This is my eighth post, completing the requirement (yippee!). I did spend a little time reading others' posts this morning, and there are a lot of great ideas and, I'm proud to say, a bunch of folks who clearly have a passion for teaching. That makes my heart glad, 'cause it sure is easy to get cynical these days.
I think in my next life, I'll be an English teacher. Seems like so much of this cool stuff is more easily incorporated into teaching English. Besides, as Huck would surely NOT say, "Ain't readin' the mostest fun?"
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4 comments:
I am jealous....this is number 6 for me. You know after teaching science for all of those years that science teachers and English teachers' minds are wired a little differently. We are a little too analytical to be able to have too much fun with all of the reading and writing strategies that we have learned. I would really like to have a discussion with science, math, and CATE teachers to discover more ways that we can really integrate more of these strategies. Trying to cover "standards" and get my students ready for clinical experiences really restricts time for a lot of individual reading in my classes. But, I have learned a lot....just need to find more ways to use more of what I have learned.
Hi. This post is from Wade Cooke. I am using Lisa's username/password because I was having password problems.
Well, I am not at 8 posts yet. I have enjoyed reading through the ideas and comments from my fellow peers.
Wayland,
I have an even better idea for you! You should be a librarian. It's the best of all worlds. In the course of a week, I may work with 3-4 different subjects - always something new to research. And it's lots of fun trying to find fiction books to tie into curricular areas. You would be great!
Janet
I think the thing for content-area folks to remember is that it isn't necessarily the reading itself that you should incorporate into your area, it's the strategies. And I know that Sharie and Wayland are both using effective strategies in their classrooms. The trick is going to be to make students understand that no matter the subject area, the thinking is the most important thing and there are commonalities in thinking in all of them. Then, they can also recognize and appreciate the differences that are needed when one is reading/studying in different fields. So, you are right to say that English teachers are "wired" to teach creative writing/reading, i.e. fiction; but what you must do is equally (if not more) important, teach them to read the materials that they will experience in your field. These are the skills they need to hold jobs, feed their families, solve life problems, etc. I just hope our RAISSE conversations have given you more tools for that kind of teaching! I know that you all are already doing a wonderful job, so adding to it will make it "mostest wonderful!"
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