Entry #11

Before being in LTED 601 I believed that I understood literacy. I thought I knew what it was, what it meant to be literate, and what it took to be literate. I hadn't realized that literacy was so much more than reading and writing and environment. Literacy is a foundation to many aspects of our lives including identity. Literacy doesn't simply assist us in reading and writing, it allows us to understand ourselves and others, to communicate, to advocate. It broadens the possibilities of an individual and shows them what they are capable of. I think in the beginning I understood the basis of what literacy means or should mean to an individual but now I understand that often we don't know the "Why?" to understanding the importance to literacy.

Everything we talked about from early writing to comprehension has been clarified through Tompkins, Muhammad and from the articles in this semester. Originally I viewed these learning blocks as individual things that students needed to learn rather than seeing them as steps that build off each other over time to eventually create an interactive reader and an overall influencer. The overall message I got in this course is that we need to be teaching literacy in a way that benefits each individual student so that they become active in their world around them and connect to literature of all sorts. 

Identity is a focus that I personally never had in school. Growing up I was always caught in a cycle of pleasing my teachers and trying to get the best grades. On occasion I was engaged but not to the extent that now I understand I should have been. I did not have the chance to drive my own education. I looked at school and my education as a means to an end. Going to school meant getting a good job and that was the end of it. I liked school for the sense of accomplishment, not because of what I was learning. Muhammad states, "Literacy was integral to identity development and was not seen as an isolated effort in education" (Muhammad pg.64). I had never thought that literacy really had anything to do with my personal life other than allowing me the ability to understand things and communicate. I didn't realize that literacy and identity complimented each other and actually helps individuals understand ourselves and each other better. The topic of identity brings up the question, "Would I feel uncomfortable talking about certain things such as LGBTQ or physical disabilities if I were able to understand them better by learning about it in my literature?". This is frustrating for me because I feel almost as though a piece of my education was stripped away from me and I never got to fully explore my identity. This could be why I get nervous when it comes to being an activist because I was never encouraged to be someone who stands up for others, school and the real world always gave me the idea that we are individually separate due to competition. Identity is included in learning literacy by accepting different origins and types of students such as ELL students. Being inclusive in the approach to teaching ELL students allows them to learn to love learning and feel comfortable in their learning environment. Not only this but it also will teach the English language students about other cultures and languages and the class will be learning from each other. 

Criticality introduced again by Muhammad opened my eyes to how we are not always looking at the whole story when we are teaching children. Often we only talk about the traditional history that we are taught such as major events. The Pursuit if Criticality states that we should be teaching our students about the history of whatever they are learning. We should be explaining their learning to them and allowing them to understand where all of this is coming from and why they are learning it. For children to understand each other and the world around them it is crucial for them to be able to understand the History. I would like to relate this to the Tompkins chapter 8 on Comprehension. I now have the realization that students have to have all of these prerequisites to Comprehension as well as Comprehension itself to truly understand Criticality and it's importance. This is supported though the quote, "For students to comprehend a text, they must have adequate background knowledge, understand most words in a text, and be able to read fluently" (Tompkins 2017 pg. 258). Connecting this to the article, The Skill, Will, and Thrill of Comprehending Content Area Texts, the article states, "The goal of comprehension is to take action in the world and to make a difference" (      823). I feel like this is the goal as educators. With everything we have learned in this class I believe like the literary societies that existed long ago, by teaching and sharing information and honoring the importance of identity, skills, intellect, and criticality we are creating future generations that will be able to make the change we need and want in the world. 

Entry #10

I would like to focus on Thalias Entry #9. I think that she brought up some really interesting points and different perspectives that what our classmates as well as myself were thinking. She was asking questions that were related to the way that economy effects children and learning vocabulary. I remember having a discussion about this in a different class earlier this semester because it is true that lower economic areas tend to have a difference in language. I was informed that this isn't because of the people or the school but because of the lack of resources and time due to funding. 

BLESS

Thalia gets vulnerable with us and discusses what it was like for her living in a low economic area and how her vocabulary and English in general was effected. Thalia believes that home life is crucial in developing literacy. She states, " I do disagree that caregiver education and accessibility to literary avenues are reasons for this gap. There are always ways to access the beauty and greatness of literature and everything involved."  Thalia believes that children need the environment from home, school, etc. to be supportive of their learning in order to promote literacy growth among the students. I really like that Thalia brings this idea into the equation because I think she's absolutely right. Home life has such a large effect on children and their growth both mentally and physically. I have seen this over and over with working with children. To expect the schools to be the only source of education and resources is setting your child up for failure.

ADRESS

Although I do agree with Thalia I went back to Zipke's article and found the quote, "Children are enormously interested in word play. The playground is a great place to find examples of this interest" (Zipke 2008, pg. 128) where they discuss how word play is fun for children and can be a huge resource in learning. I realized that while there are the physical or verbal resources children could be receiving from home, school is the place where we will see the children's literacy and literacy skills flourish. The students not only learn from their teachers but from their peers as well. They are exposed to so much more when they are in a variety of environments they can learn from. As educators we can provide students with what they need to succeed despite their home life. When we become educators we will have students coming from all walks of life, some who didn't have English resources because they speak another language. These are all possibilities that we are conditioned to adapt to so that we may educate all students. This can be very frustrating for educators to see that they could be in a better situation or learning more than they are but we have to start where the students are. 

As we go back to thinking about how economic status affects the schools and students literacy I believe it to be true. If there are a lack of resources it can be hard to teach students but I think the new wave of teachers such as ourselves that are coming in with knew knowledge and ways to teach are going to help that. We know what is happening within the districts and we are being taught how to make the best of these situations and to teach with the goal of the success of each student individually rather than the competitiveness that we grew up with. I think the students will be benefiting from new teachers whether their homelives are helping or hindering their learning. All of these things combined as well as providing ways that homes can have resources to help their child's literacy develop will allow growth among our students of any economic class. Something that I am fond of in my placement right now is that the students have a bag for books that they change out weekly which they return to the class library. Every week they get a few new books for home. So what other methods can we use to make sure that there is no gap or at least reduce the gap?

Zipke, M. (2008). Teaching metalinguistic awareness and reading comprehension with riddles. The Reading Teacher, 62(2), 128–137. https://doi.org/10.1598/rt.62.2.4 

Entry #9

Prior to reading chapter 7 in Tompkins (2017) and Zipke (2008) Teaching Metalinguistic Awareness and Reading Comprehension With Riddles I honestly never even thought of how we learn about riddles or how to solve them or that there about the multiple meanings of a word. I am trying to think back about what I did in school and I remember playing rhyming games when I was young, playing knock knock jokes, and rhyming on the playground. However, I don't really remember learning about riddles or multiple meanings to a word. The only thing I remember is that if I thought a word meant a specific thing in a sentence then I would be corrected and told that that word also meant something else. An example of this could be the word glasses. Reading the article and the chapter brought up some internal frustration because I realize just how complicated the English language can be sometimes. How do we effectively teach children the inner complexities of the English language? How do we teach multiple meanings to a word? How do we teach children the English vocabulary?

Tompkins answered my questions with examples which was really conducive to my understanding of how to go about this teaching as an educator. I know this all cannot be taught at once but in what sequence should it be taught. Someone told me recently that literacy learning should be being used all the time by what the children see, games during breaks to pass time, and other ways to keep the children learning throughout the day. Tompkins states, "The goal is for students to become more aware of words, manipulate them playfully, and appreciate their power" (Tompkins, pg. 223). When I read this sentence I realized that children are already learning words through home culture, school, and play already. They may be in different stages if their knowledge of words but they all have some idea of the vocabulary they are learning and using. On page 221 in Tompkins (2008) there is an example of the list of words covering the three tiers of vocabulary. The three Tiers are the Basic Words, Academic Vocabulary, and Specialized Terms. In a routine these words are put up, learned and then replaced or words are added to the list to continue the learning of vocabulary covering the three tiers. They are words that are used socially, words used more in written than oral language, and the words that are usually content specific. This system, allows the students to slowly take in the vocabulary and understand the words in a meaningful way. The sequence shown in Tompkins (2017) such as the learning of vocabulary, then word knowledge, word consciousness, multiple meanings of words, to synonyms, antonyms, homonyms, root words and affixes, etc. is how educators will effectively teach students this knowledge and skills.

When I was growing up there was a point in time that very few people believed in my ability to take accelerated classes and push myself because of some trauma I had been through. I disagreed and began to tell myself every time something got hard that what I was doing now I am ready for. What I did prepared me for now and what I am doing will prepare me for where I go next. This got me through my education and built confidence in myself and my learning. I feel like by using this sequence we are instilling this same idea in our students. We are taking it one important step at a time and using play to help guide us through the process.

In Zipke's (2008) article they mention how using rhymes and riddles helps students manipulate language and internally learn the idea of different meanings in words. Zipke (2008) states, " Riddles are the perfect medium for learning how to manipulate language" (Zipke, pg. 130). When I read this I was shocked. I don't ever remember doing riddles in school until I was older and all I remember is getting frustrated because I never understood them. I started to think about how frustrating it is for kids to get the answer wrong. As the article went on I began to understand that it wasn't about the children getting the answer right or wrong, in fact they aren't even asked to necessarily answer. Instead it is meant to be a learning lesson on ambiguous words. The word that is ambiguous or could have two meanings is then explained and the students understand that that word can be used in two different contexts because now they can also think of an example of when it was used differently. I think that in using play, images, games, rhymes, and riddles stimulates students use of memory which makes them more engaged and more likely to retain what they are learning.

Tompkins, G.E. (2017). Literacy for the 21st century: A balanced approach (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Zipke, M. (2008). Teaching metalinguistic awareness and reading comprehension with riddles. The Reading Teacher, 62(2), 128–137. https://doi.org/10.1598/rt.62.2.4