My Lesson

I had the rare priveledge of being able to read the students an Arthur book on making promises, being a good sibling, and compromise.  The book involved siblings fighting over the television and coming to a compromise which involved Arthur making a promise to D.W. and having to follow through despite his best efforts of trying to get out of it.  However the ending showed that in keeping the promise there was an even greater reward to be had.  This book had the students attention throughout the entire reading as many knew who Arthur was and the story peaked their interests.  I was very excited to be able to interact with them and to provide them with knowledge that I knew was not only important for school, but for life.

A.J.

Throughout this project I was working with a young man who will be called A.J..  He was very interested in being a dinosaur throughout the entire time we were there.  While it was all fun at times he did get into some trouble on the last day.  He was very interested in science and enjoyed looking at books.  Some of his favorites were the Sesame Street and Arthur books.  He had no idea what he wanted to be saying he would be a monster when he grew up.  However his curiosity in the Science portions of the class left me with little concern as I am certain his knowledge would grow as he continued throughout school.

S-L Project Hours

Throughout this project I have dedicated many hours to helping in the classroom of the pre-schoolers.  It was a privilege to interact with these young students over the past few weeks.  They showed me how every little thing about my appearnce from my 'rockstar' jacket to the "why is there hair on your face" that we are all very unique.  Their eagerness to learn was great inspiration, but like all students I know that by the time those cute kids were teenagers they would undoubtably hate school as much as any other student that I have worked with.  However it will be the basic skills they are taught at the ywca that will be with them forever.

Service Learning

Our class is going on a service learning trip.  To me this seems exciting, but also that my work load just became crazy.  However, I have several hours of free-time on Friday particularly in the morning.  So by being able to assist at the YWCA from 9-1 or so I should be able to accomplish this service learning project in a matter of a couple weeks, if I include the time given to us during class.  I feel knowing that I have time available I should be able to accomplish the task at hand.  I just hope I don't get called about that job I applied for too soon or else several different things will be extremely tangled and unruly in my life.

Something Different

Ok so my last blog ended wierd, that was due to unforseen technical diffeiculty that I will fix asap.  For this blog I am no going to look exactly at the reading instead I am going to talk about something different as stated in the title.  While the reading that we did was greatly informative and gave a deeper insight into teaching and talking while I did not really think the title was that great.  I feel that we as teachers do not realize the true amount of work that we will have to face when entering our fields.  This is brought on mostly from our work on monday.  We saw children who for all sense of what we could see were not cared about, and saw a few shining stars that helped them.  However one thing that I have noticed is that most of us planning to be teachers all want to be that star to help these students in any way possible, so what is to say that these children do not already have teachers trying to help.  What we should realize is that the idea of teaching to change lives is not a new concept that we are not pioneers that will change the field.  The real problem is that when it all boils down we are hired to teach a set of cirriculum and anything after the fact is bonus.  Yes, we will reach students and have profound effects either way simply because we will work so hard for these kids.  However the system itself is what is setting us up to have such high hopes only to crush them with the various standards and obligations to the state.  I'm not trying to be a downer just a realist that we are going to be facing what seems like insurmountable odds when we are trying to not only teach the standards, but also help those students that we see need to be helped.  I am not trying to crush any dreams or make it seem pointless, I am only saying that we are only providing a bandage to the system by enabling it to exist in the state that it is in.  This may be why I am considering administration in my future, but we should not aim to just fix students or classes we should aim to fix the school and how it is run and viewed entirely.  We can make it so every child succeeds and doesn't lose hope from waiting for that angel teacher to save them.

Racial Differences and Language

I am not sure how to go about putting a title on this section, but most of the time the title is irrelevant anyway.  I looked at these thinking this is something exaclty like a field experience that I have already had and that it is something every teacher should be aware of.  Most of us were brought up with very proper english language we did not use forms of slang or a

Iamu

Chapter 14 Adolescent Literacy

The potential of techhnology.  This chapter is one that many english and people who believe in the library do not like.  I say this having heard several of my fellow classmates dis-regard e-readers as they love books.  To that I say I love books too, but they do not need to be bound with paper and leather for me to enjoy the content.  Technology is moving at a pace that no person is able to comprehend as everyday more ideas come out because due to technology something impossible ten years ago is now possible.  The fact that we are moving into an era where things we see on Star Trek look obsolete and that the only thing we really dont have is the flying car shows that we are at the forefront of human achievement.  This has limitless meanings for the type of technology that our students will be using and introduced to.  Already freestanding p.c. towers are being considered a thing of the past as tablets and computers emerge that process five times faster with a fraction of the size.  technology is is changing everything including the classroom as we as teachers have to prepare our students to use that technology.

English Language Learners

English language learners can be the most difficult type of student to have to teach.  They know little to no english and have to be taught the langauge and how to understand it before much else can be expected of them.  However this does not make them stupid or ignoroant in areas of mathematics or science.  They can be quite skillfull even above the norm based on previous schooling that they have already recieved.  There is an entire book on how to approriately teach this very unique type of student.  some key things to remember though is that you have to teach the entire language at once reading writing speaking everything at once or they will be able to read anything but not be able to write or articulate about it to save their lives.  Second  is model everything they learn by hearing and seeing.  Quite frankly words on a board are not enough.  Thrid is that they are constantly absorbing the english language everywhere they go with friends, T.V., and other forms of entertainment.  This task can seem quite daunting to any teacher asked to take on a ELL student, but it is not impossible.  It may be difficult as the english language is the most difficult to comprehend but knowing that you have helped that student learn tehe greatest tool they will need to succeed in this society will be reward enough.

Chapter 7 Adolescent Literacy

This chapter was one that I always challenged when I was a student in high school.  It talked of the value of words and definitions.  If you recall in my older post I scored high in reading comprehension so I always would read the word in context and discern its meaning that way and therefore neglected my studies in vocabulary and such.  This probably aggrivated my teachers to no end as it seemed I was throwing away opportuntiy, but in reality I was not taking the time to do work I felt was meaningless.  However looking back now I realize I was creating bad habits that effect me today.  The problem however lays with vocabulary.  No person likes memorizing a list of words they do not know because they do not hear them.  So we as teachers and professionals must increase our vocabulary and the difficulty of the reading we assign to affirm the words these students are literally being forced to learn.  Thats right we are forcing these students to learn vocabulary, for some it is second nature of being in school.  However for many it will be like pulling teeth that they will seem uninterested and lazy in their approach.  But, they do want to learn them they want to know all they can so nothing will surprise them. Showing them words they do not see on a daily basis however makes the information seem trivial and pointless.  So how do we approach this issue.  Very gently, simply putting a list in the students hand at the beggining of the year and saying learn these words by this date and so on is a terrible way.  I personally have not thought of an appropriate way to engage students in vocabulary other than constant testing and reminders and trying to use it text and worksheets.  this way is a little better than a weekly test, but it feels like there is a big meaty center i could be using as the core of it all that I am missing.  I will hopefully find a better way as I teach, but if not I might be able to steal one from a teacher better than myself.

Chapter 4 Adolescent Literacy

The main problem with classrooms now and days teachers only teach so the students can re-iterate information on a test then simply forget all or most of it and move on to something new.  This is the case even where there is no standardized tests involved.  We move and go through the material so fast that students can never truly appreciate the material and learn to understand it.  Science is by far the best example I can think of.  I can recall several times in middle school going over very basic principles regarding elements and the periodic table, but forgetting them and having to relearn everything in high school.  If we look at all of the material that is retaught throughout our lives we would be sick that we had to learn something so many times only to forget and not care about it when we are thirty.  Why should we care does it matter that we do not know calculus or chemistry?  Or proper citation for that matter, how many of us will after college write a book that requires citation while in our fields of study?  In order for our students to want to know things we must teach more than facts we need to teach principles with those facts principles that they want to know and understand.  For example in science we can teach principles that go with having proper lab safety that may go with automotives and cooking so that it incorporates more than the basic facts that even though I enjoyed these facts have already forgotten simply due to not needing them.  But, involving other aspects allows for relating concepts so that they will remember the facts because they will actually pertain to life and not simply some test they will take at the end of the chapter.

Chapter 6 Adolescent Literacy

This chapter of the book talks about how things are changing all around us.  From technology to the very world we live and how the youth is able to see and experience everything that happens now and days through technology.  That is not necessarily a bad thing as many young people are capable of knowing and should know about the world we live in.  However we can see a change they have in the types of literature they want to read.  Middle school students are no longer reading books just to read they now read books that create insight and deeper understanding into the world which they live.  They are reading items that even I did not know existed until I was in my first year of college.  These children are quickly becoming young adults overnight due to the amount of resources and technology that they have available to them.  That is not to say it is a bad thing, but we as people need to understand that simply because they are younger that does not mean they do not have input or theory to offer in a subject.  As teachers it is important for us to give proper material so that their minds may grow in the appropriate manner.  These students are very influential and some of the most influential books were written by men of ill content.  So being sound minded adults and professionals we must understand that young adults need more challenging and broadening literature, while at the same time we must make sure that it is appropriate and does not create clouds of doubt in what may be already confused minds.

Chapter 10 Adolescent Literacy

So just to any outside viewers I am reading this book for a class.  In this chapter we read about how the world is becoming a smaller place and how it will take a certain mindset to adapt and grow in the future.  It talks of the different mindsets and the people that emerge and the strengths that they have.  The one type that is described as being the most capable of succeding are those of right brain oreintation.  That is the imaginative and creative the people who think outside the box are going to be the ones who control and run things as they will be creating the new innovation as left brained people can be outsourced and replaced by automation.  However I submit this question, if right brained people who enjoy expression and freedom are the ones in control where will the control be?  Or how will these people who are normally not organized or interested in calculations be the ones who control the large corporations and buisinesses.  While only a few are required that does not change the fact that children who grow up in such a way can simply change their style of thinking.  Personally I have been described as center to left brained by a test measuring brain level.  Meaning I am capable of thinking different ways while being capable of strategical and creative thaught.  But that is me.  Most people are not associated one way or the other.  Im not sure where im trying to go with this now, but these different mindsets are good but what are we supposed to do with this information.  I mean we can't change the way people process information so I guess its a more power to you type of thing, on whether you like to create or to process things.

Chapter 1 Adloscent Literacy

Opening this book I was surprised to find it talking about a scenario regarding NCLB or No Child Left Behind. I found it very intriguing that there was such a large opposition to the program which I knew existed but never to what extent.  This made me realize that professional teachers everywhere are having to work with this program and the unnecessary   strain that it puts on them.  The fact that so many schools are overly concerned with the test scores demanded by the government that they are forgetting that they are there to shape young children and students into functional adults is sickening.  This is as bad to me as eating meat is to a vegan (no offense).  But really if we were to ask schools what made them special they would cite test scores and rankings within their states.  No one cares if the school has the best music department in the county or that the teachers all take turns giving after school tutoring its about the test scores and punishing the students who cant meet some politicians line simply because they thought this is a good number.  People don't realize that it was not teachers who said lets do this its the politicians who's children attend very wealthy private school and are given anything they desire.  The problem with this legislation is that it focuses on the negatives and does nothing to help a school in need except to take it over and eventually shut it down then requiring the parents to pay exorberant fees to send their children to a different school.  People can also bet if the legislation can't create a budget then there is no hope in changing this anchor of legislation that slowly drags schools to their knees