transportable & Transparent

“We all learn by reading, writing, speaking, and viewing. Each component of literacy must be taught and used across the school day. When this happens, the strategies we teach become transportable and transparent for students” (Ivey, & Fisher, D)

I found this quote at the beginning of chapter two of the Literacy Rich Adolescents text.  I picked this quote because I believe that it summarizes the goal of chapter 2. In this chapter, different strategies for getting students to be engaged in literacy and to improve student's literacy skills were discussed. It is believed that if all of the teachers were making a connection with literacy or with other classes, student could better learn materials. The idea of transportable is that what a student teaches in one class or a strategy a student uses in one class can be used in another. The idea of transparent is that the strategy becomes so automatic that the student does realize when he or she does it. This chapter focused on mainly uniting all subjects for a common goal. Throughout the chapter many strategies are given to enhance content-based learning. These strategies include; read a louds, discovery activities, anticipation guides, graphic organizers, flow charts. I found the story about Abdurashid very interesting. He was a student from Ethiopia who spoke Amharic, Oromo, Swahili and Somali but he could not speak any English. Though he had a language barrier, he still manages to do very well in his classes. I found this interesting because I have some Ethiopian friends and I know for a fact that the languages that Abdurashid spoke did not relate at all to English. This made me wonder how he did it.

                         In chapter 6 of the text book (emergent Literacy), the basics of language are discussed. Things like phonemic awareness, alphabet and learning to spell words are also elaborated on. I felt like chapter six of the text book was more for beginner English speakers or children first learning how to read. Both the Literacy Rich Adolescents text and the text book provide different strategies for literacy education. I believe that the text book shows the begging and the Literacy Rich Adolescents text shows how to build more on that knowledge.

Motivation

Hello:)

      I really liked chapter 2 "Reading Reason's". Unfortunately reading is not my favorite subject. As a child I hated reading. I only read books that were assigned to me. I did not read for fun. Reading the assigned reading for this week has showed me that reading has so many rewards. I like the fact that the author stated that reading prepares you for life. There are some people that I know who never read food labels. There was a situation where expired cereal bars were being passed out at my job when they were all expired no one knew about it because no one took the time to read the labels. Two texts were read this week and the positions of the author were similar in that reading helps students improve academically. It was stated that reading should be everywhere not just in language art class rooms. I feel that throughout my school experience reading was sometimes used as a punishment. I was never encouraged to read for fun. Reading was simply for preparing for a quiz or an exam. When I had to read for an exam, I would just memorize what I needed to know. I never took time any to really enjoy a book.

            I believe that teachers should start making reading more fun for children. Telling kids to read because they have a quiz should not be a motivating tool. The topic this week was motivation and I think that motivation is key in education. If a student is motivated to read, they are going to enjoy what they read and want to read more books. If students are being pressured by pop quiz and exam, they are merely memorizing facts from the book to pass an exam. I therefore liked the reading that listed all of the great things that one can get from reading.

 

Week 2 Knowing the reader

Hello:)

     So I have already started to fall behind, but I am catching up! Answering the question under our blog prompt, culture is the knowledge, skills, rules, norms, practices, traditions, language and values that shape and guide beliefs and behavior of a particular group of people. Being that I am not American but was raised in America, I can say that I am affected by two different cultures. I come from a very conservative culture and my culture has affected everything in my life including what I read and how I respond to what I read. Culture teaches norms and what is accepted by a group of people. It is very important for teachers to know about their students cultures because a student's culture will affect how she or he perceives topics and text in class.  My culture has made me like some subjects more than others. There books I would pick up to read and others I would never even think about reading. Knowing your students and their culture will allow us as future educators to better help our students.  Working with children and learning about different cultures has taught me that what may be important in one culture may not be important in another.  This may be important to know as an educator so that students are not looked down upon or viewed as lazy.

       In some cultures women are not encouraged to practice math or science. If a student decides that she or he is not going to even try in a subject, educators should look deeper into the situation instead of labeling the student as lazy. Culture is very important in education because education is different in each culture. What maybe important to know in one culture maybe useless in other.  Therefore educators should really take the time to know their students and their culture.

 

             

What is literacy

Hello :)


      To me literacy is being able to read and write. Teaching little children how to read and write can be extremely difficult. I believe that teaching takes a lot of patience and repetition. I am not a big fan of reading, but if I am interested in the topic I will most likely read it. Therefore having books that your students can relate to is important. children and people in general want to see themselves in books, if they are not represented or they feel that they cannot relate to the story that alone can make them not want to read a book. I also believe that culture plays a big role in literature. Culture is going to affect how people perceive the information that they are reading. Culture is learned and is embedded of norms. Children will know what is excepted in their culture and what is not, therefore depending on what they are reading they will either be for or against the message (sometimes neutral).