Dear President

“The primary mission of the public schools is to make citizens.  What kind of citizens can we make if we regularly tell some students that they are less worthy, less deserving, and less likely to become full-fledged citizens who will know what it means to participate in a democratic, multicultural society?”

A Letter to Our Next President by Gloria Ladson-Billings, caught my attention because not only did I want to know what was said, but it also made me wonder if there were many other letters written to the president about education.  

One thing that caught my attention was comparing the achievement gap to educational debt and then later economic debt.  I am not in business and this metaphor made sense to me so I believe that it is something that could help people, not in education, understand this problem.  These metaphors helped me come to terms with the extent of the problem we have.  I could be the best teacher at having me students obtain good grades on the state tests but what does that really mean for education?  It may put a band aid on the problem but it does not diminish the achievement gap.  It also does not mean that these students learned anything to close this gap; it simply means that these students learned how to answer test questions.  

I liked that the Ladson-Billings brought American history.  We learn from our past and there is a lot of history within education which helped get us to where we are today.  She brings up how after the emancipation, African Americans did receive education but they used “cast-off” books and materials from White schools.  Also, in the south, African Americans went to school only four months out of the year because they were needed for farming.  Ladson-Billings believed contributed to the achievement gap.  This even still seems to be something that occurs in education today.  Primarily White schools have Smartboards and all the supplies that they could want or need while primarily African American schools have old books and much fewer supplies.  This just shows that we did not learn from our own history and changes need to be made.  

This article made it very clear to me, and should anyone else, that steps by our government need to be made to provide assistance to less fortunate schools.  It is not the test scores that matter is it the need for materials and the understanding of the government to be able to close the achievement gap and hopefully diminish some of the educational dept that America’s educational system has built up.  This will ultimately lead to the develop American citizens.   

Finding a Passion for Reading

This week I choice to read: What Motivates Students to Read?  For Literacy Personalities by Jill E. Cole.  The title of this immediately caught my attention because I was a student that was never really interested in reading or writing; I did what I had to do.  After I started reading the article I realized I was much like Mark.  I could tell that my teachers tried to get my interested in reading but it just was not working and still to this day, I have little motivation to read a book for leisure.  This may be because I am so busy and do not feel like I have time or because reading was difficult for me growing up.  If I do find a book that looks like it might be interesting to read, I read the first few pages and if that does not grasp my attention, I am done.  Because of this, I thought it would be great to find a way to help students like myself and this article seemed like one that would be beneficial.  

When it comes to reading, like anything else in education, students need to be looked at as individuals rather than as a class.  I believe this is something that is easier said than done for many teachers.  Teachers sometimes forget that students have different reasons for doing things.  Like this article pointed out, it is essential to find out what motivates each student to read and learn.  While I attended school, I noticed that some of my classmates strived to just make it while others wanted to go above and beyond.  What causes these different aspirations within different students?

Throughout the year teachers learn more and more about their students.  In doing this, they take this into consideration to help their student learn to their fullest potential.  I liked Cole’s suggestions because she realizes it is important to take into consideration each student’s interests while teaching the class as a whole.  

My favorite suggestion was taking in the opinions of the students.  This is an easy suggestion but something I believe does not happen often because is it is already difficult to fulfill all the requirements that teachers have.  I also have no recollection of it ever happening in my education and it is also something I did not originally think of doing.  While it something that can be difficult, I do believe there are ways to have students have more control over their education.  

Having students have control of their education would be most beneficial to students who already have little motivation to learn.  These students will feel ownership over their own learning which is the biggest motivator of all.  Often, learning feels like a chore because they either have no interest or they are being told what to do.  For students like Mark, I believe this would ultimately help them in their education.

It is essential for elementary teachers to show students that they can have fun reading and writing.  Students learn to either hate or love learning early on and the more students learn to love learning early on, the better off they will be when it comes to graduating, attending college, and enjoying things such as reading outside of the classroom.  

Teaching Young Writers

This week I read Kindergarten Writing Workshops by Angela Behymer.  This article attracted my attention because I currently teach three year olds but ideally would like to teach kindergarten.  I believe that the early years are when it is most important for schools to have a positive impact upon children.  Children need to learn that school is fun and know that they can make progress.  These first years are also extremely important in developing the basics.  

As a preschool teacher, I have used some of the beginning steps that Behymer uses.  Within my classroom each student has a journal and in these journals, drawing is very important.  Just like Behymer quoted “Many kids find drawing to be a safe way to create symbolic representations of what they want to say, what stories they want to tell.”  Because of this, students use one page to draw what they are thinking about and then a teacher writes what the student narrates on the opposite page.  My students are still working on letter recognition and formation, but that does not stop them from being creative in terms of language.

An interesting thing that Behymer points out is the idea to write “in” the lines not “on” the lines.  We all understand what it means to write on the line but what does that mean to a five or six year old?  Do you write so that the line is in the middle of the word?  That could be on the line.  If the child thinks of themselves standing on a line, how is it possible to draw a letter that way on a piece of paper?  In the lines makes much more sense because students understand the boundaries they are given.  While a simple concept for most adults, it is important as a teacher to try to think like your students to be able to understand their confusion.  

That being said, it is extremely important to model writing for students.  They have seen letters in books and around the classroom but, like my students, they do not understand how to form letters.  I have to sit down with them and show them how I hold a pencil and how I write letters.  When I am writing a letter I have to talk to them about what I am doing.  For example, many of my students write their A’s upside down.  I tell them to start by making a tent.  It is important to bring in outside connections so that students understand what they are learning whether it be in writing or science.  

I am a firm believer in incorporating as many types of teaching into the classroom because of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences and my own experiences.  I am a visual and kinesthetic learner and because of this I did appreciate when teachers would show me what I was doing as well as physically hold my hand and help me form letters when I was first learning.  From this, I became familiar with how writing each letter should feel.  While this is what I needed to learn, I do know that other students need to hear verbal instructions and connections (ex. to write an A make a tent).  Although writing is typically an individual process, it also needs to be a very interactive learning experience.