When thinking about Freire’s ideas in the book Pedagogy of the Oppressed, I think I would have to be both the oppressor and be oppressed myself.  Due to New York State standards and curriculum constantly being made more difficult and demanding on students, I feel teachers become oppressed.  They are forced to cover a certain amount of information through the course of a year, and are pressured to ensure that their students learn and understand everything they are supposed to know.  There is no say in what they think students in their grade level should be learning.  I feel that I would be oppressed, in that I would not have the time to do all the activities and extended units with my students.  I hope to create a way to engage my students, rather than just lecture and constantly send new information orally to the students within my class.  I do not think that is an effective way to teach, especially for students in elementary grade levels.  They do not retain the information and easily become bored and restless.   

            As far as the students in my class go, I feel they would be oppressed in that they have no say of what goes on during their school day.  They are forced to quietly sit at their desks, raise their hand if they want to speak, ask permission if they can go to the bathroom or eat snack, and they must listen to everything their teacher says.  Their academics are planned for them, and they have to learn and understand all subject areas, such as math, science, social studies, and English language arts.  They are essentially oppressed, as they sit and just take information in.  When I become a teacher and have a classroom of my own, I do not want to oppress my students, but feel I have no other choice for myself but to be oppressed.  I can fight to make improvements within the system, but I feel it will take years to change. 

     In my opinion, Bridge to Terabithia is a heartfelt, childhood story that would be extremely beneficial for students to read who are in the fourth grade.  I think it contains relevant information and situations that pertain to the lives of these students.  There is bullying, sibling rivalry, family financial issues, the initiation of lifelong friendships, and also the use of ones imagination.  When reading about things that can actually happen in students lives, the students will most likely have an easier time connecting with the story.  They will also hopefully want to read the story, and engage in the corresponding activities presented whether discussions, projects, papers, artwork, or presentations.  It will make reading fun and entertaining for students, and possibly motivate them to choose other chapter books to read in their own free time.  The idea of using ones imagination is extremely important in that students at this age are constantly being creative in their endeavors while playing pretend school, house, store, restaurant, etc.  They go into their own world and forget about everything around them.  This relates to the story because Jesse and Leslie create a magical place just for the two of them to go to get away from the troubles within their lives.  They can stop thinking about their family problems, bullies in school like Janice Avery, or personal problems like Jesse’s secret love of drawing that he keeps hidden from his family (especially his father). 

For my literature circles, I am in the group who is reading Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson.  Although I have yet to start reading, I chose to look up lesson plans that I could find on the internet in hopes of gaining an understanding of what students learn about when reading the story.  In one lesson plan I found, I saw that students will gain reading comprehension strategies as well as practice in reading comprehension, they will learn about friendship and how to work cooperatively, they will learn several new vocabulary words and apply them, and students will build overall literacy skills.  I really liked an introductory activity I found where students will create poems about their best friends.  They will discuss what friendship is, specific characteristics of what makes a good friend, and what they strive to be towards their own friends.  Students will be encouraged to share and compare their poems with a partner, and then create a list of similar characteristics and qualities they came up with.  The class will then come together to collaborate and make a class list of what makes a good friend.  This will lead to a class discussion on friendship and its importance, and the teacher can then appropriately introduce the text of Bridge to Terabithia.  The teacher will explain to students that the novel will teach about friendship and growing up, and they should think back to their poems and class list on friendship previously created while reading.  I liked how students “will use paired reading, individual reading, summarizing, and various comprehension strategies throughout the lessons to better comprehend the meaning of the text.”
            By looking up lesson plans, I am eager to start reading the text because I love heartfelt stories for children.  I hope to think of creative ideas to use if and when I teach this text to students of my own.

Richardson states that his own reading skills and habits have changed drastically since he began reading more online content.  He feels he is a more active reader online, than when reading in print and I find myself to also be that way.  I feel that it is easier for me to comprehend written sources that are found online (such as in a blog) rather than through a printed textbook, and therefore agree with Richardson’s argument.  I also agree that people, including myself, have two different sets of skills: one for reading material off of the computer (webs or blogs) and another for reading and comprehending printed materials (textbooks).

In regards to using such technology in my own classroom, it will have to depend on what grade level I am teaching and what the content area is.  I hope to become an elementary school teacher (grades 1-6), and therefore do not plan on having my students create their own blogs or search through other people’s blogs for data or information, but I can use blogs for ideas and sources (such as lesson plans) for me to use within my classroom.  I feel that post will affect the way I teach in that I am brand new to the world of blogging, and am still getting used to it.  In my opinion web material is extremely important, so I feel that if I keep reading and using blogs, I will be able to feel confident with frequently using them as sources whether for myself or for students within my classroom someday.