The End

The end of the semester has arrives and so has the end of this blog. Throughout the course of the semester I have been posting blogs about the issues of literacy for diverse learners. Many different concepts have been discussed, but I believe my overarching theme for my blog is that teachers should follow their instincts when it comes to teaching. I have discussed many issues such as pre-made lessons, neoliberalism in schools, epistemological diversity, what it means to be literate, colorblindness, and many other concepts and ideas. Through this class and especially through the blogs I was able to establish in myself a belief of what type of teacher I want to be, which is why the main theme of my blog is what it is.


Only those who are in the classroom know the students. Teachers spend hours of time with students every school year so they know how students learn, how students should be evaluated, what type of assignments students learn best from, and what students want to learn or should learn. A corporate person does not know this so they shouldn’t be making the materials to be taught in class, making the tests and assignments or whatever else they might come out with. The only way to change the education system is by teachers taking control over what they teach—they know the students and they know what topics what lessons will make all students successful—and most likely the teacher is going to have to differentiate the curriculum so all students can be successful. A teacher that listens to his or her students is the type of teacher I want to be.

Death of the Pre-Made Lesson Plan

Lynn Astarita Gatto should be an inspiration to all teachers. She incorporates the different subjects under one theme while making the lessons fun and meaningful to her students. Gatto refuses to use “success guaranteed literacy programs” because she feels that the corporations producing these programs do not know her students… and she is right, corporations are not in the classroom. They do not know what the interests of the students, what is important to the students, what would be meaningful to the students, or what skills the students have or need to develop. The programs that corporation creates leave very little decision making for the teachers. They don’t allow for “teachable moments” such as Jacob Lawrence’s death or for connections between literacy and social practices (the students wrote letters to the Mexican government to implement better environmental practices for butterflies.


Gatto asked a few question at the end of her essay. These questions should be asked by all teachers when they consider using pre-made lessons:
• Do publishing companies and corporation know what’s best for our students?
• Do teachers feel so powerless that they will allow publishing companies and district officials to tell them how to best provide literacy instruction for their students?
• Do teachers really believe that standardized tests measure teaching and learning?
These questions can be beneficial for new teachers and veteran teachers to ask themselves. Teachers should realize that only the teacher, not the corporation or even the school officials know his or her students.



In my future classroom, I will be very weary about using pre-made lessons. These lessons will not create meaning for the students. As the teacher, I should make it a point to see what the students are interested in and incorporate those interests into the lessons. Like Gatto, I would incorporate interdisciplinary instruction into my classroom. This way, students can see how all subjects connect and perhaps interdisciplinary teaching will spark interest in subject areas that may not have always been of interest.


Creating lessons plans should be on every teachers’ agenda. Pre-made lesson plans will not spark interest in students and they will consider it “busy work.” These pre-made lesson plans are geared toward standardized tests and at best they engage students at very low levels of cognitive thinking.

Cookie-Cutter Curricula

Although education tries to stress the importance of diversity, schools are continuously relying on “cookie-cutter curricula.” Why is this? One answer might be the state-wide tests that schools are held to. Usually this cookie-cutter curriculum teaches directly to the test and schools are using these to ensure that students pass. However, these worksheets that are being mass produced are failing most students. They leave very little room for creativity and they only want straight forward answers. What schools need to do is incorporate other methods of teaching. Schools need to diversify the curriculum so all students have a chance to learn in a way that is most effective for them. Some students may prosper with certain lessons and worksheets from these cookie-cutter curricula, however, many students, if not most, will benefit from different teaching methods. Many schools and teachers are worried that they won’t make the grade so that they fall back on these curricula that have been made to coincide with state-mandated tests. Teachers forget that if they are truly teaching the subject, their students will pass. For example, the unit in an English Language Arts class is poetry and a teacher uses a curriculum that is already pre-made and lacks creativity, if that teacher diversifies the curriculum by adding projects such as students creating their own poetry, the students will learn and most likely they will learn more than just a worksheet asking students to define literary terms and themes of a poem. Learning by doing has been proven to be an effective way of learning. If teachers use lessons like this, they shouldn’t be worried about their students failing the test.




There are a few positive aspects of cookie-cutter curricula. One aspect is that it reduces the amount of preparation time for teachers. However, this can also be negative because teachers aren’t putting in the time and effort into preparing lessons that will be effective for students. Teachers should take time to prepare their lessons plans because it shows students that they care and teachers know their students the best. The teacher knows the different learning styles and the different likes and dislikes and incorporating these into a lesson plan will prove to be effective. The makers of the cookie-cutter curricula don’t know our students so they should have the right to make lesson plans and activities for our students. Only teachers should be able to make lesson plans.

Don't Judge a Book by its Cover

A teacher's misconception of a student can affect the student greatly. Many teachers (although teacher's aren't the only people to do it) make their opinions of students based on how they dress, carry themselves, or some other physical characteristic. This can certainly affect students because physical characteristics aren't the only traits to judge a character.


Too many students are not judged fairly and this hinders their relationship with the teacher and perhaps their academic success. For example, a teacher may base her or her opinion on a student because he is dressed up in clothing that is usually associated with the Hip Hop culture. The teacher may have negative preconceptions towards the Hip Hop culture which will in turn be directed towards the student. The teacher may believe that the student is violent or another stereotype that can be associated with the Hip Hop culture. This could affect the student because the teacher may be more prone to discipline the student than another student who doesn't dress in the same manner. The opinion on of the teacher may also affect the student in their relationship in the classroom. For example, the teacher may avoid calling on the student for answers, which could result in the student not wanting to participate. Teachers should be mindful of the opinions they form before they know the students. Most of the time, these preconceptions are wrong and the affect of those preconception can be detrimental to the student's academic success and to their overall self-esteem.



Teachers can do many things that can help negate their preconceptions of a student. First, they could ask themselves why they hold this opinion. Did they have a past experience with a person displaying similar characteristics? Second, the teacher should remember that each student is an individual and should be judged after they get to know the student. Even then the teacher should keep an open mind and allow for differences in the classroom. Anyways, diversity is what makes the world interesting. Third, the teacher should remember that the students also have preconception you. They hear comments from previous students which makes them form an opinion on you. The teacher should remember that they would want their students to judge them based on their actual character and not the opinions they may hear and the first impressions that they may form.