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.
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Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that you have such a strong background in science. One of the huge gaps in urban education is science. There's a big national push to strengthen our students' education in science, math and technology - so your expertise in science with be incredibly marketable.
And literacy has such a broad definition nowadays. It's really the getting and giving of meaning and that's the getting and giving of meaning in any context. So, I'm sure in your science classes, you've heard of scientific literacy (here's a link: http://www.literacynet.org/science/scientificliteracy.html).
Perhaps for your new literacies project, you can explore scientific literacy and how that affects a classroom.
I also think it's interesting that you mentioned the goal of rethinking what it means when a student does not understand an idea and taking the blame off the student and putting it on the teacher. It's like we talked about in class last week how we often blame our students for not being motivated, but really, it's the teacher who is not doing the job to invest them. Perhaps you could pinpoint a student or two in your field placement whom one might label "unmotivated" and figure out what makes them tick. Use the participation log to sort through their actions/behaviors so you can have that practice of "digging deep down." Just an idea.
Thanks for the thoughtful entry,
Sarah :)