Memo #6

As I finish my I-Search research and interviews, I seem to be at a point of uncertainty. When I started this project, I was so excited about teaching across the curriculum, and helping students learn through writing. However, as time has gone on, I have realized that teaching across the curriculum may be an empty dream. There is a lot of research and evidence out there to prove that teaching across the curriculum works and that it's a great thing! However, the practicality of this seems to be few and far between. My research has shown me that, although teaching across the curriculum works, it rarely happens. Teachers are dealing with a lot already, it's even harder for them to incorperate writing into their lesson plans. They don't have time to grade all that writing and help their students develop writing skills, on top of everything else they already do. Even if a teacher wants to incorperate writing into their curriculum, the system doesn't seem to be working to teach these teachers how to do that. I though maybe there would be writing in at least science classrooms, but there I was easily proven wrong. When looking at the CCSS, there are so many oppurtunities for students to write in the classroom; however, a teacher could easily get away with not having their students write at all. There are no writing standards for classes that are not English classrooms. Students are not required to keep math journals or write lab reports. Thus, students can easily go all day without writing more than a few words.

This really frustrates me. How are we supposed to be moving forwards with reading and writing if we make no effort for our students to read and write? How are we supposed to help improve their scores in math and science if they don't know how to read or write in these areas? Why is Obama focusing on Science and Math without taking Literature and Reading into account? It seems like we are running on a hamster wheel; coming up with great ideas to help our students learn, but then not bothering to put them into effect.

This I-Search has definitely increased my uneasiness of becoming a high school teacher. There is so much I question now, and every day I realize how more and more broken our education system is. I'm questioning whether it can ever be fixed.

Memo #5

After doing the Mind Map assignment last class, I have a pretty good idea of what I still need to get done. Mainly, a lot of research. I want to do a lot of research mainly on CCSS and STEM, as they are the two curriculums that are in place and control what are kids are studying and what are teachers are teaching. So how much control are they having over including reading and writing in Math and Science classes?

I also need to follow up with my teachers. I am probably going to have to do that over phone call, seeing as my schedule and their schedules are highly conflicting. Hopefully, I can look more into what is going on in our schools, and ask them more in-depth questions about what changes they hope to see in incorporating reading and writing into math and science classrooms.

It's a short list of what still needs to get done, but at the same time it's still a lot.

Memo #4

For my primary research, I interviewed three teachers, an English teacher, a Math teacher, and a Science teacher to ask them about teaching across the curriculum. My English and Math teacher were not able to meet up and so they have emailed me answers to some questions and I'll be following up with them later. On Tuesday I should be interviewing my Science teacher face to face.

My English teacher told me that it's obvious that we should be teaching reading and writing across the curriculum due to the fact that if we want students to become good at something, they need to practice it a lot (as in more than just a lot in English class). She told me that teaching across the curriculum could be achieved simply through focus, meaning the teachers and the administration has to take time to focus on incorporating reading and writing into non-English classrooms. She told me that the Common Core does have actions in place to increase reading and writing across the curriculum, but she thinks that we still need to increase the amount of reading and writing in math ans science classrooms.

My math teacher told me that his students rarely write, and when they do, it's not much more than a couple of sentences. The amount of reading that his students does varies based on their level; the more advanced the students are, the less reading they do. He goes on to say that he believes that writing can help in the classroom because if a student can write about the topic, then they fully understand the topic. He believes that reading and writing should be increased in the math classroom, but he's not sure how to do it; he says that he feels he needs a trainer to show him how to better incorporate reading and writing in the math classroom.

Some follow up questions that I want to ask the math teacher is: what are some ways that you think you could possibly increase reading and writing into the classroom? Why do the students on a less-advanced level read more? How does it help them? A question that I have for my English teacher is: how do you feel about Obama's new STEM program, that focuses heavily on Science, Technology, Eningeering, and Math? I may ask this question of my math and science teachers as well.

Memo #3

For my primary research, I plan to interview three teachers and pass out a questionnaire to multiple classes. I would like to interview a math teacher, a science teacher, and an English teacher, all three from Coventry High School. I have specific questions that I would like to ask each teacher pertaining to their subject, although the questions are generally similar. ENGLISH TEACHER: 1. Do you believe in teaching reading/writing across the curriculum? 2. How do you believe this can be achieved? 3. Are there specific actions in place to achieve teaching reading/writing across the curriculum at this school? SCIENCE TEACHER: 1. How often do your students write in class? 2. How often do your students read in class? 3. Do you think that reading/writing in the science classroom is helping students? In what ways? 4. Do you think that we need to focus more on students reading/writing more in non-English classrooms (science, math, etc.)? 5. How do you teach reading/writing skills in a science classroom? MATH TEACHER: 1. How often do your students write in class (as in sentences, paragraphs, etc., not formulas)? 2. How often do your students read in class? 3. Do you think that reading/writing can help students in a math classroom? 4. Do you think that we need to focus more on incorperating reading/writing into math/science classrooms? STUDENTS: 1. How often do you read/write in your math class? 2. How often do you read/write in your science classroom? 3. Do you feel writing assignments help you learn better? Why/why not? 4. Do you think that reading/writing should be incorperated in math/science classrooms? Hopefully, I will be able to think of a few more questions to add to the questionnaire, along with follow-up questions that I will have in the interviewing process.