Mr. P's Pedagogical Workbench

I wrote this poem in bed the morning before my second lesson of my unit. The first lesson went fine (actually, pretty good), but those perennial spirits of anxiety and low self-esteem creeped into my head; I found myself falling into the jaws of some dark foe. This poem is a response to that feeling. The metaphor of the tiger not only extends to our teaching lives, but also our day-to-day interactions. Let us beware those creatures that stalk in the brush.  Let us hold onto our roar. The Tiger By Ashton Pacholski Class, you are dismissed. You walk out the door, looking up to see the darkness surrounding you. You tread lightly to your car aware of the icy path in front of you. At home, you throw the backpack down anxious to pick it back up. At your desk, you smile briefly thinking of your coronation: The black and yellow crown, the pendulous tassel, the adulation of peers. In bed, you hide beneath false security, blankets of tears....

Reading through Robertson and Ford’s article on Language Acquisition for English Language Learners (ELLs), I couldn’t help but think about an insightful point from Randy Bomer: “...students need to learn ways of thinking about language...that will allow them to respect other citizens across differences” (2011). The key word from the aforementioned quote is respect . As future educators of ELLs, we need to establish on the onset of instruction that learning English does not allow for the denigration of other languages. Historically speaking, the lingua franca of English has long since held a prestigious banner over all the other languages. Due to its universality, and power (due to socio-political reasons), English has been thrusted on a pedestal as the language that is synonymous with social—upward—mobility. Although I agree English is the language of global business, educators need to come together to bring light to the fact that Standard American English (SAE) is simply a dialect ....

First, make sure you pee. If anything else, don’t neglect your bladder. What you think you can hold at the beginning of a read-aloud could change three...no two paragraphs in.             After that’s taken care of, make sure you confer with your MT.             What? Read? Oh! Yeah. No problem.             Remember those last two words: No problem .             Remember them when you walk—slightly hungover—to the front of the class, a book in hand that you haven’t even opened once this semester. Although, don’t worry. They don’t know that. Look at them. They probably think you worship the works of this author. Whoever it is. Shakespeare? Turn the book around. Oh, Faulkner. Breathe.             Wipe the sw...

My class just finished reading the novel Lord of the Flies (1954) by William Golding. As a proverbial cherry on top for the unit, my MT (Mentor Teacher) and I decided to show them the film adaptation. You know, the black and white arthouse flick from the 60s? Yeah, that one. Anyways, we decided to show them the film because we both felt that the students had a somewhat hard time engaging with the text. Retrospectively, we felt there was a missing sense that the students were being deprived of: we realized that students had a hard time connecting to Golding’s images. Wanting to adhere to notions of dual-coding (that is delivering information in visual and verbal formats) we decided to allow real images (i.e. the film) to help build their understanding of the novel, the setting, the characters, etc. Reading through a pedagogical text, I was surprised to see this notion supported: “[films, video, etc.] serve as parallel texts that lay thematic content alongside the writer’s ideas in pri...

For attending my first ever Kansas Association of Teachers of English (KATE) Conference, all I can say is what a blast I had. It was truly amazing to learn from an eclectic band of teachers, educators, and authors. All of their insights seemed to broach old topics I’ve reflected on in a new way. For example, who would have guessed to implement a serialized podcast as a substitute for a whole-class read to further engagement? I didn’t, and with that notion all I can say is that the KATE Conference surprised me session after session. Before divulging into the sessions I attended, I want to make a few notes about the conference’s aesthetic and professionalism. The overall structure of the conference was calm, elegant, and concise. Due to a wonderfully paced agenda, time never felt wasted or prolonged: the sessions all started and ended according to plan. In regards to the professionalism, everybody I met at the conference welcomed my questions and appearance with open, warm, and cons...

Walking into my second lesson for my unit over Lord of The Flies (1954), by William Golding, I couldn’t have been more excited. Riding off a pedagogical high of excitement and energy from my last lesson, I expected this one to keep that same momentum. The morning started off great. Students still had my last lesson resonating in their heads as we conferred, and some were ready to jump right into the text— their eyes feasting on the island . However, as I situated the class dynamic for the reading of this novel, a whole-class read, I slowly realized an error in my instruction. Now, sitting by my laptop days later, and having my “teacher of the year” mug glower at me, I realize that I made a boring lesson.             Yeah, that’s right. It was a boring lesson. Essentially, I made all of the students follow along with the help of an audiobook as I had them sit in their small, compartmentalized desks. Going into the class, I figur...