Entry #8: Blessing, Addressing, and Pressing Sarah Seymour

 I must admit, as I went through many of my classmates previous blog entries, I noticed I had forgotten so quickly my own responses from those weeks. I had to go back and look at the articles we read, (skim them mostly) and refresh my brain as to what we specifically learned about in these topics. Going through Sarah Seymour's posts also helped me to better connect what I did remember, with great ideas I had not even thought about. 

Bless

First and foremost, her titles for each blog post? GENIUS. They're all so funny! And I know that's not the point of this entry, but I mean, I thought they were great and it needed to be mentioned. Her entry on nurturing oral and written language development in early readers and writers was a specific post that made me really question my own ideas that Tompkins, (2017) Beauchat et al., (2009) and Muhammad (2020) brought to light. Sarah always does a great job in her entries of relating the topics discussed to English language learners, and I love that she does this in a way in which anyone could understand. While someone like myself, may not be quick to think about the topics in this way, Sarah takes it a step further by addressing the needs for this specific population of students, while also incorporating texts from her other courses.

Address

I am not in the TESOL program here at Nazareth, so as I mentioned, it's not my first instinct to think about best practices for English language learners and how to accomplish literacy in these individuals. Sarah talks about the article by Moll et al. (1992) and switching the mindset to what "students couldn't do, to what their students could do." This quote reminded me of the article by Cline and Necochea (2003) which had a focus on not being read to in the traditional sense as children, but the idea that just because they didn't have this, does not mean they don't still have rich traditions which have helped them develop literacy in other ways. 

"The pathways to literacy are many, but unfortunately not all are cherished or even acknowledged in school settings or the traditional literacy canon" (Cline and Necochea, 2003, p. 124). 

 This relates back to Sarah's point about learning the other "funds of knowledge" students have and their backgrounds /experiences being appreciated by American schools. My question for Sarah with this in mind would be: When incorporating culture and social backgrounds of students in the classroom, how can we ensure we are meeting the standards for teaching and focus on skill-building while still holding true to praising the strengths and experiences students already have?

Press

Something I would like to press Sarah on more is the idea of continuing to teach at the holistic level. What does this look like to you? I loved your quote when describing your own future classroom: 

"No student comes to us a blank slate. Rather than seeing the deficits, I want to rejoice in the valuable and diverse experiences that can enrich the classroom and support learning" (Seymour, 2022). 

I know Sarah poses this a similar question at the end of her post regarding changing the narrative in her future classroom. I want to push that a little bit further by asking her to think about those specific ways in which to accomplish that shift in thinking and how we as future teachers are able to incorporate Muhammad's (2020) Historically Responsive Literacy (HRL) Framework, or how we bring identity and cultural experiences into our learning environments. How will you "rejoice in the valuable and diverse experiences" that children can bring to a classroom?

References:

Beauchat, K. A., Blamey, K. L., & Walpole, S. (2009). Building Preschool Children's Language and Literacy One Storybook at a Time. The Reading Teacher, 63(1), 26–39. 

Cline, Z., & Necochea, J. (2003). My mother never read to me. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 47(2), 122–126.

Moll, L., Amanti, C., Neff, D., and Gonzalez, N. (1992). Funds of Knowledge for Teaching Using a Qualitative Approach to Connect Home and School. Theory into Practice, 31(2), 132-141.