with the narrator’s point about how in order to effectively teach, he had to find a way around the tensions in the classroom.  This is a very relevant statement in the minds of many new teachers.  How will what I say make the students react?  Am I saying the right thing?  Do they seem to listen to me?  Those are all questions that now pop up in my head as someone who has not taught in a classroom just yet. 

                Additionally, the different types of co teaching brought up in the article were quite interesting because if you are a teacher candidate or a student teacher and are co teaching a lesson with someone more experienced, it is much easier and more relaxing to work with this more experienced individual.  For SED 407, we have to work with another partner to teach and this I find will be helpful to me in that I can find out some new techniques from the other person and we can find a beneficial teaching style that will get the best out of our students for a lesson.

Standards

Both the NCTE and CCSS standards outline the expectations that educators have at a state and national level that should be met by students at every grade level.  After focusing in on standards four through eight of the NCTE standards, the key idea in each standard seems to be aiming to get students to apply their skills and knowledge to understand the bigger picture.  Number four aims to get students to use language to communicate to many audiences and five gets students to use many strategies in order to improve their writing process and use it for many purposes.  I like number five the best because it highlights some of the things we are attempting to learn in this class.  We are learning the strategies that we can teach students in order to be higher orderly thinking students and applying what they know to every kind of writing.  Number seven of the NCTE standards is another good one because it aims to get students to effectively gather research and apply it to their reading.  It seems important that students should be able to digest their research before applying it to their writing.  I like the NCTE standards for the ways that they aim to get students to use and apply their previous skills and knowledge.  These standards are not perfect but they have good intention. 

            The CCSS standards are also helpful in educating students and the standards are put in place to have students be meeting specific requirements at the end of each grade level.  The standards for writing at the ninth and tenth grade level cover research, range, production, and types and purposes.  While I think all of those categories are necessary and well outlined, there seem to be a few holes.  I would have liked to see outlines on creativity or more on the editing process itself.  It would have been nice to see a section on standards for being a peer editor, even though this process does not occur in all the schools, if it was implemented into the standards it might become a norm in public schools whom are required to follow them. 

            In “Rhode Island Teachers Respond to PARCC: A White Paper,” I really enjoyed reading other teacher opinions on the PARCC testing.  Despite my earlier support for the standards and their coverage of student skills and achievements, there is too much pressure and less consideration for students cannot understand the standardized tests.  The socio-economic situations for every school community is a very big part of the “achievement gap” that occurs in schools.  Something this big in effect on students cannot be overlooked by educators who implement these tests.  There cannot be a national expectation for every student to perform the same based on one type of test.  Accommodations and modifications must be made in many circumstances and this seems to be the frustration for many educators. 

Blad’s article on the issues involving a fixed mindset that students and teachers may have concerning students who are in poverty or are growing up in an urban setting.  Using the words, “fixed mindset” are so eye opening when it comes to understanding how assumptions are easily placed on students in poverty.  Often times the students themselves settle with their intelligence and other educational qualities and believe they cannot change these qualities based on the environment that they grow up in.  Or more simply put, people believe that they cannot change their qualities and accept flaws that comes with them.  Blad discusses a growth mindset in which people believe they can change certain qualities with hard work.  However, taking a turn in the other direction, teachers cannot put the blame on the students.  Students are a product of his or her environment and this is not to be taken lightly.  Each student needs special attention and will work at his or her own pace.  Repairing the injustices that occur in communities is a better project for teachers to tackle.  Get the students involved in the awareness of their community to become more educated about the outside world.  Encourage them to face their circumstances head on and get something out of it.  Teachers primary goal is to educate citizens to interact with others in the outside world.  By having a more active role in society, students and teachers can be more educated on how to either overcome or adapt to these circumstances. 

            In relation the article on ncte.org talks about how writing comes out of many purposes.  This being that anything and everything that you write has some type of purpose.  As teachers, our job is to not only motivate students but also create new ways to show the process and importance of writing.  Teaching through a worldly view can help students to see that they can write for many different people and audiences.  Understanding texts through reading and writing is an experience more than just an obligation.  Involvement in community and culture allows students to control what they write and how it makes them feel.  This experience is more personal and creates better connections between students and teachers. 

               

            Any educational article that one reads as a future educator during his or her college years will be beneficial in the overall scheme of things.  The more knowledge that one can attain from those who have already been in the teaching field can only help a future teacher that needs as much information under his or her belt that can be attained.  This article immediately drew me in due to the fact that it focused on high school educators and I too plan to become an English teacher. 

While reading the article, “To High School English Teachers (and All Teachers),” there was one quote in particular that stood out to me.  The quote from the article reads: “Begin with and remain true to authentic literacy, and then comply with standards and testing mandates within that greater commitment.”  This statement great lengths in terms of what is at the very core of English education.  If students are not proficient or grounded in their reading and writing, this will only hurt their performance in higher stakes of their English class later on in the course.  While testing and meeting performance guidelines for students is very important for English teachers, it is even more important for us to connect with our students.  By connecting with students, teachers are trying to make students both aware and eager about the importance of good reading and writing. 

Personally, I believe that a good way to teach this type of literacy is through give and take in a classroom setting.  Set the foundation of literacy by teaching students what they need to read and guidelines for writing but also let them respond and listen to feedback when it comes to these things.  Listen to what students like and dislike to not only reach that personal connection but better one’s teaching approach when it comes to literacy.  As the article states that this approach is not to ignore the bureaucracy, this is not to convey teacher ignorance but putting what is the most important first and that is the students.  The very core of English is reading and writing and students must fully understand and be literate in both.  Literacy and language are extremely powerful outside of the English world alone.  However, this is not to forget about “standards and testing mandates” as the article states, because that is the second big part of the commitment English teachers have as educators.  Literacy proficiency will only make the students’ testing scores and meeting of standards improve and give students a greater understanding of the English language as a young and free-thinking individual.