Double Entry Journal #4

1. Describe 3 things you learned about teaching and literacy development.


This article showed me that it is in fact okay to use certain dialect that the students can relate to when teaching since it will establish a familiarity toward the material that was being taught to them. This article used an example of middle school English teach Liz Phillips who realized that her children weren't displaying their full potential in their writing assignments because they were becoming disoriented how their dialect or language was considered to be incorrect or "bad". She realized that their "language" made them individuals and she decided to show them that their way of life was not bad, and that each and every area had a different type of dialect. She incorporated this into her lessons to the students and managed to teach them all about the area in which they are from (Appalachia) and how diverse the areas of the world are in comparison. I like how Liz Phillips managed to teach the students a little about themselves as well as about other types of dialect based on the differences in the languages. Liz Phillips successfully showed her students that their way was not incorrect and because she played off their familiarity, they respected her and it made it possible for her to teach them other styles of dialect.


2. Give 2 examples of how the strategies for literacy instruction presented in this article reflect Culturally Responsive Teaching.


This article shows strategies of Culturally Responsive Teaching by how the teachers managed to relate to the students and show the students that their form of dialect was not incorrect therefore making them better students by teaching them multiple ways of saying what they were trying to get across in their writing. The teachers managed to not embarrass the students but show them examples of other dialects that were different than their own. These teachers encouraged the students to examine their dialect and compare it to others from different areas to show how diverse that the world can be.


3. Give 1 example of literacy instruction from your own schooling experience and explain how it reflects or does not reflect Culturally Responsive Teaching.



I can remember an art project we did as elementary school students. We were given free reign of the materials in the art room to create a costume that represented our cultural background. We were told to talk to our parents and grandparents and find out where our true "roots" were from. It was crazy to see how many different cultures were represented in the costumes we came up with in the art room and the stories behind each child's background.