The Same Sun Here event that I attended was a panel discussion featuring a senior from South Burlington High School, a middle school English teacher named Mr. Novak, and an eighth grader named Zoe, who all consider themselves activists. Karim, the high school senior, is part of a slam poetry group called Muslim Girls Making Change, that travels and performs in many communities around Vermont and beyond. The English teacher is the adviser of an activism club, and the eighth grader has known from a young age that she is an activist for animal rights, having a strong sense of justice and not being afraid to use her voice.

Activism is one of those words that is spoken and used a lot but not necessarily defined. Therefore, it was enlightening to hear all three of their different definitions of activism. Oftentimes people think of activism as being a large, collective movement, and it can be, but one of the things that really stood out to me about this presentation, was just how individual activism can be. In many ways, activism is like a ripple effect, starting with one individual, and then gaining momentum as others learn about the subject and become passionate about performing such work. Passion was a major trope throughout the presentation, and that anyone can be an activist as long as he or she is passionate about something, and has access to the right resources.

Therefore, as an aspiring future English teacher, it is important to expose students to a variety of readings and resources that cover many social, political, and cultural topics, in order to potentially spark an area of interest and potential passion within a student. It was also enlightening to listen to Mr. Novak discuss the importance of always building students up, listening to their voices, and encourage them to take risks, as another major aspect of activism is confidence- confidence in one's knowledge and passion of the subject, and confidence in approaching the right resources to start making a change. This panel also made me think of the importance of connections, and how as an educator it's important not only to make connections with students, but also to have connections within the school and larger community, in order to connect students with resources for various needs.

This relates to the SMC Mission Statement regarding educators being agents of change as well as "collaborative and knowledgeable instructional leaders" because activism includes collaboration, knowledge, and a passion for igniting change.

Having the opportunity to teach back-to-back mini lessons, while using assessment to adjust instruction in between, truly encompasses the idea of student-centered learning, as feedback from assessments are used to help tailor instruction to students' needs.

Since my unit revolves around the concept of ambiguous language in Macbeth and how it creates multiple interpretations, I chose to teach the the two lessons that would introduce the concept of perception as devised through observation and language, since this is the central idea of the unit that I want students to consider throughout the entirety of reading Macbeth.

When thinking about the ideas of viewpoint and perspective, the two main components are observation and language. Observation includes accounting for the physical appearances of objects and beings that are in a space, while language deals with the words used to describe those observations as well as assign emotion and meaning to those images. The main idea that I wanted students to come away with by the end of Thursday's lesson, is the concept that in order to have a complete perspective or viewpoint of a text, image, or even situation, observation and language must be simultaneously utilized.

In order to scaffold the lessons and provide the necessary supports for students to grasp this more abstract concept of perspective, on Tuesday (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UT1HjVPtbmWvNAvB5WXlApq6jbislSYe8JyMJJzr9pQ/edit) the idea of observation in relation to perspective was explored through the use of QR Codes embedded with various images from the same scene in Macbeth, discussion, and creating images that could be viewed in two completely different ways. 
The students then shared their pieces and were expected to explain what they saw in the pictures before the artist talked about his or her own piece. There were some very different interpretations and the follow-up discussion contained a lot of phrases such as "I hadn't thought about it that way" and "oh I see it now".

On Thursday, the focus of the lesson was to incorporate the component of language. Therefore, two clips from different versions of  the same scene of Macbeth were shown and a Venn diagram was filled out in order to compare and contrast the two. This exercise was to show how even though the language was exactly the same in both versions, the interpretations were completely different- one took place in a hospital and the witches were nurses, while the second took place on the beach and the witches were a mix of all ages and styles. Then an activity was introduced where the students were to create a texting group chat and were given a persona that they had to portray through the text.  Then they were to discuss what they could discern about the person through the text, and what they couldn't. This was to show that the components of language and observation must be used in conjunction with one another in order to fully understand a perspective or view point (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LZ102BRXPo0mSqgTvFiwNrf8Id7A9JQFzS0F8x1EZGM/edit) .

Through these two lessons, I've learned that as an educator, I believe that the content is a bridge to accessing more overarching concepts that will be applicable to everyday life instead of the other way around. The ideas of perspective and viewpoint are important for students to understand in order to become more pragmatic and critical thinkers that are able to see multiple sides and opinions in a situation. I feel confident that my lessons portrayed this sentiment, as discussions were rich and student engagement was high during all activities. Based on feedback , students did believe that I could have taken more time to explain the activities in more depth (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1c2phahrPSeTh5-1rMi5EbnyCx5rav-eWxG0mVmFH_sk/edit).



These lessons relate to the SMC mission statement, as future educators are supposed to be creative and integrate multiple forms of technology for differentiated instruction, which I did through my lessons through QR Codes, using Apple TV, YouTube videos, and through unique activities such as the texting activity and double perspective drawings. 

Vocabulary is the tool with which individuals build their means of communication, whether it's through a book, letter, talking to a friend, or analyzing or commenting on a picture on social media. It's the way in which humans externalize their internal thoughts and feelings about the world. Therefore, it is vital in an English classroom that students are not only provided with words, but also the skills to help develop and enrich vocabulary. Since my instructional unit is about ambiguous language as seen in Macbeth, my vocabulary lesson revolved around Shakespearean language, since when students are first introduced to such a playwright, they are often overwhelmed and confused by the words. Instead of trying to provide students with definitions for all of Shakespeare's vernacular, I made the lesson more conceptual, with the overall goal not simply being denotation memorization, but having students become familiar with identifying the language, and hearing it in contrast to contemporary words. This way students feel less overwhelmed and scared of the language, allowing them to be more open to and comfortable with learning definitions and contexts. 

With the lesson, one of the areas I hoped to improve upon based on feedback from a a previous lesson, was to be more direct and clear with my instruction. After watching the video of myself teaching, and reading feedback from my peers, I feel as though I did improve in that category. When introducing a task, I was more straightforward, and less wishy-washy about expectations, which is something that I have struggled with in the past. One thing that I have learned about teaching vocabulary in an English classroom, is that there are many resources with which one can learn the definition of a word, so it is more important for students to be presented with the necessary skills to determine appropriate definitions based on context, but also see how words interact with one another. In literature, words are never isolated. They are strung together to form sentences, then paragraphs, then pages, then whole pieces. Therefore, each word is like a brick in the side of a building, creating context. However, in each building, every word has a different purpose and supports a different side. Therefore, it does not do a word justice to simply provide a single dictionary definition. Successful vocabulary instruction provides students with opportunities to explore definitions, contextual scenarios, physically engage with the words, and finally create with the words, which I tried to incorporate into my lesson. This relates to This seemed to be done successfully based on the assessment outcome. My goal was for students to be able to identify Shakespearean language and see how it coincides with contemporary vernacular, which they were all able to complete successfully and thoughtfully, but without much confusion or stress. 

This relates to the Saint Michael's College Education Department mission statement pillar since one of the performance criteria includes graduates gaining the necessary skills to become creative and integrative teachers who are"adept at both discipline-based and interdisciplinary teaching methods, using emerging technologies, social interaction, and imagination to support students’ achievement of rigorous academic standards”. Vocabulary itself is innately dynamic and artistic. Therefore, its instruction should be just as creative and compelling. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jg5JSIBvMyDsvA3iy7RIUgOK-2QVsGVfvjdpHV7t150

Just as contemporary definitions of literature extend beyond reading and writing, educational tools extend beyond pencil and paper in this rapidly expanding contemporary digital age. As more students acquire larger amounts of technological advices, and spend more time in front of screens, more information is amassed through social media, online articles, YouTube videos, etc., and the more technology shapes a students' identity. Therefore, it is vital that technology is appropriately and effectively incorporated into the classroom. Many schools are implementing a one-to-one technology initiative where every student is granted an iPad, Chrome book, or other device for which they are responsible both inside and outside of the classroom. In order to ensure that all of the parents, students, and teachers are on the same page regarding expectations for technology use, a letter is sent home to the parents (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1BG3VRrYgR9LFb0ZkGWQIAERsRaigArUbNjtyPl6NdTM/edit?usp=sharing) and a contract is constructed . 

Such documents are put in place because although technology can be a wonderful asset to the classroom and to a student's academic and social development, it can also be a challenge to make sure that it does not distract or detract from any learning. Some of the challenges that arise with technology is that since everything on the internet can be accessed so quickly, students are less likely to have a longer attention span or the patience to take the time to problem solve using more tedious methods of traditional instruction. Furthermore, if students are not monitored and are visiting other sites or social media during lessons, then they are not interacting with the material and gaining that knowledge. It has also been mentioned that technology has decreased people's abilities to engage in real conversations as opposed to solely virtual. 

On the flip side, individuals can become exposed to a variety of materials and resources which can allow students to become more pragmatic, critical thinkers since they have to synthesize and evaluate information from a variety of mediums. Furthermore, many companies and contemporary jobs require certain technological skills in order to be considered for certain occupations. There are many pros and cons to using technology, and it just requires a balance. If teachers monitor and effectively use technology in their classrooms, then it will allow students to find more ways to express themselves, allow them to gain more skills in a digital job market, and expand their network of communication. 

This relates to the Saint Michael's College Education Department mission statement pillar since one of the performance criteria includes graduates gaining the necessary skills to become creative and integrative teachers who are"adept at both discipline-based and interdisciplinary teaching methods, using emerging technologies, social interaction, and imagination to support students’ achievement of rigorous academic standards.” The more technologies to which teacher's are exposed, the more comfortable they will be incorporating such resources into their classrooms, and the more variety they will have in their lessons to reach a broader range of students.

Through projects created with the apps Explain Everything (http://expl.ai/TMLCAXE) and Adobe Spark Pages (https://spark.adobe.com/page/ZS9LKpoLqoIsF/), a connection between Literacy and Curriculum in the classroom can be demonstrated. Prior to creating the assignment using the Explain Everything app, a survey was conducted to determine the educational philosophy with which I most align. The project was then to further research that specific educational philosophy and indicate how we can incorporate aspects of those philosophies into my classroom in terms of teaching presence and lesson planning (which supports curriculum).

For the Adobe Sparkpage project, the task was to discuss various aspects of literacy, mostly digital literacy, and how it is vital to be literate in many ways beyond just reading and writing. This includes being able to read equations, graphs, signs, music, plays, images, videos, social cues, and more. Literacy and Curriculum are connected because not only are many aspects of national standards tied to interdisciplinary fluency in various aspects of literacy, but since literacy connects mostly to the way in which an individual, thinks, interprets, and then communicates ideas surrounding the material, it truly shapes an individual’s identity.

Therefore, an individual’s educational philosophy may influence which materials are chosen and presented to students. This relates to the Saint Michael's College Education Department mission statement pillar since one of the performance criteria includes graduates gaining the necessary skills to become creative and integrative teachers who are"adept at both discipline-based and interdisciplinary teaching methods, using emerging technologies, social interaction, and imagination to support students’ achievement of rigorous academic standards.” Literacy is highly disciplinary, whether it be reading a book in English class that contains historical content, or viewing a graph in math class that revolves around velocity. The way in which certain types of literacy are incorporated into one’s curriculum highly influences the outcome of the students not only academically but socially. Literacy is what allows students to be critical thinkers, problem solvers, and pragmatic global participants.

Therefore, it is imperative that teachers are well rounded with various technologies, and are comfortable using interdisciplinary teaching methods, because the more exposure students have to a variety of literacies (that promote both academic and social growth), the more well-rounded and fluent students will be not only in the classroom, but in their communities and even the world. Literacy is all about creativity since the way in which an individual chooses how to present certain material whether in written,digital, or artistic form, is highly individualized. Therefore, the more students are introduced to a variety of literacies as the teacher sees fit through the curriculum, the easier it will be for them to help find themselves through those mediums and be able to express themselves. Therefore, I hope to challenge myself to become more fluent in and find connections through different types of literacy such as equations or graphs (since those aspects of literacy are stereotypically not used as much in the English classroom) in order to continue my growth as an individual and future education. The more that I can be fluent in areas outside of my subject area which is English, the more I can make connections to other disciplines and fulfill the goal of being an interdisciplinary and creative educator.

When teaching in a diverse classroom, it is imperative to understand the various attitudes toward gender and sexuality of the countries from which the students hail. This is imperative because both components contribute significantly to an individual's identity, and also shapes how he or she views others and the world around them. For example, if a student is from a restrictive country where LGBT individuals are not accepted and premarital sex is considered sinful, then certain texts or media presented may seem offensive or even unholy since the United States is considered to be a more progressive country whose schools have access to more controversial materials. Furthermore, an LGBT student may feel ashamed and alienated by classmates from less accepting cultures. On the opposite end of the spectrum, an individual from a permissive culture may think that certain selections are odd, prudish, or find their classmates from more restrictive cultures to be closed-minded and less accepting. Therefore, as a teacher it is important to be sensitive to student's various beliefs and create a safe space where open dialogue can occur about these tough issues. It is important that these beliefs and varying attitudes toward gender and sexuality are not used to divide a class, but rather are used as lenses into other lifestyles and cultures.

QR codes can be used to differentiate learning and expose students to a variety of resources that they can interact with and reflect on individually. For example, the code may contain a link to a video, article, or other resource that may help deepen a student's understanding of a certain topic, containing images of words accessible to a variety of students including ELL. This technique can also be used show the process of learning-a student may attach a QR code to a poster or PowerPoint to show how they garnered such information and created the project.

Iceland is a developed country whose education system is somewhat similar to that of the United States. It is mandatory for students ages 6-16 to attend school, which contributes to the 99% literacy rate. Iceland promotes the ideology that everyone in the country should have access to a quality education no matter what gender, socioeconomic status, physical ability, intellectual ability, race, and so forth. Therefore, the Parliament provides most of the funding for schools throughout the country; although there are some private institutions, publicly funded schools are much more abundant and attended throughout the country. As a developed country, there is a substantial amount of industrialization, and over half of the country's population lives in its capital, Reykjavik. Therefore, most of the educational facilities- including the country's largest university- are located within the city. There is a low unemployment rate in Iceland, which allows students to enter school with less of a concern for fiscal or familial burdens. Icelandic is the official instructional and conversational language in this country, and students who are non-native speakers of Icelandic, must take a supplementary course to learn this challenging language. Students receive a comprehensive curriculum, starting with Pre-Primary school and progressing to Compulsory education, Upper Secondary education, and Higher Secondary education. Women typically complete around 20 years of schooling, whereas men might complete closer to 18 years. Educational expenditures constitute 
7.8% of the country's GDP.

    Last Friday I had the pleasure of meeting my ELL student (who for the sake of confidentiality will be referred to as "S") at South Burlington High School. When S was seven years old, he and his family escaped from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and stayed with relatives in Egypt. They were eventually granted permission to emigrate to the United States, but S's papers did not go through, and therefore he had to stay with his relatives in Egypt for three years without his family. S is a fairly quiet, reserved individual. However, I believe that part of his conservative nature stems from the fact that his WIDA levels are low and therefore his competence in academic English is limited, where academic English refers to the elevated, sophisticated language in which course material is taught in a classroom.
      We worked on a project for his health class that entailed viewing a powerpoint containing information about the various types of wellness: physical wellness, social wellness, emotional wellness, and spiritual wellness, before answering questions about the material. One of the questions that S had to answer was which wellness had the highest score during a self-evaluation activity in class, which one was the lowest, and explain why such results might have occurred. I was surprised when he said that he scored highest in social wellness, considering his quiet disposition. However, I think this harkens back to the idea that he is not as confident in the classroom with his academic English, which could be seen in his struggle to understand the complex words surrounding the topic, but his conversational English is more fluid, allowing for him to communicate with his peers more easily. Furthermore, he is an avid soccer player and he loves playing FIFA with his friends. Such activities require more athletic, physical interaction as opposed to copious amounts of conversational communication. Therefore, based on the combination between having a higher knowledge-base of conversational English, and interacting with individuals in a more non-verbal setting, outside of the classroom he probably feels more comfortable being social. Furthermore, since French is the official language of the Congo, S can speak it fluently and as I am a French minor, I was able to aide him by explaining certain words or phrases in French which helped increase his understanding of the material and the task-it has been proven that a bilingual approach to teaching ELL students that incorporates both their native language and English, is the most effective method of instruction.

http://www.centerforpubliceducation.org/Main-Menu/Instruction/What-research-says-about-English-language-learners-At-a-glance/Preparing-English-language-learners-for-academic-success.html

Imagine that you are an adolescent-you are trying to figure out who you are and how you fit into society. There are so many physical and psychological changes occurring as your body grows, and hormones begin to affect several aspects of development and behavior. Now imagine that amongst all of these factors, you are placed in another country where few individuals speak the same language as you and it is difficult to communicate- it is difficult to communicate directions,  what you want, and most importantly, who you are. Now imagine not only having difficulty with simple conversational language, but you also have to attend school where history, science, math, and more, will be taught in that foreign tongue. 

As an educator, it is important that when working with ELL students these challenges are not discounted, and that certain steps are taken to reduce the language barrier, and allow non-native speakers to succeed in their academics. Much research has been conducted concerning the best way to educate ELL learners, and although there is no one-size-fits all approach to teaching these students- there are many variations in cultural background, native languages, familial situations and more- there are some strategies that have been proven successful. It has been determined that it takes an individual about five years to become proficient in English, but it can take longer to gain fluency in both conversational and academic English, especially depending on the native language  of the student.  One of the main controversies regarding ELL instruction includes whether or not the student's first language should be integrated or dismissed in the classroom. It has been shown that integrating the student's native language will actually help improve proficiency in English since correlations between the two languages can be addressed and built upon. In many ways, it may also help the student feel more comfortable and accepted in the environment, which may lead to confidence and therefore increased academic success. Academic language is more important to a student's success than conversational language since it relates to reading, writing, listening, and speaking in a more elevated and sophisticated tongue- it is said that older ELL students have an easier time learning English than younger students. It is also the language that is commonly used in assessments and other classroom settings. Therefore, it is important to enforce that more elevated way of speaking so that it will become integrated more naturally into this new language. 

https://youtu.be/D9Ihs241zeg (Links to an external site.)


       Students will repeat and write what they read or hear, which can perpetuate stereotypes and marginalize people, just as Adichi had a propensity to only create her characters with the British, western view about which she had read.Labels only define people by one single trait, and once in place, they make it difficult for an individual to believe that a person can do anything else but fit that mold.The media can create specific, marginalizing images and preconceived notions of certain places and peoples. Adichie's roommate felt pity for her before they had met, simply because Adichi was from Nigeria, and the roommate had only seen stories of immense hardship and poverty. Stories are based on power, not only who tells them, but the ability of a storyteller to make their view the only one. According to Adichie, “The problem with stereotypes is that they aren’t true, it’s that they are incomplete.” Single stories highlight differences instead of bringing people together. Stories can diminish but also empower. Individuals should be exposed to a variety of images and stories of various places, to help diminish the single story.