Double Journal 13

Chapter 6: Affinity Spaces

1. Give an example of a "community of practice" in which you are currently participating in.

On my facebook page we have a info chain. Since I have a smart phone and can access it no matter if there isn't cable, electricity etc. My close friends include members of the city and county police, members of the local EMS and fire dept, school bus drivers members of the city council and local radio personalities.  I have a lot of friends that live in the outer edges of the county and often lose services.  Thus they are left out of the loop as far as school closings, emergency notices and other important information.  We all share the information and pass it along so no one is left unaware.

2.Why is the term "community" better defined in relation to spaces rather than groups of people?

Because community in terms of space is easier to define it has a definite beginning and end.  when you don't use space the definition can become too broad and even sentimental.  Then community begins to take on almost the same meaning as family.  Keeping the definition clearer makes things easier for people to understand.

3. What is a "generator"? What is it's counterpart in school?

something that creates context.  in school this can be a book or a teacher or the internet

4. What is a "content organizer"? What is it's counterpart in school?

something the organizes the information to be communicated to the listener.  in school this would be the text book writer or the teacher or the web designer

5. What is a "portal"? What is it's counterpart in school?

places where you can access the content. in school this would be the classroom, the library, or the computer

6. What do people have an "affinity" for in an "affinity space"? How does this inform your understanding of good teaching?

People have an affinity for the endeavor or interest around which the space is organized or what the space is organized for rather than the people that are also in the space. Good teaching also means organizing your environment to encourage learning and including for all students.

7. How do "affinity spaces" support inclusive classrooms? Choose two characteristics below to make connections between "affinity spaces" and inclusive classrooms.

Because an affinity space create a sense of belonging making it easier for all students to learn.  by "creating a sense of community" all students feel like they are an important part of the classroom and are more motivated to want to succeed and are more engaged.  By having parents as partners students see that their success is important to not only the teacher but the parents also the parents are actively involved in the learning and teaching of their children and can help once the child gets home getting rid of that void that can occur once the child gets off the bus at home.

8. How are traditional classroom different from Affinity Spaces?

Traditional classrooms are designed by the teacher with her single vision in mind.  the teacher often has a general one size fits all attitude and this applies to her classroom set up as well. Affinity spaces encourage multiple students to succeed where they are most suited.

Double Journal Entry 12

Chapter 5: Learning and Gaming

1 What is the main argument the author is making in Chapter 5.

That learning should be structured or shaped more like video games or that gaming and gaming structure can be useful tools in schools

2. What constitutes a theory of learning?

principals and patterns of how we learn

3. Why did the author struggle to learn to play Warcraft III? What needs to proceed before good learning principles?

he didn't get engaged in the game and therefore could not get motivated to learn to play it.  There has to be motivation before the learner can commit to the learning experience of the game.

4. How would have the authors struggle with learning to play Warcraft III been interpreted in school?

He would have been given a poor grade and failed the class.

5 What kind of learning experience might be better suited for at risk students?

Horizontal learning where students spend a lot of time mastering the beginning skill of an area and don't seem to make a great deal of progress

6. Why does the school-based interpretation of "at risk" lead to bad learning?

Students who are considered at risk are often labeled and then given less challenging work which leads to further failure and eventual frustration and then they give up.

7. What do schools need to do to function more like a good game?

They need to engage students and provide motivation to create there own identity.  They need to be given the encouragement to feel like they can achieve things on their own.

8. What is different about how good games and school assess learners?

games allow students to assess themselves, decide what they do and don't know and what way they learn best, schools assess and then make all the decisions themselves and across the board teaching.

9. What are the attributes of a  fish-tank tutorial that make it an effective learning tool? How is it different than school-based learning?

it gives info many different ways, print, orally and visually it gives interconnected information clearly and repeatedly and just when they need to know it.  in school they are spoken at and then expected to remember it until whenever the teacher decides to ask them to recall it.

 

10. What is a sand-box tutorial? Why is effective? How is it different that school-based learning?

a time where the gamer is free to explore and learn about the game before he actually starts playing It gives them the general information on how to play and what to look for giving them confidence to continue playing.  School dose not give children a heads up and leg up thus no they are often not confident and unsure how to succeed.

11. What is a genre? Why is it important for good learning?

a type as in movies or music.  by knowing the genre of your subject it can prepare you for how you are expected to proceed. for instance in an literature class you may be expected to write a certain way while in math or science your papers may be expected in a different style or genre.

12. According to the author, what to learning and play having in common?

They both give joy and sense of a challenge and accomplishment.

13. How are the skills test in good games different from skills tests in school?

in good games skills are developed for the learner and not evaluated skills are assessed for their value instead

14. How does RoN support collaborative learning?

By bringing together learners with common interests online in chat-rooms, on web sites and with publications and allowing them to work or interact together 

15. Match at least one learning principle of good games (on page 74) with each the following learning theorists you have studied in 3352:

Dewey- they create motivation for extended engagement

Vygotsky-they offer fish tank tutorials

Piaget-they allow learners to practice enough until it becomes routine and then introduce new things that challenge them and make them rethink and re assess 

Gardner-they give information via several diferent modes

Bandura-learning is a dance between teachers guidence and learners actions and interpretation

Skinner-they give information just in time and on demand

Double Journal Entry 11

1. Students are asked to just be thinkers with out personalities.  They are little drones, little carbon copies being taught to regurgitate information instead of individuals actively learning and using information in individual ways.
2.To experience them in the worlds they occur.  To use them in the content or in context.
3.Words get their meaning based on how they are used.  The context makes the word.  For example the word work can be used very differently. I am going to work. I had to work very hard.  The mixer won't work. Work it girl!
4.  a. don't have to do it now
     b. really cool
     c. crazy really something to see
5. Play.  I agree simply because much of children's play emulation of their parents.  Every thing they play at is a new task and they are actively using their brains and imagination and in turn learning.
6. Video game instructions are very technically hard to read unless you already have some prior knowledge of the  game.  By playing the game first it gives you some of that knowledge so that when you do read the instructions it makes more sense.
7. no, knowing how to apply the word is more important because words have different meanings based on their context.  Children need to be able to understand see the word based on how it is being used at the time.
8.  Identity: who you are as a person or a certain role that you pale
     Game: what rules or actions that you have to go by in order to keep identity
      1. Mother
      2. Teacher
      3. Student
     
9.  Being able to understand word meanings based on their context
10.  Building on real world experiences helps children learn because the information is more relevant   They see its applications and  it isn't just information being shoved at them.  By making it relevant children are able to then communicate about the topic better because it is building on their prior funds of knowledge.
11.When children speak to adults they are less likely to be open and communicative.  When speaking to peers they "appear to compare and contrast perspectives more deeply and reflectively"  By allowing more peer to peer interactions you are encouraging them to develop language and communication skills.

Formative assessment

1. it emphasizes quality not quantity, prizes giving advice and guidance over grades, avoids comparing students instead it enables individuals to assess their own learning, fosters dialogues that explore understanding, encourages multiple iterations of an assessment cycle focused on a few issues, and provides feedback that engenders motivation and leads to improvement.

2. High quality formative assessment always puts student learning at the center.

3.  Formative assessment is most closely related to the research based strategy of providing feedback. This strategy states criteria for success and specific timely feedback can help increase students understanding and improve learning.

4. By assigning a writing assignment and  giving a rubric to show students what is expected is formative but by assigning a final grade at the end is using it summatively. 

5. In my classroom when we are introducing a new topic we work in small leaps and do a lot more group activities.  We can move around the room to interact more with the students to assess their progress and guide them when they are struggling them.  We can encourage them and point out where they may want to focus more on.  This way we know what we need to spend more time going over and aren't  wasting time reviewing topics the students already understand.

5. By focusing on the task and the skill instead of the student.   Be specific about their strengths and be clear about how they should proceed this keeps performance goals definitive.

.

6. It helps identify students who need extra help with certain things and can help you to determine how to help them. It can also help you create lessons that will encourage better learning opportunities more confidence and motivation in students 

7. Distinguish between high-quality formative assessment and assessment that is under conceptualized or not fully developed. Developing  mechanisms of support for teachers who employ high quality formative assessment in their classrooms.

Double Journal entry 10

1. repetition parallelism oral story telling and use of figurative language
2. It is poetic and specializes in parallelism and repetition.  She is interested in making patterns of language and uses comparisons and contrasts to do so.
3. Schools require step by step linear events and facts that are set up around one set topic with no emotion involved.
4. Snow's recommendations  states that early phonemic awareness and overt instruction in decoding improve a students initial skill level and academic language learning. Snow's research states that students in regions of high poverty will fall behind no matter what their initial reading kill level was.
5.Cultural stereotypes that are in place due to evident differences in written and oral language.
6.These schools do not teach in a way that makes children with different speaking dialects and speaking patterns feel comfortable.  They do not coincide with their informal speech patterns leaving children feeling alienated and belittled.

student interviews

Female high preformer


Do you enjoy school?
yeah
What kind of student are you?
a good student
What do for fun outside of school?
sing
How would your classmates describe you?
umm nice and energetic
Who are you friends with?
joey shalia tre kalin jake ryan bella molly ryan savahana kolbi johna mikias michael jagger justin
What do you and your friends do together?
talk
Tell me a good memory you have about school?
first day of school when I made a lot of friends
Tell me a bad memory you have about school?
getting a f on a math test
Describe a "good" teacher or tell me about a favorite teacher you had in the past.
mrs farris bc she was nice and did alot of fun things gave candy and did alot of fun things.
What is one thing you wish your teacher knew about you?
my family

male struggling student

Do you enjoy school?
yeah
What kind of student are you?
a boy (smirking) im a good student
What do for fun outside of school?
play foot ball
How would your classmates describe you?
cool
Who are you friends with?
the entire class
What do you and your friends do together?
talk
Tell me a good memory you have about school?
all my friends
Tell me a bad memory you have about school?
some friends being mean to me
Describe a "good" teacher or tell me about a favorite teacher you had in the past.
mrs harris one of my favorites here and at other schools she is nice to me
What is one thing you wish your teacher knew about you?
more about my family my mom and dad

Double Journal Entry 9

1.  the majority are poor or minority groups who have faced a prejudice and oppression
2. the link of poverty and not learning to read has nothing to do with  these groups not being able to learn to read but that they are not given the advantages that rich or non minority children are.
3.teachers don't make it interesting and therefore don't  maintain their attention.  they aren't being encouraged at home so neither at school or at home there is no educational enforcement.
4. traditionalist argue overt instruction is required to learn to read that it is an instructed process where as progressive instructors say its a natural process  like language.  This approach is called whole language approach..
5. It is both a learned and natural process
6. natural  is through biological instincts
    instructed is through overt instructions
    cultural  is through being passed down through culture and generations
Reading is in many ways all of these you must teach the basics then the learner based on the cultural emphasis on reading and learning decides how much they will focus on continuing learning.
7.  through cultural process.  when children see that something is important to their family they make it important to themselves but in schools it is completely an instructional process.
8. where reading goes from reading to read to reading to comprehend if they don't have the required skills to read then they fall behind.
9. early language ability.  children who have a large vocabulary and understand meaning and structure in language do well with reading and phonics.
10. vernacular language is day to day speech patterns friends and relaxed situations specialist is used for special purposes and activities business meetings and academics settings

Vernacular Social Studies
Back in the old days, my grandma ran a boarding house for railroad workers.
Specialist
During the Industrial Revolution, many Americans made ends meet by opening their homes up to the influx of migrant workers who came from across the globe to build the railroads.
11. vocabulary, ability to understand and remember stories words and sentences. the ability to carry on conversations with others of a meaningful nature.  we learn it from all those around us.
12. it only teaches them the symbols it doesn't teach them to read to understand.
13. Yes and no children learn from what they are exposed to so if their parents don't expose them to a variety of language experiences and words then yes they are to blame.  Being poor however has nothing to do with it.
14.no but I read alot.  I only struggle because I couldn't get the book so I have to borrow or find it online

Double Journal Entry 7

What are some challenges to inquiry approaches to learning?
Teachers that don't know and understand the alternative knowledge and skills required for these types of learning. Many teachers are stuck in a rut and are too closed minded to try new things.  Many don't like to try to use the tools required to get the job right. Teaching this way does require better time management and problem solving skills than traditional teaching.  The options to apply inquiry based teaching in real world situations need to be more varied so that teachers have more options.

Double journal entry 8

Double Entry Journal #8

Situated Language and Learning: A critique of traditional schooling Read the Introduction 1. What is the main challenge being addressed in the book? 2. What does the author mean by the phrase "ways with words"? 3. What is the core argument being made by the author of this book? 4. Give an example of a specialized variety of a language or "way with words"  you have learned outside of school? 5. According to the author, how do people learn a specialized variety of a language or  "way with words" best? 6. If people are to be successful in the 21st century, what must they become? 7. The author states that  learning academic language is NOT sufficient for success in  modern society? Do you agree? Why or Why not? 8. What do you think about this author's "way with words"? 1. the challenges addressed are how to teach in today's changing classroom and how to  reach children on their new  levels. 2.the proper use of language in the every day setting 3. finding ways to reach children on their levels and with their language. 4. Beside my own dialect I have learned to understand the variations of  British and Australian English   5. From more experienced people around them in other words their parents and other family  members  6. be able to think outside the box and not necessarily academically. 7. I believe that it isnt the only skill one must learn but it can not be totally discounted.       There may come a time when we need to fall back on those skills as well. 8. I like the fact that he mixed it up keeping it too academic would have turned many people off.

Double journal entry 6

Double Entry Journal #6

Teaching for Meaningful Learning - Meaningful Learning is learning that sticks. You recognize it when students are able to use what they have learned and apply it to new situations.

Read down to the section titled "Implementation Challenges".

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

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.

  Lets them transfer their learning to new kinds of situations and problems and use knowledge more proficiently in performance situations. Shepherd 1998 showed a increase in critical-thinking and increased confidence in their learning. Boaler 1997 and 1998 showed better gains on conceptual problems presented in the national exam and significantly more students in the project-based curriculum  passed the national exam and had a more flexible useful mathematical knowledge. The challenge 2000 multimedia project  showed students earned higher on content mastery sensitivity to audience and coherent design.

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

Students take an active role in building their knowledge while the teacher’s role is to make thinking visible, guide the group process and participation and to ask questions to solicit reflections.  Studies(Vernon and Blake 1993 and Albanese and Mitchell 1993) show that students enrolled in problem based curricula score higher on clinical problem solving measures and on actual ratings of clinical performance.   Similar case based approaches have been used in business law and teacher education to help students learn to analyze complex multifaceted situations and to develop knowledge to guide decision making (Lundeberg Levin and Harrington, 1999 and Savery and Duffy and Williams 1992)

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

Children learn deeply when they are asked to design and create an artifact that requires understanding and application of knowledge. It is ideal for developing technical and subject matter knowledge.   Hmelo, Holton and Kolodner 2000 found that the design project led to better learning outcomes than the traditional approach to instruction they also noted that the design students learned to view the respiratory system more systemically and understood more about the structures and functions of the system than the comparison group. Perkins 1986 saw that design activities are particularly good for helping students develop understanding of complex systems, noting that the systems can be presented as a united whole whose structure is adapted to specific purposes. Fortus 2004 found that both higher and lower achieving students showed strong evidence of progress in learning the targeted science concepts and that students were able to apply key concept in their design work. They also noted a positive effect on motivation and sense of ownership over designs among both individuals and groups.

5. What are the differences between the three approaches?

The difference is in how the inquiry is presented either in real world situation or a series of problems or to design something .

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

The most important thing is that the student builds confidence in their ability to trust their learning ability.  They trust themselves to work out the answers based on what they already know and build on it to get to the solution.

Double Journal 5

"Character education often dogmatically assumes that only a small set—a “laundry list” as Suzanne Rice calls it in her article (Rice and Burbules 2010)—of “conventional,” primarily Protestant work ethic virtues encom- passes ethical experience. Many character education programs are exces- sively self-assured, arrogant, and exclusive of difference and lack reverence."

I chose this quote simply because of the words character education.  While most will argue (and as I a parent I would have to agree) that character education should take place at home,we also have to be realistic and acknowledge that this isn't always the case.  As educators we also have a duty to help instill some basic virtues that can be considered universal such as honesty.  

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

Reverence arises from an understanding of human limitation frailty and finitude therefor listening reverently is a key component in teaching it welcomes cultural differences and gathers other virtues it is the recognition of the need for aid an sustenance by others and the good of human relationship and communion.  By listening reverently we are genuinely interested in what the other person is saying and why they feel the way they do. 

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. 

When I was a child you “listened to the teacher” that didn’t mean you understood the meaning or motivation behind what she had to say it simply meant you did what you were told. I remember being a little girl and we had to make a poster about our family.  Well, my aunt ran several night clubs and I had spent my summer helping my father paint and repair them. I was very proud of this and included pictures from magazines to represent this. My teacher didn’t bother to listen to my story or anything else I had to say all she say was pictures depicting “drunkenness and immoral behavior” and had my poor mother in the office the next day.  Thankfully the principal knew my family and also allowed me to tell him about my poster myself in front of my mother the teacher and principal.  The principal was a reverent listener and simply said “wow you sure worked hard this summer didn’t you” he then apologized to my mother for dragging her into the school and then asked to speak to  my teacher alone.  

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 is what the “WASP” community would consider traditional moral values.  We all value hard work and honesty.  In school I was blessed in that I didn’t have to try too hard to achieve good grades and I think I often got looked down on by many teachers and students.  They assumed that I was cheating or otherwise being dishonest simply because I was able to achieve good marks with little effort.  I remember one teacher who would mark my math papers wrong if I left steps out even if I got the answer right.  He told me he knew I was cheating and since he couldn’t prove it he was going to mark it anyway if I left out anything.  I had to make sure to write down each and every step so he had no excuse to mark it wrong.   There are many reasons this is not culturally responsive.  One main reason is that many cultures value different traits.  In America we value ambition whereas in Asian cultures they value humility.  Another example is the different value placed on age and family different cultures have.  

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?

I have had many great teachers who would be considered reverent.  I had a Spanish teacher in high school who encouraged me to write and even helped me get published in a few local literary magazines.  She knew I had a love for writing autobiographical stories and even though my stories weren’t “neat and tidy” or pretty with a happy ending she always encouraged me to write and pushed to have them included in the schools literary contributions.  It made me feel like a valid member of the school and of society.  My life and experiences weren’t like everyone else’s but that didn’t make them any less pertinent or real.  I felt validated and included and accepted.

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

The break down or dying of the ideal positive school culture where reverence and its attendant action, listening have escaped from the scene.  It is also the deflated irreverent school culture where listening no longer occurs or where only test scores are important.

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. “ A lack of reverent listening by school leaders is abetted by many factors in the larger culture, such as the “commercialization” of schools”  I see this in my sons school and many others.  Students shuttled from one class to another no talking no personality just teaching to the test and creating little robots.  It is not the way our students need to educated.  We need to foster lifelong learners not these mindless little drones currently occupying our hallways.  

7. MINDFULLNESS AND TEACHING

culturally responsive teaching

Many educators will hear an Appalachian accent and automatically write off that student as unintelligent and un-teachable.  This only serves to perpetuate the image of the uneducated and ignorant mountain people.  Our poor isolated school systems already make things more difficult without saddling our students with this unfair cultural deficit perspective.  When we do this, students feel inadequate, insecure and perform poorly overall.  It is essential for teachers in Appalachia to understand the dialect and its nuances not as incorrect or as a cultural deficit but as simply a cultural difference.  By having the cultural difference perspective and understanding that their students way of speech is simply a different way to say the same things they will not only be able to communicate better with their students but they will encourage the students to be more comfortable and active in the classroom.  If we reach them young and let them know that having an accent or speaking with an Appalachian dialect does not mean you are slow or dim witted.  It is simply a sign of your culture and where you come from. “children come to school with different experiences.   The experiences they have as young children are culturally driven.   Within this, I see literacy use as cultural practice.  It is cultural practice because reading and writing are woven into the everyday experiences of people , and these everyday activities, attitudes, and beliefs help to define and distinguish among cultural groups”(Purcell-Gates 2002).
The best and easiest way to overcome the cultural deficit perspective is to simply see things as differences not in a right or wrong perspective.  If a teacher understands their student’s differences and how and where they originate, they can work with them and actually use them to their advantage.   When a teacher pulls in resources from the community and family this can not only make the student feel better about their culture but can reinforce the lesson being taught.  After all before children start school everything they learn comes from these rich funds of knowledge.  The “demonstration of the funds of knowledge available will help educators and psychologists gain a more positive view of these able, but misjudged youngsters”  (Moll 1992).
In many ways teachers are to blame for student’s not learning generation after generation.  When a teacher makes a judgment based on where a student grew up or who their parents were and decides that this particular student is un-teachable this teacher is perpetuating the cultural deficit perspective.  Essentially saying that the student’s cultural is making it impossible for them to learn.   This is nonsense, as proven day after day by thousands of students and teachers across the country.  How do these examples happen when so many others prove the point?  They follow the cultural difference theory.   As stated earlier, simply seeing elements of culture as different and not as a negative or wrong element at all.  These teachers and students find an understanding of culture and use it to encourage more active learning rather than seeing it as a hurdle to be overcome.  “ In this way, Cultural Difference Theorists are more focused on the `micro' elements of people's lives and communities.  As Erickson points out this theory "provided a way of seeing classroom troubles as inadvertent misunderstanding--teachers and students playing into each other's cultural blind spots"” (Bolima, n.d.).
A good way to improve literacy instruction for non-standard English speakers is to have them write and give a  small explanation about themselves and where they come from much in the same way we did with our where I am from videos.  By writing it they improve their “proper English” but by giving a presentation in whatever means they have the ability to get their thoughts across in their own words and own ability.   This not only allows them to pull from their funds of knowledge  and shows them that you place value on where they come from, it encourages them to feel pride in who they are and their cultural capital.  Their family and the knowledge they instilled in them before we as teachers got ahold of them can in many cases be of more value in the long run and we need to acknowledge that.    By encouraging them to do projects like the where I am from written and spoken project you are employing several strategies for culturally responsive teaching.   Our own videos are excellent examples of this.    Our videos built bridges of meaningfulness between home and school not only by giving the instructor insight into our personal lives by allowing the other students to view them we were able to find things in common we otherwise might not have known.  Many students lives are full of important or interesting facts or events that would beneficial to the class and by sharing them it acknowledges the legitimacy of their cultural heritage as worthy content to be taught in the formal curriculum. And of course by allowing us to view each other’s work  we were able to praise and know each other’s heritages.
In my social studies classroom I plan on implementing many strategies for a culturally responsive classroom.  I especially like having students interview older family members about life when they were teenagers even having student s do family trees.  Many times the students find out things they never would have imagined and that can lead to in class discussions.  When students interview family, they will then have to research a detail out of the information to expand on.  For instance, if a student’s grandfather was a coal miner he may have to research the changes in coal mining over the years then put together a presentation to show how the tools have changed.  They could do the usual research methods, images or even local museums, so long as the end product is easy to follow and covers all the important details.

Purcell-Gates, V. (2002). “...As soon as she opened her mouth!” In L. Delpit & J.K. Dowdy (Eds.), The skin that we speak: An anthology of essays on language, culture and power.

 Bolimia, D. (n.d.). Context for understanding for Educational Learning Theories  Retrieved October 5, 2012:  http://staff.washington.edu/saki/strategies/101/new_page_5.htm

Moll, L. (1992). Funds of Knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to
connect homes and classrooms. (1992). Theory into Practice, 31(2), 132-41.

i am from video

Double Journal Entry 4

1. I learned that students who speak with these dialects often see themselves in a negative view. That it adversely effects their writing and learning and that if teachers can or already do understand the dialect and move back and forth between the dialect and proper English students have a better overall understanding.

2. They build bridges of meaningfulness by having the students listen to themselves and family members to hear the different ways they all use the dialects.

    They teach students to know and praise their own cultural heritages by not telling them their dialect is wrong but by showing them how to understand their dialect in relation to proper English.

3. When I was younger we had to interview a family member about what life was like when they were young.  I taped it and then wrote it exactly as they said it using quotation marks.  Of course it contained many instances of improper English and "hillbilly" talk.  My teacher gave me a poor grade because of it saying I didn't correct my grammar.  But I felt it was a direct quote and that how my grandfather said things was as important as what he said.

DIALECT AWARENESS EDUCATION: THE IMPORTANCE 

OF WATCHING OUR WORDS

I chose this paper because of the first paragraph :  

 "I observed a high school English class for a few hours each week and was surprised that in a class of twenty-two English speaking students, two students also spoke Russian, three spoke Spanish, some spoke in a heavy Southern dialect, and some spoke in an African-American 

dialect. This led me to question how I could successfully teach Standard English to such a linguistically diverse class. It was through Dr. Marlow’s teaching that I began to view language differences not in terms of right or wrong, but just in terms of difference."

Epstein, P., & Herring-Harris, L. (2011, Sept. 15).Honoring dialect and increasing student performance in standard english. Retrieved from http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/3655

Marlow, D., & Rowland, J. (2010). Dialect awareness education:the importance of watching our words. Informally published manuscript, Upstate Undergraduate Research Journal, University of South Carolina, Retrieved from http://www.uscupstate.edu/uploadedFiles/Academics/Undergraduate_Research/Reseach_Journal/2010_001_ARTICLE_ROWLAND_MARLOW.pdf

poem

I am from a deep long holler, from Harley Davidson and four wheeler rides.

I am from the third to last house on the left, clay dirt and sulfur creeks, loud pipes and louder laughter.

I am from the Queen Ann’s lace, the black eyed susans.

I am from “sit a spell” and “tellin tales” and a little bit of ornery, from Archie Glen and Lizzy Beth and Lipscomb .

I am from the mavericks and pioneers.

From be still and know and a real man(or woman) has calloused hands.

I am from thanking God for all I have even when it wasn’t much. From reaching out to help others no matter how little you had.  

I'm from a coal company house and Irish kings, from maize and haggis.

From a run-away rail car, the turn of the century boarding house, a motorcycle gang in California and the muddy fields of Woodstock.

I am from the hearts, minds and eyes; I am from the unbelievable, the scarred and the survivors. I am from love and loss, from obstacles and amazing grace

Double Journal Entry #3

" Ultimately, the Cultural Deficit Theorists viewed cultures and environments outside of the mainstream Euro-American, as inferior.  These views catered to highly ethnocentric perspectives. In one article Martin Deutsch clearly outlined the middle class expectations and values existing in the educational system, while pointing out the deficiencies inherent in other groups such as "American Indian children, mountain children and children from other non-industrial groups" (1961).  The fact that teachers and schools were also failing to teach, was rarely broached and the blame remained conveniently elsewhere. "


Unfortunately, I think we still see this today.  Many educators feel that students who are from rural or inner city areas are less likely to want to or able to learn.  They shuffle them to the side and focus on the students they feel they are able to teach.  In West Virginia it isn't an issue of not valuing education or being unable to learn it is that students value different types of knowledge.  While they see the value in knowing "book" knowledge they also feel it is equally important to know real world knowledge.  I have to say I agree with them.  Too often higher educated people want to look down their noses at those who have a knowledge and understanding of mechanics, carpentry or agriculture as unintelligent or inferior because they chose a manual trade.  As someone who has knowledge of both I can attest that the amount of knowledge and intelligence needed for these skills rivals or exceeds anything I will ever do!  

I chose these two pictures because I think they illustrate the differences between the upper-class WASP ideal student and the inner city student.  Many teachers go into teaching thinking that their classrooms and students will look one way and come to find that it is very different.  A teacher has to teach no matter what type of student is in the chair!

1. How does elementary reading instruction contribute to poor literacy attainment for older children?

Emphasis on how to read crowd out reading for ideas, information and concepts.

2. What reading test scores good for?

They don't actually give an accurate picture of the complex issues but they do make things look bad and get law makers attention.

3. What reality about a literacy myth surprised you the most? Why?

I am not surprised by any of these maybe because I am a mother or an avid reader and writer but I know and understand all these issues.

4. What do you know about teaching reading comprehension in the content areas? Give an example of a strategy you might use to teach reading during a science or social studies lesson.

I know that it is the responsibility of all teachers to teach how to read their subject properly.  I remember how hard I found it to read math and that I had a teacher who helped me to understand the text.  I will teach my students to read social studies like a story.  History is just that a story of what happened before.

5. What kind of literacy do you have that was not acknowledge in school? (Literacy means being able to use texts and technologies to accomplish one's purpose in the world.)

I was great at listening and taking notes I could listen and take short comprehensive notes that i could understand later and that others could use and copy.

6. Give an example of a literacy practice.

outlining chapters so students know what the main ideas are ahead of time

7. What is a discourse community?

social media

8. What can happen if students valuable multiple literacies are not recognized as valuable in school?

students can disengage

9. Give an example of how a teacher might build on the extracurricular literacy practices of their students?

allowing a child to pick their own books to write papers on or chose their own sources online

10. Describe a time in which a teacher in your 4-12 schooling experience employed one of the research-base strategies to improve motivation.

We were given a task to find a movie or book that we felt was pretty historically accurate but also entertaining and describe its significance to popular culture.  

11. Give an example from your own K-12 schooling experience that engaged in you in multicultural literacy development.  

We were often asked to find books from or about other cultures that we had to read and report on.

12. What do teachers her gain recognition and respect from their peer also do well on?

Keeping things current and relevant to the day.

The National Council of Teachers of English, (2007).Adolescent literacy:a policy research brief. Retrieved from website: http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Positions/Chron0907ResearchBrief.pdf

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

Retrieved from http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Deprived Areas Inner City Glasgow buKKhpGxZzUl.jpg

(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.clipartpal.com/_thumbs/pd/education/classroom.png

Double Journal entry 2

I think this is an important point to make.  It is not up to us as educators to pass any sort of judgement on the child parents or their way of life! We are called to educate all children to the best of our ability and if we allow prejudice or judgement  to cheat a child of their right to the best education we can provide we have failed not only as educators but as human beings.  We are all products of our environment but also of our experiences.  This holds true for the students who are brought into our classrooms.  We are part of their experiences and are honor bound to give them our best.

What is literacy knowledge? Give examples of both print and non print literacy knowledge. It is understanding that reading and writing involve certain aspects such as reading words out loud or writing symbols into words. How do stereotypes interfere with literacy instruction? Stereotyping someone as a dumb hick and therefor unable to learn etc means a teacher is more likely to push that student aside and focus more on the "worthy" students. How do schools and teachers contribute to poor literacy instruction in school? By allowing students who are stereotyped to be shuffled aside or placed in LD classrooms instead of pushing them to achieve more. What is the relationship between language, social class, and the denial of educational opportunity?  Many people feel that if you have a accent or use a rural or urban dialect then you are automatically from a lower class and therefore unworthy having extra time and effort put into your education. What are some misconceptions about the relationship between language and literacy? Many feel that the way a persons speaks will tell you how intelligent you are.  I know that can be true but I also know that especially in WV it is usually false.  Many who speak with a relaxed southern drawl do so simply because they feel at ease with you.  If they are speaking in what you consider not proper English consider it a compliment because you are considered a friend and an insider. What can schools and teachers do to improve literacy instruction?  Encourage reading in all aspects of life, not just academic reading.   How do you feel about use of the term "Proper English"?  I think that Proper isn't too bad but maybe business English or even Technical English is more accurate.   Next read the New York Times Opinion piece titled Tall Tales of Appalachia (Non Print: WebPage) "Outsiders came, ones who didn't care about the thriving farms. They wanted raw materials for their factories, and the mountains had them. Our mountains were covered with the largest and oldest hardwood forest that people had ever seen. The coal deposits were the richest in the world. Industrialization came here like a cyclone roaring through the mountains. People like my ancestors were bullied, threatened and cheated out of their land. By 1920, timber companies had cut the entire forest. Most of the profits left the state along with the timber and coal." You still see this today. You look at our land and see the scars from the strip mines and the over timbering but do you see the profits in our communities?  I grew up in Flemington WV.  A small town in Taylor County.  It was a coal town, one of the many.  The houses were cheaply built by the coal company and housed the workers.  My Grandma lived in one.  The house was actually split into two so that it housed two families and was so cheaply built that you could clearly understand every word of the conversations being held by the neighbors. These houses still stand and people still live in them over 7o years after the company has moved on.  This is not unique and you see it in every county.  As long as we continue to allow outside companies to come in and make money off our resources and people  we will continue to stay a poverty stricken region. (1902). Retrieved from http://www.atoztheusa.com/state_images/Timeline/WV/s-wv-1902_strike.jpg Purcell-Gates, V. (1991). "...as soon as she opened her mouth":issues of language literacy and power. InThe skin that we speakRetrieved from https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6DFAmexYq7vMGQxMjI1OTEtMjAyZS00NzJmLTg1OTUtODlmMGQ0ZDIxOTVk/edit?hl=en_US O'Brien, J. (May , 2003 05). Tall tales of appalachia. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/10/opinion/tall-tales-of-appalachia.html