Kendra+Grieser

Well, here's a bit about myself. I am double majoring in English and Spanish for secondary education. I began my college journey at Lake Michigan College in Benton Harbor. I highly endorse community colleges (cheaper, more individualized attention, etc.), and I believe kids often overlook them as a good starting point because it's just "a glorified high school." I believe wherever you are is what you make it.

I will be graduating this December after student teaching in regular freshmen, Honors freshmen, and regular sophomore English classes at Hartford High School in the fall, which I am very excited about! I am finishing up my last few classes this summer (hopefully I'll get that Honors Thesis done before I get into student teaching too much!) Someday, I hope to get a Master's Degree, in what area I'm not quite sure - technology, English, Spanish, linguistics, ESL (I think that's just a certification), or something of the sort.

This summer was my fourth working at the Coloma Migrant Program as a teacher's aide for 4, 5, and 6 year olds. CMP is a great summer job, and I hope to continue working there in the future and improving my Spanish skills. Working with migrant children and families is an area that is close to my heart. I have grown up on a fruit and vegetable farm, so that's where the interaction with migrants first began. I also went to Burgos, Spain, this past fall, which was quite the experience for a homebody like me. I learned a lot of Spanish and a lot about myself as well. Someday I hope to go to Mexico to visit a friend I met in Spain who's from Mexico.

English is probably my first love. I love grammar, editing, writing, etc. I think that grammar is something that is often overlooked and not addressed as much as it should be in schools these days. I just believe grammar is something that is better taught in the context of a student's own writing. I know I will encounter English Language Learners this fall and someday I hope to teach English as a Second Language to children or adults.

The picture below is of my family (mom, dad, sisses, bro, bro-in-laws, and now sis-in-law, nieces - 2 in the pic and 1 in mommy's tummy back then!) at my brother and sister-in-law's wedding last October. I flew back from Spain to be a part of it because I wouldn't have missed it for the world! Family is very important to me.



Here's my current faorite youtube video on education. Thank you, Taylor Mali. Take a look at his [|"What Teachers Make"]!

media type="youtube" key="RxsOVK4syxU" height="320" width="386"

Everything down here is what I'm working on or what I've completed for English 4800. Feel free to take a look!

Professional Article Attachment:

Michigan High School Content Expectations for English (All CE's in this unit refer back to this PDF):

Poetry Unit Plan Introduction:

Poetry Unit Plan:

Poetry Unit Plan Resources:

The site below is just a great way to get kids writing.

http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/922

The following links provide what I believe is THE best glossary for terms thus far in my quest for the perfect list. I have also attached a Word document that lists the terms.

http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/literature/bedlit/glossary_a.htm http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/literature/bedlit/glossary_f.htm http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/literature/bedlit/glossary_l.htm http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/literature/bedlit/glossary_p.htm http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/literature/bedlit/glossary_t.htm



The information on all the Word documents listed below can also be found under the "Attachments" section corresponding to that day's lesson plan, as well as a link to the information on the web.

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4 (See Days 2-4.)

Day 5

Day 6 (See Day 5.)

Day 7

Day 8 & 9

Day 10

Day 11

Day 12

Day 13 None.

Day 14 & 15 (Ignore first page of PDF.)

Extras if students are understanding more quickly than anticipated: