Definition of Literacy

My small groups definition of literacy is very similar to the one I previously had. We said that literacy is more than just reading and writing it is the ability to understand the world around you. It is the gateway for citizens to continuously develop and grow. I thought it was important to think of literacy as more than just reading and writing, in the traditional sense. To me, literacy involves a variety of aspects that assist in a person obtaining and achieving thier goals. I agree with the group that included the more technical definition of what literacy was, becuase I believe those are aspects that make up the basic knowledge that literacy involves; however, I feel that it also encompasses more than just reading, writing, comprehension, etc.

I realized that the conditions Cambourne discusses are extremely important in order to see good literacy in your classroom. I began to observe many of these conditions in my field placement this past Wednesday and felt that some were more prominant than others. For example, I think my classroom is the definition of immersion. On every wall and in every corner there is either a poster, book, or active literacy activities for students to be engaged with. There is an extreme amount of print in the room, especially in the form of literature. Students not only have a classroom library but they also have shelves with books on them that are the appropriate level for them to read. They keep books in their desks at all times and when they are finished with assignments early, they know to grab a book of their choice and read, either to themselves or with a partner. I find, therefore, that this group of first graders is indeed immersed with literacy by result of the classroom setup. I thus find immersion to be an aspect of literacy that I think is extremely important to enforce in my classroom because when students are surrounded by and saturated with literacy, it makes it known that the emphasis of my pedagogy revolves around being well rounded literacy learners.

In addition to immersion, I feel that in field I have seen employment used often as a condition of literacy. I realized that I saw this often with one specific activity students completed. They read a play in small groups, each taking on the role of a different character. They practiced these lines for several days in order to practice what they were learning about the format of plays (not say the name before your lines, following along so you know when to speak, speak loudly in front of the group when performing, influx in your voice, etc.) After practicing these skills with their small groups, students performed their version of the play in front of the class. Students were able to apply the skills they learned the last several days, for their performances. This created an application of knowledge for students and excersized employment as a form of literacy learning.

The one condition that I would like to see more of in my field is engagement. This is not to say that students are not engaged in literacy learning, because in fact they are mostly active participants. However, I would like to see more engagement occur during centers. I do not feel that students understand the purpose of most of the centers and therefore I do not feel that they are fully engaged in them. They understand that centers are to work on specific skills such as listening, spelling, writing, etc in "fun" ways, however, I do not feel that students fully understand the purpose beyond the obvious skills. Because they are not believing in what they are doing, I find that centers are not run very effectively. Students often become off task and lose interest of what they are doing. I think if they had a purpose and believed in that purpose it would create better literacy centers.

This aspect of engagement is one that I find myself wanting to incorporate into my own classroom and is the condition that I think aligns with my personal literacy pedagogy most. After reading the Cambourne article and discussing literacy in class, I realized that although I felt strongly about engagement, it was not a word that I used when describing literacy. However, now that I have been exposed to this concept formally through the Cambourne article, I feel that it is the center of my literacy definition. This is because without engagement of students in literacy, I feel that the skills they need to develop in order to become literate will not be achieved as effectively. Therefore my definition of literacy would be slightly altered to incorporate the importance of engagement. My ideal literacy environment would look like a combination of immersion and engagement, meaning students would be surrounded by literacy while believing they can and understanding why literacy is important in their lives. Students would be models of active learners in my ideal environment and all of the conditions Cambourne explains would be incorporated into my teaching of literacy throughout the year.

My Definition of Literacy

My original definition of literacy that I had before our discussion was that literacy meant comprehension in a given language. I had not thought about encompassing everything else that one needs to do in order to comprehend. After some small group talk at my table I do think that my definition of literacy is a bit more general, but includes every aspect that a person would need in order for comprehension to take place. My final small group definition was that literacy is the ability to read, write, communicate, and comprehend through a given language. It is affected by one's own experiences.

My definition of literacy has changed after our discussion in class. It has not changed much, however, instead it is a bit more refined. I agreed with Katie that literacy should be a skill set: reading, writing, speaking, listening and comprehension skills in order to communicate thoughts and ideas. But to add to that not everyone agreed with the last part of our original definition: It is affected by one's own experiences. Many in our class wanted to leave that part of the definition out of the term literacy because it makes it too general. I on the other hand believe that it is needed because I feel that it is an important aspect.

After some more thought, I came to the conclusion that genuine learning can only occur within a context that is meaningful and relevant to the learner. In order to fulfill the definition of literacy, I believe that it needs to be in the context that is meaningful to the learner, that one's own personal experiences affects how one becomes "literate". In the end, I feel that both the skill sets and the life experiences need to be combined in order to have a complete definition of literacy.

My ideal literacy learning environment would have a variety of the methods we covered and read in the Cambourne article. Even if we did specifically go over each and every one of them today in class, my ideal literacy learning environment would have had some sort of goal as those terms do. The ones in which I would specifically want to use in my teaching would be clear classroom expectations in literacy that are modeled from me the teacher to the student and responsibility where the students will take ownership of their learning and make it applicable to their lives. I also would like to read books to the class that would get them thinking about the world around them and challenge their thoughts. That is one thing that I do not see enough of and have not seen at all in my classroom observations in Lansing the past two years.

Blooming as a Teacher

After all the preparation that I have had through the College of Education through field placements and content-rich courses, I still feel that I haven't quite reached the point of being a teacher. Now, I know that none of us technically has because we still have one last semester and then an entire year of internship, but I think that the mentality of being a teacher can come before actual certification. For the last couple years, I have had what I thought was the 'teacher mentality,' absorbing studies and information about teaching methods and lesson plans. I have come to realize, though, that this is not actually what being a teacher is all about. Being a teacher is doing all that, but it also includes knowing your students on a personal level and getting to know how to connect educational material to those particular learners. It means being able to take a step back and see what is working, what isn't working and having the skills to modify curriculum based on real life environments and circumstances. It is not just about making sure that kids pass and move on to the next grade, but it is about making sure they actually learn and grow, even if it is not at the 'normal' rate (whatever that means).

These teaching abilities and mentalities will be rewarding for both the teacher and the student, as both are ever-learning and growing. Being involved also means being able to effectively communicate to the students' next teacher how these students learn best individually. I think a lot of these skills will come with practice and real life situations. This is why it is my goal to really soak up the rest of the semester in field to see how I could manage to grow and blossom as a teacher when I get to be in a class every day next year. I think blooming as a teacher is an on-going process that is achieved by continued education.

Blooming as a Teacher

One of the goals for me this semester is being able to switch gears and just only focus on literacy. I feel as though I have not had a very deep understanding of all the problems and blockades that occur in urban settings. By not being a Lit major I feel somewhat behind with all the knowledge a teacher will need to understand where students are in their reading comprehension. It is hard for me to just only focus on literacy coming out of a semester with TE 401 Science and SME classes. I am very serious that my SME classes put so much emphasis on SCIENCE, SCIENCE, SCIENCE all the time that it is hard to not think like that 24/7. I have been brainwashed with science for two semesters straight. I need a class that will prepare me for a vast range of student abilities if I am ever placed in an urban setting for my internship year or beyond.

I feel as though I need to grow in the sense of being able to "see" what is really happening in the classroom. That is why I am glad we are beginning field logs. I am a person who likes to make sense of things in a logical manner. By analyzing what I write down in my notes I can slowly begin to pick out why certain students act in certain ways, or why students are having trouble understanding a concept.

I sometimes like to brush it off that some students just do not understand a certain idea because they are not putting the effort forth. One of the last things I want to work on is to dig deep down to figure out why students struggle in the classroom. I would have to look at all aspects of their life both in school and out of school to make inroads on understanding how that child learns. However, I find that with time I will be able to put pieces together of my focus students to get a bigger picture of their learning methods.

Blooming as a teacher Week of 1/19

Entering my last semester as an undergrad, I find myself scared but eager for next year and the years to come. I hope that TE 402 will prepare me for next year. My goals for this course is mainly to acquire the knowledge I need to teach and begin to practice my teaching skills. I would like to gain more ideas to take with me into teaching. In preparation for my placement in an urban setting, I am trying to gain as much knowledge as I can about including every student in my classroom and making sure that my students feel comfortable in sharing their ideas and beliefs with the class. I feel that in all settings, each student brings a variety of different ideas and experiences and the classroom would be a much more engaging atmosphere if the students were able to share these ideas with everyone. I know this is easier said then done. I myself am very shy and it takes me time to open up. I think I am unique in that aspect because I will know how to relate to those shyer students and try to bring them out of their shell. I think all of these skills are important in an urban setting. Currently in my placement I am at a Lansing School. I have already come across students that share experiences with me that I would never have thought they went through. I learn so much from my students now that I am very excited to learn from even more next year.

I hope this course will help me in this preparation by giving me more ideas of how to use my students experiences and how to relate to my students on a better level. I think that to help me bloom as a teacher I need more time in the field working with students. I also think more teaching opportunities will help me bloom. Also, I love small group discussions in class because I always get to hear from people I never hear from and I feel more comfortable sharing my own ideas. I think that getting a variety of perspectives will help me in my teaching and also open my mind. which are very important to consider in any teaching including urban.

My main goal for this last semester is to continue to work with children and learn from those around me. I want to feed my eagerness to teach with as much knowledge as I can in this last semester to prepare me as much as possible for next year.

Blooming as a teacher

As I continue my journey in the college of education, I am constantly reminded how important it is to be not only a lifelong educator but to be a lifelong student as well. I have a thurst to learn more and absorb as much knowledge as I can, especially before my internship year, in order to help me in becoming a more educated and well-rounded teacher. Therefore there are several aspects of my learning and development that I would like to grow in, in the hopes of blooming into an incredable teacher. One of my goals for myself throughout this course is to continue developing my pedagogy. I feel that developing my own pedagogy will help me to really understand myself as a teacher. It is my hope that by conbining readings and class discussions with prior knowledge, as well as field observations and active participation, my teaching pedagogy will become stronger and more clear. I think one of the best ways for me to develop my teaching pedagogy is through the participation log. Field is the time for me to do some reflection and serious observational analysis of both the content in which is taking place in the classroom as well as my own responses and actions. I hope that by developing this stronger pedagogy now, my trasition into my internship year will be strengthened as well. It will hopefully prepare me, in some respect, to teaching in an urban setting, such as Detroit. This will be a new experience for me and therefore I want to learn and grow from it as much as possible. Absorbing knowledge about good teaching habits and techniques, espeically in language arts, will help prepare me for this journey.

While preparing for this journey in teaching in an urban setting, I would like to learn how to teach to students of lower achievement levels. I know this is something I will encounter not only in urban placement but in schools across the board, and therefore feel it is important to understand and acknowledge. I feel that I tend to gravitate towards students who were like me, high acheivers and had a substantial parent and family involvement. However, I would like to focus on students that are different from me in order to push my thinking and teaching. I think I will be more knowledgable to do this after taking this course, through the field, readings, and class discussion and reflection.

My overall goal for myself is to greatly enhance the already present desire and passion that I possess to become a teacher. The greatest way to enhance this, I feel, is to take in this course like a sponge, and not only learn the concepts and technicalities but also reflect upon them and embrace the teaching of all students.