Captain's Log 4

Captain's Log 4

            On Monday I had a break through moment with a female student in my class who in the past has been shy, reserved and resistant to completing class work or participating in discussions at all. I asked her how her day was to which she shook her head and just said “awful”. I asked her what was going on and she said her mom and her had a fight, and that it was a regular thing. We talked about her upcoming move to England to live with her father; our connections to the Air Force and at the end of the conversation she asked me, “Are you going to be here the rest of the year?” To which I answered “Yes, of course!” She smiled- I have never seen this girl smile-and said “Good”. During the conversation, however, she confessed (I’m paraphrasing for her own privacy) that the fights between her mother and her were moderately physical. I was shocked that she had decided to share this with me. I reported back to my coordinating instructor which he said he would document and report during his free period, and then we briefly discussed her past history. Apparently she had shared similar information with him, but left out the physical aspect of the fighting. It dawned on me that for this girl I had become someone she could trust with private and personal information.

While I know it is mandatory to report, and I fully believe in the idea, I am worried that our teacher-student relationship will lose trust to which I see as harmful to her. I see this as harmful because I see already see her disconnect in the classroom and I’m hoping this won’t add further to it. I also can tell that these fights DO affect her classroom performance and that it is absolutely necessary to report this- that this is quite possible her call for help.

            My experience from this incident serves to affirm, in my own beliefs, the importance of mandatory reporting as well as the weight of relationships between students and teachers. We need to be the person they can trust but also act as their safety line, especially when they can’t see the way out for themselves. In my own classroom in the future I want to establish trusting relationships with my students and maintain an open door policy so when things like this happen in their lives they can trust me to act in their best interest.

            A final thought: What do you say to a child who says something like that? I’m a little in despair about that conversation still. At that time I just sort of paused, and sort of re-directed the subject. I don’t know if it was the right thing to do, but she must not have thought anything poorly of it by the way the conversation ended. I mean how do you console someone who confesses something like that?

This is Captain Danielle Raschko, signing off. 

Education 303 – Foundations of Assessment

TPA Lesson Plan

Teacher Candidate: Danielle Raschko            Grade: 11 Length of Lesson: 55 minutes

Content Area: English/History                         Unit/Subject: American Literature/US History 

Lesson Title/Focus: Elements of the Jazz Age within The Great Gatsby         

Academic and/or Content Standards:

Social Studies EALR 4: History: The student understands and applies knowledge of historical thinking, chronology, eras, turning points, major ideas, individuals, and themes on local, Washington State, tribal, United States, and world history in order to evaluate how history shapes the present and future.

Component 4.3: Understands that there are multiple perspectives and interpretations of historical events

GLE 4.1.2, Part 3: The student understands how the following themes help to define eras in US history: Reform, Prosperity, and the Great Depression.

English Language Arts Common Core State Standards, Reading Literature Standard 1: Students cite strong and through textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as influences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.

Content Objective:

By the end of this lesson, students will be able to identify specific elements of the Jazz Age that appear in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby.

Academic Language Objective:

Students will be able to relate theme and motifs from a literary text to historical events as well as find historical context within a literary work.

Assessment Strategies:

Before students begin group work, they will be given a worksheet that will be used to assess their work. Additionally, students will be observed during their group work and prompted with questions to assess their understanding. Students will also be questioned during class discussion.

Lesson Rationale:

This lesson builds on both previous English language arts and US history knowledge of The Great Gatsby and the Jazz Age, respectively. Having students think about both subjects and topics gives them a different perspective on literature as well as a narrative of a historical event adding to the depth and breadth of their overall knowledge and understanding.

Instructional Strategies and Learning Tasks to Support Learning:

Direct Instruction (15 minutes): To begin the class, there will be a brief PowerPoint presentation covering the lives of Americans during the Jazz Age accompanied by a lecture by the teacher. Students will be expected to take notes during this presentation to use for their group work later on in the period. Students will also be given an opportunity at the end of the presentation to ask questions. Students will then be sorted into groups of 3-4 by the teacher and given time to gather a handout and meet with their group members.

Group Work (20 minutes): Groups of students will then find examples of Jazz Age life within The Great Gatsby and support their finds with evidence from the text. During this time, the teacher will observe each group, prompting relevant questions and answering any questions students may have. Additionally, the teacher will be making sure that students remain on track and are participating in their groups using an observational checklist.

Class Discussion (15 minutes): The teacher will then direct the groups into a class-wide discussion of the findings. Each group will share one element of the Jazz Age that they found. Students will record these on their handouts. Once all groups have had an opportunity to share, additional responses will be asked for. When all of the responses to the handout have been shared, the teacher will lead students in a discussion relating the Jazz Age to one of the main themes of The Great Gatsby: how the American dream doesn’t overcome everything.

End of Class (5 minutes): Students will have time at the end of the lesson to turn in assignments and pack their belongings.

Differentiated Instruction:

The student who has a Section 504 accommodation for vision will be given print copies of the PowerPoint as well as the content of the PowerPoint in text. The student with an IEP for learning disabilities will be paired with students who have been performing well in this unit and consistently proving that they understand the material. The teacher will also be close by in case the student is having trouble understanding the material.

Additionally, this lesson targets multiple learning styles. The actual PowerPoint presentation will benefit visual learners, while lecture will benefit audio learners, and the notes will benefit tactile/kinesthetic learners. The group discussions have also been constructed in a similar fashion, as audio learners will listen to their classmates, visual learners have the worksheet to see, and tactile/kinesthetic learners have the worksheet to work on.

Resources and Materials:

This lesson consulted:

Fitzgerald, F.S. (2004). The Great Gatsby. New York, NY: Scribner.

Management and Safety Issues:

Not applicable.

Parent and Community Connections:

Parents/Guardians will have received an itinerary of the unit schedule from their student. Students will be sent home with weekly notifications of missing/incomplete work or failure to participate; slip must be signed and returned.

Observation Checklist

Group #	On task	Members	On task	Participating in group	Participating in discussion
Group 1		Jimmy
		Bobby
		Sally
Group 2		Eddie
		Martha
		June
Group 3		Johnny
		Jane
		Roy
Group 4		Mary
		Niel
		Patty
		Priscilla
Group 5		Finneas
		Quentin
		Adelle

Blog to Follow:

The YUNiversity

Why?

The YUNiversity blog takes difficult English subjects, such as grammar, and explains in easy-to-understand memes like these. Students/I love these! I will certainly be using this information in my future classroom. 

 You bring up an excellent question.

There is a subtle (but crucial) difference between “recur” and “reoccur”:

 “Reoccur” isn’t even listed in many dictionaries. But those that do include it define it as simply “happening again,” with no mention of it being repetitive or occurring in a pattern. Quite literally, it is to “re-occur”:

My Life