Entry #5: Letter to Dr. Jones

Dear Dr. Jones, 

    I am shocked at how far my knowledge of literacy has advanced since the first day of class. I am happy that I was prompted to write down what I thought literacy was on the first day of class because it is astounding to compare it to my ideas about literacy now. Literacy has so many aspects and components that are a part of it that reach beyond just reading and writing. 

    I love the way that I am able interact with my peers in this class. It seems that a classroom community of learners was formed naturally. I value my peers’ opinions and appreciate them challenging the ways that I currently think. 

    I am looking forward to the rest of this class and the ways in which the class material and my classmates will contribute to refining my thinking about the next topics. I am looking forward to expanding on the knowledge I already have and learning more about being an effective and equitable teacher of language and literacy. I am also looking forward to presenting my deeper dive discussion topic during week 8. I have worked hard on the assignment so far and am stepping slightly outside of my comfort zone by leading the class discussion. I know that this will benefit my learning as a future teacher. 

    Learning about the SQ4R and close reading strategies have made me more aware of my own tendencies when I read. Before learning about these comprehension strategies, I was not actively engaging with the texts I was reading. I have learned that it helps with my comprehension if I leave post it notes in the texts with my thoughts on that passage. Through making predictions before I read, questioning the text, and reflecting on what I just read I have been able to gain deeper understandings of concepts presented through the texts. 

    I thoroughly enjoyed attending the Liz Kleinrock presentation. She shared so many raw and authentic realities of being a teacher in today’s world. I think it is worth mentioning that it is extremely difficult to teach through a global pandemic. I was most moved by the fact that Liz was able to share with us (aspiring teachers) that she does encounter feelings of being burnt out, struggling with mental health and depression, and being on medication. I appreciate her for being so honest and vulnerable. This meant a lot to me as these are topics that are not talked about enough which creates greater stigma. These topics are considered Taboo, as Liz would say. I felt that her ideas were something that I can do in my future classroom because she said that I can take one step at a time (and that is better than doing nothing). Additionally, I was enlightened when Liz showed the audience a slide that included books that celebrated underrepresented populations versus books that told stories of struggle and hardship of those populations. She coined the words Representation and Affirmation to describe what was happening with these books. Storybooks about the slave trade may inflict a feel of representation on an African American student, but they do not bestow the feeling or affirmation. I will keep this in mind when choosing books for all my students. 

LTED601 has been a great experience for me so far—thank you Dr. Jones!