Kristi Trickey
ENGL 409
Portfolio Response
Author’s Note: Highlighted sections discuss artifacts included in the portfolio.
Dear Reader,
I’ve spent the past four year of my life taking on the difficult task of choosing my
career and figuring out just where I wanted to go in life. Now here I am: a senior
majoring in Secondary Education. Education was never my first choice. I entered
college as Journalism major. When that choice didn’t pan out, I switched to Public
Relations, but something still didn’t feel right. The idea to major in education just sort of
hit me one day when I was pondering my choices. A degree in English for secondary
education just sort of made sense: I love writing, I have always had a dedication for
learning and sharing knowledge, I love kids, and I have a passion for helping people.
Once I set my mind to teaching, I jumped in and fully submersed myself in the field.
While deciding to enter a field I knew very little about was scary at first, I’m glad I made
the decision. Ultimately, this career encompasses all of my passions and it is the only
major I have never for a second doubted. I’ve had quite a few amazing experiences
working in classes that have solidified my decision—but the most important thing is this:
every time I step in front of a class to teach, I feel like everything in the world is right,
that I am where I am supposed to be. Now that I know where I am going, I’ve got to
figure out what I’m going to do when I get there. I no longer have to worry about who I’m
going to be, but now I have to worry about what kind of teacher I am going to be. As my
time to student teach swiftly approaches, I can feel myself starting to get nervous, I feel
that I have so much potential, and I want to make sure that I can unleash this potential
on my future students. Luckily, Eastern Michigan University has an extremely
supportive curriculum in place for teacher preparation. ENGL 409 is part of that
Kristi Trickey
ENGL 409
Portfolio Response
curriculum and has proven to be a highly beneficial class in helping me to fine tune my
teaching skills. Through my experiences this semester in ENGL 409, I’ve been able to
figure out not only what I will teach, but how I will teach it, in addition to helping me for
my own personal teaching philosophy.
When it comes to my teaching philosophy, my first rule is this: teaching is never
targeted at one specific learning style. Teaching is all about differentiation and
implementing a variety of lessons to meet all of the different types of learning styles you
will encounter. When I approached the education field, I had this vision of the perfect
classroom. One in which students were always on time, always prepared, and always
engaged and able to comprehend the lesson—no one told me that this classroom
rarely, if ever, exists. Instead, my first experience in the classroom during my CURR
305 course last winter was an eye-opener. I experienced the chaos of thirty hyper
preteens competing with one teacher. My first day in that seventh grade classroom was
exhausting; however, as I continued my work in the classroom I began to notice what
was really happening: within this classroom, there were thirty different learning styles
and one teaching style. Each class period was roughly the same: Attendance,
vocabulary, reading out loud, and a worksheet for homework. Sure there was the
occasional project and movie to view, but all in all there was no differentiation.
When it comes to teaching I feel that differentiation is one of the most challenging
aspects, as well as the one that can be most easily overlooked by teachers who fall into
a routine of standard lessons. I will be the first to admit that I am an obsessively
organized individual, and I’m sure that that shows in my unit plans. I love structure and I
take solace in the fact that, with structure, I know exactly how things will happen. This
Kristi Trickey
ENGL 409
Portfolio Response
doesn’t always work in the classroom though.Luckily, this semester provided many
opportunities to practice my differentiation through the Preliminary Unit and the
Summative Unit projects. While my class periods follow a certain structure (ie: daily
journal, introduction of material, and assessment), I tried to make sure that my lessons
reflected a variety of learning styles.
In my Preliminary Group Unit created at the beginning of the semester, I worked
with Allison Carmack and Amanda Parks to create a variety of student focused lessons
centered on the Young Adult novel Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson. Our lessons
allowed students to explore various aspects of the novel outside of traditional lecture
format. My favorite lesson that we created together was a creative writing lesson in
which students were to rewrite a scene in which Emma, the protagonist Lia’s younger
sister, walks in on her sister’s self destructive behaviors. The students will rewrite the
scene from Emma’s point-of-view. They will be instructed to detail what she sees, how
she feels, and where she will go from the event. I love this lesson in particular because
it appeals to a wide range of learners. Through this lesson, I would be able to reach the
students who thrive on creativity, those who love to use their analytical skills, and those
who prefer writing activities as opposed to lecture formatted classes.
Additionally, in our preliminary unit Amanda, Allison, and I made sure to place
focus on the students who like to have the opportunity to explore various topics
surrounding the novel. We created a summative assessment that allowed them to look
at social issues surrounding the novel (eating disorders, socioeconomic status, etc).
This assessment allowed structured, research-minded students to explore a topic of
their choice while the presentation aspect of this topic would cater to the students who
Kristi Trickey
ENGL 409
Portfolio Response
are audio learners and need to hear/talk through their problems in order to absorb all of
the information. I feel that with those two lessons, in conjunction with the rest of our unit,
Allison, Amanda, and I have crafted a unit that will be able to reach a variety of
students, all while following a structure that ensures students will not be surprised by
their lessons. It is my goal as an educator to have students that feel challenged and
engaged by their lessons—not surprised.
In order for students to feel challenged and engaged in my classroom, it will be
necessary that I craft lesson plans that both peaks their interests and gives them
enough time to fully take in the material I was trying to teach. A huge part of my
teaching philosophy will be this: Approach each unit with a sense of urgency, but don’t
feel as if you have no time to re-teach or slow down. I feel that with my initial completion
of my Summative Unit assessment, I felt that I had to keep my lessons down to 20 days.
Even my summative assessment project—a 10 to 12 minute persuasive speech—was
rushed. In my going back to edit the unit, I made sure that I allotted enough time to fully
teach my lessons. For the Brave New World portion of my lessons, I felt especially
rushed to get through my lessons and move onto the summative assessment. Huxley’s
novel contains many heavy topics—such as genetics, technology, and caste systems
within society—that simply cannot be rushed through. While making changes, I made
sure to give myself opportunities to revisit heavier topics, even adding the genetics
discussion into the second day’s lecture portion. Just to get through the first three
chapters of the novel, I’ve allowed three class periods to ensure that students are fully
comfortable with the material they are being exposed to. This is a fairly large change in
terms of my original draft in which I only allotted the second class period for this section.
Kristi Trickey
ENGL 409
Portfolio Response
Keeping students engaged also means creating lessons that will hold their
attention. The capstone of my Summative Unit on Dystopian Societies in relation to our
society is my persuasive speech summative assessment. In the original copy of my unit,
each of the approximately 30 students in my class wrote on the same topic: which
dystopian society are we closer to—Brave New World or The Hunger Games. Professor
Tucker pointed out that with a large class, this topic could become mind numbingly dull.
Upon my revisions, I revisited the assessment and made a few changes in the hopes
that students would remain engaged. The biggest change I implemented in this
assessment is that students were no longer choosing one book to compare our society
to, however, they will be picking one element from one of the books to compare the
parallel in our society to (ie: reality television, government control, drug use, etc). The
students’ objectives will be to show their peers the relations between their particular
aspect of the novel and our society. The variation in topics was put into place in an
effort to keep students from getting bored with five days of speeches.
Through my completion of the Summative Unit, I’ve discovered that the hardest
part of teaching for me will be teaching grammar and language. I remember being in
high school and middle school and absolutely dreading these types of lessons. They
were always so focused on rules that there seemed to be very little room to have fun
with language. For my Teacher Research Project, I interviewed my former 8th Grade
Language Arts teacher, Sarah Krafchak. During our interview, she said something that
struck me as hugely important in teaching. She told me that in order to get my students
to care about what I teach, I will have to be as enthusiastic as I want them to be. I
believe that this statement rings especially true with something as potentially dry but
Kristi Trickey
ENGL 409
Portfolio Response
also immensely important as language in the secondary classroom. With this in mind, I
have decided to make sure that I make my language lessons as appealing to young
minds as possible. While I know that, realistically, I will have to take a few lecture days
to teach the language rules basics, I don’t want all of my lessons to be in that format. I
am pretty proud of my language lesson from my summative unit. This particular lesson
is focused on teaching students that there are different styles in language and that they
all appear at various appropriate times. This lesson is in place to get students thinking
about the variations in language styles that appear in Brave New World, but also to
prepare them for the language they will have to use in their persuasive speeches. I did
edit this lesson to make room to prompt students to analyze the way the language
styles coexist in the novel. I really like this lesson because it incorporates their reading
material and forces students to look at language away from the standard “rules of
speech,” format. Adding lesson variations such as this will hopefully help my students to
stay involved in their language lessons. It is my hope that they will learn about
language, and actually enjoy learning about it.
As a teacher, I plan on bringing Mrs. Krafchak’s advice about enthusiasm into my
classroom when forming my classroom environment. I strongly believe that classrooms
should be safe and inclusive places where students feel that they can share their
thoughts. This rings especially true in English classrooms, as students can tend to feel
especially vulnerable when responding to literature or reading a particularly hard piece.
As Krafchak also said, writing exposes vulnerabilities. Knowing this, it is absolutely
necessary that I make my classroom as safe and supportive feeling as possible. One of
the ways I plan on doing this is through my assessment methods. I am a huge fan of the
Kristi Trickey
ENGL 409
Portfolio Response
portfolio method of assessment—especially one that is highly student centered. During
my Teacher Research Project, I looked closely at the portfolio method of assessment
and I found that it really does seem to support student learning, as it looks at every
assignment as a piece of a process, not as an ultimate end. Mrs. Krafchak implements
a portfolio method into her classroom. Additionally, all of her rubrics for her assignments
are student created. She suggests that this practice allows students to take more
ownership of their work. They feel safer in an environment in which they help to create
the “rules.” They feel more supported in an environment where they have a say in how
they will be graded because they know they will never be surprised. As a teacher, I will
strive to make sure that my students know that I am there as a supportive figure. I want
nothing more than success for each and every one of them. I will show them this by
allowing them to have a say in my classroom and by being as enthusiastic and helpful
as I possibly can.
Throughout the semester in ENGL 409, I have found that one of my most
valuable resources has been the textbook required for the class: Randy Bomer’s
Building Adolescent Literature in Today’s English Classrooms. Through his text, Bomer
proves that he not only truly knows what he’s talking about when he discusses
education, but that he genuinely cares about teaching. This is a refreshing change from
the typical dry textbooks that simply tell you how to teach. Bomer seems to be simply
giving advice to teachers through his extensive experience teaching English to
secondary students. His book isn’t a rule book, but rather a guide book prompting
teachers to create lessons that will both engage and benefit the students.
Kristi Trickey
ENGL 409
Portfolio Response
I had the opportunity to see Bomer speak at Western Michigan University this
past November. His speech was in support of his text, so I knew there was going to be
parallels between what he was saying and what I’ve read. I was really pleased to hear
him speak on what I feel is one of the most compelling parts of his text: teaching
students writing by unlocking their current everyday literacy. Bomer jumps into this topic
early on in his text, he uses all of Chapter Two to discuss accessing and using prior
literacy to engage students in the classroom and to prepare them to become everyday
writers. My favorite topic under this chapter is “Connecting Academic to Everyday
Practices,” (46). This is one of the main topics of his speech at Western as well. Bomer
suggests that it is the duty of the teacher to show the students that they are readers and
writers in their daily life. He gives the example of a girl getting signatures for a yearbook
as proof that literacy exists outside of the classroom, “As a voluntary, unofficial practice,
it provides and interesting way to think about a writer’s notebook—as perhaps also
memorializing social relationships,” (47). He suggests that showing students that they
implement reading and writing into their everyday life helps the subject to seem less
daunting. Their understanding that they do, in fact, have reading and writing skills will
help to prepare them for continuing to build upon these skills.
In chapter two, Bomer also notes that teachers must be sensitive to the students
made vulnerable by the school system—and notes that they will most definitely show up
in the English classroom (42). As I stated in my classroom environment philosophy, I
feel that it is important to be especially supportive of these students, however, Bomer
suggests that it is also possible to be overly supportive in a negative way. He suggests
that over-support can lead to the teacher starting, “to regard students as deficient, start
Kristi Trickey
ENGL 409
Portfolio Response
thinking of them in terms of their weaknesses rather than their resources, tools and
strengths. There is a balance to strike between noticing struggles and redirecting
attention towards strengths,” (43). When I enter the classroom to teach, I plan on
keeping Bomer’s advice in mind. I never want to focus on a student’s weaknesses as
something that will “ruin” them as a reader and writer. Instead, I want to highlight their
strengths and show them how they can use the strengths they already have to
supplement and support their weaknesses. I’ve unfortunately seen the teachers that
Bomer is describing: the ones that believe that students who struggle are somehow
hopeless and broken. I never want to be that teacher.
As I conclude my methods course, and my final semester of education based
classes before I student teach, I am beginning to look at educating as a process. Much
like the writing process, there is never true final piece, there is always room for growth
and change. While I have begun forming my own teaching philosophy, I know that as
my experiences in the classroom change so too will my philosophies. Teaching is about
adapting to the needs of each classroom and each student. It is about being able to
identify those needs and creating lessons that meet the needs. As student teaching
approaches, I am filled with excitement and anticipation, but not fear. I know that this is
only one of many steps in my process of becoming a great teacher, and I can’t wait to
get started!
Sincerely,
Kristine Trickey
December 8, 2011