A Mock Teaching Job Interview
“Putting it together” – Part B, Engaging Students across the Curriculum
The scene: You have an interview for an ideal teaching position. As part of your professional portfolio you want the hiring committee to understand your views on literacy skills, especially in the area of teaching writing to your students.
Committee member 1: Can you describe for us ways that you intend to get students engaged in the writing process?
Me: I would love to madam. The first way I plan to engage my students in the writing process is to get them excited about writing in general. The more excitement and energy surrounding one topic the more a student is interested in it and the more likely they are to become engaged. Donald Graves wrote an article entitled, “Tap the Energy Source in Curriculum.” The article discusses an idea Graves dubs the, “personal curriculum”. What this means is that a school curriculum is only part of the equation in a child’s life. He gives the example of one child’s “personal curriculum” that involves everything from what she wears to school in the morning to who she hangs out with on lunch hours and recesses.
The relevance to the writing process becomes that I plan on making my students writing very personal. Reflective journal entries, autobiographical poems and the freedom to write about anything that means something to them are just a few of the ways that I plan on generating this type of excitement and energy that provides ripe opportunities for student engagement and learning.
Committee member 2: That sounds wonderful. I’m curious about what specific strategies you had in mind for this approach to teaching writing skills and knowledge.
Me: Well first I hope to provide a variety for my students using differentiated learning in order to provide the most opportunities for my students to succeed. I will provide my students with creative freedom to produce works that are personal to them. This will serve to engage them in the writing process and I will offer assistance and guidance when I feel it is necessary. Specific strategies such as book talks, interactive read-alouds, question-answer-relationships and reading logs will be used to promote engagement and energy within the writing process. All four of these strategies mentioned also provide ample opportunities to hone all six language strands. Not only are reading and writing involved in these examples, but viewing, speaking, listening, and visually representing are also present.
An example of this could be a novel study of the book Torn Apart, by Susan Aihoshi. Throughout the novel study unit students could engage in interactive in-class reading, keep a reading log after every in-class reading session, and engage in teacher led question-answer-relationships sessions three or four times throughout the unit.
Committee Member 3: You certainly have some sound ideas young man. We would like you now to just go into some more depth as to how these writing strategies could be used to enhance and extend learning outcomes across the curriculum.
Me: Not a problem sir. Shall we go in order of the ones I mentioned?
Committee Member 3: Sure, that should be fine.
Me: Very well. As you well know the curriculum is not limited to just English Language Arts. Beginning with the book talk strategy I would encourage every student to bring his or her favourite book to class. It could be a science fiction novel, a biography about their favourite athlete, or even a picture book from when they were younger. The students would be split into small groups, say four or five students per group, preferably with a good variety of books in each group. In general their objective would be to discuss what they like about their favourite book, why they like it and why they think others should read it. All students are unique and so invariably their favourite books will cover a wide range of subject matter. This strategy enhances the E/L.A. curriculum because it involves so many speaking, listening, viewing, reading and could easily be extended into the realms of writing and visually representing.
Committee Member: How so?
Me: You could ask the students to write a one page reflection on the process, other books they liked and now want to read. By having students bring their book in they are showing a visual representation but you could extend that into a poster assignment for example or a brief video clip if the book was a movie or television show. With the variety of books children are sure to bring in the curriculum as a whole is extended and provides an observant teacher with material for other lectures such as, “does everyone remember when Kyle brought in his book about greek mythology? Well today in social studies...” and so on.
Interactive read-alouds consist of the whole class reading along together. The teacher will usually do most of the reading however it wouldn’t hurt to allow other students to contribute if they feel comfortable reading aloud in class. The key here is to periodically stop the reading and ask questions that allow the students to predict what may happen next in the story, or to reflect openly on a major plot event that just took place. This strategy enhances the E/L.A. curriculum by incorporating various language arts strands such as speaking, reading, listening, and writing.
Predicting and reflecting after reading can also be extended to almost every other subject in the curriculum. In science we teach how to write a hypothesis, a prediction. In math when we teach probability we are making predictions based on chance. The concept of historical thinking in social studies revolves around reflection of major events in the world’s history and current events. The list goes on.
Question-Answer-Relationships (QAR) is similar to interactive read-alouds, but is better suited for older grade levels. The strategy teaches students to be consciously aware of where they are likely to find an answer to a comprehensive question provided by the teacher. Questions range from “right there” types (where the answer the reader is searching for is literally in the text they are reading) to “on my own questions” (where readers must use their own ideas to answer the questions). This strategy works enhances listening, reading, writing, and critical thinking. In other disciplines we see this happening with historical thinking in social studies and the scientific method.
Finally a reading log is a personal journal that a student keeps so that they may record their reactions and opinions about books they’re reading in class. One way to do this would be the aforementioned novel study. Another way would be if your school had a reading program in place in which students are required to do ‘x’ amount of reading, then a reading log would serve as a useful monitoring tool for students’ progress. Reading logs can be extended into many other disciplines. The scientific method has a “record and observe” section built into it. You could use a novel relevant to Social Studies such as Aihoshi’s Torn Apart. In Physical Education children can record health and exercise goals for themselves in notebooks.
Committee Member 1: Thank you Kyle. This was wonderful and you seem to have a very good grasp on ways to get your students engaged in the writing process as well as strategies on how to keep them there. We will get back to you about the position, but things are looking good for you.
Me: Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you.
The scene: You have an interview for an ideal teaching position. As part of your professional portfolio you want the hiring committee to understand your views on literacy skills, especially in the area of teaching writing to your students.
Committee member 1: Can you describe for us ways that you intend to get students engaged in the writing process?
Me: I would love to madam. The first way I plan to engage my students in the writing process is to get them excited about writing in general. The more excitement and energy surrounding one topic the more a student is interested in it and the more likely they are to become engaged. Donald Graves wrote an article entitled, “Tap the Energy Source in Curriculum.” The article discusses an idea Graves dubs the, “personal curriculum”. What this means is that a school curriculum is only part of the equation in a child’s life. He gives the example of one child’s “personal curriculum” that involves everything from what she wears to school in the morning to who she hangs out with on lunch hours and recesses.
The relevance to the writing process becomes that I plan on making my students writing very personal. Reflective journal entries, autobiographical poems and the freedom to write about anything that means something to them are just a few of the ways that I plan on generating this type of excitement and energy that provides ripe opportunities for student engagement and learning.
Committee member 2: That sounds wonderful. I’m curious about what specific strategies you had in mind for this approach to teaching writing skills and knowledge.
Me: Well first I hope to provide a variety for my students using differentiated learning in order to provide the most opportunities for my students to succeed. I will provide my students with creative freedom to produce works that are personal to them. This will serve to engage them in the writing process and I will offer assistance and guidance when I feel it is necessary. Specific strategies such as book talks, interactive read-alouds, question-answer-relationships and reading logs will be used to promote engagement and energy within the writing process. All four of these strategies mentioned also provide ample opportunities to hone all six language strands. Not only are reading and writing involved in these examples, but viewing, speaking, listening, and visually representing are also present.
An example of this could be a novel study of the book Torn Apart, by Susan Aihoshi. Throughout the novel study unit students could engage in interactive in-class reading, keep a reading log after every in-class reading session, and engage in teacher led question-answer-relationships sessions three or four times throughout the unit.
Committee Member 3: You certainly have some sound ideas young man. We would like you now to just go into some more depth as to how these writing strategies could be used to enhance and extend learning outcomes across the curriculum.
Me: Not a problem sir. Shall we go in order of the ones I mentioned?
Committee Member 3: Sure, that should be fine.
Me: Very well. As you well know the curriculum is not limited to just English Language Arts. Beginning with the book talk strategy I would encourage every student to bring his or her favourite book to class. It could be a science fiction novel, a biography about their favourite athlete, or even a picture book from when they were younger. The students would be split into small groups, say four or five students per group, preferably with a good variety of books in each group. In general their objective would be to discuss what they like about their favourite book, why they like it and why they think others should read it. All students are unique and so invariably their favourite books will cover a wide range of subject matter. This strategy enhances the E/L.A. curriculum because it involves so many speaking, listening, viewing, reading and could easily be extended into the realms of writing and visually representing.
Committee Member: How so?
Me: You could ask the students to write a one page reflection on the process, other books they liked and now want to read. By having students bring their book in they are showing a visual representation but you could extend that into a poster assignment for example or a brief video clip if the book was a movie or television show. With the variety of books children are sure to bring in the curriculum as a whole is extended and provides an observant teacher with material for other lectures such as, “does everyone remember when Kyle brought in his book about greek mythology? Well today in social studies...” and so on.
Interactive read-alouds consist of the whole class reading along together. The teacher will usually do most of the reading however it wouldn’t hurt to allow other students to contribute if they feel comfortable reading aloud in class. The key here is to periodically stop the reading and ask questions that allow the students to predict what may happen next in the story, or to reflect openly on a major plot event that just took place. This strategy enhances the E/L.A. curriculum by incorporating various language arts strands such as speaking, reading, listening, and writing.
Predicting and reflecting after reading can also be extended to almost every other subject in the curriculum. In science we teach how to write a hypothesis, a prediction. In math when we teach probability we are making predictions based on chance. The concept of historical thinking in social studies revolves around reflection of major events in the world’s history and current events. The list goes on.
Question-Answer-Relationships (QAR) is similar to interactive read-alouds, but is better suited for older grade levels. The strategy teaches students to be consciously aware of where they are likely to find an answer to a comprehensive question provided by the teacher. Questions range from “right there” types (where the answer the reader is searching for is literally in the text they are reading) to “on my own questions” (where readers must use their own ideas to answer the questions). This strategy works enhances listening, reading, writing, and critical thinking. In other disciplines we see this happening with historical thinking in social studies and the scientific method.
Finally a reading log is a personal journal that a student keeps so that they may record their reactions and opinions about books they’re reading in class. One way to do this would be the aforementioned novel study. Another way would be if your school had a reading program in place in which students are required to do ‘x’ amount of reading, then a reading log would serve as a useful monitoring tool for students’ progress. Reading logs can be extended into many other disciplines. The scientific method has a “record and observe” section built into it. You could use a novel relevant to Social Studies such as Aihoshi’s Torn Apart. In Physical Education children can record health and exercise goals for themselves in notebooks.
Committee Member 1: Thank you Kyle. This was wonderful and you seem to have a very good grasp on ways to get your students engaged in the writing process as well as strategies on how to keep them there. We will get back to you about the position, but things are looking good for you.
Me: Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you.