Dripping With Literacy-Don Zancanella

In this article by Don Zancanella, he procures the help of eight teachers, researchers, and writers to find out exactly what they believe that English could be. There are many limitations that are put on English in the classroom, but Zancanella wants these experts to point out the things that they believe that the English classroom could be and possibly should be.
The first explanation is given by Maja Wilson. Maja states that the English classroom should be about stories. She says that the ideal English classroom helps to remove students from the quantities, policies, and procedures of other classrooms within the school. Maja says that her goal and the goal of English teachers should be to remove themselves from the path that leads students to stories. These stories are not only the ones that students read, but are also the ones that they write. Teachers should give students the freedom that they need to read and think about stories, as well as the freedom to write without limitations and write to express themselves.
Scott Westerfield says that talking is the most important aspect of the successful English classroom. Scott makes the point that throughout the past, communication and books have become electronic, along with their reviews and the opinions of many other people about why or why not an individual should like a certain book. Westerfield says that rather than relying on these opinions of people online or in the media, it is more important to discuss books with friends in person. Westerfield says that electronic conversations are often void of the emotions of trust and closeness that personal conversations provide. Therefore, Westerfield says that the greatest key in the English classroom is to encourage students to interact and talk with other students in the classroom.
Arthur Applebee believes that students in the English classroom must learn different ways to communicate in a culture that is constantly changing. Applebee believes that students should learn new ways to communicate through new media that is always becoming available. Applebee also points out that students should not only master their words but those of others as well. As our culture grows electronically, students have more access to the words of other people and they should learn how to interpret these words and respond. There is no better place to learn this than in the English classroom.
Allowing students to bring their own opinions and heritage while connecting them to something that links their past to their present is the most important aspect of the English classroom according to Alfred Tatum. In Tatum's opinion, teachers must allow students to use their experiences and encounters in life to shape their opinions about literature. Teachers should also choose literature that helps students connect with their past and their culture. For instance, in a diverse classroom, teachers should choose literature that delves into the past of different heritages. Students must be helped to define their existence in the English classroom.
K.L. Going states that in the English classroom it is important for teachers to encourage students to keep journal and write freely about topics of their choice. However, Going says that teachers must focus on writing skills that students will use later in life. Going says that while it is important to encourage free writing, students will later in life need the writing skills that should be taught in the English classroom.
Kevin Leander states that the English classroom is often bracketed in three ways and the ideal English classroom must break from these brackets. First, he says that the English classroom is often bracketed by the five paragraph essay. Leander says that English teachers must value film and the ways in which it can be used in the classroom. Leander also points out that the English classroom is bracketed by America and Britain and cut off from the rest of the world. In order to fully engage students and give them an overall perspective of literature, teachers must broaden the English classroom to include the entire world. The third bracket that must be escaped is the bracket of only writing for the classroom. In order to be completely successful, teachers must acknowledge that students often write for their own purposes, such as Facebook or eBay. Leander says that in order to create the ideal English classroom, teachers must break away from these brackets.
This was a very useful article that contained opinions that I agreed with and those that I did not. The two teacher opinions that I believed to contain the most benefit were those of Mr. Leander and Maja Wilson. These opinions were strong and provided great insight into ways to create an ideal English classroom. There were very few writers in this article that stated media as an essential aspect of the ideal classroom. However, I believe media to be one of the most important aspects of my ideal classroom. Along with the ideas of Wilson and Leander I believe that media is essential. My greatest question from this article is even those these writers are professionals, why is there still a lack of knowledge about the importance of current media in the classroom.