Monday, October 18th Post

For this week, we had to read chapters out of the MGRP book and "The Donut House" by Powell and Davidson. I found the article written by Powell and Davidson to be very interesting. I would never think as a teacher to take a class field trip to a local donut shop. First off, I'd be worried about the liability of walking there and then how I'd have to make sure that no one ran off and/or got hurt. Thankfully, the Kindergarten teacher in the article knew to get parent permission slips. But, such an experience is definitely worth all of the headache of getting such a field trip organized. I loved how the article talked about the benefits of situated literacy compared to the traditional schooled literacy approach. The article mentioned, "Children are more engaged in learning when they perceive an authentic purpose for their efforts." Not only did the Kindergarten create situated literacy learning within her classroom, but she also made sure that they kids collaborated with members/business oweners within their local community. Not only was this literacy project authentic, but it was also culturally relevant, which increases and motivates student understanding.