Nancie Atwell

I am glad that Dr. Kist chose "In the Middle" by Nancie Atwell for this semester. I can relate to her sentiment "I have almost overcome my anxiety about revealing to the world how hard and slow writing is for me, and how wildly off-base my first attempts can be" (p 26). In junior high, I was asked to attend a writing contest with a small handful of peers. We were given a set amount of time to respond to the prompt/topic given to us that day. I did not enjoy this. My own process of writing can be very time consuming. At first, it takes me a long time to focus my thoughts into one idea. This idea can then change many times through the writing process. I can relate to students who might not work well with forced topics and short time schedules. This was one reason I never entertained the idea of going into journalism.

Furthermore, I like her idea of giving students silent reading once a week. I know how busy life can be outside of class and work. My own habits reserve personal reading time for right before bed. This allows me around 15 minutes until I can't hold my eyes open any longer to read the words!

As with any teaching strategy that seems good while reading, I wonder how it actually works in the classroom. Is silent reading a waste of class time? Should students be writing their assignments at home and not during the school day?

Trying to Stay Awake

Education between 1864-1916, when students were required to recite lessons and articles, they were not learning important critical thinking skills. Teachers had complete authority. Students in poverty only learned the basics that allowed them to understand what their country expected of them. They weren't gaining the skills necessary to change that country into something better. It seemed as though learning enough information to go to work was enough.

The changing ideas that came between 1916-1983 made it possible for more people to become further educated. Educators still had a difficult time letting go of some control they had over students. Their 'toe-the-line' idea gives the impression that students were machines instead of free thinkers. The change to teach higher order thinking skills came closer to the end of the 1900s.

We still have many issues to work out with the roles of students and teachers...and how to balance those roles in a classroom.

Blocked

I just want to let everyone know how bummed I am that most of the technology we learn about in class is blocked from my school. I can't access my blog or the Ning from the high school I student teach at. This really disappointed me. The computers are also not very up-to-date. I was hoping to use Movie Maker during my time there, but the computers are too old to accept the program. I found it oddly amusing that one of the very first ads I opened the Internet to was for Michelob beer....but I can't access my class Ning....