Double Entry Journal #3

I had a thought on intelligence while reading Context for Understanding: Educational Learning Theories. The reading said "This justified the belief that certain groups were intelligently inferior to others, particularly to the group in charge." I hope I am not taking this completely out of context but this is how I feel people from West Virginia are thought of. We are seen as an inferior people. Industry also thinks of us in this way; they come in use our resources and work our people but we rarely see the benefits. This makes us inferior to the main "group." My big question is what do we consider "intelligence?"  Book smart/College Educated or Common sense/Street smart? What one group can determine if someone is intelligent or not without really knowing that person?

1. Elementary reading instruction contributes to poor literacy in older children because most students are only taught the processes of reading with no follow up. Students are not reading for comprehension or reading to be challenged both of which lead to improvement in literacy.

2. Reading test scores are good for acknowledging we have a problem with reading and causing a fuss about it. I personally do not believe that standardized test scores can accurately gauge a students knowledge and performance. Some students are not good test takers, some students are excellent guessers, and some students actually know the material and are good test takers.

3. Myth: School writing is essentially an assessment tool that enables students to show what they have learned. This may be true but writing is not just an assessment tool but can be a gateway to creativity. I am a mentor for the Energy Express program in the summer and my kids show so much improvement through creativity in the summer. My kids love to write crazy, fun, imaginative stories each day and share them with me. They seem to want to write more and more each day.

4. Teaching reading in the content areas is a very important task that some content teachers do not believe is their position. All teachers are reading teachers; if a teacher wants a student to be able to read and comprehend information then the teacher needs to strive to make sure the students have a knowledge of the reading skills it takes to accomplish the task.

5. Being crafty was not acknowledged in my school. I am a scrapbooker and not many people know the skill and literacy it takes to turn out a great product. I have to read rulers, recognize pattern, write captions correctly and ledgably, look at lines for straightness, and become and editor before I publish a page.

6. An example of a literacy practice that I found is doing exactly what I am doing right now, writing a blog. Blog are a way to have students write that not only teaches and practices literacy but helps them gain technology skills.

7. A discourse community is a grouping of people who have similar interests. For example I am part of the Pinterest discourse community, the old men you find in McDonald's for coffee each morning are a discourse community, bikers are a discourse community, teachers are a discourse community, and students are a discourse community. Many people fall into multiple discourse communities.

8. If students literacies are not recognized as valuable in the schools then students may give up on the things that motivated their literacies and kept them engaged in the first place. If you take away the engagement then the student may feel as if they are not learning or they may feel uninterested and could fail.

9. a teacher could build in extracurricular literacy by having a current events activity often in the classroom. Students would have the opportunity to do research and execute project using their multiple literacies.

10. When I was in fifth grade my Language Arts teacher always had us do creative writing. We could write about anything we wanted to. The stress was to bring out our ideas and ignore the procedure for the time being. When we finished our writing we would go back and fix everything we saw that needed changed or fixed and then she would lend us a hand and making the rest of the corrections. She wanted us to learn the procedure but she did not drill that procedure was the most important thing. She valued our thoughts and ideas more than the procedure.

11. My schools were a unmulticultural as schools could get. We had one African American student in the entire school and he was a white teachers son. He was a very nice kid and most everyone liked him. But being where I am from there were some racist things that surfaced. I remember all of our teachers talking about racism, what it was, who it was used, and why it was used. 

12. Teachers who gain recognition and respect from their peers also do well on critical thinking, diversity, independence in the classroom, caring, creativity, commitment, professional development, classroom management, and a host of other things.  

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

Adolescent literacy. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Positions/Chron0907ResearchBrief.pdf

Lareau, A, Weininger, E. (n.d.). Cultural capital. Retrieved from http://www.brockport.edu/sociology/faculty/Cultural_Capital.pdf

Huggins, C. (2010, March 25). Cash for culture can boost uk economy, says art alliance. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2010/mar/25/uk-arts-cash-recession

Cartoon: I'm with stupid. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5511104

Double Entry Journal #2

Double Entry Journal 2

"Again and again we conclude that in developed countries and in third-world countries, learners from impoverished and low-status groups fail to develop as fully and productively literate as compared to learners from sociocutural groups that hold sociopolitical power and favor."

         I had a strong reaction to this quote simply because of where I am from. I live in Wetzel county where most everyone exhibits the same dialect and actions. There are many families where I am from who are no where near the middle class status who have children or where children who have rose to excel in life. I will admit that the school system in which I was accustom was very lack luster so many time we learned through our own curiosity. The deemed "smart" children in my area were mainly self taught in the school and at home.  The text makes some reference to how some children in poverty have parents who cannot read or write. Illiteracy of a parent can make it hard on a learning child because the parent cannot offer aid to the child. This do not deem a child unteachable. Comparing low status group and third world countries does not seem like a justifiable comparison to me. Third world countries often lack a system of educating children if this comparison was true then we would simply be calling our country lazy and ignorant. Countries with no education system have a viable excuse for the non-education of children; Americans have the opportunity to a free appropriate public education and no matter the issue we are supposed to work to help the child succeed. If a child is deemed unteachable then he or she is denied their right to a free appropriate public education.
       An example of a low status student I worked with that shattered the bound of this stereotype was a young boy I worked with in the Energy Express program. Upon meeting this boy I was sucked into stereotype. The program mainly holds a reputation for working with low income, slow learning, and reading deficient students. I arrived with our reputation in mind and began to talk to this boy. He was 9 years old and  I could tell he was scoping me out before he began to speak. The first thing he said to me was that he was a 4.0 student who was reading on a 12th grade level and also had a photographic memory. I was very shocked as I looked around the boys home. The thirteen member family resided in a small apartment with only five rooms. The boy was the most mature of his family and took care of his younger brothers and sisters. The were all very dirty children and ate like they had not eaten in months during meals. At program the boy would say that he taught himself to read by listening to the people around him speak. He learned the sounds that people would say and learned to associate it with the letters that represented the sound. He was the most bright child I have ever met and came from a home with dirt floors.
      To me it seems that literacy knowledge knowing words, writing words and understanding. Children have to know all three to be considered literate. Literacy can include reading signs, posters, books, or anything with text, but a big part of literacy is recognition. Simply recognizing a symbol from a commercial, movie, or favorite toy company is a building block to literacy. stereotypes can affect instruction in many ways. For example if an educator assumes one is slow because of the way he or she speaks the educator may try to compensate for the delay by teaching more slowly or thoroughly even if it is not needed. If an educator buys into stereotype and assumes all students from an area are the same intelligence level and are "unteachable" that educator will most likely not put all of their time and effort in the education of the students. This is very unnerving to think about as a future educator not giving all of my students the opportunity to learning and gain experience. The entire state of West Virginia is a misconception about language and literacy. I know people who can barely be understood when they speak but when they engage in thoughtful conversation are smart as a tack and make very valid points. I do not understand how people judge us for our accent and way of speech. We are not the only state who carries and accent and a pattern of speech. Schools and teachers need to band together to improve the literacy of all students in the state and country. Students can even be given roles in helping their fellow students learn to be literate. I do not necessarily believe in the use of "Proper English"  simply because as it stands right now I do not have a full grasp of it myself. These are the things that I do not believe are taught in some of the schools in my area. I do not remember ever being exposed to "Proper English."
      " My own father spent his life backing up, apologizing for the space he took up in the world. He took the hillbilly stereotype to heart and all of his life believed that he was backward and inferior -- a despair I, too, have been trying to escape all of my life."

        To me this quote is something that all West Virginians can relate to. The older community of the state can still remember the times they were referred to as hillbillies. I do not believe that the people from our past considered themselves to be hillbillies they considered themselves to be independent hard working people who defended what their families worked hard for. Where we come from there are many wild animals so yes, it is common to see our people carrying shotguns around  for protection not to kill outsiders. People from West Virginia are hard working and earn a living doing mainly dangerous jobs. "Outsiders" are making fun of us for our speech and way of life when are busting our backs to heat their homes. People of the younger generation are simply trying to show the rest of the world that we are no different from them. To me it seems like the accent have let up a little from past years. I think there have been a push to speak without the accent to sound more professional. No matter how we speak though, the people have West Virginia have pride for our state and will defend our colors no matter the stereotype attached.

Works Cited:
Purcell Gates, V. (2002). As soon as she opened her mouth. In L. Delpit & J.K. Dowdy (Eds.), in the skin that we speak: An anthology of essays on language culture and power.

O'Brien, J. (2003, May 10). Tall tales of appalachia. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/10/opinion/tall-tales-of-appalachia.html

Stereotypes. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.wvsportsnation.com/2012/02/welcome-to-west-virginia.html

Double Entry Journal 1

Inclusion to me means working together as a team to help those in need to learn. All students have a role in inclusion along with teachers, stuff, parents and all those involved in the school community. Students in need can include special education students, bilingual students, students in poverty, minority students, students with mental health issues, among others. In the article the authors stressed how everyone had a role in the idea of inclusion. When students get involved in their education and their future they take so much from the experience and learn about themselves and the rewards of helping others.  These students can benefit from teachers and the other students in so many ways. Sometimes all it takes is for a student in need to talk to another student that can bring it to a level  they understand.
Inclusive schools work hard with teachers and communities to foster learning for students is needs. Schools have to have a great sense of community and show that students and all community members are respected. Schools must also use a language that all students can understand.

http://www.paulakluth.com/
This is a blog about everything education. There are ideas and thought about practicing inclusion in the classroom. I liked her enthusiastic approach to helping students succeed.

 kluth, P. ( 2012). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.paulakluth.com/2012/06/01/3-questions-keys-to-inclusion/