Chapters 5 and 7 Comments

               In Chapter Five, the authors include many examples of reading strategies that teachers can implement in their classroom. One that really stuck out to me, even though we have talked about it before in class, is the RAFT – Retelling in Various Perspectives and Genres. I found the description that the chapter gives is really helpful when having to explain how to do a RAFT. After the discussion in class and after reading this section of the chapter, I found that I was identifying more things that could be considered a RAFT. For example, I was helping out with some sorority things and someone suggested that we write letters as the Founders to our chapter to retell the values that the sorority was originally founded on. After being exposed to these types of reading methods in the chapter and in class, I think that I can more readily use the methods in a classroom. More exposure really does help when having to reuse and teach with these methods. I even googled RAFT to see what else I could learn about the method. There are so many resources online to help students and teachers use the method correctly. Here is the link to a whole website page I found on helping use the RAFT: http://literacycounts.wordpress.com/tag/raft-prompt/

               The material that Chapter Seven covered is what really stuck out to me for this week’s reading. In my education classes, we focus so much on the curriculum, strategies to use, and how to use them within the classroom. I found it interesting that a whole chapter was dedicated to building a strong community within the classroom. One passage that really resonated with me states, “We need to make the classroom a community, a place where students feel safe to take the risks involved in learning, where they see it connected with their lives, and where they help and learn from one another instead of working only as isolated individuals”. I agree with this statement because the goal of the classroom should be to create a safe space for the students. The classroom should be a safe place that fosters learning. Some students don’t have a safe space back home, so the classroom needs to become that space instead. When the chapter comments on learning about your students, I liked the idea about keeping a journal page for each student so that you can constantly add to the page new things that you are learning about the students. It is a way to be actively thinking and learning about your students. I took the meaning behind this chapter as get to know your students, connect with them, allow a space for social situations to take place, but at the same time open up their minds to learning about new things. 

               These chapters really stuck out to me from all of the readings because the authors provided detailed methods to use within the classroom, and also had touched upon the community aspect of the classroom which I find to be very important in teaching. I like how the book and the information from class exposes us to more and more useful strategies to use in a classroom. Also, the classroom should become a place where the students feel safe to learn, and one way to build up this safety is by getting to know the students and really care about them and their future. Both chapters provided me with practical usage of methods that can create a big difference in the class.