"Literacy With an Attitude" by Patrick J. Finn

CONNECTIONS

This reading by Finn and the reading by Oake's share many of the same great points when discussing the education system. I really liked the fact that the readings were told from a different perspective, yet they both had the same conclusion of the education system and how it's not really working the way it needs to. Oake's gave the general outlook on how the system is currently working as a whole and although her article was very effective, I think that Finn's perspective gave more of an insight from within the schools.

Since Finn was a teacher himself, he was able to give us the details of how the classes were split up by level and how it didn't really work out. He shared with the readers, his own methods that he kind of admitted were ineffective. It was more like he was just giving them work to keep them busy and quiet. And his administrators seemed to admire him for that. I think both of these readings can also relate back to the Silenced Dialogue's. The students are just being given orders, not really being taught. If the classroom is always quiet, how are students supposed to ask questions? How are they supposed to learn? I think it's great that Finn started to realize what he was doing wasn't working so he put his time and effort into something that is very important. Now he reads, writes and teaches about literacy and language. The material that the more middle class schools were learning did not seem to be up to par with the level of material that the higher level schools were earning. Some teachers even say that the material is too difficult for the students so they give them something easier. This connects right back to Freedom Writers when Mrs. G wanted to give the students books that they should be reading as sophomores in high school and the English department head said that those books were "too hard" for the students. That assumption should not be made, maybe if the teachers gave them the opportunity and showed the students that they believed in them they would be surprised how much all students can learn.

When teachers were asked why they have their students mindlessly copy notes. Their responses were less than impressive. On  teacher said "They're lazy. I hate to categorize them, but they're lazy." This teacher is a a great example of how we can fail our children. Students are in school to get an education and too often that education is replaced with obedience. Teachers just do whatever they need to keep their students quiet and copying stuff down. Instead of being creative and thinking of ways to interact with the students and make their education enjoyable! Finn's way of connecting pictures with history and literacy makes it much more engaging for the students. It is also imperative to try to let students connect what they are learning in school to their own life experiences. If they can make a connection it makes the information easier to learn and more enjoyable!

Both Finn and Oake made great points about having different levels in schools for example my high school had B level, A level, Honors and AP. Most students would be in A level or honors and there would be about 50 students in both B and AP. The B level was the so-called "lowest level" the school offered and AP was the "highest level". There was a great difference in the material that B level and AP students would worked on. They tend to measure students capability by tests, so in that sense I believe that there are students in B classes that are more than capable of doing AP work. The way a students intelligence is measured does not match up to what they can be capable of!

Comments: I really enjoyed this reading and I enjoyed the background that Finn gave the readers. It makes the reading a lot easier when you know a little bit about the writer! It was great that we watched Freedom Writers in class last week because that can really connect to both of these readings.

Hyperlink: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKIu9yen5nc
Big creators like Bill Gates and Mark Zucherberg talk about how they started out with simple things and just kept building off of it to create what they did! Based on technology and how now literacy and writing has taken a back seat

Just because a student doesn't have strength in the testing area does not mean they are not capable of being in high classes doing harder work. This cartoon shows that not everyone has the same ability in certain areas.