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1. How does Germán define social justice (p. 5)?

1. Germán defines social justice as the "redistribution of power and access so that all people, regardless of their identities, have equitable access to resources and power" (Germán, 5).

2. What are the key elements of textured teaching?

1. The key elements of textured teaching are student driven and community centered, interdisciplinary, experiential, and flexible teaching.

1. Student Driven and Community Centered teaching is focused on relationships, centralizing student voices, and responding to community and current events.

2. Interdisciplinary teaching is research based, requires historical context, and integrates other content areas.

3. Experiential teaching involves the five senses, is highly engaging, uses inclusive literature, and meets different learning needs.

4. Flexible teaching welcomes the extracurrricular lives of students, integrates and values student choice, and incorporates a diverse range of assessments and tasks.

3. Which of the contexts in 1-8 will apply to you in student teaching? If you don't know the demographics of your assigned school, look them up.

1. I will be a BIPOC teacher with students who are also predominately BIPOC.

4. What else from the Germán reading stands out to you?

1. The line, "our imaginations are populated with histories of conquest, rape, theft, power, and dehumanization and its cousins," (Germán, 14) really struck me. Not only are all content areas based in White Supremacy, our every conscious and subconscious thought is influenced by systems of oppression. As a secondary educator, I recognize how my students will have had lifetimes influenced by people and media--it is difficult to unlearn a lifetime of oppression in limited time, but textured teaching is a great aid.

5. Taylor reviews culturally relevant, culturally responsive, and culturally sustaining teaching approaches. Who are the key theorists of each one? How are they the same? How are they different?

1. Ladson-Billings proposed culturally relevant pedagogy to better serve African American students. Culturally relevant pedagogy uses students' backgrounds, experiences, cultural resources, and "funds of knowledge," to frame instruction so that students from diverse cultural backgrounds can be academically successful.

2. Gay proposed culturally responsive pedagogy, which involves "using the cultural characteristics, experiences, and perspectives of ethnically diverse students as conduits for teaching them more effectively.

3. Both culturally relevant pedagogy and culturally responsive pedagogy responds to the social and cultural identities of the students present in the classroom. Teachers explore their students' cultural and social identities and make connections with students' communities, and getting to know individual students.

4. Paris proposed culturally sustaining pedagogy, which involves helping students attain the academic standards of mainstream culture and developing deep knowledge of and appreciation for their own literature, languages, and cultures.

5. Culturally relevant pedagogy helps students achieve academic standards, culturally responsive practices can be used to improve the quality of assessments for students from diverse social and cultural backgrounds.

6. What differs for culturally relevant teaching is how teachers go about integrating with the families and communities of children and bringing students' experiences, knowledge, and culture into their lessons at school.

6. What two "primary concerns" does culturally and socially responsible assessment address? What might culturally and socially responsible assessment look like in your classroom?

1. The two primary concerns raised about the role of assessment in culturally responsive teaching are fairness and representation. Representation refers to the question of whose learning goals are privileged by a system and fairness refers to whether culturally and socially diverse students can be fairly assessed using conventional modes of assessment as well as whether students have had the opportunity to learn what is assessed.

2. Culturally and socially responsible assessment will take form via different modes of assessment. Not only will students not be limited to only five-paragraph essays and standard tests, I will offer students different mediums to show me mastery of a concept. For example, a portfolio over the course of the writing unit; the opportunity for revision until the student has gained mastery of the topic; visual and audial elements of an assessment, etc.

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What new and/or important ideas about the classroom environment (both virtual and physical) and its relation to classroom community did you learn from these readings? Cite/include a quotation or a key point from each of the four pieces (Cult of Pedagogy blog, Homrich-Kneilling, Pazur, and Bieler) in your response.

When reading the "Trauma Informed Teaching" piece, Homrich-Kneiling says, "There is no pedagogy or structure or curriculum that can automatically create humanizing classrooms," which really resonates with me when I think about my future classroom environment Homrich-Kneiling, 66). There is no easy way to have students immediately feel safe and comfortable in your classroom and there are no shortcuts we can take in order to build a safe and effective classroom community. This also means recognizing that not every classroom, even in the same school year and school day, will be the same--what works for one class may not necessarily work with another!

I remember when I had my field placement in Christiana's Middle School Honors academy; I recall how my CE told me that she set up her classes differently since each period had a unique community personality. For example, her first period class was still tired and needed to wake up, so she had music playing in the beginning of class and eased into the lesson before she started being super energetic. Her third period, however, came from lunch, so they needed more energy and more time to walk around before settling down. Since they were so energetic, Ms. McKosky had more banter with them and poked fun with them during the lesson. This banter amused the students, but they had a different classroom community than their peers in the first block. When reading through Homrich-Knieiling's "practices to foster," he says that teachers should joke around and take the time to learn each student's personality. I saw this modeled in my placement, and see how the relationships you build in class take time and cannot be generalized just because students are the same age and content area.

I also think that considering the physical classroom is necessary, especially when we are transitioning from the virtual classroom to a hybid/in-person classroom. As said by Pazur, "remote instruction during the pandemic taught schools the importance of a universal, coordinated platform with common social and communication norms" (Pazur, 26). This relates back to setting not only clear classroom expectations so students feel comfortable socializing and navigating the classroom regardless of instructional mode, but also having a physical space students want to return to. We can also look to Gonzalez's article for how to uniquely set up the classroom. I really liked how students were free to express good news and questions on the rainbow wall.

Here, Rebecca Malmquist shared a picture of her affirmation wall. This goes hand in hand with setting expectations for students, but allowing them to feel comfortable expressing themselves. If students are comfortable asking questions or sharing their good news, it is clear this helps the classroom feel more united, similarly to the virtual LMS platform. In both, the goal is to offer students a socialized area that they could feel comfortable collaborating on. This wall feels almost like the physical equivalent to a message board where students can post updates.

Finally, in the Bieler piece, I really resonated with the quote, "Through this piece of her classroom decor. Jasmine’s own voice and the voices of her students could join together to share encouragement to survive, stay in school together, and thrive.," (Bieler, 43). I thought about how the wall that Malmquist put up was a way to incorporate her voice and the voices of her students in a direct way. I think that this platform allows students to feel supported, as if they are able to share their inquiries, but when the teacher also uses this platform, it allows students to feel as if their teacher is being more personable. When teachers also share their good news, they become more humanized. Ultimately, this humanization is a step towards building healthy relationships with our students.

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1. "Street data disrupt these dynamics by bringing student voice to the forefront of our discussions and providing more trusted, heartfelt, and personalized information. Equally important, they help us uncover hidden narratives and equity issues," (Safir and Dugan, 58).

This quote resonates with me because I value student-centered learning. As we have gathered data in the past, they come from benchmarks that prioritize White middle-class suburban voices--the data that emerges from street data fixates on elevating the voices of marginalized students. In my other classes, I have read about research on how the ACT and SAT provide benchmark assessment data to provide definitions on "college readiness." But these benchmarks do not account for all students! Students who do not have access to take these exams multiple times, students who do not have the same level of preparation as their peers. This data brings more of a voice to students who make up the school population, not just demographics that generalize and provide quantitative data.

In my classroom, I will provide my students with opportunities for them to give me their genuine thoughts and opinions. I want to know what my students' interests are. I want to offer my students the choice in selecting some of the readings they do. I want to make sure my classroom is a space where my students not only feel comfortable speaking up, but also feel comfortable trusting me with information that helps us grow. I do not rely on the banking method to deliver instruction, I will be using a culturally relevant framework to bring my students' voices into their learning.

2. "We must be concerned about having texts by women, by people of color, but immigrants, the members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and more. They should feature characters that reflect these authors and beyond. These text should have meaningful stories with asset-bases points of view that offer counternarratives to the damage-centered narratives that have created the single story," (Germán, 35).

This quote resonates with me because I value representation of students in the classroom, especially when students have been primarily exposed to texts from the literary canon written by White, cis men. This is incredibly damaging, as students of various identities may want to downplay their backgrounds or feel unsafe sharing these aspects of their identity in the classroom. I intend on having a classroom library full of texts from all kinds of authors of various identities. I also plan on asking students what kinds of texts they've read, and if they have any suggestions for representative texts they wish to share with the class.

3. "When teachers possess (or have the skills and opportunities to acquire) the knowledge, attitudes, dispositions, beliefs, and skills necessary to meet the needs of and be responsive to their students, equitable, classroom management, and learning opportunities for all students are possible. But teachers must still must be mindful of the ways in which the race, radicalized, backgrounds, and radical experiences can influence their practices and connections with students who may be racially and ethnically different from them" (Milner, et al. 20).

This quote resonates with me because it reminds me of our discussions of culturally sustaining pedagogies. I believe that my cultural background plays a HUGE role in how I convey myself now, and how I will integrate my background into my teaching practices. In my future classroom, I want to involve my student's cultural backgrounds into projects--but only when they feel comfortable and safe doing so. Additionally, I wish to be mindful of all of my students--I believe all of them have enriching cultural and social backgrounds that they can draw upon. Additionally, when students are able to share these cultural projects/projects talking about their identities, they are able to feel more comfortable sharing, which exposes them to new world views and broadens their empathy skills.

4. "Franklin argues that correcting students is the weakest way of teaching rules. "It's not about 'Gotcha -- you did it the wrong way; here's the right way,'" she says. "Students need to be able to trust you and feel safe. That enables them to experience emotional health and flourish," (Schibsted)

This quote resonates with me, as a student who has found that when feedback is phrased to focus on grammatical standards and rules, I focus less on the content of my  assignments and more on worrying about the semantics of the piece. I feel as if it is important for students to be evaluated on their content and ability to communicate, not necessarily the nitty gritty prescriptive grammar aspect. This also follows classroom expectations. Going to a student and saying "you're wrong" puts them on the spot. This may cause them to react negatively, or worse, continue to act out because they feel personally disciplined. Instead, in my future classroom, I intend to focus on developing communication skills--not just my students' skills, but mine as well. For example, if a student does not follow a classroom expectation, I would find a time to talk to them one-on-one to remind them of classroom expectations rather than jumping straight to discipline. This also helps, for when I check in with students, knowing that students are more likely to be honest if they feel safe in my classroom.

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1. What percentage do you think it is important for parents to be involved in their children's education? Why?
While I think it is important for a student's guardian to be invested in their learning, I would also frame involvement as needing to be communicative as well as productive. Parents and guardians should be up to date on the student's performance and their accomplishments, but also aware of the student's room for improvement. I also think this varies, student to student, and guardian to guardian. Not all guardians are able to meet the needs of their child and provide them with the necessary support, nor are all students comfortable with certain levels of involvement from their guardian. In an ideal sense, a supportive guardian would provide their child a safe, undisturbed environment and help foster the learning and growth their student undergoes. Guardians and teachers would communicate and collaborate to create a support plan to help facilitate a student's educational needs. This is not always the case, and equity in socio-economic status and home environment are huge factors in involvement.

2. What are some ideas you learned from TLA and TK that could help you to develop a positive community and build relationships with students?
From the TLA reading, I learned that it is crucial that teachers and students alike are critical inquirers. Not only do we want our students to be able to make connections to the text, we want them to feel as if the classroom is an environment in which they feel comfortable sharing the connections they make and engaging in discussions that broader theirs, their peers, and our perspectives. Our classrooms are places in which we get to adapt our teaching practices to meet the needs of our students; it is critical that we listen and learn to understand the social and cultural backgrounds of our students. Additionally, having our students have the opportunity to speak more opens the classroom as a dialogical experience. As said in the TLA text, "By examining equity and cultural issues raised by this systematic and intentional exploration, teachers come to deeper understandings of what might support and what can deter students. In effect, teachers initiate an ongoing dialogue with their students, their families, and their communities, one that simultaneously raises questions, recognizes difference, and honors richness," (TLA, page 28). Here, we understand the necessity of using the classroom to build relationships with students as well as understanding students funds of knowledge.

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Define pushout culture (Bieler)

Pushout refers to "a student who feels forced out of school not just due to harsh discipline, but because of unsupportive teachers and staff, overcrowding, lack of safety, rigid test-driven curriculum, inadequate resources, and lack of student support services."

Define CTPP (TK)

The cradle-to-prison pipeline (CTPP) is "a term that explicitly  acknowledges that because oof structural, systemic, institutional, and societal challenges and barriers that produce inequity, inequality, racism, and various other forms of discrimination, some students are pushed towards prisons as soon as they are born.

Identify one factor that contributes to CTPP/pushout culture

One factor that contributes to CTPP are zero-tolerance policies. Zero-tolerance policies are policies adopted by schools that prescribe predetermined consequences regardless of the context or underlying reasons for the behaviors and actions that require discipline. This discourages students from wanting to be members of the school community and do not give students the opportunity to grow from their mistakes.

Identify one way to combat this from the TK reading & explain how you would implement it in your classroom.

One way to combat CTPP is by challenging punitive discipline systems. Being more empathetic and unlearning your biases can help you bring more empathy to situations with students. For example, with zero-tolerance, if a student is found with  a pocket knife, understand the context rather than jumping to discipline. Perhaps they had just come back from a camping trip? If students do not have ill-intent, we can provide them with learning opportunities rather than immediate discipline.

Identify one way to combat this from the Bieler reading & explain how you would implement it in your classroom.

One way to combat push-out culture as an educator is by being critically conscious of the environment we find ourselves in. Being equity-oriented means utilizing a different dialogical approach with students and members of the school community. In my classroom, this means being a warm demander. I want students to feel comfortable and safe yet academically challenged. By being equity-oriented, I can have student led conversations surrounding topics that students can connect to their identities. I can pose choices and questions in student texts and have students tell me what they would like to read and connect to their lives and communities. This can even be as simple as giving students the option to work on paper instead of laptops.

Identify one way to combat this from the Winn, Graham, and Alfred reading & explain how you would implement it in your classroom

As an educator, I wish to approach education in a restorative manner. I can create inclusive contexts in which student responses to texts are always valued and seen as a learning tool. This restores and the ways all student contributions can help make sense of texts. In my classroom, this means teaching about the danger of the "single story" and focus on fostering a safe classroom community where students feel comfortable sharing about their lives in order to broaden world perspectives of themselves and their peers. Choosing more representative texts is crucial, as well as asking how the texts we read reflect ourselves, our students, and pushes them to expand on their perspectives.

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What is trauma informed teaching/pedagogy? Include at least ONE citation from each reading that helped contribute to your understanding.

Trauma informed teaching/pedagogy is "teaching that views trauma through ecological and cultural lenses and recognizes how context plays a significant role in how students and teachers perceive and process traumatic events in educational settings," (Everettt, page 9). From the Editor's Introduction, this sets up the framework that defines what trauma-informed teaching is, allowing the rest of the manuscripts to define more specific aspects of the pedagogy and what other educators provide from a research/community based standpoint. Here, I think the broadness of a "cultural lens" helps me recognize that, depending on where a school is located and its community, the approaches to trauma informed teaching take on different shapes. For example, I went to school in a predominantly white area with a community focused on agriculture--as such, there was a separation between the small bubble my community formed and the outside world. A lot of my peers were not exposed to much diversity, and as such, when students of color began speaking out in support of the Black Lives Matter movement as early as 2012, when I was in 6th grade, a lot of our white peers were unsupportive and not understanding. It became an issue that prompted a lot of tension. In other schools, other communities may have different lenses by which they understand the individuals who make up that community.

From the Harm and Healing section, I resonated with the quote "There was silence in this process, and that was welcome. We had to hold space, embrace discomfort, and support
one another," (Ramirez and Donovan, page 120). I think there is a large culture of wanting to address the traumas a community has faced, and although important, I think there is an integral aspect to understanding that individuals will process information at different rates and will respond to trauma in very different ways. It is uncomfortable and incredibly difficult to process trauma and especially in communities without the resources for mental health and well-being, it can be difficult to provide support. In communities where individuals do not feel welcomed or supported by their peers, going through trauma but not having a support system can feel incredibly isolating. By allowing our community to grieve together, but not force each other to embrace each other and act as if the community is one big family, can be an integral part of the process to join the community together.

In the Trauma Informed Writing Pedagogy article, I really resonated with "promoting a psychologically safer classroom space may be challenging for instructors who already feel that their class is safe enough and therefore do not perceive potential threats, whether in online, remote, or physical classroom spaces," (Tayles, page 106). This line strikes me because we spend so much time in our courses discussing how to build a safe, comfortable classroom environment, but sometimes it is the physical space that creates the most challenges for students. I remember when I attended a school in which all of the walls were glass--you could see into every classroom and directly into the school building. I was already feeling unsafe by the physical space, it wasn't even a question of what it meant to be part of a welcoming classroom psychologically. It is unfortunate, but we must be conscientious of the physical space of our schools due to threats to our safety.

In your own words, explain why it is important to implement trauma informed pedagogy in your classroom. Describe steps you might take to implement it in your own classroom.

I think it is important to implement trauma informed pedagogy in my classroom because it is essential to me that we focus on continued individual and collective resistance when we move towards equity, justice, and liberation. In my own classroom, I will be using more representative texts; in the readings, we saw how literature and poetry can open up a platform for individuals to speak about topics that they feel passionate about. By providing my students with a platform by which their voices are uplifted, having a student centered classroom will guide my students to be leaders of their community. Ultimately, safety and empathy are two pillars by which I will guide and enforce in my classroom.

What are 2-3 main ideas you took away from your Jig-Saw reading? Be prepared to share and discuss!

"In the historic tradition of using art to affirm Black Dignity
against dehumanization, we turn to the Black Radical Tradition as a concept; we share our poetry as a way to bare our souls, release our pain and sadness, and restore ourselves," (Baxley & Sealey-Ruiz, page 32).

Poetry as empowerment and uplifting the voices of our students.

Poetry and art used to cultivate adolescent voices, critical
consciousness, and social- emotional learning via art
in ways that move beyond notions of kindness and character development.

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Based on the readings today, what is one activity related to speaking and listening that you have seen in the classroom or want to implement yourself, and why was it successful?

One activity related to speaking and listening that I want to implement is the backchannel chat. I think that, especially in secondary settings, students may have a lot more to say than they think they do! As we see in the PVLEGS activities webpage, "many students who are quiet in class become quite talkative in other environments." Students may feel nervous presenting their thoughts to the class, especially if there is not a comfortable classroom atmosphere. Students may also wish for time to rehearse or revise their thoughts before sharing that they may not be able to do when in class. As someone who writes a lot given the time to organize her thoughts, I understand how intimidating it may be to provide an answer when prompted in class. I think of myself as far more eloquent online! By providing the scaffolding and activity of a backchannel chat, students get to engage in both skills. While it is their turn to speak aloud, they can practice speaking and sharing out their answers to the prompts. They can also practice face-to-face discussions, contributing to the conversation with their peers. Then, when it is their turn to participate in the backchannel chat, they can practice listening to their peers sharing in the inner circle and provide feedback via the chat. They can also use this time to think and develop their ideas since they are able to engage online. When we did the backchannel chat in 396, I thought it was successful because I got to engage with my peers but still contribute to the different prompts. I also got to practice building off of the ideas my peers (who were speaking) shared in the backchannel chat. I noticed more participation in the backchannel chat, especially from people who were usually more quiet in class.

Do you have any concerns about incorporating drama into your classroom? If so, how do you plan to engage students who may not enjoy or understand drama in the classroom?

The concerns I have about incorporating drama into my classroom align with the opening vignette in the TLA chapter where students provided pushback when incorporating drama into the classroom. I worry about students not feeling comfortable enough to present in front of the classroom, or students being disengaged entirely once they hear that we are integrating drama into the classroom. I think that in order to engage students in drama in the classroom, I will create  "dramatic-inquiry" activities that have students explore dialogic inquiry and the events in fictional narratives. By modeling these activities to students, I think it is important to be enthusiastic. Students will not want to participate in an activity if they do not see us enthusiastic about the activity and lesson as well. A quote that stuck out to me within the readings was "Through building a sense of community, you are supporting students so that they
feel safe in adopting different roles, gain respect from and of their peers, treat ideas as having equal value, and learn from mistakes and successes," (TLA, page 193). It all goes back to fostering relationships with students and helping them feel seen and heard; the events that they may be dramatizing in these dramatic-inquiry activities may show them a broader perspective they may have not considered before. This is similar to when students employ role-playing. As said in Unfolding Drama, the purpose of drama is to "widen our focus beyond the individual," (Pirie, page 51). By actively putting themselves in someone else's shoes, students may be able to gain insight into new perspectives they may not have considered before.

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1. Interview your clinical educator about their approach to classroom management. How are rules established? What do they do on the first days of school? How do they handle misbehavior? How does they recognize positive behavior? How do they believe management relates to instruction? How is management different in the virtual environment than it is in person? How is it the same?

My clinical educator establishes her rules for classroom management on the first day of school when she reviews the syllabus. In her classroom, she has one main rule: respect everyone and everything in the classroom; everyone is welcome to their differences of opinions, but everyone should be treated with respect. She also goes over how students need to pay attention and be appropriate, highlighting the need to build relationships for mutual respect. With misbehavior, my CE does not write students up; instead, she tries to redirect students whenever misbehavior occurs. If students continue to misbehave, she will take them out into the hallway to have a conversation with them. She stated that she prefers to handle classroom management within her own classroom but if she needs to call home for misbehavior, she will inform the student so that they know that the phone call is happening. She also calls home for positive behavior, sharing students’ accomplishments with their parents and guardians at home. She invites students to participate with extra credit points and hangs up their work in the hallways to spotlight great work. She discussed the importance of classroom management by stating that if there is no classroom management, nothing will get done. Moreover, she thinks it is important to nip things in the bud as they happen to prevent them from happening again in the future. If she does not address an issue when one student does it, all students will think misbehavior is okay.

Virtual classroom management was more difficult than in-person classroom management, according to my clinical educator. On Zoom, she could not force students to turn on their cameras and unmute, so most students did not do either. As such, most participation occurred via the chat box feature of Zoom. In person, there is more participation, especially because she uses participation as a grade and offers extra credit points to entice students to participate more. She has also started the year fully on paper so students will not be distracted by technology. Between the two modes of instruction, students are still required to do the work and participate in both. There is a structured classroom for both virtual and in-person learning, helping build classroom management.

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1. How do the ideas in chapter 5 of Textured Teaching show effective differentiation (draw on the other readings for today in supporting your answer).

The ideas in Textured Teaching show effective differentiation via the ways we can combat how students may feel the monotony and disengagement of traditional educational practices that do not allow for differentiation. In Textured Teaching, one of the main characteristics of effective differentiation is being flexible and offering student-led choice within activities and assignments. As we see in "What Differentiated Instruction Is–And Is Not: The Definition Of Differentiated Instruction," differentiated instruction is "a student focused way to think about teaching and learning." This supports the ideas of Textured Teaching because they show the necessity of discussion-based learning and integrating variety and choice in assignments. I also think that being able to be flexible in how I grade reverts back to an idea we have previously discussed in class where students set up goals in the beginning of the marking period and are graded and evaluated on whether or not they have met these goals. I think this is a characteristic of effective differentiation since it shows students the expectations for the skills they have to learn, showing that "learning is partnership," (Germán, page 114). Beyond high school and beyond my classroom, I think it is important to recognize that students may not connect with certain texts--especially texts from standardized curriculum. If they are disengaged with the text, they still need to learn how to use skills to effectively complete tasks and understand the major themes/literary devices from the text. By having students have variety and choice, they may feel as if they have more agency in and out of the classroom, using the skills they learn in other contexts.

1. What are a couple of key ideas/guidelines about differentiation that you want to be sure to remember, for your upcoming assignments this fall (Communities Project lesson, unit plan), as well as student teaching?

I think that I want to remember that differentiation is data based--in order for me to be able to differentiate instruction, I need to know what to differentiate. What can I do in order to supplement my students? What is the street data I can utilize in order to help my students feel encouraged and motivated? When I begin my student teaching, I will also want to figure out where I can incorporate student choice and variety; I cannot modify the curriculum, but I can develop accommodations to be more inclusive and equitable. I want students to feel as if they have more flexibility in how they learn, working on assessments where they have more choice--this would have students produce "highly critical and rigorous course work" and help them work on their metacognition skills. This is especially relevant in the unit plan, since there are more opportunities for differentiation since students will have different skill levels in reading, comprehending, and analyzing the texts. I want students to feel as if their learning is centered, and ultimately in order to do that, I need to prioritize relationship building and being able to individualize instruction to meet the needs of the students. I must be flexible as things will change day to day! This will help me develop more confidence in being able to reach my students and help them learn skills they can take with them beyond the classroom.

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For this HW, list at least one main idea from each of today's readings (so a minimum of four ideas total) that you want to remember about assessment. Briefly explain why you thought each idea was important.
1. From the Salas, “Dealing with Standardized Tests” reading, I fully resonate with the need to advocate for our students' right to rigorous  curriculum. I think that the idea that "teaching to the test" prevents students from being engaged and from being challenged in material that they find utility value in. I came into education because I recognize the ways in which I have been let down by the educational system and how the ways in which I have experienced privilege in being educated to perform well on exams. I now want to advocate for students so that they are challenged and their needs are met.
2. For the Silver, “The Worst Teaching Mistake I Ever Made" reading, I want to take pre-assessment into the classroom in order to activate background knowledges. In invoking funds of knowledge, I know that all of my students are coming from different backgrounds and as such will have different background knowledge/perceptions. I like KWL charts and plan on using them in my unit plans to preview a unit/broader concept. Adding differentiation will be easier when I have a base from which to go off of! I also really like the graffiti wall since this doe snot put any one student on the spot and they can see the range of which they have activated background knowledge in front of them. With a graffiti wall, students are able to add what they know and are able to witness the wall grow throughout the unit. I know that in my student teaching, we will soon start the Social Justice unit and I know that my students all have very different perspectives. Knowing that they all have very different backgrounds, I am curious and excited to see what they may bring up and how current events/personal events may shape their understanding.
3. From the Stenger, “5 Research-Based Tips for Providing Students with Meaningful Feedback" reading I really resonated with the quote "when learners feel an uncomfortable sense of competition: Feedback shared in a group setting could cause learners to feel like they have to compete with their peers." I think that this is something I see especially in college and it has always been a source for anxiety for myself when I feel like my peers are in constant competition. In order to foster a comfortable, safe learning environment for my students, I aim to dissuade negative competition. I think that providing feedback, especially when related to a personal writing assessment, should be done individually. Additionally, in groups, it may be harder to focus on one student's work or to provide personalized feedback in group settings, especially if the student has written about a more complex topic. I like the idea of writing workshops or portfolios where I can provide feedback to students and get more of an understanding for what they wish to accomplish in their writing tasks/assessments.
4. From the Culturally and Socially Responsible Assessment chapter, I really resonated with the section that outlines how teachers can ask themselves validity-related questions, especially "9. Does an item or task ask students to engage in an activity that is culturally inappropriate such that they must violate their own cultural norms to respond?" (Taylor, page 7). With a social justice framework in mind, I commit myself to understanding the perspectives my students will have when completing assignments. One of my interests in education is the concept of linguistic justice in which traditional language practices are rooted in historical racism and hinder students' cultural learning tools. Yet we may not think of language as being problematic, rather prescriptive grammar is conflated with "Standard English." As such, I think it is important that we ask ourselves about how the activities we assign relate to students and how we may inadvertently be assigning culturally inappropriate activities. Placing ourselves in our students' shoes, how would this in turn foster negative classroom communities and disengagement in the future? We cannot actively harm our students, even if it is not our intent. As such, asking ourselves this series of validity-related questions centers our equity-oriented framework and be inclusive of students' cultures and responsibilities.

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"There is nothing neutral about assessment. Compartmentalizing and carrying our decontextualized tasks seems to privilege students from White, upper-class backgrounds and disadvantage students from culturally diverse backgrounds (Darling-Hammond et al., 2008). Students bring their, background knowledge to assessment events. Students from White and affluent backgrounds are more likely to infer connections between decontextualized tasks and their own lives-possibly because they know they will benefit the system that constructs these tests," (Taylor, page 88).

This quote sticks out to me because when I think of assessment, I think of ways to measure the hard-and-fast skills and facts that we aim for students to learn throughout this learning period. At the end of the day, education and what we teach students, especially through an English classroom lens, should produce cognitive tools and skills by which students feel comfortable utilizing beyond academia. How can we have students make these connections and synthesize these skills if the assessments we use--which to students are signifiers of "this is what you should have learned" do not represent students? Moreover, it is realistic that not all students will come into an assessment using only the knowledge that they have attained in our classroom bubble. In fact, it is the opposite--students are going to use their backgrounds and the connections that they have made to their personal lives to assist them in decontextualizing and decoding tasks. When we form assessments with only the dominant culture in mind, we do a disservice to students who do not come from the dominant background. If we wish to be equitable, we must be cognizant of the ways in which we construct assessment. We need to be conscientious of the experiences that we prioritize, the language we use, and even the types of assessment that we provide students with.

"Opportunities for autonomy and authorship with structured support can strengthen students' sense of the efficacy of their own learning strategies, their perceptions of their own abilities to learn, and their sense that achievement is under their own control," (Taylor, page 90).

When I think about the autonomy I have developed, I think about how there was not much choice for me in secondary schools. This in turn made me feel ill prepared for when there was an abundance of choice leading up to and during my college experiences. When students have only learned to complete tasks a certain way, or they feel as if the only skills they have mastered are related to the learning structures that the education system has prioritized, there is not much of a bridge between students' ability to think critically and the ways that they learn. Rather, there is a disconnect by which students feel a lack of agency and control. Especially when students come from a background where they were under-stimulated in schools or where they did not feel particularly interested in material, they may feel as if they do not have much autonomy. What happens when they leave secondary schools and find themselves in positions where they must have autonomy and authorship? If we are able to help students develop those skills within our classrooms, we can help them transition and use their critical thinking skills to succeed.

"Some educators may worry that teaching to and assessing a state's academic standards will prevent them from teaching important goals about cultural awareness and pride and critical consciousness about how systemic racism, classism, sexism, and xenophobia affect their own lives," (Taylor, page 139).

This is something I think about a lot when I think about my future career as an educator. I have had the privilege of being educated and pursuing a career in states and areas where I do not have the same level of push-back in curriculum as places such as Florida or Texas. Yet I still worry about how much I can teach over one year in a curriculum--how can I meet the standards of my curriculum while fostering a social justice framework? As I consider what I want to teach, my priority ultimately is to help students and foster relationships with them so I can put forth my best teaching practices. I know that it is not just up to me--or even just up to our cohort, but I consider how my students will need scaffolding and teachers who care about them! I cannot control what goes on beyond my classroom, but the action I take within my own classroom is dedicated to ensuring that students have a space where they can comfortably express and develop their identities. This means being aware that not all spaces will advocate for cultural awareness making it more crucial that I commit myself to being an anti-racist educator, not just a non-racist one. I want to advocate for my students, helping them be conscious about media and critical consciousness.

"Transformation from our current models of assessment to more effective models will require communities of practice to work together for change. Educators must refocus learning goals on what matters most for students' success rather than the dizzying array of standards that drive education today," (Taylor, page 170).

This was a beautiful way to wrap up this chapter and provide the call-to-action by which it is crucial for educators to rethink traditional assessment. The issues that plague the education system are systemic, relying upon a need for the community and collectivism mindset, not just the individual work towards change. I think that it is important that we set out to refocus our goals to advocate for our students, letting the student driven data show us what changes need to be made. We must center our students and support their voices and needs.

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1. Interview your clinical educator about how they collaborate with special educator(s) to plan, make accommodations, and engage in classroom management. (If possible, interview both the clinical educator and the special educator together.) How exactly do they work together and/or divide the workload? Do they have common planning time? If so, when? If not, how do they manage? What routines do they follow, in and out of the classroom?

Notes:

Only have students with 504, do not collaborate with special ed

look at students with 504, meeting accomodations

2 times a year, checking on 504 (how helpful, do need)

no students with IEPs

extra time? sit away from distractions? following documentations

When I talked to my CE about how she collaborates with special educators, she discussed how in her class currently does not have any students with IEPs. She does have students with 504 plans in which these document whether or not the student needs extra time, if they need to sit away from distractions, and what they need in order to be successful in the classroom. Since my CE does not collaborate with special educators, she explained that she meets the accommodations of students with their 504 plan. Twice a year, the 504 plan is reviewed in response to how helpful it is, whether or not the plan is still necessary, and what to do moving forward with meeting the student's needs. I asked her what she would do with students with IEPs and how she would collaborate with special educators if she had a student with exceptionalities that would require a plan. She remarked how she would meet with the special educator in reviewing an IEP and how they would work towards meeting students' needs with accommodations.

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1. Explain Miller's argument for the importance of authenticity in the classroom, citing from the reading.

1. Miller states that the importance of authenticity in the classroom derives from how "if you truly want the work to matter, make your products not only look authentic, but actually be authentic." This means that the work that is done in the classroom needs to reflect the community's needs and the creations that students see beyond the classroom. This reminds me of when students question "when will we use this in the real world?" In order to be authentic, we must teach students how to use the cognitive tools that they develop in the classroom beyond the specific lessons and classroom itself.

2. What are some of Miller and Wolpert-Gawron's suggestions on how to implement authenticity in assessments?

1. Miller suggests conducting a needs assessment of the community, which means understanding and assessing the strengths and needs of the community.

2. Wolpert-Gawron suggests making assessment authenticity part of the classroom culture by:

1. Having students reflect on and assess their own work

2. Ensuring that there are audiences for their work beyond the teacher

3. Using assessments that focus on topics of real-world significance, structure, and problem-solving

4. Allowing students to select topics of focus

3. What are the two things Guskey states teachers need to do in order to link standards to what takes place in the classroom? Explain these two steps citing from the reading?

1. "Translate the standards into specific classroom experiences that facilitate student learning" means to align the standards with the lesson.

2. "Ensure that classroom assessments effectively measure that learning."

4. Explain the difference between product, process, and progress criteria.

1. Product criteria seek to assess what students know and are able to do at a particular point in time. Teachers who use product criteria typically base grades exclusively
on final examination scores, final reports or projects, overall assessments, and other culminating demonstrations of learning.

2. Process criteria assesses how students got to their product. Teachers who consider effort or work habits when assigning grades are using process criteria, as are teachers who factor regular classroom quizzes, homework, punctuality of assignments, class participation, or attendance into grade calculations.

3. Progress criteria assesses how much students have gained from their learning experiences. Teachers who use progress criteria typically look at how much improvement students have made over a specified period of time, rather than just where they
are at any one point. As a result, the scoring criteria used in determining student grades may be highly individualized.

5. What approaches from the readings can you see yourself implementing in your own classroom? Why?

1. From the readings, I can see myself becoming a teacher who evaluates students based off of progress criteria. I think that implementing portfolio assignments and giving students feedback in order to help them learn a skill and achieve their goal matters more to me than the grades that the student receives without getting feedback for improvement. I wish to build relationships with my students and I think that evaluating them based off of progress criteria will help me foster those relationships because I can check-in with them, evaluate their strengths, and better meet their needs. By conferencing with students and evaluating them based on their progress, I can better support them and provide them with feedback.

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Gallery Walk: On chart paper, small groups of students write and draw what they learned. After the completed works are attached to the classroom walls, others students affix sticky notes to the posters to extend on the ideas, add questions, or offer praise.
So What?: Have students answer this prompt: What takeaways from the lesson will be important to know three years from now? Why?
Teach a First-Grade Student: Have kids orally describe a concept, procedure, or skill in terms so simple that a child in first grade would get it.
Elevator Pitch: Ask students to summarize the main idea in under 60 seconds to another student acting as a well-known personality who works in your discipline. After summarizing, students should identify why the famous person might find the idea significant.
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/22-powerful-closure-activities-todd-finley

Sticky Notes Annotation
Double Entry Notebook
Create a two-column table. Use the left column to write down 5-8 important quotations. Use the right column to record reactions to the quotations.
Classroom TED Talk
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/dipsticks-to-check-for-understanding-todd-finley

Check for transfer

Check to make sure your students are able to transfer a concept from one domain to another. This could take a variety of forms. For example, can they identify the climax in a short story, a novel, a movie, and an advertisement?
Doodle It

Have students draw what they understand, instead of writing it.
Back Channel

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Quick activities that can be used to check for understanding or emphasize key information at the end of a lesson.