ThinkQuest

I found this interesting project on westward expansion in the ThinkQuest library.  I think I would use a project like this in my future classroom because I think it gives an interesting way for students to learn about how the population of the United States moved West and some of the things that made that possible.  People didn't just pop up out of nowhere in California, they had to have came from somewhere.  I think students would find this interesting to work together to learn how the Western United States was shaped.

Best Practices Blog Reflection

I chose to read the More Than Just a Motto: Nobody Eats Alone at Harborside blog posting.  I think that Harborside Academy has a good thing going with their "Nobody eats alone at Harborside" motto for their school.   It really means nobody should be left alone to solve any problem which is a good motto to live by for a school. They are very involved in team building and their community and have a three day camp for each grade level at the beginning of the school year.  The faculty said that this has let them deepen their relationships with their students in important ways.  I think this is part of culturally responsive teaching.  They make the extra effort to get to know their students outside of the classroom which help them when they are teaching the students in the classroom.  They also have what they call academic and character intensives to help students that are having trouble mastering the content for the given semester or are not focused on their school work.  The faculty also gets their students involved in community service throughout the school year and requires 15 hours of such.  They make time after they have done this for the students and teachers to reflect on what they did which would also make a deeper connection between the students, teacher, and community which also has to do with culturally responsive teaching.

where I am from tyler chadock

After reading these articles dealing with language in Appalachia I feel that I have a better understanding of the topic and how to deal with it. It really opened my eyes to what a problem this is because I knew never really thought about this existing.  I thought back to the times in my life where a person was judged only by how they talk, or in my personal case, the first three digits of my home telephone number.  I remember how much that angered me and vowed that I would never do that in any situation.  I think the quote from the Purcell Gates article, “ As soon as she opened her mouth, I knew she was ignorant.” (Purcell Gates, 2002) best illustrates this. It is important to realize that the way someone talks or where they are from should not dictate how much effort a teacher should put into teaching that person.  It is important to teach kids, not stereotypes.

I think that one way schools contribute to poor literacy instruction is the way some educators interpret the ways of speaking that differ from Standard American English.  While not all, a fair amount of teachers spend valuable time which could be used on instruction  correcting the way their students talk because it differs from Standard American English which goes along with the cultural deficit theory.  This also affects the student because if they are being constantly corrected they may become discouraged and feel unintelligent as Rowland and Marlow point out by saying, “It is this belief that fosters negative attitudes toward minority dialects and leads to dialect discrimination.” (Rowland & Marrow, 2010)  After we have talked so much about this I feel the cultural difference theory is a better approach for teachers to take.  I do believe that students will learn better if allowed to speak and write in the language which they are used to and in time will learn the professional communication skills necessary for employment in the future.

 I think teachers need to show an interest in students and their get an understanding of who they are other than just students in their classrooms in order to overcome cultural deficit perspectives.  I think a good way to do this is by performing an ethnographic study like the Moll article says and learn the ways of the community and of the students’ families.  “He believes the secret to literacy instruction is for schools to investigate and tap into the "hidden" home and community resources of their students.”(Moll 1992)  I believe once teachers have done something like this they will be able to relate better to their students in order to teach them more successfully. 

 I think one of the main ways for teachers to increase literacy in non-Standard English speaking students is to let them speak how they naturally speak in the classroom like Epstein and Harris say, “letting students use their informal speech in the classroom and acknowledging it as a valid language which does not have to be corrected and is not wrong.” (Epstien & Herring-Harris, 2011)  I think that after students get the picture that the way they talk is not looked down upon, they will be able to focus on other things like learning and fully expressing themselves without fear of repercussion which would hinder the learning process.  I believe teachers also need to think about the student’s cultural capital and Moll’s funds of knowledge to paint a better picture of the community in which the student lives.  Once the teacher finds out through these methods a better way to communicate and gain interest with students, they will increase their literacy.

The where I am from project successfully   supported culturally responsive teaching in several ways.  It helped us to learn more about and appreciate our classmates and where they came from which I think helps students learn better when they learn with people they feel they have a good connection with.  The where I am from project also let everyone incorporate their home lives into school work which is something that doesn’t get to happen very often.  In doing these things it has helped the teacher to get to know the students and their communities better which is something Moll discussed. 

 I believe teachers of non-standard English students should go about teaching just as we have discussed within all of these articles.  I think that this is a great way to teach students by combining the points in these different articles, which I would bet is one of the reasons why I am writing this reflection.  I plan on implementing culturally responsive teaching in a couple of ways.  I believe I will let the students talk and write in their native dialect  to a certain extent because I believe there has to be some sort of relative standard for the English Language because if not, it would degrade to the point where no one would know what was being talked about; especially in generations to come.  I plan on doing some sort of Ethnographic study of the community which I will be teaching in and maybe drive around the area to see what parts of town the students live in and various community functions like football games and ice cream socials and other funds of knowledge etc.      

 Works Cited

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.

 Rowland, J. & Marrow, D. (2010).  Dialect Awareness Education: The importance of Watching Our Words. USC Undergraduate Research Journal vol 3.

 Gonzalez, N.,  Greenberg, J. & Velez, C. Thanks Funds of Knowledge: A Look at Luis Moll's     Research Into Hidden Family Resources. CITYSCHOOLS, 1 (1), 19-21, 1994.

 

  National Council of Teachers of English (2008). National Council of Beliefs About Writing.       Retrieved October 12, 2012: http://www.ncte.org/positions/statements/writingbeliefs

 

 Epstein, P. &  Herring-Harris, L (2011).Honoring Dialect and increasing Student Performance     in Standard English. Retrieved October 12, 2012:            http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/3655