Double Entry Journal #5

Reverent listening is when you respectfully listen to what a person has to say. Reverent listening should be used by every teacher who wants to use culturally responsive teaching in their classroom. If teachers respectfully listen to what their students have to say they will learn about the cultures and the backgrounds of their students. This will allow the teacher to learn more about their students and help mold instruction around the cultures and the backgrounds of the students in their class.

"Reverent listening is not to be confused with humiliation and domination by others who force us to listen, and even less so, with the kind of incompetence that wants to be told what to do." This quote applies to a lot of teahers today. They force students to listen of forcefully tell their students what to do. This attitude by the teacher forces students to not listen and makes them tune the teacher out. For example, in 4th grade I had a teacher that made us listen to her all day long and we never really got to talk in class. I never wanted to go to school because our classroom enviornment wasn't welcoming and I felt like I had no say. I never want to make my students feel that way that I felt in my 4th grade classroom. I want my students feel like I listen to them and care about what they have to say.

This artical uses the phrase a "laundry list of value ethics". To me this phrase means that someone has a long list of values ordered in degree of importance. Teachers more than likely will teach their values and culture to the class and not touch on the values or cultures of the other students. This is an exapmle of a teacher being non-culturally responsive because they don't teacher others values and cultures, just their own.

I had an amazing 2nd grade teacher. She was a reverent teacher and really cared for her students. She always gave the students a voice in the classroom and was always there to listen to her students. She always made you feel important and very special. I felt very comfortable in her classroom and it was one of my favorite years all throughout school.

Today there are many schools that have a "toxic" school enviornment. If teachers don't listen to to thier students or give them a voice in the classroom it creates a bad school enviornment. Teachers need to listen to what their students have to say and allow them to talk during instruction so they feel a sense of belonging to the class. Also teachers need to represent a sense of respect in the classroom between teachers and students as well as the teacher respecting the studnets.

"Reverent listening in teaching involves respect." I really liked this quote from the article. In order to reall listen to your students and care about what they have to say they need to respect their students as human beings. In my philosophy of education I never mentioned listening to my students so this quote will change my philosophy because I know see how important it is to listen to your students and give them a voice in the classroom.
I found a video on establishing classroom routines on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_jNR-aGj1w It is very important to have routines within your classroom especially when you have a younger classroom.

Resource:
HepburnsHelfulHints. (Performer) (2012). Establishing classroom routines [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_jNR-aGj1w

Double Entry Journal #4

1.Teachers need to know how to teach their students and help them develop their literacy stills. I learned some helpful hints while reading this article. Most students that grew up in the region of Appalachia are at a disadvantage when taking standardized test becaue their literacy knowledge is different than the literacy that is on the test. So as a teacher you need to practice standardized testing with your students so that they will be familiar with the literacy on those tests. Also as a teacher you need to teach your students that their language is fine to use but they need to know how to distinguish between when to use their regular language and standard english. Also you need to let the students freely write in what ever way that makes them feel comfortable. Many students are afraid to write they way they want because they don't want to be judged by the teacher.

2. Great teachers will use culturally responsive teaching stratigies. This article presented a few stratigies to use for instruction. Teachers need to teach their students to know and praise their own cultures along with others cultures as well. If students get to know one anothers backgrounds and cultures it will build a sense of community in the classroom. By building a sense of community the classroom will have a more relaxed learning enviornment. Also teachers need to use different stratigies that are connected to different learning styles. All of your students are going to learn in different ways so you need to make sure you hit different learning styles so that not every lesson is taught to the same learning style.

3. In elementary school we had to do research on our family for a family tree. This was a good lesson for a cultural responsive teaching stratigy because we learned about each other and were we came from.

Resource:

Epstein, P. (2011, September 15). honoring dialect and increasing student performance in standard english. Retrieved from http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/3655

4.

I really liked this image because it's a reminder that we are all different and no one is alike. We also need to respect each other and understand everyone has different cultures that they come from.

Where I'm From Video

I tried to make it shorter but couldn't find away around it!!!

Where I am From Poem

I am from an old country road where I feel safe, from nights sitting on the front porch listening to the crickets and looking up at the stars.

I am from a home that was built by my father’s own hands.

I am from the hayfields, shale banks, and flowing fields of grain that I use to escape to.

I am from Jennifer and Billy Morgan who taught me values and how to really love. I am from the Shafer’s and the Morgan’s.

I am from a place where the bond between brother and I will never be broken.

I am from a place where Sundays are set aside for church and family dinners around a long, crowded table.

From a place where farming is not just a hobby, it’s a way of life and a way to survive.

I am from a loving Christian home where church was never missed and we gathered around the piano to sing hymns.

I am from a small community where most of my family resides, where I can smell my Mimi Joan’s bread pudding and taste my Mimi Bonnie’s sweet tea.

From the Cherokee tribe that I get my features from.

I am from a place where I learned hard work and respect will get you far in life.

I am from a place where love found me.

I am from a place where God, family, and friends are all that matter.

I am from the beautiful hills of West Virginia.

Double Entry Journal #3

Educational Learning Theories:

Reference:

Bolima, D. (n.d.). Contexts for understanding: Educational learning theories. Retrieved from http://staff.washington.edu/saki/strategies/101/new_page_5.htm

 Adolescent Literacy by National Council of Teacher for English

Reading instruction in the elementary school is very vital. If students are taught good reading skills and habbits it will carry on with them throughout their entire life. If students enjoy reading and can read well they will be good students in high school.

Reading test scores are good to see how well students are at reading and if they are progressing. Many test scores are used to see if a student is ready to move on to the next level or if they still need to remain where they are.

The reality to the myth of if a student struggles with one literacy they will have dificult with all literacies got me to thinking. I hope to remember this statement becasue every student has things they like and are good at. If you are working on reading and I student can't read out of the textbook then give them another potion that might be easier or interests them more.

Every content area teacher is responsible for teaching reading comprehension. Most teachers think that that is only the reading teachers job but that is not true. For example in science the teacher needs to teach the students how to decode what they are reading so they will understand what they are actually reading. Also in science things can mean different things as well other than what the child originally thought it ment.

In school we only read out of a textbook. We never used computers, magazines, or newspapers to help with our literacy. In everyday life we don't come in contact with textbooks that oftem but we do come in contact with technology, magazines, and newspapers on an almost daily basis.

One good example of literacy practice is selecting the right text for your students. Make sure it's not to hard where they will get frustrated and not try. Also don't make it so easy that they don't benifit from the reading at all.

A discourse community is is a form of communication that means everyone has something in common in the communication community. For example if you are a part of a certain persons fan club that is considered a discourse community.

If a students valuable multiple literices are not found valuable in school this may make the student not try or give up. We need to encourage not discourage our students.

To build on a students extracurricular literacy practices tell the students they can go home and write about anything they want to. They need to to it in a space that is quiet and that they can freely express themselves in their writing.

In 5th grade my teacher used the student choice motivation strategy. We good to choose a lot of what we wanted to read when we had to read individually and it really motivated me and I actually wanted to read.

I mostly saw my teachers in high school engage in multicultural literacy development. We learned about many culturtes during this time period.

Teachers that are good at teaching literacy gain recognition from their peers. A good literacy teacher uses critical thinking skills, adress diverse needs of their students, develop solid knowledge of literacy instruction, and other outstanding qualitys.

Double Entry Journal #2 (Tall Tales of Appalachia)

Quote:
"If a television network proposed a ''real life'' show treating poor African-Americans, Latinos, American Indians, Asians or Jews as curiosities, they, and all Americans of good will, would be justifiably outraged."

I agree with this quote that I pulled out of the passage. Any american should be outraged at any tv show that shows any short of prejudice toward any group of people. They think that we are uneducated and will not realize that they are making fun of us. To me that is being prejudice toward people that are from Appalachia. I am glad that the last paragraph talkes about the Appalachia people are becoming outraged and starting to stick up for themselves.

Reference:
O'Brien, J. (2003, May 10). Tall tales of appalachia. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/10/opinion/tall-tales-of-appalachia.html

Other Source:

I really enjoyed listening to this video because I could really identify with it. I have been asked where I was from because of the way I talk and then I know they judge me when I tell them I am from WV. I really liked how he got insight from two different resources, one that was from WV and one from someone outside of WV as well.

Resource:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIJq-T1FbQo&noredirect=1. (Producer) (2009). Sterotypes of appalachia [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIJq-T1FbQo&noredirect=1

 

Double Entry Journal #2 ( As soon as she opened her mouth)

Quote:

" This sterotype prevented school personnel from interpreting her complaintsand concerns from a middle-class mother"

This quote from the passage shocked me and infuriated me to say the least. I can't believe that a person would be dismissed just because someone had a sterotype on someone. A childs education and wellbeing was at stake here. As a soon to be teacher I hope that I will give every student and parent a voice and a chance. Also as a West Virginian I know what it's like to be a part of a sterotype. I have been judged on my education only because I am from West Virginia. It is one of the most frustrarting things to be judged because of where you are from or who you talk.

Questions:

Literacy knowledge is something children already bring to school with them. Literacy knowledge is the concepts that children during their preschool years, the years after the begining of formal literaacy instruction, in kindergaten, and first grade in reading, writing, and printed laguage.An example of print literay knowledge is when a child scribbles on a piece of paper and askes an adult what they have written. When a child moves an adults mouth to pretend like they are reading or saying something when they are not really talking is an example of non print literacy knowledge.

Sadley, sterotypes are apart of outr society today. Even teachers have sterotypes against their own students and parents. If teachers didn't know the literacy background of their students and just taught them all the same it may be better. Although students may learn differently, they can all learn one way or the other. Teachers need to stop sterotyping their students and try to teach the students literacy the best way possible for that studnet no matter what that students background in litercy is.

A few schools and teachers don't do anything about poor literacy instruction in their schools as in Donny's case in the reading. If they think I child has little literact knowledge they may just write them off and say that they will never catch up with the other children in the class. Although most of the time they are pretty good about getting a student with less literacy knowledge any help they can provide them with. They devise a plan for that student and provide specialists if necessary.

There is a relationship between language, social class, and the denial of educational opportunity. A student that comes from a low social class has had less educational and language experience. So they will have less literacy knowledge and literacy experience than other students. If a student comes from a middle or high social class they are more likely to have more literacy knowlede and experience. So they will be more advanced than the students that came from a low social class.

There are many misconception in the schools between language and literacy. Many people have different laguages and many poeople talk differently than one another. Just because one students talks differntly or has a different language then the other doesn't mean they are illiterat or cant learn. The student just needs to learn to read and write in their own langauge.

There are ways that schools and teachers can improve literacy instruction. For one thing teachers need to accept that just because children are born in poverty they can still learn and are willing to learn. Secondly, teachers need to accept each and every students language they have learned and that has helped them begin their education. Also they need to realize that a student will orally speak in the language they have know their whole lives.

During my schooling I have heard the term use "proper english" probably more than any phrase. I don't agree with this phrase because like I stated before may students grew up around different languages and talk differently than others. As long as the child is getting the correct point acroos I believe that is all that matters. Not how they are talking.

Reference:
Purcell Gates, V. (2002). As soon as she opened her mouth. In L. Delpit & J.K Dowdy (Eds.), In The skin that we speak: An anthology of essays on language culture and power.