Literacy for the iGeneration

It was the last night of class that we are engaging in readings. We had a lot to discuss. We clarified the criteria for the literature review presentations. It went smoothly. The students have all done this type of thing before so they were pretty straight forward in what they wanted to see. So that [...]

We started class off with a discussion of APA style. I handed out an APA checklist and then went over APA reference style. APA is new for many of the students. I think it was well worth spending the time going over it. I do have to clean up the slide. There are a few [...]

It was basically two very distint classes. The first half of class was spent learning the International Phonetics Alphabet. I was nervous about teaching this because I had never take a class in it, so I asked Kenny Fasching-Varner to do it, which he graciously did. It was a lot of fun. I’m looking forward [...]

One of the things I’m not happy about with this course is that it seems like a “diverse group of the week” approach. Plus, there’s still not a clear enough link to what the course is supposed to be about – language, literacy, and diversity. This week was “gender and sexuality week.”
There was a lot [...]

It was a bit of a hodgepodge of a night. I felt quite disconnected, but in the end it all came together – sort of.
We started out with a presentation by Mrs. Sigler on what is available in our library and how to conduct a literature search. Although our library is small, we have a [...]

We had a guest speaker on Tuesday who shared her work in an urban school and how a group of exemplary teachers spoke to their students and the way those words helped the students develop a sense of agency or power in their world. I will definitely have her speak in the future.
We spent the [...]

We didn’t have class on Tuesday and instead joined two other sections of the diversity class (the weekend, initial certification students) for a presentation by AIDS Rochester. I wasn’t sure about the utility of going to this presentation since it really is geared toward people who haven’t taken a diversity class before, and all my [...]

This semester I’ll be blogging about my experiences teaching the Language, Literacy, and Diversity in American Schools course. This is the first time I’ve taught the course, and I’m a little nervous about it. The course was designed by Kenny, who’s taught some iteration of it a lot. It’s tough following in his footsteps. I’m [...]

Wow. The semester is over (well sort of – still have the final essay). But class meeting are over. As exhausting as teaching this class is, I’m really going to miss it. I just love the content. And this group of students truly was exceptional. I gave them the first hour of class to discuss [...]

It’s amazing how quickly moods can shift. I’ve been in a cranky mood for several days. Just exhausted and uninspired. Then, tonight, the students presented their literacy artifact reviews and engaged in wonderful discussion about the articles and I feel refreshed and renewed and hopeful again. The literacy artifact reviews were so much fun. I [...]