School: High School
Teacher: Mr. G
2/20/2003 Period 1 0739-0847
Demographics: Mr. G teaches history in the special education program at the high School. His Thursday period one class is freshmen, six males and one female. The group seems to be diverse in economic standards and racially mixed as well with three white students, three African American, and one Hispanic student.
I spoke with Mr. G for a few minutes during class to get an idea of where this particular lesson stood in the overall class goals and what he wanted to accomplish. A successful class for Mr. G is judged by what doesn't happen rather than what is accomplished. All of the students have learning disabilities to some extent and most have serious behavioral problems. If he can get through a lesson at all he is happy, as much of his time is spent handling disciplinary matters. The students seem to respond very positively to Mr. G and the classroom itself had a positive atmosphere. There was student work covering the walls, twenty or so collages depicting various presidents. Across one wall prominently displayed were Mr. G's classroom rules asking for little more than respect and courtesy to self and others.
The class was starting a unit in American History dealing with the expansion of the country and settling of the frontier. To start this lesson Mr. G introduced the topic, gave a few points they would cover, and had the students watch Dances With Wolves to help put them in the mindset of frontier settlement, and more importantly from the point of view of Native Americans. The film is effective for this purpose and ties in other issues. The film portrays an American soldier struggling in his post on the frontier, trying to survive, making contact with Native Americans, and trying to understand their way of life. The film also opens up an interesting dynamic with the soldier dealing with his superiors and the identity crises he finds himself in when his superiors question his acceptance of the Native American way of life. More than one student questioned why the soldiers had contempt for the Native Americans and more importantly why they held contempt for the compassionate soldier who embraced the natives.
The students actively and attentively watched the film asking questions often about the characters, settings, stories, and especially culture of Native Americans. All the students seemed very interested and I felt this was an effective way to open up the unit judging by the quality and frequency of questions they asked. Mr. G held a brief wrap up opening a forum of questions and comments, and mentioning some of the material they will be covering in the upcoming classes. These particular students do not use a specific textbook they are assigned to, but selected readings Mr. G has prepared for them. Texts are in the classroom, and used as a loose guide through the unit. I did not observe a specific literacy concept, but I felt the film was an excellent example of a pre-reading activity, rousing interest and allowing for a clearer mental picture when engaging the more critical reading. This seems especially important to those students who are already at a disadvantage with the text in hand. The characters in the fictional story help the students relate to the material and step outside their world to see the topic from another point of view. (Vacca & Vacca, p48)
Billmeyer, R. & Barton, M.L. (1998). Teaching reading in the content area: If not me then who? Aurora, Colorado, McREL.
Vacca, R.T. & Vacca J.L. (2002). Content area reading: Literacy and learning across the curriculum. Boston, Allyn and Bacon.