After reading \u201cLooking for a struggle: Exploring the emotions of a middle school reader\u201d by Cheri Foster Triplett and \u201cRe-Seeing (Dis)Ability: Ten Suggestions\u201d by Patricia A. Dunn, I was struck by the similarities between the two articles. Dunn \u201cchallenges us to think about disability as socially constructed: that many barriers encountered by people with disabilities are not the \u2018fault\u2019 of their disability per se, but are rather a result of the ways they\u2019re treated in society\u201d (Dunn 14). Triplett\u2019s case study demonstrates that we can conceptualize struggling readers in a similar manner. Literacy thus becomes a socially constructed phenomenon that is not the sole responsibility of the students, parents, or teacher, but rather the result of the interactions between these different social frameworks.<\/p>\n
Thinking of literacy in this way really made me consider what a teacher can do to shape and manipulate the social environment of his or her classroom. Although Mitchell, the student from Triplett\u2019s article, states that he enjoys classes when teachers appear to like what the are teaching, I do not think that just enjoying one\u2019s subject matter is enough. Teachers need to actively foster an educational environment that accommodates all students. But how does one accomplish this task? Unfortunately, I don\u2019t have an answer to that question. Part of me wants to say that educators must employ the Principles of Universal Design, get to know their students personally, and consistently validate and incorporate students’ funds of knowledge into the curriculum. However, I realize that saying is easier than implementing. These three teaching principles seem to be, in some incarnation or another, the solution for everything.<\/p>\n
Although achieving a classroom that incorporates all these elements may be difficult, I think that the readings don\u2019t indicate that educators need to be successful in all these respects. My take away is that, regardless of how this is accomplished, teachers have a duty to shift a student away from a negative perception of his or her abilities to be a student.\u00a0 Perhaps Mitchell is right: if teachers construct a positive space for learning, then the finer points will follow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After reading \u201cLooking for a struggle: Exploring the emotions of a middle school reader\u201d by Cheri Foster Triplett and \u201cRe-Seeing (Dis)Ability: Ten Suggestions\u201d by Patricia A. Dunn, I was struck by the similarities between the two articles. Dunn \u201cchallenges us … Continue reading