Memo #1: To my fellow educators
Welcome to the Power of Knowing Your Discipline Literacy
My Discipline
I have to admit I was not a studious student as a child maybe because
my parents were not educated or maybe because they didn’t know how
to read themselves or both or maybe the school I attended didn’t care
about my kind of student or maybe all of the above. You see my first
language was not English it was Spanish and when I started school they
were teaching in English and I needed to be taught in Spanish. So
began the struggle of educating Elsa. This may not seem at all such a
big deal, but to a five year old it is. I had to learn how to speak English
and also learn how to read and write English too. As you can see the
odds were against me, but I survived. I learned to speak, read and write
in English. Thus, bringing me to discover I wanted to help children like
me learn in any language. I want to help children who are caught in the
web. Trapped with no way of getting out the traditional way. I had to
learn how to survive my way out of school. Then I became an educator
to help children learn nontraditionally. I have a discipline/philosophy that
I use and has helped me teach children of all academic levels to achieve
success in literacy. I know I need to motivate students to learn and if I
can motivate my students to learn, then together we have achieved our
goals.
Knowledge
It is important to know the Standards set by DPI, which
after reading them I realized how important it is to know
them and internalize them to help me be a better
educator. These six core academic standards are
essential to teaching all students. I also included the
following website for more insight,
(http:/21languages2worlds.wordpress.com/2010/12
/27/bilingual-literacy/), which helped me understand
my responsibilities as an educator. Knowing and
understanding the responsibilities and the impact we
have as educator will make teaching fun and meaningful
for our students.
Understanding your Discipline
The tools available to assist you in teaching
are countless. There are the traditional
methods, for example, the blackboard,
books, magazines, newspaper, etc., And
now we have technology, for example the
computer, internet, computer programs
etc. But what good are these tools if we do
not diversify. Our students come from
diverse backgrounds and we need to use
all these materials to bring diversity in the
classroom. The technology bridges the
gap to provide diversity in teaching and
learning.