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Post by ronettekortbein on Jan 14, 2016 22:42:08 GMT -5
We can have our discussions here!
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Post by ronettekortbein on Jan 14, 2016 22:45:53 GMT -5
Based on the Kate Pahl reading, she talks about "living and breathing the literacies of the land." Do you think that literacy in America is more difficult for ESOL students because they grew up in a different culture?
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kasee
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Post by kasee on Jan 18, 2016 15:14:52 GMT -5
Pahl discusses "representation" in length in her book and how they basically form and frame our world. I do think that literacy in America is more difficult for ESOL students since they did grow up in a different culture. They may not be able to successfully grasp everything initially, but I like what Pahl says in here piece about "social imaginaries." I think for an ESOL student to truly grasp American literacy, he/she needs to immerse themselves in the culture. Pahl stresses the importance of the child to go out and find literacy in all forms: literature, film, music, flyers in a park, tattoos, etc. It's important how we form sentences and pass along stories, constructing them in different ways to create diverse literacy practices, and to expose the child to a variety of literacy amongst the culture. Pahl goes on to say that representation provides meaning to the everyday social art that the child is exposed to, and that they will hopefully begin turn these practices into skills that they can use everyday.
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Post by hannahhiester on Jan 19, 2016 9:05:00 GMT -5
In a similar vein, Mitchell (in the video) talks about discourse communities and how, to be a part of one, we develop "communicative competence" for that particular community (around 2:20 in the video). I think the examples kasee highlights are great ways for ESOL students to develop the competencies to engage in American literacy. I think this highlights, what for me, was one of the main threads of the readings which was the idea of hidden practices both in the sense of the unspoken rules of a discourse community and the practices of others that we may not be aware of. In this sense, a different culture then applies to not only ESOL students but anyone who grew up in a culture that is different to the one we are asking them to engage in. At school students have to develop the competencies to navigate not the discourse of their peers and of the classroom. For ESOL students, this may be even more challenging than for others as all of these communities are new. They also have the potential double whammy of living in a neighborhood or community which is culturally very different and so have to learn how to engage themselves there too. As teachers, what do you think about the balance between us learning and utilizing the practices of the ESOL students' culture and teaching them the practices of school and/or American discourse/literacy?
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jklee
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Post by jklee on Jan 19, 2016 19:48:32 GMT -5
Hannah, as a future teacher, I think that there needs to be a balance between learning about a student's culture and teaching them the practices of American educational practices/literacy. When a teacher fully understands, to their best ability, where their ELL comes from and how their culture works, they will have a better idea of how the student will learn. This gives the teacher a unique opportunity to create the best learning environment for their student. While it is important for the teacher to have an understanding of their student's culture, it is also important to show the student the teaching practices of America for them to be able to flourish in their classes. If a student learns more about American discourse and school practices, they will have a better chance of performing well in their other courses and a widened outlook on learning and literacy. It's essential for ELL students to be placed in the middle of American culture in order for them to understand American discourse/literacy. They need to be exposed to all forms of literacy (books, movies, music, articles, social media). This total immersion can be overwhelming for anyone. Because of this issue, it is useful for a teacher to learn from and understand their ELL's culture in order to provide them with a sense of comfort and a reminder of their home through interactions with their instructor. If a teacher can learn from and utilize the practices of an ELL student's culture, they can better help the student transition to performing well in the midst of American culture and expressing themselves through American literacy.
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Post by parkerh13 on Jan 20, 2016 13:30:06 GMT -5
JK, I really like what you said about "While it is important for the teacher to have an understanding of their student's culture, it is also important to show the student the teaching practices of America for them to be able to flourish in their classes." I think that in order for students to understand the literacy practices of America they need to understand the culture. A student that has been immersed in the culture will have a better understanding of how to learn in an American classroom. They will have a better understanding of the humor that happens in a classroom and the social norms that we experience. A teacher that is able to find a balance between helping a student assimilate and helping them by making them feel more comfortable by knowing about their culture, will be the most effective teacher.
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Post by lindseynharrell on Jan 20, 2016 14:48:46 GMT -5
I think that ESOL students are definitely more challenged by American literacy than native students. However, on the other hand, I can see where this difficulty could lead to a more enriched and more valuable educational experience. I think it is important to remember that difficult is not a bad thing when students are given the right amount of support. With that being said, I also think that ESOL students can use their varied cultural experience to assist them in understanding American literacy, and also can be apart of aiding in the richness of their native colleges' educational diversity.
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Post by alicenburnett on Jan 20, 2016 14:51:31 GMT -5
Going back to the question at the top, I think one of the things talked about in the video pertains to this. About seven minutes in the narrator pulls up a page that says "four statements about literacy" and it goes on to list: literacy is an everyday social practice, literacy is not a neutral practice, literacy is a political enterprise, and pedagogy of literacy empowers and disempowers particular social groups. Sometimes I think we forget that literacy is not confined to the walls of the English classroom and is alive everywhere and for person. At the same time literacy has the ability to disempower a group of students, such as those in ESOL. I wouldn't go so far to say that literacy is harder or easier for a student who spent time out of the U.S. because I believe that depends on each student, but I do think the biggest hindrance we can give our students is not emphasizing the literacy examples they would already be exposed to in books, media, etc. JK talked about finding a balance in learning about students culture, but teachers also need to find a balance in what students have already been exposed to in literacy and pair it within the classroom. If students can get past the language barrier, then literacy can lead to numerous classroom discussions and assignments. I hope that makes sense in full sentence form.
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Post by felishadake on Jan 20, 2016 16:22:20 GMT -5
I like what you said alicen about literacy not being confined to just an English classroom. Not only is literacy present in our everyday lives, but also in different subject classrooms such as science. The literacy often associated with mainstream schooling is usually already assumed to be present, which can be a huge barrier for ESOL students trying to gain a meaningful understanding of a science concept. Especially for students whose community based literacy practices do not match the curriculum genre as described in the video. As future educators, regardless of the subject we teach, I think we should be aware of and embrace the literacy practices our students are familiar with, and use them to make connections to the material that is taught. There can be a "wealth of complex literacy practices to share and blend with mainstream literacies". Being open to these different forms of literacy can benefit all students, not just certain groups. However, by not addressing these differences, literacy has the ability to disempower particular groups. An ESOL student is put at a disadvantage when they have to assimilate and become comfortable with this new curriculum genre, before being able to tackle the concepts and intricacies of science.
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Post by leahwertz on Feb 2, 2016 21:03:46 GMT -5
Hey fam, so I just now found this thing (lol). But I really loved this weeks readings. Here's something I found concerning using content centered texts in other disciplines: www.adlit.org/article/40344/I think this is a cool idea and especially easy way for maybe English Ed to help out your content area. As a teacher, I would love for a science teacher to send me a cool article concerning what kids are learning in her class and maybe I could use it as a supplement or make it relevant to what I am teaching. The idea behind the article is developing fluency, but I think literacy is also at play here. The texts talks about rereading an article and practicing it to become fluent, but it can easily be transcended into a topic or idea. Practicing a science objective or standard outright in science class and then reiterating the idea during English is the same kind of practice. What about you all, do you think you could benefit from using a texts from different disciplines? |
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Post by taylorbelleglaze on Feb 3, 2016 12:04:17 GMT -5
Leah, I think that's an interesting idea and great thought regarding intertwining different content areas. I think when students are in one class learning a certain thing then going to another class to learn an entirely different thing can make it difficult sometimes to switch their "thinking gears." By using supplements from different discipline areas, we are able to continue these topics learned in other content areas while implementing them into our own to create a richer form of literacy.When I become a teacher, I most definitely want to pair up with teachers from different content areas so I can correlate what I am teaching to what they are doing in their other classes so everything starts to click for students. When we do this as educators, we are creating meaning and value in our classrooms by using an easy, but effective method of intertwining different literacy practices in the classroom.
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Post by parkerh13 on Feb 3, 2016 12:40:50 GMT -5
I really liked what Leah said, I think that it is a really great idea to have content areas work together. I know that is what we have discussed in class many times, but I really think it is something that all of us need to put into practice. I agree with us collaborating and trying to blend our subject areas in order to benefit our students. I think my biggest question is how exactly can we all collaborate and work on this so it is put into practice and works well for us and for our students?
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Post by janinesherman on Feb 3, 2016 13:11:03 GMT -5
The reason interdisciplinary studies are so important is because it allows students to make connections through different content areas. When a book they are reading in English class connects with a time period they are learning about in history, a light bulb will go off in their head because it will become meaningful to them and they are more likely to learn something because they have made that connection. As an English Ed. student I can see where reading and writing skills can be integrated into the everyday classroom of each subject area- for example science lab reports require writing skills. How can we, as English teachers, create meaningful connections to subjects that are not so similar in relation to ours? How can we make meaningful connections to math and science in the English classroom? Like what Leah said, maybe asking science teachers to send us science articles they are learning in class so we can make it relevant in our own classroom.
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Post by hannahhiester on Feb 9, 2016 11:10:12 GMT -5
janinesherman, the making connections between classrooms is something I ponder a lot too, both because is makes sense to me and because lots of the research and practitioners talk about how important it is to learning! I wonder about things such as could we discuss the viability of the science in a science fiction novel or if they were reading a story that included manual labor, could we work out the mechanics and forces to give them a sense of how hard it really is. I wonder if this could work the other way - if we were teaching about machines in physics, could they then work on a piece in English that incorporated machines. They would then have to practice different means of communicating the same knowledge and think about what has to be kept and what they want to use some artistic license with. On the more technical side of things, I think comparing and contrasting what constitutes evidence and reasoning in English and Science/Math can be helpful as well as features of science writing versus other styles.
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jklee
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Post by jklee on Feb 10, 2016 11:56:36 GMT -5
Janine, I think that having a science teacher sending an english teacher an article to use in class would be a fantastic idea to integrate the two subjects. Perhaps, having interdepartmental meeting with all the teachers could encourage discussion about what the students are learning in the different classrooms and how to make connections to each one. As far as making a connection with science classes, perhaps students in a biology course could read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein? There are many works of literature that include a science fiction element that might at least begin to connect a science element. While Frankenstein is in no way realistic scientifically, it does have the elements of the use of science and is full of ideas to open many different subject discussions. There are also lots of different ways to pull in the scientific method when teaching literature. In many works, characters use the method without stating outright that they are creating and testing a hypothesis.
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