Russell: Every teacher should teach English (4)
Civitano: I found this essay to be very insightful. The writer really showed me the history and profound moments that writing across the curriculum came about. As I am completely in agreement with this quote I had taken out of the essay I think it is a very simple yet bold statement. My educational background is in teaching Elementary school. This means that I had one entire class all day long; a class in which relied on me to them every subject. This to me had its advantages. I was able to bring English into all of my subjects, which is known as a teaching style called “interdisciplinary”. I was able to throw in writing assignments in the subject of science and history and have my students not even realized they are practicing their writing as they completed each assignment.
Sadly this does not happen as students get older. They wind up having multiple teachers a day only concentrating on that subject they are in that particular classroom for. This is where I believe that it is more necessary to have teacher meetings and discuss how an interdisciplinary curriculum can work. I think it is extremely necessary for when a teacher gives out a writing assignment to be able to pick out “bad writing”. That no matter what subject it is to be able to help your students when writing and making sure they are writing properly for their grade level.
If an interdisciplinary curriculum can work with younger grades I certainly believe that it can work with older grades also because that it how they are trained when they are younger. Teaching English through out each subject will open many doors for the students and they will succeed at a higher level. “Faculty members and administrators have long agreed that every teacher should teach writing.” (4). Now it is a necessary component as a future teacher for me to establish a mind frame for other teachers to teach English.
Williams: When items are aligned on the page, it creates a stronger cohesive unit (31).
Civitano: As I am reading this statement I am thinking back to the thought I had about English being taught in every subject. Though this sentence is not direct in what I was trying to say I saw it on a deeper level. Williams is trying to say that when things are placed together in a certain way it creates something strong. Well I believe that if all subjects are some what “aligned” with each other (as in a interdisciplinary curriculum) it an create something strong.
Pratt: I was delighted to see schooling give Sam the tools with which to find and open all these doors(1)
Civitano: This happens to be a very enlightening statement from a parent of a child in school. I believe that if teachers have passion in what they do and give that off to their students then those students will succeed in life. No matter what classroom or subject you are in teachers hold the keys to many unlocked doors for their students.
Gee: Players can hook multiple controllers into one video-game platform (178)
Civitano: This just justifies my statement even more by saying that there can be many players hooked up into one game i.e. many subjects intertwined into teaching one thing.
Gee always says “Meaning/Knowledge is distributed across the learner, objects, tools, symbols, technologies, and the environment” (211). No matter what subject you are in knowledge and meanings are being transferred from the teacher to the student and from student to student.
Reflection
When I was first asked to keep a blog I had thought it was going to be something that I have already been asked to do before and I was not looking forward to it. But then when I was introduced to the different types of blog writings I became eager to see which ones were going to work for my writing style and which ones were not. I am actually a big fan of quotes and quoting people.
When reading something I always tend to highlight or underline something I like that they said to try and identity with what the author was trying to convey. So I have to say I definitely enjoyed this type of blog style. It was interesting to get to see in a simple way what the author said and what my response was.
I would like to introduce this type of blog style to my future classes one day because I think it really gets your point across by backing your statement up with the authors words.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Monday, September 14, 2009
The Art of Practice (blog # 2)
Gee: “Allowing players to practice- a process that is the hallmark of “reflective practice” (87).
Civitano:I can remember it was a hot humid summer day and I found myself in a muggy filled basement hovering over a piano and playing the same piece over and over again to try and get it right by the demands of my mother. As I was listening to my family outside laughing and splashing around in the pool I had to listen to my mother and could not get up from the piano until I played that piece perfectly. A couple of hours later I got my hands to flow out this piece of music and after a lot of practice.
When I was a child I was forced by mother to practice the piano everyday for 2 hours straight. As I got older she did not have to force me to practice anymore because I saw the importance of practicing. It got me to where I am today as not only a musician but a piano teacher to be able to educate others. Practice is something extremely important in whatever you do. As Gee said practice is important “in areas like law, medicine, teaching art, or any other area where there are expert practitioners” (Gee 87). To me practice is important in any kind of area there is. But to be an expert at what you are trying to succeed in you need to put in many hours of practice.
As I am preparing to become a teacher in the subject of English it is very important to me that I get that practice in becoming a teacher. That is the importance in the amount of hours I need to put into teaching before I get to have my own students. After years of practice I will be considered an expert practitioner within teaching English.
Gee: “Practice is crucial not just to the development of the child’s mind” (Gee 89).
Civitano:As I find practice to be extremely important I will instill that within the minds of my students. I will actually prove to them that having them practice within writing they will become better writers. Practice is crucial within the mind but it is also crucial within the real world. For someone to succeed at something they need to practice at it. Practice is like setting goals, setting what you want to be in the future.
When some people (to me, especially children and teenagers) hear the word “practice” they think it is something that it not interesting and something they do not want to spend time to do. I know there where times when I wished I was just able to get the subject of Math without having to practice at it. My tutor in Math did not make practicing fun and exciting. She drilled it in me that I need to practice and made it very not enjoyable. Knowing this experience I had with practicing I will try and make the routine of practicing fun for my students. I want them to set up lessons that they do not even know they are “practicing” for what I have planned for them next. This will take effort and a sense of trust and a comfortable close environment within the classroom. Creating this will have the students succeed and enjoy the art of practicing.
Williams: “Physical closeness implies a relationship” (15).
Civitano:To me this implies in what I was just trying to state when I said I think in order to have my students succeed and enjoy the art of practicing and instill education within my students is to create a close safe environment. This means a close relationship with their peers, classmates, teachers, and parents. As a teacher I will incorporate lessons into my classroom where not only do they learn from me (the teacher) but they will also learn from their classmates which means for them to have a close relationship with them. When I read what Williams had wrote this statement hit close to home for me. This statement can really pertain to anything. Physical closeness can determine whether or not that relationship is worth keeping. Physical closeness does not necessary have to deal with being with a person. It can mean having passion for something that you feel close to it (i.e. my close relationship with music and writing).
Civitano:I can remember it was a hot humid summer day and I found myself in a muggy filled basement hovering over a piano and playing the same piece over and over again to try and get it right by the demands of my mother. As I was listening to my family outside laughing and splashing around in the pool I had to listen to my mother and could not get up from the piano until I played that piece perfectly. A couple of hours later I got my hands to flow out this piece of music and after a lot of practice.
When I was a child I was forced by mother to practice the piano everyday for 2 hours straight. As I got older she did not have to force me to practice anymore because I saw the importance of practicing. It got me to where I am today as not only a musician but a piano teacher to be able to educate others. Practice is something extremely important in whatever you do. As Gee said practice is important “in areas like law, medicine, teaching art, or any other area where there are expert practitioners” (Gee 87). To me practice is important in any kind of area there is. But to be an expert at what you are trying to succeed in you need to put in many hours of practice.
As I am preparing to become a teacher in the subject of English it is very important to me that I get that practice in becoming a teacher. That is the importance in the amount of hours I need to put into teaching before I get to have my own students. After years of practice I will be considered an expert practitioner within teaching English.
Gee: “Practice is crucial not just to the development of the child’s mind” (Gee 89).
Civitano:As I find practice to be extremely important I will instill that within the minds of my students. I will actually prove to them that having them practice within writing they will become better writers. Practice is crucial within the mind but it is also crucial within the real world. For someone to succeed at something they need to practice at it. Practice is like setting goals, setting what you want to be in the future.
When some people (to me, especially children and teenagers) hear the word “practice” they think it is something that it not interesting and something they do not want to spend time to do. I know there where times when I wished I was just able to get the subject of Math without having to practice at it. My tutor in Math did not make practicing fun and exciting. She drilled it in me that I need to practice and made it very not enjoyable. Knowing this experience I had with practicing I will try and make the routine of practicing fun for my students. I want them to set up lessons that they do not even know they are “practicing” for what I have planned for them next. This will take effort and a sense of trust and a comfortable close environment within the classroom. Creating this will have the students succeed and enjoy the art of practicing.
Williams: “Physical closeness implies a relationship” (15).
Civitano:To me this implies in what I was just trying to state when I said I think in order to have my students succeed and enjoy the art of practicing and instill education within my students is to create a close safe environment. This means a close relationship with their peers, classmates, teachers, and parents. As a teacher I will incorporate lessons into my classroom where not only do they learn from me (the teacher) but they will also learn from their classmates which means for them to have a close relationship with them. When I read what Williams had wrote this statement hit close to home for me. This statement can really pertain to anything. Physical closeness can determine whether or not that relationship is worth keeping. Physical closeness does not necessary have to deal with being with a person. It can mean having passion for something that you feel close to it (i.e. my close relationship with music and writing).
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Blog #1 Active Learning
Murray: You don't learn a process by talking about it, but by doing it.
Civitano: You can remember back to your younger years and recall the memory of learning how to ride a bike. It is probably a similar story to many people. Your parents talked about the idea of a bike. You knew what it was because everyday during last summer you got to watch your cool neighbor ride his bright purple bike up an down the block. He made it look so easy, that you knew you were able to do it. As your parents approached the day of finally going to the store and purchasing a bike they would talk about it every night.
They would speak about where you need to put your hands, where the breaks are located, how to position your body, why you need to wear safety gear. All of their talks just build up more anticipation within you, and you used to say to yourself and your parents I got this! I see my neighbor do it and it looks so easy! I will get on that bike and glide across the pavements of my block. The day finally came where you positioned your body on that bike seat, with all your safety gear on, you put your feet on the peddles and in a matter of seconds the bike tilted to the right and you feel to the gray concrete floor with the bike lying on top of you. You could not understand why this happened? Why is this harder then it looks? Why is this harder then how your parents talked about it? Eventually you got back on the bike and practiced. You knew that the only way you were going to ride a bike was practice. You learned to ride a bike by doing it.
This to me this is the foundation of everything else you learned in life. To use English as an example the only way a person can fully understand how to write (or the mechanics of writing) is to practice. There is no way you can learn how to write by someone telling you how to write. It needs to be practiced, and fully comprehended to understand. A teacher can tell his or her young students the sounds of the alphabet, but if the students do not apply those sounds of the alphabet to try and read something they will sadly never be able to read. This statement by Murray can apply to anything, any subject, and anything you have or ever will learn in life. I certainly believe someone learns by doing something, not by someone telling you how it is.
Gee: If learning is to be active, it must involve experiencing the world in new ways.
Civitano: As I want to keep the same theme in my blog I choose this quote because I believe it directly relates to the quote by Murray. I am a strong believer in learning from tactile ways. I do believe that when learning you need to be actively engaged to be able to fully comprehend what you are obtaining. You need to be able to apply what you have learned to fully move on and learn on a higher level. Learning in new ways can bring out many sparks within a person. To me active learning takes place beyond the lecture. It goes further from a teacher telling you how it is, or what to do. It is the actual process of learning through doing it.
Civitano: You can remember back to your younger years and recall the memory of learning how to ride a bike. It is probably a similar story to many people. Your parents talked about the idea of a bike. You knew what it was because everyday during last summer you got to watch your cool neighbor ride his bright purple bike up an down the block. He made it look so easy, that you knew you were able to do it. As your parents approached the day of finally going to the store and purchasing a bike they would talk about it every night.
They would speak about where you need to put your hands, where the breaks are located, how to position your body, why you need to wear safety gear. All of their talks just build up more anticipation within you, and you used to say to yourself and your parents I got this! I see my neighbor do it and it looks so easy! I will get on that bike and glide across the pavements of my block. The day finally came where you positioned your body on that bike seat, with all your safety gear on, you put your feet on the peddles and in a matter of seconds the bike tilted to the right and you feel to the gray concrete floor with the bike lying on top of you. You could not understand why this happened? Why is this harder then it looks? Why is this harder then how your parents talked about it? Eventually you got back on the bike and practiced. You knew that the only way you were going to ride a bike was practice. You learned to ride a bike by doing it.
This to me this is the foundation of everything else you learned in life. To use English as an example the only way a person can fully understand how to write (or the mechanics of writing) is to practice. There is no way you can learn how to write by someone telling you how to write. It needs to be practiced, and fully comprehended to understand. A teacher can tell his or her young students the sounds of the alphabet, but if the students do not apply those sounds of the alphabet to try and read something they will sadly never be able to read. This statement by Murray can apply to anything, any subject, and anything you have or ever will learn in life. I certainly believe someone learns by doing something, not by someone telling you how it is.
Gee: If learning is to be active, it must involve experiencing the world in new ways.
Civitano: As I want to keep the same theme in my blog I choose this quote because I believe it directly relates to the quote by Murray. I am a strong believer in learning from tactile ways. I do believe that when learning you need to be actively engaged to be able to fully comprehend what you are obtaining. You need to be able to apply what you have learned to fully move on and learn on a higher level. Learning in new ways can bring out many sparks within a person. To me active learning takes place beyond the lecture. It goes further from a teacher telling you how it is, or what to do. It is the actual process of learning through doing it.
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