Feb 1st

Within the readings we had this week, I was extremely touched by the jigsaw reading I chose, which was the Triplet and Buchanan. The way the teachers reached out to the students with books that were more meaningful to them was amazing. During discussions the teachers would listen to the student’s responses, and was able to gauge how to reach out to them. After hearing about a student’s issues with a separation of parents, and difficulties adjusting to the new family, the book she brought in for him was a wonderful example of bibliotherapy. The student could simply listen and the story did more for him than just engaged him. It helped him to cope with what was going on at home. He felt special when she reached out to him, and that the his classmates could empathize with him. The readings that were most meaningful were the ones that the students could relate to. As teachers, we need to be able to find the books and stories that will make the best impact on our students. Get to know your students interests, home lives, and that can help you to gauge what stories will be meaningful to them. Having a wonderful class discussion will be a great in school activity, but reaching out to those students and helping them with outside of school problems means the world to them. Teachers have a very important role in the student’s life, and being able to reach out to them through books is a wonderful tool because it’s an informal way of giving them information academically and for things they can take outside of school.

When reading the ideas of different types of classroom talks, it showed me that discussions are so important, but overlooked and underrated. Some students said that discussions were simply a catch up for the students who were not there, or even simply in the bathroom. Discussions are important to tie in themes, make connections within the story that you may not have seen, and assess the students’ understanding of the material. Discussions are so important, yet some teachers do not spend time on it because they feel there are more important things to get to. After a story, discussing what you read is so important, yet it is not prioritized correctly. It should be a priority over a worksheet of black and white answers about the reading. It does not simply ask closed ended questions, but allows students to tie it to their own personal beliefs and make it more meaningful. Evaluating and discussing a story is more about talking about open ended questions, where the students can really get involved and express their views on it, rather than giving boring yes or no answers to see who was paying attention. Literature is so much more than that, and we need to bring this important discussion back into the classroom. Students will care for the material more if they have been able to listen to their peers’ views and expressed their own.

In my classroom, I do see a discussion type of talk after readings. My CT does a wonderful job allowing the discussion to flow, without dominating it. Having control of the discussion, yet not exactly controlling it is a hard thing to do for a teacher, and I believe my CT does an excellent job on that. She once told me that it is important to be able to have plans b c and d because a lesson is not going to go exactly how you planned if it is working. If the students are engaged and chatting, they are going to take it to a whole other place you haven’t even thought of! Allowing them to guide the discussion is more beneficial because more of them will be interested. The learning resources available to my placement’s classroom are their own copies of stories, dictionaries around the room, discussions after every story, freedom to bring up their own ideas and questions, and the freedom to choose which book they want to read during free reading. Students who do not participate in the classroom are not participating due to lack of accommodations. They simply don’t want to be there. She has reached out to them by allowing them to bring in books of their choice during readings from home, hoping to make a connection with them. Maybe if my CT allowed them to give a presentation on their favorite book, and lead a discussion on that, would change their attitudes on literature.

Langer, Leland, Hasset

While reading the Langer 1990 they talked a lot about the fact that there has been little improvement in Literature within the last 25 years. I'd have to say I do notice this. In high school, we read the same stories as my friends who had graduated years ahead of me, and my younger sister in high school took the same classes I did, with little change to the syllabus. My sister was able to use all of my old work and readings in the class because of the lack of change to the course. It's sad that the teachers are failing to improve and adapt to current things, and rather make us read the same boring stuff they had to read in school. Langer spoke about a term called envisionment, which he describes as what the reader understands about the text, and what questions they may have about the short story or poem. He uses the term Final envisionment to describe after they have read the text. What they took from it now, and their responses to the work. This is subject to change with time. Bringing in the approaches, "Being out, and stepping in," "Being in and moving through," "Being in and stepping out," & "stepping out and objectifying the experience." These were approaches in how to interpret the short readings, and get more involved in the work. It gives you more options on how to retrieve the meaning from the story. The last thing this reading talked about was the teacher's role in the language arts discussions. They described the teachers role as aiding the discussion, yet not dominating it. Having the ability to allow discussion to evolve from what the students are saying, and letting the conversation flow. This is hard to do, letting go of the lesson while still having control. Let the conversation flow but keep it on track by offering open ended questions. This is what I plan on bringing to my future classroom. I admire teachers who have the confidence to give up some control of the lesson, while still having classroom management. This would be a great way to incorporate literature into the curriculum, by having more discussions about modern pieces the students enjoy.
I have discussed a lot about the Langer reading, but the The last two readings, Leland and Hasset, discussed that teachers need to make Language arts more meaningful, and engaging. They need to bring in new forms of texts, and understand how to engage the readers. Bring in modern and meaningful texts and works, especially cultural readings. Give your students a larger range of readings, and guide them to become more well rounded. You have a great responsibility as a teacher, choosing which works to read, the meaning, and more. Choosing works that are meaningful, and connecting the kids to it is a tough challenge, but knowing your students and their interests will allow you to do this.

First post

I have several goals for my learning in this course. First, I would really like to learn how to make reading more aesthetically pleasing for my students so that they are more likely to become life-long readers. Also, I would like to learn how to effectively teach literacy to minority students and poverty level students because I plan to work in inner-city schools. I know that these students struggle with academics, especially literacy. Like I said, I want to teach in a lower socioeconomic school and community. I hope this course can help me prepare for the social and emotional concerns that my students will face on a daily basis. It is not fair that students attending hard to staff schools have vastly unequal opportunities to develop literacy and other academic skills. Obviously, having less resources is a disadvantage for these children, however, this should not keep them from obtaining a high level of education, so that they may break out of the cycle of poverty they were born into. Since literacy is the base of all academics, I want to learn how to effectively integrate literacy into all the other subject areas. I believe this is particularly important for inner city schools because they are struggling with literacy levels. I also want to learn how to effectively teach all my students in the same classroom. By this I mean I want to be able to effectively teach my gifted students, my average students, my English Language Learning students, and my special ed students. I am looking forward to learning a lot of useful information this semester!