ethnography

ETHNOGRAPHY (JUNE 18^th, 2009)

 8:35     A frantic rush to make coffee and hot water for tea to offset the dull Friday mood

 9:00     Peggy seems unaffected by the late start.

 9:02     Peggy’s “good morning” is met with the same weak, Friday response.  The morning Sacred Writing starts with a reading of “Where The Wild Things Are.”  The prompt for the writing is our place of escape.

 9:20     Sacred Writing ends.  The plan for escape seems to involve reading semi-smutty books on the couch in the bathroom on a Saturday morning driving in the car without men, unless the computer in your classroom is big enough to hide behind.

 9:50     Hildegard reads Thursday’s ethnography, and I am in huge trouble having to follow that.  The conversation relating to semi-smutty novels continues and I bring up the question as to whether we are actually on break yet.

 10:00   The conversation switches to another set of books I have never seen or read.  Peggy reminds everyone of the plan to go to Hillbilly Hot Dogs for lunch.

 10:05   Break

 10:15   We are playing the Where’s Kathy version of “Where’s Waldo.”

 10:20   We discover the reason Kathy is late; she has her adorable granddaughter with her.

 10:30   Kathy announces we are going to do our expert groups and home groups for the last few chapters of “Writing for Insight.”

 10:35   Expert groups are formed.

 10:55   Home groups are formed.

 11:45   We come to a close with “Wring for Insight.”  Peggy announces the intention of meeting at Hillbilly Hot Dogs by noon.

 12:00   The arrival at Hillbilly is marked with the anticipation of good food for those of us who had been there before and utter terror and confusion for the rest.  With assurances, everyone seems to settle in.

 12:15   Peggy introduces writing assignment based on a poem written by Marylou Oweocta.  Peggy asks us to finish the statement “I am a…”  If you hadn’t known what a wide range of people we had in the group before this assignment, you certainly found out quickly.  We ranged from sleepers to starers, introverts to daydreamers, beach girls to bitches and everything in between.

 FOOD:           
I was so hungry I forgot to mark the time.  After the wonderment of, “do they really fry these things?”, and, “you should see the original restaurant on Route 2,” we all begin to eat.

 1:12     Peggy introduces the writing assignment “What do you listen to?”  We seem to have big ears.  Some examples include: fathers, mothers, children, music, whining, spiritual songs, and as someone put it best, maybe we listen to too many things.

 1:30     The last assignment is introduced.  Peggy asks us what restores our balance.  After a list of examples, such as home, nature, children, physical labor, tears and naps, the overall winner was Shwang, who said according to her culture, food restores balance.  Anyone want to move to China?

exit july 8th

The top five things I will take back to school and life;

1.  I will take a new exuberance in my classroom.  This experienced has fired me up!

2.  I will take not only the desire to bring writing into my classroom, but the tools with which to do it.

3.  I will take a newfound desire to write in both my personal and professional lives.  I never new the therapeudic value!

4.  I will be taking all of you back with me!  I can’t wait to tell you my successes and attempt to hide my failures.

5.  I will take back a new sense of confidence in what I am doing and that what I am doing is making a difference.

deep revision

What’s up AL,

     I am on my trip with my father and his friends.  Even though they are a little dorky, they have always treated me like one of them.  They don’t treat me like the idiot teenager like most people their age.  The drive here was awful.  We drove the forty hours straight, yeah straight.  It was really uncomfortable in Jim’s minivan, especially with all of the fishing gear.  I am so happy I can drive now.  I thought that would give me the chance to be in the captain’s seat.  My Dad, you know the slowpoke, ripped me every time I tried to go over the speed limit even though they all did.  Oh well, the captain’s seat looks nice from the passenger seat where I’m writing from.

     You should have seen what Herman did at one of the gas stations in the middle of the night.  He floored it right at some old dude with a walker.  The guy had to dump the walker and dive into the station.  I think Herman laughed harder than I did.  He’s cool.

     Man, I wish you could have fished with us.  The mountains are unbelievable.  Yeah, bigger than Michelle’s.  The guys really got me though when we were fishing the Yellowstone River.  We were on a section called “Buffalo Ford.”  I had no idea what that really meant.  Apparently I was the only one who didn’t.  The guys thought it was really funny when they watched a bull buffalo climb down the hill right behind me.  I swear I crapped my pants right there in the river. Do you get the “Buffalo Ford “  thing now?  We need to get back at my dad.  Remind me.

     Hey, we just got back in the van a minute ago.  I can barely write because I am laughing so hard.  Remember I said I would need to get my Dad back.  Well, I didn’t have to wait long.  We just got out of the bathroom where my Dad just about peed in the trash can.  It was right where the pisser usually is and he never looked.  He begged me not to tell the guys, but there was no way.  I don’t think he’s ever going to live it down.  It looks like they are actually going to stop and feed me.  I’m going to barf if I eat one more ham sandwich off of a rock next to the river.  Later, Dork.

 

Skip

cover letter

COVER LETTER

 

     When I began the Writing Project I was a little skeptical.  I questioned both my ability to write as well as my ability to apply writing to my math classroom.  My growth as a writer was exponential.  I really think I came to some conclusions that have honed my ability to write.  I have probably only grown from a beginner to a novice, but it is still significant.  The idea of Wild Writing has really hit home and caused me to have more excitement in my writing.  It has also allowed my personality to be more evident in my writing.

     The effect the Project will have on my teaching is obviously hard to measure right now.  I know I have a much different outlook on some of the things I can do to further my abilities in the area of teaching.  I will be able to help my students in drastically different ways, which will definitely allow me to reach more students than I have in the past.  That certainly makes it all worthwhile.

     The learning that has occurred for me on a personal level is monumental.  I now have an infinite amount of tools at my disposal.  Through the blog, I also have a way of finding out what other teachers think of how I am doing and what I can do better.  We as educators must be constantly adapting and learning.  The Writing Project has certainly given me a way to grow personally and professionally

     My teaching practices are going to be affected greatly by the practices that I have observed and attempted.  The ideas of reflective writing and project-based learning will drastically change the atmosphere of my classroom.  I have always strived to have my classroom be an inviting atmosphere.  I now have so many more ways to accomplish that goal.  The thought of my classroom being referred to as a family of learners is exciting and invigorating.  It is in the writing that this will occur.  That is something I had tried to accomplish before, without writing, but could never understand why I wasn’t quite getting there.  I am really looking forward to adopting these techniques in order to improve my classroom. The idea that I am not trying to teach them how to write, but having them write to teach themselves math, was a huge eye-opener for me.

     I am also excited to be able to use a lot more technology in my classroom.  I truly think that blogging may be a good way for my students to express their concerns and for me to understand and address them better.

     My personal piece was chosen because it was the first sacred writing piece I was really excited about.  It refers to one of the western fly fishing trips I had taken.  I liked it because I felt the funny stories came out well in the writing.  That will also be my deep revision.  The deep revision will come in the form of a letter to a friend while on the trip.  The difference in the language should be evident.

     My professional writing piece was written about a passion of mine, which is the way we treat our students.  I believe there are many teachers who demand respect from their students, but do not show respect for the students.  Not only is that backwards thinking, but it is not feasible because many of our students do not have respect modeled at home.  They have to have it modeled at school.

     My demonstration document will give you true insight into what I have learned this summer.  I am very excited to apply this type of project in my classroom to see if it will have the desired effect.

     I think I really missed the boat with my ethnography.  I was not as creative as I should have been.  If I had to do it over again, I would have branched out into a different genre and tried to bring my humor into the writing.

     My informal pieces are where you may learn the most about me.  You will learn of my love of golf, teaching, and my family.  You will learn of my inability to do anything involving technology, although I am better now with the help of Ian.

informal piece from a demo

Reflective writing

 

     I have not used reflective writing in my classroom in the past.  I have not been able to see the benefits in the past. I believe it can be used in a multitude of ways in my classroom.

     Reflective writing would be a great way for me to find out what my students thought of a particular lesson and whether I should attempt to do it differently or stick with the same game plan.  Being able to see the immediate reaction in written form would be extremely helpful.  It could occur at the end of class, wouldn’t take up much time and could be graded as just a ticket out the door.  This could be a way for me to develop more interesting and helpful lessons.

     I also believe I need to use reflective writing more in my own practices.  There have been many times I would think, “That didn’t go very well,” and I would move on.  I need to reflectively write for myself.  I need to honestly grade my own teaching to allow myself to grow.  Thank you Mandy for showing me ways to use reflective writing and proving it is not that difficult to apply in the classroom.

informal piece3

“Flowerless”

 

     I am a glass vase in a glass case.  How ridiculous?  I should not be here.  I had always been filled with flowers of beautiful hues and aromas.  There are no aromas here.  It may even be a vacuum.  I am accompanied by plates with no food and jars of no liquid.  Why am I here?

     The blend of reds, oranges and yellows could accentuate any bouquet now stand on their own.  Alone.  To be judged by passerbys.  My many slanted pillars supplied my glorious arrangements with places of rest for their weary stems.  Where are they?  Where am I?

     I once stood proudly in the center of a stately wooden table.  I was almost always the only occupier of the table, but never alone.  Now I rest on a shelf with pieces of similar design and age.  Definitely alone.  Flowerless, waterless, lifeless.

     I am the tallest on my shelf.  Do I stand out?  My uniform ridges shimmer in the dull lighting of the case.  But I do not shine like I once did.  The monthly cleaning will never wash away my life that once was.  Flowerless.

informal piece1

GOLF BALL

     Maybe it’s because I am wearing my coach shirt, but my place of escape is the golf course.  I can drop everything and have golf be the only thing on my mind.  The cares of teaching and fatherhood all seem to fade to black as the lush green of the course takes over all thoughts.

     It doesn’t come without trials and tribulations as anyone who has perpetually chased the “little white one” will tell you.  But these aggravations never seem to linger.  I never worry about what the golf ball is going to grow up to be like, or what the golf ball wants me to work on around the house today, or whether or not the ball did his homework last night.  As it sails away in some seemingly random direction, usually toward the trees, there is still the hope the golfing gods will allow things to work in my favor.

     Home for a golf ball is the hole.  As much as it seems to not want to go there, I still think it might.  They say in a round of golf your club only contacts the ball for less than a second total.  Yet that contact can be the most pure thing in the world.  I think it has to be the purest shot ever struck until that split second later when I look up and realize I aimed too far right, or the wind switched, or I ate too many Wheaties that morning, or someone moved the green, or the air was warmer or colder than I thought, or the pin was father back than it was supposed to be, or I had the wrong club, or I hit the wrong ball, or the grass was too high.

     Did I mention a lot can go wrong with a golf shot?  Even with all these possibilities, or perhaps because of them, golf is the most relaxing, unbelievably complicated experience I can imagine.

tech piece 3

     I thought the blog would be avery difficult thing to navigate.  I am no the techy type to say the least.  What I have discovered is that the blog is very easy to use.  It is much easier to navigate than I had imagined.  When you are first introduced to something the task always seems daunting, but it gets better as you go along.  I think it was a good idea for us to have continued blogging throughout the entire 3 weeks.  It seems as though if we had just discussed it and gone on, I would have struggled to use it.

     I believe maintaining a blog would be a very useful tool to teaching.  What better way to reflect on your teaching than bouncing your ideas and failures and successes off colleagues.  It seems as though the community of bloggers you choose would be more than helpful.  They may be honest to a fault sometimes, but we all need that.

     I could use a blog in my classroom in order to keep up with the honest feelings of the students in my classroom.  I belive they would be more willing to be forthright and honest on a blog than in the classroom.  I would be able to get a feeling for whether or no the class was going to fast or not.  This is very important in a math class especially early on.  Since they are very shy early, a blog would allow those feelings to come out so I can address them right away.

     The e-portfolio makes it more important to label your blogs more appropriately.  I am not sure how I can use the idea in my professional life or in my classroom.  I would have to contemplate and play with the parts more to figure that out.

informal piece 2

Informal piece 2

     Teaching means early mornings and late nights.  Fourteen hour days while getting paid for six.  Hoping you did not destroy the student in your fourth period class, because he could figure out how to take out a common factor.  Courage, fear and everything in between.  Having the patience of Jobe and the knowledge of at least a first year resident.  The ability to perform miracles on a minute by minute basis with the hope that at least one of your students noticed.   Patience.  Loving every child.  Patience.  Trying to find something to love in every child.  Did I mention patience?  The hope that fourteen years from now a student will come up to you on the street and say, “I remember that one miracle you pulled off.”  Which one was it?  No more chalk boards, thank god.  Although at least the chalk washed out of your pants.  Not like the dry erase markers.  Don’t treat them like kids, even though they act like them.  Did you find anything to love yet?

flyer

WRITING IN THE MATH CLASSROOM

PRESENTED BY J.D. MAUE

No kidding, you can write with purpose in the math classroom.

What do we do about the anxiety they have just entering the classroom?

Use writing to lesson the anxiety and make the classroom fun for you and your students.

1. We are not teaching them how to write, they are writing to teach themselves math.