Not sure if I'm doing this right, but here we go...
Some goals after having read the syllabus and assigned readings for this week:
First, I'd like to learn more about creating an inclusive classroom so that students who are ELL/ESL, of different cultures, genders, interests, abilities, etc. We've touched on this topic in almost every teaching class we've had, but now hopefully we will learn specifically about literature and inclusivity.
Second, is to learn how to get kids to like literature and to be motivated and want to read and write. Literature is learned in many ways and the classic ways of just sitting and having kids read and write are boring. I'd like to learn about ways to get kids moving, set up stations, hands on activities, group projects, etc.
Questions:
- In what type of school and community setting do you hope to teach? Right now I'm teaching in a 1st grade classroom in Okemos, a rather well off district. Once I'm graduated and in the real world, I'd like to teach in a classroom similar to my current one or in a more urban type setting.
- What do you want to learn about literacy instruction to help you reach your goals? As mentioned above, I'd like to learn about how to motivate students who are struggling or don't enjoy literature/reading/writing and how to include all types of students in my classroom, not just the literature aspect.
- How do the jigsaw articles you read for today help you think about the kind of teacher you want to be? I read the Flemmings article about urban education and it covered things we've learned before. One point that relates to me teaching in an urban setting is the quality of my education and how that can benefit the students I would be teaching. There's low quality teachers in urban education and those students get few opportunities for quality instruction in literature. Thanks to classes like this, that specialize in a specific subject matter, I'll have the skills needed to teach literature to these students.
Overall, from the syllabus and first day of class, I think this class will help me accomplish these goals along with teaching me how to include literature in other lessons such as a math lesson (like we saw in math section with the marshmallow project) or in physical education, etc.
I am also really interested in creating an inclusive classroom that still values the diversity within the classroom. I am really curious how to best teach ESL students when there is that language barrier. Going off that--what are the best linguistic tactics for a diverse learning environment...?
ReplyDeleteThe reading that I did was the Supporting Underachieving Readers, they had a lot of good points about helping students get engaged in reading. Although the article made a lot of good suggestions, I want to know the best way to get students motivated to read, even if they hate reading or they are struggling with reading. What if these things still do not work?
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ReplyDeleteI read the article about challenges faced in teaching literacy in urban settings. You mentioned potentially wanting to work in the urban setting and also wanting to know the best ways to motivate students. This article was really cool because it was a compilation of responses from at practice teaching in hard-to-staff schools. Anyway, teachers said there is a lot of instability in resources and in student attendance. Also that our theories we learn in the teacher preparation programs need to be adapted to the 21st century and to the conditions these students face. I just thought this was interesting if you think in terms of motivation. You may have to spend much more of your efforts working with families and students just to motivate them to come to school, then you have to motivate them once they're in the classroom, to actually care about literacy.
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