One of the biggest "take aways" from this weeks readings is that fact that print is everywhere. In our daily environments, we see different forms of print in advertising, on license plates, on grocery store receipts, and...well...everywhere! After reading "Letting Go of the 'Letter of the Week'" article, I better understand how to promote literacy and print recognition to young children. The position paper by the IRA/NAEYC also helped me understand that children need to see print as it is related to them. It makes sense that kindergartners would shout out the names of their favourite restaurants when presented with the company's name (...or logo, rather).
I have never thought about the need to make print relevant to children before. I guess this is why so many kindergarten teachers spend so much time on introducing classmates names and the different letters involved in those names; children learn best if the concepts they are presented are connected in some sort of personal way to themselves.
Isn't that how we all learn best, though? Wouldn't you learn better about a plant fungus that was rare if you knew it grew in your hometown? Wouldn't you approach chemistry with more gusto if 80% of the people in your hometown worked at the state's chemical factory? Why is it that once we reach middle school, our education becomes less relevant to us? I am now on a goal to make education not only meaningful and hands-on, but now also relevant to my students.
I agree with you, that when education is more relevant to us it is easier to learn. I liked the idea of boasting the child's reading by making sure they knew that they could read logos and symbols, even if they couldn't read a book.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you that relevance is crucial to all types of education. I think one reason that education becomes less relevant through the upper grades is because of the huge push for standardized test scores. Learning is all about making the school look good, not making the students happy. Students are being taught a test, not taught about the world they live in everyday.
ReplyDeleteI feel that in middle school and high school we become overwhelmingly aware that we have these strong interests and opinions. Being told that we absolutely have to read and write about things that are not relevant to us is the ultimate killjoy. Now that I am finally in classes that are relevant to me I enjoy reading the material so much more. As a teacher I will be a total hypocrite if I stray away from providing my students with meaningful and relevant materials.
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