Beers Chapter 10

Chapter 10-Beers book

     While reading this chapter, as I did the previous one, I feel that there is something different about this text book. Like the authors were not living in the fantasy land that other education text book writers are in. They really seem to have an idea of what is out there, and how to get usually disengaged high school students involved in literacy and developing their sense of what literacy means to them as an individual.

     Sometimes, it is so easy to think that these people that write education text books have forgotten what it means to be an elementary/middle/high school student. Having three younger sisters, one of which is a freshman at ONU (who coincidentally hates reading), a middle school aged sister who struggles with ADHD and a sister in preschool who is already yearning to read by herself, I personally understand what it means to address issues that each group of students face. Similarly, the people that write these books have been in advanced English and math classes and do not understand how to approach a student that hates these subjects. My fiancé despises English. Though I was in AP English all through high school with other students that were similarly motivated, I understand through him and his English experience what was wrong with it, and I can bounce my educational thoughts on him to see if that might be something that might have engaged him in the English classroom.

     (I really did read the chapter; I just had to get that off my chest.)

     I love what Beers and the other writers of this textbook do. They understand how important it is to make sure students understand why literacy might be important in their future field of study. When students understand why they are learning something, they might actually show interest in learning a topic. (I still have yet to use derivatives or the quadratic formula in my everyday life. Has anyone seen a parabola recently?)

     The author brings up the fact that literacy is constantly changing, and uses the example of the mechanic. Again, using the example of my fiancé, Keith, his father is a top-notch mechanic. People from our church, where he does not attend, call him regularly to get their cars fixed. While he is good at what he does and understands the ins and outs of car mechanics in a way I could never dream, he cannot find work in a shop because of the changing technologies. It is a real problem, and students need to be aware of it.

Throughout the chapter, the author uses ideas to enhance certain aspects of students’ education in order to help them develop a sense of their own skills and specialties. If a teacher uses these skills when teaching a lesson, students might have the opportunity to try them all, and with the help of other teachers might have the chance to find some things they really like and see themselves using. When students are good at what they are learning, they are also encouraged and motivated to keep moving forward.

     The textbook also addresses the idea that the world in which we live is becoming quickly entangled on itself. There is a sense of doing something in the United States, while being instantaneously received in India or somewhere. The world is really ours for the taking at the push of a button.

     I love the idea that students might be more likely to participate if technology is involved. Blogs and discussion boards are generally not liked by my peers, and I think it’s easier to type something up and turn it in hard copy (though this isn’t very good for the earth). I plan on using technology in my classroom, simply because it’s archaic not to. By using things like power point or publisher, or web sites that allow publishing on them, students are better equipped for the world in which they are headed if they understand that technology is so important in our world.

     Overall, I loved the ideas the chapter had, and I enjoyed reading it, because the text book really seems to epitomize how I feel about a lot of things in education.