Double Journal Entry #3

 

 

Reading instruction at an elementary level aids to poor literacy attainment for older children. This is due to the fact that a majority of the attention is placed on the reading process –overlooking/neglecting the purpose of reading (whether it is to generate ideas, grasp concepts, or obtain information). The two combined, however, are crucial to literacy attainment for older children.

Reading test scores are beneficial when trying to decipher the degree of achievement in terms of the student’s current reading level.

What surprised me the most about the literacy myth was the importance of making connections to the outside world based on hands-on experience. When you think of classroom, you think of a place of learning; I guess I failed to acknowledge all of the ways that learning takes place outside of the classroom.

When teaching reading comprehension in the content areas, you (as the teacher) want to have the students work independently first; you want them to read silently and focus more on the material being read than what they may sound like while reading –which is what may occur if you have the students take turns reading the material aloud or when they read aloud collectively. Following, it is important to incorporate collaborative learning to help further place the focus on the material verses reading style.

I engage in literacy through communication, whether that is through voice, e-mail, texting, instant message, etc. –none of which were acknowledge in school.

When practicing literacy, students might be asked to produce an online document, as I am now while completing my blog. Today’s group of students is well aware of technology and the proper ways to use technological appliances. By engaging the students in an activity that uses a form of technology as a primary source, students will feel comfortable and will be eager to complete the activity because it is something that allows them to feel enjoyment.

A discourse community is a group of communicators with a common goal or interest. The community, as a whole, finds a common way to participate in group discussions.

If students have multiple literacies that are not recognized as valuable in school, those students will most likely be reluctant to learn literacy inside of the classroom. 

A teacher might build on the extracurricular literacy practices of their students by assigning a project for each student. That student could use his/her favorite book as a basis from which they would create a power point, model, game, or art form to describe the main idea and important events within the story. By allowing students to choose the book themselves, the assignment becomes more “free” (less structured) and thereby enjoyable.

During my junior year of high school, an English teacher of mine assigned a book to be read and instructed us to create some sort of model representation to correlate with the book chosen. Then, we had to collaborate to find ways in which all of our models connected. This strategy motivated us complete the assignment in a way that was representational of the book but also of ourselves individually and collectively.

During high school, we were required to take one foreign language course for at least two years. I decided to take two years of Spanish; I found the language rather fascinating and feel as though the language engaged me in multicultural literacy.

If a teacher is respected by his/her peers, students tend to show them that same form of respect which aids in their performance in the classroom.

Bolima, D. (n.d.). Contexts for understanding: Educational learning theories . Retrieved from
http://staff.washington.edu/saki/straregies/101/new_page_5.htm

The National Counsel of Teachers of English. (2007). Adolescent literacy. Retrieved from
http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources

Double Journal Entry #2: Part 2

“If a television network proposed a 'real life' show treating poor African-Americans, Latinos, American Indians, Asians or Jews as curiosities, they, and all Americans of good will, would be justifiably outraged.” I couldn’t agree with this quote more! The idea for this show is one based off of pure mockery. Poverty, lack of education, and loss of employment are not circumstances that should be found humorous by any means. The circumstance by which people work and live here in West Virginia may differ from those of Beverly Hills, California, but that does not mean that our way of living is “wrong”, and it seems to be portrayed that way by those who believe their culture is superior to our own. It is degrading that a network would even consider ratings to be more important than humanity. Below is a link for the Center of Rural Strategies who put forth their best efforts to campaign to stop the “Real Beverley Hillbillies”.

http://www.ruralstrategies.org/campaign-stop-real-beverly-hillbillies

 O'Brien, J. (May , 10 2003). Tall tales of appalachia. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/10/opinion/tall-tales-of-appalachia.html

Campaign to stop the real beverly hillbillies. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ruralstrategies.org/campaign-stop-real-beverly-hillbillies

Double Journal Entry #2: Part 1

“And sure enough, Donny, the child of the parents  who could neither read nor write anything except for their names, was failing to become literate in school as well,” (123).  This quote was definitely shocking at first; I couldn’t believe that a teacher would make such an assumption about a student whom she never even took the time to work with. After reading the entire article, I still found it somewhat shocking. The text describes how a student from a poor family with parents of little educational background or proper dialect will be held to a standard, by the teacher, by which he or she is viewed as a student who has little desire or chance to success in terms of learning literacy. What a terrible assumption to make! If a student from that background shows little progress in terms of literacy, it is because he or she has had no example by which to learn from. He or she should not, by any means, be denied educational opportunities as a result. 

According to the article, “…literacy knowledge refers to the concepts that children acquire during their preschool years, during the years preceding the beginning of formal literacy instruction, in kindergarten and first grade, in reading, writing, and printed language,” (124). Concepts about reading and of the written language are learned by a child when he or she is present while those around him or her read and write as a form of purpose. When a child wants his or her parent to read aloud, for instance, that is an example of non-print literacy knowledge. Reading to a child means opening the mouth (allowing the lips to move freely) and projecting the sounds that make up the words; since that is the only type of reading witnessed by a child, the child does not understand other forms of reading such as silent reading. In another instance, a form of print literacy knowledge occurs when a child scribbles on a piece of paper with a pen or pencil. The child understands that one writes by making marks on a piece of paper; the child knows he or she is writing yet cannot decipher what it is that is written since he or she is not able to read what is written.

When stereotyping a student (or his/her parents), it is common for the teacher to criticize the student and not acknowledge his or her achievements/struggles. The text states, “If the child’s family is poor, his parents are undereducated, the dialect nonstandard, then we are much more likely to interpret experiential difference as a deficit in the child, in the parents, and in the sociocultural community within where the child grew up,” (130). Being that, if the teacher assumes that the child is incapable of obtaining forms of literacy knowledge, the teacher will show little to no effort to offer that child a chance to succeed.

            Contributing to poor literacy instruction are the teachers and administrators –who tend to often ignore the issue at hand. For instance, while reading about Donny, I recall that although unprepared to further his education at a higher grade level, the teacher as well as the principal enabled him to advance to the third grade. Fortunately, there was intervention, but had there been no means of intervention, a student full of promise would have been advanced to the succeeding grade level each year while still unable to master the basics of literacy knowledge: reading and writing. Shouldn’t teachers and administrators spend more time on the quality of one’s education and not just the quantity –being the amount of time not being spent working with that student in fear that he or she may become a burden to that teacher/administrator and his or her time.

            In a two year study of kindergarten and first-grade children (Purcell-Gates & Dahl, 1991), Purcell-Gates alongside Karin Dahl “found that, across the board, these children (from economically stressed homes) had less knowledge of written language and how reading and writing work than children from more middle-class homes,” (126). If one is believed to not surpass the common misconceptions and assumptions made about those of lower-income families, denial of educational opportunity will occur as a result.

            In terms of the relationship between language and literacy, language can be viewed as nonessential in terms of understanding literacy. If an individual is language deprived, it will be difficult for him or her to communicate, thereby, how will literacy occur? If the individual is given a language (whether spoken or signed), however, he or she will thrive in terms of literacy, for the two complement each other.

            Educators alike are known to have the common assumption that those who are poor, less education, and/or have nonstandard dialect are less likely to succeed in terms of furthering their educational opportunities. As a result, educators often become judgmental towards those students whose family is poor, is undereducated, and/or whose dialect is nonstandard, offering them little opportunity to succeed in terms of educational opportunities. To beat this common assumption and to no longer deny students of educational opportunity, educators must treat all students equally, no longer making assumptions about each student based on his or her personal background. If they cannot succeed in doing so, little to no effort will be offered to those students, resulting in discrepancy in the each student and an insignificant success rate within the classroom.

           Being from northern West Virginia, I didn’t know of anyone who actually had an accent while in high school. In high school, it was all about using “Proper English”, so I find the term to be a natural way of speaking. I was one to grow up amongst people who were conscientious of not using double negatives or misusing subject-verb agreement, conditional verb forms, verb participles, or adjectives and adverbs. And honestly, the word “ain’t” has never been in my vocabulary nor will it ever be. I don’t use slang and try to pronounce words to the best of my ability. I suppose that because of the environment in which I first engaged in literacy knowledge and in which I learned my love for English as a subject and as a language, I prefer to follow the rules of “Proper English” and often find myself correcting those who do not.

Gates, V. (2000). As soon as she opened her mouth. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6DFAmexYq7vMGQxMjI1OTEtMjAyZS00NzJmLTg1OTUtODlmMGQ0ZDIxOTVk/edit?hl=en_US

Double Entry Journal #1

In the article entitled “Research Review for Inclusive Practices “ by Rita Hocog Inos and Mary Anne Quigley, the definition of inclusion is stated to be “including all.” Therefore, this new teaching practice could be defined as including students who have various learning difficulties into the regular classroom to work with nondisabled students. Moreover, the article states that  “the term inclusive schools is generally used to describe changes that are occurring within schools and school districts to coordinate and unify educational programs and services and to transform schools into places where all children, including those with diverse abilities and needs, belong and can learn at high functioning levels.” The types of students inclusive education is meant to serve are those who struggle to learn; such learning difficulties can range from issues such as linguistic troubles, various socioeconomic levels, mental health issues, and so on and so forth.

A key characteristic of an inclusive school is that parents are partners in the students’ education. According to the article, parent involvement is extremely important, so this is a vital characteristic for success in inclusive education. Another significant characteristic of an inclusive school is the existence of co-teachers in classrooms. When two or more teachers compromise and work together in the classroom, they have more to offer to various students. Hence, this is another vital characteristic for inclusive education.

A strategy that helps students become more responsible and effective in the inclusive process is when there is a sense of unity and community in the classroom. If a student feels as though he/she is part of the classroom whole or the classroom community, he/she will be more responsible in completing tasks and displaying integrity due to the fact that those same characteristics are being shown throughout the whole community of which that student is a part of.

 

I chose this video because it is a wonderful clip about inclusion. The focus is on inclusion in education as a new form but one that represents hope, equality, respect, and collaboration –to live and to work as one.

“Whether the road travels straight or bends to meet the landscape, the destination must be the same.”

 

Inos , R. H. (2012). Research review for inclusive practices. Retrieved from http://www.prel.org/products/Products/Inclusive-practices.htm

Inclusion in education . (Feb, 27 2009). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfUqd1fTtgM