Sunday, January 23, 2011
Week 3 readings
The Fleming article on teachers in CPS really got me thinking about my next few years as a teacher and honestly scared me a little bit. The part that really got to me was trying to be realistic when thinking about students backgrounds, especially with literacy. I think I am still so naive in thinking of these perfect classroom settings where I can relate to every child and they will all be at the standard level. This article helped me realize that it is not always that simple and that you have to be able to adjust and go with what you are given. This article also really stuck out to me because I will be teaching in the CPS next year and could easily be in some of these situations the participants were describing. The Lenski article also helped me consider potential ELL students in my future classroom. Similar to the Fleming article, it got me thinking about students backgrounds and how to handle different literacy practices from other places. One question that came to mind when reading the "Silenced" article was how do you reach a common ground where both sides can but their guard down and truly try to place themselves in the others position? Or maybe it cannot be done, but I think both sides need to give it a shot.
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I agree that the articles offered a bit of reality. Since I was fortunate enough to go to schools that had many different programs and resources available, that is the image I have in my head when I think of a classroom. However, that is not the reality of today. Classrooms are full of students from all different backgrounds who have many different skills. It seems overwhelming thinking that I have to figure out how to vary my teaching based on the diversity of my students, but I think the key is listening to your students and being flexible enough to alter a lesson to fit their needs. It may not be possible to teach to every single student, but it is important to acknowledge their differences the best you can.
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