Week Eight Readings

        Overall, I think all of our readings from this week touched on different ideas and strategies that can be used for teachers to make sure that the activities and lessons that are implemented in our classrooms are well structured and have purpose so that students stay engaged and active.  The reason behind this is that students who are actively participating and involved in the given strategy or activity are more likely to more easily understand and comprehend the topic s that are being taught.  Also, students who are interested and engaged seem to take a deeper interest in their learning and work harder and push further to understand more about the topic.  These ideas can be used throughout any subject area.  Teachers nowadays need to be aware that students not only need to be interested in reading and writing but that other subjects are important to make engaging to students to, and that literacy can be incorporated in those subjects.

        Robert P. Moses writes an article called, Algebra and Civil Rights?, in which he talks about just how important it is for students to not only be fluent in reading and writing, but math has also become extremely important.  As educators, we need to realize that the times have changed and therefore, we have to change the way that we teach.  Moses discusses how math and the need for our students to be ‘math literate’ has changed when he says, “… the older generation may be able to get away with it, but the younger generation coming up now can't—not if they're going to function in the society, have economic viability, be in a position to meaningfully participate, and have some say-so in the decision making that affects their lives" (Moses, 15).  Moses explains this by making the point that many years ago, math did not really seem to matter, and if you could not do math well, it did not seem to be a very big deal.  Nowadays, so much that we do seems to rely on some type of math base.  Everything that we are doing seems to be changing technologically right in front of our eyes, and the ability to operate many of these technologically advanced devices usually seems to require some type of math knowledge.  Because of this, without being ‘math literate’ in today’s society, one would be very limited in the things that he/she was able to do and it may even limit them in the job that they may be able to get.  Now, this does not mean that if someone isn’t a math whiz they are going nowhere in life and will never amount to anything, but for the most part, a decent math foundation seems to be a good stepping stone in today’s society and we as educators need to understand that to be able to create that foundation for our students by sparking their interest in it.

        In one of our other readings, Linda Rief seems to talk more about how we as educators can make writing more interesting for our students and how we can provide our students with more reading, speaking, listening and writing activities as opposed to teacher directed instruction.  Rief writes that she feels that writing should not just be used as a tool to assess and grade our students, but instead should be used as a way for students to have a chance to express themselves. My personal opinion is that by allowing students the chance to write for something other than an assessment, or even something as small as allowing them to pick their own acceptable topic for an assignment would really make the writing process to many students.  I feel that many students seem to hate writing because they feel like it is something that they are pressured into.  How can you enjoy something that you have no interest in and that you are being forced to write about?  Once students are given the chance to choose their own topic, I think that it would really expand their desire to write which, in turn, may make them more aware of their writing process, cause them to think about things more critically and analytically as well as help them learn about themselves and possibly even others….maybe this is where group work comes successfully into play. 

Collaborative Learning