Miscellaneous Post #2

Today, was out last FNED class. I thought I would be excited to leave class and endeavor into my summer, yet I found a since of sadness in departing from class for the last time. During this semester I have learned countless lessons through out this class and I will bring them with me throughout all I do in my major, and even more helpfully, in life. Thank you to everyone who brought new and eye opening opinions, and to Dr. Joyce. Without her, the class wouldn't have become a community.

Journal #9: Elementary School Visit

My last visit to the elementary was interesting at best. It started with Caitlyn and I driving to the school, me going to the literacy teacher's office, only to find her not there. I then went to class without a lesson plan and found that another volunteer in my class had some activities I could do with the kids. I started off by timing the kids on their fluidity in reading one to two sentence phrases. They have recently been working on timing themselves as to how many words they can read in a minute. They all took turns, and I even had a celebratory moment with one girl. She was able to read 8 out of the 10 phrases in a minute, and not only did she work through them all, she read them well, paying attention to punctuation. I was extremely proud of her progress and have noticed a large improvement since February.

I did however, have a mishap in the classroom that I was unsure of. One of the little girls I work with had told me she was tired. I then asked why and she said she had gone to bed at 2 in the morning because she was at a club for her sisters 26th birthday. After telling me that she went on to say they let her drink alcohol there as well. I took what she said into consideration and was concerned about the behavior. I also realized though, that this little girl likes t elaborate all her stories in search for some attention. She has also told me that her Grandmother is alive and 160 years old. I am going to see how she is next week though, and if it seems that she iterates an odd behavior again, I will probably tell the teacher and see how they should handle it from there.

In any case, I have only one visit left to my school and I am saddened to leave the kids. They are always so happy to be working on reading and literacy, even when it is difficult for them. I have very well behaved children in my group and it doesn't take long for them to adhere to the directions I give them at all. Overall these past nine weeks have been extremely helpful, eye-opening, and most of, fun.

Journal #8: Elementary School Visit

This week on my visit to the elementary school was alike all the others, with only a few exceptions. Like always, I entered the school, picked up lesson plans, and went to my classroom where the kids were, as every week, working on their stories they write every day. This routine reminds me of the discussion on lower, working class in the Anyon reading. My group is in fact from a distinctly lower class and I have noticed that every week I go to the room, they are doing the same thing every time. A very routine working schedule, just as the reading moderates.

While observing, I also taught the children games about fluency and matching. We played one of their favorite games, Go Fish. It is set up to be go fish, only with matching cards involved. The kids put together words such as, Hat:Cat and Fan:Pan. It makes them think about the rhyme, and also equally work on sight words. The next game we played was Candy Land. This game was fun, yet worked well because in order to move the pieces the kids had to say the sight words written on the back of the card.

I still have to attend the school two more times no oder to obtain my 15 hours, but I am not upset about it because I very much enjoy my children that I teach and I will miss them when I leave. They have all have made an impact on me in school and how I will teach throughout my career.

Miscellaneous Post #1

Today, in my Western Literature class, we discussed a book, Ceremony, written by Leslie Silko. The book is about a man named Tayo who is conflicted with his life. He is half Native-American and half white. In his mixed race he has trouble deciding whether to assimilate to the white culture or stay with the roots of his Native-American culture. I saw this story had a relation to Delpit's Culture of Power along with Rodriguez's talk of loosing your culture. I found it interesting how the readings of FNED tied into another class. I was able to use my outside knowledge in the class discussion to bring a new aspect into the conversation.

Talking Points #10: Shor

1.) "He urged teachers to encourage students to question their experience in school: "You must arouse children's curiosity and make them think about school..."

-This quote stood out to me, even though it is only on the first page, it one of my favorites because i think children should be allowed to question authority. They should not only do as they're told, but also be curious as to why they're learning it and think what it will do for them in the future. In a way I took this as creating a discourse between kids and authority.

2.) "In school and society, the lack of meaningful participation alienates workers, teachers, and students. This alienation lowers their productivity in class and on the job. I think of this lowered productivity as a performance strike, an unorganized mass refusal to perform well, and informal and unacknowledged strike."

- This resinated with me because it so true that the more people don't want to be teaching or students don't want to learn, the less productive the school community will be. Each school member, whether teacher or student, feed off of each other and essentially lead people to strive for better, or produce worse material.

3.) "The teacher plays a key role in the crucial classroom. Student participation and positive emotions are influenced by the teacher's commitment to both."

- This statement is not only completely true, in the sense that if a teacher can motivate a child, they will want to be in school much more, but it also reminds me of the culture of power. In the reading of Delpit, in which the culture of power is discussed, people should conform to the culture of power. This quote reminds me of that because it is children conforming the the culture of power, yet in a good and helpful way. If students like their teacher, then they will strive to please and do right by them, opposed to students who don't care and don't want to conform.

This reading summed up a lot of what we have talked about in class, and I liked it as the last reading because it focused on simply education and classrooms. I liked the focus of how teachers effect classrooms because that's why we're all in class, to learn how to be unbiased, and well-rounded teachers.

Talking Points #9: Kliewer

1.) "How absurd to be judged by others at all, especially by those who have never experienced a disability or who are unwillingly providing us with support ow who don't listen to the voices we have."

- This statement is completely true. It goes back to the saying of put yourself in someone elses shoes. People should not be judged on how fast they learn or what they can and can't achieve, but the person they are to other people.

2.) "Dialogue cannot occur... between those who deny others the right to speak their word and those whose right to speak has been denied them."

-This idea of a discourse is something that all too often doesn't happen between people with disabilities and people without, and it needs to. The talk of a discourse, as mentioned in Carlson, is something that needs to happen in order for people to come together and function as a society.

3.) "Such acceptance as the aim when children with Down syndrome join their nondisabled peers the classrooms, and many school and individual teachers have entered into this effort, which seeks and finds community value in all children."

-I agree completely that children with Down syndrome should be allowed in an all inclusive classroom and not have to be separated from children that will probably, in the long run, help them grow.

This article is one of my favorites because it was something I can relate to having a cousin with Down syndrome. I see my Aunt's struggle to keep him included in classrooms when the school system wants to separate him, and it is unfair. Children with disabilities that are not profound enough to need a special classroom or school should be allowed to join in with others as a foundation for growth. This reading tied in greatly to Carlson in that it talks of creating a discourse and that if the minority in a society is heard and talked about they won't be such a minority any more, just a diverse community.

Journal #7: Elementary School Visit

For my 7th visit to the elementary school, I was eager to start lesson plans as usual. There were new games in the folder today that consisted of a matching game using sight words. I was excited to start working on the words with them because I know they could always use more work on becoming fluent in reading. The sight words seem to help them make their phrases more fluent. I started working on a timed game in which the kids had to read simple phrases correct and with the correct inflection within a 3 minute period. They love competition among each other so this was great fun for them.

We then read the story of the three little bears and they each took turns reading their lines as if it was a play. We talked once again about periods and commas, they seem to be getting better at reading than at the beginning of our meetings and I am happy to help.

On another note, the girls in my class told me about how they are all dating the same boy, and it's okay for them to do so as long as they don't fight over him. I found this a funny little side note to my visit to the school and I hope to have more fun moments as I continue volunteering.

One connection to the readings I could make from this visit would be the kids that were being pulled out of class for special help. This reminds me of the Oakes reading on tracking, and that the kids all learn the same, and the smarter children aren't held back, yet the ones who need extra help attain that as well. I see this system work very well each visit and yet children aren't separated for any reason, making the tracking system unneeded.