Kendra Kennebeck Dr.

Christensen Methods of Teaching English and Communication 12 September 2013 Passion, Posters, and Teaching Techniques Mrs. Bacigalupo was the type of person who put her heart and soul into her work. Her classroom walls were covered in useful writing advice, posters of great books, turned to films, and vocabulary words from the term, so if a student were to somehow get distracted during class, even the walls were educational. Mrs. Bacigalupo always used a variety of teaching techniques, cared greatly about her students, and pushed us all to do our very best. From using creative memory techniques to help us remember the required weekly vocabulary, to having independent reading Fridays, there was never a boring day in my eleventh grade language arts class. Mrs. Bacigalupo simply made learning fun. During our Shakespeare unit we had to act out scenes, props and all with our friends and then summarize the scene to the class, just to make sure we all understood what was going on. During other novels we would often read aloud using the popcorn technique where the students got to pick on other students to read a few paragraphs before choosing their own victim. We would also play games such as jeopardy before exams to test our knowledge of the plot, and the vocabulary in the novel. When controversial topics arose in the readings, she would often divide the class into two groups, and give each half of the class a side of the debate to defend. I found this activity particularly fun, because it taught us how to debate in cordial terms, and allowed us to see both sides of an issue,

because we frequently had to defend a side we didnt necessarily agree with. When it came to writing the five required essay we had to complete over the course of the year, Mrs. Bacigalupo broke them down into smaller pieces to make it more manageable for us. We always had three drafts, the first two of which we had our peers, and Mrs. Bacigalupo go over, and make corrections on. By time we turned in our third and final drafts our papers were nearing perfection. Not every day was so upbeat and wild though. Every Friday, we would have an independent reading day where we spent the entire class period reading some piece of literature for our own enjoymentthe only requirements were it could not be a textbook, or other reading you had to do for class, and you HAD to be reading. (no sleeping, or phones.) This was always a day I looked forward to in class, because I personally love to read anything, and everything I can get my hands on, and it was nice to get to take some time during school to just relax and get lost in a book for an hour. Another reason I always loved independent reading in Mrs. Bacigalupos class is because we had a similar taste in books, and she was always able to recommend me my next great book to read, and every once in a while I was even able to convince her to read one of my favorites, which as a 16/17 year old girl, that meant a lot to me. Mrs. Bacigalupo always had a way of making her students feel special, and like they were important. Every Monday she would take the first few minutes of class to ask us about our weekends, and let us share whatever important thing was happening in our lives at that time. There were a number of students that werent as vocal as some of the others in class, and she would approach us individually during work time or before/after class and ask us how we were doing, and how class was going, or if we needed help with anything. Other times Mrs. Bacigalupo would stop her students in the hallway, or

lunchroom just to say hi, or to tell us about some book she thought we might like. She genuinely cared about all of us, and wanted to make sure we knew it. Along with being an excellent educator, and generally caring person, she was always pushing her students to do their very best, in and out of the classroom. She encouraged all of her students, no matter the GPA, or behavioral record to continue onto some sort of postsecondary education, whether it be a four year university or vocational school. When it came to writing she pushed us to go outside of our comfort zone, and try new things. She helped us all find our own individual writing voice, and occasionally when she knew our work wasnt up to par she would return it and let us have another shot at doing the best work we could, with some extra direction from her. I recall during our poetry unit, I was having a particularly difficult time choosing a topic for our villanelle assignment, and she helped me to land on the topic of the holocaust and have the poem be from the first person point of view from somebody in a concentration camp. She gave me a few ideas, and after much research and struggle, I had the best piece of poetry I have ever written to this day. She complimented us when we excelled, and always made sure we knew where our strengths were in writing, and tried to help us improve our weaknesses. During my time as Mrs. Bacigalupos student I grew as not only as a writer, and student, but also as a person. Much of the material she covered in class has stuck with me, even now, three years later. If I can become even half of the teacher that Mrs. Bacigalupo was for me, I would be eternally grateful.