I felt the final chapter of Beach accentuated many things I have noticed throughout many of the readings we have looked at so far, and was a nice wrap-up for the course. One of the things that he noted and that I will take away from the course are that we as English teachers have many competing demands. It would seem that we have so much responsibility that it can be overwhelming. Not only are we responsible for teaching language and developing reading skills, including an appreciation for all types of literature and genres, but we also have the duty of teaching self-understanding as well as critical reading and anaylsis skills. The ideas that Amanti posed that the English Langauge Arts classroom should actually be more like a course in cultural studies is a good one, but Beach has it right that it is overwhelming. Not to mention there are contradicting methods and it is hard to know the best way to get all these things across to our students that more concerned with what their BFF said at lunch then what this guy Romeo is doing hiding under a balcony anyway.
No matter what, though, the point is to raise awareness, teach perspective taking as much as possible, and always keep our goals in mind. By having clearly defined goals and keeping in mind the relationship between those goals and our everyday practices, we will make strides forward toward a multicultural approach to literature.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
It can feel overwhelming at times, particularly for someone who just finished student teaching! I think we all came to the conclusion that we just start with what we can, and continue to learn and grow. I know you will do this, so I'm preaching to the choir.
Thanks for your thoughtful blog entries!
Post a Comment