Literacy Autobiography

       Reading has always been a challenge for me. I strongly believe that it is because English is not my first language. My country's official language is French and learning English was really hard to do.  In elementary, I did not look forward to reading time. As all of the children grabbed their favorite books, I hid in the back hoping my teacher would not see me. I was not read to by my parents when I was younger. I spent two years in ESL and every morning my teacher read children books to my class. The book that is most memorable to me is Tikki Tikki Tembo by Arlene Mosel. I did not have many books at my house when I was younger. I frequently went to my local library to pick out books. I did this only because my parents forced me to do so. I would take five books out each Sunday, but I would not read any of them. I remember in middle school my teacher had the class read The Face on the Milk Carton. I absolutely loved that book; I have ever since been hooked on mystery books.

        Reading out loud was the worst possible thing for me ever. I avoided reading out loud in most of my classes by saying I had a sore throat.  As I got older I started to read more and when I read, I kept a dictionary with me. I looked up words that I did not know and wrote them down in my reading journal. I began understanding the stories better and the meaning behind the words. Still now I avoid reading out loud in class. I panic if a professor asks me to read something out loud thinking that I might just forget my English. The first week of class my professor asked me to read some words on a strip of paper and I decline the task.  I did not like reading as a child, so I therefore do not really have a passion for reading now.  I only read books when I am required to. I do not read for fun because it brings back horrible memories of me being teased for my French accent. My accent is all gone now, but for some reason reading is still a challenge.  As a child I had to read many books on my own, especially in elementary. My teachers would hand out a list of books that all students must have read by the end of the year. I dreaded this because I only understood half of the story of each of those books.

   My least favorite book was “The Cat in the Hat”.  I did not understand why a cat would be in a hat and I knew that eggs were not green. Not speaking any English really made me not like several books only because I could not understand them. When I was in high school I also did not like the book titled 1984, by George Orwell. When I entered middle school, I became very interested in the Harry Potter series. I read every book and watched the movie to make sure that I understood what was going on. When I saw that this helped, I started reading books that had movies made for them. I also started taking audio books so that I would hear how words are supposed to sound.  I started to enjoy reading books that were either about fantasy or mystery. My reading habits as a child really affects me now because I still do not like reading. If I do read a book it is usually for class.

   In the very rare occasion that I am reading for fun, I would most likely read fantasy books (like twilight) or mystery books. I enjoyed being read to every day at the beginning of class. I have taken many literacy classes and they have all stressed the importance of reading. Today I mostly read to improve my vocabulary.

      My personal goal is to read as much books as I can this semester. My professional goal is that I learn how to encourage students like me to read when I become a teacher. My favorite author is Stephenie Meyer. Many friends of mine do not like Twilight, but I really like it. Her imagination is so beautiful. I also like Stephen King and James Patterson. As of right now, I do see myself as a reader. For the first time since I have been in college, I have been actually reading all of my reading assignments and not just glancing at them. I also feel that I have to set a good example for the children around me. How will I be able to motivate student about reading if I never read.

 

Reading instructions for English Language Learners

      I really enjoyed reading this chapter in the Graves text because I could personally relate to it. Learning to read English as a second language in the United States is a task that can be very difficult. On page 410, the Graves text identifies some challenges that come with learning to read in a second language. On page 410 it is stated that “researchers indicate that it takes English language learners five years to reach the total oral skill level of their English speaking peers”( Graves 410). The graves text states that students are coming to school with some prior knowledge of language. The only difference for English language learners is that the language that they were being exposed to ore learning when they were younger was not target language. It is not the language that they are going to be taught in, in the United States. The text describes some challenges that are faced by teachers in teaching English as a second language. One of the things mentioned in the Graves text that can help teachers help ELL students is recognize and build on strength. It states that “a teacher should start with what the student can do best and then work towards more difficult task” (Graves 418). Using familiar metaphors and experiences and creating a sense of family and caring are two other ways mention by the Graves text that could help English as second language learners

            On page 421 the 20 percent rule is discussed. It is basically stating that though languages are very different, overlap between languages can be as much as 20 percent. Two different languages can have common words or sounds, this could be used to help English as a second language learners. Time is something that is also stressed in this chapter. It takes time to learn any language. It is stated on page 422 that “children who English is not their first language will not be as automatic as other students in completing an English-speaking task” (Graves 422). This chapter basically acknowledges that teaching and both learning English as a second language can be difficult. At the same time there are strategies both for students and teachers to help with the learning process.  

The Freedom Writers ted talk

"I want to write his story so others will know his death was not in vain." Chapter 6 page 150.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDq9o9j3-CU

      Erin Gruwell enters Woodrow Wilson High School as a first year English teacher. She comes from a middle class family with privilege and the idea that education is important and necessary for living. In this ted talk, she focuses on one of the students in her class room. She starts out by saying the difficulties that she had with this student. This students name was Maria. By the age of five Maria watched her cousin get shot and killed. She watched her father get arrested and go in and out of jail. Maria had no respect for Gruwell, she felt like she could not relate to her teacher. Gruwell did not know about Maria’s life until she proposed the idea of writing in a journal. The journal served as a bridge for Maria and her teacher because it allowed her to learn about Maria’s life. Soon Gruwell started to understand why Maria behaved the way she did. I chose this text because through writing, Maria was able to tell her story. There were a total of one hundred and fifty students like Maria. Gruwell decided to introduce the diary of Ann Frank to her students. Maria really enjoyed this book because she felt that she could relate to Ann. The Graves text stresses how important it is that students see themselves in literature. Maria starts to get hope; she starts to see that she does matter after all. I really like this ted talk and one of the main reasons that I chose this is because it shows how writing and reading can change the attitude and the life of a student.

         I also chose this ted talk because of all of the challenges and difficulties Gruwell describes that Maria faced. It is easy for teachers to blame their students for not wanting to learn or completing homework. It is easy to look at a parent and say that they are unfit, but as future educators well all need to be like Gruwell and look a little deeper. How can a student come to school ready to learn when he/she is worried about what they are going to eat or that they might get shot walking down the street because of the color of their skin. I liked this ted talk because it shows how outside factors effect education happening in the classroom. The second week of this course we all discussed motivation. Having students read about characters they share or have similarities with can be a sort of motivation. We recently read chopsticks and a key lesson that we all picked up was that “everything is not always what it seems”. This applies for teachers and students in the class room. If a student is not paying attention or has been missing class, this does not necessarily mean that he or she is not interested in the topic being taught in class. We as future educators need to look deeper and go with the notion that everything is not what it seems.

It really upsets me to hear that a teacher laughed at her because of her accent. In class I learned how powerful teachers can be. The same way teachers can have positive effects on their students and motivate them to do positive things, is the same way they can discourage them if the wrong words are said by the teacher. I chose this ted talk because it shows how when entering a class room, teachers will have a variety of students from different backgrounds. Though the teacher was from a different background she was still able to help her students to connect to real people who were like them. The ted talk shows how powerful writing is. After reading the Diary of Ann Frank, Maria gets upset because Ann does not make it. This upset her because it crushed her hopes of making it to a better life. Another student from her class stated that Ann did make it, she wrote it down. People got to read her story; she got to live even after death. This ted talk shows how building a connection and knowing who your students are can help teachers choose books or create assignments that students could relate to.  If students can relate to the work in class they will then be motivated to learn!

Chopsticks

 Hello:)







    

 

        Chopsticks really blew my mind. From the beginning of the text, I understood that Glory was a piano prodigy raised by her single father. It was clear to me that her mother passed away and that she was clearly unhappy. Things started to get blurry when a flash back of what led to her disappearance was shown through the pictures in the book. The thing that bothers me the most is not knowing what really happened or what was real. The whole time I was looking and analyzing the book, I thought that Frank was real. After discussing it with my group members we were all disappointed that we did not know what really happened. The author leaves the reader to decide what is real and what is not real. This was the first time I have ever read a book like this so I did not know what to think. This book would be great for middle and high school students. This text forces people to pay close attention to detail within pictures. The book can also help with the development of imagination. With words it is sometimes easy to find the right answer, but with pictures everyone can have their own interpretation.  Reading this text allowed me to call upon my prior knowledge to understand and make inferences of the text. I suddenly felt like a child who was learning how to read for the first time. This book would be great to read in a class room and to do activities with because it would allow students to be creative and to create their own ending for the story. I think that like me, my classmates struggled with the idea of not having a right answer. I think that it is because we are adult readers ad we are so used to having a right and wrong answer to everything.