Bridging the Gap

Chapter 21: “Scaffolding Vocabulary Learning - Ideas for Equity in Urban Settings”, from the text: Teaching All the Children: Strategies for Developing Literacy in an Urban Setting (written Judith A. Scott, and edited by Diane Lapp) was taken from my course-pack. I am so glad this article/chapter was assigned reading. I just finished reading and responding to the chapter concerning vocabulary form Gail E. Tompkins’ textbook and I have to say, I’m very disappointed in Gail. I’m not sure why she felt it was okay to leave out such pertinent information; that children whom are “economically or culturally outside of the mainstream…are being underserved, underfunded” (p. 471-472) and left out to dry, in terms of vocabulary learning.

It’s such a strange (yet being a teacher… familiar feeling) to go from feeling so excited about teaching one moment, to being completely deflated and saddened the next. There’s such a huge job ahead of us. As I said before, it is SO important to provide our students with as many opportunities as possible to read in school. After reading this article, I am reminded that there are students who may come to my classroom, and the reading they do with me could be the only experiences they have with books, with reading, and with writing ever. It breaks my heart. And I’m ashamed that this isn’t a constant thought in my head. I just can’t imagine a life like that. I can be as empathetic as possible for my students, but no matter how aware and educated I am, I will never have some of the experiences that they are having.

But, hopefully, because I am aware, and because I CARE, I believe that I can serve a thoroughly beneficial role in their lives. They (i.e., minority students, students from economically disadvantaged areas, students whose families are on welfare, etc.) need REPETITION, in regards to vocabulary usage; they need to be held to expectations that require them to push themselves. They have a huge gap to cross. According to the reading…“By grade seven, they were more than 2 years behind the norms [in regards to economically disadvantaged students defining literary words]” (p. 459). Since these children are not receiving the help, support, and advocacy from home, they need their teachers to do that.

These children need to understand the important of words and they need to realize that they are capable of developing a vocabulary that enables them to succeed academically. Words are tools for success and every single child should have access to those tools.

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!