Field Experience Blog

In one of the lessons I observed, the teacher wanted the students to learn what stereotypes are and how the depiction of stereotypes are prevalent in today's media. I believe that her lesson aimed to fulfill the following New York State Next Generation Standard: " 8R9: Choose and develop criteria in order to evaluate the quality of texts. Make connections to other texts, ideas, cultural perspectives, eras, and personal experiences. (RI&RL)." Let's trace the lesson from the end of it back to the beginning. The teacher completed the lesson by projecting photos on the SmartBoard that depicted various instances of stereotyping in media. She asked the students to analyze each photo and identify what the stereotype was that the photo was trying to portray. For instance, one photo was of a billboard showing that women are the ones who "normally" do the cooking in a household. The teacher even integrated a photo that had text in a different language. Howe...

Utilizing Scaffolding to Teach a New Skill During one of the classes I was observing in on my first day of field experience, the teacher had the students write a letter to the main character of the short story, "Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes. The students were instructed to, in their letters, discuss how the main character has inspired them, their "words of wisdom" for the character, and to include personal experiences of failure, growth, and overcoming adversity. This assignment reminded me of our "Echoes of Silence" reading, as the students in Freedman's class were instructed to connect with the characters on a personal level if they could, similarly to the "Flowers for Algernon" letter assignment. In regards to his students, Freedman writes, "They identified with circumstances surrounding these events and took advantage of the opportunity...Most importantly, many students exercised their ability to empathize. If in some...