Sunday, April 10, 2011

Literacy with an Attitude!

Quotes:

"First, there is empowering education, which leads to powerful literacy, the kind of literacy that leads to positions of power and authority. Second, there is domestic education, which leads to funtional literacy, literacy that makes a person productive and dependable, but not troublesome." (Finn, ix)

-This was the first quote that stuck out to me when I began reading Finn's work. I found it interesting because it made me stop and think about my schooling and if they did this to us. In many ways, it seems like they did. Finn is saying that there are two different kinds of education and those two different types, lead to different literacy levels. He continues on to say that he doesn't believe this is a conspiracy, instead he says that we have all contributed to this.

The second quote I found was in chapter 2, when Finn is talking about the difference between 5 schools, two of them being working class, "While the same arithmetic book was used in all five schools, the teacher in one working-class school commented that she skipped pages dealing with mathematical reasoning and inference because they were too hard. The teacher in the second working-class school said, 'These pages are for creativity--they're extras.' She often skipped them as well." (Finn, 10)

-The second quote shocked me beacause teachers aren't supposed to give up on their children. They are there to inspire them and push them to their limits to get the best out of their students. Students can't learn and grow when their teachers are not challenging them. This reinforced my first quote. Finn's point in including this part of the chapter was to show that there really are two types of teaching, the empowering education and the domestic education. While this isn't right or kay, it exists.

Lastly my third quote is a quote from a teacher regarding her thoughts on her students, "When asked 'why?' she responded, 'They're lazy. I hate to categorize them , but they're lazy.'"

-My last choice was based on my second quote. It isn't that the kids are lazy, but rather that the teachers don't want to take the time to show them the extra work. The teacherse would rather skip it or call it "extra work".

3 comments:

  1. Francesca I think you chose excellent quotes. The second and third quote really stuck out to me as well when I was reading Finn's piece. It amazes me how many teachers give up on their students. Teachers are supposed to motivate them to do their work and to try their best. Teachers need to show that they care about their students because then students will see this and actually try hard. To me I think having that connection is very important. I know that when I have a teacher who really shows that they care about their students it makes me feel very comfortable in the class and I actually enjoy going to class. There is nothing more irritating than having a teacher who doesn't care because then they bring the students down with them.

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  2. I really like the quotes that you chose! the 2nd one shocked me as well and as i was reading it, i was saying exactly waht you said, that the students should be pushed to their limits... i dont think its the students that are being lazy but rather, the teachers are being lazy

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  3. I really like your quotes and your simple explanations of each! Finn was really interesting to read and your first quote, really just captures (I feel) everything that Finn was saying about literacy! Awesome post!

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