First,
I have benefited from reading this first chapter by coming to a more solid
foundation concerning the term “literacy.” It is often thrown around in the
circle of professionals I come in contact with daily; however, I have found
that the term means different things to different people. Here, I have read
that literacy encompasses vocabulary, comprehension, and study skills. It has a
strong focus on becoming critical thinkers and essentially “learning how to
learn.”
Something
that caught my interest was the PDK poll taken in 2009 which found that most
people cited feel as if schools are becoming less effective. However, Berliner,
a psychologist, feels as if schools in the United States are far better off
than they once were and that the problems existing in the schools today are a
result of poverty, dysfunctional families, and poor health care (p. 4). One
area of critique here is for the author to include Berliner’s reasoning as to
how these three problems affect student learning. As an educator in an urban
school district, I can see both sides of this thought. During my first year of
teaching, I was struck by the teachers who clearly did not want to be in the
teaching environment. On the other hand, I was encouraged by those who had been
pushing hard to children for over 20 years. I have also felt the frustration of
feeling all alone, solely responsible for a student’s learning because of the
dysfunction in a family unit. I have come to understand that despite a
student’s home-life or situation, I need to do all I can for the 8 hours that
they are in my care.
I
have been encouraged by the strategies listed in the “12 Principles for
Effective Content Teachers” and I feel as if these will be beneficial for me to
apply in my classroom. One principal that will affect me and my classroom
teaching, one that I have not given much thought to, much to my shame, is
principle #4: “Most language users are equipped with more than one version of
their language.” While I only teach first grade and their language is still
very moldable or pliable, I have expected them to come to the textbook reading
able to understand the flow and syntax of the sentences. I have failed to see
that most of the sentences and story lines are more than likely not written in
their “local discourse.” The way I can apply this to my classroom is to come to
a more complete understanding of my students’ out-of-school language by
learning their personal experiences and prior knowledge (Principle #1).
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