Rationale Reflection: Content Knowledge
Standard 4: Middle grades teacher candidates understand and use the central concepts, tools of inquiry, standards, and structures of content in their chosen teaching fields and create meaningful learning experiences that develop young adolescents' competence in subject matter and skills.
While I am a middle grades major firstly because I am passionate about the age group, I also am passionate about both Language Arts and Social Studies. Standard four of the Appalachian State middle grades requirements states that the proficient candidate understands the central concepts of their content subjects and can create meaningful lessons and activities out of the content. To demonstrate my proficiency at this, I have selected three projects. A “Correcting the Past” project completed in the fall of 2015 is a three day set of lessons about the women’s suffrage movement. I have also selected my Expert Study, which is an analysis of an American Literature
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The project required me to analyze my understanding of southern literature at the time and now, to examine how I will use this information in my own classrooms, and to create a plan to further my knowledge about southern literature. The two books used to studied southern literature were The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Ellen Foster. By completing this project, I was able to recognize how my undergraduate classes have prepared me for teaching and how important it is to always keep learning. My plan to further my knowledge of southern literature includes reading more southern literature and analyzing the characteristics of southern literature present. While I have been doing this, this project encouraged me to dig deeper with other things I will be expected to teach in the future to further my content knowledge and be the best teacher I can be in both Language Arts and Social
On January 28, 2016 I went with my choir to the Peace Center to watch a poet and musician in a show called Southern Voices: Black, White, and Blues. The show included a African American female poet, Glenis Redmond, and a white male blues musician, Scott Ainslie who came together to spread the message of the Old South. Both Glenis and Scott shared personal experiences and then performed a piece based on the story. They mostly performed individually but did perform some pieces together.
Criterion 4.1: The curriculum incorporates established professional standards, guidelines, and competencies, and has clearly articulated student learning outcomes and program outcomes consistent with contemporary practice.
A lot of people think that Georgia is a capital city but it’s not. You’ll want to visit Georgia once I get done telling you about Georgia Aquarium, Piedmont Park, High Museum of Art and Atlantic Station. I am also gone tell you a litter bit about Downtown Hotel. These or the five favorite in Atlanta were you can go and you and your hold family can have lots of fun.
Southerners come from a strong historical past which invokes their southern dialect and understanding. Some folkways southerners follow are that they deep fry anything and everything, manners are taught young like : yes ma'am and yes sir.
It shows how life was for higher class people, lower class people, and slaves. Without this books dialect you would not be able to understand that these people lived in the South, and most did not have a great education, or in Jim’s case had no education. This book shows how some lower class families could have lived, such as when Huckleberry was living with his father and they had to take game they had killed into town to make money and not receiving an education. This book also illustrates for us that higher class people received an education and owned
Literature affects my southern heritage in several different ways which can be seen in everyday life. These ways are slang or jargon, foods, and spiritual upbringing. Families in the south use these ways every day and do not realize where they come from. Such influences can be seen in several author’s works in books and also from life’s experiences. Literature can be a tool to teach or can just be something to enjoy and realize where our southern heritage becomes real.
Teacher John Foley explains that “many [students] find the book dull and plodding, and they sometimes never get past the demeaning word Huck uses to refer to his friend…his is particularly true, of course, of African American students…with few exceptions, all the black students in my classes over the years have appeared very uncomfortable when I've discussed these matters at the beginning of the unit.” Foley proves that racism is still present in today’s society, is these Aferican American students are still uncomfortable with the idea of slavery then their is still an issue that needs to be resolved. John Foley believes that they should stop teaching this book so he does not have to, “rationalize Huck Finn’ to an angry African American mom.” However, it is important that he does so. If teachers accurately explain the meaning and motive behind the novel, parents shouldn’t need to become angry. If the novel is taught correctly, it will demonstrate the immensity of the
Franklin opened the interpretation of the South to alternate voices, and gave a firm framework on establishing the different perspectives relevant for Woodward’s experiential “not one South” thesis. The points of contention between their interpretations are telling about Southern histories, and their reputations evidenced the lingering effects of institutionalized racism, as Woodward often gets credit for opening Southern history to African American narratives. However, it was Franklin that did it first and allowed for agency, while Woodward’s narratives most featured black victimization/victimhood. Despite some differences in interpretation, Franklin and Woodward would become two of the most influential historians of the twentieth century. Only recently does it seems more women, more minorities, more identities are writing southern history from their unique viewpoints and interpretations. All of them aided by the path laid by Franklin. His influence is clear in the works of Tera Hunter, Mary Hoffschwelle, Karen Cox, Pippa Holloway, and all of the most recent histories of the South.Franklin’s essays mirrored role of African American in Southern historiography. Starting out, African Americans were given little or no attention at all, then came outright racist histories, then blacks as subjects of white actions/ideologies, and finally, blacks as full historical actors, controlling their own lives, demonstrating their own agency, controlling their own narratives.
To conclude, the classic novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, is one of the most influential works of the nineteenth century. The book has many deeper meanings, but the most apparent is that society (at the time) is/was deeply flawed, and requires the reader to truly evaluate certain events. Some of these occurrences include a circus, a raving mob, and an unruly family that spends their lives hunting other humans. So, the tale of Huck Finn is one that should carry its message on beyond
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a classic novel with the ongoing debate of whether or not the novel should be read within schools. This debate is surrounds to book within the matter of slavery and harder writing for students to understand. However, Huck Finn educates students about the past in a different view also opens students up to local color by showing slaves are humans as well.
Your reading assignment for the summer consists of two works: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and a work of your choice from an
I would continue to have students reading the novel in an Appalachian literature class. This books gives such a different point of view from many other pieces we have read and allows both the perspective of a person from Appalachia, and wants to return while also one who wants to run away from the idea of home. While it is the same person the whole time it is very important to be able to see both sides. There is both an insider and outsider perspective going all in one character. When the novel started D.R. seemed to just be a hippie deep in the counterculture movement without anything else to do. As he developed as a charter though I could see D.R. was just searching for something that could only be found at home. “I’m going to stay here for
Mark Twain uses his book "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", to teach valuable lessons that need to be taught in Watauga High School. Many students an benefit in not only one, but multiple ways of reading this book. These are the reasons that "Huck Finn" is an important novel in American
The book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has many different themes throughout the story. While some are more important and found within the story others are more of a background effect. The most important are Religion, Freedom, education, and nature all of which tie in together in some way. It also shows how different individuals are from one another due to how they were raised and what they believe is legitimate. Many readers may not like the language within the story, but it adds atmosphere and background. Freedom is going to be the main topic within this essay, but it will connect with religion and education in some way.
For this program outcome I chose my curriculum analysis paper from CUR 512, Curriculum Analysis and Planning. In this course we defined curriculum, the aspects that are considered when writing curriculum, the theoretical perspectives found within curriculum, and the goals of the curriculum. By writing this paper, I was able to focus in on a unit that I teach in third grade social studies to get a full picture of the curriculum. I was also able to see the complex issues surrounding the curriculum that I never previously noticed.