RE_5539

"Text of pleasure: the text that contents, fills, grants euphoria; the text that comes from culture and does not break with it, is linked to a comfortable practice of reading.
Text of bliss: the text that imposes a state of loss, the text that discomforts, unsettles the reader’s historical cultural, psychological assumptions, the consistency of his tastes, values, memories, brings to a crisis his relation with language." ~Roland Barthes

As this course progressed, I found myself frequently needing to reflect on my own views and background and beliefs. This type of self-critique is absolutely necessary for educators to do on a consistent basis; to review what you truly believe and how you respond to different ideas creates a practitioner willing to transform and even revolutionize their thinking, which can make a huge impact on the students in a classroom. I cannot say that when I began this course I was very open-minded or even ready to be exposed to some of the ideas that were expressed in our texts and in my peers’ blogs. However, as the course is now coming to a close, I find in myself something that wasn’t there before: a willingness to be aware of the differences in my students and the ability to move on from these differences to determine how to best design a classroom that provides an environment for all of these students to be successful. I have also discovered a desire to question concepts that have been so ingrained since my childhood. I can say without hesitation that the texts for this course and the comments of my peers have been texts of bliss, and often texts of pleasure as well. I have enjoyed reading others’ responses online and have found myself struggling to define and adjust my own ways of thinking from what I have read in our texts.

One of the most significant lessons I have learned through this course is the importance of communication, not just verbal, although this is essential, but the deeper communication so vital in a classroom that comes from being involved in students’ lives. I absolutely must find ways to connect with my students lives outside of school. Only through making these connections to their personal lives, can I hope to teach them in a way that they are most comfortable with and most willing to learn from. Too often, we as teachers expect our students to walk through our doors with empty heads ready to be filled with the knowledge we give them. This is just not the case. As Jane Miller stated in Reading Lives, “Readers and practices of reading are situated within histories of locality, gender, race, and class. Literacy learning is part of these histories, not something that children do as a cognitive task divorced from their lives. (pg. 37)” As a teacher, I must be willing and prepared to create a teaching program that fits into the lives my students already live. I cannot expect to fit their lives into my teaching; it simply will not work that way. I must be aware of so many identities that my students own, hybrid identities as Hicks calls them. I must be cognizant of how boys and girls earn “power” in the classroom (boys often through acting out and girls through a need to please their female teacher). I also must be willing to communicate with families so that I understand the priorities of a student, their learning styles, and their life-long influences from home.

This course has been a wonderful learning experience for me, particularly as a brand new teacher. I have learned so much about the experiences my students bring to the classroom and how I respond to the learning they bring from their lives. While we may not come from the same neighborhood or social status or gender or race, I can, and must find ways to connect to and communicate with my students’ lives. Only then can I hope to impact their learning inside the classroom. ~Allison Reese