Same Sun Here Reflection

Earlier this semester I was asked to read the book Same Sun Here by Silas House and Neela Vaswani as part of a common read across the entirety of the Saint Michael's College Education Department. The book was about two young adolescent pen pals, who, though came from very different backgrounds, seemed to find common grounds. Eventually, through their letters, the two become best friends. After reading the book and discussing it in our classes, we were asked to attend one of three events on campus pertaining to the book. The event I decided to attend was the author talk, where one of the authors, Neela Vaswani, described the process of writing the book and answered any questions the audience had. It was incredible getting to see her interact with the audience and answer everyone's questions. Hearing her describe the process they took in creating this book was very intriguing to me. Towards the end of the event, she even took the time to discuss how this book could be implemented into our classrooms someday and used to teach lessons.

This event and book as a whole are reflected in the Saint Michael's Education Department mission statement. Part of the mission statement reads, "Our graduates are change agents committed to social justice and sustainability". In the book Same Sun Here issues such as bias based upon appearance, social status, and race are addressed. Another important issue that’s brought up throughout the entirety of the book is problems dealing with the environment. More specifically, Same Sun Here mainly addresses how mountain top removal not only effects the environment but also people’s homes and their overall lives. Though these issues are addressed in the book, they are also real issues that are present in the United States. As a future educator it is important for me to not only recognize these issues myself, but also find ways in which I can help my students identify them as well. Together, it is our job and my hope that we can make a difference. In order to do this I need to find ways in which to make sure each of my student’s has equal opportunities in their learning no matter what their differences may be.

As a future educator, I was able to learn a lot through Neela’s discussion on how this book could be implemented into the classroom as well as my class discussions on the book. For example, in one of my classes I created a mock lesson in which one could ask their students to take a deeper look at one of the main problems addressed in Same Sun Here. From there, students could then take that issue and go out into the community and find ways in which to make a difference. During the event Neela brought up the fact that her and Silas come from very different backgrounds, but despite those differences, they were still able to merge both of their ideas together in order to create one book which addressed issues that they were both passionate about. Similar to these discussions, it is my goal to create a math classroom which ties in other subject areas. I feel that this is something that doesn’t often happen in math. Because of this, I want to try to find ways to show that not only can it be done, but it can be done effectively in a way which benefits all learners.

The portion of the event that interested me most was the discussion about how the two authors went about writing the book. Neela and Silas collaborated with one another by each taking on their character's roles and writing back and forth to one another as if they were actually pen pals. Neela explained to her audience that this allowed for a raw experience in which they hoped would be reflected in the book. After both authors came to the conclusion that the book was done, they took their work to their publisher who told them that their characters, Meena and River, agreed with one another too much and that there was a lack of conflict throughout the book. The two writers then went back and inserted some more conflicts into the book. For example, Neela added a part in which Meena was discussing shaving her legs. Silas then had River respond in a way which showed distaste and even a bit of disgust that she would share that information with him. Through learning about the writing process both authors took, I can see the benefits of such a collaborative process. This is important to me as a future educator as I will have to collaborate with students, other teachers, parents, and many others. It is my hope that I can take all of the lessons I have learned through the book itself, classroom discussions, and Neela’s event into my future as an educator.

Back-to-Back Mini Lessons

For a combined assignment in my Curriculum in a Middle/High School and Literacy in a Middle/High School classes, we were recently asked to create two back-to-back 20 minute mini-lessons, each a part of a unit we are creating within our content area. For these lessons we had to create a combined lesson plan for the two days, assessments, activities, etc. After doing this, we had the opportunity to actually teach our lessons to a couple of our fellow classmates. We were then able to receive feedback from those classmates, as well as our professors.

Attached is the link to a google folder with my lesson plan, some of my students' assessments from from my lessons, feedback from my classmates, and feedback from my professors:  Back-to-Back Mini Lessons.

As can be seen in the attached documents, the performance criteria related to these lessons were the following:

• Performance Criterion 8.1: Candidates use a variety of instructional strategies to make the discipline accessible for diverse learners.
• This could be seen through the accommodations matrix that was created by our class for our made-up students. I then tended to one of the common themes in the matrix, friendships (more on this within link).
• Performance Criterion 8.2: Candidates use a variety of instructional strategies to encourage learners to build skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways.
• This could be seen within my diverse lesson plan which included time for instruction, practice problems, activities, application problems, etc. (more within this link).
• Performance Criterion 3.2: Candidates design learning environments that support collaborative learning marked by positive social interaction.
• As can be seen in my lesson plan, I encouraged a lot of group work and discussions within my lessons through some of the entrance/exit tasks, the group activity on the second day, our discussions within the instruction etc. (more within this link).

I learned a lot by teaching these back-to-back mini lessons. After teaching on the first day, I was able to take what I learned from that lesson and adjust my second lesson accordingly based on what we were able to complete, what knowledge my students showed, and what did and didn't go well on the first day. For example, I ended up adjusting what I was giving the students as an entrance card on the second day based on the fact that they didn't have enough time to complete it as an exit card the first day. This was a very important part of the lesson, in my opinion, as it was an application problem which allowed for students to see how what we are doing in class is related to the real world. Because of this, I thought it was appropriate to create more time for the students to work closely with the problem.

In my opinion, my assessments demonstrate learning of the standard it assessed very well. While I could not cover the entire standard in just 40 minutes, the learning still related directly back to the standard. The students were able to show through the assessments that they could solve linear equations with rational number coefficients (with multiplication and division), and the idea of collecting like terms was slightly touched on as well.

Through these lessons I was able to see the benefits of both group work and mini-presentations. By allowing for my students to work through problems together, I think they were all able to learn more about the subject. Group work gives students the opportunity to explain their ideas, see other people's ideas, learn from one another, and bounce ideas off of each other. In other words, if done properly, group work can benefit all parties involved. I also really appreciated the mini-lessons because it gave me an opportunity to see where my students were at with the material. I think it is important to give them time to communicate ideas with their classmates before sending them up to the board so that they can get a basis for their ideas ahead of time. My goal is not to catch anyone off guard, but rather to assess their learning. These are both ideas I would like to continue in the planning and revisions for the rest of my lessons within my unit. I also want to make sure that I create variety and continue to make engaging lessons with activities that will interest the students, like my matching activity in my second lesson.

These lessons were also able to show me more about what I am going to need to work on in the future, specifically during student teaching. The first thing I think I need to work on is my time management. It seems that I have a tendency to over-plan for my lessons and thus don't get to everything I want to get to. While I realize that this happens sometimes, I think it is something I could work on and do better with. I would also like to work on my explanations of how each piece of my lesson relates both to one another as well as the focusing and essential questions. This was a common theme in my feedback, so it's something I would like to put a little more focus on in the future. I think a part of why this happened may have been because of the time constraints that were given to me. Due to the fact that we only had short periods of time, I felt as though I didn't want to waste too much time talking and explaining things. However, making sure students see these connections is essential to their learning and overall understanding. Because of this, I need to make sure I do a better job of getting these ideas across, even if that means spending a little more time on it. One last thing I would like to work on is my guiding questions. It is my belief that I can get better at this through both practice and getting to know the material and problems better ahead of time.

A lot about what I learned in both my Curriculum and Literacy classes were able to help me transfer learning in my mini-lessons. The main connection I was able to make to my literacy class within my lesson was my study of vocabulary. As can be seen within my lesson, my students keep vocabulary journals of important terms which they review and can refer to whenever they feel necessary. In my Literacy class we studied the importance of understanding vocabulary. If a student is unsure what words mean, the student may be prevented from getting the full understanding of the lesson. Especially in mathematics where, in my opinion, it has a language of its own, I don't want my students to fall behind on their learning or not understand something simply because words are getting in the way. This is why I decided my students will have vocabulary journals on hand at all times. As far as my Curriculum class goes, my learning from this class can be seen in all aspects of my lesson. It can be seen in my use of the accommodations matrix and the adjustments I made because of it, my lesson planning in general, and so much more.

All in all, having the opportunity to teach two back to back lessons in my content area was a great learning experience, and in a way my first real hint at what my future as a teacher might be like. While I still have a lot to learn and a lot of progress to make, I am amazed at how far I have already come and can't wait to see what my future holds.