Literacies and Education 2013

This post is a bit late, but it is in response to my first day at my placement. This semester, I have been placed at a public school in Center City Philadelphia, which is vastly different than the suburban independent school I attended, and the two previous placements I’ve had which were also both at independent schools. I am currently in a place where I feel as though I am not prepared to pass judgment or provide ample commentary on the school because I am still figuring out what my impressions are, myself. My first impression of the teacher is that she is not overly enthusiastic. She became irritated quickly and did not seem to feel the need for digression in front of her students. A few times she became frustrated and threw up her hands, exclaiming things such as “I just can’t!” or “I’m done!” after which she would return to her desk for a little bit. At one point, another teacher wandered into the class and the woman I am shadowing turned to her, gestured to the class and said to her, “See what I’m talking about?” The oddest part about this to me was that the students seemed completely un-phased by her attitude. In fact, in many cases, it seemed they rather liked her. 

It really hit me this week that I am learning to be literate in french. I see techniques that we talk about in learning english used in my french class. Sometimes I have the desire to tell my teacher a tip or to try something, which may be more effective in our learning. I don't because I do not want to delegitimize her work and authority. The concept of authority brings me to a movie we watched in french this week called Les Choristes. It is a fantastic movie. It involves a school for troubled boys and a new prefect, who changes the student's lives with music. This movie brings up many similar concepts to those we have talked about in class, for example, how do we motivate kids to want to be literate? Additionally, one of the most important concepts I saw mirrored in our discussion and in the movie was the need to respect the student, and attempt to learn about the student. 

As I looked around this classroom, I began to become aware of how intentional classroom decoration can be. One thing that popped out to me in particular was a list of classroom rules. One bullet point stated something like, “Keep comments relevant (germane) to class discussion.” I was really struck by this careful insertion of a new vocabulary word into the classroom environment... This reminded me of Rose's discussions in Lives on the Boundary of how certain people in his life helped his learning process by giving him reference points, like Dr. Carothers, who “drew... a giant conceptual blueprint onto which we could place other courses, other books,” (52). Moments like this in Rose's book really struck me; I had never before thought about how important it is to come into an educational setting with a “blueprint” or sorts for understanding how to place and order other information...There is something more satisfying, engaging, and permanent about learning when you know where and how to place new information. The use of those vocabulary words side by side on the list of classroom rules helps to map new words onto knowledge already acquired. So, my experience in the classroom this week has led me to realize what an important tool the physical classroom environment can be for, even subconsciously, creating awareness of certain concepts or bodies of work that may help students later on to open up more easily to new information. 

I just realized I forgot to post my Journal 5 entry... Sorry!  But it's all for the best because something more compelling happened in class today which I'd rather get everyone's opinions on/explore in more detail.

The sixth graders were almost all wearing orange ribbons in their hair today in honor of a boy at a nearby middle school who's recently been diagnosed with leukemia.  

Natalie and Allison were talking and being very silly and playful and Natalie was jokingly forcing her ribbon on Allison who was jokingly refusing it.  ”No!  Really!  Take it!  It’s yours,” Natalie said and threw it at Allison.  It landed on the floor where I was standing (right next to them.)  I picked it up (Natalie, to Allison:  ”SEE?? Now you made Miss Emma pick it up!!!!”) and in the span of a split second felt torn about how to react.  

In my mind (and heart?) this is what I wanted to say:  "Girls, if we’re wearing these ribbons to support a boy who’s feeling very sick, is this really the way we should be treating these ribbons?"  But I didn’t say that.  Instead I smiled and placed the ribbon on the table and started a new conversation.

My journal group and I had come up with the following that teachers should remember to use in their classrooms,

• Initiate a common ground in learning abilities for students.
• Encourage and support a student’s self-progress.
• Encourage student teaching/peers helping one another with the material.
• Acknowledge students for good behavior.

For the first bullet presented, my group and I had discussed the importance on making students feel comfortable. For instance, one of my peers had mentioned how there was a second grader at her praxis site who had refused to read a term that the rest of his peers couldn’t read either and instead had put his head face down on his desk. It was clear that the student had felt uncomfortable by refusing to read and its possible that he most likely felt frustrated because maybe some of the other students were able to read that term but he couldn’t. In order to prevent students from feeling uncomfortable and frustrated our group thought it would be great if teachers could create an atmosphere where the students know that everyone will be learning and going through the same thing, thus initiating a common ground for everyone.

I'm not saying that this is a definite list that teachers should keep in mind when educating their students, this is just what my journal group and I had come up with and believe that this could help give students a more positive educational experince.

Multiliterate education largely does not exist in an effective form not simply because teachers lack the tools with which to implement it, but because enough value is not put on it for tools to be developed in the first place. At the expense of multiliterate education, other curricula are put in place that foster values entrenched in the privileged middle class cultures and economies that hold power in this country. I think this text reads nicely alongside Delpit as one attempts to explore different ways of approaching how we change power and value systems in schools, and how multiple literacies can be achieved perhaps only through recognition of the reasons behind favoring certain kinds of literacies over others.

A couple weeks ago in class, we discussed the idea of "threshold concepts" and the ways these moments of clarity function in the classroom. Esteniolla described her definition of these moments and added that one of her partners in the project studies the occurance of these moments in the classroom, but puts less emphasis on theshold moments outside of the classroom. My natural interest tends to lead me in the other direction. Since this class, I have spent a lot of time reflecting on "aha-moments" that I have had, and although it is possible to pinpoint a few instances in the classroom, I am even more fascinated by the threshold concepts that I have mastered outside of the walls of the classroom. At the end of my past season, I was elected captain of the Haverford field hockey team, and although I was honored, I have also been anxious and struggling to understand what kind of leader I should be. Last week, I attended a leadership seminar, along with the other Haverford College teams’ sophomores. The topic of this seminar was core values. Each attendee was given a list of twenty values and we were asked to number our top ten in order. After we had each done so, we began to discuss our choices, and the leaders of the seminar began to evaluate “Integrity” as a value. I had noticed integrity on the list, but I had not put it in my top ten. Perhaps this was because I did not fully understand its meaning. They defined integrity of being the person you say you are, and eliminated dissonance between what you say and what you do.

Here goes!

I have noticed that the word, "discourse" is in many posts! Great! It definitely became part of my vocabulary after taking this course in Fall 2012. From you all, I would love to know how you define "discourse." What is your definition? What does the word capture when you use it? What are its limitations?  How has using ut, or knowing it well (?), shaped your outlook in the class and/or beyond?

Would love to hear comments! Looking forward to reading more posts...

Best,

Esteniolla M.