End of term

It's the last week of the first term of my teacher education. My thoughts on the importance of ELA in the classroom have not changed too much since the beginning of the term, however, I did not realize at the beginning how important oracy is in the classroom, and how big of a role it could and should play.  Using audio technologies such as podcasting and voice threads seem to be a great way to engage students in oracy. 







 I found this image on google's homepage today to be very appropriate. Tom Sawyer ‘tricking’ kids into painting the fence, used in the article Tom Sawyer, Teaching and Talking (from Adolescent Literacies) as a metaphor for the teacher-learner relationship.  Teachers have to get students interested in the material so that work becomes fun, just like chores.  But more than that, it’s Tom’s high level ability to use oracy to convince his peers that something is fun and interesting that appeals to me; to give every student in the classroom the skills and confidence in their oracy abilities that they too can be a ‘Tom Sawyer’. 

I find it interesting that students have far less diverse vocabulary at school then they do at home.  Someone brought up the fact that in school, students are so used to being talked at, that they hardly get a chance to talk themselves. 

I envision my ELA classroom to not only be enriched with written language, but also spoken language.  Fostering healthy communication between peers, and facilitating meaningful group discussions is a way to start to build a democratic society in the classroom, which is the ultimate goal.  Students should feel like they have a voice, and through ELA learn to express themselves in many mediums and for many purposes.