Article/ Esperenza

I have not quite finished Esperanza but I just finished the article. I think the novel is one that you could easily implement ideas from the article. 

I find it interesting the second example used and the student and teacher's perspectives in "What the teacher didn't know." As a student and tutor now, I think many teachers and students could benefit from writting something similar to this, to gain a better understanding of each other. I think we are so quick to judge and try to make others and ourselves feel sorry for our situations. we try to convince ourselves we have it worse off than others. I believe for most of us it is quite the opposite!

It was briefly mentioned in the article but Teatro seems like a great way to develop author's craft as well. It is also a great way for students to challenge and address the status quo. "Ivonne’s testimony of how she negotiated and developed social relationships challenges the idea that the only way to fully participate in school is through mastery of the English language."

I am always worried however about how administration will react to doing things such as this. just like at the beginning of the article, when you do things out of the norm, you will often be questioned. I worry about coming out of pre-service teacher training without having enough to back up these ideas with if I try to implement them and they are questioned.  

Discussion Groups

I really liked the way we did discussion groups today! Like I said in class, I never liked the discussion groups that my teacher set up in 5th grade because it made reading such a chore. We would rotate jobs each day and there were just some jobs that I absolutely hated. I always thought that things like that got in the way of reading, because a lot of the time I actually did like the books we were reading. I especially liked when we were able to pick the book we wanted to read out of a certain number of books and we were put into groups in that way. I remember one time in particular we were to pick out of 5 books that were all about the holocaust. I ended up really enjoying that book because I got to choose the one that interested me. I think if I end up teaching one of the older grades that is something I would like to set up, only in a more open ended way. I think 4th and 5th graders especially are capable of talking about a book they read without it being completely structured. I like the idea of having them talk about the book and then looking at different questions if the conversation comes to a stop. I actually came into class today hoping that we wouldn't be talking about what a good idea discussion groups where everyone has a different job are, so I am glad that we talked about a different way that they can be run. I am really hoping to learn about more ways to teach reading in such a way that kids will really enjoy it, because reading is fun!

Flint ch 10/ Esperenza

I read the 80pages of Esperenza Rising before I read the Flint and I am glad that I did so in that order. I saw good connections between aesthetic stance discussion in the book and how Esperenza and other non fiction books fit into that stance. I liked the example conversations in the chapter, they really help make each concept concrete for me. Seeing examples from the classroom is extreamly helpful.

I can clearly see how the reader response theory applys and the transaction that occurs as a student (or anyone) reads.

One very important part for me to realize was that stance is an internal and often not visible part of literacy which makes it a little more difficult to gauge and understand but it is still an extreamly important aspect of literacy and discussion in the classroom.

Knowing Literacy

I really liked the part of the reading that was talking about improving assessment by helping teachers make rapid decisions in a more productive way. I really agree with this because there is not always time to do formal assessments and they don't always tell you what you need to know to help your students learn. Teachers have to notice their students and listen to what they are saying and make a judgement of how much they have taken in from there. Teachers have to be flexible and willing to change their plan on the spot according to what their students need to know and how far along they already are. There is not going to be time for a formal assessment for all of these situations, so helping the teacher assess in a more precise and rapid way seems like a really good idea. There is a place for formal assessment and as teachers we are going to have to provide record for parents of how well their kids are doing, but on the average day in the classroom, assessment has to be faster and more subjective to what the teacher thinks they should be covering for longer/moving on from.

Knowing Literacy

"I argue that the ability to listen is a teacher's most important assessment skill." I think Peter Johnston makes a really good point. There is so much you can learn from your students if you take the time to really listen to what they say. Having a discussion with students about literacy, whether they know it is about literacy or not, may be just as effective if not more effective than the traditional paper and pencil test. By listening to a student, you are able to better understand what they are thinking and what their understanding of a topic is. Some students have a hard time translating their thoughts onto paper, so by allowing them to talk about it you may find a deeper understanding. Johnston also states that "children have interesting things to say and that the more you listen, the more you find they have to say". It is easy to assume that because we work with young students, they do not have much to contribute to a conversation because of their age and inexperience. However, I agree with Johnston that if we take the time to actively listen to students, they have a lot to say and much of it is very interesting.

Ray Readings

I really liked how Ray included real samples of student writing in chapter 3. These examples really helped explain the points she was trying to make about writing craft and envisioning all the possibilities involved in writing. The students' final works were extremely well written, and the one that hit me the most was the one that Ray had hesitation about. She said she was disappointed when her student was going to make an alphabet book about his dreams. This piece was astounding to me, especially because of the author's young age. His dreams and the craft he used left a great impact and made him seem beyond his 11 years.