Double Journal Entry #3

CULTURAL CAPITAL

 

CULTURAL DEFICIT

 

1.       How does elementary reading instruction contribute to poor literacy attainment for older children?

Elementary reading instruction contributes to poor literacy attainment for older children due to the fact that teachers focus more on the process of reading rather than reading to find information, concepts, and ideas.

2.       What reading test scores good for?

Reading test scores are good for giving an idea of how much a student understands about literacy, but only to a certain extent. Test scores do not prove to be the most accurate way to pin point a students’ literacy ability.

3.       What reality about a literacy myth surprised you the most? Why?

The myth that surprised me the most was the one that states “students who struggle with one literacy will have difficulty with all literacies”. This surprised me because it is something that can be easily observed in a classroom. The teacher can see that a particular student may struggle in one area of literacy, but may also be excellent at another. For instance, my teachers in elementary school knew that I struggled in word problems, but was great at historical facts. They recognized this by listening to me read aloud, watched what books I’d pick up during silent reading, and by listening to the questions I asked during each tasks.

4.       What do you know about teaching reading comprehension in the content areas? Give an example of a strategy you might use to teach reading during a science or social studies lesson.

Teaching reading comprehension in the content areas can be very vocabulary dense. Students have to learn the term in order to understand what is going on. History is a great example of this vocabulary dense content area. With this type of lesson you may want to have vocabulary games, split the words up between students in small groups, complete an “Own your word” diagram, or even create graphic organizers for vocabulary terms, or important information.

5.       What kind of literacy do you have that was not acknowledge in school? (Literacy means being able to use texts and technologies to accomplish one's purpose in the world.)

Technology was not at imperative in school when I was growing up like it is in today’s classroom. Although, I can operate much of the new technology, I was not taught how to do so in a classroom. I was self- taught. Technology was just becoming big when I was in middle school and high school, and it wasn’t until then that I was shown how to use the basic technology.

6.       Give an example of a literacy practice.

 

7.       What is a discourse community?

A discourse community is all different types of literacies that people excel in. For example, my knowledge of cheerleading puts me in that discourse community. Someone that knows about reptiles is in his/her own discourse community.

8.       What can happen if students valuable multiple literacies are not recognized as valuable in school?

Students with multiple valuable literacies that are not recognized as valuable in school can become unmotivated. Being unmotivated can cause the student to shut down and stop learning. This affects the student in the long run. Keeping the student motivated requires the teacher to recognize each students’ multiple literacies and use them to their advantage.

9.       Give an example of how a teacher might build on the extracurricular literacy practices of their students?

For example, a teacher who is trying to teach students about the different types of triangles may use a students’ extracurricular literacy of basketball. Taking the students to the gym and visually showing the students each triangle (in regards to their position on the court and the position of the net) may help this student understand this concept a little better. Teaching students to use what they are good at to figure out a solution.

10.   Describe a time in which a teacher in your 4-12 schooling experience employed one of the research-base strategies to improve motivation.

In sixth grade I had an awesome English/Reading teacher. We started out each class period with a journal in which we could write anything we wanted to in. Then she chose people to share it if they wanted to. Every Monday we went to the library and we had 15 minutes to pick a book that we wanted to read. After the teacher approved it, we had to check the book out. Each Friday we had a 1-2 page paper due. This paper was a either a summary of the book, a prequel/sequel to a book you read, or a note to the author. She allowed us to choose what we wanted to do. If we decided that we didn’t like the book we chose then we were given the option to write a paper based off a topic she gave us, or we could write her a paper on what we would do different to make the book more interesting for the next reader. I loved that we were able to choose what we wanted to read. It gave us a sense of freedom and provided us with different literacy experiences. Some weeks she’d give us a specific genre we had to choose a book from (usually the one we were studying), but we were always given the right to decide for ourselves.

11.   Give an example from your own K-12 schooling experience that engaged in you in multicultural literacy development.

In fifth grade we had two new students enter our classroom late in the year from Mexico. Our school provided an ASL teacher full time to help with these students. Our class was struggling to involve these new students in day to day activities because we could not relate with them. So our teacher decorated the classroom to look like a festival in Mexico. She had help from the ASL teacher to do so. For an entire week we studied Mexico and heard stories from these new students (Mostly translated by the ASL teacher). They showed us where they were from on the map and what it was like there. On that Friday, we had a party with different Mexican food, decorations, and music. Although we could not always understand the new students verbally, we were able to connect with them on a different level, and this helped us relate to them more.

12.   What do teachers her gain recognition and respect from their peer also do well on?

Teachers who gain recognition and respect from their peers tend to well in other aspects. These include: providing a caring environment for their students, addressing diverse literacy needs of students, use approaches that foster critical thinking skills, develop quality relationships with students, participate in on-going professional development, and use many different teaching techniques. All of which make the teacher a great literacy instructor.

Citations

Bolima, D. (n.d.). Contexts for understanding: Educational learning theories. Retrieved from http://staff.washington.edu/saki/strategies/101/new_page_5.htm