Calendar
English 296
Fall 2008

 

Assignment: Have Monster, Tangerine, and The Arrival read by September 16th.

Week 1: What kind of teacher am I?
8/19: Introductions, teaching naked, finding the right room and other anxiety dreams
Assignment: 1)
Join NCTE and IATE. NCTE membership is all done on-line; for IATE, download and print the form, fill it in, and give it to me in class.
                   2) Read "Identity and Desire in the Classroom" by Mark Bracher
http://www.english.ilstu.edu/reserve/files/coats/ENG%20495/bracher_coats.pdf

If this link does not work, make sure you are on campus or connected through the VPN client. If it still doesn't work, go to the English department website, click on Digital Reserve Readings in the little box on the left, then click on the link to the reserves, click on coats, click on ENG 495, and then click on bracher_coats.
8/21:
free psychoanalysis of your teaching personality
Assignment: 1) Journal Prompt: Sort out your current values as discussed in Bracher's article in your journal. Pay attention to what might be your personal pitfalls.
                     2) Read Paulo Freire's "The Banking Concept of Education"

Week 2 Who do I think my students are?
8/26: discuss Friere
Assignment: Read Chapters 1 and 7 of Using YA Lit in the English Classroom.

              Why should I be teaching what I teach?
8/28:
discuss issues of canonicity, standards, literature, literacy, student choice and whatnot
Assignment: 1) Journal Prompt: Who are students today? What do they need? What kinds of literature do you value? Is there likely to be a gap between what you value and what the majority of your students value? If so, what role do you want to play in the traditional canon vs. student interest drama? How will you justify my choices? (Okay, obviously a lot. Pick and choose.)
                      2) Read Chapter 2 of Using YA Lit in the English Classroom.

Week 3: What should I be teaching?
9/2: Discuss qualities of literature and ISBE Standards for Literature.
Assignment: Read Chapter 3 of Using YA Lit in the English Classroom
              
How do I teach literature?
9/4: Begin talking about the nitty-gritty of what you do every day.

Assignment: 1) Read Chapter 4 of Using YA Lit in the English Classroom.
                     
2) Journal Prompt: What are your non-negotiables, that is, your absolutely must-teach things, when it comes to literature? How did you learn (to value) these things? How best to teach them, do you think?

        

Week 4:
9/9:
writing about literature. how to do it. how not to do it. how to write assignments so that your students can do it without resorting to buying the papers off the internet.
how to read like a writer.
Assignment: Read Chapters 5 and 8 of Using YA Lit in the English Classroom
9/11: relating linguistics issues to the study of literature. look at NCTE language standards.
Assignment: 1) Journal Prompt: How do you use language to convey/create/change your sense of self? Think about how you code-switch. Have you ever made a conscious decision to change the way you talk? Were any of your models literary?
                     
2) Read Chapter 6 of Using YA Lit in the English Classroom.
    

Week 5:
9/15:
getting organized
. organizing a semester, a year, a unit. getting started on your unit plan.
Assignment: 1) Read Chapter 9 of Using YA Lit in the English Classroom.
                     
2) Journal Prompt: What are the gaps in your literary education? Can you, for instance, name three works that demonstrate American Regionalism? Might as well start your things-I-need-to-read-and-haven't-yet list.

9/17: No class. I will be at a conference and will not have access to email.

Week 6:
9/23:
tech cool, but other ways of being cool as well.
Assignment:
1) Read first half of your management book.
Teaching Demos Begin     

9/25: Teaching Demo:______________________________
Assignment:
1) Read second half of your management book.
                      2) Journal Prompt: Make your own applications from the management book to your teaching. What did you learn that was useful?

Week 7:
9/30:
Teaching Demo: ______________________________
Assignment:
Read Tovani, Part 1
10/2: Teaching Demo
: ______________________________
Assignment:
1) Read Tovani, Part 2
                      2) Journal Prompt: Choosing from any of the three lessons you have seen so far, write up a lesson plan that modifies the lesson to incorporate a strategy you learned from Tovani for a struggling reader.
 
       
Week 8:
10/7:
Teaching Demo: ______________________________
Assignment:
Read Tovani, Part 3
10/9: Teaching Demo: ______________________________
Assignment:

Week 9:
10/14: Teaching Demo: ______________________________
10/16: Teaching Demo: ______________________________

IATE Conference in Oak Brook. Mandatory attendance for one day.


Week 10:
10/21: Teaching Demo: ______________________________

10/23: Teaching Demo: ______________________________

Week 11:
10/28: Teaching Demo: ______________________________

10/30: Teaching Demo: ______________________________

Week 12:
11/4: Teaching Demo: _______________________________

11/6: Teaching Demo: _______________________________
 

Week 13:
11/11: Teaching Demo: ______________________________

11/13: Teaching Demo: ______________________________ 

Week 14:
11/18:
class wrap, schedule exit conferences
11/20: No Class. I will be at a conference and will not have access to email.


Week 15:
12/2: No Class. I will be at a conference and will not have access to email.

12/4: Ditto

Exam week: Exit conferences.