Blog Post 2 (RLL 4430 Spring 2011): The Presence of the Past leads to the Art of Discovery

We know more about how the brain works now than we have perhaps, at any time in human history. We know that in order to incorporate new knowledge we must have an experience that connects with something we think we already know. Our brain stores information into chunks and we associate words, whether we realize it or not with other words, visual images, and with our prior experiences. How we store, how we learn and how we remembered what we have learned has huge implications for us as reading teachers. Keene spends an entire chapter recalling her reactions to Maya Angelou's, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings and associated experiences with Southern segregation, "dresses into dreams," and her realization that two folks can read a story and have entirely different experiences. I believe Keene shares these pages not only so we can see that readers have different experiences but to show the richness that each one of our students brings to the reading process. This takes time. Getting students to discuss literature in such way simply takes time and patience. As much as I do appreciate spending time in the classroom activating students prior knowledge, we also must be careful when planning instruction for students reactions potentially sensitive topics such as 9-11, so-called "terriorism," and ideas about equity. Its important for us to share our personal stories when helping students connect with new information. Chapter 5, provides us a way to have these conversations with students, and an underlying assumption is that teachers know the readings that they share with kids. How do you plan for these conversations as a teacher? What does that look like? Furthermore, who has time in the day to creating a voluntary study group with teachers? I especially value this idea of creating professional learning communities as it is essential to the life blood of the school.