The Following Is a Dear Reader Letter That a Student Wrote in 2008. It Is Excellent, But

Note:

The following is a dear reader letter that a student wrote in 2008. It is excellent, but yours does not have to be this long to get an A+. Another student wrote one that was half this length and received an A+. I would have posted it here, but I just don't have it anymore.

It is followed by an outline of the portfolio, which for this student served as the annotation for the exhibits inside the portfolio.

Dear Reader,

I am a teacher of secondary English that will empower my students through reading and writing. I believe literary proficiency is a powerful enabler of change. With reading and writing skills students can gain a voice, a voice that can challenge the status quo and a voice that can demand to be heard. The literature I will teach in my classroom will speak to a body of diverse students; it will validate their experiences and go beyond what they know to extend their awareness. The writing tasks I will ask my students to participate in will be authentic. Authentic in the sense that my students will have choice in what they are asked to write, giving them the opportunity to write about the people and things they care about. My own identity as a writer began with an examination of my life; I started writing with what I was familiar with, my own experiences. I translated moments of hilarity and anxiety, contentment and fear, into pieces of narrative. Through reading I expanded my knowledge of the world. I began to recognize the adversity others face which extended my awareness beyond myself. I want to give my students the same opportunity to create writer/reader identities and become well-informed through the reading and writing that takes place in my classroom.

Reading and writing are interconnected and I believe students need to be immersed in various genres of literature to become well-versed human beings. I want my students to take risks when they write and be given the opportunity to try out new forms of writing. I am going to be choosy with the literature I teach. I want to make sure I pick pieces that I love and that I am enthusiastic about. To inspire students to try out new forms of writing I have to make each genre appealing. I can only do this with pieces of literature that I consider exemplary and that I am passionate about. Often times, creative writing takes the back seat to the five paragraph essay and research paper during high school. I think this is to the great disadvantage of students. Although I value and believe that students must be able to write a research paper, I do not agree with limiting students to this one type of writing. As students read poetry, fiction, journalism, and memoir, I want them to be writing it as well.

One of the most frequent strategies I will use in my classroom is modeling. When teaching the elements and process of writing, I will write beside my students. If I expect them to become lifelong writers I need to be one too. I want to share and explore my writing and editing process with students. Through modeling the strategies and tips I have learned along the way, I can demonstrate for students the intricacies of writing. The same is true for reading. I want to discuss book selection with students, to give them the ability to evaluate books for their literary quality. I will be there to support struggling readers. I will model how to use structured note taking, how to use context clues to overcome unfamiliar words and will use read aloud strategies.

I will be a teacher of English that is conscious of the needs of my students. Starting off my academic journey as a resistant learner has shaped who I will be in the classroom. I was once the student who hated school, who struggled to read and who found no purpose in writing. Spending hours in the Title One lab working on phonics worksheets and answering reading comprehension questions, quickly turned me off of reading and writing. I needed to be engaged; I needed learning to be meaningful. When given the opportunity to choose my writing and reading topic I began to see reading and writing in a new light. With the freedom of choice my reading and writing skills improved significantly. Once incoherent writing became loving pieces dedicated to family members and pieces of creativity depicting elements of my imagination. As a teacher, I will not disregard my students who struggle, instead I will adjust my teaching to meet their needs.

Whether it is an ELL student, a student with learning disabilities, or an honor student, I will engage him or her in reading and writing. With the use of scaffolding and modifications, I believe that every student can become a successful reader and writer. The use of graphic organizers, activation of prior knowledge, summaries, read alouds, and mini-lessons are beneficial to all students and appropriately scaffold the learning of those who struggle. I am adamant about seeing the student first, to not let titles determine their potential or future.

I want to craft my lessons around the needs of my students. I believe that learning occurs best in student centered and whole language classrooms. Grammar, spelling, and vocabulary are best taught in the context of what students are reading and writing. I do not believe in teaching any of these conventions in isolation. My grammar and editing lessons will stem from my examination of student work. While reviewing student writing and during student teacher conferencing, I will determine where my students need improvement. For instance, if half the class misuses quotations I will focus a mini lesson on the rules of quoting. Spelling and vocabulary will stem from their reading as well. I will ask students to create individual spelling lists and will generate vocabulary lists as a class. I want my students to be involved in their learning process.

My philosophy of student involvement extends into my beliefs about assessment. I believe in formative assessment, because students are part of the assessment process, they are aware of where they stand and are given the strategies to better their academic standing. By monitoring and guiding students during the process of learning, formative assessment shifts from rote memorization and verbal regurgitation of the teacher’s words to the assessment of authentic student learning. Both teachers and students are allowed to change a process while it is going on. Too many times teachers realize their techniques are not effective after the fact, after their students fail. Formative assessment encourages teachers to adjust teaching strategies and methods during learning to better reach students. Through the use of informal assessment, such as observation, circulating, checking for understanding, listening and questioning, I will be better able to judge my students’ comprehension. If I see that they are confused I can adjust my lesson on the spot. Formative assessment encourages me to assess throughout the learning process, to constantly make decisions and evaluate my methods.

Formative assessment will translate into my assessment of writing. Through conferencing with my students, I will create a level of transparency. Conferencing will give me the best sense of who my students are as readers and writers. I understand that my time will be strained, but I have experienced the benefits of individualized conferencing with my teacher and need to relay these benefits to my students. I will be meeting with students as they are writing, giving them the opportunity to address issues they are having and the opportunity to receive helpful feedback. Together we will create goals that I will expect to be reached by their final drafts. In a sense, I will implement criterion-referenced grading. The student and I will create the criteria that their grade will be based upon. Grading will be based not only on the final product, but on the writing process itself. I want to grade students on their personal growth as writers through the use of portfolios.

To generate grades I will use summative assessments. The reading comprehension and application skills of my students will be assessed through the use of tests, projects, and formal papers. My tests will go beyond simple plot recall with questions that will engage students in critical thinking. I want to foster analytical reading skills and this is what I will test my students on. I will create rubrics for my formal papers and projects. Rubrics will be created for me to ensure that assessment is consistent and for students so they are aware of my expectations.

Perhaps my strongest belief revolves around a genuine concern for students. I am becoming a teacher,tello

because of my commitment to help others. I believe that teaching is more than a job; it is the opportunity to impact lives. Every teacher has a decision about what kind of impact they wish to have. I hope to be a teacher that positively influences my students by pushing them to grow, by believing in their potential, and by taking investing in their lives.

Sincerely,

A Smart Grad. Student

Portfolio Exhibits and Significance

·  “Assessment Minute by Minute, Day by Day”-Leahy article

-Constantly assess and adapt my instruction

·  “Helping Students Understand Assessment”-Chappius article

-Make Assessment Transparent

·  “Formative Assessment”- William and Black

-Assesses student growth and promotes student involvement in assessment process

·  “My Ideas for Writing” Handout

-Help students track their ideas for writing

·  “Write With Me” Handout

-Help students generate ideas for writing

·  “Knowing Your Subject” Handout

-Help students focus their writing

·  Editing Session with Students

-Modeling Strategies

·  Writer’s Notebook Power Point

-Every student needs a writer’s notebook

·  “Boatwright Family Values” Paper

-Importance of student-teacher conferencing

·  Carlsmith Papers

-Giving informative feedback

·  “Becoming a Secondary School Eng. Teacher” paper

-Give clear guidelines and directions… don’t assume students know

·  “History of a Piece”

-As writers students need to examine their writing process

·  Peer Conferencing Feedback

-Advantages of Peer Conferencing

·  Drafts and Abandoned Pieces

-Writing involves multiple drafts, wait time, and abandonment.

·  “Sharing a Piece” handout

-Give opportunities to share pieces of writing

·  Class Journal

-Give opportunities for and encourage publishing

·  “Phonics teaching and learning in whole language classrooms”

-Whole Language approach: vocab., spelling, and grammar lessons stem from reading and writing.

·  “Reach them to Teach Them”-Tomlinson article

-Show students I care and take interest in their lives

·  “Exploring Literacy Performance and Power”

-Writing can bring change

·  CMAA Card

-Every student has a voice and a story

·  My Writing Journal

-Write beside my students

·  Memoir, Poetry, and Nonfiction Books

-Teach different Genres.

·  “Empowering Minority Students” Cummins Article

-Empower students through education

·  Interpreter of Maladies- Jhumpa Lahri

-Use minority literature to supplement the canon

·  Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway

- Teach literature I am passionate about

·  Holes

-Keep up on YA books to be a reading reference for students

·  Henry P. Baloney

-Scaffold Instruction with trade books

·  Delpit’s Other People’s Children

-Celebrate diversity and be willing to learn from students

·  “Inside Amy’s Brain”

-Be understanding and remember what it is like to be in high school.

·  Personal Achievements

-Believe in each student’s potential

·  Atwell, Calkins, Bomer, Gere

-Keep up on theories and strategies of teaching

·  OLF- “Why Teach English”

- Examine my beliefs often to motivate me in times of stress and doubt

·  Atwell ch. 6 In the Middle

-Ideas for Mini-lessons

·  Gere pg. 252

-Responding to Student Writing- tips and ideas

·  Atwell pg. 494, 495

-Reader and Writer survery: get to know my students as writers and readers

·  Atwell p. 300

-Creating and Evaluating Portfolios

·  Airasian and Russell Classroom Assessment

-Criterion-Referenced Grading p. 261

·  Airasian and Russell: “Involving students in the use of rubrics”

-Clarify teacher expectations