Week 11- MGRP Reflection

Genre Summary and Reflection from my multigenre research paper

1.      Newspaper Article

I chose to create a newspaper article, specifically an article in the school section of a local paper, because this is often where current events in a school corporation are shared with the general public.  In creating this article I had to consider the practical implications of teacher collaboration and what actual teachers and other members of the school community may have to say about it. When teaching this genre I would place a heavy focus on the formatting specific to the genre; headlines, subheadings, page headers, and text organization.  I would also focus on the voice used in the article.  A newspaper reporter should portray a neutral voice that reports facts, but does not share opinions.  I appreciated the challenge of discovering what was unique about newspaper writing and using an actual newspaper as a mentor when creating this genre. 

2.      Political Advertisement

Since schools are funded by the government through the taxes paid in the local community, those community members have a say in how schools are run through electing school board officials.  Changes in the way things are done, especially corporation wide, are usually discussed with the school board for approval.  I chose to create a political advertisement that would convince a community member to support a school board candidate that supports teacher collaboration. 

The high contract colors, the child crying, and the bold statistic at the top of the ad, and the candidate’s name in all capital letters are meant to draw attention to the ad.  The smaller font describes the issue in more detail and can be read once closer attention is paid.  This type of ad is able to serve its intended purpose even if the community member does not stop to read the smaller details.  This genre could be taught to children who would like to advertise an event or even bring classmates’ attention to a new station or project displayed in the classroom.    

3.       Notes

A very important aspect of teacher collaboration is that teachers reflect on student assessment data and the instructional practices used to produce that data.  If a child is not achieving, the first action that a teacher would make would be to reflect on those instructional practices with the collaborative team.  The team would look at the data and instructional strategies used by other teachers and modify the student’s instruction from there.  These teacher notes are meant to bring greater understanding of that aspect of the process to the reader.

 Some distinguishing features of personal notes are that they are written in a very casual tone as they are intended for personal use only.  Correct punctuation and complete sentences are not always used.  Important words or phrases will be marked by underlining or highlighting and bullets can be used to set apart lists to remember.  This genre would be particularly useful to older primary aged students through high school aged students.  Note taking is an important strategy in recalling specific details within larger topics.

4.      Foreword

I created this foreword for a book written by Dr. Richard DuFour.  He is one of the most well recognized authors writing about teacher collaboration and student achievement today.  I chose this genre to illustrate how collaborative teams are formed and to highlight the systematic nature that a collaborative team needs to have in order to be effective. 

            A foreword is usually written by a colleague or someone who knows the author personally.  This personal relationship is further illustrated through the use of the first person point of view.  Often details of professional interactions and accomplishments are shared in an effort to establish respect for the author.  A foreword ends with the writer’s positive comments about her colleague’s book.  This is a genre that I had never considered before this project.  I chose it because I started to notice that the forewords in all my favorite professional books were written by other well known professionals in the field.  This genre would be a really fun one for children because they could write forewords for each other’s books.  This would be a positive experience because a foreword is meant to be positive and point out the good in the author and the writing.

Week 10- Genres of Literacy

I have spent the last 4 years teaching different genres in my classroom's Writer's Workshop; memoir, expository writing, poetry, fiction... I have never considered the true meaning of 'genre' and all that it encompasses.  From reading our book on multigenre research papers I am feeling like I should spend time teaching so many other genres, their distinguishing features, and then have my students decide which is the best way to express their information based on their purpose and who their audience is.  I have read Study Driven by Katie Wood Ray and this idea did not resonate as clearly with me at that time.  I think it is time to revisit...

Week 10-Seedfolks

Reading Seedfolks this week was really enjoyable, but very interesting when you think about using this title in the classroom.  In working on my multigenre research paper I have been focused on changing pieces of writing to different genres based on the use of the information.  This book made me think about children writing from different perspectives.  This is not something that had been very prevalent in history education.  Normally the information disseminated to our students is from the American perspective when there are always other people involved.  Their views can be very different and I think that this is an important lesson for children.  The book Baseball Saved Us is a wonderful story Ken Mochiszuiki is a story of a boy and his father in a Japanese internment camp in California during World War II.  The perspective of a young child in this very difficult situation is very touching.  Although there are some pieces of literature out there like this one, they are not very prevalent.  It would be cool for the creation of documents from different perspectives to be an invitation!

Week 9- Literacy Invitations

Week 9- Literacy Invitations

The idea of literacy invitations makes sense within the context of the philosophy of whole language instruction.  I think it is especially important that we instill in our students that, “inquiring into critical issues is complex work that won’t always lead to quick and easy answers” (Van Sluys, 2005, p. 25).  Supporting students to think critically and inquire into issues on their own will create a generation of learners that are able to transfer the knowledge that they have learned to different tasks and applications.  This is essential in a world that is advancing at such a pace that the jobs that students will work as adults do not exist when they are students.      

When thinking about how exactly to guide students to learn in this way I realized that even the simple words “You are invited to…” as suggested by Van Sluys (2005) gives the responsibility of the learning to the students.

I caught myself thinking about my kindergarten students and what invitations can look like for them.  We have a time during the day that is called ‘choice time’.  The goals of this time are for students to work creatively, imaginatively, and cooperatively.  There are many parallels between this time and invitations, as defines by Van Sluys.  One big difference between the two is that I have toys and materials in designated areas where children are supposed to play with them.  There is very little movement of materials out of their designated areas.  I liked the suggested idea of students communicating with the teacher, “Where are you working?”/” What do you need?” (Van Sluys, 2005, p. 28).  This would put emphasis on the plans and ideas of the students at the center of the learning where, by designating areas for materials, I am putting the materials at the center of the learning.