Where I am from...

    As we discussed in class this week, it is important to invite students to share with their class who they are, who their family is, where they are from, some of the traditions they share, the culture they are a part of, and any other information they want to share about who they are. This not only helps the students get to know each other, but for the teacher to get to know the students, families and backgrounds. This activity also gives students a sense of pride as an individual and shows them that so many people can come from so many back grounds but can all work together and learn from one another.
    Aside from the poems we talked about in class, what are fun ways you could do this kind of activity with a classroom of students? Have you seen this done in your placement?
   Since we started later in the school year this past fall, I don't feel as though I got to see my CT set up such ties with her students and their families. Bringing in family members as experts is a great idea since the parent of a student might actually be an expert in an area we have to teach some day. I remember going to school with the local optomitrists daughter and he came in one week and taught us our science lesson on human organs and tissues like the eyes and how much fun it was. It also changed up the pace a bit as we didn't have to listen to the teacher read from the science book that week :)
      I think it is very important to know the values, morals, and standards set up for their kids as a teacher to know what they expect out of education. I have heard my CT tell misbehaving students that their father or mother wouldn't allow them to act a certain way at home and it's not allowed at school either. I think that helps a lot because students realize certain rules set up at home carry outside their house as well.

January 21, 2011

I hope to learn a lot about supporting diverse learners in my classroom through the use of literacy skills.  I feel like without having literacy skills children are unable to move forward in other areas of the classroom so it is very important to take away as much information from this course as possible.

I hope to be teaching in a suburban environment and community, yet I understand with today's economy I may not be able to be picky about a job.  With this said I hope to learn about all communities especially urban, because I feel there will be a lot of job openings in urban areas in the near future.  I also hope to gain a lot of resources and ideas from this course to help me next year.

In this course I hope to..

1. Become a learner (Know where to find resources/text to help my students)
2. Gain competence & skills in how to teach literacy to all learners
3. Understand how to communicate with families/communities about their child's learning if they too are illiterate