The information that I found most helpful that I will take out of the Flint chapter and our subsequent class discussions were the varying levels of emerging writers. It was really neat to see a child's work and development broken down into these levels. Though it seemed obvious that children's writing grows gradually, I had never thought of it in a systematic way like Flint kind of separated it into. The steps starting with random marks and progressing to consonants, and then vowels, and so on make a lot of sense when you think about them and it is really interesting to see them in form of examples. I think that in this chapter, Flint really recognized and emphasized the importance of children's writing and of allowing and encouraging them to write creatively and freely. This is a huge point for me as I completely agree. Kids can really express themselves through writing and its always fun to see what is going on in their minds! You never know! haha

Flint Chapter 6

I found the descriptions about the different levels of emergent writers to be very helpful. I did not realize that the young students went through so many phases, or that those phases had names. I think this will be helpful as a future teacher, because now I have a reference point when I am looking/critiquing my own students writing. If they are at those early stages, I will know that I don't need to correct as much as encourage them. They will get better and more advanced with practice. Just like we talked about in class today, many teachers are too quick to correct instead of guiding the students toward the higher goal. I know this is something that I will struggle with because I will want to correct my students and help them understand why it was incorrect, but I have to remember this is the learning process and they will get better with more practice.

Learning Centers

I just finished reading Flint Ch. 6 and there were a few ideas in it that I thought were really cool, and that I would actually use! I really liked the idea of the writing centers and the literacy-enriched play centers. I think that is such a fun way to incorporate reading and writing in the classroom. I really think that the writing centers use Ray's approach of reading like a writer. When children get to use whatever writing skills they have for play, they will become more confident and comfortable writing. I thought the literacy enriched play centers were a really fun idea too because kids love any props they can use to enhance their play time. Having all of these things like grocery store ads, coupons, cookbooks, etc. in a kitchen or grocery store play center sounds like a great way to get kids to try out their literacy skills as well as using their imagination. I was so excited to see this idea, because I think it is very rare that I read a textbook and see ideas and teaching methods that I could easily put into practice.

Flint Ch.6

Usually when I read Flint, I find it rather silly to separate some of the techniques and methods that they do, thinking they all could be good depending on the situation, and should probably be combined to be the most effective. The two perspectives talked about in the very beginning of the chapter are readiness perspective versus emergent literacy perspective. In the case of these two I cannot see how readiness perspective is even worth mentioning at all. It talks about learning to read, write and speak as a sequence of skills and separate from each other. The emergent literacy perspective talks instead about children developing these abilities concurrently and at different rates and methods. Children are not cookie cutter in learning anything. Every child is different and going to learn a different way and at a different pace. A set of goals or benchmarks of where a child should be at a certain time in their life is not necessarily a bad thing but when the methods used to teach are all about those benchmarks, thats when I see a problem. To think that anyone might view learning to read like this surprises me.

AR

After reading the article about AR, I realized how detrimental this program is to student reading. Not only does it discourage many students from reading, but it also teaches them that what they find interesting may not be important. This was very saddening to me, especially because I am getting an endorsement in reading. I realized that this was a very common practice in schools, and I think the program needs to stop altogether or be modified. Reading is a difficult subject to test on because every person interprets the text differently and finds different aspects important/memorable. So, when dealing with young, impressionable students, it is important that we as teachers are encouraging them in their reading interests and not subject them to tests that belittle what they find interesting.

Accelerated Reader

Prior to reading this article about Accelerated Reader, I had no knowledge of what the program was. I attended a private school my whole life and AR was never part of our curriculum so I have never had experience being in the program like many others seem to have been. From what I understand though, it is a program that includes a variety of books and the computerized multiple choice story plot questions that go along with with those certain books. The biggest problem many people seem to have is the limited book choice and the reading restrictions that this places on children who want to read about what they enjoy and have to be told that they can't because basically there is no AR computer quiz to go along with those books. Another problem that I observed from this reading about AR was that it encouraged reading a lot of books quickly and just having to know the basic and literal plot but did not seem to include any emphasis on the quality of the books and or any critical analysis beyond just the plot. Some of the most enjoyable reading I have done in my life is reading that I can really get into the story and expand upon it and think about why something happens or why someone is the way they are rather than just reading it for what its worth. For this reason, I think that AR may have been a really great idea in the beginning but as it has played out, many problems have come to the surface and if school want to continue to use programs like AR they need to address these problems and see what modifications they can make.

Really Reading

English is not my favorite subject. In fact, I might even say it is my least favorite subject. Reading articles like Schmidt's Really Reading reminds me exactly why that is. The fact is, I love reading and writing, but I absolutely hate the way it is taught in schools. If we want to encourage children to read on their own and to find books that they enjoy, programs like accelerated reader do nothing to support this. The first problem I see is that students are expected to only read the books that are on the accelerated reader list. For some this may be a good thing, because sometimes choosing a book to read is difficult, and a list gives you a place to start. On the other hand, narrowing down the options that children have can pose a huge problem. Telling kids that they can only read what is on the list devalues other books that they might have an interest in. I am a big believer that every person has the ability to love reading, and also to hate reading. Many children might not like the choices that accelerated reader has to offer, and because they are made to read books they will not enjoy, these children will decide that they hate reading. The other problem is the competition that accelerated reader puts in the classroom. The elementary classroom is not the place for competition. From a young age children start comparing themselves to others and if they are not the fastest readers, they will start to feel bad about themselves. I think that there are much better ways to get children to read, and it all starts with helping them find books that they will really enjoy.

Accelerated Reader Article

This article really spoke to me because I have experienced in my life and have also observed in classrooms the delicate use of competition to aid in learning. Before this article I had not really been aware of a way to bring competition into reading. Although this was not one of the objectives of the Accelerate Reader program, it seems that this is one of the main outcomes of program. I think sometimes teachers and parents are unaware of how observant children can be. Children measure themselves according to their peers constantly and AR just helps make this comparison even easier. It was also really disturbing to me that children were deeming books as unimportant or irrelevant just because they weren't AR books. It teaches children that books lower or higher than their tested reading level are not worth their time. I personally think that any book a child chooses to pick up is useful to their future success with reading, no matter what level the book is. It saddens me that children are loosing the enjoyment of reading for a more systematic and rushed technique.

Schmidt article

I can relate alot with this article because the grade school I attended participated in accelerated reader. On pg 204 in makes a point I love: that the program Made the definition of a good reader go from one who finds both knowledge and pleasure in reading to one who could Score 80% or more on and AR test and accumulate alot of points. The article also comments on how the program limits children on the text they will read. I know fist hand that this is true. I can remember racing to the library to at I could get to e books with the most AR points before anyone else. Our library had all of the AR books in one section and I had no idea how to use the library other than to go straight to that section. I ink that yes, AR can help students improve reading. I know I became a better reader from reading many books, however the program does little (if not making worse)to build a child's lifelong desire to read and practice literacy.

I liked that the teacher could admit that she was wrong for endorsing and working to get the program in her school. I also think that as an educator I need to have a spirit of humbleness, to be able to admit when I do not know what is best or to be able to adapt my idea of what is best after I have already set my course in one direction.

Bishop article/ Ray ch 7

One quote that stuck out to me in the article reading for this week was the following quote: "When students are exposed to literature in which they see reflections of themselves and their lives, they are miseducated to view themselves and their lives as "normal", to interpret their own culture as human nature." This perpetuates the discrimination and oppression. I agree with this one hundred percent but I was still concerned with how I would prevent this from happening in my classroom. I felt completely un-prepared to provide rich and true cultural experiences for children but this article has eased some of my worries. Bishop clearly states its not about knowing it all but about putting for the effort to try. I also was very excited to read Ch. 7 in Ray's book because now not only will I have to tool to analyze children literature, I have a large list to choose from. I am so glad I am receiving all of this. One of my biggest fears about my own classroom was building my library but I feel like I am gaining the tools to be able to create a great one!

Bishop Article - Multicultural Education

While reading the Bishop article on multicultural education, I came across a particular quote that really resonated with me! The quote was as follows, "When children are invisible in the literature sanctioned by the schools, or when the images they see are distorted or laughable or inaccurate, the effect on their self-esteem is likely to be negative. " For me, this point really sums up the main purpose I see in using multicultural literature. While multicultural literature is important for celebrating students' diversity, I think the even more important purpose for including it in your classroom is too make the students accept their own cultures and those of others in a positive attitude so they can feel proud! Quality multicultural books can show students the unique aspects about their culture that make them special and valuable.

Multicultural Literature

From reading Bishop's Selecting Literature for a Multicultural Curriculum, I found a few things that really stuck with me. The first of these is the way that people of other cultures are pictured in books. Bishop described how in many books with African American characters, they are pictured as comical, with their hair sticking out in every different direction. Bishop says that African American children who read books like this will have a lowered self esteem because the little girl who is supposed to look like her looks like something to be laughed at. I think this is a really interesting point, and that we should really look closely at how accurate our multicultural literature is when we bring books into our classroom. The other thing that really stuck with me was that multicultural texts rarely portray a current day image of a different culture. For instance, many books about African Americans are about either slavery or the civil rights movement. We should focus on finding books that children can relate to today. Also in class Leslie and I talked about how just because a person looks different does not necessarily mean they partake in a certain culture. For example, I had a friend in high school who had moved here from China when she was 8 years old. I asked her once what her favorite kind of Chinese food was, and she told me that she loves orange chicken from Panda Express. Just because she looks Chinese and even lived there for a period of time didn't mean that every piece of her old culture stayed with her. She lived with her mom and step dad, who was American. I think it is important not to assume people will act a certain way just because they look different from us, and to get to know our students and where they come from.

Bishop and Flint

After reading the Bishop article, I found that I disagreed with many of her thoughts, as well as some of what Flint has been discussing. This is all in regard to multicultural literacy. After reading the article, I felt that the "norm" students (Middle class, white, Americans) are being ignored. All the other students get to partake in literacy that discusses their own personal histories, yet the "norm" students are left behind. I feel as if there is such an emphasis on diversity and multiculturalism in the classroom that we forget to discuss the other students, many of whom have just as diverse backgrounds. I also felt that Bishop used words like "norm" that made student like myself feel as if we have nothing special or unique about our backgrounds and because we are not labeled as "different" we don't deserve any recognition. Now I know that is not what she intended, but some of her language gave me that impression. I also noticed this in Flint's work and how she has stressed the importance of validating the multiple languages of all students. I do think this is important, but I think the extent that the subject has been taken is far too much. Some students who may be labeled as "different" may not even see themselves that way, or do not want to be seen in that way and putting them in the spotlight would make them uncomfortable. I think the push on how much diversity is brought into the classroom should depend on the students themselves. Yes, there should be some multicultural texts in all classrooms because America is a very diverse country and the students should be aware of that. However, I don't feel that there should be such pressure to make sure all the texts are perfectly authentic and that every culture in the classroom is represented in a text unless the students themselves want it that way.

Bishop

I just finished reading the Bishop article and overall I can see where the author was trying to go with it, but some of what Bishop was saying I did not agree with. One part of the anticipation guide mentioned about a counter argument that teachers should be color blind. I agree with this more. I do understand the need for multicultural literature in the classroom but I do not think that books that have characters that are Everychildren should be discredited or claimed to be not as helpful. I think the best way to beat racism and stereotyping is to show the commonality between races and other groups of people. The article bashed some of the stories and claimed they were not authentic. I do not think that depicting a african american girl with braids (messy or organized) is a way to judge a books authenticity. Some african american girls do wear their hair in the type of braids described by Bishop; not all do, but some do. I think this applies to any type of children. Some will fit into this category and some into another; one thing Bishop said that I would really agree with is that not one book or perspective can represent an entire group of people. But having said this, I wonder why Bishop is so critical of texts or images she deems stereotypical or useless. I could go on and on about this, overall I guess I just believe that treating everyone equally, while still valuing everyone's cultures (even the middle class white people's) is important to creating a classroom where everyone feels safe, comfortable, and with a sense of belonging.

Home Literacy Practices

I was reading the article about the Johar family and really liked how it talked about all the different literacy practices that can be found in just one home. Although the parents encouraged work book type learning their was also a lot of the kids playing with each other and teaching each other. It mentioned different types of games that they played to help Genna and the smaller children learn different skills. I was reminded that not only the "teacher" in an environment can do the teaching. It is useful and even better to sometimes let the students lead themselves or each other. Genna's siblings helped her with many different types of literacy simply by including her and encouraging her.

Reading Blog - Week 1 Post

The common theme this week between both the Flint chapters and the Jiminez, Smith, & Teague reading was that of the need for teachers to recognize and embrace the cultural backgrounds and experiences that students bring with them to the classrooms from their outside lives. This is an important notion for teachers to recognize and it is becoming more and more vital everyday as the number of diverse students in the school system grows immensely. I absolutely agree that the literacy experiences that a student has at home or in their community can be very differential based on culture and without a doubt will affect their learning and literacy abilities within the classroom. I think that the knowledge and inclusion of the students backgrounds not only allows the teacher to better connect with and engage the students but it also serves to boost students attitudes and their own feelings about diversity and culture. If we as teachers can embrace the diversity of our students, then our students will also learn to embrace the diversity of one another and to be comfortable in their own skin to be proud of their own cultures. This in turn makes the students better able to approach many topics from many perspectives and to value the differential perspectives during classroom instruction so to gain a more complete and well-rounded knowledge base.

Jiminez, Smith & Teague Reading

Hello!

I was just in the middle of reading the Jiminez, Smith & Teague article, and something really stood out to me. It says that 12% of the entire population is foreign-born, and 20% of students have immigrant parents. That is a really big chunk of the children we will be working with! Of course some areas will have a larger immigrant population than others, but even at my high school in Wheaton, we had fairly large population of ELL students. I think it is really important that as future teachers we find a way to involve these students in the classroom and treat their history and first language as a strength rather than a weakness, and really something that we can learn from. As ELL students I think it would be very easy for them to be intimidated by going to an English speaking school, which could cause them to quit trying very early on in their education. It is our job to really include them in class activities and make sure they are comfortable here so they have the support to continue in their education. That is why I think that the authors' idea of the transnational and community literacies is a great idea. By involving their background in the classroom and allowing them to share their own experiences, the entire class can learn more about other cultures while these students are feeling more involved in the learning process and can feel safe and comfortable in the classroom.

Post 1

Something that really struck me this week was both the reading and class discussion/jigsaw activity concerning language use in the classroom. Flint discussed the many different forms of language that are used in the classroom such as Ebonics and code switching. I found our class discussion about this topic very helpful and useful. It was good to hear others opinions about how to validate the students that come from a different linguistic background while still helping them succeed in the reading and writing of "proper English". I think this will be a topic I will struggle with as a teacher so by being introduced to the topic by Flint and then furthering the discussion with others in the class, I now have a better understanding of the topic and some ways to cope with it.