The End is Near... And So Is The Beginning

Today was my last day of college undergraduate classes. It is so surreal and I honestly can't believe it. I walked by my dorm from freshman year today, and I felt as if it was just yesterday that I was moving in and making Michigan State my new home. Now, I have finished four years of college, will earn my Bachelor's Degree in one week, and start my Master's Program and Student Teaching in the next six months. How fast the time goes... At the beginning of this semester I felt that I still had too much to learn before graduating and moving on to my internship, but now that it is over I feel as prepared as I can be for next year. The ideas, concepts, and experiences I have gained in this past year, I believe were the most important out of all my courses here at MSU. My favorite experience was in my placement this year at Central Elementary in Okemos. My CT, Mrs. Tazelaar taught me so much about being a teacher, that I only hope that one day I will be as good as her. The students also taught me a lot about classroom management, relating to one another, and building classroom community. I will definitely miss Mrs. Tazelaar and her first grade class, but I am thankful for all the memories and lessons I gained and learned from them.

Multicultural Literature in the Classroom

I am in the Multicultural Literature course this semester (TE 448) and I wanted to post some ideas here that I have gained through that course, but can also be applied to all teaching courses.

I have really enjoyed my experience in this class (TE 448) because it has completely opened my eyes to another dimension of education. I think about the issues raised in this course now in my everyday life. Whenever I encounter a situation where I hear a racist remark or joke I feel responsible as an educator not just for students, but for society as well, to speak up and fight for acceptance which embraces our world of diversity. Diversity plays such an intricate role in education that the possibilities are endless. Whether your classroom has a diverse population or not, diversity is an important concept to teach. When a classroom does have students from a variety of different backgrounds, those students should feel as if they are being represented in the curriculum. Then, even if the students in your classroom are more of a homogeneous group, it is beneficial for those students to learn about people outside of their community, and realize there is more to our world than the "bubble." I grew up in a white suburban neighborhood and went to a school that comprised of 99% white students. I had one African American friend, two Asian-American friends, and one Native American friend in all 12 years of public school. I was naive to the rest of the world around me, until I came to Michigan State and began to meet new people and learn about many different cultures. I believe that literacy is the best avenue to take when introducing topics of diversity. Books can help students relate to the characters and apply the events in the book to their own lives. This is a great method to give your students an experience of empathy for other cultures and ways of life. My own personal philosophy of multiculturalism and diversity in the classroom, is to incorporate it into all areas of the classroom. Although it would require more planning, this method would be more effective because it just becomes a part of the classroom, versus a month long unit on diversity. I also think that the ideas need to be introduced gradually starting at the beginning of the year and continue to add in more bit by bit. Some of the issues can get very personal for some students, so it is most important to establish a comfortable community of learners in your classroom so everyone feels comfortable sharing ideas and experiences. My biggest concerns about bringing multiculturalism into my teaching is that I will arrive at a difficult situation and not know how to handle it. Being the teacher in the classroom, the students rely on you for the answers and management of the discussion/activity. I realize that there are some of those difficult questions that don't have solid answers and I just hope that I will be able to manage those "gray" areas with my students. Regardless of my fears, I have higher hopes and am so thankful to have this diverse children's literature course as a background in my education.

Children's Ideas About Different Groups of People

cWhen I was in my field placement last week, I overheard a very interesting conversation between a few of my first graders. Many of the students live in the same apartment building and talk about their experiences together about being at home. One student was talking about the building she lives in. She started describing to me that all of the doors in the apartment were green. This really bugged her and she said that she wished they could all be a different color. The other girl agreed and said she wished she could change it too. I suggested to the girls that maybe they could make some artwork and hang it outside the door to decorate a little more. The girls thought this was a good a idea but then started complaining about the smell in the hallway. The first girl said, "Those dang Russians are always stinking up the hallway." I was really taken off guard by this comment. She went on, "Those Russians stink up the hallway because of all the food they make. Their food smells sooooo bad. And they cook a lot. But sometimes though they can cook up some really good meals." Well, I asked her how she knew they were Russian, and she tried to avoid my question. The best answer I got was that she had heard it from an older girl who also lives in the building. Then from the rest of the conversation I got the impression that she had been invited to dinner to eat sometime before, but I wasn't entirely sure because her comments were not consistent. This made me think that this girl had these preconceived notions about the "Russians," based on what she had been told by different people. It seemed to me however, that she very strongly believed that only the Russians in her building would cook strong smelling food. I just found this conversation very interesting and found it worth mentioning. This was the result of a young impressionable girl taking on ideas that may or may not be true of a group of people. I fear that these notions will stick with her, and begin a cycle of stereotypes or worse. It is important that as teachers, we realize how impressionable these kids really are, and that they are influenced by many outside sources. This is why in teaching it is so important to get at the students misconceptions and previous knowledge, ideas, and understandings, in order to start breaking those walls down.

Digital Literacy Exploration

I have really enjoyed exploring different technologies. It is a great interest of mine to become more fluent in today's up and coming technologies, especially in their uses for classrooms and students. Although, I realize there are some frustrations that come with the territory, this is also part of the learning process. My particular exploration dealt with visual literacy and digital storytelling. These two components fit together nicely because the technology uses images to influence a viewer, a main purpose of visual literacy.

I also took a look at one of my peers exploration on social literacy with blogging. Blogging can be a very useful tool for students in a classroom. It can be used to create an online community, post upcoming assignments, and keep absent students up to date with the events of the classroom. These are all components of social literacy and create a technological/ digital community of learners.

Through this exploration I have been able to learn about different and new technologies and the various ways they can be used in classrooms. In my future teaching, I will be able to look back on this experience and use the ideas I have learned about. I have also become more well-rounded in my understanding of "literacy". There are so many different aspects of literacy that can be handled in thousands of ways. Students can benefit from the different literacies, and I am glad that I will be able to assist my own students in this area.

First Graders Debate Religion

When I was in my field placement last week, I overheard a very interesting conversation between a few of my first graders. Many of the students live in the same apartment building and talk about their experiences together about being at home. One student was talking about the building she lives in. She started describing to me that all of the doors in the apartment were green. This really bugged her and she said that she wished they could all be a different color. The other girl agreed and said she wished she could change it too. I suggested to the girls that maybe they could make some artwork and hang it outside the door to decorate a little more. The girls thought this was a good a idea but then started complaining about the smell in the hallway. The first girl said, "Those dang Russians are always stinking up the hallway." I was really taken off guard by this comment. She went on, "Those Russians stink up the hallway because of all the food they make. Their food smells sooooo bad. And they cook a lot. But sometimes though they can cook up some really good meals." Well, I asked her how she knew they were Russian, and she tried to avoid my question. The best answer I got was that she had heard it from an older girl who also lives in the building. Then from the rest of the conversation I got the impression that she had been invited to dinner to eat sometime before, but I wasn't entirely sure because her comments were not consistent. This made me think that this girl had these preconceived notions about the "Russians," based on what she had been told by different people. It seemed to me however, that she very strongly believed that only the Russians in her building would cook strong smelling food. I just found this conversation very interesting and found it worth mentioning. This was the result of a young impressionable girl taking on ideas that may or may not be true of a group of people. I fear that these notions will stick with her, and begin a cycle of stereotypes or worse. It is important that as teachers, we realize how impressionable these kids really are, and that they are influenced by many outside sources. This is why in teaching it is so important to get at the students misconceptions and previous knowledge, ideas, and understandings, in order to start breaking those walls down.

First Grade Writing

Fortunately I have been able to observe quite a bit of writing at my field placement. These first graders never cease to amaze me because some of them write around 5-7 sentences in one journal entry! My CT sets aside time each morning during the literacy block to have the students write on a journal page. Sometimes the students are given writing prompts and sometimes they can write about whatever they want. It is really cool to see a student get excited about an idea they have and just run with it in their writing. I experienced this when I taught my lesson. I had the students journal about a time when they had a conflict with a friend. One student, Julianna, thought of a story she could write immediately. She was so excited that she just wrote and wrote and wrote until the entire front and back of her paper was filled and she drew a picture to top it off! I was really excited to see my teaching make an impact and motivate even just one student to enjoy writing. That was probably the best part about my lesson :)

Teaching the Reading and Writing Processes

In our class reading of Tompkins Chapter 2 there is a discussion of the reading and writing processes in a balanced literacy program. My group came up with some working definitions of the key points to these ideas. The following two terms I will discuss are both inter-related and work with each other. Reading, we decided can be considered as an extension to writing development and comprehension. Comprehension happens when reading and writing come together to form meaning. These two ideas were most helpful for me in planning my lesson. The best example of this application is in my lesson plan objectives. My knowledge objective states that each student will describe and discuss the qualities of a good friend and the consequences of lying. My capacity objective states that each student will apply his or her prior experiences to the text and journal about a situation involving friendship. The journals in turn showed me if they were connecting with the lesson. When the students could write an entry that related to our book we read, that showed me that they were comprehending the reading and meeting my objectives.