Reflection-A Love of Words by Ralph Fletcher

This essay was about words and how they make you feel.  As writers we are constantly struggling to find the right words to use.  In order to find the right words, we often chose words that feel right to us.  These words make us feel a certain way.  I really liked the activity that the author used when going to a fifth grade class.  He wrote words on the board like persnickety and oxymoron.  Many of the students did not know what they meant so they looked them up in the dictionary.  The dictionaries in the classroom did not have these particular words in them.  The author explained that the amount of words in a students working  vocabulary has shrunk over the years.  I believe that part of this reason is that the resources given to students are over simplified.  As teachers, we should give our students every tool possible to learn as much as they can.  After the students could not find the words in the dictionary, the author sent them to the library to find a dictionary that did contain the words.  In this case I believe the students were given the proper resources to learn these words.  The next thing the author had the students do was to come up with words of their own and to explain why they chose those words.  I really like how the author took this activity to the next level.  He not only introduced them to new words, he also got their minds working by choosing their own words.  Words are very important when communicating.  People often choose words according to how they feel.  As an educator, we need to extend our vocabulary in order to help the vocabularies of our students.

Reflection-Do Teachers Communicate with Their Students as if They Were Dogs? By Lowell Madden

This essay was about how teachers praise their students.  The author said that it is very similar to praising a dog.  He said we praise dogs by using words like “Good doggy!” and “You did such a good job!.”  We, as teachers, often use similar words when praising students.  The author explained that self-perception is very important to students in their academic career, and that we should use encouragement instead of praise.  I feel it is real important how teachers encourage and discipline their students.  Every student is different and reacts to encouragement and discipline in different ways.  Teachers need to find the right way for each individual student.  The author explained that by using encouragement that is specific to their behavior that students can achieve higher levels of self-perception without completely relying on the teachers praise.  Students will eventually grow up and be adults so it is important that they don’t become dependent on others perception of them.  Too many people, especially children, tend to let what other people think of them interfere with who they really are.  If we as teachers can instill in our children a positive self-perception, than we have taught them something that is more valuable than anything we can teach them academically. 

Reflection-Myths About Acquiring a Second Language by Katharine Davies Samway and Denise Mckeon

This article was about the different myths that people usually have about language.  Reading this essay has helped me understand language better.  I was always under the impression that learning a second language as an adult was always more difficult than as a child.  This essay explains that older learners are often more efficient than younger students.  Learning a second language is not very much different than learning the first.  I think maybe the reason it seems harder is because when people learn a second language they are still using their first language most of the time.  I think it might be easier to learn a second language if it was the only form of communication.  Just because a student becomes fluent in English does not mean that they will be on the same learning level as a student whose primary language is English.  This essay can be real useful to teachers who have English learning students in their classroom.  If we can better understand how language is learned we can teach these students more efficiently.  As teachers it is not only our job to teach students to the best of our ability but to also hold our students accountable.  Teaching a student who can barely speak English is difficult, and it is important to encourage the student to want to learn not only English but all of the other academics as well.  When you hold them accountable, they are more likely to do what they need to do to get their work done.  I also believe that teachers need to do everything possible to understand their English learning student.  This might be taking some classes in that students primary language or even buying a translation dictionary.  I feel like doing this gives the student a sense of validity.  Communication is very important in education, and teachers and students should find a common ground. 

Reflection-A Linguistic Big Bang by Lawerence Osborne

This essaystarted by explaining that language is inevitable.  If left to their own devices, children would come up with their own language or form of communicaiton.  Language had to orignate some where.  There was an example in Nicaragua where deaf students had tostart at he beginning because they didn't know more that a few gestures.  Language is hard wired in the human brain.  This has to be true becasue how else would language have started.  If these deaf students were able to fully communicate with each other, then it is possible for people to learn a second language.  With the right tools neccessary, a teacher can teach any student.

Reflection-Telling Stories by Tom Newkirk and Patricia McLure

This essay was about telling stories and having discussions.  There is proper ettiquette to follow when having a conversation.  This means that you stay on topic when having a discussion and not bouncing around from topic to topic.  These ettiquettes are different in children then they are in adults.  As teachers keeping students on topic without discouraging input is very important and difficult.  Sometimes teachers can stunt their students development by not allowing certain discussions.  These students have ideas that should be heard, but teachers have the hard decision to say when enough is enough.  Many students have such passion for their opinions and can talk for hours.  Unfortunatly there is not enough in the school day.  One way a teacher can get control without discouraging students is by having them write down any other opinions or comments down, which will help with their writing skills, and the teacher can come back to that topic at a later time if neccessary.

English Con Salsa by Gina Valdes

This essay was exteremly short and exteremely powerful.  Many students live two lives especially english language learners.  They often speak a different language at home than they speak at school.  Their attitudes can also be different.  They probably treat their parents different than their parents.  These attitudes depend largely on how the authority figure lets the students treat them.  It is enevitable that students that speak two languages also think in those two languages.  This will probably bleed over to other areas of their academic career.  I feel that this is okay as long as they realize what they are doing and that they can control this and use each language at the proper time. 

It Begins at the Beginning by Deborah Tannen

This essay discusses that even though children learn from their parents they learn to talk more from their peers.  This has a lot to do with how they interact with their peers.  Boys tend to be more competitive and girls tend to be more cooperative.  When boys play with each other they tend to play within a heirarchy where girls usually listen to each other and accept each others decisions.  This is very important in a child's development.  I also agree that a child's environment especially their peers play a large role in the development of a child's language, but I don't understand how boys interacting with boys and girls interacting with girls helps or proves language theory.  Eventhough I don't understand the connection, I do belive that there is some sort of relivance in social interaction I just don't see the link.