10/15/12 (4.5 hours, 9a.m.-12p.m., 2p.m.-3:30p.m.)

Event Log:
The students worked on ACT writing methods and wrote an in-class essay. We looked at examples of ACT essays to find the strong points in them such as organization, word flow, strong transitions, and a clear thesis. For most of the class, though, the focus was on the practice essay. While the students wrote, Ms. Glupker and I walked around the class to read the students’ essays and give live feedback via sticky notes so that they could improve their writing as they wrote. We looked mostly for the points we talked about prior, specifically a clear thesis and strong transitional phrases. After the essay’s allotted time, the students had a few minutes to read over the essays and our notes to edit anything they felt needed to be edited.

Reflection:
What did you see, hear, read, or notice on-site?
During my time in the classroom, I’ve noticed that as the day goes on, Ms. Glupker will change how she structures the class slightly based on what happened in the class prior. She changes things for time and clarity, mostly. As I’ve seen this, I’ve been doing the same in helping the students with their work. I monitor myself to see what I can improve on and what I’m doing well to make sure that each class gets the best out of me that they can. I’ve been working on being faster in my interactions with the students in order to be able to get to more of them in the time available. It’s interesting that, even though I’m doing the same thing in each class, I can find different ways to do those things. It’s a very subtle, yet very important, part of being in a position of teaching to be flexible in your methods.

10/1/2012 (4.5 hours, 9a.m.-12p.m., 2p.m.-3:30p.m.)

Event Log:
We began the class with a presentation on Banned Books Week. It was an introduction to Banned Books Week, along with examples of popularly banned books and the most commonly banned books of 2011. One of the banned books, The Great Gatsby, is a book being taught in the class. The students had many questions about why different books were banned and showed interest in the idea of Banned Books Week. After the presentation, we moved on to a review on “-ing modifiers” and began work on identifying modifying phrases in popular texts. We looked at altered excerpts from a handful of popular texts and compared them to the original to observe how modifying phrases can alter the meaning of a sentence. After this, we began an activity in which each table chose an animal as a team name to compete with each other. The competition involved using four separate “-ing modifiers” to describe their animal as the most fearsome in order to “intimidate” the other teams. I helped the tables I worked with to understand the idea of the task and I contributed one modifying phrase to each. After this, we looked at longer sentences that were made longer using modifying phrases. Each table then received a sheet of paper with a sentence on it — the sentence differing between each class — and a pair of scissors. This activity’s goal was for the students to recognize modifying phrases in order to find the necessary and unnecessary parts of the sentence by cutting it up and indenting any modifying phrase, leaving only the necessary part(s) of the sentence to the left. I helped a table during each class by answering questions about modifying phrases and guiding them to be able to find the phrases on their own and understand why the phrases were unnecessary to the sentence and how they modified the necessary section or each other. After this activity, another competition was put forward between each table — a competition to see which table could write the longest sentence by using modifying phrases to lengthen it. I chose to join the competition myself and I am currently continuing to write my sentence for the next time I’m in the class.

Reflection:
Describe the audience or participants that you are serving.
This day was much more eventful than the first. I was able to work with the students multiple times during each class and get a feel for where they’re at with modifiers. The students have already begun enjoying grammar more with the help of the fun activities used to learn. The groups I worked with seemed to enjoy working with me, which makes me excited to continue working with the classes for the next few weeks or more. I’m also glad that it’s gotten me writing again, as I’ve not been writing as much as I’d like to lately.

9/24/2012 (4.5 hours, 9a.m.-12p.m., 2p.m.-3:30p.m.)

Event Log:
My first day volunteering in Ms. Glupker’s English class since the spring was relatively uneventful compared to what I was used to then. Since I’ve joined the class late, it was a day full of introductions and little hands-on work with the students. I told each class my name, what I’m doing there, my background with writing, and a little about myself personally. I also read them a few of my poems, some of which were written during my time volunteering in the spring, to give them an idea of what kind of writer I am. The classes began learning about modifiers on this day, so during/after a presentation on “-ing modifiers,” they started working on guided notes/in-class work. I helped the students around me to come up with examples of sentences using “-ing phrases.” On this day, and all days I’ll be volunteering, I spent four and a half hours on-site.

Reflection:
Do you feel that you are performing an essential task for your host organization and the larger community?
From my work on this day, I don’t feel as if I’m enriching the experiences of the students yet. I didn’t have much opportunity to do hands-on work with them and so I’ve not yet been able to actually help them learn or get excited about learning. I’m sure in the future, as more facets of grammar are explored in the classes, I’ll be able to do more to make the environment and classroom activities enjoyable.

What problems have you encountered? What have you tried as a solution or what ways might you address the problem in the future?
I’ve noticed that the students generally have neutral or negative thoughts about grammar, which I hope will be changed as the semester continues. Most of the issues they have are with the way that grammar has been taught to them for most, if not all, of their lives, which will change in Ms. Glupker’s class. They will learn with actual examples and usage how to properly structure sentences and employ a variety of grammatical methods instead of learning from a textbook. I hope to get these students as interested and familiar with grammar as the students in the spring became with it.