Sherpa Richie 2/21 Class

I agree with Jack in the sense that "Rayford's Song" is a very sad story. Although seemingly unintentional, the teacher probably did silence little Rayburn for a long time, if not forever. The scary thing is that this kind of stuff probably happens more than we think in the classroom. I know that I have seen things like this occur before in my time as a student. I could see the teacher's point of view in that she probably wanted to teach Rayburn the "proper" way to speak, but went about it in the wrong way. I think this is an example of where teachers need to think "outside of the box." Instead of being concerned with the "proper" way of speaking or learning, a teacher needs to appreciate a student's willingness to be open. This takes me back to Schoenbach's article in which it talks about creating a safe environment for students to learn in. Well, in this story the teacher did not create a safe environment in my opinion.
I think the dimensions talked about in Schoenbach's article are also very interseting. I think in order for strong literacy building to occur all 4 of these dimensions have to be present. However, I agree with Anita's comment from the other day in that it is difficult to decipher the cognitive dimension from the knowledge building. I need to study these dimensions a little bit more I guess. I think another important mention in the article is that reading is not just a basic skill, but rather a process. I think many of us just do it, but don't really think about doing it. I know that sounds weird and kind of what we were talking about in class last week, but I think it is true. I think maybe if we thought about reading some more instead of just doing it, then it might be more worthwhile for us.
I would like to make Miriam one of the sherpas for next week.