"A Lesson Cycle for Teaching Expository Reading and Writing" by Jose Montelongo et al

This article was very conducive due to the fact that it did not only offer criticisms and theories. The writers actually display tables and graphic organizers that teachers can use to help the students in general and  the same they can be used in differentiation to assist those who are struggling. The first table they depict is the different types of text structures and corresponding examples. They analyze the structures of generalization, sequence, compare and contrast, cause and effect, as well as problem and solution paragraphs. They also offer a four part lesson cycle where they guide students through the writing stages of reading and learning new vocabulary words, understanding the five paragraph structures that were previously mentioned, a modified sentence completion activity and rewriting the text. The writers also created a sample experimental schedule for one week and showed reports of how the students grades improved after the implementation of these methods.

*FRUITS*
The fruits were all of the tables, charts and the graphic organizer that were mentioned in the synopsis above.  

*WEEDS*
How can a college professor can take time out of a tight syllabus to pay attention to students that are falling behind. Would the other students be wrong to complain if such an instance occurred?

I'm also curious to know whether or not a syllabus can be modified for the purpose of differentiation.

*BASKET*
Everything from this reading is going in my basket. I took an Education course this summer and I learned that there are numerous resources online for school teachers. I'll dedicate the remnant of this month to see if such resources exist for college professors as well.

"Literacy, Identity, Imagination, Flight" by Keith Gilyard

Let me start off by saying wow! I never thought I would come across a reading where an English professor would reference W.E.B. Du Bois, Paul Laurence Dunbar, James Brown and Jay-Z in the same text. It is apparent that Mr. Gilyard is a highly educated man of color who is well respected in the world of academia but from the method in which he fluctuates his vernacular from formal/standard English to a more colloquial tone, makes it clearly indicative that he is trying to permeate his message into the minds of the young aspiring educators such as myself. The moral of the story is that it is a blessing to society for young people to go to college and obtain a bachelors degree, but it could be a curse to ones own soul if he/she earns that degree and loses 360 degrees of who she/he was before attending the first class. In a nut shell he's telling his audience yeah I got my education, you know what I'm saying? But I ain't catch amnesia. Son!-lol-

*FRUITS*
Dr. Martin Luther King chose to "subordinate certain other imaginative pursuits, such as leisurely study and contemplation of music and literature, to the taxing demands of the civil rights movement. And I thought of how often that kind of tradeoff has been made, how people have set aside particular and perhaps preferred flights of fancy because they have become absorbed in pressing matters that often have weighed them down and have not seemed very fanciful at all." (260-261)

"For example what I comprehend about structuralism and post structuralism is due to James Brown. On his recording There Was a Time, Brown opens by singing/stating that There was a dance, hah/ there was a time, hah/when I used to dance, hah. Let's examine this. The dance is the structure, the pattern of rythmic movements. For Brown to repeat the movements establishes a certain meaning inside a particular system of signification."(265)

"......students need to comprehend as completely as possible how discourse operates, which means understanding how the dominant or most powerful discourse serves to regulate and reproduce patterns of privilege."(266)

"Even as the view of language and learning I have been describing prompts us to develop courses that are broadly inviting with respect to linguistic and cultural differences, that encourage students to contribute through their writing to fuller accounts of the world....."(267)

*WEEDS* None.

*BASKET*
Frankly, this article had more fruits than a supermarket produce section. It appeals to me so much because I was the ghetto youth who was once recluse because I was afraid that people would find out that my family was struggling financially.  If I teach in the inner-city chances are my students will be faced with the same insatiable urges to be mute. Maybe from ignorance maybe from shame. I must teach my students that their stories are relevant regardless of what they are going through in life. I have to find creative ways of celebrating diversity as well as adversity. It's not where they are it is where they are going that counts.

A place where a budding teacher can grow.

I chose to name this Blog The Pedagogy Garden, because in the world of education I consider myself to be a seed that can one day cultivate into an experienced educator. Since I started public school circa the early eighties, I have been blessed to have encountered a few teachers that used their gifts of teaching to motivate their students to go on mass treasure hunts to find their own passions. I hope to do the same thing for my students, but before I teach, I must be taught.

The purpose of this blog is to analyze the readings that I am given in this Intro to Teaching Writing and Literature course and to invite my classmates to respond to the opinions that I post, as I hope to do for them on their blogs. I plan on introducing each reading with a succinct summary and then pulling out three main parts from each of them. The first part would be the "fruits" or the words of wisdom that I found to be the most poignant throughout the text. The next part would be the "weeds" or the points in which I found to be cryptic or ideas that I disagree with. The last part would be the "basket" which I will fill with the fruits that I plan on taking into the real world with me when I start teaching. This is where you come in. If you have any ideas as to how I can implement any fruits into my lessons please share your advice. I'm looking forward to having a fun semester with you all. Let's do it!