Learning Blog 1 (Article & Ch. 2)

Greetings everyone!

I want to personally welcome you to, Dr. Education's Blog.  I'm elated that you have decided to click on my link to join me.  In my blogs, we will be discussing issues, concepts, and common practices within the public school system concerning teaching students how to read.  Most of the information that you will find in my blogs will be facts that I've read in a text book.  However, you can expect my blogs to be very opinionated and informative.  My goal is to encourage the readers of my blogs to post your opinions and give your personal perspective as an educator about the current situations discussed.  This is not a case of who's right and wrong, but an open forum to agree, disagree or agree to disagree.  We are all learning and striving to obtain substantial information to evolve into a better educator.

        Being an educator today can be most challenging in a lot of areas.  Teachers are faced with so many issues brought to them by their students.  Of course, its not the child's fault.  Sometimes living conditions at home, such as, divorce, insufficient funds to provide basic needs, and parental support are not promising factors in the life of everyday students in this generation.  As a result, students find it difficult to be motivated about coming to school or even having a desire to learn.  Typically, these students either are the very quiet ones in class, having nothing or very little to say or they take their anger out on those pupils who are doing what they are supposed to do. These students are labeled as bullies.  As a teacher, we are responsible for the nurture, cultivation, and comprehension growth level of each child regardless of his or her deficiency.  In chapter to in the, Reading to Learn in the Content Areas book, by J.S. Richardson, R.F. Morgan and C. Fleener, motivating students can be achieved by having a welcoming classroom learning environment, desk arrangements, and building a positive relationship between teacher and student.  They explain that the classroom should symbolize that the teacher is going to do everything in his or her power to see the academic success of each child flourish.  I firmly agree to that!  Children have to feel a genuine sense of care and nurture within instruction.  They have to constantly be reminded that you as the adult or teacher, care about them that you will do whatever is necessary to see to their success.  Having a classroom decorated with numerous colors, calendars, construction paper poster boards, and a consistent encouraging attitude from the teacher can just about always minimize persuade and motivate a child to feel safe and secure.  The goal of these methods is to make the child feel like the classroom is a second home for them.  Sometimes the school, teachers, and classroom is the only place of complete safety for some students.

        Another interesting topic that I read about in chapter 2 was, Fostering the Habit of Reading.  This discussed how students are not inspired to read anymore.  They basically depend on information that they hear from their teacher, siblings, peers, or relatives.  Students are not anxious to pick up a book and explore and search out information anymore.  The common interest amongst most children is technology.  Ipads, Ipods, cell phones, computers, and video games are the devices that are most attractive.  In the reading, the author bridged the gap between the problem of not reading text books and technology.  They introduced the idea about having the text book put on an ipod or smart phone, so that students will be more enticed to read.  Well......I would say yea and nay to this.  Why?, because students need to be versatile in learning.  IN MY OPINION,  this generation practically grew up in a technology era.  Basically, knowing how to operate an electronic device is like second nature to them.  In contrast, learning how to read a paper text book is almost like dinosaur age.  Students need to learn how to do both.  I always say, "What if one day cell phones weren't working, or calculators were non-existent, and computers were not popular anymore, could you still function properly as far as reading and solving math problems?  A lot of my answers were, "NO."  To me, that is a problem.  I know that we are discussing reading, but this problem leaks over into math as well.  Many students in 5th and 6th grade dont know their multiplication tables.  Most of them need a multiplication chart to help them to solve mathematical problems.  In contrast, I remember when I was in school it was mandate that we memorized our multiplication tables starting in the 3rd grade.  It just seems like as the world advances in technology, our basic knowledge that we obtain is diminishing and we become more dependent than independent.

        In the article, "Promoting Learning Through Content Literacy Instruction, by Katherine Misulus," the author discusses content literacy: investigating beliefs and instructional applications, manageable strategies for developing literacy skills, comprehension strategies,  study strategies, and writing strategies.  I thought a good subject to discuss would be writing strategies.  Since we are talking about content literacy, writing is one of the major forms of communication other than speaking.  Being an educator in an urban environment, the ability to be able to write complete sentences and paragraphs have become a major issue.  I find that students don't understand how write or even speak grammatically correct.  For example, I instructed my students to write a paragraph on what they desired to become after they complete school.  Some students brought me three short incomplete sentences, some did not indent at the very beginning of there paragraph, or give supporting details.  This was in the 7th grade.   I was completely floored by this.  My first thought is,  What is your teacher teaching you about language arts?  This was very shocking to me.  And the fact that they thought that it was okay, made me feel even worse.  After discovering their weakness, I began to instruct them on how to write a paragraph and give them examples on how form complete sentences with supporting details.  I told them that, as a writer, it is their responsibility to engage the reader with their words and make them interested in what they are trying to say.  The article explains that writing activities can integrated within the instruction of subject areas and can positively impact learning.  I honestly agree!  In knowing that, I plan to assign short paragraphed assignments for my students just to get their perception on how they feel the class is growing, what they like or dislike, and if they are learning anything.

        In conclusion, the school system is in dying need of remediation in reading and writing across the board.  Students are suffering with deficiencies that shouldn't even be.  Please post your comments about these subjects reviewed above.  Make sure you give honest feed back base on your perceptions and experiences regarding these situations.  As teachers, we need each other to lean on and to learn from to help our growth continue to blossom.  Stay tuned for the blog next week and remember, "Education is the Key to a bright FUTURE!!!!! Catch you later!

Yours truly,

Dr. Education