Reflection Blog Post

Reflective blog

Coming in to this class on Literacy Studies, I had been expecting a class that would have been similar to something like Second Language acquisition.  Basically, going in, I figured that we were going to be learning about how children learn how to read and write.  It made perfect sense in my mind, English education major, Literacy studies, and learn how to teach grammar.  Since the class also required the English Education major students to participate in classroom observations at local schools, I figured that we would spend more time describing the teaching of syntax and morphology.   In some ways I was right, but in some ways I was very wrong.

After the first couple weeks I was confused as any person could be, while struggling to keep up with the weekly blogs.  Talking about topics such as sponsors of literacy, multiliteracies, and the different values placed on different literacies in a changing society.  Every week was a battle to keep my head from exploding, since the topics and articles on the topic of literacy and pedagogy were directed at teachers, rather than students.  However, over time, reading, and a good amount of questions authors such as Brandt and Scribner finally started making sense.  I found that my father had gone through a very similar set of circumstances as some of the case studies in Deborah Brandt’s “Accumulating Literacy.” This made the idea of people’s literacy changing throughout the course of their lives much more understandable.  Going through the “Sponsors of literacy” article was also quite trying.  Figuring out the definition of such a vague term that could refer to anything from a person who advocates reading to a set of circumstances that rewards certain types of literacy was quite difficult.  Another helpful activity was the keyword defining Google document, since the all of the words were defined in layman’s terms and in a direct manner.  The direct manner was the part that made understanding the words easier to understand, since majority of the articles tended to go about it in a roundabout way.  It was soon after this that we started our book clubs.

The group I was with worked on a book called, “Hanging out, Messing Around, and Geeking Out” Edited by Mimi Ito, but it was comprised of articles and studies that were done by many different authors.  The majority of the book was focused on the different ecologies, or social circles that formed around different types of technology.  Our group also learned how if a person spent more time in their social circle, they gradually gained different literacies based on what they invested their time in.  For instance, in video games like World of Warcraft, the players used almost a language of their own when playing the game.  As you keep playing, you gradually begin to understand their lingo and fit into the subculture. As we read our portions of the book, the groups started working on ignite talks, five minute presentations to inspire interest in our topics.  Getting the presentations that short, while conveying all of the information in the entirety of the book, was quite the challenge. Rather than going for a condensed presentation, or going over on time, I opted to speak as fast as possible, which the audience got a good laugh out of.  Throughout all of this, I, along with all of the other English Education majors, were participating in classroom observation internships.

After some confusion with CAVE on whether I was supposed to find my own placement or not, I managed to end up with Ms. Hopkin’s high school English class.  Although they are a rowdy bunch, or perhaps because they are rowdy, I feel I was able to learn a great deal about what it is like to be a teacher.  While observing, I realized that not all students contribute to an ideal classroom.  That being said, you can’t always expect your students to listen to what you have to say, let alone be enthusiastic about learning.  This fact allows me to view teaching in a more down-to-earth fashion than some of the students who did not have the opportunity to participate in classroom observations.  I also had the chance to work one on one with a couple students, helping them gain deeper understanding of the different poems that they were working on at the time.  Although I was offered the chance to teach an entire lesson, I ended up refusing, on the grounds that since I didn’t have a relationship with the students, I feared that they would not listen to anything I had to say.  Currently I am working with one student as a tutor, helping him with his final project.  It’s quite the learning experience getting him interested in the project enough to prioritize it over his hobbies.