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Week 4 |
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Response 1
Chase's article keeps bring up the idea of working as a community and building relationships with other teachers. So far this semester all I have done is build relationships and develop a community with my classmates and current teachers. Chase says that "new teachers of composition would be wise to pay close attention to the expectations that others may hole for the students in composition classes" (16). I have actively participated in asking questions of what others have done in their classrooms and how I could use that in my own classroom. My first semester of teaching will be a combination of activities and techniques from other teachers. Chase also mentions focusing on relationships with the students. I have been thinking about about this point; I want my students to feel that they can come to me for help on their writing assignments, but at the same time I don't want that "friendship" with the students. I want to build a community in the classroom where the students can depend on each other for that "friendship," but can I build the community or will the students have to create their own community.
Response 2
Brodkey's article on literacy letters caught my interest. First it dealt with a class of ESL students and since my only teaching experience is with ESL students I am always interested to see what techniques were used and is their a way I could adapt the activity for a native speaking class. From an ESL perspective this was an excellent activity. The learners had a specific purpose for writing and it built their conversation skills. Working with teachers in the field, I couldn't help but think of Vygotsky's 'Zone of Proximal Development.' Every education class I took focused on paring students up so they could learn from each and learn with the guidance of someone with more knowledge. The teachers never took authority over the letters and never taught lessons but responded as though they were building a relationship with the ESL students. As teachers it is important to keep in mind ESL issues or race, gender and class issues. Every classroom will have different factors building into the 'class community' and as the teacher I need to be able to address these different issues and be open to the differences in writing and classroom participation. Not every student comes from my background, so what works for me may not work for these students. Flexibility seems to be key in this case.
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