Hi Everyone, I have been enjoying all the conversations and have learned so much from them already. The book has made me really think about what we do in education and what we are making kids try to make sense of when they read. I have to honestly say that I think most of my intellectual life happened after I got my high school diploma. I thought I got a good education, but now I don't think I had the opportunity to engage in conversation very much. I was also one of those children that grew up in poverty and didn't fit in with most of my school population. I can see where my home life did not foster intellectual conversation at all. Somehow I managed to get into advanced placement classes in middle school, and I had an English teacher who appreciated my views. That eighth grade teacher was the only one who felt I was making sense out of what I was reading. She engaged me in conversation all the time and it was my only class I felt like I understood the literature and my viewpoint was valued. She listened more than she lectured. I am trying to be more like she was. She also took the time to really find out what was going on at home (it wasn't good) and felt compassion for me. In my classroom, I find that I reach out for the kids that have less because I know what it feels like. I spend a lot of time building background for those kids because I know poverty puts limits on how much experience they have had and that causes some of their inability to make sense out of what they read.
Ellin's book sure has me thinking. Linda Buice _______________________________________________ Understand mailing list [email protected] http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/listinfo/understand_literacyworkshop.org
