August 20, 2007

• Topic: Back to work (in 15min)

  I’m going to attempt to dedicate 10-15min. of each evening to recapping my day, the events, thoughts, and other things I come to think of. 

  I woke up this morning around 7:15am, and got out for a 4-mile run around Prospect Park.  Instead of my usual run inside the park, I ran the longer sidewalk route, which involves a larger whiff of traffic and brings me to the limit of where I normally spend my free time, that being the neighborhoods of East Flatbush and beyond.  I felt pretty good during the run, repeating occassionaly a mantra in my head that, “I love running,” and “This exercise is good for me,” and, “I can’t wait for getting back home already!”

  I got back, placed my camping mat in front of the tv, and did some push-ups, sit-ups, and stretching, while taking in a few minutes of Sports Center and the morning news programs.  Later, I hopped on my bike and made the 2mile trip west to the school I work at in Red Hook, PS/MS27.

  The PD as they’re called, was about literacy.  Our two presenters are literacy coaches from a program called AUSSIES, and oddly enough they’re actually Australians brought here to help teachers learn how to teach reading.  It almost sounds like a strange concept, but there is a whole lot that goes in to the learning of the teaching of reading.  I’ve been getting a lot deeper into the process of making meaning out of what one reads, and how I personally need to do this, and then explicitly teach this to kids. 

  To better explain this, think of a child who is struggling to read, or just doesn’t get it.  What skills are involved in reading something and “getting it?”  As was discussed today, the skills include making connections between what one reads and the background knowledge the reader brings to a particular text, as well as “thinking aloud,” to oneself, to make meaning of what is being read.  Something I have often struggled with is not recalling bits of information because I wasn’t internalizing that I was reading it, the sensation of reading a page and having no idea of what was read.

  I came back and picked up some vegetables to roast for dinner.  Carrots, squash, yams, cauliflower, brocolli, and onions, with tumeric, salt, and pepper sprinkled on top.  It didn’t turn out quite as delicious as when my mom has made it, perhaps because I was out of oil, but with rice it made a nice dinner.  After, around 7pm, I walked 5 blocks down 7th Ave. to the Barnes & Nobles, where I indulged in some free magazine reading.  Newsweek had a few articles on colleges that gripped me.  One was aoubt colleges that are “going green,” by having various events to enrourage environmentally sound purchases of energy efficient lightbulbs and refrigerators, using bio-degradable plates and utensils, and creating buildings using solar energy.  Another article was about problems involving mental health on college campuses, especially since the Virginia Tech shootings.  The article reported that it is becoming more common for students to go see a mental health counselor at some point, and although I have yet to go this road, one specialist noted that having your mental health checked should be viewed along the lines of having ones teeth checked by a dentist.

  The interesting connection that I have today, is both how my own learning of how people (not just kids) learn reading, has actually improved my own reading (and I believe my listening and other life skills).  In so doing, I have begun to see how my own issues in college may have been caused by deficits I had in reading, or lacking background knowledge to engage with my assigned readings.  This issue, I believe, contributed to some of the  unmotivation and apathy (if that counts as a mental health issue), that I experienced, especially at the end of college.

  Your thoughts, comments, and questions…

  • 10:42 pm
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