Chapter Five

I thought that this chapter was interesting because it was a really new outlook on literacy that I hadn't thought of before.  When Probst said, "Teachers talk and students listen," I think it was something that made so much sense to me, but I hadn't considered it before.  When I think about all of my own personal classroom experiences, that is how most of them were.  It seemed like the teachers were always talking to us and we just listened and took notes.  I did not have a lot of times when my classes would have really deep conservations.  I was surprised to find out that "recitation is not discussion, interrogation is not conservation; the back-and-forth of question-and-answer is not the same as the give-and-take of egalitarian discourse" (46).  These are how so many of the classrooms that I have been in are.  I realized that most of my time spent in a classroom as a student was not spent in meaningful discussion.  Knowing this now, I know I really want to change this in my future classroom.  I am really hoping that I can have conservations in my classrooms that my students will learn and be able to talk openly.  He said, "the participants need to at least feel comfortable with one another" (48).  I think this is crucial because how the students feel around each other can either make or break how the feel in the classroom.  I don't want students to feel like they can't say what is on his or her mind because I think that is the worst thing for a classroom.  I think the ideas of annotated text and forced freewriting are really good ideas because they really get the students thinking and gets their thoughts flowing.  It is a good way to get their thoughts started and then they can expand on them in the classroom discussions. 

Blackboard Readings

I feel like after my practicum experiences I can really relate to a lot of what these chapters had to say.  I spent over 50 hours working at Kankakee Junior High where there is a lot of diversity and a lot of the students come from lower-class families and really fit the stereotypes these readings mentioned.  When Ladson-Billing described the teacher as giving her student "permission to fail," I really understood that concept (110).  In the classroom I was in there were certain students that it was very obvious the teacher had given up on.  The teacher was all over the students that didn't do their homework, but for a few certain students, she did not even say anything.  They had pushed her to her breaking point and did not care anymore.  She was so tired of trying to get them to do something that she quit.  I think this is a really common thing, but it is overlooked a lot.  The idea of thinking what does success look like for each individual student is important to remember (Ladson-Billing 112).  Success means something different for each student, but the teacher has to remember to have both overall goals for the classroom, but still keep individual goals.  This is one thing that the teacher I worked with was not so great at.  She seemed to only care about the students who were willing to put an effort in.  The problem with that is that the less attention the "trouble" kids get, the more the act out.  Even if they act like they want to fail, they really don't.  You have to keep pushing them.  I think that literacy knowledge is another thing that too many teachers do not take into consideration.  Knowing about Language Acquisition and how children learn and understand language at different rates is important to remember.  As Purcell-Gates explained, "Children do not behave in tat let us know that they have learned and are learning about written language" (125).  A lot of the time children do not understand the full concept of reading and using language because of their backgrounds.  Family life really effects what children learn when they grow up.  If a student is coming from a middle to upper class home where the parents engage in educational discussions a lot, the students have a much higher chance of coming to school with more background information on language.  It is important to keep in mind that parental education has an effect on the student's own education (Purcell-Gates 126).  I think a lot of teachers just expect students to all be on the same page when they get to school, but there are many advantages and disadvantages for each student. 

Chapter Fourteen

Even though I thought that this chapter was kind of repeating a lot of what the other chapters had to say about using technology in the classroom, I thought there were a lot of good points in it.  I think that a lot of students really feel like teachers don't understand all of the technology outside of school that they use for more than just social reasons.  A lot of students use technology to read and write and it is a lot more detailed than teachers think.  I really want my students to feel like they can express themselves through their writing any way they want to.  I think that if they want to use blogs that I can read that is great.  I was surprised when the student in the chapter said, "I don't learn about blogs from teachers.  They don't know they exist, or they think about what the media tells them" (215).  I agree with this statement and I think it could really be changed.  I really like the setup of this class for example.  I think that using the blog is a great way for anyone to express their feelings through writing and I really want to incorporate this into my own classroom one day.  Another idea that was in this chapter had to do with literature circles and podcasting, which I think is a really good idea.  So many language arts classrooms already use lit circles (I had them last semester) and it is easy to incorporate with any age group.  Adding the idea of recording the circles to make podcasts is a really cool idea.  So many students are always plugged into their ipods and listening to things, that it would be really convenient to help them study.  I like that it becomes "the students place to think, to play, and to push" (220).  Using technology to get students more involved in the classroom is really important because the teacher has to do it well.  That is one thing the chapter mentioned that I am worried about.  I feel like I have never been that good at technology, but I really want to keep myself up to date with all of the changes in the technological world so I can be current for my students.  I don't want to only know powerpoint and word because then the students feel like they can't connect with you. 

Chapter Eight

I thought that the information in chapter eight was really interesting for a lot of reasons.  I don't have really any experience working with English Language Learners and I did not have a lot of background information on the troubles they experience in the classroom.  I had no idea how hard it really is to adjust in an English classroom.  I knew it would be hard, but it makes me feel even worse for these students that are trying to adapt.  One point that Danling made that I thought was a really good one was the ideas of knowing words and concepts.  If an ELL does not know what the word photosynthesis means, trying to understand the concept of it is even harder for them (107).  I think that a lot of teachers overlook this because they are so concerned with their students only knowing the vocabulary.  Another thing that I think all teachers need to try to remember is that these students are coming from so many various backgrounds that have to be taken into account.  These learners feel connected to others that speak their native language and tend to segregate themselves.  I feel like I have experienced this many times in my life and not even in the classroom setting.  When I was in Mexico this year the workers would start to speak Spanish with each other, but if we came up to them, they would switch back to English.  However, if we asked a question that they weren't sure about they would discuss it with each other in Spanish.  I feel that a lot of students in particular want to talk in the language they are most comfortable with because it assures them that they going to say the right thing.  The thing I thought was one of the most important things was something that Carol Jago pointed out.  She said, "Too often teachers address a question to the class and call on students with the first hands up.  Speaking on demand can be extraordinarily difficult in a second language" (118).  I think that this applies to so many students, but I can see how it can be even worse for ELL's.  Teachers have to give the students time to think about what they want to say in front of the whole class.  ELL's especially need time to make sure they are saying the right thing in a language that is native to them.  I think that so many teachers need to realize how important this is because it can really affect their class participation.