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If I am completely honest, the readings from this week stressed me out. I specifically want to discuss chapter three, “The War on Youth Culture.” My attention was drawn to this chapter mainly because as educators I believe we are supposed to be the biggest advocate for the children we are privileged to teach. So I began the chapter trying to figure out what war is occurring, and how can I make sure my students don’t experience it, only to discover the war they are in is against me, educators! I appreciate this chapter because it has led me to think, “Am I set in my ways?” The answer is yes. While, as a college student I’d like to believe that I am in the “know” and that I am hip to the latest trends, the reality is, there is an eighth grader somewhere who knows about the newest of new, and it will be on a topic I have never heard nor would I ever research. As a matter fact, come to think of it, there is an app now that allows students to scan their work sheet and a site will lead them to the answer key. (I’ve seen it in my tutoring). This chapter zeroes in on where the next generation is going, and the lack of implementing it in the classroom. I am baffled why Educators, including myself could be so smart, yes so lost on the things happening around us. Chapter 1 of the text explained to us how teachers haven’t been able to meet standards due to the growing popular demands of technology in the room, yet there hasn’t been much implementing of such. Such problems lead me to think, is this a pride issue or a funding issue? Also it makes me question, what are we teaching and learning in getting our license. Teachers should be encouraged to always be flexible and ready to adapt to the times. Teaching isn’t a one way street.

I love how the text mentions video games and the benefits of it because I took a course last semester where all we did was play an online game, we selected an avatar, shopped for the avatar, and lived through the avatar. Because I am old fashion this course seemed like a waste of my time, however, reflecting back, similar to the text, I can see how this same online game implemented and “developed brain development, skills such as critical thinking, choice making, understanding of demographic and plot construction. “(pg 42) In addition, we only communicated via messenger which if held accountable, we could’ve enforced writing rules. None the less, even in Universities technology has a higher demand and is being put to use. Should that change in 10 years, even with our license and all of this teaching, educators absolutely have to adapt. It’s so necessary for students to feel like their classroom does equip them for the real world and feels like a place relatable to their everyday life. (Video game, blogs, vlogs, videos, YouTube and online streaming)

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Chapters three and four of this week’s readings were the most intriguing to me, namely the statistics found in chapter four.  As many others have commented on, I too had never realized that in the U.S., we spend three times as much for each incarcerated pupil than for each student.  I think that this can be related to many of the problems discussed such as dropout rates, exclusiveness, etc.  If students and their school districts are not receiving adequate amounts of funding, it is indisputable that their education will be varied and will not have access to the same resources those of wealthier schools have.

As for chapter three, I enjoyed the discussion of pop culture and teaching to a student’s world and surroundings and understanding that allowing them to draw from multiple and various cultures is extremely beneficial and important not only in their growth as scholars, but as people.  Throughout high-school I remember my teachers using relevant technology such as twitter feeds, facebook pages, podcasts, youtube, etc. to highlight pop culture and relate the “teenage world” we were familiar with to whatever it was we were learning about.  I think this would be a great way to engage students and even to highlight societal problems that could lead to their learning about diversity and inclusion, all the while incorporating standards.

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I enjoyed reading Parmar and Krinsky. One particular aspect I agreed upon was in chapter 2 where they write, "[A]ll content-area teachers should be incorporating critical literacy into their classrooms" (Parmar and Krinsky 34)". I think many high schools are going in this direction. At my FEEP in Whitehall all of the teachers from every department had the responsibility of incorporating literature into their lessons, and I think this is very important. The population of people who can read and write at a level that can advance them in their professional lives is much lower than acceptable, and incorporating very simple aspects of reading and writing in other subject areas can greatly increase those skills. Additionally, I believe that if people were introduced to literacy in areas of their interests other than ELA classrooms (science, math, etc.), then they may be more inclined to enjoy it in their ELA classrooms, and be more willing to increase their knowledge on the subject.

Later in the chapter the authors also make valid points about why it is important for teachers to incorporate media in their classrooms. The authors write, "your students are heavily knowledgeable and influenced by media both positively and negatively" (Parmar and Krinsky 42). I believe both parts of that statement are extremely important. It is pretty clear that students are influenced by media, especially as technology so rapidly progresses and becomes a larger part of daily life. Students are connected through media at all times, and I can only see it becoming more important to future generations. Besides that, the fact that they are extremely knowledgeable in that area is important. Everyone is knowledgeable in what they are genuinely interested in, and if that happens to be media in this case than using it as a tool in the classroom is a great catalyst for learning about subjects that they might not find interesting otherwise.

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I think one of the most important thing that educators can do is help students connect their own PERSONAL experiences and as well as their own identity, which is what this text emphasized a lot. This text talked a lot about how the narrative in schools has definitely stayed the same for so long and the texts we are teaching in schools have not changed for years. That is because they have focused entirely on a white narrative, instead of exposing all kinds of different diverse texts for their students. There are many statistics about the reason for the huge achievement gap with African American and Latino students, and one of the main one is lack of representation in curriculum. This makes them fall behind long before they even reach their potential.

Another point that i found interesting is how students are measured in school, intelligence and grade wise. The text made me think a lot about how I think that the way that students should be graded and tested. There should be much less of an emphasis on standardized testing as well as numbers in general. Although the pressure can be very real for teachers to stick to the exact common core standard, I believe that grasping ideas and showing growth and improvement from the beginning of the year should be much more emphasized. This is a perfect example of the common phrase "know your students," because knowing your students is the only way that you can know what is best for them to succeed. Many students need different tactics and strategies for students to take their own path to success.

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One of the exercises suggested within the Parmer and Krinsky that I found particularly interesting was one categorized as a "bi-lingual teaching opportunity" (80). Within this exercise, students are asked to examine the type of diction used within two novels (one of which uses standard English and the other that features ebonics). The students are then asked to critically analyze the  importance of dialects in general, as well as its relation to both cultural identity and widespread societal discrimination. Historically speaking, many of these dialects have originated from or are used within marginalized, often minority communities. Because of this, these dialects are considered inferior just like the people who speak that way (obviously not my personal belief). What's then great about the Parmer and Krinsky exercise is that it allows the students to simultaneously identify their personal biases and identity, but also look at the historical and social context surrounding speech.
This in turn can very easily lead into a conversation about oppression and social injustice all the while still focusing on the technical English components of rhetoric and diction.

There is a similar exercise that was implemented in a school somewhere in Oakland California that we watched a video about last year in our Structure of the English Language course. Within this particular school, they used AAVE and SE interchangeably to teach English in general. The teachers considered the students "bi-lingual" and made sure to place AAVE on the same level as SE. Because of this, the children weren't afraid to speak in their dialects as long as they learned how to change between the two properly. It was truly amazing how eager the children were to learn when their own language was simply used, and more importantly valued by their teachers. I will attach the link to the video below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX1-FgkfWo8

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Through chapters 1-5, Priya and Krinsky are able to highlight many issues that exist within education and how we, as educators, can contribute to making the landscape better through varied approaches. As they begin with describing the direction in which schools govern themselves (technocratic and positivist in nature), it allowed for me to reflect on my own grade school experiences and how this may have affected my learning (Priya & Krinsky, pg. 2). The stats given in chapter 1 showcases how current educational practices  have failed the students when it comes to rating the US and other industrialized and developed nations. Some alarming stats that striked me particularly were: “The U.S. spends almost three times as much per prisoner as it does per public school pupil”, “American schools are re-segregating: 73 percent of Black students and 78 percent of Hispanic students are in predominantly minority schools” and “Teachers in high poverty schools are more likely to have less experience, less training, and fewer advanced degrees than teachers in low-poverty schools.” (Priva & Krinsky pg. 4). These are some stats that I have could see first-hand, coming from an impoverished community in Youngstown, Oh. These stats allow light to be shed on factors that work against the plight of students within the public-school sphere. As an aspiring educator, it can sometimes feel as if there is not a way to effectively combat the many issues that we will face. Priva & Krinsky do a great job of explaining ways that we can work to progressing the current state of education.

High stakes testing has forced a lot of educators to abandon creative and individualized instruction to focus more of test material. In light of this, it is still important to find ways to reach the children beyond test preparation. Priva & Krinsky note that creating your own assessments, collect, record and report your own data along with the state testing will be helpful in determine students’ ability (pg. 11). They also noted the transition of historical ELA practices and how culture is playing a role in how students learn. Taking the information from these chapters and applying it to my own pedagogy collectively will help me to be a better prepared educator.

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One of the biggest discussions in education is growth versus proficiency. I feel that this is something that seems fairly obvious at face value that we need to teach to every student and focus on them at an individual level, but the main issue we set just one bar that we require every student to learn to. In reality, that just won’t happen. That only makes us teach to standards instead of making the most out of the time we have with our students to make our lessons stick and create an impact. As Ms. D said in the reading, they will only be testing a fraction of what we have taught them, and in a very direct way. We are forced to try to create curriculum where our students are being taught all of the standards, while still reaching them on a personal level with great literature and lessons that will prepare them for whatever they choose in life.

It’s clear, with all of this in mind, why some schools are failing while others flourish, especially at a high school level. When we are just teaching to targets, our students don’t really care about the lesson. We are choosing high-stakes testing over our students’ education to keep our schools funded. We are not teaching for the underscoring African Americans or Hispanics because we don’t feel they will reach that proficiency, so why waste our time? Why teach to those who know how to write the five-paragraph paper—they already get it. We need to change the way we access students to change this system.

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I think one of my main takeaways from these chapters is that we need to expose our students to a wide variety of texts in order to expand their worldviews, and second we need to teach them to make connections with the texts so that they are thinking critically and not just being passive readers. As we know from the reading students are very affected by the type of literature they are reading and it is up to us to give them a wide variety of perspectives so they are not just seeing the world from one point of view.
I think chapter three on pop culture really relates to my second take away because just like you can be a passive reader you can also be a passive observer of pop culture. If students learn to just absorb everything they see in pop culture and they don't learn how to question it critique it and come to their own conclusions about it then they won't be thinking for themselves and they will be subject to the many negative influences pop culture can have. We have to teach our students to connect and critique what they see in pop culture just like we have to teach them how to connect with and critique what they read so they can form their own opinions and ideas and not be influenced by everything they see.

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I really enjoy how Critical Literacy in English Literature is not just your average literature textbook. It's different because it provides suggestions, activities, and pedagogical ideas that teachers can use in their own classrooms, instead of having to interpret the text in their own way and still being unsure of how to use the content knowledge. The sample lesson plans that incorporate many alternative texts are a great resource to teachers and are something you would not find in a standard literacy textbook.

Another thing that I have enjoyed so far about the Parmar and Krinsky textbook was the way that it used statistics and how it incorporated students opinions. I've read a lot of different textbooks during my time in school, but not many of them have done a  good job of incorporating students opinions on different materials, mostly because students opinions are often overlooked. So I definitely appreciated that change of pace. The statistics that this textbook uses were also extremely important and unconventional because they didn't sugarcoat anything. They really showed different ways that our education system is failing and didn't shy away from some hard-hitting truths, such as the statistic about how schools are re-segregating and the statistics right in the beginning of chapter one about dropout rates and "dropout factories."

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I will be focusing my padlet post on chapters two and three of this weeks reading, I found the opening to chapter two very interesting as it started with a poem from a high school student. That poem spoke to me because of how completely accurate it is. We grow up learning that Columbus discovered America and there is obvious prominence of the "white is right" mentality seen even in our literature in schools. This has been something that has bothered me since high school and I want to correct this when I become a teacher. As Freire says, we need to teach our students to think critically when it comes to their literacy. Memorization and vocabulary are not enough we need to make our students think in a more holistic way. I have read Friere for another class and I enjoy hearing his perspective on different topics and it is easy to see that he is truly passionate about creating a society that is culturally equal and democratic.

My favorite part of this weeks reading was the section on pop culture and youth literacy in chapter three. The way the text describes reducing youths to spectacles and the effects this has on children was a very intriguing concept. We are narrowing the identity of children through pop culture and excluding a majority of children by using a common protagonist in pop culture literature and media. This may be changing as television shows begin to feature homosexual and multiracial adolescents, but I believe we are still very far away from pop culture being reflective of the youth of today. During the reading a culture is defined as a "particular way of life" and America is used to living a certain way and I believe that is why it is so difficult for us to adjust pop culture today. For example, look at President Trump; he is a pop culture backlash. In my opinion, older generations did not like the way the media and pop culture were progressing under Obama and so Trump was elected as a white backlash to the progress. This may not be true but that is how I see it through my eyes.

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Through the guiding questions this week, I felt that the opening poem in the text was a simple, yet perfect example of how we can use texts to make self connections for our students. This poem is a poem that personally, made me laugh as I read it outloud to my high school brother. He instantly found humor (and truth) within these stanzas. Although this is not a complex way to connect text to our student's lives, I think that this exact poem could serve as an engaging, light hearted hook in a lesson to get our students engaged and excited about learning.
Next, another big point that stood out to me was on page five of the text where the educators spoke out on their views of standards and high stakes testing. Standards can be intimidating not only to our students, but to teachers as well, which was a point that I was sure to pay attention to, to keep myself in check in my future career. One teacher noted that she feels her lessons suffer through her stress and concern for meeting standards. With this, I think it is important to note that standards can be met, but we can still apply our standards directly to our student to create an environment conducive to learning. For example, we must note that all students are not on the same level, and though the same "standards" should be held (and must be held) the same for all students, reaching these standards will and can look different from students to student.

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One of the first things in the Parmar and Krinsky reading that really leaped out at me was the simple fact that due to living areas, American schools are re-segregating. The book describes "73 percent of Black students and 78% of Hispanic students are in predominantly minority schools"(Parmar and Krinsky 4). These are absolutely astounding numbers to me, and proves that our school system has not been successfully diversifying as to include people from all walks of life. While this problem can be caused simply by geographics or living spaces within a community, it is important to understand the potential struggles for the school system in that community. Issues like this could mean school systems need more ELL staff, which definitely costs money!

Another area in the reading that I wanted to reflect on was at the beginning of Chapter 2, when we were asked to define literacy. To me, literacy obviously means being able to read and write of course, however, I feel as though there is much more to that. Literacy is not just the ability to read and write, but also the act of using those skills as to connect and communicate with those around you. (or not around you!) Literature has far-reaching impacts and I believe it really does have the power to connect people that never would have been so otherwise. I tie this idea back into Chapter 3, where Parmar and Krinsky use literature to explore class, race, gender and power. Literature used the correct way have a lot of power in the classrooms, and can be used to teach some hard-to-navigate topics. What are some books other than the few named in this section that we could use in our future classroom to teach some more difficult topics?

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The first chapter of Critical Literacy… brought up some valid worries that I have had about teaching. It mentioned a certain scenario about a teacher that was struggling to keep his students engaged because his principal was pressuring him about the standardized testing; he was just trying to get through the material instead of worrying about the students actually learning it. I had many teachers in high school that taught this way and I don’t know if it was because they felt pressured by the tests, or they were just trying to cover too much material at once. Just because he was covering the material, didn’t mean his students were learning anything from it. I think students learn the most when they enjoy what they’re doing and connect with the material. Kelly Gallagher gives us so many different activities to use for all material that needs taught and I think if we take the time to teach it in ways the students connect to, they’ll learn more.

I really liked Parmar and Krinsky’s mention of the student voice in the ELA classroom (15). All they really did was ask for feedback from a group of students about their least favorite activity in their classroom. This feedback could help you decide what activities are important to the students. This gives them the power over their own learning and many students respond well to that. I also enjoyed the portion that talked about cultural literacy because I think that’s something we have talked about in many of our classes to this point (37). Using activities such as “My Neighborhood Spot” (Gallagher 35), “What My Childhood Tasted Like” (Gallagher 44), or a “Top Ten List” (Gallagher 55) would help you learn more about your students’ backgrounds and what they hold important to them; it also helps teach expressive and reflective writing. Using this information, we can better find literature to use in the classroom that fits with the standards we are trying to reach and also connects to the students’ lives. This way they feel like what they are doing in school is useful and relevant to their life outside of school. It also helps teach a very important aspect of ELA, writing. I think we could launch students' learning by letting students write about things they know and are important to them. From there, we build upon their skills to more professional settings while still letting them choose topics they care about.

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I've always felt strongly and have been most interested in education texts that include student voices. I knew this book by Parmar and Krinsky would be valuable to me because student opinions were voiced in the very first chapter of what they think about their own educations and how we, as teachers of ELA, are constantly impacting it by the choices we make. Something one student said that stood out to me was, "I dislike that we have to read old and dated books like the ones that Shakespeare wrote. Why do we focus on so many of his books? Why can't we learn about stuff that's interesting or read about people from the twenty-first century?"  Last semester, I did a project on this very idea, arguing that I think there should be a balance of old and new literature in English classrooms. That way, students will be able to get a glimpse for where writing used to be versus where it is now. Students could see how some themes have held up over times, while other aspects have grown as they have. Some educators may not have ever been able to realize this without our students speaking up.

I also LOVED that chapters 4 and 5 had ideas for lessons and discussions based on certain topics that would be useful in an English classroom, and with specific novels attached to them. This section was very reminiscent of Kelly Gallagher's book since they both incorporate specific tools and ideas that I could very easily see in a future classroom. I think it would be very easy to even combine some of these activities so that students could both write and discuss elements of these novels at the same time. My favorite activity in this book goes with Sherman Alexie's Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, a book that I read last year and thoroughly enjoyed. I love the activity on page 105 that allows students to get a glimpse at what it's like to live with various physical disabilities. I think that this would open a lot of student's minds up to a world they are not familiar with and build more empathy for people who encounter physical struggles every day. Students would be able to discuss their thoughts with each other or simply journal their thoughts and build on their new ideas through writing.

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Chapter 5 of the Parmar and Krinsky text, titles "Race Wars", is particularly relevant to what I've been talking about in my other classes and even with friends because of the current political climate in the United States. Teachers need not only to recognize diversity but embrace it through valuing it in their classrooms and lessons. It's important for students to learn to value diversity and to learn about other cultures and people, including those not even represented in their classroom or even in their school. I think in the case of a school with limited diversity it is even more important to teach the value of diversity and to teach students to respect people from all backgrounds, cultures, social contexts, etc.
There is an activity in the unit plan pertaining to The Absolutely True Diary of A Part Time Indian that is a class discussion titled "Winners and Losers" that I particularly like. The discussion is meant to get the students to think about the notion of winners and losers in our society. The activity facilitates discussion about race without being blatant which forces the students to come to the conclusion on their own, something that will cause much more growth and learning. This discussion will push the boundaries of students' knowledge of equality and equal opportunity by pointing out the idea that there really are "winners" and "losers" in society and we don't necessarily get to choose which category we fall under. This activity gets real and encourages deep thought so it's definitely something I could see myself using with my future students.

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The Gallagher text gives good examples of how to apply every day things to leaning in the classroom. On pgs 91-94, we can see how the author was inspired to create a comparison model for old war films through helping her daughter buy a car. Similarly different style and forms of text can inspire you to create new ways for students to learn. I remember cartoon strips being real big in high school. We would read different cartoons and then be expected to produce what we learned in class in to a cartoon.

It was interesting to read about how teachers who are evaluated on test scores can feel pressure to change them. While I do tend to agree that teachers should be based on performance, I think there are different ways to do it. In the end, the student ends up suffering more than anyone else. Effort should be spent to prepare students for what they have to face, and if they fail, strategies should be adapted to help them move forward.

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One of the things that really stood out to me from the reading were the list of statistics listed in chapter 4.  Some of the statistics I have heard of already, but some of the new information I had never heard of and I could not even imagine to be true.  For example, I knew that the US spends three times as much money on prisoners that kids in the school system. This is wrong on so many levels but thats besides the point. One fact that I did not know existed was that schools are re-segregating  and that black and Hispanic students are being put into minority separated schools. I thought that schools were just separated by poverty lines.  This really makes you think that as a teacher, we are the change and the fresh ideas coming through the school system.  We have to fight for inclusiveness.

Another point in the reading that really stood out to me and brings the idea of the student's achievement in schools is teachers and reaching test score requirements. Reading about how teachers are embellishing and amping on scores on their own merit instead of the students should never be something they feel they need to do. Instead of putting the pressure on the teachers to teach the kids the material they need to succeed, we need to look to the school's administrations in hiring qualified teachers and giving them money for the proper resources. It breaks my heart that teachers feel the need to fake test scores to either save their school or save their own ass, but either way a change needs to be made. The students and their right to a fair and enriched education is the top priority.

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I was immediately intrigued but chapter three of the Parmar & Krinsky text about "The War on Youth Culture". I related to the concept that most teachers reject pop culture (and its many, many meanings) as something that is "simplistic" and that it "corrupts" youths. The text made a point that "a school is where children should be given the skills with which to navigate, participate, and make sense of the world" (Parmar & Krinsky 47). How can we as teachers help students "make sense of the world" if we aren't allowing them to explore the culture that is around them. The text also said that teachers will often use pop culture media as a reward after learning "actual useful things". This is something that I remembered from my own high school education. When I was a sophomore in high school, my English teacher had us read "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer about the life of Chris McCandless to learn about transcendentalism. After we had done an extensive unit about this book, our teacher "rewarded" us by letting us watch the movie "Avatar" which also shows aspects of transcendentalism. But after watching the movie, we did not discuss how this was used or analyze anything about it. We simply moved onto the next unit. A better use of our time would have been comparing and contrasting the book and movie or even just watching the movie and discussing its role with transcendentalism. Teachers, like mine, often overlook pop culture and how it can be useful in their classroom. But, if we want students to grow and have useful skills we must evolve our teaching methods to include pop culture rather than stray away from it because it isn't "useful".

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I found chapter three of the Parmar & Krinsky text particularly interesting. For instance on page 46 there’s discussion around video games and their position as literary texts. The book brings up a free game called Ring of the Orbis which is a companion to the Softwire book series and I was curious enough to try it out. I didn’t have any familiarity with the series so I figured it would be interesting. I spent about 30-45 minutes playing, and it very much reminded me of a phone game with 24 hour timers and sending units on quests. However I did experience a few storytelling moments during my playtime, but these were very brief and not worth any deep thinking or discussion. I would not recommend using it for class but the idea of using games as literary texts appeals to me in general and this prompted me to think of what games I might consider. The first thing that comes to mind is a personal favorite of mine The Stanley Parable, below is a link to a complete run of the game without commentary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3UxRa_-9UU

On page 47 the book brings up other alternative texts such as Japanese comics also known as manga. While personally I enjoy various mangas and animes (cartoon adaptations of manga) I would point out that probably part of the reason they haven’t made it to the classroom is the plot structures they follow. Similar to American comics they are released in small pieces and the storytelling can be very drawn out making it difficult to fit into a classroom schedule. Add to that the difficulty of finding popular mangas with English translations that also have significant literary “merit” and I feel like our effort as teachers is better served elsewhere. I would suggest looking at Chinese or Korean light novels instead.  Though if you’re looking for a visual piece to watch FLCL (Also found as Furi Kuri, or Fooly Cooly) is a piece worth examining and has a total run time under 3 hours. I’ll post a link of where you can watch it below, but I also own a hard copy of it for anyone interested.
http://kissanime.ru/Anime/FLCL

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I think that many of the real-world writing activities modeled in the Gallagher text could be woven into the sample lesson plans that teach critical literacy in the Parmar and Krinsky text; in short, I think that real-world writing and critical literacy complement one another. For example, the critical literacy questions about Ebonics and dialect in the novel Push (along with the activity called “Dialect Detectives” on page 82) could go along with the “My Favorite Words” (71) writing activity in the Gallagher text. Instead of using dictionary words, students could create slang journals and/or dialect journals as they read the novel. It would also be useful to discuss the difference between slang and dialect before doing this activity, and students would also need to do some research on the words that they include in their journals. I also think that the opening activity for the novel Push called “Power Walk” (78) weaves in some real-world writing. Students are supposed to act as “investigative journalists” by writing an article on their local neighborhood(s), exploring issues of wealth and race. I don’t think that there is a specific Gallagher connection that I can make to this activity, but it does incorporate a variety of the short real-world writing activities that Gallagher details.

In general, I think that doing real-world writing, particularly writing that helps students insert themselves into the topics being explored, will help them critically analyze difficult topics. For example, having students write and share their own personalized “Unwritten Rules” (Gallagher 75) while reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian might help them think critically about race. I know that I always thought more deeply about what we were reading when I could think about my own relationship to it (or even my own society’s relationship to it), and Gallagher gives examples of many personalized, real-world writing activities.

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In the opening lines of the reading for this week there is poem written by a student (pg. 1). He describes his school experience as boring, test-driven, and an overall inconvenience. More and more students today feel the same exact way as “Laron” depicts in his poem. With all of this resentment towards education, future educators are needing to adjust their curriculum and teaching to regain students’ interest. I found Gallagher’s various writing activities enjoyable to read and I can imagine the positive feedback a teacher would receive if they implemented them into their lessons. Not only do they bring fun activities back into the classroom, but they can be used as devices to relate the context and content of lessons to the real world. They become relevant to the students’ lives and what they care about or what they are passionate about, creating more academic work in which students take seriously as it is over topics in which they take pride in.

On another note, page five has a segment from a student who has concerns and complaints about state testing. His point hit very close to what we have been talking about in my equity and diversity class. He mentions how all students are tested at the same level, but not everyone can do well on those tests because they are all not on the same level. This brings up the argument regarding equity versus equality. Giving everyone the same level of education is equality, however there are those students who need a little extra help. If they don’t receive that help they will just fall further behind than they already are. Equity on the other hand is understanding that everyone needs different opportunities/resources to reach the same goal, in this case the ability to pass state standardized tests and graduate. Future educators need to adjust their curriculum and teaching to incorporate various means of learning as students are all on different levels of their education. As much as it would be easy to move through your lessons at the pace you set, many students can fall behind if they never had a basis of knowledge before that lesson was introduced to them. Understanding this issue and reaching out to get the necessary help and resources makes all the difference to your students and education. Gallagher's writing activities could be used as an activity to gauge how all of your students are doing, and then work with each student giving the necessary feedback and critique for growth based on the level that they are at. Each student will progress in various increments, but this will allow you as an educator to break down the problems areas and taking the essential steps needed to get all students to the ultimate end goal.

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One thing from this week’s reading that really stood out to me and broke my heart was a statistic at the beginning of the reading: “46 percent of Black high school students, 39 percent of Hispanic and 11 percent of White students attend the 2,000 “dropout factories” across our country, defined as schools from which less than 60 percent of the freshman class will graduate in four years with a regular diploma” (4). The fact that any of our public schools could be seen as “dropout factories” is awful enough, but the fact that minority groups are far less likely to graduate than the majority adds to this tragedy.  It made me wonder what we, as teachers, can do to individually combat this – regardless of whether or not we’re in one of these low-success schools?  I wonder how much of an influence it would have on students if we implemented a lot of Gallagher’s writing activities to give students an outlet and a voice in the classroom without feeling like they were being forced to do work? If instead they were engaging in, as the first chapter by Parmar and Krinsky says, meaningful learning in an English Language Arts classroom?

In the third chapter on page 54, Parmar and Krinsky talk about closing the “home-school literacy divide” and this really made me think of the Twitter activities that Gallagher talked about on page 26.  While this can be used to expand upon the concept of a six-word memoir, it can also be used to summarize, condense, or restate material from class in a way that relates to students’ lives.  You could have a class Twitter-esque page and assign tweets as class- or homework.  I see a lot of possibilities with bringing in real-world “literacies” into the classroom so that students can better relate to and engage with the content, but this is just one idea and connection that stuck out to me.