Fiona,
Thank you for your insight into literacy in Ireland. I think that sometimes as teachers and students of literacy we forget to consider global perspectives on literacy and how that can aide our own literacy teaching. In this instance your story gives us more reason to include sociocultural literacy in our classrooms. The social nature of literacy is motivating for students and helps them to gain a greater understanding of and appreciation for learning. We have to remember that students come with different perspectives and approach literature from different cultural standpoints. In the limited experience I have with Genre Practice, I see how students grow from interacting with other students about what they read and write. Your story shows continued support for Genre Practice and motivates teachers to have students interact in a meaningful way with text.

Fiona,

Thanks for sharing your inspirational account. The one part toward the end that struck me most was when you expressed how desperately you wanted to share your feelings about the poem, yet in the 'only speak when spoken to' classroom, neither you nor your classmates were given the opportunity. This really hit home with me, because I started to think about scripted curriculums that have teachers "teach" directly from the textbook, and how detrimental it can be to students like yourself. It's especially important in the elementary years for kids to be able to explore their opinions, as expressing ourselves is not an ability with which we're naturally born. Kids need to be given a space to build this skill. I can think of numerous schools within New York State alone that resemble the structure of the one you describe in Ireland. It's important for people to see how closed-minded this type of approach really is, so thank you for sharing your experience with it.

Paul

Fiona, Thanks for sharing your experience. It sounds like educational "culture shock" of sorts. I have family members in England who have tried to explain the system to me. It sounds as though much of the "tracking" is done before the children even enter high school. I recall them telling me about an important test that puts students in separate high schools. Some students are bound for college, while others are prepared for vocational work. Here in the U.S., we have some of the same issues, but I don't think they are as blatant. For example, in my high school in New Jersey, there were AP courses, college-bound courses, and remedial courses. While you weren't necessarily set on one course (college-bound students could make the jump into AP courses under certain circumstance), I found that many of the same students were in every single one of my classes each year. I wonder what we have to learn (both the good and the bad) from global education.

That is something you would expect to read about happening back a good 100 years ago, minus the test prep. I'm really surprised to hear this. Did you get the sense from other students over there that this was the norm for Irish schools currently? I spent a week in Ireland this summer; sadly I didn't get the chance to visit any schools, although I did visit a nursing home. The structure of the programs they had there for the residents seemed rather structured but definitely fun. Perhaps it is not a great comparison. I also was in England, and did get to see a couple schools there; they were definitely more progressive like in the U.S.

Fiona,

First off, thank you for sharing that story with us.  It was deeply personal.  Second, I cannot believe what a shame it is that your class in Ireland left nothing to the imagination. High school is the beginning of when you can really pick apart, analyze and discuss poetry and other forms of literature.  Its exciting to debate and reflect on other's opinions as well as express your own.  Its such disservice to the children to gear all classroom study towards an exam that needs to be passed.  Its one of the things I hate about the NY Public Schools...the focus on the Regents Exam.  Why should so much of the class time revolve around the formating of a particular text?  How much are children really going to get out of that kind of learning?  Instead let them explore different ideas and higher levels of understanding.  That is where they will learn the skills that they can build on later to become better readers, writers, orators, and generally, thinkers.   In my student teaching classroom now, although I have a very young 1st grade class, my students have minds rich with imagination, detail and inquiry.  Listening to them explore ideas with their classmates deepens my understanding of them as students, their understanding of the material.  

Jessica

I can completely relate to your experiences in Ireland.  Throughout my years of schooling, I had several teachers that believed that instruction was only derived from listening to the teacher and getting your knowledge from him/her only.  Those were typically the classes that I enjoyed the least; I craved group work settings, in which I could hear from other students.  I liked to hear their thoughts on a topic and use it to help me understand my own perspective.  Those were the classes that kept me most engaged and it's the same experience I hope to give in my own classroom.

In response to Jarred Aldrich, I felt like a worse student because I was not used to the way things were done. I was used to coming up with my own ideas and defending them using evidence from the text, however, in Ireland, the student’s role is not to reflect and explore but to listen, memorize and repeat. Because I was not 'good' at this system, I felt very out of place.

In response to Mathew Kennedy, I am pretty sure this is a universally accepted mode of teaching in Ireland because every secondary student has to take the Leaving-Cert; therefore they all have the same test-prep/high school education. In Ireland, the teacher's job is to cater to the standards of the Leaving-Cert, so I would assert that all of the teachers teach the same subject matter.

In response to Cory Greever, I hesitate to say this in case I come off as a negative-Nancy, but I honestly do not think that I saw one good thing in the Irish school (and I have been puzzling over it for a decent amount of time). Also, the P.E. class in Ireland was actually very similar to those here in America, we had to change out of our uniforms and play some kind of game. The funny thing was that P.E. existed as a rare opportunity to dress in plainclothes, which my female classmates (P.E. is not co-ed) relished. The value of P.E. in Ireland was undermined by the fact that the entire point of secondary school is to prepare for the Leaving Cert and, because there is no P.E. Leaving Cert, the class was inherently low priority.

In response to Jared Shope, sorry if I was unclear in my original post, but I am not a teacher, I am a high school graduate and this piece was written about a year ago as a possible college essay. I do think that the 'don’t speak unless spoken to' atmosphere hindered my ability to learn being that I saw (and was denied) and opportunity to learn after reading Bishop's 'The Fish.' If I were a teacher I would make a conscious effort to promote question asking and idea sharing: steering clear away from the Irish method of straight forward indoctrination
 

Fiona,

I was wondering if while you were taking classes there, if it made you feel as if you were a better or worse student, or if you felt very out of place?  I was wondering this because coming from a school where it is much discussions and student involvement to a school of teacher does all, if you personally felt any different?  I am also going to be a Physical Educator and was also wondering how they taught P.E. there?

Thank you

You mentioned that you witnessed the educationally absurd in Ireland. I was just wondering if you saw anything that you thought was an improvement over the educational philosophy in the states. Also, as a physical educator, I was wondering if you had the chance to observe what kind of system Ireland has in terms of P.E. and what kind of emphasis they place on it.

Thank you,

Cory Greever

Good luck on your mission. the world needs more free and independent thinkers