Readings

When going through these readings, there were a few themes that stuck out to me. I thought that some of the articles were trying to get across the point that truly knowing literacy involves many steps in several areas. Another theme that I thought was most beneficial was how the Tompkins article seemed to focus on the fact that your classroom can be made up of all different types of learners and it is important to make sure you can cater to all of their needs to help them be the best learners.

Pg 5 of Tompkins made it clear that it is important to focus on how students learn. Once a good teacher can observe this, they will be able to focus on how to help all of their students. I also thought it was great that on pg 9, the article acknowledges that teachers need to find a happy medium and present their students with information that is challenging, yet doable.

Pages 7 and 9 of the Gibbons article also brought up points similar to the ones in the Tompkins article about challenging students and being there to give them a lot of assistance at first and then slowly backing off. I thought this was a good point to have repeated because some teachers may not assist their students enough when first presenting something to them and then the students may not really grasp the information or have a complete understanding on it.

The internet/technology section on pg 7 of the Tompkins article was also really interesting to read. I think this section might be beneficial for those who have been teaching for a while to realize that they need to start integrating technology in their classroom and preparing their students for how to use it appropriately in regards to literacy.

The chart on pg 6 of the Cambourne article was really interesting when looking at how all concepts can be linked together and feed off of each other. It helped break down all of the points that multiple articles were pointing towards and put it in a way that was easy to grasp.

I thought the Leland article was really good too because it showed that students are capable of more than we give them credit for. It was awesome to see the students reactions to the content, even though they may have not been as familiar with it, and see them on a "mature" level. I think that I would have been a little cautious, just as Kim was, about reading those kinds of books to students, but it is good to see that it had positive outcomes.