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Post by felishadake on Feb 10, 2016 17:04:16 GMT -5
I am wondering whether a mushfake discourse holds a positive or negative connotation. Should we be encouraging students to only make do with what they have, and at what point is this not limiting them from their full potential?
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jklee
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Post by jklee on Feb 10, 2016 18:14:15 GMT -5
I feel like it can be placed in a positive and a negative connotation. It really depends on how it is presented. Initially, in class, I feel like it was presented in a negative light. Something along the lines of, "this is something that happens when someone doesn't belong." However, there is another idea that it is a process of learning. Like George said, "there are many forms" of mushfaking.
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Post by taylorbelleglaze on Feb 10, 2016 18:29:03 GMT -5
I agree with what JK said. It can be a negative and positive connotation. It can be negative in the way that it would hinder continuous learning. If a student has decided to give up on becoming a better writer because they are pretending to have reached an end point, this can be a negative thing. On the other hand, it can be positive if it helps a student reach a state of wanting to learn more but they are using what they know in the time being while they are receiving new information. I hope that makes sense!
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Post by parkerh13 on Feb 10, 2016 19:31:50 GMT -5
Using Mushfaking as a negative connotation, how can as instructors, we stop mushfaking within our classes and make students feel comfortable enough with their lack of knowledge so they don't feel that they need to mushfake? I think that we, as humans and it is our nature, mushfake a lot because we don't want to feel that we are not smart or good enough or that someone else is above us in some way, obviously this can be a poisonous practice in our classrooms because our students won't actually learn anything. So I think my overall question is what in your opinion (to anyone) is the best way to help our students not mushfake?
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Post by janinesherman on Feb 12, 2016 11:03:58 GMT -5
So I totally understand the term "mushfake" in the sense fake it til you make it- and I think that "making do" is a strategy that we see often with people trying to blend into a secondary discourse
but, every since Wednesday's class I have been trying to make connections to the other side of mushfaking- the Marshawn Lynch side, the "i don't care about learning this because this is stupid" side. I think this is very apparent in real life, but I have never really put a name to it before. I've always kind of thought of it as a defense mechanism. In this way, people who mushfake are taking power within a secondary discourse that doesn't really align with what they want or know.
What about the political examples we used in class? Mushfaking as a justification for doing something- like in the Civil Rights Movement.
Thinking about Mushfaking could keep my mind in tangles for awhile...
But going off what Hannah said I think we should keep an eye out for this is the classroom, so we know when students aren't fully comprehending the secondary discourse. Whether it's good- faking it til you make it, or bad- pretending you don't care so you don't have to do it, both mean that the student isn't being included fully in the secondary discourse- they are the outsiders.
My TSL student does this "I don't care" act every time we encounter grammar problems. Since he is Korean, maybe he feels like an outsider and claims that our English grammar doesn't really matter to him. In this case, I think as teacher we should slow down and make the learning accessible to them. We can relate it somehow to their primary discourse, or just explain it in a way that they see it IS important and they CAN learn it even though they are unfamiliar with this secondary discourse.
Relating back to our blogs last week on our own secondary discourses, we can try to relate it to that. Instead of using disciplinary terms or having strict codes of conduct, as teachers we can try to align with THEIR primary discourse so them being outsiders doesn't close a window for them.
So sorry I babbled on, I actually feel like writing this gave me some of my own clarity and answers for Mushfaking...
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kasee
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Post by kasee on Feb 13, 2016 6:57:14 GMT -5
Janine, I think you make some really good points here. Thinking about mushfaking and what we discussed Wednesday evening made me think about how many times I have done this in my own life, or from what I remember from my peers in school. It is easier to understand as a defense mechanism, but the concept is harder to grasp from the other side, as in the Marshawn Lynch example. I felt that he was in a different position because he had the control and power at that point. He doesn't have to answer to the reporters because they aren't his boss or employer.. or in our case, he's not our "student." He had total control over the situation and he knew that. So I suppose that this side of mushfake isn't as clear to me.
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Post by cevangeline on Feb 15, 2016 7:51:45 GMT -5
I believe a mushfake discourse holds a negative connotation in classroom teaching and learning, since students won't be able to recognize their real academic abilities. They won't know their own disadvantages in learining, making them stop making progresses in academic performances. Meanwhile, with mushfaking, teachers won't cleary identify learners' learning situation, which will cause them not be eligible to educate students well.
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Post by felishadake on Feb 16, 2016 14:54:14 GMT -5
In my opinion, I think that a step we can take as teachers to stop students from feeling like they have to mushfake is by creating and fostering a student centered classroom environment built on respect. In science, we encourage the practice of productive argumentation. Questioning of each others and our own ideas is common. In order for this to work, we emphasize that we are critiquing each others ideas, not the individual who brought up the idea. I think if, from the beginning of the year, we emphasize that we are all learning together and that this class is meant to challenge ideas, and it is not meant as an attack against the individual, then this might make less students feel as though they have to know everything.
Not to mention, by probing their ideas, it would become clear if the student does not actually know as much as they are pretending. It is when teachers do not attend to and respond to student ideas that the student successfully 'mushfakes' their way through a course.
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jklee
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Post by jklee on Feb 16, 2016 20:45:14 GMT -5
Felisha, I think you have an awesome point! That's an awesome way to keep students from feeling like they have to mushfake. When I was in school, I remember a teacher asking a question and saying, "what the worst thing that could happen? You could be wrong. And that's no big deal." His encouragement definitely helped his students open up to answering discussion questions and contributing to class. The majority of students are very self-conscious and they care what other people thought of them, I certainly did as a high school student. They don't want to look dumb in front of their peers. However, when you let your students know that it's okay to be wrong, they might open up more. It's important to even admit to your own mistakes as a teacher and a human being. At least once a day, I like to admit to myself whenever I make a mistake that I am wrong and that it's okay. I think it would be beneficial to apply that kind of thinking in the classroom.
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