Blog Entry #3

•What ideas do you think are most important from the chapter/article? Why?

The first article to me was not that interesting. There was nothing for me to connect with in it with I was reading it really, so it became very boring very quickly. BUT I seriously LOVED reading the second article because it felt like I was reading all about my childhood when the article discussed all of the problems that children in lower middle class families have when they are transitioning from 3^rd grade to 4^th grade. My reading comprehension was terrible and it was never because I wasn’t reading the stories at home at night…(by myself) it was because I was never given the strong comprehension skills that other kids my age were learning and developing at the time. I was held back in the fourth grade because I didn’t know my times tables and because my reading comprehension was very, VERY low. I don’t blame anyone for what happened to me in the school system because there are tons of kids who had it way worse than I did. I could over compensate my reading skills by lots of other things and my teachers that I had from the second time around in 4^th grade-8^th grade all really impacted my life. They gave me a chance and took an actual interest in me for once instead of just over looking me again. The article “Making a case and a place for effective content area literacy instruction in the elementary grades” pointed out that if teachers would just teach the students the basic skills that help them read expository texts then they would read to learn. Then most importantly the teachers could continue teaching content literacy area instructions alongside the standard for the language arts standards. This article was all full of things I loved and could remember Dr. Boyce teaching us about in our class last semester with comprehension. I truly enjoy reading to learn this week while reading this article!

 •What personal connections did you make this week to other teaching and learning experiences, particularly experiences tutoring or other interactions with youth?

Last Thursday I was finishing up in my last class of the day and I was paired up with the same boy from the week before who needed help spelling out the words: magic, monster, place, fairy tale etc. This week I didn’t allow him to just copy down the words from his handouts that were given to him from the power points the class was looking at. Instead I helped him and coached him along to sound out the words he didn’t know and then I would cover up the word I wanted him to write and then ask him to write it down by sounding it out for me. We worked on the word “Fiction” and every time he knew the f-i-c part but could not remember the rest. So I gave him other words that had the same ending sound like: action, fraction, motion, and so on… I told him they all have something in common… they end in t-i-o-n and make one sound kinda like “Shun.” He tried to understand what I was saying and then when he saw the word “action” as he was reading he was like, “Oh! That’s what you meant they end in t-i-o-n.” By the time I got finished with him for the day he could spell the word “Fiction” out for me and write it down too. I was very proud of him for working so hard and told him that too. Because it seemed to me that he has never really had anyone take the time to be interested in him long enough to see that he doesn’t have a behavior problem and is not stupid, but he just simply hasn’t learn how to do or hasn’t been taught the things he “should know” being in the 8^th grade and all. I’m excited to go back this upcoming week and work with him and the rest of the class because I will get to teach a lesson this week to them.

Questions:

How is it that we are taught as teachers to not be so sarcastic and negative towards our students after getting so burnt out from them and CHOOSE to still be a positive force in their life instead of a negative one? I see it in the classes I observe and it truly hurts my heart because the students to me are all just begging for some kind of attention, support, or stability in their lives.

Why is it so hard to see the big picture for our students rather than pointing out every small thing they do wrong?

I have a lot of passion in my heart for students and I know that I am new at all of this, but it feels like every teacher who started out loving children and loving their job, now hate their job and have a hard time trying new things to help their students. I don’t want to be just another “new bubbly teacher” I want to be an Impactful, Leader not just for my students, but also for the teachers around me who have been teaching for so long. I feel like they just need a Mental Health Day to rejuvenate and find that spark in them that made them want to teach in the first place.