Recap on Week 1: Randy’s Input
Week 1 Reading: Zwiers Chapter 1
Key Points: Understanding How Students Use Language
1) The Role of Home & Community: Because diverse students learn and think differently than mainstream students, a common mistake teachers make is assuming common knowledge and procedures among learners. The book emphasizes that “Teachers need to align students’ backgrounds with how we teach, what we teach, how we use language, and how we expect students to describe their learning.”
2) Diversity of Students: Their cultural backgrounds can range from a) Breaks from schooling. b) Short school days. c) Introverted personalities. d) Weak academic English. e) Peer pressured to become more colloquial. f) Constant relocations/moving.
3) Capitals, Registers, and Expectations: Capital= valued knowledge that gets passed onto most mainstream children. (4 types: Social, Cultural, Knowledge, and Linguistic) Register= an adjusted way of talking within a certain setting.
Invisible Criteria: Teachers expect certain ways of talking about texts and expressing ideas in writing without indicating to their students these sorts of criteria. *Pedagogy of Entrapment*= a symptom of a situation where schools demand from students the academic discourse skills and knowledge that teachers don’t teach.
The Need to Value and Challenge: This section of the book teaches us to not devalue a student’s way in trying to make sense of the world. But at the same time we need to challenge students to expand their linguistic capital.
Being on the Same Page: “When ideas are transformed into speech, transmitted, and then turned back into ideas, some things are lost in translation.”
Agreeing on Importance: Teachers need to know from students what they think is important in their learning, but at the same time, has the ability to redirect students back on track if they veer off a goal during a discussion.
Hierarchical Thinking: Example: Involves a main point. Then support it with several logical reasons and evidence. Finally summarize it.
Reflection: I think this is a great introductory chapter to hook teacher candidates into being aware of how a student’s language understanding can greatly affect their learning and quality of work produced. My favourite part of the chapter was the talk on invisible criteria/hidden curriculum because I think it alerts me into thinking carefully during each lesson on how to define my expectations clearly to my students.