Proust and the Squid, Posting #3

      This entry is about a very interesting topic I came across my book and it actually fits perfectly into the framing question of the course. The topic is what the most important things are for students to learn to become more literate in our disciplines. It does not directly say what this exactly is in my book, but I feel that I have interpreted the information so I can get the idea across to you all. First the book goes into once again talking about the history of writing and how it dates back to thousands of years. I felt that this was an important detail for children to learn to become literate because, from personal experience, once one learns the origin of something and how it came about, you develop more of an appreciation for it. For example, if you order a burger at McDonalds, you know that it is an easy food to prepare and that not a lot of work goes into preparing that kind of meal, so in turn you do not appreciate it as much. Now lets say you order spaghetti and meatballs from a fancy Italian restaurant. Upon ordering you know that all that pasta, sauces, and meatballs are handmade from scratch. Knowing how much work was out into this meal, you now have a great appreciation for the food you are about to eat because you know equally where it came form and how much work went into just that one meal. Even though it is a completely different side of the spectrum, the same goes for learning the history of reading and becoming literate. A student or child is more likely to appreciate leering to become literate if they know how language (reading and writing) came about and how much work many people out into it over thousands of years. If the child does not know this, then they will simply just think that it is another thing to learn and not appreciate it at all. If I have lost you at all I apologize, but what I am trying to say is building an appreciation and understanding of where and how something came about, can peak your interest and motivate you to want to learn it and in this case become more literate.

            After having this thought, I tried to relate this topic to my field of teaching, Physical Education. Now I know what you are thinking, “How in the world can this relate to Physical education. I had the same thought when I tried to connect the two. After a few minutes of thought, I came to a conclusion, which to me seemed very obvious. Just simply teach the students a basic history of the different games/activities in the unit you are teaching. Now I am not saying having two days full of this because then the kids would be bored and un-motivated. I am saying give them a brief history in 20 minutes so you get them excited, but also appreciate how the game/activity came about. It can be a short lecture of you can give them a handout to read and them ask them review questions at the end of the class period to check for understanding. This is just one idea, among many, from my book, Proust and the Squid, that can help students become more literate in our disciplines. I feel that if a student learns the background to what they are learning about they are more likely to pay attention and be motivated to do things, such as learn how to read, or becoming literate. Thanks for reading and let me know what you think!