Fund of Knowledge Inventory

ECI 521 is based on three outcomes, each rooted in a different aspect of self. By the end of this class, I expect to develop more effective teaching skills by strengthening my Professional Self, my Literate Self, and my Virtual Self.

Before embarking on my ECI 521 journey, I conducted a self-assessment of my current proficiencies and set personal goals related to each standard. In the process, I reflected on my own literacy development during my young adult years.

Professional Self

I arrived in ECI 521 with a solid background in creating educational experiences for young people that challenge them to think critically about texts, explore social justice issues, and engage with material creatively. For instance, I regularly conduct Torah study sessions with teens and tweens. Rather than merely reading the text and discussing it with students, I incorporate experiential elements into the lesson to help students connect with and “own” the old-fashioned language.

Recently, before discussing Psalm 133 I had the group perform some team-building activities, culminating with students hitting a piñata while blindfolded as their classmates gave them instructions on where to swing.  While we ate candy from the piñata, we discussed the Psalm: “How good it is and how pleasant when brothers dwell together in unity.”

I could have simply presented the verse and asked students to discuss it. They probably would have been able to explain what it meant, but their explanations would likely have been abstract and impersonal. Having just experienced the joy of working together to achieve a common goal (candy!) they were able to relate the psalm to their lives more personally. It was also easy for them to think of other examples of the benefits of working together. The activity “jump started” their understanding of the text and scaffolded our discussion by activating prior knowledge.

We ended the session by linking Psalm 133 to a quote from Rabbi Ben Zoma: “Who is wise? He who learns from everyone.”  Since the students had already discussed the benefits of community and teamwork, they were able to grasp what Ben Zoma meant quickly and understand how it related to the psalm. Their comments were insightful, and everyone was engaged in the conversation.

My decision to connect texts with personal experience is informed by the summer I spent at NC Governor’s School (NCGS) during high school. I don’t have many memories of reading books in school. I know I did book reports and projects related to books we read in class, but I have few specific memories of the books I read for English class, even though I remember the books I read on my own, and I remember the work I did in college.

In fact, I have only two distinct memories of reading books in a school setting prior to college. First, I remember plodding through Wuthering Heights in eighth grade and hating it. Class discussions mostly focused on the teacher explaining what was happening in the novel, scene by scene. It was uninspiring, to say the least.

In contrast, the work I did at NCGS made a huge and positive impression on me. In my poetry class, we read Wallace Stevens’ “The Emperor of Ice Cream.” We did not read the poem once; we read it over and over again. We explored the language, discussed its meaning, and dissected its cadences. We learned that poem, not only as a piece of writing, but as a kind of textual friend. We absorbed it and considered it and really engaged with it.

At NCGS I also took an ethics class. We learned about the My Lai massacre and the Milgram experiments. More importantly, we discussed these ethical quandaries. The teacher gave us a lot of really powerful information and then let us talk about it authentically and freely. There were no easy answers, and I remember feeling incredibly challenged in a way I never had before.

My goal for ECI 521 is to strengthen my Professional Self in three ways:

First, I would like to extend my teaching methods to encompass longer, more complex texts. Most of my teaching experience involves close reading of small excerpts of text. I would like to learn how to sustain the intensity of close reading over the course of an entire novel. 

I am an avid reader, and I especially enjoy reading YA literature. However, until ECI521, I never spent a lot of time thinking about what makes a novel "YA" as opposed to adult or children's lit. And although I definitely thought about (and sometimes raved to my friends/family/strangers willing to listen to me about) the books I read, I did not spend much time analyzing my own response to the texts.

I still have a long way to go before I will be truly adept at teaching anything, much less an entire novel. But thanks to this class I have a much better idea of how to select books to use in my classroom and what questions to ask of myself and of my students before, during, and after reading. I feel a lot more confident about my ability to support my students as they read and respond to longer texts.  

Second, although I have experience discussing social justice issues with young people, I tend to focus on texts with obvious links to social justice and ethics. It is no stretch to consider Talmud in light of social justice. It is more challenging to link social justice issues to secular texts. I was impressed by Jen’s ability to help students link the social justice themes of Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery” with the poem “The Incident” by Countee Cullen. I would like to help my students make similar connections between text and social justice.

I think my biggest take-away from the class might have been my realization during our most recent second life meeting that - for me - the term "multi-cultural" is meaningless, at least insofar as it informs the texts in my classroom. Culture is such an abstract term, and it raises so many more questions than it solves.

In contrast, the idea of many voices feels like a concrete - and attainable - goal. Texts are stories: fictional stories, true stories, allegorical stories, etc. And every story is told in someone's voice, from someone's perspective. I now understand that social justice means creating a space in my classroom for many different voices - and many different perspectives. 

That means including texts written by many different people who identify with many different affinity groups. Whether those writers represent different cultures, nationalities, races, or ethnicities is less important to me than whether they represent a broad cross-section of worldviews. Fortunately, such a cross-section will most likely include so-called "multi-cultural diversity." 

Reading Aronson helped me understand that keeping an open mind and questioning my own assumptions is key to creating a classroom that fosters social justice - and good teaching. Reading Lisa Delpit reminded me that I need to be humble enough to hear what other people - teachers, parents, administrators, and students - are telling me about how they view social justice and what they need from me as a colleague and an educator. I'm surprised and pleased by how much ECI521 extended my thinking about social justice in the classroom.

Finally, I want to become more adept at helping students develop their own critical thinking skills. I tend to “drop a trail of breadcrumbs” when I teach, leading students to specific realizations and guiding them through the text. I would like to learn how to help students make inferences about their reading and synthesize texts independently, rather than simply following a path that I forge for them.

This aspect of my professional development is the one I feel least sure of. As I stated above, I feel like I have a better idea of which questions to ask when choosing and reading a text. For now, I think that's all I can expect. As I gain teaching experience, I hope to continue to develop this important professional skill of teaching my students how to be learners and thinkers, not merely followers or parrots.

Literate Self

I’ve read a lot of young adult literature all my life, and I plan to continue doing so. When I lived in Seattle, I had a teenaged book buddy with whom I swapped novels. She introduced me to amazing books like The Hunger Games. I also have adult friends who share my passion for YA literature. They have helped me discover fabulous authors like Jacyln Moriarty, M.T. Anderson, Ally Carter, and John Green.

Reading YA literature is a joy that I never outgrew – and I hope I never do. In addition to reading new books, I also love to re-read my old favorites: Robin McKinley’s The Hero and the Crown, Patricia Wrede’s Dealing with Dragons series, and Diane Duane’s So You Want to be a Wizard books.  I will have no problem modeling good reading habits for my students! Because I read widely (graphic novels, contemporary fiction, steampunk, fantasy, dystopian fiction, etc) I will also be well-positioned to recommend texts to my students.

I have three goals with respect to improving my Literate Self:

First, I would like to learn how to link Young Adult literature with more traditional texts. I think it is important to help students understand how contemporary books relate to classics.
After ECI521, I have a few more ideas about linking contemporary and "classic" literature, mainly because I now view this entire issue through the lens of radical change. Rather than stressing over which texts "go together" I am now primarily interested in helping students understand that all literature is woven into the larger social fabric and part of a continuum stretching across time and throughout the world. 

A text like Nothing, for instance, can be linked with traditional allegories, but also embodies new ideas about the darkness of the adolescent experience. Graphica can be linked to a rich tradition of illustrated stories, but also - because of its reliance on dialogue - can be understood as a new kind of play. 

Overall, I now think more about helping students read texts critically, in conjunction with any and every other text, rather than simply as part of a unit or as part of a neatly packaged "compare and contrast" lesson. Come to think of it, this is probably one of my greatest tools in helping students build critical thinking skills: encouraging them to think about every new text they read in light of the texts they have already read, and challenging them to consider whether/how the new text changes, strengthens, or informs what they learned from the older text(s). 

Second, I would like to expand my reading to encompass more multi-cultural YA and more non-fiction.
Done.

Seriously, aside from the books I actually read in this class, I now have a huge list of additional books to read. Spending a solid 6 weeks (was it only 6 weeks?!?!?!?) immersed in the world of YA Lit got me out of my rut of favorite authors and challenged me to explore a greater variety of literature. Stitches is now on my list of books to read, as is Shipbreaker, and I just started Beauty Queens today - LOVING IT. 

I expanded my idea of non-fiction to encompass personal essays (which I love) and graphic novels like Persepolis and Maus. Expanding my idea of what constitutes non-fiction helped me understand how to teach with it. It also helped me see non-fiction as a valuable tool for promoting diversity, since non-fiction can be a great way to incorporate authentic voices from a variety of people/times/places into the classroom.

Finally, I would like to learn how to motivate reluctant readers. My passion for reading may appeal to some students, but it could alienate students for whom reading is a boring chore. I do not want to make the mistake of assuming that I can inspire my students to read through the sheer power of my own enthusiasm.

My Action Learning Project helped me a great deal in this area. Reading aloud is a wonderful way to share my own passion for reading and inspire a similar passion in my students. Reading aloud to students is a great tool for sharing the joy of literature in an inclusive, stress-free, and enjoyable way. I definitely plan to use read-alouds as a scaffolding device to encourage reluctant readers by helping them enjoy the meaning of the text, even if they struggle with the mechanics of reading it.

Virtual Self
Prior to beginning the NCSU MAT program, I had limited experience using Web 2.0 tools to teach. Since beginning the program I have built a webquest, learned to podcast, blogged, contributed to Wikis, built websites, and even used ToonDoo. 

I am confident in my ability to use these “new literacies” although I am still not entirely convinced every Web 2.0 tool is useful or appropriate to help students connect with texts.

Because I grew up in the 80s and 90s, I vividly remember the digital revolution: the birth of the Internet, the rise of the cell phone, and the emergence of the laptop all took place during my late teens and early twenties. In high school, my best friend and I used my parents’ VHS camera to make a video called “Basketball for the Beginner” for extra-credit in gym class.

We were so proud of our rudimentary editing, which mostly involved rewinding mistakes and recording over them. I remember how hard we worked on that project, and how much pride we took in the finished product. I transferred it to DVD a few years ago. I don’t know when I will have the urge to watch a grainy and extremely embarrassing video of my teen-aged self, but if the day ever comes, I won’t have to locate a VCR.

Looking back on this experience, I remember how great it felt to create something using cutting-edge tools. My friend and I were motivated by the novelty of the medium and we felt like we were doing something unique, exciting and special. If Web 2.0 tools help my students feel the same way, I think that’s a great thing.

On the other hand, while I remember having a lot of fun creating the video, I did not consider the project to be academically rigorous. A common question educators raise about Web 2.0 tools is how to ensure that new technologies contribute to students’ intellectual progress in meaningful ways. Looking back at my own experiences, I think this is a legitimate concern.

However, as I reviewed my old high school project while I was writing this reflection, I noticed things about it that I had not previously considered. Before filming, my friend and I came up with an idea for our movie, wrote a script, and rehearsed. Even though the project did not feel like hard work, it required a great deal of collaboration, planning, and even writing. Reflecting on my high school experiences actually makes me feel better about using Web 2.0 tools in my future classroom. Students can have fun with Web 2.0 projects and still be engaged in substantive work.

My primary goal for improving my Virtual Self is to become more adept at connecting Web 2.0 tools with traditional literature in ways that maximize the attributes of both. I think I have made great strides in this area over the past year, but I still have a great deal to learn. 

In ECI521 I continued exploring new Web 2.0 tools. I think this class was the most intentional in its use of Web 2.0 of any I have taken so far. I felt as though every tool was being used for a reason - not just to introduce us to a bunch of new websites. 

Bookcasting was a new experience for me, but I feel really comfortable with it, now, and I understand how it can be used to help readers think more deeply about their reactions to a piece of literature. Second Life was also new to me, and it was a good experience. Twitter was not new, but this was the first class where it felt like a tool for communicating, rather than a meaningless bunch of posts that students tweeted because the professor required it.


Overall, I think this class was the one in which my new familiarity with Web 2.0 tools began to feel like a useful way to engage with texts. I'm really happy about that, because last semester it was a real struggle to figure out how learning a bunch of random new applications was going to help me become a better teacher. Again, I think intentionality is the key, and I appreciate how Professor Crissman modeled the kind of intentional use of Web 2.0 tools I hope to employ in my own classroom someday.

Synthesis

Re-reading this Fund of Knowledge Inventory, it strikes me that I have a lot of valuable “raw materials” at my disposal: a love of reading in general and YA literature in particular; experience helping students connect with texts personally and experientially; and a history of blending traditional literacies with new technologies.

Underlying these strengths, however, runs a current of uncertainty. I do not yet know how to translate my own experiences into effective teaching strategies. I know what works for me – and what doesn’t – and I know how to teach students effectively under very specific condition. But I don’t know how to apply my teaching skills more broadly to reach students who might have very different learning preferences.

After reading my FOKI, it seems to me that my over-arching goal for this course is learning how to “tie it all together” and translate my love of reading to effective teaching practices.

I am pleased with the progress I made toward my goals in just a few short weeks. I really do feel that this class helped me accomplish my over-arching goal of "tying it all together." After taking ECI 521, I see a lot more connections among reading, writing, social justice, critical thinking, and even assessment.  

Looking back over this class, I am amazed at how much I accomplished and how far I have come! As I prepare for my final semester of coursework before student teaching, I feel much more confident in my ability to create dynamic lessons that engage students with different learning preferences and academic needs. I still have a lot to learn, but after taking this class I feel better equipped to ask the right questions and seek answers from the most helpful sources.