Internet Reading and Diversity in the Classroom

Internet Reading

This article was really interesting to me! I liked how it started off with two different student perspectives. This got me thinking about how I felt about technology and literacy. Their new definition of literacy is very interesting to me “literacy skills necessary for individuals, groups, and societies to access the best information in the shortest time to identify and solve the most important problems and then communicate this information.” Is there really a need for literacy to be fast? I think as long as we eventually find the answer then it is good. I don’t necessarily think that time should be a part of a literacy definition because I know that I can read and comprehend but it takes me awhile.

Some nuggets that I think that we should talk to the class about is the three things that a person needs to be successful as an internet reader.

1. A reader must be able to handle the amount of text that can be found on the internet.
2. A reader must be able to handle all of the distraction that can be found around the text while reading. A reader has to find the important parts of the website and focus on them.
3. The text of the Internet is expository so the reader must have a large vocabulary and be able to deal with different formats that the text might be in.

*Readers have to realize that the Internet is continually changing as new research and information comes out. So website that were useful before may be deleted or revised and the reader has to take that into account. Whereas a book will always read the same way and always have the same information. New books are written to include the new information found.

*Internet readers need to use strategies that they used for printed text for the text found on the internet. Such as:

            1. Draw inferences

            2. Ask questions

            3. Active prior knowledge

            4. Monitor comprehension

            5. Repair comprehension

            6. Determine important ideas

            7. Synthesize

*When students read on the Internet literacy and technology connect. The same techniques that are used to comprehend text are used to comprehend expository writing on the Internet.

 

Diversity

The noteblog that we are suppose to write about this week is interesting to me because I feel as though we haven’t read very much about it or talked about in class. But I’ll just give a few ideas of what I think and have seen in the classroom. Every student no matter his or her race comes from a different background. We could have two white boys in the classroom that were raised completely different and we as teachers need to figure out every students background. I find that when you meet students for the first time that you should have some questions prepared for the students to answer independently. This helps the teacher gain a small glimpse of where each student is coming from. I have also found that students are very proud of the holidays that they celebrate and enjoy talking about what they do on these days and why. So I think it is interesting to have a whole class discussion on the different holidays that are celebrated by the students. If this is done in the beginning of the year then the teacher can make sure to include the holidays in his or her classroom. I also think that gaining a personal relationship with each student is very important. A teacher needs to find time to talk with each student one on one throughout the year and have him or her share different things that are on their mind. Always have the students explain why they think the way they are thinking so that you know where they are coming from. I also enjoy listening to the way that other people think about the same problem or idea. Each person thinks about things completely differently so hearing new ideas get the students minds moving and it allows the teacher to see how the students comprehend the topic! Allowing students to choose their own research topics or books shows a lot about whom they are. This is an easy way for a teacher to see what the students are interested in so that these topics can be added into lesson so the students become more interested. Having students write daily journals allows the teacher to understand what is going on in their life. This could also help explain a student’s behavior in the classroom. I’m not sure if this is what the question is asking but this is what I came up with!

Diverstiy and Multiple Perspectives

Recognizing diversity is such a significant part of working in the classroom and being a successful teacher. Establishing classroom norms and letting students know that you appreciate their uniqueness is important to do right away in a classroom, so the expectations and standards are set right from the beginning. In the Ladson-Billings article titled "Seeing Culture, Seeing Color," it discusses the importance of noticing each and every student's traits which include race, ethnicity, traditions, and overall preferences. Having a teacher recognize something unique about students can make all the difference in their lives, and show them that the teacher is not only concerned about their abilities in the classroom, but also is interested in learning more about them as people instead of just students. One way that teachers can learn about the diversity in the classroom is to do icebreaker activities the first week in order to gain a better idea of who the students are as people and what they enjoy. This could be more informal in the beginning, and then these activities could start talking about what the students find as their strengths and weaknesses in school, and discuss the things that they want to improve upon. Creating an environment where students can feel comfortable sharing their experiences and their diverse perspectives is crucial in learning and teaching.

Another important point that the Ladson-Billings article discussed was the importance of having a reciprocal role as a teacher. As much as the teacher is going to be relaying information and knowledge, they can learn just as much from the students. It is important that students know that they are able to share their ideas openly in the classroom and questions certain topics using logical thinking. Too often I have seen students not share their ideas, for fear of being wrong or told not to share out, so it is crucial that we as future teachers create a comfortable learning environment where students can open up to the teacher and their peers.

I wanted to add one final thought about an activity that I did in seventh grade that is not necessarily tied to diversity, but goes along with noticing individuals and the importance of recognizing and celebrating each person. We were working on our autobiographies in seventh grade, and one of the activities we had to do was create a collage of thoughts from our classmates. Our teacher passed out blank pieces of paper that had each person's name on, and we all had to write one nice thing about each person. It could be anything positive that we thought about the person, whether that be academically, in sports, or about the person's personality, but we had to do it for each person in the class. After we turned them in and our teacher sorted them, she handed them back to us and we had to create some kind of collage with the compliments to put in our autobiography. Getting these papers back and reading the comments that my classmates had said about me was amazing. It was such a good feeling to hear all these things about me. Most of them were things I would have never thought my classmates even noticed about me, so it just goes to show the power that each individual has in creating a classroom unit. I want to incorporate this into my future classroom, as well as many other activities to notice and celebrate diversity and uniqueness among the students.

Reading on the Internet

"Reading on the Internet: The link between literacy and technology," was a great article that discussed the importance of incorporating the internet into classroom activities and how this can further students literacy skills. "New forms of literacy called upon students to know how to read and write not only in the print world but also in the digital world" (Schmar-Dobler, pg. 81). Now more than ever, our world is advancing technologically so it is important to familiarize students with these new advancements in the classroom so they can benefit academically. The text and information that is found on the Internet is constantly changing and modifying, so it is crucial for students to know exactly how to navigate on the internet in order to benefit from the information they find on a specific topic. Being able to search through text and find references on the internet, is all part of being a literate person in today's society.

Instruction in teaching children proper ways to use the internet to enhance their literacy is vital in making sure students are being productive and informed. "Students can be taught about the existence of reading strategies through informed direct instruction" (Schmar-Dobler, pg. 81). Since text on the internet is constantly changing, it is important for teachers to first master these techniques of using the internet for literacy and then model those practices for students. Without proper instruction from teachers on how they want students to use the resources from the internet, they have no guidelines or understanding about what or how these activities will benefit their literacy development.

There were several reading strategies that were discussed in the article including activating prior knowledge, monitoring/ repairing comprehension, determining important ideas, synthesizing, drawing inferences, asking questions, and navigating. All of these strategies are important and with proper instruction, teachers can allow students to use these reading strategies to help them when they are using the internet for literacy. "Educators can guide students to be successful Internet readers by helping them recognize their experiences with various types of text and applying this knowledge to Internet reading." (pg. 85). It is vital that we provide students with the necessary resources to continue their learning, which is advancing along with the technology that is becoming available. "Through modeling and instruction, teachers can begin to build the bridge connecting literacy and technology" (pg. 85). We as teacher can make all the difference in allowing students to connect literacy to technology and the internet, so we must strive to do so in our future classroom.

Internet Reading

I just finished reading the article, “Reading on the Internet: The link between literacy and technology”, written by Elizabeth Schmar-Dolber. The article discussed the similarities and differences between reading plain text and reading internet resources, i.e., websites, emails, blogs, wikis, etc. The article also discussed how the definition of literacy is rapidly changing due to the ever expanding world of the Web 2.0. The internet is changing how we need to teach literacy. It is no longer enough to teach reading and comprehension strategies that relate only to books, and printed materials. We, teachers, have to acknowledge the fact that students do a large portion of their reading on the computer.

One portion of the article discussed the special demands that reading on the internet puts on student readers; for instance, “A reader must be able to evaluate all the features of a webpage and quickly decide which one will likely be the most helpful in accessing information”, or “the Internet reader must be able to handle the sheer volume of text”. These are two distinct ideas that a reader must be aware of when they are reading on the internet.

Flickr Image Accessed From: San Jose Library

Basically, I think this article is emphasizing the importance of acknowledging the difference between reading on the internet and reading plain text. In order to create successful, literate students, we need to address these differences with our students. I think many teachers are scared of technology and they would rather have students go to the computer lab once a week/month to do who knows what. Really, internet reading and using the Web 2.0 needs to a consistent pass time in schools and classrooms. In order for students to gain competency and acquire the correct strategies for reading comprehension on the internet they have to practice, and I think that practice needs to start early.

Recognizing Diversity

The ability to look at your students and see everyone for who they are…the color of their skin, the language they speak, their families, their likes, dislikes, their hopes, fears…that is what separates an average teacher from an extraordinary teacher.

When we discussed the readings in class this past Tuesday, we spent time referencing two specific articles from our course pack. Those articles were entitled “Culturally Relevant Teaching” and “Seeing Color, Seeing Culture”. These two texts highlighted the importance of recognizing the huge range of knowledge and backgrounds and understandings that children bring to their classroom. In order to create meaningful and relevant lessons for your students it’s important that you see these differences. In the article “Seeing Color, Seeing Culture”, there is an excerpt that states, “I don’t really see color, I just see children” (p. 31). This idea does children a disservice. You can’t ignore a child’s background when the walk into the classroom. They bring their experiences with them everywhere they go, and by ignoring them, we are basically telling them that they don’t matter, when to them…it’s all that does.

As teachers, I believe that part of our job is to empower our students. In order to do that, we have to acknowledge who they are, and get them to know who they are.

There are multiple ways to do this, as our reading displayed. One teacher made a point to take her students on a class camping trip when the school year began, thus allowing her students to let their guards down, and be themselves, allowing her to get to know them. I would like to create projects and assignments that break down my students boundaries. I would love to have my students create digital stories about themselves that they could then present to the class. This would show me visually and orally how they view themselves. I would love to have art projects where the students could be free to creatively present a look into their lives. They could create posters, drawings, bring in a CD they made with their favorite music. They could cook something that they love to eat or that represents their culture, such as Mexican food, Italian food, absolutely anything.

There is an activity I did when I was in middle school. My teacher called it the “Name Game”. Basically, we were responsible for writing a page on our name. Who named us? Why that name? Where did our name come from? Do we like our name? Why, or why not? What are your nicknames? Etc. This was a really cool activity. I remember discussing my name and my Jewish heritage was brought up, as well as my relationship with my grandmother. You can learn a lot about a child from their name. I would love to put this activity to work in my classroom. I would add another aspect that would allow the class to present something of their own. Like a show and tell activity. They could bring in people, things, anything they wanted.

There are so many activities that would be awesome to implement in a classroom when the school year begins that would allow the students to open up with one another and begin to establish a safe, comfortable learning environment.

When I was thinking about this topic, I wanted to incorporate some sort of video or image to help support my ideas. I searched "Diversity" on YouTube, and this was the video that came up. I LOVED it. Please, listen and enjoy! lol

What is Literacy?

When I think of literacy I think back to when I was in elementary school language arts, in my mind, it consisted of reading and writing. As I think about it today that would be a very broad definition because they’re many aspects of reading and writing that our taught. To get a better insight of the definition of literacy I googled it and this is what I found:

“…literacy is the ability to make and communicate meaning from and by the use of a variety of socially contextual symbols. Within various levels of developmental ability, a literate person can derive and convey meaning, and use their knowledge to achieve a desired purpose or goal that requires the use of language skills, be they spoken or written.”

“Literacy is the ability to use printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential.”

"Literacy not only involves competency in reading and writing, but goes beyond this to include the critical and effective use of these in peoples' lives, and the use of language (oral and written) for all purposes." 

After reading through many different websites online I see how difficult it is to find one definition that includes all aspects of literacy. In the broad sense, the definition of literacy as reading and writing makes sense. But if you think about it a person may be able to read and write but have no idea how to use it in everyday life. So the definition above that includes the idea of using reading and writing in everyday life makes complete sense. You have to be able to read and write to function in this society. But you also have to know how to use reading and writing correctly to function in society as well. I don’t think that there will ever be a concrete definition of literacy because I feel that is it always changing based on the new advances in society.

After I think about it for awhile though I realize that I just read and found all of the information about literacy online and yet none of the definitions that I found included technology. Computers are everywhere know and that is where most teenagers and college students spent their time so I now think that technology should be added into the definition. Are you technology literate, which I believe ties into the quiz that we were to take. After taking the quiz I feel that I am between a native and an immigrant. I know half of the definitions. But it’s also sad that if I had taken this at the beginning of last semester I would totally say that I was an immigrant. If it weren’t for Erik I would have not known what any of that was except AIM. I believe that right now I am emerging from digital literacy. I learned a tremendous amount last semester in 401 and I am continuing to learn more this semester as well. Tompkins explains that children come to school with background knowledge and this knowledge came from exposures that their parents had given to them. My emergent of digital literacy is coming from teachers using and show different technologies in the classrooms. As wikis and blogs become the norm in society all citizens learn how to use them from exposure. Same goes for children as children are exposed to new material they learn it!

My ideal literacy-learning environment would have lots of books that were about topics that I was interested in! There would be lots of comfy pillows and blankets around so that I could relax and focus on reading. And I have to have it completely quite to focus and comprehend what I am reading and writing!

 

http://www.bridgew.edu/Library/CAGS_Projects/LDUBIN/Definition%20of%20Literacy.htm

http://nces.ed.gov/NAAl/fr_definition.asp

http://www.unm.edu/~devalenz/handouts/literacy.html

 

What Am I?

According to the article, "Digital Natives in the Classroom", “Digital Natives perceive technology as their friend and rely on it to study, work, play, relax and communicate.” The article also states that “Digital Immigrants…struggle to understand and master these new technologies.”

"Digital Natives in the Classroom" offered its readers a Digital Natives Quiz to take. I took the quiz…and according to the article and my answers, I guess you could call me a native speaker; meaning, I am comfortable with a wide range of technologies. However, with all this talk about the new D – gen (i.e. the Digital Generation), and how children have been raised surrounded by up-to-the minute technologies, I would not consider myself a part of this category.

Image via Kwout

Yes, according to the quiz, I am a native; however, the level of comfort that I have achieved, in terms of utilizing technology, has only recently developed. I have used computers, the internet, cell phones, digital cameras, etc. for many years throughout my life, but those resources are a miniscule portion of what is available. Over the course of my time at Michigan State University, I have been introduced to an astonishing amount of technology that I was not familiar with before. Last year, I took a course called, “Teaching and Learning with Technology”, CEP 416. This course introduced me to blogging, personal websites, wikis, twitter, Smart-boards, etc. Thankfully, I took full advantage of that course and in doing so, I have had practice working and playing with numerous digital resources.

During the last week of class, we spent a fair amount of time discussing our upcoming project…the “New Literacies Project”. I am really excited to begin the exploration process. As a class, we reviewed a great deal of technologies available for us to dive into! After listening to the variety of resources presented, I realized that, while I am familiar with a large amount of them, I still have a lot to learn. Honestly, no matter how comfortable I feel in terms of the technology available, there will ALWAYS be more.

I was looking through Gale E. Tompkins’ text, Literacy for the 21^st Century, A Balanced Approach: 5^th Edition, when I came across the term “emergent” (pg. 111). Tompkins utilized this word as a way to describe a how a child becomes literate; that is, how a child learns to read and write is emergent literacy (Tompkins, 2010). Right now, I’m going to use the word “emergent” to describe myself. Currently, I am an emergent new, digital literacy learner. I am in the process of learning the ins and outs of the technologies out there.

I can’t imagine that I will EVER be anything other than emergent. Since the influx of technology is so rapid and growing exponentially, there is no possible way that an individual can be anything other than emergent. It just isn’t possible for one person to feel comfortable working with every single technological resource out there.

Here's a funny comic I found online...

What is Literacy?

Literacy has many definitions but I consider literacy to have two parts: reading and writing. Being a literate individual means using reading and writing to enhance a students learning and development and being able to relate that understanding of reading and writing to everyday experiences. I never realized how important outside experiences are to learning literacy, but being able to bring something familiar into the classroom can really improve students motivation and engagement. Another key component to literacy is classroom management that is effective and beneficial to for students development. After having our classroom discussion last week, I have noticed the impact that classroom management and instruction have on literacy because it is needed in order for the teaching and learning to run smoothly. Without organization and the implementation of various literacy strategies, it will be nearly impossible for students to effectively learn. Various strategies that I have experienced personally in school and at my placements include free writes, silent reading, book buddies, read alouds, writing stories, and many others. After looking at the concept maps from my classmates, it is obvious that there are so many components that go into teaching children literacy, and I hope to fulfill many of those as future educators.

Throughout my MSU courses and experiences in my placements, I have been able to come up with an ideal classroom environment that I would want to have in the future. One of the main things I want is a level of confidentially and feelings of being comfortable in discussing and sharing our ideas of literacy. Multicultural literature is also something I hope to incorporate into my classroom because I want all students to relate to the literature, regardless of their race or ethnicity. Incorporating a wide variety of activities to do with reading and writing into the classroom, allows students to find a way of learning literacy that they prefer. Not all children learn in the same way, so it is vital to offer them numerous options on how to learn literacy their best. It is also significant that students know that they should be excelling in both reading and writing, not just one or the other, because it takes both components to become a literacy learner.

After taking the digital natives quiz, I realized that I am not a digital native, but rather an immigrant. I was unaware of several of the definitions for specific terms, and had not even heard of some of the words, so I did not feel comfortable in using those words in a technological sense. Emergent learners, according to Tompkins, say that, "literacy development has been broadened to incorporate the cultural and social aspects of language learning, and children's experiences with and understandings about writing language--both reading and writing--are included as part of emergent literacy" (pg. 111). It is important for children to relate their social experiences and things they are doing outside the classroom with literacy in the classroom. For instance, I used instance messaging frequently when I was younger, and although that did not have the same effect of learning literacy as I would have had in the classroom, it still had me practicing writing and reading so I was getting the repetition that was necessary to continue on with my literacy learning. These are all important components of literacy, and being able to give the students comparisons about their outside social world, in the classroom, will be vital experiences for them to succeed in literacy.

Is It Really That Simple?

When presented with the question, “what is literacy?” often, an individual’s initial response is something similar to this: “Literacy is the ability to read and write”. (The previous statement was taken directly from the online resource, Wikipedia). When I was first introduced to the concept of literacy in TE 301, I had a very narrow view of what it represented. Essentially, my ideas directly coincided with Wikipedia’s. However, when you think about it, how long has that been an accepted definition? Society is evolving and I am beginning to realize that it is time for my view of literacy to evolve as well.

Thanks to the pile of educational textbooks I have stockpiled over my years at Michigan State University, I have a range of texts to reference in my search for a twenty first century definition of literacy. According to the book Primary Literacy Standards for Kindergarten through Third Grade (1999), the main concern of literacy is reading and writing (New Standards, Primary Literacy Committee 1999). According to Pauline Gibbons, the author of Teaching Second Language Learners in the Mainstream Classroom (2002), the primary emphasis of literacy education should be focused on reading and writing. While I do agree with the previous two texts, to some extent, I want to take their ideas further.

When considering literacy and literacy education, it is important to consider the world in which our students live in. In order to succeed in the world outside of the classroom, students need to be literate in ways that far exceed reading classic text, and writing with pen/pencil and paper. Children need to be capable of mastering multi-media resources; meaning, students need to learn how to use media (for example, the Web 2.0) as a means to create, communicate, and collaborate. Another aspect of literacy that extends beyond reading and writing is the social aspect. It is important that children be able to share their thoughts and ideas. It is important that children know how to appropriately relate and interact with others.

How about this metaphor…I would like to refer to the concept of literacy as a tree. The trunk of the tree consists of the basic concept of reading and writing. Why? Because, I believe, reading and writing is the fundamental undercurrent to nearly every aspect of our lives. The branches of the tree could be the different aspects of literacy; including, but not limited to: social, cultural, environmental, and media. One could go even further and refer to the tree’s leaves as the different techniques and/or mediums a teacher may use to teach his/her students. When considering some examples that could be considered adequate leaves, I would propose blogging, drawing, cell phones, podcasts, digital storytelling, modeling and scaffolding (techniques), recycling (environmental aspects), etc..

It is easy to think of literacy as a rigid, unchanging concept, but it is not. As society and children evolve, so, too, will the definition of literacy. There will always be a wealth of information to consider when presented with the challenge of preparing children to become literate members of society.

Here is an image of a wordle document I created last week to represent a literacy concept map. One week ago, this image represents my views on literacy. It is interesting to see just how much my views on literacy have changed over one week's time.

Thoughts on Literacy

Language Arts has never really been my favorite subject. It’s not that I didn’t do well in the subject I just really never had an interest in it. I have been placed three times in lower elementary school and I absolutely hate it. I don’t what to spend three quarters of my day on literacy. I know that sounds horrible but I’m a science and math girl and that’s what I want to focus on in my classroom. Not that I’m saying that literacy is not important. It’s very important when it comes to science and math. I have no real interest in teaching students how to read but with this economy right now I am going to have to take any job that I can get. So my number one goal this semester is to learn different strategies for teaching students how to read. It is interesting to me as I read about literacy and think about my elementary experience I really don’t remember how I learned how to read. I have no idea right now how to even go about teaching a class how to read. I can work with a student one on one about how to sound out a word and tackle a sentence but how do you start from the very beginning?

I am in a 5^th grade classroom so their literacy time that I observe is either the class reading a chapter book aloud. Or they work with the passages that are found in their literacy book. They work on comprehension and what message the author is trying to portray. To prepare for literacy instruction I am going to have to make sure that I understand all aspects of the book or the passage so that I can ask the right questions to the children. I need to come up with questions that students have to think about and use what they have read to brainstorm the answer. So many of my students are bored so I want to challenge the children in my classroom that are above average students. Hopefully, from this class I will be able to learn how to challenge the students in my classroom that are bored but at the same time incorporate the below average students that are in my classroom as well. I need to learn how to incorporate all the different level of learners that I have into one lesson.

The school that I am placed at has no parental support. My students don’t have any idea what the word respect means and they just don’t want to be at school. My teacher has to get everything done in school because the students don’t do homework. I want to learn some strategies for how to deal with a situation like this. This causes a lot of stress on the teacher because all the learning has to take place in the classroom and not at home. I know that we have learned about classroom management a lot but after this placement I have seen how important it is. So I would still like to learn more classroom management strategies.

In school I felt that literacy was something that was pushed on us. We had a reading card and we had to track how much we read each week and our parents had to sign it. To me that makes reading a job and not something that is enjoyable for the students. I want to learn how to make literacy fun and enjoyable for my students. My students will be using literacy the rest of their lives so they need to know how to do it well and enjoy it at the same time. I need to find  a happy medium of how to teach students literacy but at the same time make it something that they look forward to.

Literacy and Me

What is literacy? Typically, when presented with this question, individuals respond with: “reading, writing, talking, and listening”; however, when I pause and consider this question, literacy means so much more. The word literacy does not have a fixed or uniform definition, and individuals often use it in many different ways. While I don’t find it necessary to be constrained by a set definition, I do think understanding what it means to be literate in our society is a valuable asset. As a future teacher, I believe that being able to understand what it means to be literate in our current culture is a necessary starting point to understanding how to teach children literacy.

After reviewing the syllabus, overview, and class objectives of this course, I can’t wait to begin! I love literature, writing, discussing books and pretty much everything that relates to literacy and I am excited to begin the process of learning how to instill that same love into my students. I hope that this class will present me with opportunities to teach my students in ways that are innovative and exciting. Nowadays, children are glued to their TVs, computers, and cell phones; therefore, teachers have to work that much harder to develop lessons that are engaging for their class. I would love to leave this class with ideas on how to teach students using media that is modern and immediately applicable to their daily lives. As I said before, literacy does not have a fixed definition and teaching literacy should not be a fixed process. It is ever changing; as are the children we are focused on teaching. My goal is to leave this class with fresh and exciting ways to teach children literacy. I hope to discover what it means to be literate and teach literacy in the 21^st century.

I took a few minutes to look at what you wrote, Brooke, and I feel similar to you, in regards to your views on teaching in an urban setting. It is something that I am completely open to. I may not have the experience of teaching in an urban setting, seeing as how  I’ve been placed in Okemos and Holt public schools while at Michigan State University, but I believe that I can handle it. Obviously, it will be much more difficult than teaching in a school that has the money and resources to provide their teachers with all the latest technologies and aid; however, I think it could be an extremely rewarding challenge. I’m not sure how familiar any of you are with the book/movie “Freedom Writers”, but it is a story of a female teacher accepting the challenge of teaching highly at risk students. She helped those children and it was a very inspiring movie. I realize that is not typical, but it is something I would strive for. Check out the trailer HERE. 

That’s all for now! Here is a video I found on Youtube. It is relatively long but if you have a minute, take a look! 

Literacy and Urban Settings

After reading through the syllabus and looking over the goals and objectives of this course, I am extremely excited to embark on this semester of furthering my knowledge in the area of literacy. Literacy is such an important part of a student’s learning and development within education, so it is vital that we, as future educators, provide the best opportunity for students to excel in this academic subject. Throughout my elementary education and the teachers who have helped me learn to read and write, I gained a great insight and motivation for literacy, which I hope I can do for my future students as well.

One of my main goals for this course is being able to gain a better understanding of how to organize literacy instruction in the classroom. I think that I will further these skills not only by participating in my field placement, but also from class discussions, readings, and listening to the experiences of my classmates. Classroom management is crucial to creating a positive learning environment where students feel comfortable to express themselves and be able to engage in their learning of literacy. I think classroom management is definitely one of the things within teaching that I need the most help with, so I hope to further this, specifically within the context of literacy. Another goal of mine for the literacy portion of this course is developing better strategies and examples to help students with their reading and writing. Although I thoroughly enjoy helping students with reading and writing in my placement, I do not necessarily know how to implement strategies into promoting their learning of the subject, which is an area that I could improve upon. These are just a few of my goals that I have for this semester in regards to learning about literacy, and implementing that into my teaching practices.

I have always been very interested in working in an urban setting, but have little experience in working with that type of setting. In my previous placements through Michigan State University, I do not feel like I have had a great deal of experiences in urban settings, so do not necessarily feel that I am prepared to deal with this population and the teachings that would be involved with reaching these students. I think that working in this type of setting could be a very rewarding and satisfying experience, so I hope to further my knowledge on how to approach teaching these children and eventually implement that into my future classrooms that may either be an overall urban setting, or with only a few children from this population. It would be a great privilege to get the experience to work in an urban setting, and I think that I could learn a great deal of knowledge that would help me in all areas of education. Since so many urban schools lack the resources or credibility of teachers to teach literacy in an efficient way, it is vital that these students receive the proper instruction to further their opportunities in their comprehension of literacy. I would love to work in this type of setting in order to increase students motivation and desire to further their education and understanding of reading or writing. From this course, I hope to take away a better idea of how to reach second language learners and students in an urban setting to improve their motivation and desire to learn literacy.

These are just a few of my initial thoughts on the course overall and how that pertains to urban learning in schools. I am looking forward to continuing the conversations on this blog, and learning from everyone’s experiences and ideas in the realm of education.

A New Year!

Hello to all of you out there in "Blogger Land"! It is officially a new decade and I know I am not alone in my attempt to stay true to those pesky New Year's resolutions. Good luck to you all in your endeavors, I know I need it!

As the year of 2010 commences...my blog will be acquiring a slightly different look. Let's say...new and improved, if you will. Rather than focus on methods of integrating technology into my future teaching practices, this blog will now serve as an online forum (with an emphasis on open communication and collaboration) for a group of my peers. The three of us...Brooke, Heather, and myself...are currently enrolled in a teacher prep. course, TE 402, at Michigan State University! This course is split into two distinct sections and those sections are: Math and Literacy.

This blog will now serve to aid the four of us in our journey towards discovery in the field of language arts/literacy.

I hope you all enjoy the new feel. Please feel free to continue to comment where you deem appropriate. I am sure we will appreciate any and all comments; they may very well lead to bigger and better discussions and debates.