Amandas Blog

I was interested by standard  "CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.6: Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience reflected in a work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature." I thought it was interesting that they didn't specify anything other than "outside the United States" for where the literature from that standard needs to be from. I like the open-ended nature of this standard, but I think it could be misconstrued into just including literature from Britan. In my high school, we never read anything that wasn't a product of a writer from the United States or Britan. I think more specificity with where international texts need to come from would be beneficial for teachers to be more inclusive. I also think, however, that it would limit teachers who are including a wide range of texts on their own. I also think it would be beneficial to include some texts in classrooms that would highlight the experi...

Serious Daring by Lisa Roney  5-6 minutes, Write a short paragraph of a plot where one character says, “Wow, you really shouldn’t have done that.” Characters: Dwight Schrute, Darth Vader, Forrest Gump Separated into 3 parts; Craft matters, writing life matters, and anthology Craft matters Gives examples of where to find material, current daily life, adventures, inspiration from other writers etc.  Poetry, creative non fiction, fiction, plays, hybrid forms and emerging media Goes into each element of creative writing; Imagery and Figurative Language  Character  Sound and rhythm  Plot  Form  POV and Voice  Memory  Action and Dialogue Research Performance Description and setting  Writing life matters How to read as a writer  What does reading as a writer mean?  Figuring out how a writer reached the desired effect on the readers by examining the choices they ma...

Presentation: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/16r_zRHlDTQSLnvnVgpCvV7j6eNoxv4hHEECphfi3v7I/edit?usp=sharing Handout: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ngjL95LfySd7cGY0Lqo4352Xh0DeDBWlKg9ym1Rhk3Q/edit?usp=sharing

After reviewing the common core standards for writing, I think that too much is expected of students at the age they are and the intellectual level they are at. In the 1st grade standards, it states that " Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide some sense of closure." This is too in-depth for first-grade students. First graders are still very susceptible to accepting the opinions of others and will take whatever opinion their family or other adults in their lives have because they do not know any better. When I was in first grade, I definitely did not have the capacity to form my own opinions about a book, much less how to defend it. I think asking them to form their own opinions, supply reasoning, and closure for their opinions is entirely too much for them to be expected to do. Asking a student to form an opinion about something in their life like, I like ...