So, here I sit writing my last blog for this course. In reality this will be my last blog ever. Why? you ask since I am clearly so witty and insightful, simple…I just don’t like it. I have never been much of a writer and sharing my deepest intimate feelings with the world is just not comfortable to me. That being said, I am thankful for the opportunity to try this method of communication. Being a student again has opened my eyes not just to how the world around me is changing, both culturally and technologically, but how frustrating this process can be when we (students) are not comfortable.
I have talked about this a lot, the idea of staying in our comfort zone in order to produce our best work. I am not so sure I believe that anymore. This class has pushed my boundaries and made me a BLOGGER! No one who knows me personally would believe it…truthfully, they don’t know! This class pushed me to be a better student by allowing me to be myself. Granted, it was not easy but it worked. I am guessing, my professor had to put a lot of time and research into preparing this course. That’s what good teachers do. I am sure if we were all together in a classroom, she would be having personal conversations with us, finding our interests and incorporating them into the curriculum. That’s what good teachers do. I bet, she would even have us work in collaborative groups and discuss how we were comfortable presenting our information to the class. Say it with me…”That’s what good teachers do”.
This class has provided me with so many tools so I can be a good teacher to ALL of my students. I understand now that communicating with others is not simply providing them information that can then be spit back at me. True communication in the classroom will prepare my students for life. It will provide them with the tools they need to plan their own destiny, to have meaningful relationships and to ultimately change the life of someone else. It is possible…
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
Critical literacy is a response to injustice and the production of illiteracy in which students and teachers work together to form a community of mutual respect and understanding, where each and every voice is not just heard but acknowledge, and learning is interactive and effective.
“It is absolutely essential that the oppressed participate in the revolutionary process with an increasingly critical awareness of their role as subjects of the transformation”. Paulo Freire was the last author we studied and I believe he summed up the whole course with this one quote. It is critical that teachers create an environment that is creative and comfortable. This is a word we have not really used. A level of comfort must be allowed in order for all of these ideals to take place. Teachers must be comfortable with their students, students must be comfortable with the teacher and with each other. How does this happen? How do we provide a ‘comfortable’ classroom for our students? We listen and acknowledge what they are saying. We include them in their learning process not simply lecture at them. Our classrooms should be fun, interesting and creative. They should cater to each students learning style and respect where they come from and what they bring to enhance everyone’s learning.
Delpit, Baker, Purcell-Gates, all talked about the diversity in our vocabulary, written expression and attitudes toward school. Diversity is what makes up our world. In order for our students to function literately in our world diversity must take a role. We must celebrate differences and learn from them. Not only will students learn about different cultures but perhaps a bit of tolerance. Including these differences in our lessons gives students ownership and respect. This in turn will foster learning...doesn’t sound too hard to me! Each of the authors we studied talks about incorporating some aspect of the student into our curriculum.
Delpit, Baker, Purcell-Gates, all talked about the diversity in our vocabulary, written expression and attitudes toward school. Diversity is what makes up our world. In order for our students to function literately in our world diversity must take a role. We must celebrate differences and learn from them. Not only will students learn about different cultures but perhaps a bit of tolerance. Including these differences in our lessons gives students ownership and respect. This in turn will foster learning...doesn’t sound too hard to me! Each of the authors we studied talks about incorporating some aspect of the student into our curriculum.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
I do not prepare children for tests, just for life. Lynn Astarita Gatto
Lynn Gatto makes me want to go back to fourth grade. I have a visual picture of Ms. Frizzle in my head. A teacher who wears dresses covered with dinosaurs or butterflies, wears matching earrings and hats, decorates the room from top to bottom to coincide with the theme of the week, and takes her class on exciting (sometimes scary) field trips that no other class could imagine. Perhaps I will Google Lynn Gatto when I am finished with this to see what she really looks like! I do not think that I am too far off though. Her explanation of how she grabs her students attention, reels them in, and has them begging for more is quite impressive. No wonder she has won umpteen awards and her colleagues don’t talk to her! The idea that when teachers take a test-centered approach, their students view literacy not as a process, but as something to test (Nystrand, 1997) is quite powerful and, perhaps, the underlying reason for her views. Gatto is, in my opinion, right on the target when she discusses how mass produced literacy programs are not productive. Authentic and meaningful learning practices are not found in basal readers (Gatto, 2007). They do not know that she has 14 African American, 4 Caucasian and a few ELL students in her class. They do not know what interests and motivates them, what spelling words they need to concentrate on or how they learn. Their teacher does, and it is their job to integrate subjects and motivate his/her students so they WANT to learn. I really believe this is the key...MOTIVATION! I see it with my students and at home with my daughter. When they want to do something, it gets done and usually well. But, for those areas where motivation is lacking, ouch!
Paulo Freire’s essay compares two types of education. He refers to them as: banking and problem-solving. Both terms are important not just because of what occurs in the classroom, but because they also they also incorporate the context, purpose, and effects of education. Most students would consider lecture halls, where facts are given and students are expected to memorize and return those facts as “banking”. “Problem-Solving” education could be described as: discussions are introduced, creativity is involved and opinions are shared. Gatto clearly follows the latter and I am guessing most of her colleagues are “banking”.
Gatto states that she is preparing her students for life not simply to take tests. Freire sees the world as the “process of becoming” where students are part of that process. He believes that the dialogue between the teacher and students, as well as, students with each other, allows people to develop fully. That communication takes into account the relationship people have not only with each other, but with the world around them. This dialogue leads to further exploration and allows for change. Gatto clearly incorporates this into her lessons.
As a future history teacher I love the idea of guiding my students using interactive and creative techniques, but I think I will wait until I am tenured!
Monday, July 11, 2011
“Quality Education as a Constitutional Right.” Dr. Moses
This week I watched a PBS show about The Algebra Project which was started by Robert Moses. Moses’ basis is so central to what we have been learning in this class the last several weeks. He states that:
1.) American children are entitled to free public education, from
kindergarten through twelfth grade
2.) All children can learn
3.) All children deserve the best education they can receive
His project has a ‘learning by doing’ premise which is generated by having the students tutor their peer and begin looking at their world more critically. He was a central figure in the Civil Rights movement as a young man and understands what it means to have to fight for your rights. As we are aware, getting resources to poor and minority students will happen only when the communities (and students) demand it. A central vein of the Project is to get the students to demand their own education. The message to students has to be very clear. You might not want to go to college now but you have to prepare yourself for when you are ready to go. Students are made aware that the fastest growing jobs in their generation require at least a bachelors degree. The Information Age is requiring students to be versed in advanced mathematics, this is the future of our students. I found this web site about The Algebra Project that has some excellent information:
http://www.learntoquestion.com/seevak/groups/2001/sites/moses/ap/principles-page2.htm
I also watched the Rachel Marrow Show about the Tea Party Movement and literacy. Again, I am going to sound like I do not have a compassionate bone in my body but...I just don’t get the comparison. Rachel Morrow is talking about literacy tests from the 1960’s and how they were skewed so blacks could not vote, I get that. That is a historical fact that, as a nation we should be ashamed of. But, how she compares that to the fact that in this country now we have many people who are voting and have no idea of our countries history and do not speak English...I don’t get it. There is no comparison. In the 1960’s black people were victims of discrimination, but they could read and write. Granted the questions on the ‘literacy test’ were absurd and no one could answer them, but at least they could read them. I have stated many times that I was not born here, my parents became citizens only after they mastered the language and understood the culture. I am not sure where I stand and ethically this is a hard call, but as a history teacher, I firmly believe that you need to understand where you came from in order to move forward. Perhaps a literacy test is not necessary, can we give a history test instead?
1.) American children are entitled to free public education, from
kindergarten through twelfth grade
2.) All children can learn
3.) All children deserve the best education they can receive
His project has a ‘learning by doing’ premise which is generated by having the students tutor their peer and begin looking at their world more critically. He was a central figure in the Civil Rights movement as a young man and understands what it means to have to fight for your rights. As we are aware, getting resources to poor and minority students will happen only when the communities (and students) demand it. A central vein of the Project is to get the students to demand their own education. The message to students has to be very clear. You might not want to go to college now but you have to prepare yourself for when you are ready to go. Students are made aware that the fastest growing jobs in their generation require at least a bachelors degree. The Information Age is requiring students to be versed in advanced mathematics, this is the future of our students. I found this web site about The Algebra Project that has some excellent information:
http://www.learntoquestion.com/seevak/groups/2001/sites/moses/ap/principles-page2.htm
I also watched the Rachel Marrow Show about the Tea Party Movement and literacy. Again, I am going to sound like I do not have a compassionate bone in my body but...I just don’t get the comparison. Rachel Morrow is talking about literacy tests from the 1960’s and how they were skewed so blacks could not vote, I get that. That is a historical fact that, as a nation we should be ashamed of. But, how she compares that to the fact that in this country now we have many people who are voting and have no idea of our countries history and do not speak English...I don’t get it. There is no comparison. In the 1960’s black people were victims of discrimination, but they could read and write. Granted the questions on the ‘literacy test’ were absurd and no one could answer them, but at least they could read them. I have stated many times that I was not born here, my parents became citizens only after they mastered the language and understood the culture. I am not sure where I stand and ethically this is a hard call, but as a history teacher, I firmly believe that you need to understand where you came from in order to move forward. Perhaps a literacy test is not necessary, can we give a history test instead?
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