Response to Teaching as we're Taught

Reading this article made me feel slightly frustrated. I am not one to leave problems or issues unresolved and while reading this article it seemed to bring up many "age old unresolved questions" about the proper and best way to teach English to secondary students. I was particularly having trouble with the section entitled "Talking and Writing". I think that using a method such as reading, discussion and writing can be helpful and beneficial in  teaching a specific piece of literature but I don't believe it should the primary or "standard, age old" method being used. Being a SPED major I found this frustrating because their was no movement for our kinesthetic learners and their were no graphs, clips or pictures for our visual learners. I felt as though this method was very dry and used and to get students more engaged we need to steer from solely using this method of teaching literature and branch out into something more exciting and engaging.

However in the section entitled "Teaching Differently", I was comforted by the professor who was teaching reading short stories. She took a very similar approach to a class that I had last semester and tied in teaching cultural studies with the literature her students were studying. As a student myself under that type of teaching I can say that it was 100% beneficial to my overall learning. I was more excited about the text more than ever and looked forward to how each text we read was related to current and relate able issues. This method provides one more way for  educators to find connectors to their students. One point to make is to always be cautious when approaching some of this topics because students may have been victim to some current issues or cultural issues such as poverty and racism.The goal  is to turn students on to thinking critically about solutions to these issues and how they relate to them.

Response to Real World Writing

This article was very interesting to me because this is the second time this week that I have been approached with this issue. In one of my SPED classes we discussed giving our students a purpose when they read, write, do math , conduct an experiment etc. So revisiting that topic in a very similar way was refreshing because I was able to receive the information in a different and more detailed way. In my SPED class we did an exercise which consisted of breaking the class up into three groups, The first group was a burglar, the second was looking to buy a home and the third was to look for important information. We were then read a story, the first two groups had very real world applicable purposes (although I don't encourage the burglary thing) while the third group was left with a very limited and non-applicable and unclear goal or outcome which I think as teachers we often do to our students. We give them meaningless writing prompts without giving them a purpose or a reason for writing. We expect mind blowing results without giving them applicable situations or relate able topics.  One thing I loved about this article was the huge point made about giving our students audiences for them to write too. This may seem small but it can change a students writing and have a huge impact on how they write.Giving students audiences to write too that aren't esoteric is crucial too. If it's only applicable to a very small portion of people I think that limits students writing and doesn't allow them to broaden out. It keeps students in a small and insignificant(not always but often) bubble where they feel like they don't make a difference with what they are writing. The only time I think that writing in esoteric conditions could be a good thing would be if they are advocating for that group or if it was something they choose to write about because they were passionate about it.I also loved how the writer did a poll on what her friends had write about that year and how it was all mostly real world non-fiction writing. That speaks volumes to why we need to have our students write about these types of things. Not only do they need practice but also because unless they o into writing fiction as a career, it will rarely be done in real life. Students must feel that they are actually communicating something worthwhile.

Introduction

Hello Everyone,

As our first post we are expected to introduce ourselves but first let me say that I am very technologically challenged and although I have made blogs before it never gets any easier for me so please bear with me. My name is Sarah and I am from the very small town of Constantine. My parents still live there and I visit often. My major is Special Education and my minor is English. I hope to work with Elementary students one day but I have also had my heart pull me in other directions in terms of teaching so I am very open to different ages and situations. I am very interested in teaching at Alternative Schools or even at a correctional facility. The most important part of teaching for me is building relationships with my students. Don't get me wrong I highly value curriculum but when it comes to Sped Students as well as students who may be troubled that might be in an alternative school or correctional facility it's more important for me to be that person who believes in them, cares for them, loves them, cheers for them, pushes them to do their best and work their hardest. Ultimately my goal is to always be on their side so that they always have that support system to encourage and help them to reach their full potential.  If nothing else I want to be that one person in their life who has never given up on them. All students need that, not just troubled students or students with disabilities but I think this is most important for those types of students. Feeling so strongly about this I think is why I want to work in more urban areas. It could also be because I came from a very rural area. Moving on, family is everything to me. Whether your blood family or your unlucky enough to have me choose you as my family, your stuck for life. I have one sister who is my very best girl friend in the whole world, she is currently living out her happily ever after in WV with her husband and MY NIECE! I became an auntie July 11th and 11:17 pm and I take every opportunity to show pics, brag about her or even just bring her up. I am extremely proud to be her auntie and consider it to be one of the highest privileges I could ever have. It kills me that they live so far away but I take every opportunity possible to go visit. I am currently dating the love of life (even though he is an Ohio State fan). His name is Adam and he is from Cedarville Ohio, he just moved up to Michigan three weeks ago and is going back to school to get his masters in applied economics.He currently works at Fifth Third Bank and is brilliant at his job although he aspires to do something more. He is my safe place and I love him dearly. I am very lucky and blessed to have him in my life. Ok, I tried not to be too mushy. This is my senior year of college and I am supposed to start student teaching in the Spring but I may be postponing that to get my early childhood endorsement. I am ready to be done with classes but I want to be as prepared for the field as possible and I want to be whatever I can to be the best teacher. I work as a server at Carrabba's Italian Grill and I also work in a kitchen doing prep work for The Bakewell Company. I feel as though I am said more than enough about myself if you feel the need to know more just hit me up, i'm an open book. Thanks for reading!