blog 10

Both of the readings this week approached ideas that I can see myself incorporating into education, even if I did not realize it before reading these essays. Andrews’ article seemed to emphasize primarily on giving minority students a real outlet to the rest of the world in which their identity is validated. Although I can definitely see the importance of this concept for minority students I think that it is a concept that applies to all students. Everyone, especially during the pre-teen years feels like an “other” at some time or another (in my humble opinion). Finding a way to give students a voice through publishing could alleviate the feeling of alienation that is a part of growing up. Many times as an adolescent one feels frustrated because they are stuck in a strange area between adult and child. Andrews claims that writing assignments should “leave the form and content as open as possible to encourage students to write from their world view (260)” and I agree wholeheartedly. Let’s face it, the world looks a lot different at fifteen compared to the way we see it at twenty-five. Rather than trying to force students to look at the world in a different way than they are likely or capable to do, it is important to show the ways an adolescent viewpoint is credible. Publishing is a fantastic way to do this. Okay, so every kid might not be published but all of them can triumph through the victory of a peer.

Art and music are such important aspects or writing and literature for me. Really, I can not see how they could ever be separated. Alejandro wrote that “when we read and write we use the same critical thinking and decision-making brainpower that we use when we respond to paintings (135).” I feel that English teachers are obligated to introduce students to other art forms when they teach writing and literature. Otherwise, teachers are committing a great injustice to students by isolating language from art. Recently, I became aware of an upcoming teaching style know as literacy based learning where teachers use a piece of literature to adapt lesson plans for all subjects. An example for an elementary level class room is to take a chapter book such as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and find ways to link it to other subjects like math, science, etc. I would use a similar method to link art, music, writing and reading into a cohesive lesson plan to any reading material. The only limitation to this teaching method is the creativity of the instructor because combinations of such materials are endless for any writing/reading lesson.