What I Have Learned

Throughout the course of Literacy in Secondary Schools, I have learned valuable information about literacy in the classroom and in my own life. One main area that I was largely unfamiliar with were teaching strategies for literacy. There were several strategies that I became equipped with in this course in order to help students in their literacy lives.

When students interact with texts, they need to truly engage with the content using several strategies in order to comprehend and absorb the information presented in front of them. When a student complains that they “read it but don’t get it” there are a few tools to provide as thinking tools. These include envisioning, listening, expecting, monitoring, activating knowledge, and creating relationships with characters. These strategies help students deeply engage with the content and self-check their understanding. Envisioning the text is when the student imagines what is going on as the article or story progresses. Listening is when the student follows the rhythm of the words to flow through the text with the author. Expecting is when the student makes predictions of what is going to happen next in the text. This helps the student recall what has previously occurred in order to create a foundation to build from. Activating knowledge is when the student engages with the content to create connections to their personal life in any way. Last but not least, creating relationships with the characters is when the student empathizes with the characters and relates to the characters. This strategy helps the text to come alive in the student’s mind as he or she becomes friends--or even enemies--with the characters in a text.

In our textbook, there was a chapter where Bomer expounded on strategies that even I use but did not realize I use. He explained that tools students can have when interacting with texts include talking, indexing, sketching, charts/organizers, and performing. These are all strategies I have used when interacting with academic content in order to create more connections with the text. To further explain, talking is when the student speaks out their thought processes which can include retelling the story. This helps them manually process information by externalizing the content. Indexing is when the student uses highlighters, post-its, and notes in the margins to connect different sections of the text, place importance on certain elements, or analyze the information. Sketching is when the students draw out what they read and charts are a good way for the students to organize their thoughts or think about the “big picture.” Performances are when the students act out the text and is a fun way for students to become engaged in a deeper way.

In this course I also learned about errors in approaching literacy. Everyone is a literacy teacher even if he or she technically “teaches” a course other than English. Also, there is not a one-size fits all program to combating lack of literacy in students’ lives. In this course, I learned that I am a writer because I write. I learned that there are many ways we are literate and interact with literacy. From reading recipes on Pinterest, putting notes in my husband's lunch, and reading Bomer's text for class, literacy fills my life. There were so many wonderful tools I gathered from this course such as the slice of life, padlet, bullet journals, found poems, multigenre projects, and book talks. I will continue to use these in my literate life and in the classroom with my future students.

Thank you so much for all that you have equipped us with, Dr. Giles.

We Overcome

Write a poem about 1 item on your list (List is of Arts that have impacted my life)
Item: We Overcome [Original Composition]

Have you ever felt inspired to write, sing,
create something?
I have, and it changed my life.
Some people believe in coincidence.
I do not.
How many times has the Lord used YOU to change YOU?
Yes, it happens to me too.
So, there's this is one time.

One time in my life,
I used to be afraid.
I was afraid of a lot of things.
The dark terrified me and being alone was overwhelming.
I could not walk from point A to point B
without looking over my shoulder to see,
Who or what could be following me.
But there's this one time.

One time I opened scripture,
Revelation 12:11 looked back at me.
My guitar fell into my lap
And I wrote my first song.
I did not believe in a single word I wrote.
Was it hypocritical to have written down these notes?
I did not believe in it.
Not the least bit...
Because I was still afraid.
However, there was this one time.

One time, about two years later,
I sat down to collect all the songs I had written.
One, two, five, seven songs appeared before me.
My guitar saw what I was doing and decided to join.
I came across this song and start to play.
And to the melody came back to me as I started to sway.
Suddenly..
I stopped.
I could not hold in my tears any longer.
Here I stood, so much stronger.
He had spoken to me,
Through me,
And promised that He would take care of me.
He removed those fears,
He replaced them with strength.
And smiled,
The one times have became many,
Where are your fears now?
There aren't any. 


We Overcome [Original Composition] on Youtube

Sickness

This week everyone has been sick. My sister-in-law's family, my best friend's family, and now, my family. I am the only one I know who has not fallen ill. [Side note: Other than because of the Lord's grace, I have been wearing a surgical mask and washing my hands very often. Do I usually do this? No, this is the first time I've tried and I haven't become sick as of yet].

It's fascinating to me how sicknesses, specifically viruses in this case, pass from person to person. A wonderful but terrible invention would be a sickness radar or tally that can connect to our fitbits or cellular devices (don't we love when technology can sync to one other?). So this is how it works. Every day when you're walking down the street, the people that you meet, have been exposed to particular illnesses...and I say HEY, what a wonderful device I have... that can tell me what I've been exposed to....aaaaand more words can be inserted here...that match the Arthur theme song.

In all seriousness, the invention would be a particle counter. With most sicknesses, we have this threshold of exposure that is met and consequently, we become sick. [Disclaimer: The science behind my reasoning originates from my undergrad science courses so if I am not completely sound in my science, it's because my information about the subject is a little rusty.] In any case, as you get exposed to more particles, your fitbit (or cellular device) informs you of all the particles you have been exposed to and where the threshold is for you to get sick, which is personalized based off of your immune system.
Why is this a wonderful invention? Well, for the obvious reason of keeping people healthy and staying away from viruses and bacteria which lay dormant; we don't even realize we are being exposed to them. Why is this also a terrible invention? People would probably get paranoid and slightly crazy because, quite frankly, we are exposed to a LOT of illnesses each day. We may not realize this but our immune systems are good at what they do to identify disease and eradicate it from the body.

But here I am. Without that technology. Wearing a mask and sometimes gloves, trying not to get sick.

Can I Have Seconds? Another Slice of Life

Waking up this morning was a struggle. As the battle raged on between my consciousness and unconsciousness, I simply hit the snooze button on my phone's alarm. But after five minutes, my phone's bird chirping alarm scared me awake one more time.  I clicked on that beautiful snooze button and thus provided the ammunition for my unconsciousness to win the battle. Five minutes later, my day began. But not of my own volition.

My alarm did go off, but that was not what finally got me out of bed. It was my Argos. What's an Argos? A furry, lively, drooly backup alarm who is more affectionately known as a man's best friend. This morning I wouldn't exactly call him my best friend. How does an Argos wake someone up? Well, it starts with a shake, then a hop, followed by a shower of puppy love. He sleeps on the tiles in our bathroom. We sometimes try to make him sleep on the bed with us because he's so fuzzy and warm but... he is too fuzzy and too warm. So the bed is not comfortable to him for a long period of time.
Hearing my phone's alarm, he trotted out of the bathroom adjacent to our room and shook his fur which provided us a brief warning for the next step. He hopped into our bed, inspected us to see if we were sleeping, and lied down--always with his head on my stomach. He licked my hand--checked to see if I was awake--and licked my hand again. The cycle repeats until someone wakes up.
In all honesty, he is a God-send. I can stop my phone from making noises, but I can't stop my puppy. And just like every morning, I got up from bed, put on some outside clothes, and took Argos to the restroom. 

And so consciousness wins this battle. But I look into Argos' eyes and I don't miss my sleep. Not one bit.

My first sight in the morning

Hanging out under my desk

Taking a nap when no one is looking

Slice of Life

A slice of life can be a short story, poem that tells about a small moment, or a collection of words, images, or photos that tells a small story about your day or a memory from long ago.

"Did I clock in on time?"

Click, clack, click..click click click

On the phone...off the phone

"Please verify your facility's information."

Tick, tock, tick...tick tick...tick...

Shadows dance along the walls as the circle moves the sun

Redeem the time...time.........time*

Click, clack, click...........click..........

Words, words everywhere

Patient name, names, names...

Tick, tock, tick................tick............

Struggling to fly...contained, repressed, restrained.

A flicker of light? Oh, a phone call...

Click, clack, click.......clack..........

"Here is the call-in code for the meeting."

"What is your callback number?"

Tick, tock, tick...tick tick...tick...

Light at the end of the tunnel

Light, light is passing...where...where is it?

Click, clack, click..click click click

"Did I finish all my accounts?"

Hold music.....................

"It's time to clock out."

*Ephesians 5:16

I decided to write a poem about my work day. After one learns and understands the job, it can become one mundane task after another. I know poetry can be a little confusing, but I was hoping to bring forth the passing of time and the struggle between work tasks and free thoughts. In order to provide some clarity on this poem, the quotes are thoughts I have, email snippets, and automated phone systems. I enjoyed writing this!

Reading as Thinking

When we interact with the world, there are thousands of stimuli we are exposed to everyday. Our brain processes which stimuli to pay more attention to, which to respond to, and which to ignore, Our minds are forced to do this because of the proliferation of technology into every facet of life. If we truly thought about every stimulus in our environment, we would constantly have sensory overload, and well, be constantly overwhelmed.

The beauty of reading is that we can put up blinders and charge through a text sitting before us. We have more of a choice as to how much stimuli to be exposed to based off of where or how we choose to read. Why is this important? Well, we have the choice to think solely on what we are reading which allows us to slow down and comprehend the text. The difference between reading and watching a movie is that we are can slow down and process what is happening in a book rather than simply react to stimuli that is being thrown in our faces at the movies. I don't intend to disparage movies, but I am coming off strong because I am saddened to see how little I read and how much more I watch.

Reading is edifying because it sharpens our minds to think and process what is being introduced to us in a deeper way. We need time to think while reading. We control the pace of a book through the rate by which we read. We can control the pace of our thinking while reading.

Many students struggle with comprehension. In primary schooling, recognizing words is greatly emphasized. In secondary schooling, students need to be equipped with comprehension strategies that go beyond an English class. In education, I am in the realm of science, but I firmly believe that I am also a literacy teacher. Regardless of what "subject" we teach, we are all reading teachers and it is of paramount importance that we help students achieve success by providing them with tools to attack any text with an inquisitive mind.

A picture is worth a thousand words... but an article is not limited to a thousand words

This week we read two articles for our class, "The Literacy Needs of Adolescents in Their Own Words" and "Becoming the Reading Mentors Our Adolescents Deserve: Developing a Successful Sustained Silent Reading Program." They were both insightful and informational about the literacy needs in our schools today.

One statistic that stood out to me was how about 1 million adolescents struggle with reading in America and the unfortunate issue is that most programs to remedy the problem is usually a one-size-fits-all-type program. I was reminded with the need to individualize the programs to meet the needs of THE STUDENT--not the students, not the whole school--but for the student. Each student struggles with different aspects of reading so it is important to figure out what in order to prevent wastefulness of time and resources. In the article, "The Literacy Needs of Adolescents in Their Own Words" the researchers documented the stories of several students and reading these excerpts, I recognized the need to give students choice. When the students are given options in class activities, they tend to be more motivated and the resources can be more tailored to their individual needs. Another surprising point was that many parents wanted to be involved in their students' reading development. I think it is important to invite the parents to get involved if they would like to be.

In the second article, the resounding takeaway was choice, choice, choice. Many students today are unmotivated to read and it has a lot to do with the fact that we have limited what the students can read. In the classroom, students should be given a SSR time to read whatever topic is appealing to them. And when the students read, the teacher should as well or in some way, participate with the readers. There are several strategies the authors mentioned in this article that provide a great reading environment as well so I have posted the information for both articles below!

The Literacy Needs of Adolescents in Their Own Words.

By : Pitcher, Sharon M.¹ spitcher@towson.edu; Martinez, Gilda¹ gmartinez@towson.edu; Dicembre, Elizabeth A.¹ edicembre@towson.edu; Fewster, Darlene¹ dfewster@towson.edu; McCormick, Montana K.¹ mkmccormick@towson.edu
Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, : 10813004, Published: 05/01/2010, Vol: 53, Issue: 8, Start Page: 636, Page Count: 10, Language: English
Becoming the Reading Mentors Our Adolescents Deserve: Developing a Successful Sustained Silent Reading Program.By : Lee, Valarie¹ leev@rowan.edu
Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, DOI: 10.1002/JAAL.00026, : 10813004, Published: 11/01/2011, Vol: 55, Issue: 3, Start Page: 209, Page Count: 10, Language: English

Creatures of Habit

This week we read about reading lives and habits. The first phrase that came to mind is that people are creatures of habit. I noticed that most of my days are made up of several habits which are sometimes interrupted by other events or happenings. My reading life is what most could call very interrupted, or rather, placed on pause. This semester has helped me carve out more time for reading and thinking about my habits. For me, there are two main modes of reading. Reading to study and reading for pleasure. Each reading mode looks completely different.

When I am reading to study, if it be textbooks or academic articles, I have a particular chair I sit in. Over the years, I have lived in about five different places and in each house I have unintentionally picked one seat for studying purposes. When I read to study, I have to sit upright, and my seat is usually at a dining table. My book will be on one side with my notes on the other. Just within reach are all my colors. Yes, my colors. If I am studying with seriousness, I have all my colored pens and markers laying in neat rows ready to be used in my notes. Also, I typically have a glass of water beside my book. And this is how I read to study. I never noticed these habits before but after thinking about this topic, I realize I am truly a creature of habit.

When I am reading for pleasure, there is not much structure. I could be sitting on the couch, in bed, at a table, in the car, wherever! It can be anytime of the day or night as long as I have some light. I recently bought a reading light because my husband tends to sleep early and sleeps best when I am there beside him. I take these opportunities to read for leisure or catch up on reading assignments. What DO I read for leisure? Well, some books but mostly articles online or posts on Pinterest.

Some people walk and read--that is not me. Some commonalities between reading to study or reading for pleasure is that I need to be sitting down and the environment should have minimal noise (honestly, any noise is fine except the TV).

All in all, I want to read more. I want to be that person who read the book and "thought it was so much better than the movie" because from what I've heard, it's ALWAYS better than the movie.

Kids will be Kids

As I am reading the novel Wonder by R.J. Palacio, many memories of my schooling come to mind. In Wonder, ten-year-old Auggie who was born with a facial deformity attends school for the first time in his life after being home-schooled. When at school, he faces the pressures of fitting in to a new school environment, people mocking him based off of his appearance, and the challenges of establishing genuine friendships. His struggles pushed me down some harsh streets on memory lane.

"Kids will be kids" and "Kids say the darndest things" are two phrases I've heard to explain away actions or words children may do or say. When I was in school, I experienced times in middle and high school where my friends made fun of my devotion to my religion (Christianity). They poked fun at me when I brought Bible verses to school to memorize and the fact that I did not show physical affection to boys because I believed that I should be older/more spiritually mature before getting into a relationship or anything remotely like a relationship. The emotions that were generated in me during those moments were a great mix of confusion, helplessness, anger, frustration, and hurt all mixed into one big ball in the middle of me. Though those moments of being made fun of were not abusive or extreme in any way, I remember them as clear as day--more than any lesson or experience in all my secondary schooling.

I can relate to a fraction of what Auggie was going through in this novel. He, unfortunately, was always being stared at regardless of where he went or what he did. Reading this novel is helping me feel grateful for the blessings of health that I have been given and reminds me that words can be very hurtful. Regardless of who is there or not there, it is important to speak good about others otherwise it may come back to bite.

To end my post, I love one of the precepts mentioned in Mr. Browne's class in Wonder.
"When given the choice between being right, or being kind, choose kind." 
This is a quote I will keep at the forefront of my mind in this new week as I interact with the world around me.

The Journey to a Word

In one of my Master's courses, were are assigned to choose a word goal for the semester. This was great! Instead of carrying around a laundry list of new year's resolutions, I would be able to focus my attention on one, unforgettable word. So what would that one word be?

I reflected on several words that popped into my mind immediately: growth, maturity, perseverance, positivity, finisher, well-rounded, achieve, and the list went on and on. Endurance, peace, diligence, purity, faithful, and fulfillment. My one-word goal turned out to be a laundry list of its own as I started to think about the year. Questions emerged from the chaos of my thoughts--how can I pick just ONE word? How do I even go about doing this? There are so many great words, but which one is right for me? How will picking this one word affect my year?

Before sleeping one night, I sat up with my back against the wooden headboard of our bed whispering quietly as I prayed to the Lord about which word He thought would guide me for the year ahead. As I struggled to silence my thoughts, the words "fulfillment" and "perseverance" came to mind.

The next week of class came and these were the words I shared with my peers. As I drove home, I realized that even those words did not seem completely right for me. Were these words truly inspired? I realized that even in my time of prayer, I was so excited to pick a word that I did not completely quiet my mind, and instead, pushed words to the forefront of my mind. Since the Lord did not say "no" then it must be what He wanted too. We tend to do that sometimes, right? We may say that the Lord is leading us in this way or that but sometimes the reality is that we are simply scratching the surface, and since the Lord may be quietly waiting for us to go deeper, we take what we find on the surface and run with it rather than letting the deep things to truly emerge from His Spirit.

So once again, I was in prayer. What was that one word?
"Lord, give me the heart to move past the surface-level things and dig deeper."
And as clear as day, there it appeared on the canvas of my heart.

Abide.

Abiding in the Lord. Abiding in His will. Abiding in Him which births the fruit of the Spirit in my life. There are many goals I have for myself but where have these goals come from? As I traced back the visions I have right now, I realized that they have come from the inspiration of the Lord. So far, I have tried to fulfill these goals out of my own strength but that is not what the Lord wanted for me.

As I abide in Him day by day, slowly and surely, He guides me and teaches me how to order my life and how to fulfill the tasks set before me.

John 15:4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me."