Response to 2 more articles

Teaching English in the World. By, Rebecca Wheeler, English Journal vol 94. No 5, May 2005.

Overall I believe that this was one of the most beneficial articles that I have read that will prepare me for my occupation as a future teacher. I know that I have made the same, common mistake that was performed by the teacher, Deborah. So often when reading my peers' papers or even when I am grading for my practicum teacher, I will correct simple spelling errors or other common English writing mistakes. But normally I don't take the time to write-out why the mistake needs to be made. Flipping myself around and now becoming the student, I realize looking back that rarely did I ever get told why something needed to be changed, all that I knew what that I needed to fix it. So often I will get marks on my paper that are foreign to me, but they mean something to teachers. I think that if we, as future educators spent more time focusing on the "positive" part of "correcting" work instead of circling errors, it would be more effective. If my teachers had taken the time to explain to me why I needed to make the corrections that I made, I would be more likely not to make those mistakes in future writings.


English in the City. By, Ruthie Stern. English Journal. Vol 93. No 4. March 2004.

I enjoyed this journal because i have background knowledge in the topic of Signification vs. signification. One thing that i really did not like was how the author, Stern, kept on referring to the dialect that the African American cultures use as "their" language. This just proves that they are the oppressed and I don't like that. When she was talking about how the students that she had learned that they have to and can turn off and on their native language, I felt that this was very important. The way that someone speaks and uses their language is part of their identity. By forcing them to turn off their language and use our language is just keeping their identities and their language in the hands of their oppressor (white culture). This saddens me, because their is such an art and reason to everything, i wish that we could cherrish differences instead of squash them.