The Importance of Language -- Kare

When giving a unit mastery test earlier this week, the importance of language struck me. As an English teacher, I view the English language and communication as the heart of my curriculum. I believe that literature should come secondary to these broad-based language communication skills. Yet, due to standards and department-wide curriculum guides, what I teach is the literature and its corresponding history and literary connections. On my unit test, then, I asked questions in various formats to assess student understanding of the various literary components. Thus, the language skills become secondary with regard to assessment.

During the test, several students finished within the first half hour—keep in mind this is a test designed for a 90 minute block. Though I have not graded the tests I somehow assume these super-quick students did not perform at their best. The majority of students took about an hour or an hour and twenty minutes to complete. The last four students to finish included two foreign exchange students and two Korean students. All four had at some point throughout the test asked clarification on questions—particularly questions regarding abstract concepts like “significance.” It dawned on me that these non-native English speakers were perhaps the last to finish the test because of language issues. While I did not intentionally develop question phrasing or vocabulary that would “stump” students, I did use typical English vocabulary and specialized language to talk about abstract literary concepts designed for the college-bound junior class I teach. I want my students to demonstrate their knowledge of literature but also their language skills. I am facing a debate now regarding how to balance these two demands with particular concern for non-native English speaking students. My teaching beliefs value language while my mandated curriculum values literature. And I feel stuck.

Those oh-so-anticipated “teachable moments” -- Kare

I am excited to say that I am now an official “student teacher.” While the first few days were challenging, they were also exciting, motivating, and, of course, insightful learning opportunities. I have learned about the challenge that is co-teacher collaboration and how to be flexible in the classroom.

Day 1: I introduced The Great Gatsby, our main unit text, by way of discussing the parallels between Fitzgerald’s life and his fiction. Lesson 1: students care far less about Fitzgerald’s college literary magazine and football dreams than I do! As a teacher, it is challenging to balance your personal love and interest in literature and learning with what your students are reasonably inspired and capable of exploring.

Day 2: I used the universal appeal of $$$ to attract student attention. The students discussed money and high/low society in The Great Gatsby…and they really got into it! I was so pleased to see every student talking and finding what I considered “slippery” quotations from the text to explore the concept of money and class. I am, however, in a unique situation in that my class is not all mine. In fact, it is not even shared by me and my cooperating teacher. No, I share a class with another student teacher and two cooperating teachers. Lesson 2: be open and flexible. To make a long story short, I felt like I had to stop my first-ever teachable moment because the clock told me to hand over the reigns to my history student teacher counterpart. I understand that teaching is being flexible, but I wish that this flexibility was driven by the STUDENTS and not by scheduling and a shared classroom. My goal now is to somehow figure out ways to develop these “teachable moments” in finite scheduled-ahead time blocks. More to come on this…

Bios of Some Amazing Teachers

Sam is teaching math to sixth graders. He is looking forward to the chance to consistently be in the classroom and see his long term goals and units come to life during student teaching.




Kare is teaching two blocks of Intensified English for tenth graders and one block of eleventh grade Advanced American Studies. She is looking forward to seeing her students everyday and interacting with them in a more direct manner. She hopes that teaching them everyday as compared to once or twice a week will help her develop a better rapport with them and allow her to better see their academic progress.


Beth is teaching chemistry to grades ten through 12. She is looking forward to spending every day with the students because chemistry students are awesome. She also looks forward to not having anymore graduate classes.



Eric is teaching 12th grade English. He is most looking forward to developing a consistent professional relationship with his students. He also wants to be a fixture in the classroom and he wants a more panoramic view of their learning as compared to the spot-visit view he has been receiving.



Cati is teaching Spanish II to 9th and 10th graders and AP Spanish to 11th and 12th graders. She is most looking forward to having a regular schedule of interacting and working with her students. She is also excited to continue teaching so she can grow more confident in her skills and more trusting in the workability of the best practices for foreign language instruction that she has been learning about this year. She is excited to be in school every day and to be on the same schedule as the students so through that continuity and regular interaction her rapport with students can grow to the point where she can learn how to best teach those particular students



Raggs is teaching the social studies portion of eleventh grade American Studies. He is looking forward to putting into practice the skills he has learned in a more direct and constant way in order to develop better relationships with his students. He is also excited to see if he will in fact enjoy teaching and helping students learn as much as he thinks he will based on his past experiences.




Amelia is teaching three regular English and one intensified English for seventh graders. She is most looking forward to working with her students because they are delightful.