My name is Regina Covington and I am an English teacher at Weequahic High School in Newark, New Jersey. At Weequahic, I am the National Honor Society Advisor and was the Senior Class Advisor for the past two years. I am currently in the Educational Leadership program working towards completing my studies by May 2009. For undergrad, I attended North Carolina A & T State University and Kean University. My career goals are to become an English Department Supervisor and/or Vice-Principal. I had the pleasure of developing a curriculum for “Women in Literature” over the summer. Although challenging, I would love to have more exposure in writing curriculums. I do not aspire to advance any further within administration until my children are older. My daughters, Bria and Erica, are my life. All personal interests involve my girls. Dance class, cheerleading, etc… They keep me on the go!!! I love reading all types of literature however, I am fond of novels by Toni Morrison.
12 comments:
Regina-
Your children are adorable! I'd love to know more about the curriculum you wrote this summer. Is it an elective or required? How many students are taking the class? What kinds of books are they reading?
I love Toni Morrison, ever since I read Beloved my freshman year in college.
Thanks.Like I said in my "Hello," they are a handful. The curriculum that I co-wrote will be an elective once approved. Since Newark Public Schools has 15 high schools, the class size will depend on the school. The text that was used was Prentice Hall's Anthology, "Women in Literature," which consists of literature by women about women. There are also specified novels as well(e.g. Jane Eyre, The Color Purple) that were chosen keeping in mind what novels are in supply at the various high schools.
Hello fellow English teacher,
First of all, great picture! As a matter of fact, every summer I take a professional picture of my daughter and me - I hope it continues into her teen years.
As far as your Women in Literature curriculum - that sounds great!!! Are you currently teaching using that curriculum? If so, I'm envious.
There were talks in my school to create some elective English courses and as a matter of fact, I volunteered to write one for Women in Literature and my friend started working on a Shakespeare course. However, shortly after the budget numbers came in, we were told not to bother because we couldn't hire any extra teachers and all the ones we have already had classrooms filled to capacity with regular English classes. It's sad that we can't offer any English electives in my school.
Dear Regina,
That is a great picture! Can you describe how you decided on what the curriculum would be for the "Women in Literature" course? I have not had the opportunity to write curriculum since becoming a teacher, so I am interested to learn how you went about writing yours.
I look forward to working with you this semester.
Sincerely,
Marc Vogel
Hi Regina!
What a fantastic picture--you're daughter are beautiful! I recently found out I'm having another girl, and I couldn't be more thrilled that my first daughter will have a sister.
Like the others who posted, I think it's mighty impressive that you wrote curriculum based on Women in Literature. Beloved and Jane Eyre are among my favorite books, and I wish I could have been introduced to them in high school!
As a middle school teacher, I envy the books you get to use in high school! I'd be curious to hear the rest of the books on the list for your elective.
Hi Regina,
You have a beautiful family. If I’m not mistaken I had a class with you last semester. Wow, you develop a curriculum for Women in Literature. That’s very interesting. Well, I guess we got something in common because I intend to graduate in May 2009 too.
In terms of the State if New Jersey Standards: As a secondary English teacher, I was only familiar with the surface of the CCCS which allowed me to complete my lesson plans. However, as a co-writer of an English elective this past summer, I was required to familiarize myself with the standards internally. What I found was that as an instructor, I could not have one standard without the other. The CCCS is a wonderful resource. I’ve found it to be tremendously helpful when composing my lesson plans and guiding me to ensure that I am effectively covering all aspects concerned with Language Arts Literacy.
I BELIEVE that all children should be treated as individuals. As the year opens, I am in the process of becoming familiar with each of my students, as well as, each of their individual needs academically and socially. With this said, different children from various backgrounds, communities, etc… have different needs. Why then are all children judged the same when it comes to their performance on standardized tests?
State-mandated tests put our children, schools and instructors in a certain category and I have a problem with this. Some of the communities that have successful scores on their standardized tests may not have children with the same issues as the children from some of the inner-city schools do. I’m sure many teachers, especially math and English teachers, will agree, that at times we feel as though we are teaching to a test instead of teaching life skills through our content area. While at the same time I do agree that students should possess these minimum skills specified on standardized tests, they should not be measured by them.
For example, if 80% of the ninth grade students entering an anonymous inner-city high school are being placed in remedial reading classes, they will be technically missing a year of English. Upon entering 10th grade English, the instructors must make-up for skills missed during their freshman year, as well as, incorporate the skills needed in 10th grade English. When entering 11th grade, the students in questions are not on the level needed to successfully pass a state-mandated test. Pressure is now placed on the student, school and instructor.
The question that arises is: Are we therefore victims of standardized tests? What happened between elementary and high school? Why are our children so ill-prepared? There is a misconception that the teachers and the schools are not providing the children with an adequate education. We can go on and on in terms of this issue. However, the bottom line is the children, schools and instructors are looked upon as failing instead of working with the hand we are dealt
Regina C. said...
In terms of the State if New Jersey Standards: As a secondary English teacher, I was only familiar with the surface of the CCCS which allowed me to complete my lesson plans. However, as a co-writer of an English elective this past summer, I was required to familiarize myself with the standards internally. What I found was that as an instructor, I could not have one standard without the other. The CCCS is a wonderful resource. I’ve found it to be tremendously helpful when composing my lesson plans and guiding me to ensure that I am effectively covering all aspects concerned with Language Arts Literacy.
I BELIEVE that all children should be treated as individuals. As the year opens, I am in the process of becoming familiar with each of my students, as well as, each of their individual needs academically and socially. With this said, different children from various backgrounds, communities, etc… have different needs. Why then are all children judged the same when it comes to their performance on standardized tests?
State-mandated tests put our children, schools and instructors in a certain category and I have a problem with this. Some of the communities that have successful scores on their standardized tests may not have children with the same issues as the children from some of the inner-city schools do. I’m sure many teachers, especially math and English teachers, will agree, that at times we feel as though we are teaching to a test instead of teaching life skills through our content area. While at the same time I do agree that students should possess these minimum skills specified on standardized tests, they should not be measured by them.
For example, if 80% of the ninth grade students entering an anonymous inner-city high school are being placed in remedial reading classes, they will be technically missing a year of English. Upon entering 10th grade English, the instructors must make-up for skills missed during their freshman year, as well as, incorporate the skills needed in 10th grade English. When entering 11th grade, the students in questions are not on the level needed to successfully pass a state-mandated test. Pressure is now placed on the student, school and instructor.
The question that arises is: Are we therefore victims of standardized tests? What happened between elementary and high school? Why are our children so ill-prepared? There is a misconception that the teachers and the schools are not providing the children with an adequate education. We can go on and on in terms of this issue. However, the bottom line is the children, schools and instructors are looked upon as failing instead of working with the hand we are dealt
September 14, 2008 6:14 PM
In terms of the State if New Jersey Standards: As a secondary English teacher, I was only familiar with the surface of the CCCS which allowed me to complete my lesson plans. However, as a co-writer of an English elective this past summer, I was required to familiarize myself with the standards internally. What I found was that as an instructor, I could not have one standard without the other. The CCCS is a wonderful resource. I’ve found it to be tremendously helpful when composing my lesson plans and guiding me to ensure that I am effectively covering all aspects concerned with Language Arts Literacy.
I BELIEVE that all children should be treated as individuals. As the year opens, I am in the process of becoming familiar with each of my students, as well as, each of their individual needs academically and socially. With this said, different children from various backgrounds, communities, etc… have different needs. Why then are all children judged the same when it comes to their performance on standardized tests?
State-mandated tests put our children, schools and instructors in a certain category and I have a problem with this. Some of the communities that have successful scores on their standardized tests may not have children with the same issues as the children from some of the inner-city schools do. I’m sure many teachers, especially math and English teachers, will agree, that at times we feel as though we are teaching to a test instead of teaching life skills through our content area. While at the same time I do agree that students should possess these minimum skills specified on standardized tests, they should not be measured by them.
For example, if 80% of the ninth grade students entering an anonymous inner-city high school are being placed in remedial reading classes, they will be technically missing a year of English. Upon entering 10th grade English, the instructors must make-up for skills missed during their freshman year, as well as, incorporate the skills needed in 10th grade English. When entering 11th grade, the students in questions are not on the level needed to successfully pass a state-mandated test. Pressure is now placed on the student, school and instructor.
The question that arises is: Are we therefore victims of standardized tests? What happened between elementary and high school? Why are our children so ill-prepared? There is a misconception that the teachers and the schools are not providing the children with an adequate education. We can go on and on in terms of this issue. However, the bottom line is the children, schools and instructors are looked upon as failing instead of working with the hand we are dealt
September 14, 2008 6:14 PM
September 17, 2008 5:06 PM
In terms of the State if New Jersey Standards: As a secondary English teacher, I was only familiar with the surface of the CCCS which allowed me to complete my lesson plans. However, as a co-writer of an English elective this past summer, I was required to familiarize myself with the standards internally. What I found was that as an instructor, I could not have one standard without the other. The CCCS is a wonderful resource. I’ve found it to be tremendously helpful when composing my lesson plans and guiding me to ensure that I am effectively covering all aspects concerned with Language Arts Literacy.
I BELIEVE that all children should be treated as individuals. As the year opens, I am in the process of becoming familiar with each of my students, as well as, each of their individual needs academically and socially. With this said, different children from various backgrounds, communities, etc… have different needs. Why then are all children judged the same when it comes to their performance on standardized tests?
State-mandated tests put our children, schools and instructors in a certain category and I have a problem with this. Some of the communities that have successful scores on their standardized tests may not have children with the same issues as the children from some of the inner-city schools do. I’m sure many teachers, especially math and English teachers, will agree, that at times we feel as though we are teaching to a test instead of teaching life skills through our content area. While at the same time I do agree that students should possess these minimum skills specified on standardized tests, they should not be measured by them.
For example, if 80% of the ninth grade students entering an anonymous inner-city high school are being placed in remedial reading classes, they will be technically missing a year of English. Upon entering 10th grade English, the instructors must make-up for skills missed during their freshman year, as well as, incorporate the skills needed in 10th grade English. When entering 11th grade, the students in questions are not on the level needed to successfully pass a state-mandated test. Pressure is now placed on the student, school and instructor.
The question that arises is: Are we therefore victims of standardized tests? What happened between elementary and high school? Why are our children so ill-prepared? There is a misconception that the teachers and the schools are not providing the children with an adequate education. We can go on and on in terms of this issue. However, the bottom line is the children, schools and instructors are looked upon as failing instead of working with the hand we are dealt
Yes I agree, these standardize test don't measure any factor of what the children have actually learned. It's a recall and memorization of facts and ideas a select few of people think are important. You can it again,::don't feel sorry for me." Beacuse I'm truly blessed.
Regina-
I finally see what is going on. You are putting your new posts in comments, rather than in a new post. Go to blogger.com and do a "New Post" for the new assignments.
Hope that helps.
BB
Post a Comment