Darien Headen

GSE Methods

Goldner-Rabinowitz

9/13/16

After reading Edward P. Jones My First Day, I think that it brings about a lot
of fruitful material that can be incorporated in an ELA class. I immediately picked up
on a lot of the cultural references that were used and developed throughout the
story. As a reading teacher, in a predominantly black, urban school, teaching
culturally relevant material is always a goal of mine. I believe that it essential that
my students are able to connect to with what they are reading about and learning,
especially since their experiences and culture is often left out of the dominant
narrative. For them, being able to see themselves in what they are learning is
crucial to their engagement in the classroom. Moreover, PCRP II cites appreciating
cultural and linguistic diversity in the classroom, as well as understanding
relationships between language and culture as a part of the Five Critical
Experiences to teaching and learning literature (7). These two specific examples
stem from the fourth experience of Investigating Language and how language
functions in a work of literature. Given this information, I would teach Jones The
First Day with an emphasis on character development, imagery, and figurative
language.

In the context of a unit, I would create one based on standards of student

being able to understand and analyze figurative language in fiction. To further
promote this objective, I would focus on the use of foreshadowing, imagery,
personification, and simile. Before beginning the actual reading of this work, I
would have students complete a five minute Do Now to unlock their minds and to
get them to start thinking creatively, before delving into the text. This Do Now
would ask them to write about a time in their lives where they completed an
ordinary, everyday task, but this specific time they faced a challenge. I would ask
them to focus on how they felt, who was involved, where the event took place.
After about five minutes of writing, I would ask students to conduct a turn and talk
and share their responses for another two minutes, before coming back whole
group. I would then have about two or three students share their responses. I would
then teach a ten minute mini lesson on figurative and descriptive language. This
lesson would break down literary devices like imagery, foreshadowing, descriptive
language and how they impact the mood of a story. After the mini lesson, I would
explain the short story and have students read the story silently for five minutes. As
they read I would ask them to note or highlight example of specific descriptions
used in the text, like the faint smell of Dixie Peach hair grease or the black
patent leather miracles. I would also ask them to think about who is telling the
story and what we learn about this character through the narrators descriptions.
Additionally, I would have them look for examples of foreshadowing throughout the
text and have them think about what they believe will happen to the characters as
they read. After five minutes, I would bring the whole class back together to do a
book talk for about 2 minutes, where they could discuss key details, themes, and
thoughts based off their own reading. I would then conduct a class reading of the
story, this time stopping at specific section in the story to hone in on what we are
learning about the setting and about the characters, solely based on descriptions. I
would have the students complete stop and jots of specific examples of how the
mother and the narrator are described, on a T-chart, graphic organizer. The
reasoning behind this would be for them to see how the characters progressed and
developed throughout the story based on these descriptions and how we, as
readers, learn that this girls mother is illiterate. For a culminating assessment, I
would have students complete a creative writing piece on their first day of school,
using descriptive language, imagery, and figurative language.