Week 4 Readings

When looking at where I want to teach questions it really got me thinking about and questioning where I want to teach. The type of school that I want to work at is one where the community sees the importance of each student and each student’s education. I believe this in return will reflect on the school and the learning done by the student. Not every area can be 100% supportive and that is why it is my job as a teacher to create an environment where each student can feel supported. The course is going to help me use literacy as a tool to build an environment that they can be comfortable in. I want to learn how to use Literacy as a tool in not only helping a child develop but also in making them feel comfortable helping them in their everyday days in and outside the classroom.

The reading that really stuck out to me was the Leland 2005 Critical Literacy in the first grade classroom article. I first found in interesting because it talked about some of the topics I had d answered in the question about what we want our classroom to look like for the week. I talked about literacy as a tool for making a classroom setting. The reading however talked about the setting of the classroom as a tool to helping or guiding literacy. Critical literacy as they talked about was something that the teacher in the article was unsure about as an effective tool for literacy. I related to her in the sense that when asked in TE 402 class this semester if The Lady in the Box was appropriate for first grade I had no idea. Just like the article I looked (and have been taught) at literacy as teaching how to read and understanding parts of literacy as beginning middle and end. I had never thought about the social aspects of literacy in an elementary classroom. After reading the article I realize how important it is to use critical literacy as a tool to making the student feel a connection with literacy. Over the years that I have spent in elementary classroom you very quickly realize that not every child loves to read. Not every student will go home and read a book or for 30 minutes a day. A lot of students actually do not always want to read. A way for students to see the importance of literacy is by making a connection and see how literacy relates to them as the article said. This is just one of the ways the article talks about the importance of critical literacy there are so many more ways that support it. The talk about student’s’ being able to read between the lines, developing a better understanding of the language, students developing a way of looking at things differently and these different views affecting not only their reading but the way in which they write as well. Although I have no relation or experience that I can compare it to I really like the way they showed the connection that critical literacy has with children’s art. It showed pictures of the art that students did I response to a book about the Japanese American War. The students art was in great detail, which the article talks about how this is a great tool in showing students development of critical awareness. Mainly what I take away from this article is that as a teacher you can never look at things in one way or just one sided. Literacy as an example is just not developmental books and education about begging, middle, and end. It is about expanded a students mind and giving them all that they deserve to take out of it and develop. I know that that is one of the many things I will gain from this class and am excited to do so.