EDUC 325 Intro Class: Let Them Dance



 

    There two distinct topics  from Tovani and ILA.  As teachers, we interact with adolescents on a daily basis. This is a time in their lives when their physical, emotional, and social development is in constant flux.  From ED 208, I remember a variety of  developmental issues discussed across the chapters.  There are so many, but if I look back, I can put this in the context of my discipline. Emotions and self-efficacy will determine how a students respond to challenges. In high school, I hid behind “being a girl” from doing upper level math, so the teacher let me decorate bulletin boards instead of assignments (this was before learning standards).

      First, I want to share my interpretation of a discipline compared to a content area.  ILA (2017), states, “they are not mutually exclusive approaches to literacy instruction,” (p. 5).  A content area is like a field or generalization.  I can take a general approach to reading a history text based on organization, and specialized vocabulary. The next step moves towards a discipline.  In the field of history, we would consider the interpretation of primary sources to inform current day circumstances. In this instance, a student needs to comprehend the text, then analyze, interpret, and make conclusions. They create new knowledge from a literacy practice. Look what happened! Without meaning to, I brought in literacy skills to my teaching practice. We cannot divorce disciplinary knowledge from critical thinking and literacy skills.

       While I find these concepts exciting, Tovani reminds me that my 16-year-old high school student may not. As a veteran (not old) teacher, I have years of experience to look back and recognize when my students were wearing the mask of fear, mask of the class clown, or just put their head on the desk (Tovani, 2021). So what does this have to do with reading strategies?  My teaching practice can invite students to the reading/writing party.  I need to invite them in before they will dare to dance.

 

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