Reading for March 23rd

First of all I would like to comment on how lovely the rain looks today. I just hope the power doesn't go out. Oh well.

Rain

I opened my eyes
And looked up at the rain,
And it dripped in my head
And flowed into my brain,
And all that I hear as I lie in my bed
Is the slishity-slosh of the rain in my head.

I step very softly,
I walk very slow,
I can't do a handstand--
I might overflow,
So pardon the wild crazy thing I just said--
I'm just not the same since there's rain in my head.

Shel Silverstein

P&B Chapter 5
Already, in the introduction to this chapter, two very important aspects of writing has been discussed: having a purpose, and a sense of audience. I've been trying to get this across to my class of college freshman and sophomores all semester. Some of them still don't understand why these two concepts are important to their writing.

On page 177 the author discusses the many way parents can help facilitate their child's understanding of the function of printed materials. It encourages parents to explain the purpose for various materials. One of them it mentioned was street signs. Yesterday I walked with my boys to a park near our home. On the way my 3-yr-old asked how much further it was to the park (it's about a 5 block walk). I told him that when we got to the Yield sign we needed to take a left and then we'd see the park. Later that day, as we were driving to the grocery story, he told my husband to take a left so we could go to the park. I looked up and say a Yield sign up ahead. Apparently I didn't quite explain the function of a Yield sign properly.

One aspect of the book I would like to learn more about is the statement: "English learners should not be involved in phonics instruction that isolates sounds and letters from meaningful use of text" (p. 175). Is it that students need to understand the purpose for learning phonics first; they need to know what a book is for before they learn to read it? The book gives the reason that "there will be differences early on in English learners' ability to perceive and produce English speech sounds" (p. 175), but I guess I need more information on this concept.

An idea that this chapter didn't really touch on that I have read about elsewhere is that if a student's L1 isn't being developed, their L2 will struggle to develop. I hope the next chapter gives more information on these situations and how to assist in L1 development for young learners in an ESL context.

MCM
Many of the ideas in this chapter reflect and support what was said in P&B. The one idea that I would like to highlight is to provide authentic purposes for reading and writing. I wonder if this is a concept I am not doing sufficiently in my comp 101 course. I have tried stressing all of the different way student can use the papers they are writing for my class, but perhaps I need to look at the assignments again.