The strange fact about learning to read is that poverty and learning to read are linked. This fact is strange because poor children are not "less good" at reading than children from a higher socioeconomic status. All children can learn a complicated system located in a video game, but not all children learn what is taught in school. School manages to transform children who are good at learning things like Pokemon into children who are not good learners because they use the instructional method of instruction, which is not the best way for children to learn. Traditionalists say that reading should be taught in a "sequential, skills-based" approach, or that it should be taught in an instructional way. Progressive educators, on the other hand, lean more towards "meaning-making". They say that people "learn to read best when they pick up the skills as part of attempting to give meaning to written texts". The author of this book argues that reading is too new to be a natural process, unlike learning to speak a language. A natural process is something that is innate, and it is something that everyone succeeds well at. An instructional process, on the other hand, only a small number of people succeed well at and far more succeed less well. These contrast with a cultural process, which only a few really master and excel at, but everyone else who needs the skills learns them "well enough". Humans learn best through a cultural process, however, reading in school is taught through an instructional process.
According the the author of the book, the cause for the "fourth-grade slump" is caused because children learn to read, but the fail to read to learn. They cannot take information away from what it is that they are reading, which causes a backwards slide. A better predictor of reading success than phonic awareness is "early language ability". "Early language ability" is the ability to recall and comprehend sentences and stories, and the ability to engage in extended, connected verbal interactions on a single topic. This ability is developed by family, community, and school language environment where children interact intensely with adults and more advanced peers. The traditionalist approach to teaching children how to read fails because it teaches children to read academic language, which is not what they hear at home. The parents of poor children, in some ways, are to blame for their children's inexperience with specialized varieties of language before they come to school. The only exposure children have to language and reading before coming to school is what they gain at home, and if they do not get the proper foundation at home, they fail to succeed when they do reach school. I had no trouble reading this text.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Monday, October 15, 2012
Double Entry Journal #8
1. The main challenge being addressed in this book is the tension that is felt by those that feel that "academic and school-based forms of language and thinking that some people find alienating". This has to do with the type of language that is being used. Some people enjoy technical language, while others do not.
2. What the author means by the phrase "ways with words" is that there are different ways in which words can be used. This is the way in which language is used and that there are other ways besides those that are academic.
3. The core argument being made by the author of this book is that "people learn new ways with words, in or out of school, only when they find the worlds to which these words apply compelling".
4.
5.
6.
7. I agree with the author that learning academic language is not sufficient for success in modern society to an extent. I think it's important to not be too academic. Someone who is can often be marked off as arrogant or superior in the minds of the mass in society, and they can possibly be rejected by society. On the other hand, not having some knowledge of academic language can have the opposite effect. I think it's important to have some sort of balance.
8.
2. What the author means by the phrase "ways with words" is that there are different ways in which words can be used. This is the way in which language is used and that there are other ways besides those that are academic.
3. The core argument being made by the author of this book is that "people learn new ways with words, in or out of school, only when they find the worlds to which these words apply compelling".
4.
5.
6.
7. I agree with the author that learning academic language is not sufficient for success in modern society to an extent. I think it's important to not be too academic. Someone who is can often be marked off as arrogant or superior in the minds of the mass in society, and they can possibly be rejected by society. On the other hand, not having some knowledge of academic language can have the opposite effect. I think it's important to have some sort of balance.
8.
Monday, October 8, 2012
Struggling Student Interview
Do you enjoy school?
"Yes."
What kind of student are you?
"I do my homework, but I really don't like to."
What do you do for fun outside of school?
"On the computer I like to read this web comic called Home-stark but I like to [also] go outside and play with my friends."
How would your classmates describe you?
"I think they like me. I've matured since last year."
What do you and your friends do together?
"Me and [friend's name] like to draw and talk and get on get on people's nerves. And my friend at home, we like to kick the ball and play basketball and stuff."
Tell me a good memory you have about school.
"I remember once in kindergarten, I was so smart they wanted to put me in third grade, but my dad wouldn't let them, obviously."
Tell me a bad memory you have about school.
"In fourth and second grade, my teacher called all of us ignorant."
Tell me about a favorite teacher you had in the past.
"In first grade I had [teacher's name]. I liked her."
So you would say she's a "good" teacher?
"Yeah"
What makes her a good teacher?
"She was funny. She never gave us homework, even if we had a little bit of work left. We forgot to bring snack, and she had a trash bag full of gummies and crackers and stuff and gave them to us."
What is one thing you wish your teacher knew about you?
"I like to be called Solix."
From what I've observed of this student, she is very quiet and she doesn't often volunteer to answer questions or do problems. My teacher starts off every lesson with select students coming up to the board and doing latitude and longitude problems. In the time that I've been in this classroom, she has never once gone up to the board to do a problem. She seems very excited about school, though. I can't understand why she would be struggling, and had my teacher not told me that she was, I never would have pinned her as one. There are several other students within this class and the others that I observe that would seem more likely to me. Today they took a quiz on latitude and longitude, and she had no trouble finishing it around the same time as the other students did. She even had time to sit and draw on the back of her test. She seems to me that she is very smart, so I have to wonder what might be happening that is causing her to struggle. I feel she is a good student and that she tries. Perhaps she simply needs to apply herself more, but I honestly don't know.
"Yes."
What kind of student are you?
"I do my homework, but I really don't like to."
What do you do for fun outside of school?
"On the computer I like to read this web comic called Home-stark but I like to [also] go outside and play with my friends."
How would your classmates describe you?
"I think they like me. I've matured since last year."
What do you and your friends do together?
"Me and [friend's name] like to draw and talk and get on get on people's nerves. And my friend at home, we like to kick the ball and play basketball and stuff."
Tell me a good memory you have about school.
"I remember once in kindergarten, I was so smart they wanted to put me in third grade, but my dad wouldn't let them, obviously."
Tell me a bad memory you have about school.
"In fourth and second grade, my teacher called all of us ignorant."
Tell me about a favorite teacher you had in the past.
"In first grade I had [teacher's name]. I liked her."
So you would say she's a "good" teacher?
"Yeah"
What makes her a good teacher?
"She was funny. She never gave us homework, even if we had a little bit of work left. We forgot to bring snack, and she had a trash bag full of gummies and crackers and stuff and gave them to us."
What is one thing you wish your teacher knew about you?
"I like to be called Solix."
From what I've observed of this student, she is very quiet and she doesn't often volunteer to answer questions or do problems. My teacher starts off every lesson with select students coming up to the board and doing latitude and longitude problems. In the time that I've been in this classroom, she has never once gone up to the board to do a problem. She seems very excited about school, though. I can't understand why she would be struggling, and had my teacher not told me that she was, I never would have pinned her as one. There are several other students within this class and the others that I observe that would seem more likely to me. Today they took a quiz on latitude and longitude, and she had no trouble finishing it around the same time as the other students did. She even had time to sit and draw on the back of her test. She seems to me that she is very smart, so I have to wonder what might be happening that is causing her to struggle. I feel she is a good student and that she tries. Perhaps she simply needs to apply herself more, but I honestly don't know.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Double Entry Journal #7
What are some challenges to inquiry approaches to learning?
One challenge of inquiry-based approaches to learning are that teachers don't understand the complexity of this approach. When they do not have this understanding, the project they are doing is more likely to come apart of become unsuccessful. Chances are, the instructor has not provided "proper scaffolding, assessment, and redirection" which leads to the failure of the project. Another challenge to inquiry-based learning is that often times the students lack sufficient prior knowledge. Sometimes students also have insufficient support and modeling from their teacher. Teachers must learn how to incorporate and deal with the responsibilities and implementations that come with inquiry-based learning. One such example of this is time management and classroom management. Lastly, teachers must design lessons in inquiry-based projects that meet a variety of criteria, which is often difficult for them.
One challenge of inquiry-based approaches to learning are that teachers don't understand the complexity of this approach. When they do not have this understanding, the project they are doing is more likely to come apart of become unsuccessful. Chances are, the instructor has not provided "proper scaffolding, assessment, and redirection" which leads to the failure of the project. Another challenge to inquiry-based learning is that often times the students lack sufficient prior knowledge. Sometimes students also have insufficient support and modeling from their teacher. Teachers must learn how to incorporate and deal with the responsibilities and implementations that come with inquiry-based learning. One such example of this is time management and classroom management. Lastly, teachers must design lessons in inquiry-based projects that meet a variety of criteria, which is often difficult for them.
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