Double Entry Journal #8

1. What is the main challenge being addressed in the book?

The main challenge being addressed in the book is the fact that people who are afraid or intimidated by academic words are stifled when it comes to reading.   

2. What does the author mean by the phrase "ways with words"?

The author says that there is a new “way with words” which is a new way of learning.  He goes on to say “These new ways are the ways with words (and their concomitant ways of thinking) connected to contemporary digital technologies and the myriad of popular culture and specialist practices to which they have given rise. 

3. What is the core argument being made by the author of this book?

The author says “The core argument of this book will be that people learn new ways with words, in or out of school, only when they find the worlds to which these words apply compelling.” 

4. Give an example of a specialized variety of a language or "way with words" you have learned outside of school?

I have several Amish/Mennonite friends whom I spend time with on a regular basis.  Although they speak English, they have a different “way with words” in that they use older words that most people don’t still use very often nowadays.  For example, one day we were horseback riding and my horse started acting up.  My Mennonite friend asked “What’s her ailment?”  The word ailment isn’t one that I’d heard in a long time.  So, when I am with that group of friends, I understand their “way with words” and can completely understand them even when the words/phrases that they are using may not be ones that I use on a regular basis.      

5. According to the author, how do people learn a specialized variety of a language or "way with words" best?

According to the author, “People learn (academic or non-academic) specialist languages and their concomitant ways of thinking best when they can tie the words and structures of those languages to experiences they have had - experiences with which they can build simulations to prepare themselves for action in the domains in which the specialist language is used.” 

6. If people are to be successful in the 21st century, what must they become?

For people to become successful in the 21^st century, the author says that they must become “shape-shifting portfolio people.”  “That is, people who gain many diverse experiences that they can then use to transform and adapt themselves for fast-changing circumstances throughout their lives.”

7. The author states that learning academic language is NOT sufficient for success in modern society? Do you agree? Why or Why not?

Yes, I agree that in order to be successful in modern society, learning academic language is not sufficient.  I feel this way because textbook language or the academic language that textbooks use is not the way that people communicate in the real world.  Whenever people are communicating in real world jobs, environments, having a firm understanding and vocabulary with academic language is likely to help, but won’t exclusively constitute success. 

8. What do you think about this author's "way with words?"

I thought that this introduction was very easy to read.  I liked the way that the author wrote as if he were speaking to the reader.  The numbered points with details about the overview were laid out nicely, too.  So far, I’m not in a black hole (as the author calls it) yet! 

Source: Gee, James Paul. Situated language and learning: a critique of traditional schooling. New York: Routledge, 2004. Print.

 

 

Student Interviews

Struggling Student

T: Teacher Candidate    S: Student

T: Do you enjoy school?

S: Yes.

T: Can you tell me what you like about it?

S: Seeing my friends.

T: I always liked coming to school to see my friends, too. 

T: What kind of student are you?

S: (hesitates and shrugs shoulders)  

T: Do you think you’re a good student or a bad student?

S: Good.

T: Ok.  I think that you’re a good student, too. 

 

T: What do you like to do for fun outside of school?

S: Umm, play tag.
T: So you like to play outside?

S: Yes.

T: How would your classmates describe you?

S: (shrugs shoulders)

T: What do you think that your classmates would say about you if I asked them to describe you?

S: I’m funny.

 

T: Who are your friends?

S: Maddie.

T: What do you and Maddie like to do together?

S: Play outside.

T: I also like to be outside! 

T: Can you tell me a good memory that you have about school?  Like, tell me about a day that you thought was a really good day.  You can think back from Kindergarten all the way up to now.

S: 3^rd grade.

T: What was good about third grade?  Did you do something fun?
S: I got to see who my teacher was. 

T: And did you have a good third grade teacher?

S: Yes.

 

T: Now can you tell me a bad memory that you have from school?

S: (thinks for a few minutes)  No.

T: Well, ok.  It’s good to have all good memories.  (told a story about a bad memory that I had in school)

S: Oh. (smiles) 

 

T: What do you think makes a good teacher?  How would a teacher act if she was a good teacher?

S: She’s funny. 

T: Is that all?

S: Yes.

 

T: Now, if you could spend one whole day with your teacher, what would you want her to find out about you?  Is there anything that you wish that your teacher knew that she doesn’t know already?

S: About my family.

T: (told about my family and talked about hers)

 

 

 

Excelling Student

 

T: Do you enjoy school?

S: Sometimes.

T: Ok, thank you for being honest with me.  What do you not like about school?

S: I don’t know; when I get in trouble.

T: You?? Get in trouble?  I’ve never seen that!  What do you get in trouble for?
S: Sometimes talking.

 

T: What kind of student are you?

S: Good.

T: Ok.  I think that you’re a good student, too. 

 

T: What do you do for fun outside of school?

S: Mostly swing and walk around. 

T: So, you like to be outside?

S: No, because we live in the middle of nowhere and there’s nothing to do.  There are only trees!      

T: Oh, I liked growing up in the woods.  There’s always something to get into! 

T: How would your classmates describe you?

S: I’m funnyish.

 

T: Who are you friends with?

S: Cayden. 

T: Is he your best friend?

S: Yes.

T: Well, what do you and Cayden like to do for fun?

S: Play games I guess.

 

T: Can you tell me a good memory that you have about school?  Like, tell me about a day that you thought was a really good day.  You can think back from Kindergarten all the way up to now.

S: I wasn’t here ‘til 3^rd grade.

T: Well that’s ok.  You can tell me a memory from your old school, too.

S: Ok, when I met my friend James at my old school. 

 

T: Now can you tell me a bad memory that you have from school?  Like, any day that you thought wasn’t good.   

S:  Days when we can’t go outside.

T: I like to be outside, too.  And now that it’s getting colder out, you’ll probably be stuck inside for recess, huh? 

S: Yes. 

 

T: What do you think makes a good teacher?  How would a teacher act if she was a good teacher?

S: She would be nice, but strict, too.

T: Yes, I agree.  Nice and strict are both important! 

 

T: Now, if you could spend one whole day with your teacher, what would you want her to find out about you?  Is there anything that you wish that your teacher knew that she doesn’t know already?

S: That I know how to ride a dirt bike.

T: Wow!  You can ride a dirt bike?

S: Yes, I just learned three days ago. 

 

Short Reflection:

One thing that both the struggling and excelling student had in common was that they each are quite social.  They both have a best friend, but also interact successfully with all other students. 

One difference between the two is the fact that the struggling student spoke in short, one-word sentences while the excelling student elaborated on answers with less prompting. 

      

 

 

 

 

Double Entry Journal 7

What are some challenges to inquiry approaches to learning?

Although inquiry based learning has many advantages, it also comes with challenges and disadvantages. 

One disadvantage is that the instructor has to give up some control.  For some teachers, this might be especially challenging because they’ve always taught in a controlling manner.  I think that older teachers (ones who have been doing their jobs for a long time) might have the most trouble with this disadvantage. 

Another challenge is that it can place more demands on students to be active learners.  This in itself, is actually a wonderful benefit to inquiry based learning, but if students have never been taught how to take learning into their own hands, they might struggle with how to be active learners.

A third challenge is the fact that assessing inquiry based learning can be difficult because it doesn’t revolve around worksheets, filling in a bubble sheet, and multiple choice questions.  Many teachers (who are somewhat lazy, I might add) avoid inquiry based learning because of the fact that grading a worksheet with ten problems is much easier. 

Finally, what I’d say is the biggest challenge is the fact that inquiry based learning requires a lot of preparation and planning from the teacher.  Like I mentioned above, when a teacher has been doing his/her job for a long time, he/she gets into a routine and often doesn’t like to change things.  Thus, because this inquiry based learning requires additional planning, many teachers do not allow their students to participate in it!

Source: PowerPoint from www.heartland.edu/documents/idc/IBlearningS06.ppt

 

 

Double Entry Journal #6

Teaching for Meaningful Learning

1. What "dominant paradigm" is showing signs of wear?

According to the article, the “dominant paradigm” which is showing signs of wear is the “instructional model of the teacher and the textbook as the primary sources of knowledge, conveyed through lecturing, discussion, and reading.” 

 

2. According to the research, how does Project-Based Learning support student learning better than traditional approaches? Describe three benefits and cite the studies.

·         Benefit 1: Students who “had participated in the project-based curriculum did better on conceptual problems presented in the National Exam.”  This means that students who did project-based learning were better test takers, which is something that all teachers like to see!   

o       Source: Boaler, J. (1998)

·         Benefit 2: Students showed “Growth in their ability to support their reasoning with clear arguments.”  This means that the students were able to back up their answers using effective means.  The skill of being able to do that is one that would be used in everyday life by anyone!   

o       Source: Stepien, Gallagher, & Workman (1993)

·         Benefit 3: Students earned higher scores in “content mastery, sensitivity to audience, and coherent design.  They performed equally well on standardized test scores of basic skills.”  This was stated as the result of students creating brochures, which is an authentic task.  We’ve learned before that students benefit from doing “real-life” projects, which is what project-based learning is all about.    

o       Source: Penuel, Means, & Simkins (2000)

 

3. According to the research, how does Problem-Based Learning support student learning better than traditional approaches? Describe three benefits and cite the studies.

·         Benefit 1: Students had an “enhanced ability to plan a project after working on an analogous problem-based challenge.”  Who doesn’t need planning skills in real life?!?  The earlier that we teach students how to plan and execute a plan, the better off they will be. 

o       Source: Moore, Sherwood, Bateman, Bransford, & Goldman (1996)

·         Benefit 2: Studies have documented “positive changes for teachers and students in motivation, attitude toward learning, and skills, including work habits, ciritical thinking skills, and problem-solving abilities.”  Getting a student to have a positive attitude about learning is a very difficult challenge when just using worksheets, etc.  However, problem-based learning is a way to mix the routine up for the students, which makes them happier to learn.   

o       Sources: Bartscher, Gould, & Nutter (1995); Peck, Peck, Sentz, & Zasa (1998); Tretten & Zachariou (1995)

·         Benefit 3: “Students who may struggle in traditional instructional settings have often been found to excel when they have the opportunity to work in a PBL context, which better matches their learning style or preference for collaboration and activity type.” 

o       Source: Boaler (1997); Meyer, Turner, & Spencer (1997); Rosenfeld & Rosenfeld (1998)

 

4. According to the research, how does Learning by Design support student learning better than traditional approaches? Describe three benefits and cite the studies.

·         Benefit 1: Researchers observed that “design activities are particularly good for helping students develop understanding of complex systems…”  Most people can understand complex ideas whenever they have a model or design at which to look.  Students benefit from models, too!    

o       Source: Perkins (1986)

·         Benefit 2: “A positive effect on motivation and sense of ownership over designs among both individuals and groups” was noticed.  When students are genuinely motivated to do their work, a much better product is produced.      

o       Source: Fortus (2004)

·         Benefit 3: “Students were able to apply key concepts in their design work.”  There’s nothing worse than a design of something which misses the mark in that key concepts are not included.  When learning by design, students don’t have this problem as readily. 

o       Source: Fortus (2004)

 

5. What are the differences between the three approaches?

All of these approaches have similar characteristics and benefits which makes the line to differentiate between them quite fuzzy.  However, a couple of differences that I’ve noted are as follows: In project-based learning, the students can make a project, while in problem-based learning, students don’t actually have to produce a project in the end.  Furthermore, when learning by design, students can produce a model.    

 

6. In your opinion, what is the most important benefit to learning that is common across the three types of inquiry-based learning approaches?

In my opinion, the most important benefit to learning that is common across the three types of inquiry-based learning approaches is the fact that the learning is not the typical “dominant paradigm” that teachers have used for hundreds of years.  The traditional type of teaching can be very boring, but inquiry-based learning is something new and fresh that students enjoy.  Thus, it is a good thing! 

 

Source:

www.edutopia.org. (2003, August 01). Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/edutopia-teaching-for-meaningful-learning.pdf

 

 

 

Double Entry Journal #5

Double Entry Journal #5

Quote: “Reverent teachers listen carefully to what the subject matter has to say to them, but they also listen carefully to what their students say to them as well.  Teachers must know not only their subject matter, but their students as well.”

I selected this quote because I agree with it completely.  Students are 1000 times more likely to remember something (content related or otherwise) if it relates to their personal lives.  For example, a student who likes to ride horses is extremely likely to remember a social studies lesson on the cavalry if the teacher pulls information from the students’ funds of knowledge when teaching the lesson. 

I can remember a time in the 3^rd grade when my teacher was writing sentences on the chalkboard using our spelling words.  She asked me to create the sentence and I made up a sentence about my new baby cousin, Zoe.  All of these years later I still remember that sentence (and I’m sure that I spelled the spelling word correctly) all because the sentence applied to my life. 

 

1. What is reverent listening and how can it support culturally responsive teaching?

Reverent listening is listening to the ideas and opinions of others with respect.  Furthermore, in reverent listening, teachers and students are encouraged to value the content that they’re studying.  They must understand that all content has value and that a person never ceases to learn.  This reverent listening can support culturally responsive teaching because it teaches that all content, just like all students are different, but have their own uniqueness and value. 


2. Give an example from your own schooling experience of what this quote means:
Reverent listening is not to be confused with humiliation and domination by others who force us to listen, and even less so, with the kind of incompetence that wants to be told what to do.
I can remember when I was in school sometimes we would have to read aloud.  It never failed that a student would stumble over words in the reading and another student in the class would say the word correctly aloud.  I think that this would be a humiliating experience for the struggling reader and would make them feel less dominant (because of their reading ability) as well. 

 

3. What is meant by a "laundry list of value ethics"? Give an example from your own schooling experience. And then explain how this approach to character education can be NON-culturally responsive.

The “laundry list” reference is regarding how many schools assume that the only character traits that they should focus on are the short list of obvious ones such as honesty, respect, etc.  However, things like reverent listening are character traits/value ethics which should also be taught to students.  This can be non-culturally responsive because it seems to put a limit on the values that students are rewarded for possessing.  For example, if a school focuses on the “6 Pillars of Character (trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship)”, then they’re limiting the students because virtues like “reverent listening” aren’t on the list. 

 

4. Have you ever had a teacher that at one time or another exhibited the traits of a reverent teacher? What did they do? How did they make you feel?

When I was in 4^th grade, we had a long-term substitute who was in her eighties.  One way that she did this was by allowing us to tell stories in class (as long as they pertained to the subject). She always listened reverently to our stories, which made us feel special.  

 

5. What factors contribute to a "toxic" school culture?

The reading says in the toxic school culture transformed section that “violence breaks out when educational leaders single-mindedly pursue their goals without listening to others who also have desires and dreams.”  This means that not only do students have to respect each other, but colleagues have to be reverent listeners, too.    

6. Find a quote in this article that you would like to incorporate into your own philosophy of education and explain how it fits or changes your philosophy of education.

The quote that I liked from this article was the one that I wrote about above:
“Reverent teachers listen carefully to what the subject matter has to say to them, but they also listen carefully to what their students say to them as well.  Teachers must know not only their subject matter, but their students as well.”

 

7. Find a strategy/activity conveyed in a video, blog posting, lesson plan, or online article that will help you become a teacher who cultivates a reverence in their classroom and school community.  Link to it and describe how you will use it in your future classroom.

This is from an article in Oprah Magazine.  This is a link to another article in her article which is called 6 Rules for Talking and Listening.  If I want to be a reverent listening teacher, I’ll need to know the rules for talking and listening.  Furthermore, it might be a good article to edit and share with my students.  Link: http://www.oprah.com/relationships/Dr-Phils-Six-Rules-of-Talking-and-Listening

 

 

Source for Google Doc.: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_lNdCbUdjDIvAFO7LhRAQqe9fJc-YReeKH7qGTWlxy4/edit?pli=1

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where I Am From Response Rough Draft

Based on what I have observed in life as well as what I read in As Soon as She Opened Her Mouth, I have noticed that the people who have power (that is, those in government and public leadership roles) are usually people who speak “standard” English.  When we were in our groups discussing these question today in class, Paul mentioned the fact that throughout history, US Presidents usually spoke this standard English.  However, one reason that some people didn’t like President G.W. Bush was because he had a southern, Texas way of speaking, and didn’t always speak standard English in the way that others in authority spoke.   Thus, when people do not speak standard English, they are looked down upon.  Furthermore, those who have power are always in the higher social classes.  Thus, many people have the incorrect assumption that people from a lower socioeconomic class who do not always speak standard English are unintelligent and don’t deserve/can’t handle power. 

Teachers who work in Appalachia need to forget that stereotype and teach their students to be leaders regardless of the fact that they may not speak standard English and may be from lower socioeconomic classes.   In As Soon as She Opened Her Mouth it states that

“Jenny and Donny belonged to a social underclass.  They were members of a cultural group referred to as “urban Appalachian,” “Poor Whites” from the mountains or hills, “hillbillies,” “white trash.”  Donny’s failure to learn was not considered worthy of attention, and Jenny’s inability to get herself heard was intimately related to this fact.”

Just because Jenny and Donny were from Appalachia, doesn’t mean that they should have not been heard and doesn’t mean that Donny couldn’t have had a successful education if only his teachers didn’t have those stereotypes!

There are many ways in which teachers can overcome cultural deficit perspectives in their classrooms.  I think that one good way to do so is by keeping the points for culturally responsive teaching posted someplace handy and incorporating one or more of those points in as many lessons as possible.  By being culturally responsive and getting to know each child as an individual instead of as a statistic or just a product of a certain area, teachers will be able to overcome any cultural deficit perspectives that they’ve created.

In the Moll text, it states that a classroom project on building (because the students in the classroom were very familiar with the building/construction environment) “created new instructional routines… that helped the teacher and student exceed the curriculum, stretch the limits of writing, and expand the knowledge that formed lessons.”  Thus, in addition to just getting to know students on an individual level, teachers also need to build lessons based upon what his/her students prior knowledge/interest consist of.   

 I think that one of the worst ways in which teachers and schools contribute to poor literacy instruction is by condemning students for writing/speaking in their native languages/dialects.  When a teacher has a preconceived cultural deficit perspective, he/she is likely to try to change the way that a student writes and speaks if the student isn’t writing/speaking using standard English.  Rather, he/she should build upon the student’s background experiences/knowledge and view these things as cultural capital!  Furthermore, a teacher who has a cultural difference perspective will be able to do as it states in Context for Understanding for Educational Learning Theories and educators will learn how to “modify teaching methods in order to accommodate the different ways with words and understandings.”

Non-standard English speakers can sometimes be looked down upon simply because of the fact that their language is different.  In an article entitled National Council of Teachers Beliefs About Writing, it states that teachers should “help students negotiate maintenance of their most familiar language while mastering classroom English and the varieties of English used globally.”  Thus, one way in which educators can help students see value in their language as well as learn standard English is by allowing students to do activities such as the example that Dr. Lindstrom showed us in class.  In the activity, the students translated a poem in Ebonics to standard English.  When students do activities like that, they get experience with standard English while still using their native language as well.  Teachers who do activities like this tap into students’ funds of knowledge because they are allowing students to bring their own language and their own knowledge to the table.  In addition, the teacher would be considering the students’ native language as cultural capital if he/she considered the fact that a student who is able to speak his/her native language and standard English has a wider fund of knowledge!      
In Honoring Dialect and Increasing Student Performance in Standard English, Clark explains the practice of “code switching.”  It is described as students using their own words to describe patterns in language.   By doing this, they move “from what they intuitively know about language to an understanding of language variation and how it works in different settings and with different audiences.”  Thus, if an activity like the one above were done in a classroom, students could also be taught about code switching and how they can use different languages in different situations.

 The Where I Am From project supported culturally responsive teaching/inclusive practices in many ways.  First, the instruction was appropriate to our ages and level of performance.  Secondly, by doing the activity completely virtually, it allowed students to work using different performance modes.  Third, and most importantly, it allowed students to reflect on their own culture as well as learn about the culture of others, and lastly, it helped create respect for classmates because it gave an insight into their lives and personalities. 

In my future classroom I plan to do activities in which students are encouraged to share their culture.  One way to do this is by having “Show and Tell.”  Students love to bring things in to show their classmates, and it’s a great way to build community and teach respect for others’ backgrounds as well.  Thus, students could write stories about their show and tell items so they would be building literacy as well because as Adolescent Literacy states, “literacy encompasses writing”.    

 
Sources:

Bolima, D. (n.d). Contexts for understanding: Educational learning theories.  Retrieved from http://staff.washington.edu/saki/strategies/101/new_page_5.htm

Epstein P., H. (2001, September 15). Honoring dialect and increasing student performance in    standard English.  Retrieved from http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/3655

Moll, L. (n.d.). Funds of knowledge: A look at Luis Moll.  Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B38BSV_Zo7aHSGVoMWEtOFRGMVE/edit

No author. (n.d.), National council of teachers beliefs about writing.  Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/document/d/19/nwuG_iaJVv6nT2y6E_IEiALYbZWzPulWtFCsSOcX5c/edit?pli=1

Purcell-Gates. (n.d.). Google docs. [0]. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6DFAmexYq7vMGQxMjl10TEtMjAyZS00NxJmLTg1OTutODlmMGQ0ZDIxOTVk/edit?hl=en_US&pli=1

The National Counsel of Teachers of English. (2007). Adolescent literacy.  Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Positions/Chron0907ResearchBrief.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Double Entry Journal #4

Note: Sorry this is late! I thought for sure that when I looked at the Google site earlier in the week, it said that this was due on Wednesday at midnight... Nonetheless, here it is! :)

 

1.      Three things I learned about teaching and literacy development:

a)     The reading states that "Some teachers tend to copy pedagogical instruction that mirrors the way they were taught. For many, this is a correctionist or formalist approach to teaching writing that has been around for years and places standard grammatical and mechanical forms at the forefront of writing instruction. The result is diminished writing among our local students due to a fear of judgment."  Thus, I learned that sometimes students stop writing or do not write much because they fear that they will be corrected.

b)     I learned that with proper instruction, students can learn to “code-switch” between Appalachian and Standard English.

c)      I learned that by embracing students’ native languages (ex. Appalachian English), they feel like they’re not looked down upon and are more likely to learn the ways of Standard English as well. 

2.      Two examples of how the strategies for literacy instruction presented in this article reflect Culturally Responsive Teaching:

a)     The reading talked about how the one teacher’s classroom is adorned with “maps and charts on which dialect patterns are tracked by county road and family.”  This reflects culturally responsive teaching in that students are able to build bridges of meaningfulness between home and school experience. 

b)     In addition, in that teacher’s classroom, “Students interview parents and grandparents and find out how their Appalachian English has changed over time.”  This reflects culturally responsive teaching in that students are encouraged to share their varied perspectives and experiences because they’re bringing family experiences into the classroom.

3.      An example of literacy instruction from my own schooling experience:

I can recall in about 2^nd grade we read the book “When I Was Young in the Mountains” by Cynthia Rylant, a West Virginia author.  We did activities with it comparing Cynthia’s life in the Mountains to our own lives in the Mountains.  Thus, the activities were culturally responsive in that we were taught to know our own and each other’s cultural heritages.

 

4. This website http://www.edweek.org/tm/events/teaching-tolerance/resources.html is about 5 teachers who were honored for being culturally responsive educators.  I liked it because you can read about each teacher and what he/she did to be culturally responsive in his/her own school.  By reading about these teachers, different ideas on being culturally responsive can be gathered.

Source: Epstein P., H. (2011, September 13). Honoring dialect and increasing student performance in standard english. Retrieved from http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/3655