Reflective Journal 3

Entry 8: Critical Literacy for Young Citizens :First Grade Investigates the First Thanksgiving 

• I SEE: I see that in the article Critical Literacy for Young Citizens it states that “traditional history teaching made up primarily of rote dates and facts that had little relevance to our lives.” This immediately caught my attention because that is how I felt as a child learning history. I felt that it was mostly numbers, dates, and dead people that I had to memorize in order to be succeed. Now looking back, I realize as an educator it is important to relay that history isn’t not juts number and dates but is constantly moving and evolving with us.
• I THINK:  In the article it talks about historical thinking and how much research is not geared toward primary grade levels in teaching young children. However, research is seen commonly in middle and high school grade levels. This peaked my interest in think that this is far from the truth. Students come with more knowledge than many realized. I think that young students are capable of historical thinking when they are exposed to experiences that allow it. 
• I WONDER: I wonder if when the teacher split the students to work in groups while researching what the Pilgrims ate on the first Thanksgiving, did the students know to work together as a groups, in pairs within their group, or work individually. If the students did decide to work in various ways in their groups, that shows great dependability and ownership with young children. I also wonder when students compared their finding to what they researched, where they surprised to find out the difference of the food that we eat today compared to the food that was eaten then. 

Entry 9: Let's Go to Market: Field Trips to Discover Economics & Cultures 

• I SEE: The article states that "Large concepts like "interdependence” are not immediately accessible to young children; they must be built through experiences and interpretations of those experiences." I see that this statement is informative because some skills are not exactly easy for students to acquire. In many cases it takes experiences, observations, and trial and error for certain skills to be developed. 
• I THINK: I think that attitudes play a huge role in understanding cultures and the diversity of economics. In various culture, different people value different things so their attitude would be differ from that of someone else. Relaying this for younger students, I think could be a challenge only if the students haven;t grasp other skills
• I WONDER: I wonder if the questions that fostered by the students grew into other questions as they continue in their food market. I also wonder if the students were able to answer their questions to questions they had later on in the study.

Entry 10: The politics of Children's Literature: What's Wrong with the Rosa Park's Myth

• I SEE: I see that in the article it states "Issues of racism and direct confrontation between African American and European American people in the United States are usually considered too sensitive to be dealt with directly in the elementary school classroom." This grabbed my attention because I do tend to notice that when discussing controversial topics, its it notgiven its due diligence.
• I THINK:  The article states that "..on closer examination, however, this version reveals some distressing characteristics that serve to turn a carefully planned movement for social change into a spontaneous outburst based upon frustration and anger." This gets me to thinking how in other cases not only Rosa Parks, are given such unworthy notary when it comes to the history of a given time. 
• I WONDER: I wonder if many are ware of the void in many students who aren't aware of the known of the revising of the story. I also wonder with the new revision, how long would it take for schools and district to implement it within their schools