Raegan+Gallagher-Hymel

Genre Reflection #3 is an attachment as it is visual. The second week I taught, the students wrote an expository essay as a travel article about a place they went on their 8th grade Georgia Trip. Each class had a descriptive word graffiti wall on the first day that students added to about things they experienced on the trip in descriptive language. I have taken some of the descriptive writing and used it in this piece and I have added some of my own thoughts from the weeks I have spent with these students. This piece is patterned after the British magazine //Blast//. I did something similar in my mgrp in 3310.



Genre Reflection #2 Raegan Gallagher-Hymel
 * This is a series of 4 haikus about a student who claimed that a spelling word was incorrectly marked wrong. I graded the test and the CT and I actually discussed how the student used the wrong word in a sentence and that it should be marked wrong. After the tests were handed back, the student changed the word and brought it to us to tell us it was marked wrong. We said no we had discussed that the wrong word was there. The student came back at lunch trying to get us to change it again.**

The word was not there I marked it wrong – minus eight He changes the word

He wants the points now She and I talked about it The answer is no

He insists – again We remember the wrong word We know it is changed

We stand by the NO He leaves the room in anger Disappointment Stays

Genre Reflection #1

My genre reflection is a letter to the textbook company of the text from the 8th grade class I'm working in. I was surprised at how much is included in the teacher's edition of the textbook.
Holt Rinehart Winston 10801 N. MoPac Expressway Building 3 Austin, TX 78759

Dear Sirs,

Just wanted to let you know how impressed I have been with your //Elements of Literature// 8th Grade Georgia Edition. I am a TOSS student teacher intern at Haynes Bridge Middle School in Alpharetta, Georgia and an English Education student at Kennesaw State University. During my first week of working at the school with an 8th grade language arts teacher, I was presented with a teacher’s edition of the text book. On a personal level I was excited to receive the teacher’s edition; it made me feel like I had joined a private club. On a professional level I was impressed with the content of the text.

As an education student I have had no exposure to the textbooks used in the classroom. I have read many books by experienced and respected educators on ways to teach but I have not been exposed to a K-12 textbook since I graduated from high school in 1982. Your 8th grade literature textbook was a nice surprise.

The teacher’s edition included so many things that I have studied in my English Education classes on the road to becoming a teacher. From the Table of Contents, one can see that the text has a wide variety of genres represented from short stories, poems, plays, autobiographies and more. I was surprised to see the sections titled Communications Workshop which included writing activities and journal prompts that go along with the readings. Every reading also includes a section in the teacher’s edition on the elements of literature that is in the reading and critical thinking activities for students.

In my education classes we have talked about having students use personal connections when reading and you have thought of that. Additionally the book includes literary connections on the various readings such as Lady Macbeth in connection with //The Tell Tale Heart//. The prereading questions were used by my CT in her class and the students were very responsive to these questions. The grammar activities included revolve around the current readings and so students are exposed to grammar not as a separate lesson but as inclusive to the unit.

I was surprised to see that you have a student strength section for visual, auditory musical and intrapersonal learners. The section on helping struggling readers was also impressive. The information you included on differentiated instruction showed me how current you are on today’s educators and their needs.

The CT I am working with also told me about all of the resources that came with the textbook from an Audio CD Library of some of the texts, to graphic organizers, transparencies, lesson plans and test generators. As she told me, she doesn’t use everything but what she has used has been successful in the classroom. She also told me that she has gotten some great ideas by looking at the resources.

While I would not use your text solely, the Holt Rinehart Winston //Elements of Literature// would be welcome in my classroom because of the variety of readings available and the resources available to me as a teacher that you have thought of. Keep up the good work. I hope that I will be as impressed with all the textbooks I will be exposed to as a teacher as I have been with yours.

Sincerely,

Raegan Gallagher-Hymel English Education Student Kennesaw State University