MadisonA.

Fox
GSETFAAdvancedMethodsInTeachingEnglish
ApproachtoTeachingTheFirstDay,byEdwardP.Jones
AsInformedbyLytle&Botel
MegGoldnerRabinowitz
09/13/2016

BeforereadingTheFirstDay,Iwouldintroducetheconceptandimportanceof
sequencingintext.Iwouldworkwithstudentstoidentifytransitionwordsandmodelhowtouse
themappropriatelyinwriting.Oncestudentswereconfidentinusingtransitionwordsintheir
writing,Iwouldgivethemawritingpromptthatwouldaskthemtothinkbacktotheirfirstday
ofschoolanddescribetheeventsthatunfoldedastheyrememberthem.Thiswillallowmy
studentstothinkcriticallyaboutwhattheyexperiencedandhowtheyfeltthroughouttheday.
Aftermystudentshavecompletedtheirwriting,theywouldswaptheirpaperswiththeirtable
partner.Duringthistime,theywouldwritetheirreactionsandquestionsonthebottomoftheir
partnerspaper.Whentheyfinishedwritingtheirremarks,thestudentswouldgivebacktheir
papersandhavea5minuteturnandtalkwiththeirsamepartners.Duringthistime,theywill
furtherdiscusswhattheywroteandaddressthequestionsorcommentstheirpartnershadon
theirstories.Triggeringthosememoriesofthefirstdayofschoolformystudentswillsetthem
upforsuccesswhentheyreadTheFirstDay.Thisactivityallowsthemtobringprior
knowledgeandexperiencetoconstruct/composemeaning,whilereadingthetext.(Lytle&
Botel,6)
Duringreading,Iwouldaskmystudentstoidentifysomethinginthetextthattheycould
connectorrelateto.Havingtheabilitytomakeaconnection(andthenexplainthatconnection)
toanypartofthetextisaninvaluableandtransferableskillamongallsubjectdisciplines.For
example,justlikethelittlegirlinTheFirstDay,connectsthesimplesmellofgardenia
perfumetohermotherintheportionofthetextthatreadsBehindmyears,mymother,tostop
mywhining,hasdabbedthestingiestbitofhergardeniaperfume,thelastpresentmyfathergave
herbeforehedisappearedintomemory.(Jones,1)Iwouldthenmodelformystudentsthefact
thatthesmellofpeppermintsandcaroilremindsmeofmygrandfather.OnceIhavemodeled
theconnectionIwouldhavethemfreereadthetext,lookingforonethingthattheycanmakea
connectionto.Afterallofmystudentshavemadeconnectionstothetext,Iwouldhavethem
shareoutwhatconnectiontheymadeandwheretheyfounditinthetext.Thisactivitywould
encourageclassparticipationandpromotefluencyinboththeirwritingandspeaking.
AnotherpostreadingconceptthatIwouldutilizeinmyclassroomwouldbethatof
investigatinglanguage.OneofthemostinterestingandengagingaspectsaboutTheFirstDay,
istheuseofculturalliteracythroughoutthetext.Oncefinishedwiththestory,Iwouldaskmy
studentstocharacterizethelittlegirlandhermotherbasedoncluesfromthetext.Ignitingthis
deeperthinkingwouldlendmystudentstheopportunitytounderstandtherelationshipsbetween
languageandculture.Thisanalysiswouldpromptthediscussionofhowtheauthorwasableto
characterizetheyounggirlandhermotherwithoutexplicitlysayingwhattheylookedlikewithin
thetext.Mystudentswouldparticipateina5minuteturnandtalkonthissubjectandthen(asa
group)theywouldshareoutwhattheydiscussedasagroup.
ThelastactivityIwouldaskmystudentstocompletewouldbetodosomedeeper
thinkingaboutthetextTheFirstDay.Iwouldpromptthisdeeperthinkingwiththequestions:
Whydoesthedaughterstillrememberthisreactionyearslaterassheistellingthisstory?Why
doyouthinkthestoryendswiththemothersfootsteps?(Jones,5)Also,Iwouldhavemy
studentsgeneratequestionsthattheywouldwanttoasktheauthor.Thiswouldholdmystudents
accountableforaportionoftheirlearningwhilealsoempowering[them]tobecomemore
independentandselfreliantlearner[s].(Lytle&Botel,7)