Entry #5: ~Woah, We're Halfway There~

Dear Dr. Jones,

I'll admit, I did not have high hopes for this semester. I'm in two literacy courses right now - this one and one for TESOL - and I was afraid it would be much of the same content, as the descriptions for the classes were strikingly similar. 

Luckily, my worries were for naught. While certain themes and ideas have been covered in both classes, the instruction and lens of focus have been very different. Furthermore, my concerns that this would be a class on how to teach phonics and word recognition and such were squashed the first night. The holistic approach to reading used in this class is one that seems approachable to me and much more enjoyable and inclusive. Everything we've covered has been useful for building a literacy toolkit for educators.

I didn't imagine we'd be doing as much reflection on our own experiences as we have. It's been a bit difficult, since my memory is fairly poor and I don't actually remember much of my childhood or adolescence - just snippets of random events. It's given me an excuse to call my mother a lot, though, and ask to hear all about my literary upbringing. 

In addition to past experiences, I've also had to reflect on my current habits. 

Ah, my current habits.

As I've mentioned, I'm a power reader, pushing through textbooks and articles to get what I need and be done with it. I rarely try to connect with academic texts any more than I must to do my work. I know that this isn't the best way, but since I've had hundreds of pages to read every week for classes basically since I started undergrad, I've prioritized speed over all else. Upon starting college, I quickly dropped my habits of note taking and vocabulary cards and relied on my (admittedly poor) memory. And since it worked well enough, I kept to that since it saved me time. The same goes for writing. I plan in my head, write my draft - revising as I go - and then let someone else read it over for clarity before calling it good and turning it in. I rarely read my own work once my draft is finished since I've been editing and revising throughout, and I'm usually sick of my own words and thoughts at that point. 

Are these good habits? Of course not. I know that. I would be horrified if my students did the things I did. Each week as we read these articles (which I have slowed down to read and sticky note to death (I have literally run out of sticky notes in my apartment because of this class)), I note all these good strategies and how few of them I normally do. It makes me wonder how much I have missed by not connecting more with the text.

Okay, so now to Liz Kleinrock. Can I just say, I loved that presentation? She seems amazing. She made ABAR education seem doable without guilting us for not already doing it. In fact, she was so kind and conscious of the current struggles in education that it made it feel okay, no matter what amount of ABAR education we were incorporating into our work. We need to take care of ourselves, our students, and then worry about the rest. 

Combined with what we learned in class, the presentation made it clear that it's important for us to use books that promote ABAR, use practices that support the tenants of HRL for the good of all students, and be open with caregivers and colleagues what we are doing and how they can support our work. The focus of ABAR is pretty aligned with HRL, something we've been focusing on in class. 

Finally (I didn't really have a good transition to this one), the struggles I'm having with the class right now are honestly more related to my personal life and health issues affecting my motivation and ability to get work done. For this, I just need to continue to focus on taking care of myself, being patient, doing what I can when I'm feeling up to it, and trying to give myself grace. There is unfortunately not much else that can be done. 

Sincerely,

Sarah