Final blog post!

Sorry to sound so excited about that Dr. Dana, but I cannot wait for the end of this semester, winter break, and traveling for a few weeks! I found this course to be very informative and helpful. I was a skeptic at first as to why I needed to learn about reading to be a biology teacher. However, after taking this course it has become very evident that fosterng literacy skills in students is something that all teachers need to participate in, not just those in the language arts department. The ideas we have discussed in class, those shown in the Subjects Matter book, as well as those that you have had us do in class are all very useful and practical. As far as things that I wanted to learn that I didn't, I don't think that there really are any. I learned more about what reading, writing, and literacy as a whole are in this class than I have been taught before in other classes. Overall I found this course very useful and informative, and thats something that can be hard to come by these days!

Alex's post about books

I think that you have us reading these books so that we can see that being an effective teacher requires much more than a diploma. It requires that we have a kind of tenacity and passion that these teachers displayed. We also have to understand the importance of the relationship between us and our students. You can't really "teach" a student until you connect with that student first. All of these teacher are human and accessible to their students in a way that many modern day teachers could never understand. Because of this, the students were able to view the teachers as "one of us." Another thing that these books reflect is teaching in the real world. These are not romanticized views of how people changed the world with their stellar teaching. Instead, these are stories of how ordinary people refused to let negative circumstances defeat them or abate their passion for changing lives through education.

P.S. I KNOW I AM RED BUT I HAD TO SAY SOMTHING!!!

Why we are reading these books.

I think we are reading these specific books because they each tell the story of a teacher and what they went through. I'm reading Teacher Man and he talks about when he first started teaching, coming here, being Irish with his brogue and all. He started out in a vocational school and his kids were the ones that the other teachers didnt want to deal with. It was not his ideal class. He just wanted to teach English and yet he could not teach them a single lesson. It basically shows teaching from the other side, preparing us for what is to come. Every class can not be the ideal one; you dont know what your class is going to be like. I think it prepares you a bit for what could happen and it shows the changes of teaching from then to now. For instance, he hit a kid in the face with a rolled up magazine and didn't get in trouble. Yet if that happens now, you will lose your career. I feel that this book, as well as the others, gives us insight as for what is to come.

Why are we reading these books?

Why are we reading these books? Well, I don't know exactly why or can't tell you why we are reading them. To my understanding, we all are enrolled in this reading class, we are suppose to read. Although the reading is power, it is knowledge. I enjoy reading because it allows me to learn, think, imagine and feel. I have no idea what the other books are about, but my own that i have choosen to read "Freedow Writers". In class, we were presented with three books to read, in having the privlage to make a choice I choose something I hoped to gain something from. i learn throuhout this book about a young college graduate who became a teacher in an urban district and the struggle of her students success throughout high school. The journals presented within the novel revealed ginuine feelings towards the teacher and thier lives. The teacher's passion for teaching and having thier students succeed is very inspiring for me.

In conclusion, i feel as though the reason we are reading these books is because to learn and gain inspiration in being a successful teacher in the near future. To help students at all times and never give up on kids. "To earn respect, you must give respect" Just because we are teachers and have the title doesn't mean students will respond to you with high authority, we can learn as much from them, they are young and as we get older we need to adapt.

We know our world, and though we may think we know the whole world, we only know what effects ours. Our contained-to-our-family-and-networked world. Reading these books is supposed to flood our minds and figure out our own beliefs according to which ever way our book guides us. I saw some people react to this post as literacy and how it effects us. I agree, without this skill it would be hard to comprehend what goes on in most books, the world, body language... think of how lost we would be if we couldn't record stuff. In our futures based on teaching, we need to know these skills and reading is a way to promote learning them.

Why you're having us read these books

Considering this class is on literacy, it makes sense to me that you would incorporate a few books. You have given us a choice of three different books that we could read and have allowed us to work in groups to design our own literacy based project. I think this has acted as a model that any of us could use in the classroom to incorporate literacy. By giving us a choice on books we were able to pick the book that interested us most. Letting us come up with our own project, and picking our own due date, gave us the freedom to do a project that we might actually enjoy. Also, I have a feeling that all the different groups are going to come up with very different projects. This might also give us ideas as to what sort of projects we could do with our students in regards to literacy. I think you are having us read these books to allow us to remember what is was like to be a student who had to read a novel or do a book report. Even now with all my courses, it's somewhat overwhelming because I feel like I don' t have enough time. It's important to remember how some literacy assignments might feel to students.

Why we are reading these books?

I believe we are reading the books because this is a class on literacy. Reading novels is a good way of incorporating reading into the curriculum and the choice gives students the opportunity to be interested in the topic. Obviously we will all be interested in books about teaching because we will all be teachers and we want as much knowledge of how it actually is to be up in front of a classroom by yourself for the first time.
We are given this example of literacy as well as others to promote the teaching of literacy in all subject areas. Literacy is one of the bench marks for teaching and learning, so it makes sense that since we play both roles, we should become as familiar with incorporating it into our lessons as possible.

Why Are We Reading These Books?

I believe we are reading these books for a few different reasons. The first reason has to do with the whole basis behind this class: to promote literacy. All of these books seem interesting and thought-provoking and, personally makes me want to read more. Second, all of these books give us an important view into our future professions. As stated in a prior post, each of these books give a view into the challenges faced daily by teachers. In my book, Teacher Man, the author gives accounts of the challenges of being a new teacher, teaching in an unfamiliar setting, and the everyday dealings of being a teacher. These are challenges I will definitely face as a new teacher. Although I might not almost get fired for eating a sandwich on my first day, there are definitely similar experiences I will be faced with and can draw from my reading of this book to help deal with them.

Reasoning behind the assigned readings

After having selected the book Reading Lolita in Tehran, and reading some summaries from the other books, I think the reason we had to choose one of these books is because they all have a message crucial to teachers-to-be. All three texts deal with overcoming obsticles, and teaching for the sake of learning. When an education is put above all other politics and issues, students will always benefit. As future teachers, we need to learn that sometimes you need to throw caution to the wind, and teach for the sake of your students.

Why Are We Reading These Books?

The book I decided to read was Reading Lolita in Tehran and I can only base my response off this book since I don't know about the other two. I think we were assigned Reading Lolita in Tehran because it's about a college professor telling her story about teaching banned American novels to eight Muslim girls living during the Iranian Revolution. The author, Azar Nafisi, not only meets with these eight girls but she also teaches at two major universities in Iran. Nafisi does not really follow the Iranian standards of how she should act or dress during the revolution because of her beliefs. This story makes you feel as if you're actually in revolutionary Iran with her description of how she risked her life teaching these books and how eight girls also did so they could just read and be knowledgable.

I think this book in particular was assigned because it is not only about a professor rebelling in ways against the government due to her beliefs but because there were eight girls who risked everything to read American books. Within the story, these girls slowly begin to reveal their identities as intellectual women who want to be educated and literate. This book was assigned since it is of non-fictional characters who want to be knowledgable about the outside world and there is no better way for learning about literacy then through a book.

Why Are We Reading Different Books in Groups?

By assigning us one of three books to read, I believe Dr. Dana is "practicing what she preaches." Throughout the duration of the course, Dr. Dana has emphasized the importance of using other reading materials (not just the textbook), and what better way to make her point clear than to have us view these sources as our students one day will.

Like we will try to do with our own students, Dr. Dana is trying to get us interested in what she teaches. By giving us a choice in what we read, Dr. Dana is making the material more meaningful. She is, in a sense, personalizing the curriculum for each of us. If you're like me, you probably read a summary of each of the three books before you decided on the one you wanted to read. You picked the book that you felt you could connect with and that you would most likely enjoy reading. If you've started reading your book already, you've also probably realized that it doesn't read like a textbook. The pages turn a lot more easily, and the content is a lot more approachable. These feelings, undoubtedly, will also be the same feelings our own students will experience one day. Thus, by viewing this assignment through the eyes of a student, I think Dr. Dana is hoping that we will see the significance of implementing such an assignment in our own future classrooms.

Importance of Reading the Assigned Books for R407.

The why we are assigned to read Subjects Matters and then pick a book out of 3 choices (in my case "Teacher Man") is only done to help us become better teachers. Through Subjects matters we can create a more meaningful teaching style, because it there points out that relying on books is not it, variation is important so that students keep focused while class session is carried on.

This book also gives plenty of examples on how we can help students learn efficiently through comprehension of reading, and also how teachers can assess whether students understood the material or not. This can be done through methods mentioned such as double entry journals, KWL, exit slips and admit slips, and much more. This way we can create a more in depth unit plan and eventually improve our teaching style that can meet everyone's needs.

Through Teacher's Man, we can see that teaching is not an easy job, fights may happen in one's classroom at some point in our teaching career. We are limited to teach, we are expected to follow the curriculum or else we get in trouble. It sorts of gives you advices through his stories because it makes us understand that teachers and students should be a team to back each other up when facing problems with parents or the principal. These two books and the articles posted on wiki are helping me expand my ideas regarding teaching and how to be become better at it.