EDTP 620 Blog for 6-13

During the class on Wednesday we talked about our readings and did an activity in our disciplines where we listed the literacy importancies for our subjects. Our group (Math) came up with several that determined, in the end, whether the student had a knowledge of answering why or how something is done, i.e. inquiry learning. During the discussions about our readings, the class was really into the "Adolescent Literacy" book, especially the parts on NCLB, the different studies done by people that had not seen a classroom in years and people that had never taught in the classroom. Even though I have only been teaching for one year, I feel that most teachers are in disagreement with the focus of NCLB. One of the examples, was the poem by the student from Detroit who wrote an excellent poem about the city he left, but had to change it to meet the requirements of his portfolio. This really took away from the fantastic work of the student, and turn a great poem into a flaccid portfolio piece; but apparently that is what the people posing studies want. In my perspective, as long as beautiful pieces of literature from students who are looked down upon are changed to meet the needs of the people who do these kinds of studies, then these people are always going to have something to complain about in their reports, instead of allowing their minds to open up, and great change to happen. And to answer your question, YES, I did put that mildly.