Nicole's Fall FNED Blog

     For this week’s assigned reading, we read Literacy With An Attitude by Patrick Finn, and I have decided to reflect on this work as a whole. In his writing, Finn brings up the idea that education varies for people in differing social classes. The curriculum does not change; however, the way the curriculum is taught is what changes. He describes that people in the affluent or executive social classes receive a more “high-end” education – one filled with creativity and the opportunity to think outside of the box to challenge oneself. However, the middle and working classes get a more restrictive form of the same education – one filled with learning from textbooks and students not being pushed to challenge themselves.       I think that in his writing, Finn brings up an excellent point that is multi-faceted. One point that isn’t explicitly stated is that the varying social classes have different financial means. For schools that tend to have more wor...

Precious Knowledge:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/19sZ1ajbMW4NpIKmigFwOVCvSq39TVRhiQj6GSEN6Q8s/edit?usp=sharing  Teach Us All:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/14R8a6c872dfjm17N3HGB3SAp40LMNAx4Hs4opv9q7Hs/edit?usp=sharing Classroom Tour: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19E7ie58EhSRTj_3BYsCfM6UYR1HGs_Zt99q9lZY_bLc/edit?usp=sharing

  In this week’s assigned reading, we looked at Alfie Kohn’s “What to Look for in a Classroom”. Kohn describes what are good signs in a classroom and what can be found in a classroom that may be a sign to worry. In my opinion, I think that some of these attributes are self explanatory, but some of the things that one should “worry” about, I disagree with. For example, I agree with desks and tables being put in a way that invokes conversation between students, as well as hanging students’ work to invoke a sense of pride and community in the classroom. However, in the “to worry about” category, a teacher-led classroom, and “all students doing the same thing” are included. Personally, I don’t think that these are necessarily signs to worry about. I agree that students should be collaborative and have a say in the classroom, but I don’t think that a teacher leading a discussion or an activity is necessarily a bad thing. With younger children, they need that direction. Without teacher-l...

  In this week’s assigned reading, Troublemakers , author Carla Shalaby describes how schools need to look away from their typical mindset when it comes to “troubled” students in the school system. Typically, when students are disruptive in class, they are reprimanded through being taken out of the class or by being sent to be dealt with elsewhere. This causes gaps in achievement because “troubled” students are getting less class time because they are being reprimanded outside of the classroom, so they are more apt to fall behind. Shalaby suggests, though, that instead of viewing these “troublemakers” as targets, teachers should change their mindsets. These students are not troubled because they don’t want to learn. Nine times out of ten, there is something else going on in the student’s life that is causing them to act out.  For this week’s blog post, I will be responding to Catherine's blog post as part of the “extended comments” option. In her post, she discusses how the ...