Double Journal entry 2

I think this is an important point to make.  It is not up to us as educators to pass any sort of judgement on the child parents or their way of life! We are called to educate all children to the best of our ability and if we allow prejudice or judgement  to cheat a child of their right to the best education we can provide we have failed not only as educators but as human beings.  We are all products of our environment but also of our experiences.  This holds true for the students who are brought into our classrooms.  We are part of their experiences and are honor bound to give them our best.

What is literacy knowledge? Give examples of both print and non print literacy knowledge. It is understanding that reading and writing involve certain aspects such as reading words out loud or writing symbols into words. How do stereotypes interfere with literacy instruction? Stereotyping someone as a dumb hick and therefor unable to learn etc means a teacher is more likely to push that student aside and focus more on the "worthy" students. How do schools and teachers contribute to poor literacy instruction in school? By allowing students who are stereotyped to be shuffled aside or placed in LD classrooms instead of pushing them to achieve more. What is the relationship between language, social class, and the denial of educational opportunity?  Many people feel that if you have a accent or use a rural or urban dialect then you are automatically from a lower class and therefore unworthy having extra time and effort put into your education. What are some misconceptions about the relationship between language and literacy? Many feel that the way a persons speaks will tell you how intelligent you are.  I know that can be true but I also know that especially in WV it is usually false.  Many who speak with a relaxed southern drawl do so simply because they feel at ease with you.  If they are speaking in what you consider not proper English consider it a compliment because you are considered a friend and an insider. What can schools and teachers do to improve literacy instruction?  Encourage reading in all aspects of life, not just academic reading.   How do you feel about use of the term "Proper English"?  I think that Proper isn't too bad but maybe business English or even Technical English is more accurate.   Next read the New York Times Opinion piece titled Tall Tales of Appalachia (Non Print: WebPage) "Outsiders came, ones who didn't care about the thriving farms. They wanted raw materials for their factories, and the mountains had them. Our mountains were covered with the largest and oldest hardwood forest that people had ever seen. The coal deposits were the richest in the world. Industrialization came here like a cyclone roaring through the mountains. People like my ancestors were bullied, threatened and cheated out of their land. By 1920, timber companies had cut the entire forest. Most of the profits left the state along with the timber and coal." You still see this today. You look at our land and see the scars from the strip mines and the over timbering but do you see the profits in our communities?  I grew up in Flemington WV.  A small town in Taylor County.  It was a coal town, one of the many.  The houses were cheaply built by the coal company and housed the workers.  My Grandma lived in one.  The house was actually split into two so that it housed two families and was so cheaply built that you could clearly understand every word of the conversations being held by the neighbors. These houses still stand and people still live in them over 7o years after the company has moved on.  This is not unique and you see it in every county.  As long as we continue to allow outside companies to come in and make money off our resources and people  we will continue to stay a poverty stricken region. (1902). Retrieved from http://www.atoztheusa.com/state_images/Timeline/WV/s-wv-1902_strike.jpg Purcell-Gates, V. (1991). "...as soon as she opened her mouth":issues of language literacy and power. InThe skin that we speakRetrieved from https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6DFAmexYq7vMGQxMjI1OTEtMjAyZS00NzJmLTg1OTUtODlmMGQ0ZDIxOTVk/edit?hl=en_US O'Brien, J. (May , 2003 05). Tall tales of appalachia. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/10/opinion/tall-tales-of-appalachia.html