Dreaming of a New Way for School To Be

“The simple act of closing our doors doesn’t make the inequities of education go away.”

I found this article to be extremely interesting.  If you really knew me, you would know that I love politics and secretly wish that I could be a senator!  There was a lot of jargon that I didn’t understand but I did take away that there were three points that Edmonson told us to focus on as teachers:

1. Follow the money
2. Who are the players? Where did they come from?  What are their values?
3. Who is likely to benefit?

The third point is obviously the most important and long lasting but the first two are a responsibility that I imagine is frequently overlooked.  I am not a classroom teacher yet and I can already tell that the issue of policy will be forever looming over my head.  Sometimes I have thought that I would just like to open up my own school and then I would never have to deal with all of this, dream on.  The point is that this policy doesn’t just develop out of thin air and then plop down to ruin our lives.  Only until we spent time in class at length talking about No Child Left Behind and where it really came from did it all start to make sense to me.  As a teacher, I don’t want to be politically naïve.  I want to be aware and informed and even a source of knowledge for fellow colleagues.

It was very interesting to read about the fact that everyone has an agenda that they think is correct and really it should all be up to classroom teachers and local governments (so true).  Reading that shutting our doors is really an injustice to our students and that all we are really doing is silently supporting a policy made this whole thing come alive to me.  Obviously we aren’t going to be able to fight everything, but I do have a sense of excitement about it all.  I guess I am looking at it through an innocent pair of eyes but I’m glad that I’m not jaded just yet.

Reading and Writing is Power!

I really enjoyed this chapter on intermediate and accomplished readers and writers. Flint said two really important things right at the beginning of the chapter that really stuck with me while I was reading. The first thing was that “students need to be engaged in curriculum that is meaningful in their lives” and the second thing was that the intermediate and accomplished readers and writers need to “consider that reading and writing are for something; that one does not learn to read and write just to “do school.”” The first statement was clearly illustrated in Ms Bell’s story and can easily be applied across subject areas. We talked about how just last week when we were at Haw River, the students did not care about splitting apple pies and solving a word problem but when we made it a candy bar, the students jumped right on the problem. The same applies to reading. Real readers have their own interests and the book that my roommate reads is not necessarily going to be something that I enjoy. Obviously the curriculum cannot always be catered to everyone’s preferences but leaving some wiggle room and making a concerted effort has been proven to go a long way. I get frustrated in my own classroom when someone is trying to pick out a book and I say “well what are you interested in?” and the student responds, “I don’t know.” Sometimes I think that they are bored with their selection!
The second statement is something that we have repeatedly discussed in the school of ed. How can we make classroom learning relevant to real life? I really have grasped onto what we have talked about in literacy methods when we have brainstormed about what we do, what good readers do. Not only do we have to read and write to get by in school but reading and writing is a means of communicating with the rest of the world! Without those tools, I can’t bake a cake because I don’t know the recipe and I can’t go to the doctor because I can’t fill out a form. This comes with the idea that reading and writing is power!

Time To Get to the Facts

Reading nonfiction in the classroom is something that we have discussed in previous literacy classes but it is something that I have seen and used sparsely in the actual classroom. It is interesting to think about how much children are actually fascinated with nonfiction texts. At this point in my life, after reading copious textbooks in high school and college, it takes a lot to get me excited about nonfiction. I have noticed in my second grade classroom that the boys are drawn to a lot of the texts about dinosaurs, space, and sports and both boys and girls are enamored with the Guineas Book of World Records.
We have talked a lot lately about inquiry based learning and integrating technology into the classroom. In my literature circle book, Reading with Meaning, I read about letting children’s questions lead a lot of studies in the classroom. I like the idea of letting children learn what they are interested in but, like the text said, this is mainly for the older grades. If a classroom is going to be conducted like this, the nonfiction book selection must be up to snuff.
The idea of pulling together a classroom library is extremely exciting and extremely stressful at the moment. The more I read about what we should be providing our students, the more I want it to be great! I want intriguing and interesting nonfiction text for my beginning readers. I don’t want kids to be disinterested in science because all of the books available for them to read are 95 percent text and five percent illustration.
I especially love when Flint uses the phrase, “literacy is socially situated (Flint pg 346).” Until I have taken a deeper look into literacy through our classes, I don’t think I ever thought about literacy like that. I know that saying that phrase to a class of seven year olds would probably be meaningless but I do want to convey it and elaborate on it in my classroom during our literacy lessons. I think it is going to be challenging to work with nonfiction texts in a similar way as I would teach fiction books. When I say that I mean to formulate discussions around nonfiction texts that isn’t just factual recall. Nonfiction texts have the potential to be used in book clubs just like any other book and I hope that I remember that many children would find that much more engaging than a Fancy Nancy book.

Young Readers and Writers

A lot of what Flint talked about in chapter six reminds me of when we have talked about the “whole child” in our classes. In my classroom right now, I know that there are children coming into the classroom with an incredibly wide range setting them up for reading readiness. If we practiced an experience view in my second grade classroom, some of the children probably would not have even begun to learn about reading by the time they reached us. It is interesting to look at the progression of theories over time. I like to see how progression in acceptance of many types of learning also coincides with a lot of other types of acceptance throughout history. We as a culture now have a much better understanding of how we can all function in society without fitting in some kind of cookie cutter mold.
After reading about the beginning reader and writer I put some thought into how easy it is to skip the part about learning to think critically about a text. Unfortunately, it is easier to not take the time to think critically. Most of the way that we were taught was completely drill and practice, again more cookie cutter. Asking why things are the way they are in a text will take the lesson to a whole new level. I guess it depends on what I believe and what kinds of learners and thinkers I want to help produce in my classroom. There comes a point, in my opinion when it is over kill. We have all been in classes where we hated the discussions because everything was made into an issue when it really should not have been one. Digging too deep when we should just leave something alone is certainly a conversation that I do not enjoy. Now digging deep to uncover something new or to challenge my preconceived way of thinking is most certainly worth while and something that I want to challenge my students to do in my classroom.

Daunting Assessments!

Thinking about the endless task of assessment in the classroom is incredibly daunting! Watching my cooperating teacher, I have seen the wide range of assessments that she conducts throughout the week. In terms of reading, everyday during literacy centers, the teacher has a center of guided reading. During this time, she works on certain skills that each small group of students needs in order to continue progressing towards higher reading abilities. This past week, I noticed that instead of having this guided reading time, the teacher conducted running records with individual students. I assume that she is going to take this new information and assess her small groups and move around students as necessary. At the beginning of the school year, I got to conduct some running records and it proved to be a wealth of information. It was shocking to go into the time with preconceived ideas about how each student would perform and then having real results that may or may not have contradicted my ideas.
The types of alternative assessments that were described in the Flint text really helped me see some concrete examples of some vague ideas that I have been hearing about for the past year and a half. Classroom observations and anecdotal records are something that I feel like we have learned a lot about in our classes and yet I have not seen concrete examples of them in the actual schools that I have been placed in. In the book, I liked that Flint addressed the fact that these could be an overwhelming task. I really liked the example found in Figure 9.5 on page 275 where the teacher has created a template for taking down classroom observations. She put boxes for all of her students on one page and then put a box for a focus and predictions. In this way she can see who she has taken down notes for and who she still needs to get around to observing. I especially liked this because there is a narrow window of what I need to be observing and I can be sure that I am not missing anybody! During my time taking notes on my case study, I have found that it is easy to write down behavior and social notes and miss writing down literary strategies, successes, and failures. By setting a focus, I can be sure to gather pertinent information on my student.

Theology in the Classroom

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A lot factors into thinking about my personal theory selection in my future classroom. I want to be sure and do what is best for my students, without compromising my personal beliefs!
It was very interesting reading about the four different teachers in chapter four of Literate Lives by Amy Flint. I found myself immediately not relating to the first teacher. Her belief in the bottom-up theory is something that I personally do not believe in. Consistent practicing at individual desks is not something that I see happening in my classroom. In my opinion, that is not learning that is doing what the teacher tells the student to do.
After that, I had a hard time distinguishing my identity among the other three teachers. I initially found the top-down theory very appealing. I especially liked thinking of “reading as a tool for understanding larger issues in the world (pg 95).” I believe that reading is a political act and when a child reads a book, it becomes a part of their identity in a way that no other reading does. They can learn and believe so many new things through reading a book. I also believe that language use is purposeful and authentic. Reading is done with a goal in mind not to say that the goal cannot be enjoyment
Moving on to Mr. Ruby’s classroom made me think about taking the reader as an individual more into count. Taking their outside knowledge and preferences and applying them into the classroom was a critical part of his literacy theology. From this, I most want to take away the small but meaningful practice of inviting the readers to bring in their readings from home. It would be so wonderful to see some kind of book club develop in my classroom in which students could bring what they love from home and share it with their friends and readers who enjoy the same books. This is something that real readers do and I have recently discovered the power in teaching students the things that real readers practice while reading and about reading! What if all of the girls in my class could share their Madeline books and enjoy the act of introducing someone to a great book.
The last classroom, Ms. Fuller’s room, is something that I am still working on understanding. Reading is a political act, this I know I believe but at the same time, I do not want all reading to have to be a debate in my classroom. I personally do not always read to find issues of social justice and I think that students could get easily exhausted in this setting. Simultaneously, I do not want to ignore social justice in the classroom and I very much want to teach my students to be ambassadors for equity in the world.
Each day in my student teaching and through all of our readings I am picking up more and more things that I know I do not want to do and things that I want to be sure and remember in the coming years. There are valid reading practices from all fields of theology that are very beneficial to learning readers and should most certainly be a part of daily practice in the classroom. There are other things that I am just not sure that I believe in or they are things that I know are a teacher practice instead of a method for helping children. Sifting through is a continual process that I am sure will be an activity that will be reappearing throughout this year.

We all carry a backpack

Thinking of funds of knowledge and and virtual school bags has been very interesting for me. Each child in the classroom brings knowledge, skills, and ways of being with them everyday. In my classroom, the students all come with a wide variety of knowledge. It is clear that some students have a home acquisition to books that mirrors some principles taught in school. These children have read tons of books and know how they work! They are frequently the students who, when the teacher starts a read aloud, they shout out “I’ve already read this ten times.” These students like their space during independent reading time because they seem to have been taught that reading is an individual activity meant for a quiet time. Then there are other students in the class who seem to regard every book as a novelty. They maybe have not had somebody who has been reading to them at home everyday and night. They also have more trouble entertaining themselves with a book, they tend to flip from book to book. Not knowing each student, I am obviously making generalizations here. It is interesting to think about what each of them carry with them into school. Some students have knowledge about space while another little girl knows all about horses. A few students could tell us all about the beach while others have never been on vacation there. For me, this is a constant reminder to not assume anything. I cannot suppose that every child knows how salty the ocean water really tastes when I have not even asked if everyone has visited the beach! These assumptions would be a great disservice to our students. I especially cannot make any assumptions about the ELL students. It would be wrong to make gross cultural generalizations about them based on where they came from and it would be wrong to assume that they know all about our American culture. It is all about getting to know each student at the beginning of the school year, if we do that, I assume that our jobs will be much easier down the road.

Teacher as Reader Response Two

Reading this book was very easy because each story was at most five pages long. The confusing part about it was when one story would reference another story or the main the character from one of the other plays and I would not necessarily remember the reference. At this point, I had to flip back through the book and find the reference.
In order to be a successful reader, it is imperative to be engaged with the text. There are many times, throughout my reading career, where I have simply skimmed over words or sentences because I did not know their meaning. Fortunately, context clues save lost readers! I have very little background knowledge of the Middle Ages and if I did not know how to piece together parts of the story that I did understand, I could have easily gotten frustrated and disinterested with the book.
Reading is easier for me when I know that it is a piece of fiction. If I know that I can interpret a text to fit my own imagination, the reading becomes much more enjoyable. When I become bogged down by facts and details, reading is then a task. Knowing that this is a story, completely made up, makes reading this text easier. Stories turn into movies in my head and reading then becomes an effortless exercise.
Reading is not about speed. I want this to be clear to my students. I think as a young reader I thought that if I could read fast that meant that I was a good reader and thus I skipped over most of the difficult words. I am not sure how to make that clear to my students in any way except in a plain statement. If they tried to read through this book quickly, they would probably miss out on a lot of opportunities to learn something new.
As a teacher, the informational sections throughout this story would be very helpful. A lot of these characters could be hard for the students to relate to because they have no concept of what kind of job the characters have. For instance, students who have not learned anything about the Middle Ages would have no idea what a villein is. If I were to read this aloud, I would be sure to set up each story with some kind of context so that the students could make sense of what they were reading.

Teacher As Reader Response One

I began reading Good Master! Sweet Ladies! Voices From A Medieval Village inspired by the author.  The author, Laura Amy Schlitz, is a librarian at Park School in Baltimore and she wrote this book for a group of students at the school.  The children were studying the Middle Ages and she wanted to give them something to perform.  She wrote seventeen small plays, monologues, so that each of the students could be the star of their own show.

I became so inspired by this woman!  Before she wrote these plays, she was not a published writer yet she took a chance and put together a creative piece for her students.  I do not have to be a professional in order to create quality pieces for my children.  If the material that I am looking for does not exist, I should be bold enough to create my own.

So many times, as a teacher and a student I feel bound by many limitations.  This book showed me that I need to rely more on my own creative instincts.  Using other’s ideas will keep me from drowning throughout my teaching career but going out on a limb every once in a while will certainly rejuvenate my profession and give me a much needed confidence boost.  Granted, I know that every creative endeavor does not end successfully but it will certainly be a worthwhile learning process.

My boldness in creativity will hopefully also inspire my students as I am sure that Mrs. Schlitz’s students were inspired.  I want my students to be confident enough to follow their creative instincts and I will hopefully lead by example.  Believing that I am a life long learner means that I have to take part in trial and error experiments with my imagination.

Watching and Becoming A Reading Teacher

After talking about No Child Left Behind and reading the article about teacher’s reflecting on their own belief’s I entered into the classroom a little differently on Wednesday.  I certainly can tell that the school I am a student teacher in has high expectations for all of their students but at the same time they are feeling the crunch to meet national standards.

There are a few children in my classroom who are far behind in their reading, they are reading multiple grade levels below at this point.  I was startled by how far behind they were and I began thinking about how they got there and if they were ever going to get the chance to come out of that level.  I thought about their homes and what kinds of backgrounds they were coming from and I thought about their special needs in the classroom and I began to feel overwhelmed.  They need so much and there is so much going on in a school day and I am just not sure how it is all going to come out in the end.

I love the idea of NCLB in that it is trying to prevent these exact students in the second grade from slipping into the cracks, from falling behind and never catching up to their classmates.  I can tell that my teacher really cares about these kids but I guess it is  hard to see a plan of action because it is still the beginning of the school year and we are still transitioning.  The students have just finished their testing and we finally know what reading level they are all on.  For me, it is frustrating that it has taken all of this time to test the students.  September is almost over and they have lost a month where they could be learning how powerful their reading can be.

There is a lot of skill base being taught and not a lot of the reflective pieces being thrown into the mix.  Hall and Piazza call teachers to lead discussions that signify reading as a political act.  This is not happening in my classroom as of yet, or it may be happening during the rest of the week and I simply have not had the opportunity to see it yet.  After thinking about all of this, I know that I want anyone to be able to walk into my classroom on any day of the week and see that I believe that reading is a political act and that my students are learning what that means.  This is a lofty goal, I know, but I think it can be obtained.  I, like all teachers, will learn the balance between testing and knowledge.  It is incredible to think how much power a teacher has in a classroom, the students rely on them for so much!