Reading Week #9

The one unanswered question I had after reading this article was ---Is knowledge the same as meaning?

The rules for authentic discussions about literature seemed to reflect the rules for VTS, diverse roles, attentive listening, respect, etc. When reading this article, I reflected on the benefits and disadvantages of being a 'special area' teacher. As an art teacher, you'd have the benefit of long term relationships that impact the class environment. Yet, if the class as a whole has a lot of friction, that culture is sometimes hard to overcome when you only see the kids once a week. Also, the variety of grades and classroom cultures could potentially cause confusion for the teacher - a teacher would have to be able to code switch often to meet the specific speech genres of different grade levels. But it is food for thought - breaking down the speech genres of each grade level to better communicate with the students. Authentic discussions require a lot of pre teaching that the study did not mention - how to be a good listener, how to use humor in a positive way, how to discuss respectfully. It seems that the environment needed for authentic discussions requires a school culture that builds those basic skills and manners, year after year.