Riddle

  Chapter one was very interesting to read.  At the beginning of the chapter Riddle caught my attention when he said that "children's ability to make meaning from text deepens and grows as they make connections between reading and writing."  We as teachers need to learn to manipulate and teach how to interprete and communicate the meaning of images to develop a vision.  As teachers read students are constantly asking to see the pictures.  They are trying to make a visual connection with the text.  Venn diagrams and KWL charts are consistently used to help students visually see what the text means.  The "Now Show Me" strategy helps students to connect images to the symbolism in the text.  Students are connecting their drawing to the meanings.  I enjoy allowing my students to illustrate text.  Illustrating and then writing the text helps students to generate an analysis of the visual information.  The slide shows and collages were also very interesting to read about.  These are strategies that I am eager to try in my classroom.

Harste

     After reading the article,  I feel that this is a very unique way to teach literacy.  Harste is correct when saying that you have to find what the students interests are in order to find topics that will generate conversation.  This year we are encouraged to teach with alot of discussion among the students.  When reading the article, this is what I thought about.  I feel that the students will learn better when engaged in a particular discussion to learn.  In our classrooms, there are so many ethnicity groups and backgrounds that are challenging.  Teachers need to become aware of the race and cultural groups to integrate different topics in teaching for all children to beable to discuss and feel comfortable sharing.  Ones culture is who they are.  When students become detectives, is when they learn the most.

Goals

There are three main goals I have set to accomplish.  One goal is to use more higher order thinking skills when teaching literacy throughout all subject areas.  The second goal is to apply more research knowledge to teaching in my classroom.  I want to take back the strategies that I learn to help engage my students in the 21st century ways of  learning.  Another goal would be for me to become more confident in conducting conversation in front of my peers.  I feel that I have gotten better in my ability and confidence in making observations during staf meetings.  I would like to become a better leader.