1. Motivation MIRANDA MCGUIRE AND FELICIA DUNCAN

2. What is the potential effect on you as a teacher of students who lack motivation?  Discouragement for us as teachers if they are not as interested in the content area as we are.  Frustration  Challenged  Take on the challenge to motivate the students.

3. What fears do you think your students have?  Content will be too challenging  Not scoring high enough on standardized tests  Amount of work put forth in class  Failure to understand the content

4. How will you mitigate these fears?  First day will be syllabus day  Go over exactly what is expected for the class  Provide a class schedule they can reference throughout the year  Establish a good community with the students/get to know them.

5. Why are student feedback mechanisms important?  To know what students are grasping and what they are failing to obtain  To know how you can improve your teaching strategies  To know what the students need to succeed

6. Describe the student feedback mechanisms you will build.  Exit Slips  Reflection of what they did that day  Did they enjoy the lesson?  How could the lesson be improved in their opinions?  Parent/Teacher conferences  Find out what is going on at home  Assessment of homework

7. What specific actions will you perform to consistently motivate your students? Be specific.  Engaging and interactive activities  Lessons taught through games  Class discussions rather than lectures  Lessons that call for student creativity and ideas

8. Explain why establishing good communication with the parents is crucial.  Figure out what is going on at home  Letting the parents know when/if their child needs additional help outside of class  Notify at appropriate times when more disciplinary actions should be taken.  Praise; letting parents know when their child is doing a good job

9. How will you communicate with their parents?  Parent/teacher conferences  Phone calls  E-mail

10. Describe your first lesson. Outline the sequence in as much detail as you can. It’s a 45 minute class.  Many students find English to be a daunting subject and as a result, end up hating it. In order to motivate these students, and to further get the attention of the students who do find the subject enjoyable, my first lesson’s sole purpose will be to catch the students’ attention and open their eyes to the joys of reading and writing.  My goal in this lesson will be to have every student gain an appreciation of literature, and hopefully even a love for it. To do this, I will point their attention to something everyone enjoys: music.  I will get the students’ opinions on music, and discover some of their favorite music artists and favorite songs. I will then pose the question: Are song lyrics the same as literature, specifically poetry?

11. Describe your first lesson. Outline the sequence in as much detail as you can. It’s a 45 minute class.  Once getting their opinions on whether or not they think song lyrics are the same as literature, I will give them some examples of song lyrics to show them that they are, in fact, literature. I will present the examples in a sort of mini-game where they have to guess which excerpt is from a poem, and which is from a song.

12. Describe your first lesson. Outline the sequence in as much detail as you can. It’s a 45 minute class.  Example #1:  “Then this ebony bird beguiling my sad fancy into smiling, By the grave and stern decorum of the countenance it worse, ‘Though thy crest be shorn and shaven, thou,’ I said, ‘art sure no craven, Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore—Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night’s Plutonian shore!’ Quoth the Raven ‘Nevermore.’” VS  “Just gonna stand there and watch me burn, but that’s alright because I like the way it hurts. Just gonna stand there and hear me cry, but that’s alright because I love the way you lie. I love the way you lie.”

13. Describe your first lesson. Outline the sequence in as much detail as you can. It’s a 45 minute class.  Example #2:  “And so today, my world it smiles, your hand in mine, we walk the miles, thanks to you it will be done, for you to me are the only one. Happiness, no more be sad, happiness, I’m glad. If the sun refused to shine, I would still be loving you. When mountains crumble to the sea, there will still be you and me.” VS  “Well, now, if little by little you stop loving me, I shall stop loving you little by little. If suddenly you forget me do not look for me, for I shall already have forgotten you.”

14. Describe your first lesson. Outline the sequence in as much detail as you can. It’s a 45 minute class.  After we go through a few examples, we will have a discussion and I will ask the question again: Are song lyrics considered to be literature? I will then have the students research some of their favorite songs (Either on their laptops or we will take a trip to the library) to see if they really know what the lyrics are saying. Their favorite songs may be more poetic than they realized.  I will then give them an assignment that will be homework if they do not finish during class. It will be due the next class day. Their assignment is to find songs and poems that they think could pass as either or. They should have three to five written or typed, with the titles of the pieces. The next class day the class will share some of the ones they found and as a class we will try and guess which ones are songs and which ones are poems.  They will turn these in after we have finished sharing.

15. Why is mastery of your course content relevant to them beyond their formal schooling?  If I don’t know the content that I am teaching them, how can I expect them to learn it?  I have to know what I am talking about in order to explain it in a way that my students will understand and comprehend.