Entry 5: Dear Dr. Jones

 Dear Dr. Jones

    I can't believe that this is already the halfway mark of the semester. I have enjoyed the pace of this semester after the previous semester being asynchronous which took me a while to get in the swing of and had its pros and cons for me. I feel as though the work is building upon itself and is expanding my understanding of literacy. Overall, I feel comfortable most of the time and that I am able to get my work done but do feel sometimes I am being pulled in many different directions trying to get work done for multiple tasks all at once. 

    I can neither say nor not say this is what I was expecting. I knew that this was going to be about literacy but did not try and dig too much into it so I could come into the semester with an open mind. I did not want to prejudge and come in with expectation that would not be met. So, like most things I do I try and come in with the mindset that I don't know anything and can be completely open to new ideas and everything that is being presented to me. So, I am not really surprised about what I am learning or the way I am engaging with it. I know that all this learning is presenting me with tools to help me become a successful teacher. That these tools are just the beginning of what is to come and keeping an open mind has allowed me to be freer in engaging with the learning.

    This class has made me slightly more aware of my literacy habits. My literacy habits have always been lacking, so even coming into the education program I knew I had to really focus on doing my work. For me just getting the work done has been a struggle at times and focusing on other methods has slowed my already slow means of working. It has made me aware of other methods which I see benefits in and have use in some of the work this semester. It has helped me find the key details using parts of SQ4R method, but this is something that I have only used a little as I am still learning to use it and don't want it slowing me down too much.

    The Liz Kleinrock presentation I think was enormously helpful in beginning the thought process in teaching hard to subjects. She gave information on how to start the dialog of subjects that we have gone way to long avoiding. I think the biggest take away for me was in the idea of starting small with these discussions. We don't have to jump feet first into hard conversations but just start by introducing the building block of the topic in meaningful ways. One great way she presented this idea was making sure students saw not just representations of people from a similar background but in positive meaningful ways. This is a way in which we can use literacy to be an anti-racist educator by not just showing people of different backgrounds but showing them in positive ways and how we are similar. In using this kind of teaching students are likely to see themselves in learning and more likely to engage in their learning.

    For me I think the biggest struggle has been the multiple "projects" going on simultaneously. We have a blog, an autobiography, and deep dive all going on at the same time while also having reading and other work due. This has led to some confusion within my brain about picking and choosing which is most important at that time. I know this is something that I will be facing as a teacher making sure I have plans done, paperwork submitted, and IEPs completed but right now it has made me a little overwhelmed. The thing that has helped is the knowledge that one will be done soon, and I will be able to focus on the others more. I know that I must prioritize my time in an effective way to accomplish the most important tasks first. This is something I know I need to work on myself and if I can it will only make be better at not only being a student but also help in my career as a teacher.