Literacy Inquiry Project

PA High School

Focus Class
Grade 10 English

Intern: Chira Husky

Mentor: Mark A. Paper

September 2007
 About My Class

My placement is in PA High School. I am teaching three blocks out of four

every day: Grade 12 composition class, OrIELE class, and Grade 10 English

class. Grade 10 is my focus class. I had twenty six students the first day, but the

class kept expanding. I am now working with thirty students in a class room that

won’t fit for any extra chair. We’re closed for this semester!

Because of the size of my class, I am expecting some participation and

discipline issues to come up. It is hard to remember names and make sure

everyone is working on the assigned task and not fooling around. It is also a

concern for me that I won’t have enough time on my hand to give everyone the

chance to be actively involved in class activities.

….It is hard, but not impossible.

With this thought of hope, I embark on my mission of inquiring about my

students.

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My Lovely Students!

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Part 1: The Lived Curriculum
Sources of information:

• Personal observation
• Index Cards
• Survey questions
• Conversation with my mentor Comment [1]: A nice variety of info from you,
your students, and your mentor—this kind of
“triangulation” contributes to the validity of your
conclusions!

Personal Observation:

I noticed at the beginning of the year that most of the students are not in the
right mood and mind set for an ELA class. Most of them made it verbally clear
they don’t care much for writing. When I asked students who read material
outside the school’s curriculum requirement, few hands went up. My students
don’t know why grammar is important. They have no idea why or how
vocabulary can enrich their writing. They have no grasp of styles and structures
and how these can affect their writing. I am talking about writing more than
anything else since it is the one discipline I chose to hammer down this
semester. I will be presenting my class with novels and other texts to touch on
the three other disciplines, but for now, my heart is on writing. I want them to be
good writers and for this reason the first two weeks of class are designated for
grammar lessons that lay the basics. I know you might be in favor of integrated
grammar. Personally, I didn’t learn it this way and I like to teach it
separately…so does my mentor who happened to be teaching for thirty seven
years! Comment [2]: There are many valid rationales
for giving separate attention to grammar—what
makes this seem like the best way for YOUR
To know who my students are and where to start, I passed index cards and students?
asked students to write their personal information and contact numbers on one
side. When they were done, I asked them to flip their cards and write anything
about themselves they like to share. I left it open for them to see in which
direction their thoughts will float. Most of them were reluctant, uncertain, and
annoyed with not having a specific topic to write about. Few students mentioned
not having anything on mind. One after the other, they started dropping few
words on their blank cards and before two minutes lapsed, all of them were
writing. When all of them finished, I asked them to share what they wrote. All
students read their cards. It was interesting to find that there were three
repetitive themes in most of the students’ writings: Family, music, and friends.
They themselves noticed the common factors.

So now, I learned something about my students’ interests and mental

orientation. Most of them play a musical instrument or enjoy listening to music,
family means a lot to them, and friends are the highlight of the action in their
lives! Here are some samples of the index cards they wrote:

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 Comment [3]: Wow! I’m impressed that students
were willing to share some of these intimate details,
especially the one who writes about parents’
divorce…. I notice that all three seem to write about
what keeps them going “when times get tough”—
what does this tell you about the lives of these
students?

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P.S: This is a copy of the questionnaire filled by the students.

Questionnaire

1- What texts do you like to read?

___________________________________________________________

2- What texts do you hate to read?

___________________________________________________________

3- What texts do you read on your own outside the class?

4- Why do you read?

a- For fun
b- For knowledge
c- Because I have to
d- I don’t know

5- Do you write on your own?

a- Yes
b- No
c- Often
d- Rare

6- What do you write?

____________________________________________________________

7- Why do you write?

____________________________________________________________

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8- Do you enjoy reading/writing in class?

a- Yes
b- No
c- Sometimes

9- Do your family members engage in reading/writing/listening activities?

a- Yes (specify)

___________________________________________________________

b- No

10- Do you use the media/technology to accomplish your reading/writing?

a- Yes (specify)

__________________________________________________________

b- No

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 Questionnaire Results Listings

30 students
Note: Since students can give more than one answer, adding up the answers may exceed the
number of the students in class.

1- What texts do you like to read? Number of students

Non fiction 2
Fiction 8
Sport magazines 3
Magazines 10
Internet articles 3
Text messages 2
Adventure stories 1
Mystery books 2
Computer shopping sites 1
Biographies 1
Newspaper 2
Game books 1
History 3
Love stories 2
Grammar books! 1

2-What texts do you hate to read?

History 4
Geography 1
Magazines 1
Romance 7
Non-fiction 2
All 2
Fiction 1
Poetry 1
Plays, drama 1
School books 2
Mystery 1
Journals 1

3-What texts do you read on your own outside the class?

Books 10
Magazines 23
Newspapers 6
Internet and text messages 15
Other 2

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4-Why do you read?
For fun 12
For knowledge 10
Because I have to 5
I don’t know 3

5-Do you write on your own?

Yes 11
No 11
Often 1
Rare 7

6-What do you write?

Poems 3
Journals/diaries 5
Short stories 2
Fiction 2
Text messages 5
E-mails 1
Letters 1
School assignments 1
Movie scripts 1
I don’t write 11

7-Why do you write?

To get what I’m thinking out. 1
I write because I can’t memorize. 2
I write because I have a lot on my mind to say. 1
I write to give information to who I need to. 1
I write to express my feeling and ideas. 3
I write because it is fun. 3
I write because I like to. 1
I don’t know why I write. 1
I write to pass time. 1
I write to release my stress. 1
I write to tell a story. 1
I write to communicate with my friends in other states. 1
I write because I have to (H.W) 2
I don’t write 11

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 8-Do you enjoy reading/writing in class?
Yes 8
No 5
Sometimes 17

9-Do your family members engage in reading/writing/listening activities?

Yes 18 students
My dad reads messages on computer.
My dad reads the newspaper in the morning.
My mom reads health and dental magazines.
My mom reads cook books.
My mom reads lots of books.
My family reads the newspaper.
My family read books.
My host parents read newspaper (student from Thailand)
My sister reads history and e-mails.
We read magazines and newspaper.
We read for 10 minutes before bed time.
I listen to music while doing H.W
I listen to music all night.
We listen to music.
We read books, newspapers and magazines
My mom reads mystery books and my brother reads “music”!

No 12 students

10- Do you use the media/technology to accomplish your reading/writing?

Yes 24 students
Watch T.V documentaries 2
History Channel 1
Microsoft Word 5
Internet 7
Computer 7
Google 2
My Space 1
Cell phone messages 1
MP3 player 1

b- No 6 students

______________________________________________________

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 What does the questionnaire tell me?

The open ended questions of the survey gave me an idea about who my

students are and what they like to read and write about. Not only did I learn

about them, but I also learned about their household literacy’s habits. It was Comment [4]: Can you elaborate? What patterns
did you notice?

interesting to find answers like: I don’t know why I read, or I write because I

have to. I also didn’t expect answers like: I like to read grammar books (1

student) or, I write about life, and I write movie scripts. The questionnaire

same as the index cards help me know my students better and help me draw

a picture of my classroom community. The data I am gathering now from
these various sources will definitely come handy in the near future. Planning
my lessons will depend on what I know about my students and the types of
Comment [5]: For example? I notice that many
students read magazines and internet texts; these
modes often contain multiple media and are
important parts of social networking (e.g., emailing,
talking about what’s hip). How might one capitalize
on students’ experience with these multimodal texts
and make school literacy practices more social?

literacies they like to engage in or are experts at.

_____________________________________________________

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 Indicative Charts
First Chart
Students’ habits of reading: What do you read?

25

20
books
15 m agazines
new spaper
10
internet
5 other

Second Chart
What texts students like to read?
non fiction
14
fiction
12 magazines
10 internet
8 text messages
adventure
6
mystery
4 biographies
2 newspaper

0 history
romance

Third Chart
Students’ interest in writing: Do you write on your own?

12

10

8 Yes
No
6
Often
4
Rare
2

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Fourth Chart
What do students write?

12
poems
10 journals
short stories
8
fiction
6 text messages
e-mails
4
letters
2 movie scripts
don't write
0

Fifth Chart
Incorporating the usage of media/technology to accomplish reading/writing?

18 T.V
16 documentaries
microsoft word
14
12
internet
10
8 cell phone
6 messages
MP3 player
4
2
don't use media
0

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 What do the charts tell me?

The first and second charts show me that students’ first source of information
comes from magazines. In both charts, the magazine bar topples all the rest. In
the questionnaire, I purposely asked the same question in two different manners:
What do you read, and what do you like to read. Both answers reflected in the
charts indicate that magazines rate the highest, which means that students not
only like to read magazines, but they do have access to them and are actually
reading them. I am using the term reading loosely, because I am aware of the
fact that students might just be browsing or looking at the pictures; yet still view
themselves as readers of magazines.

If you look at the third chart you notice that the number of students who write
and those who do not is equal. I have 11 students who write on their own and 11
who don’t write unless required from them. What about the rest? Not much
encouraging; most of the rest fall in the “I rarely write” category. Now that I’m
thinking and reflecting on their attitude when I asked them to write something on
the index cards, I’m wondering whether some of those 11 students who indicated
in the questionnaire that they write on their own, do actually mean what they are
saying or just said so to give me a good first impression about who they are? I’m Comment [6]: Smart to consider the reliability of
each source of evidence!
just guessing here and I will have the rest of the year to figure out.

Chart four has a wide variety of topics and material students like to write
about. This chart will be most helpful for me in preparing writing assignments. I
will take their interests and areas of strength into consideration. Again, this chart,
same as the third reminds me that I have 11 students who do not write at all. I
will need to investigate and come up with ways and strategies to lure them into
writing!

Chart five gives me an idea about who is using the media and why. I don’t
think students have the right answers there. It is a school requirement that all
assignments and H.W be typed before handed in. I don’t accept any handwritten
assignment. This means that all students are typing their h.w using Microsoft
word document. Their answers to the questionnaire indicated that only five
students out of thirty student population are using Microsoft word, which is not Comment [7]: There are other word processing
programs they might be using—or perhaps they
correct. I am also not sure if students can differentiate between a facilitating don’t think of homework as “using”…which tells
program like Microsoft office and an internet source of information like Google. you something in and of itself!

_______________________________________________________

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 Conversation with mentor teacher

In my daily conversation with Mark A. Paper, my mentor teacher, I learned

that my students in English 10 do not have a strong base in language whether in

reading or writing. They don’t read much on their own and always need to be

reminded about why they should do so. Mr. Paper told me that these students do

not value reading because they don’t have their educational goal clearly. They

are still immature and always look at the now and today without having a

perception of what a long term purpose of education is. They don’t have the

bigger picture. To give them some focus on why it is important for them to read

and write, Mr. Paper constantly requests that I ask them: Who wants to go to

college? Do you know that you can’t survive in college if you don’t know what we

are teaching you today? Such questions, according to my mentor teacher,

motivate students to think about college and put what we are teaching them now

in perspective of what the goal is.
______________________________________________________
Comment [8]: Do you agree with this perspective
on literacy as preparation for professional success?
An alternative (and not mutually exclusive) view
would be that literacy is important to communication
and meaning-making, regardless of whether a
student is college-bound….

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 Representing Images
What I want my class to look like at the end of the semester*

Active -Exciting - Engaging

The reason I chose this picture is because students seem to be enjoying the Comment [9]: Can you identify what it is that
makes them appear this way? Perhaps if one can
lesson. They are on the task and actively engaged in meaningful learning. concretize those qualities, they can be fostered in
students more easily!

My class right now!

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 So far my students seem neither engaging nor enjoying the ELA class. The
reason I am adding this picture is to give the closest physical look for my
classroom. Yes, it is jammed. I have hardly enough space to walk between the
desks. The picture shows no students in the class because my students are still
absent minded. They are not there! …and they don’t like grammar. Comment [10]: What a contrast with what I’ve
seen since then—your experiments with Complex
Instruction groupwork made the class seem full and
*pictures courtesy: www.dnr.state.wi.us/.../gsPoster/classroom.htm vital!
www.uhd.edu/.../classrooms_pic_rear_view.htm

_________________________________________________

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Part 2: The Delivered Curriculum

Conversation with mentor teacher

1- What is it that we want students to learn about ELA?

Mr. Paper: Language is important for students to find their place in life and in
society. They limit themselves when they don’t. I want them to learn that
language has enormous power to inspire, persuade, insight, and lead. Comment [11]: This sounds like more than the
“college prep” philosophy mentioned earlier!
Language can be used as a healing or a destruction tool. Students should be
able to discern and look critically at the way they write, speak, and read.
They need to be trained in hearing not just the words, but also what is behind
them. Vocabulary words, parts of speech, and grammatical techniques are
not what language is all about. I want student to go beyond the obvious and
understand the power of the usage of language in any of its forms.

2- What are the big disciplinary ideas that will be addressed over the course
of the year?

Mr. Paper: The four major disciplines will be addressed in order to come to a
greater understanding of how language works. We will approach language
from different angels: How language is produced and analyzed and how it
delivers a message.
Listening/reading/writing/speaking will be equally hit hard because we want
students to read with a purpose, to write with a purpose, and to listen with a
purpose. The four disciplines are interrelated. All components work in concert
with each other to achieve the purpose of learning.

3- What are the short term objectives and the long term goals for this class
this year?

Short term:

Mr. Paper: I want students to learn different styles and structures and the
interrelationship among the two. Voice, style, tone, details, diction, parts of
speech, all these fall under my short term goals.

Long term:

Mr. Paper: My long term objective is to have students appreciate language as

an art form. If they can understand that it is not a collection of words that is
randomly thrown on a piece of paper, it would be great. Good writing is a
product of good planning. They toil over it. It is an on going process. Writing

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is like painting a picture. It can be frustrating sometimes and there can
always be something more to add. Writing is like painting, it is never finished. Comment [12]: I wonder if your students would
appreciate a similar comparison to music?
______________________________________________

List of required texts & Units of Study

Of Mice and Men: Tone and themes of the Great Depression

The Research paper: Persuasion and Critical inquiry

Courage: Definitions and social implications

The Giver: Developing the ability to “see beyond”

The House on Mango Street: Social, cultural and self awareness

Grammar and Composition text book

________________________________________________

Standards & GLCE’s

Unit one: Tone and themes of the great depression

1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 4.1, 4.2

Unit two: Social implications

1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2, 3.4, 4.1

Unit three: Persuasion and critical inquiry

1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 2.1, 2.3, 3.4, 4.1, 4.2

Unit four: Critical awareness, popular culture and satire

1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 4.1

Unit five: Social, cultural and self awareness

1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 3.2, 4.1

The conversation with Mr. Paper regarding what we want students to learn
this year, the disciplinary ideas, and the long and short terms objectives are
major issues we agreed upon. We are both on the same page except for one

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discipline that I have the tendency to emphasis more than the rest in my focus
class. In the first part of this paper I indicated my determination to spend
more time on teaching writing. In this part of the paper, Mr. Paper expresses
his thought about different disciplines and how they are all integrated to
complement each other. I totally agree with Mr. Paper, but based on the
information I got from my personal observation, the survey and my daily
communication with my students, I feel that diverging the focus in four
different directions will confuse them at this point. I don’t think I am capable of
leading my students in all four directions to reach my major goal of having
them recognize the importance of writing and become good writers. Comment [13]: This is very thorough, and I’m
glad you were willing to articulate both how your
goals aligned with your mentor’s and how they
_______________________________________________ differed!

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Part Three: Comparing the two

My mission, as it is coming clear to me, is to bridge the gap between the lived

and the delivered curriculum. From the various sources of information and the

data I gathered for the first part of the inquiry, I found out that my students are

interested in music, magazines and whatever they have access to on the

internet. Their reading and writing literacies is limited to what they read and

write using the internet and their cell phones. There are few of them however

who expressed interest in writing about life, feelings, ideas, journals, and diaries.

How can I use what the students know and invest in what they like to read and

write about to deliver the required curriculum? I don’t pretend to have the right

answer for this part of the inquiry. All I will try to do is sketch my preliminary Comment [14]: Yes—there isn’t just one.

thoughts and put them to the test as I go along. My daily planning will take into Comment [15]: Smart move!

consideration what my mentor teacher identified as the major disciplinary ideas

about reading and writing and what my students’ interests are. Combining the

two will pave the way for me in formulating plans that will provide a logic and

smooth transition between the lived and the delivered curriculum.

Because friendship, family, and music were repetitive themes that students

wrote about at the beginning of last week, and because social, cultural and self

awareness are some of the major themes of the assigned curriculum, I will do my

best to draw the link between students social life and identities to what they will

learn in that designated unit. It will be half way through the semester when we

start the two relevant units: 1- Courage: Definitions and social implication. 2-

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Social, cultural and self awareness. The anchor texts for these units are: The

House on Mango Street, a text of students’ choice on courage and other movies,

poems, and plays. E.g.: Twelve Angry Men (play), Dead Poet’s society (movie)

Courage by Anne Sexton (poem). I am planning to integrate lessons in which

students can use your knowledge, insight, aspiration, and dreams to develop

their writing and reading skills. Topics like courage, chivalry, adventure,

mystery, romance, family, and ties of friendship will narrow down the discrepancy

between what I should teach them and what they will eventually learn.
Comment [16]: Can you give some specifics?
I’m thinking, for example, of the gateway activity
you used at the beginning of Of Mice and Men to
help students understand the dreams of Lenny and
George by considering their own….

Comparing my findings in part 1 and 2 proves to me that this internship year In addition to building on these interests as topics,
what kinds of knowledge and skills might students
have
will be challenging and quite handful. In this literacy inquiry I did my best to “1-

Know as much as I can about my students and 2- Study the required curriculum

including the standards, texts(anchor and linking), long term objectives, big

ideas, themes, and the designated types of assessment for each unit in addition

to my daily conversation with my mentor teacher. Although I mentioned that it is

going to be toward the middle of the semester when the delivered and

experienced curriculum will come close to meet, yet I will start from now to come
up with ideas and initiating classroom activities that acknowledge what the
curriculum standards request and what my English 10 students know, relate to,
Comment [17]: I imagine it’s possible for them
to meet in each lesson if the activities allow for a
certain openness to students’ lives and experiences.
Your index card activity already turned an
administrative task into a way to share more personal
details!

are experienced in, and enjoy talking about.

______________________________________________

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