Inquiry II Seminar

Project Prospectus:

For my individual inquiry, I have chosen to inquire into the topic of non-fiction novels with the focus on Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. I am interested in finding out the usefulness of using a non-fiction novel in a high school English class to explore various topics such as coming of age, adventure, money/wealth, and reality. I believe that non-fiction is undervalued in the classroom setting, and that students, and perhaps especially boys, will benefit from the uses of non-fiction literature in the classroom as texts for study and discussion.

Furthermore, I think that Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is an especially useful text because of the debate and controversy around the main character, Chris McCandless (aka Alex Supertramp). While some consider him a hero, many argue that his trek into Alaska shows how ill-prepared and idealistic McCandless was, leading to his tragic death. Using this as a starting point, and only as one example of the usefulness of non-fiction in the classroom, students are able to use non-fiction texts to grapple with social issues and debates, and slowly become more and more involved, rationalizing their ideas and conclusions, in the real world that surrounds them.

For my inquiry, I will focus on research that examines the use of non-fiction in the classroom. I also hope to do some research myself into Chris McCandless, namely who he admired and how they affected his decision to trek into Alaska alone. Such authors include Jack London and Henry David Thoreau. I hope to look especially at how boys might especially benefit from studying non-fiction literature, and how teachers should take advantage of this fact if it is indeed true. I expect that throughout my research I will find much support for the use of non-fiction literature in the classroom, and that it does indeed allow students more opportunity to be involved in both past and contemporary real-world issues.

Works to be Consulted:

Artichuk, Francine et al. Echoes 12: Fiction, media, and non-fiction – Teacher’s resource. Don Mills, ON: Oxford UP, 2002. Print.

Hedrick, Joan D. Solitary comrade, Jack London and his work. Chapel Hill, NC: U of North Carolina P, 1982. Print.

Linda Rief. Vision & voice: Extending the literacy spectrum. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 1999. Print.

Mallett, Margaret. Early years non-fiction: A guide to helping young researchers use and enjoy information texts. London, NY: RoutledgeFalmer, 2003. Web.

Ponech, Trevor. What is non-fiction cinema?: On the very idea of motion picture communication. Boulder, Colo: Westview Press, 1999. Print.

Raskin, Jonah. “Calls of the Wild on the Page and Screen: From Jack London and Gary Snyder to Jon Krakauer and Sean Penn.” American Literary Realism 43 (April 2011): 198-203. Web.

Read, Adam. Christopher McCandless aka Alex Supertramp. 2001. Web. http://www.christophermccandless.info/intothewildpictures.html. 4 Jan 2013.

Root, R. L. Teaching Creative Non-Fiction. Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Teaching Literature, Language, Composition, and Culture, 4(2) (Spring 2004): 289-322. Web.

Wray, David & Lewis, Maureen. Extending literacy: Children reading and writing non-fiction. London, NY: Routledge, 1997. Web.

Project Prospectus

How can students take ownership of their grades in school and view it as more than just a number or a letter? How does the use of criterion-referenced assessment, such as ELOs, affect student learning? How do techniques such as student self-assessment and student-created rubrics affect student learning?

For my inquiry project, I will be looking into how teachers can maximize the effectiveness of assessment to help students make the most of their own learning, with a potential focus on the use of criterion-referenced assessment.

Assessment is something that students are just accustomed to receiving. Even in grade eight, students are keenly aware that receiving a number is the traditional form of assessment in secondary school. At my practicum school, some grade eight and nine English teachers have started using Essential Learning Outcomes (ELOs) as a guideline for student assessment. Percentage grades are still given for assignments and are shown on report cards, but students are made aware of what skills they are being graded on. The ELOs also assist teachers in creating appropriate tasks for students by ensuring that activities and projects must fall under one of the categories from the ELOs. Students must pass all ELOs in order to pass grade 8. Because this is only the second semester ELOs have been used at my practicum school, I’m interested in researching the effect of criterion-referenced assessment in the classrooms (especially English). A copy of the English 8  ELOs have been attached below.

This project will involve researching academic sources related to the the theory, implementation and outcomes of criterion-referenced forms of assessment and its effectiveness in classrooms, as well as some personal feedback from teachers using this assessment strategy. I expect to conclude that the use of criterion-referenced forms of assessment has a positive influence in the classroom and on student learning. Hopefully, a greater understanding of ELOs will be developed and will lead to better utilization of assessment in my own classroom.

Bibliography:

Davis, Andrew. “Criterion-referenced Assessment and the Development of Knowledge and Understanding.” Journal of Philosophy of Education 29.1 (1995): 3-21. Web.

Hay, Peter J., & Doune Macdonald. “(Mis)appropriations of criteria and standards-referenced assessment in a performance-based subject.” Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice 15.2 (2008): 153-168. Web.

Hudson, Thom. “Trends in Assessment Scales and Criterion-Referenced Language Assessment.” Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 25 (2005): 205-227. Web.

Jewels, Tony, Marilyn Ford & Wendy Jones. “What Exactly Do You Want Me to Do? Analysis of a Criterion Referenced Assessment Project.” Journal of Information Technology Education 6 (2007): 1-16. Web.

Vasasova, Zlata. “The Influence of Criterion-Referenced Assessment on Students’ Attitudes towards Education.” The New Educational Review 20.1 (2010): 261-274. Web.

Louise, Jose, Irene

Context
For our practica, we will be teaching Shakespeare’s Macbeth to Grade 11 students. One of the barriers we feel students will experience is the gap between Shakespearean language and Modern English. Initially, we thought of researching through academia to find the best strategies to bridge the two languages together to be accessible to secondary students. However we found that we had to look at why students faced this difficulty first, before providing solutions.

Research Question
To this end, we ask the question: why do students have difficulties with Early Modern English? Our research will focus on providing students the means to understand the history of Shakespearean English. We want to investigate the context of Shakespeare’s writing and how Shakespeare sat on the cusp of the Great Vowel Shift, where words, spelling, and pronunciation were undergoing major shifts. Developing technology, like the printing press, influenced these changes, and word spelling became more concrete.

By providing the context of when Shakespeare was writing, we hope to provide students a better understanding of why the language is so different. Aside from context, we also want to provide students with the idea that Shakespeare’s works were meant to be performed, not read; an idea that seems obvious, but is lost in the academic environment of an English classroom. We hope to emphasize the importance of teaching Shakespeare through performance.

Research Approach
Our research approach is to sift through academia to examine the language shifts occurring during Shakespeare’s era that could have influenced his writing. We will compile a researchers journal of our sources and findings.

Expected Conclusions
In examining the gap between Shakespearean English and Modern English, we anticipate a plethora of information and scholarship on this topic. Our challenge will be to strike a balance between an emphasis on language and arguments for multi-modal teaching strategies. We also expect our research to lead to an investigation of publication history and Early Modern scholarship. Finally, we hope for our thoughts to culminate in interesting potential final project ideas for students (i.e. parallels to digital technologies for writing- blogging, texting etc.).

Preliminary Bibliography (8 to 10 Articles)

1.Porter, Christina. “Words, Words, Words: Reading Shakespeare with English Language Learners.” English Journal Benton, Michael.
2. “Visualizing Narrative: Bridging the “Aesthetic Gap”.” Journal of Aesthetic Education 33.2 (1999): 33-49. Print.99.1 (2009): 44-9. Print.
3. Desmet, Christy. “Teaching Shakespeare with YouTube.”English Journal 99.1 (2009): 65-70. Print.
4. Sedgwick, Fred. Resources for Teaching Shakespeare 11-16. New York: Continuum International Pub, 2011. Print.
5. Haddon, John. Teaching Reading Shakespeare. New York: Routledge, 2009. Print.
6. Shand, G. B. Teaching Shakespeare: Passing it on., 2009. Print.
7.”Teaching Shakespeare.” Shakespeare Quarterly 35.5 (1984): 513-656. Print.
8. Davis, James E., Ed, Ohio Univ., Athens. Dept. of English Language and Literature, and Southeastern Ohio Council of Teachers of English. “Teaching Shakespeare.” Focus: Teaching English in Southeastern Ohio 2.3 (1976)Print.
9. Creating a Context for Shakespeare with Historical Fiction. Martha Tuck Rozett (THIS ONE IS A MAYBE)
10. Ai Chun, Yen. “Our Languages Clicked: Shakespeare In EFL Classes.” Asian EFL Journal 12.4 (2010): 33-50. Education Research Complete. Web. 3 Jan. 2013.
11. Rothenberg, Sally Sue, and Susan M. Watts. “Students with Learning Difficulties Meet Shakespeare: Using a Scaffolded Reading Experience.” Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy 40.7 (1997): 532-9. Print.
12. Birmingham, Peter, and Chris Davies. “Storyboarding Shakespeare: Learners’ Interactions with Storyboard Software in the Process of Understanding Difficult Literary Texts.” Journal of Information Techology for Teacher Education 10.3 (2001): 241-56. Print.

* Please see updated Prospectus in the comment section below.

This project will focus on how one can make the novel To Kill a Mockingbird interesting and relevant to my students through the use of other forms of literature.

The main question here is whether using outside forms of literature will assist students in their understanding of the novel and if it will benefit their overall appreciation of the main themes in TKAM. This inquiry question is based on the concern that students will struggle to see the importance of past literature in their present day lives.

Steps

1. The unit will begin by exploring the abolishment of slavery and the “unknown” result that people were afraid of. For  this step students will explore literature on current movements that induce this same “fear of the unknown.”

• This step will help in judging whether making these connection between the past and the present help students to relate their own lives to the lives of those in the past

2.  In this step the students will be looking at the civil rights movement and its role in the novel. Poetry and other forms of literature with the same theme, (i.e. – “I know why the caged bird sings”, “We Wear the Mask”, “Sympathy”, MLK).

• This step will assist in the ability to assess the usefulness of poetry in regards to expanding the understanding of the main themes in TKAM.
  • Will the students be able to make connections between the different pieces?
  • Will the novel aid in the understanding of the given poems, and vice versa?

3. Finally students will create their own literature based on their feelings towards both to novel as well as the other literature we have looked at.

• Through this step it can be determined whether students are able to make personal connections to the literature

Preliminary Bibliography

Best, Rebecca H. “Panopticism and the use of “the Other” in to Kill a Mockingbird.” Mississippi Quarterly 62.3 (2009): 541-52. Print.

Jolley, Susan Arpajian. “Integrating Poetry and “to Kill a Mockingbird”.” The English Journal 92.2, Multigenre Teaching (2002): 34-40. Print.

Context:

Upon my return to Sentinel Secondary later this month, I will have the opportunity to lead a novel study of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 with two English 11 classes. In preparation for this unit, I plan to embark on an inquiry project that will give me insight into and knowledge about historical and modern cases of censorship – a theme that features prominently in the novel. I will use what I learn to enhance the study of the novel for my students by increasing my ability to answer their questions and finding connections I can make for students between Fahrenheit 451 and their own lives.

Research Question:

To state my proposed area of research more precisely, I plan to embark on this inquiry with the following two questions in mind: “what parallels can be drawn between the censorship in Ray Bradbury’s fictional world in Fahrenheit 451 and historical and modern instances of censorship?” and, “does having a better understanding of historical and modern censorship enhance the study of a highly censored fictional world?” Knowing the answers to  these questions will help me improve students’ understanding and enjoyment of the novel and – I think – enable me to provide a richer, more meaningful experience for my grade 11s this spring.

Note: As a supplementary source of information, I will review literary criticisms of Bradbury that delve into his extensive use of symbolism and figurative language. This could lead to a discussion with students about methods that have been used to publish subversive material in totalitarian regimes, and a continuation of discussion on a text they’re already connecting to Fahrenheit 451: Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.

Resources to be consulted:

Baez, Fernando. A Universal History of the Destruction of Books. New York: Atlas, 2008.

“Bannings and Burnings in History.” Freedom to Read. Canada Council for the Arts. 2009. Web. 5 Jan. 2013.

Canada Council for the Arts. Challenged Books and Magazines List, February 2012. 2009. PDF. 5 Jan. 2013. <http://www.freedomtoread.ca/docs/challenged_books_and_magazines_february_2012.pdf>

Finklestein, David and Alistair McCleery. An Introduction to Book History. New York: Routledge, 2005.

Kreider, Tim. “Uncle Ray’s Dystopia.” The New York Times 8 June 2012. Web. <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/08/opinion/uncle-rays-dystopia.html>

Swaim, Don. Interview with Ray Bradbury. May 1992. MP3. <http://www.wiredforbooks.org/raybradbury/>

White, Harry. Anatomy of Censorship: Why the Censors Have it Wrong. Maryland: University Press of America, 1997.

Ilana Finkleman

January 3 / 2013

Inquiry Seminar: Proposal

For my inquiry project, I plan to investigate literary criticism and pedagogy around Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. I will be teaching this novel to a class of 9/10s at my practicum school. They are an accelerated class and meet every day which gives me the opportunity to dig deeply into issues exposed in the novel.

The novel is rich with history and issues of morality that are very relevant to students’ experiences in contemporary Canada. Of particular interest to me is the notion of striated societies and how certain characters in the novel push past the boundaries that align and keep small-town society and ideology in line and functioning according to the status quo. Rebecca H. Best discusses the importance of boundaries and adhering to the strict patterns laid out by society in her article on Mockingbird. According to Best, Mockingbird demonstrates the structure of a society that is deeply regulated by the way people are expected to behave and act. Anyone who is outside this strict regiment is attacked or attemptively forced back into the mould that holds fast to the status quo; Best offers that society acts as its own Panopticon (Foucault’s term from Discipline and Punish) or watchdog of sorts and keeps itself in check. Certain characters in Mockingbird also exist outside the rule-bound and kept in-check operation of society in the novel – these characters are considered insane by the other characters – this being the only mechanism to which they can act outside the highly regimented social code that structures society in Maycomb (ex. Boo Radley, Dolphus Raymond). Such a theory on societal structure is translatable and potentially relevant to students’ own understanding of their own daily activity in microcosmic friend groups, their personal belief systems, or life in Vancouver/Canada, more generally. The importance of being a boundary-pusher and attempting to destabilize societal order in order to support what is morally the right thing to do is also a model students may be inspired by.

Also central to this novel are issues of prejudice and ideology. Understanding the effects of education, the historical context and mindset of the times, and the influence of the people you interact with on the way prejudice develops is also central to the novel and again applicable to students’ own experiences. I am awaiting the arrival of a book from the library which contextualizes the novel in the time it was written (the Civil Rights period) and also the time in which it took place (the Depression in the 30s). This book by Claudia Durst Johnson offers information about the trials of the Scottsboro boys – black boys accused of raping a black girl, and supposedly the story Lee based the trial of Tom Robinson on, the symbol of the pure and virginal white Southern woman and the threats posed to her purity, a history of lynching, etc. Having an awareness of the history that enrobes this historical fiction is necessary to breaking into its complexity. Also important is recognizing our own institutionalized prejudices and how these cloud the way we operate in our society.

Finally, pedagogical theory around this novel suggests utilizing role play – having students act out and decide on decisions around the difficult moral situations presented to characters in this novel as a tool for students to engage kinesthetically with the complex moral situations facing many of the characters who challenge the status quo. Also, paralleling and drawing connections between scenarios which challenge moral positioning from the novel with scenarios which are relevant to students’ current life experiences might be a useful angle of exploration of the moral complexities in the novel.

Works Consulted

Best, Rebecca H. “Panopticism and the Use of the Other in To Kill a Mockingbird.” Mississippi Quarterly 62.3 (2009): 541 – 560. Web.

Durst Johnson, Claudia. To Kill a Mockingbird: Threatening Boundaries.  New York: Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1994. Print.

—.Understanding To Kill a Mockingbird: A Student Casebook to Issues, Sources, and Historic Documents. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1994. Print.

Gibbons, Louel C. To Kill a Mockingbird in the Classroom: Walking in Someone Else’s Shoes. Urbana: National Council of English Teachers, 2009. Print.

Peters, Mike. “Examining a Set Text – To Kill a Mockingbird Fifty Years on.” NATE CLASSROOM 12 (2010). 34. Web. Jan 4 2013.

Saney, Isaac. “The Case Against To Kill a Mockingbird.” Race & Class 45.1 (2003). 99-105. Web. Jan 4 2013.

Stiltner, Mitzi-Ann. “Don’t Put Your Shoes on the Bed: A Moral Analysis of To Kill a Mockingbird.” MA Thesis, 2002. Web. Jan 4 2013.

Inquiry Proposal – Dayonne, Kiran, Clayton, Natalia, Allison

Context:

We have learned that building a sense of ownership and relevancy for students is key to improving classroom motivation and meaningful engagement with materials. One area that we are all interested is in using project-based learning in which students are involved in long-term projects and are given the majority of responsibility for their own learning.  In addition, we would like to explore the idea of community-based learning in which students make connections outside of the classroom to enhance their learning experience. In this project our team will consider implementation of experiential, project-based learning, as well as building community links and partnership as a means of fostering ownership and relevance in education. We are all Language Arts teachers who would like to emphasize the human in the Humanities- the real-world application of reading and writing as a means for human connection.

Inquiry question: How do teachers implement effective project-based learning that connects classrooms with a broader community?

Subquestions:

Kiran: How can the use of literature in the classroom inspire students to become involved in humanitarian work?

Clayton: What are strategies for designing effective project-based learning environments? How can teachers support students in self-directed projects?

Allison: How can literature circles be used to build positive community both in and outside of the classroom?

Natalia: What are the different perspectives with regard to student-based learning? Why are teachers resistent in breaking away from the traditional teacher-centered model of education and what are the effects of this hostility ?

Dayonne: What are the challenges and benefits of involving language arts students in service-learning projects?

Goals:

1. Demonstrate the meaningful application of arts and humanities in
real-world contexts (Life Skills and Communication)

2. Provide strong rationale for alternative learning experiences. Connect
PBL with PLO’s and communicate value to variety of stakeholder.

3. Explore resistance to SBL and inspire future educators to pursue
alternative SBL projects.

4. Foster community links. Make space for learning outside of classroom.

5. Modeling real-world communities in online spaces.

6. Building positive community through group work and ongoing
self-evaluation of student learning, both academically and socially.

7. Foster understanding of broader social issues and empower students to
make a positive change/difference/impact.

Symposium Format

Doing research outside of class time (Field Work)
-Accessibility

The Living Breathing Bibliography:

Cubukcu, Z. (2012). Teachers’ evaluation of student-centered learning environments. Education, 133(1), 49

Freiberg, J.H. (2001). From tourists to citizens in the classroom. Educational Leadership, 54(1), 32-36.

Kain, D. J. (2003). Teacher-centered versus student-centered: Balancing constraint and theory in the composition classroom.Pedagogy, 3(1), 104-108. doi: 10.1215/15314200-3-1-104

Kelly, Deirdre M., and Gabriella Minnes Brandes. (2001). Shifting out of “Neutral”: Beginning Teachers’ Struggles with Teaching for Social Justice. Canadian Journal of Education, 26(4), 437-454.

Mitchell, Diana. (1997). Using Short Story Collections to Enrich the English Classroom. The English Journal, 86(8), 73-77.

Reupert, A., and Woodcock, S. (2010). Success and near misses: Pre-service teachers’ use, confidence and success in various classroom management strategies. Teaching and Teacher Education 26(6), 1261-1268.

Seixas, P. (1993). The community of inquiry as a basis for knowledge and learning. The case of history. American Educational Research Journal, 30(2), 305-324.

Watkins, C. (2006). Classrooms as learning communities: A review of research. London Review of Education, 3(1), 47-64.

Thanks to the Musqueam people for wisdom and leadership, as well as for their ongoing generosity in hosting UBC on their traditional and unceeded territory.

Idle No More, First Nations House of Learning, Thursday, 3 January 2013.

Project Proposal: Cristina Relkov

Creative Arts integration and Assessment in senior English (gr. 11/12)

a) I will be doing my practicum at Beattie Arts High School in Kamloops, teaching English 11 and 12 (as well as Socials 9). The school incorporates various creative arts into the curriculum and all students take several full year intensive arts courses.

My concern for teaching senior English is how I will be able to use arts in the classroom and how I will be able to assess the students’ learning through their arts based projects in addition to the traditional writing assignments.

b) What creative arts activities can be used with senior English students to assess their comprehension of and their ability to interpret literature?

c) Preliminary Bibliography

Burnaford, Gail, Arnold Aprill, and Cynthia Weiss, eds. Renaissance in the Classroom: Arts Integration and Meaningful Learning. Mahwah, NJ: L. Erlbaum & Assocciates, 2001. Print.

Cecil, Nancy Lee, and Phyllis Lauritzen. Literacy and the Arts for the Integrated Classroom. White Plains, NY: Longman, 1994. Print.

Laughlin, M.K., and T.P. Street. Literature-based art & music. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press, 1992. Print.

d) The first part of this inquiry project will involve research into activities and methods that have worked in other schools that also operate with an arts based curriculum. Secondly, I hope to use the results of my research, along with observations of and suggestions from my sponsor teacher, while teaching during the long practicum. My results will be based on my own observations and teaching journal, as well as the end products of my classroom assessments and perhaps informal opinions from my students.

e) I expect that at the conclusion of my research and after my practicum, I will have a better understanding of what can be integrated into the senior English curriculum in terms of creative arts and the concrete observations of what activities have worked with my students and which ones may need to be reworked.

Hello all,

Today our task is twofold:

1. Finish your prospectus and post it to the blog;
2. Read the postings of others (see below) and provide feedback by commenting. (Click on the category “Project Prospectus” in the right-hand margin to view all proposals.)

You may also wish to take a look at CiteULike and consider its use for collecting your resources.

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