"Literacy With an Attitude"
By: Patrick J. Finn
Extended Comments
This weeks reading I found a little confused; so I chose to do an extended comment post on Katherine's blog. Katherine connected the article to Lisa Delpit's reading we did. Looking back on Finn's piece, there was a lot of Delpit coming through. For instance, he states, "'good students' were obedient students, who followed orders." (Finn 4) In most school systems children who are "told explicitly the codes and rules of power" are the most successful (Delpit). Katherine also related the text to how different children will respond to different speech patterns. This is why students need to have an adaptive teacher in a classroom.
In Finn's piece he uses terms like executive elite, affluent professional, middle class, and working class to talk about how a child's family effects their education. He gives the example of how five schools all in New Jersey, and predominately white, all share the same text books and other class room materials. Upon interviewing the teachers, we find that the "working class" teachers often times will skip pages because they are "too hard." So although all these classrooms have the same requirements and materials, the working class students are receiving a lesser education. There are many factors in a students education and Finn is focusing a lot on what's happening within, as well as outside of the classroom.
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| This is why students need a flexible, understanding teaching to help them deal with t heir feelings and who they are so there is more success in the classroom. |
Questions-Comments-Points to share:
I think Finn's article was kind of all over the place. I didn't really didn't start to understand until a few paragraphs in, and even then I was still unsure of his main point. I relied a lot of reading other people's blogs this week.
Your picture is perfect for these reading! All students need that one on one connection with a teacher to help them succeed better in a school environment. And if these students had a flexible teacher and really listened to their students, they would dedicate their time to helping the students face whatever they are facing. Especially in the working and middle-class schools.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your blog and I'm glad that my blog was a helpful tool for you. Agreeing with Kamryn, I really like your picture. I think it is perfect for the topic we are talking about because I believe that young people are effected a great deal by their surroundings. "Bad kids" are the ones who are not exposed to a role models that will leave a good impression on them. I think this picture really brings up a lot because kids are impressionable and what and who they surround themselves with matters. Great Post !
ReplyDeleteKate, I also chose to do extended comments on Katherine's blog! You did a nice job, we share a lot of the same ideas. I love the picture you chose to include on your post. I find it extremely powerful, many times we mistake the difficult students for bad students. This is many times not the case, they are students who are struggling and trying to get through the only way they know how. As teachers we need to look into way to help our students like that.
ReplyDelete