Ms. Feinman #20

Gabcast! Ms. Feinman #20

Ms. Feinman #19

Gabcast! Ms. Feinman #19

No wonder I am tired.

Notes during Seminar

US ranked 15th (PISA)-Finland 1st, Australia 4th.

SSR- Peter Effect- How can I give what I don't have (e.g. love of reading)
When I model reading during SSR-bad behavior disappears students are engaged.-Show them I love it.

Aliterate-can read, but don't (15% preservice teachers don't read during summer).

Choic matters when wanting students to enjoy.
1500 books in classroom= 1st grade teacher

Kidspiration

Just found this...thought it was interesting...

http://cnx.org/content/m18680/latest/

Race, Class and Gender

"Show", don't just "say" that you demand success!

After reading Chapter 3, many things stuck out in my mind. The first that stuck out was the quote from Maya Angelou on page 35. She brings out an excellent point. Are we telling young people that because you have your own language you do not need to learn another? As an educator, I certainly hope not! But is that what some are being told at home? It just made me wonder. Something else that stood out in my mind was the media attacks on Ebonics. Of course I had never heard of it until the Oakland issue. At that time I was quite young. But I was relying on what my mother thought. She thought it was ridiculous. And she should have, because that was what the media was telling her. As I mentioned in the previous critique, I really like the idea of students being able to switch back and forth between languages, and noted that some of my students can do it now. I think this really needs to be encouraged. I hope to do it more in my classroom. And I hope I help them see the value in knowing how to code switch (and maybe they won't listen to their parents telling them that they don't need to learn a new language!).

I could really relate to the author, Judith Baker in Chapter 4. She seems to be doing the same things that I am doing in my classroom by comparing the home language to Standard English. Of course, she is going about it at a much higher level. As I was walking around my room today, I paid attention to what and how students were saying things. It really made me realize that some of them (not all) are speaking very differently. I think I am going to start making a list of things that students say that are not correct English, and have another whole group discussion about it. Especially after reading all the comments and blogs this week, I want to approach it again. When I had the discussion with them the first time, I said, “school talk” and “home talk” are different. But I like how Baker breaks it down into three categories: home, formal, and professional. I would like to try that with my students. On page 58 she says, “Learning a formal grammar is a choice a student makes-not a choice a teacher makes for a student.” And my question is: are teachers making the grammar interesting and approachable for the students?

This article (chapter 7) nailed it right on the head for me! I am always trying to come up with lessons that are REAL to the students. Working at a Title I school makes it that much more difficult. The students that I have this year are musical and physical learners. I am always trying to find a way to add a song here, or make a movement there. And I know that if I give them a worksheet on contractions, some of them are going to fail. But if I can get them to learn the poem, Puddin Tang, and then recite it by translating the contractions, they will learn contractions. And if we give it a little urban edge, they will really get into it! I feel that every teacher in every school needs to demand success. And just saying it doesn’t cut it.

I like how Purcell-Gates points out that the lack of experience with literacy in the home is not a deficit but a cultural difference. It’s taking me a while to agree with her. In fact, I might be on the fence. The teacher part of me is screaming though. I do understand what she is saying. I believe that everyone should be reading to their children at night. I think it is so incredibly important. Of course I do! I am a teacher! But when I put myself in a parent’s shoes, I can also see how literacy is not a top priority for their child. But as a teacher, I want to show this child that literacy should be a top priority for themselves. I think that is truly the hardest part of my job. Teaching poor minority children that literacy is power is very difficult.

Sarah Feinman

Race, Class and Gender

I understand a fury in your words, But not the words. William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616), "Othello", Act 4 scene 2

Kohl made me think of a moment I had in high school. Moving from the Midwest to the South was not easy. I had issues fitting in with my peers, mostly due to the “language barrier”. But I was trying. I remember speaking with my favorite teacher, informally about something I had done. “Me and Jessie went to the beach.” He quickly corrected me. I remember being confused. I felt comfortable enough with him, and I thought he respected me. Why is he correcting me, when I am just trying to fit in? After that I was very hesitant about talking with him. I was always afraid I wasn't going to say the right thing. I even became quieter in class. He meant no harm but I couldn’t get past the fact that he didn’t understand me. In turn, I think about the damage I may be causing my students. I try everyday to give them the respect that they deserve, but I wonder if I am doing enough. I tell students that I am not understanding what they say when they answer me, and I tell them to explain it in another way. Is this hurting them?

This chapter also got me thinking about the way I use mannerisms and my own language when teaching. I will tell you that my first two years teaching were awful. And a lot of it has to do with the fact that students weren’t hearing me. And it wasn’t because they had the volume turned down. I wasn’t speaking to them I was speaking AT them. And with their behavior constantly annoying me, I am sure my tone was not great. I’m sure it was awful. Things have changed this year because I went into it with a positive attitude. I also told the students that I wanted our classroom community to be a family. And it truly is. Of course it didn’t start that way; we put a lot of effort into it. But the students are hearing me this year. They are listening. And I am speaking WITH them. I suppose over the summer I had a topsy-turvy experience. I thought long and hard about where I wanted to be in 5 years and where I had come from. I realized that teaching IS for me, and I needed to do some things to change who I was as a teacher to benefit the children.

The other two chapters also bring out many thoughts that I am having. For example, Smitherman motivates me. She makes me want to go out and do something about this issue of language in the classroom. And Wynne is even more inspiring with the reference to the 60s and the power of words. She questions the universities and the knowledge of its preservice teachers. I have no doubt that preservice teachers are not getting what they need. It is shocking to think that some universities are pumping out teachers who think that people who speak Ebonics are inferior. Maybe I am taking that to an extreme. But I do wish I had read this book when I was getting my BA. It seems so much more profound that anything I had read as an undergrad.

Sarah Feinman