Unveiling the Underlying Messages

                I think it’s true that sometimes we would like to think that we live in a utopian society, where all people are treated equally and everything is always peaches and cream.  However, that is far from the truth.  The same perceptions of race, women, men, etc. are still reinforced into minds of our students today.  During my undergraduate years, one of my classes asked us to explore how advertisements alone have formed our society’s view of women and the impact it then has on them.  Time after time, ad after ad, women were shown phenotypically flawless.  They had not a single blemish on their face.  They were tall, thin, and had perfect hair.  Usually, these commercials also depicted these perfect women, who had used whatever product they were advertising, being attractive to men.  There is no doubt that seeing this kind of image repeatedly has some kind of effect on a woman’s psyche.  Not only does it affect women, but it also has the potential to affect the expectations that men have for women.  Girls need to know at a young age that they have the ability to be strong, smart, and independent women. 

                Race is another issue that often seems to be stereotypically defined.  Although the underlying message is not funny, I could help but chuckle at the description of the Indians from Looney Tunes.  It’s absurd that we would even think to state that they are incapable of a civil and productive life.  Also, it is so true that the hero or heroine is usually a white.  Why is that?  What does that say about our “modern” society today?   

                Children are exposed to this material everyday on the TV so why would we as teachers want to keep feeding these stereotypes to our students through their literature?  We must be conscious of what we have our children explore.  As our students get older and become more conscious about their appearance (e.g. 6^th grade or so), we could address some of these myths into the literature that is assigned to them. 

Literacy in the Modern World

I found Literacy Moves On to be a very intriguing read.  The “more modern” examples of literacy that it provided really helped me to understand the basis of this class.  Because children are submerged into the pop culture, it is important that we as teachers meet them in the middle to help their learning experiences be more meaningful.  Reading this article took me back to our literacy dig that we completed within the first couple weeks of class.  Although I’m not exactly sure why, I never seriously considered body language and simple gestures to be body language.  However, it is!  Although unintentional or subconsciously at times, we often speak through our motions.  I wish that I would have taken a closer look into the nonverbal language used at the park. 

Another valid point that this article made involved the need to teach children the value of responding critically to text.  So often, it seems that we take the information that we read for face value.  It is imperative that we encourage students to become inquisitive and promote higher ordered critical thinking skills.

I also really enjoyed reading The Inner World of the Immigrant Child.  It is amazing how much you can really learn about students and their feelings by analyzing their writing.  Reading about the feelings of isolation and challenges that the students faced and then observing the ways in which that transferred to their filmstrips was very interesting.  Seeing the students get so involved in their mini-movies really inspired me!

MGRP Reflection

In each one of my classes, I have consistently heard about project-based learning, which creates a student-centered learning environment to allow students to construct their own knowledge. To me, the MGRP is a good example of such a project.  While students have an opportunity to research material that is of interest to them, they also, perhaps unknowingly, are being introduced to many standards within language arts.  As a teacher, students are able to be formatively assessed by periodically checking in with them.  Also, summative assessment is completed through the works that student’s generate. 

Although I was very skeptical of my ability to write in genres other than expository, I was able to note that I do have the ability.   Furthermore, I realized that I already write in many of the genres that I chose; I just wasn’t fully aware of it.

I could definitely see myself incorporating this project into my classroom.  If I were to assign this activity, I probably wouldn’t require the research paper to be quite as long, merely because my students wouldn’t be quite as skilled in the task of researching.  The researching process would also be much more laborious for them.  I did like that we received feedback about our research paper before we continued with the genres.   Also, turning in the research paper before all the other genre pieces made the project seem much more manageable.   Because many short stories that are included in literature books often lend themselves to other genres, a miniature version of this project could be used as a simple writing assignment in which the students pick a part of the story to recreate through a different genre of writing of their choice!

I CAN do it!

As Cindy (pseudonym) was taking her gifted and talented entrance exam, her eyes became wide, eyebrows raised, and the smile that she normally wears had turned upside-down.    It quickly became clear to me that she was distressed and a bit overwhelmed by the page that lay before her.  After of few minutes of staring at the test, I noticed that she was discretely pulling out her small dry erase board and marker from her desk.  Intrigued, I continued to observe her.  Thinking that she had given up, I expected that she would begin to doodle.  However, I was surprised to find that she was actually writing, “I can do it!”  Before picking up her pencil to fill in another bubble on her scantron sheet, she had written this statement three times.   I was touched, encouraged, and inspired all at the same time. 

                Reflecting on my observation of Cindy’s experience several weeks ago is still very inspiring to me as I continue to work on my MGRP.  From high school forward, I feel that I was really only provided with the opportunity to write expository pieces.  Consequently, I often feel that my abilities to write in other genres are diminished.  Just as looking at the test questions overwhelmed Cindy, looking at all the different and artsy genres that exist almost have the same effect on me, but forcing myself out of my writing comfort zone is a challenge that I embrace.  Because like Cindy, I CAN do it!

Keeping an Open Mind

Stanza, meter, rhythm, and rhyming schemes are all terms that quickly come to mind when I think of poetry.  Similarly, I could add daunting, stress, and anxiety.  As you may be able to gather, my experiences with poetry have not been so great.  Although I do enjoy reading poetry, I’ve never considered writing it to be my forte.  For some reason, I’ve always felt really constrained by the "rules" of poetry, but perhaps this is because my definition of poetry is constrained. 

Reading Chapter 4 in Allen’s book reminded me of the many types of poems that do exist.  They don’t necessarily have to contain repetition and rhythm.  Instead, they can focus on capturing voice (e.g. double voice poems) or constructing a list of descriptive characteristics.  When I think of these alternatives, particularly the list, poetry doesn’t seem to be quite as overwhelming. In fact, as I was reading the list poem on page 46, I thought to myself, “I could write that!” 

 Not only did this chapter broaden my perceptions of poetry, it also instilled a bit of confidence within me.  Last week I had totally marked the genre of poetry off the list of possibilities for my MGRP, but after reading this chapter and exploring the different types of poems that exist, I’ve begun to at least consider reinstating it. 

Furthermore, I feel that re-examining my views of poetry is essential as I enter the classroom as the teacher becuase I will have the opportunity to set the tone for each lesson.  If I maintain my feelings of drudgery against poetry, I could unnecessarily turn my students off to writing it, causing them to think to that it is a chore. Because imposing a negative mind-set is definitely what I don't want to do, I must keep an open mind and remind myself I CAN also write poetry.

Learning THROUGH Experience

                   Reading the article about situational learning through the empowerment model by Powell and Davidson took me back in time because I experienced a similar learning experience in second grade.  My teacher had designed his classroom to function as a mini-economy.  As students, we received a paycheck each week for completing both our homework and our designated jobs (e.g. board-eraser, line leader, attendance-taker, etc.).  Our pay was based upon merit so we had to do the job and do it satisfactorily to be paid.  Because a paycheck really has no value if there is no money, we had a bank in addition to bank books.   Your check could be cashed to spend at the general store that was located in the classroom or put into a savings account.  The benefit to putting your money into savings, of course, was that it would accumulate interest.  As a student, it was your responsibility to keep track of your money and your savings account.  As I mentioned, the general store was there for the purpose of purchasing little knick-knacks or school supplies.  The added benefit to saving your money was the auction at the end of the year, where books and other educational items were auctioned off.  All businesses within the classroom were student run! 

                By learning in this environment, math was made practical to students because we were learning through experience, and our teacher would refer to the status of the economy by integrating it into his lessons.   This real-world application model has always been something that I have wanted to integrate into my own classroom.  Prior to reading this article, I had always focused on how I could further capitalize teaching math through this experience.  But Powell and Davidson helped me to realize how I could take my project a bit further by taking advantage of all the literacy that is inherently incorporate, but I have just overlooked in the past!  I could easily include real-life paperwork processes and have the students look for patterns in the words that they write like those described in the article! 

                Overall, I am just more excited about implementing this kind of project-based learning into my class!  Any suggestions or critiques that you have for this kind model of situational learning is welcomed!

Observing Literacy in the Classroom

Although our field experience has only been underway for two short weeks, I feel that I have already benefitted and accumulated more knowledge than I ever expected.  Watching my cooperating teacher (whom I will call Mrs. Doe) teach has allowed to realize more than ever that literacy and the priniciples that surround the subject of language arts are truly embedded into every single aspect of our lives.  And, Mrs. Doe only seems to drive this point home as she never fails to pass up an opportunity to relate the subject she is talking about back to the basics of reading and writing.  For instance, rather than always testing her students on the material that they have learned in science through the standard multiple-choice test, she is a strong proponent for allowing them to write about what they learn.  This writing analysis may take on a creative form or may be more objective.  She has also pointed out that lacking fluent reading skills creates difficulties with mathematics since math problems are not merely computational but instead require comprehension skills.

Fortunately, Mrs. Doe is also a big advocate for letting teachers-in-training, i.e. people like me, become actively involved in the classroom by engaging with the students.  Each week that I have been in her classroom, she has allowed me the privilege of leading a small reading group that merely consists of faciliating questions at the proper time as the students read aloud.  Seeing the proficiency of these readers is quite amazing!  However, it is undeniable that some of the students are not quite on the same reading level as their peers.  When these particular students read, I have noticed that those who are more fluent readers often have difficulties following along because they come bored or simply find it hard to follow along.  For the future, I wonder if anyone has any effective strategies for helping these more fluent readers keep interest while their peers, who may not be at the same level, read.