LLED 360

I have been thinking a lot about how we can ensure that both introverts and extroverts are able to demonstrate their knowledge in the classroom. I would identify myself as somewhere in the middle of this spectrum depending on the context I am in. According to the Myers-Briggs personality assessment I am an introvert, but people who know me might identify me as an extrovert. This is because, with practice I have forced myself to be able to communicate in front of many people. My sister is someone I would identify as more of a classic introvert. She recently started reading the book Quiet by Susan Cain. You can do a quiz on the website: http://www.thepowerofintroverts.com/quiet-quiz-are-you-an-introvert/ to see if you are an introvert/extrovert according to her definitions.

One of the challenges I know I will face as a teacher is the ability to know what is being shared in group discussions and from whom. Small group or one on one discussions are a great way for introverts to have the chance to share in a less intimidating way. However, extroverts can sometimes tend to dominate these conversations unless the teacher specifically facilitates equal sharing. We have explored some of these techniques in our textbook and in other classes. I know for me, it would take practice to know how to manage these groupings effectively.

When it comes to having students share with the big group after a group discussion, I have found even in our teaching program that the extroverts will be “elected” or volunteer to speak for the group. The problem with this, is that only certain information about the discussion will then be shared based on the speaker’s bias and we still often do not hear the ideas of introverts. I would like to explore different ways in my own teaching of making sure everyone has a chance to share their ideas after a group discussion. Some ways I might try is having everyone right down one reflection from the group discussion, or making sure if there is a “recorder” that they know it’s their job to write down at least 1 thing each person said…and so on.

I would also like to share an article I found written on an interview with the Author Susan Cain about other ways to encourage engagement with introverts in the classroom. See the article here: http://www.thepowerofintroverts.com/quiet-quiz-are-you-an-introvert/

I found the examples used by Zwiers in Chapter 6 to be very helpful to begin to imagine how a question can turn into a good question that encourages academic discussion. I particularly liked the open ended questions that “connect to students’ lives and allow for personalized, divergent responses.” I like that it allows for more imaginative responses while still having students think about the content from various perspectives. A few of the examples were “If you were a colonist, would you have…? Why? Would you have done what the main character did? How would you like to be a whale? How would you use geometry to build a house?” I have tried to think about how to make these types of questions relevant in a visual arts classroom and have come up with a few questions:

If you were a curator, would you include this artwork in your exhibition? Why?

What would you have done if you were trying to shock the art community at the time?

How would you like to be a clay sculpture going through the firing and glazing processes? Why?

If you could be a colleague of another artist in a period of art history who would you be friends with? Why?

Week 5 Readings: Zwiers Chapter 4

Key Points: Content-Area Variations of Academic Language

Language of Language Arts: Interpretation= process of understanding messages and meanings in text. Students can interpret a same text in different meanings–> need to find common ground. Persuasion= showing the reader/listener that the reasoning for your side is more logical than the opposing side. Also cause and effect.

Language of History: To describe the past, its interpretations, and its relevance to the present and future–> not a linear process. Cause and effect= most sentences are influenced by what happens in the previous sentence–> up to the reader to infer these connections. Interpretation= there’s a variation called “Skill of Generalization” –>”looking at events and interpreting them to come up with a principle/pattern that applies to other, similar events in the past or future.” Perspective Taking In History= in order to “think in someone’s shoes” one must learn about that person and his or her circumstances.

Language of Science: tend to be more technical. *Need to keep in mind that scientific language and literacy can differ significantly from others that students may use in other classes.*Description in Scientific Inquiry= students need to know how to ask questions in each step of creating an inquiry. Cause and Effect= hypothesizing possible causes and effects of scientific phenomena and using that sort of thinking to identify variables that can help students change their experiments to bring about better results. Interpretation= making careful observations and then figure out where the data will lead them to conclude. Comparison= requires teachers to have patience and effort teaching those who struggle in this area. (Students are forced to analyze and notice discrete characteristics).

Language of Math: can be seen as more foreign than other subjects. Less overlap of ideas, terms, and concepts found in other subjects. Need to be able to read in every direction. Interpretation= giving meaning to words or symbols. Problem solving= breaking down a problem into different parts, apply previous learning strategies/formulas, summarize main points and exclude extraneous information, organization of data in a logical sense, and compare the problem to previously similar problems.

Reflection: Another hard to get through chapter. This chapter serves like an encyclopedia section because of the diverse information it covers about language in different content areas. It may demotivate a reader easily if they are not fond of a subject matter. However, it does serve interesting approaches to each subject and how each subject defines interpretation differently. My favourite part was actually in the math section, (I’m a social studies discipline), where Zwiers talks about the different steps of problem solving. I love how he included the step to “exclude extraneous information” because that is crucial when reading a word problem, or performing simplification problems in algebra. Teachers tend to overlook that step quite often when teaching math.

Week 4 Readings: A Focus on Vocabulary

Key Points:

What is Vocabulary? (General) = Knowledge of words and word meanings.

Vocabulary as defined by teachers= hard words that students encounter in content area textbook and literature selections.

The article’s definition of vocabulary: words that students must know in order to advance their reading levels to understand demanding texts with comprehension.

Words come in 2 forms= Oral and Print.

Word Knowledge comes in 2 forms= Receptive and productive. (Receptive= words that we recognize when we hear or see them. Productive= words that we use when we speak or write.)

The importance of Vocabulary to Reading Comprehension:

(Trend: [If] students don’t have sufficient word knowledge to understand what they read, they typically avoid reading.)

Matthew Effects= “Good readers read more, become better readers, and learn more words; poor readers read less, become poorer readers, and learn fewer words.”

One of the solutions listed in the article: If children have the printed words in their oral vocabulary, they can more easily and quickly sound out, read, and understand them, as well as comprehend what they are reading.

Word Knowledge is “incremental”, “multidimensional”, and “interrelated”.

Word Schema= A network of knowledge related to a word.

Kinds of Reading Necessary to Produce Vocabulary Growth: The article indicates that students should read some text for leisure and some that challenges them. If the teacher offers some guidance when selecting books, it can greatly increase productivity during reading periods.

Rule of Thumb: Rare words that come up in literature very few times should be taught at point-of-contact, Tier Two words/words that come up in student texts that the reader might not necessarily know should be taught more because they are the ones that add most to students’ language knowledge.

Synonyms: Teachers should teach those casually as they come up to increase their student’s vocab knowledge.

Morphemes and Morphology: words that cannot be broken down into smaller parts= morpheme. Morphology= study of word formation. (Derivational suffixes useful to teach: something like -ial should be mentioned to students that it means (relating to) )

Cognates: e.g. Luna= latin root. Lunar= english literary academic word.

Reflection: Very interesting read. I can’t even summarize all the key points on here. As I was reskimming the article I can’t help but to keep highlighting the key points I found in this article. My most favourite parts of the article include learning about the Matthew Effects: how a proficient student will do better and better and how a struggling student will be less and less motivated to read. Also, I found out some root word examples in the derivative suffixes section that even I wasn’t even clear about in the beginning (-ial) so it really intrigued me to pay more attention when I come across something like this to keep in mind to alert my future students about these certain endings.

One activity that Zwiers suggests in the text is called “Take a side”. In “Take a side”, the room is divided up into two sides and students would go stand on the side that they feel best represents their take on an issue. There is also a “middle”, but from what I understand from the text, because the room is a continuum, students will be on a side even though they gravitate more towards the centre. Students will then have to discuss with those around them why they chose to stand where they are and then find someone standing on the other side to discuss. I can see how this activity can be used in home-ec when discussing issues in foods, textiles, and family studies. They can be scenario questions or on a specific topic we are covering such as consumption. There are often no easy answers to many of these questions because of how complex they are and students may find themselves moving around the room as their views shift as we explore the topic and depending on what aspect we are focusing. I have also played a similar game in day camp where there is a line on the floor and students have to take a side. This game was played as an icebreaker though and the questions were meant to help leaders and kids get to know each other. Questions asked were usually quite easy to answer eg. if you could only own one, would you choose the radio or the tv? or would you rather got to a party or go to a museum? Like the games we played with Graham, the students are speaking through their body language while they are playing the game and through their choices as well.

One discussion activity not mentioned in the textbook is “philosopher’s cafe”. I really enjoyed this activity in another class. We were numbered off into small groups of 4 and the discussion leader of each group was provided with a list of many questions. Because the discussion is supposed to be informal, we didn’t have to answer the questions in order, or any of the questions provided if we had a question of our own that we wanted to discuss. We had the choice of staying inside the classroom or going somewhere else. One person in each group took notes on what we discussed and each group shared one comment from their discussion when we all came back into the class. The purpose of the activity is to try to encourage conversation and I think the informal setting made it a little more comfortable. I would like to do a version of this in the classroom…there will have to be a few changes though. For example, students may have to stay in the classroom and may need a bit of guidance as they are participating in the activity. Questions in the home-ec class can be things like what foods do you enjoy eating? Who do you usually eat with? Where does our food come from?

Week 2 Reading: Zwiers Chapters 2 and 3

Key Points: Language for Academic Thinking

Zwiers Definition of Academic Learning= the set of words, grammar, and organizational strategies used to describe complex ideas, higher-order thinking processes and abstract concepts.

General and Specialized Language= students learn new levels of understanding language & vocab through what they already know.

Bricks and Mortar= (Brick: technical words that are specific to a discipline)(Mortar: words that are used to create smooth-flowing and logical sentences and paragraphs.)

Functions of Academic Language: 1) To describe complexity 2) To describe higher order thinking 3) To describe abstraction.

Features of Academic Language: 1) Using Figurative Expressions 2) Being Explicit for “Distant Audiences” 3) Remaining “detached” from the Message 4) Supporting Points with Evidence. 5) Conveying Nuances of Meaning with Modals. 6) Softening the Message with Qualifiers. 7) Using Prosody for Emphasis.

Features of Academic Grammar: 1) Long sentences 2) Passive voice 3) Nominalization 4) Condensed complex messages 5) Clarity.

Reflection: This chapter was extremely hard to get through in my opinion. Trying to keep the key points short as possible because there were way too much notes I took on this chapter. My favourite part was the features of academic grammar section because it really defines what older students are submitting through their writing assignments. I also believe these characteristics are what demotivates students from learning when they are required to do research on a scholarly article or having to read through dry material in a textbook. It really emphasizes the importance on why teachers need to be engaging during class time and also teach via allowing students to critically come up with an answer themselves.

Key Points: Cultivating Academic Language Acquisition–> Based on 3 principles: Language acquisition Basics, Building Habits of Connection, and Building Habits of Communication.

1) Language Acquisition Basics: a) Receiving Input. b) Producing Language. c) Negotiating meaning. d) Modelling Academic Language. e) Modeling with Think Alouds. f) Scaffolding Thinking and Learning. g) Gestures and facial expressions. h) Linguistic enabling.

2) Building Habits of Connection: a) Connect with Metaphors. b) Connect with Examples. c) Personify. d) Use language to authentically do and think.

3) Building Habits of Communication: a) Use controversial or provocative statements. b) Co-shape conversations. c) Repeat student responses. d) Rephrase student responses. e) Have students paraphrase. f) Use comments to enrich classroom talk (i.e. prompts) g) Conduct meta-discussions. h) Stop to think how we think. i) Focus on deeper levels of talk.

Reflection: Very useful ways to allow teachers to understand how to facilitate a discussion properly that promotes student learning. The most important part I found in this chapter was the talk about linguistic enabling. Firstly, the chapter really overlaps well some of the content in my other education classes. Talks and examples of scaffolding really intrigues me when learning through this course. In linguistic enabling, it talks about how it is bad to overuse scaffolding and how teachers accept oral and written responses that are not sufficiently at the academic level it should be at.

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.

A sector of Chapter 5 emphasizes the importance of building background information before classroom discussions. By doing so, students will come up with more thorough answers. More students will be included in the conversation as well.

This reminds me of one time when I taught in China. It was an English writing class of about ten students. Two of them had been to American high schools as exchange students before and the rest had never studied abroad. At one point I briefly mentioned Lord of the Flies as an example of the controversial topic of human nature. The two students, who had been to American high schools before, could relate to the reference since they probably already read the novel as part of their high school curriculum. There was one other student who had read a translated version before and he was able to comprehend after a moment. The others were at a loss. The discussion around the topic, of course, only involved those three and other students were not able to participate. Think back to the lesson, I would have done a better job by providing my students some introduction to the novel, even if it is just a synopsis.

This is very likely to happen in a Canadian classroom as well, especially when there are so many ELLs in schools nowadays. The teacher can certainly enrich the classroom conversation by using anecdotes and references from literature, political events or pop culture, but he or she must do so cautiously because many students may not be able to understand. Various methods can be used to solve this. The teacher can encourage students to watch more television, listen to radios, and read newspapers. He or she can also provide students materials related to the main topic before the class when applicable. Students may pair up or form groups in which native students can communicate with ELLs and help them be more familiar with the English culture. The most important thing for teachers to keep in mind is that classroom discussions not only cultivate students’ academic skills, but also build their confidence to succeed in schools.

Before reading Chapter 5, I already had some grounds on the potential that rich classroom talk has to engage students into critical thinking. Nonetheless, I had never thought about how crucial asking the proper questions is in order to truly make students reflect upon the matters at stake. To that extent, I also realized that there is a rather fine line between making the right question and making a question that only requests superficial answers which are mostly elaborated to get the teacher’s approval. In light of this, on the one hand, it makes me a bit apprehensive to know that this line can be crossed over if a single word is misplaced in our interrogative sentence. On the other hand, it is very motivating to understand the power that questions may have, if correctly used. The suggestions that the author gives us, such as avoiding IRFs, asking fewer questions, and planning the questions in advance are useful strategies which set a good starting point. Yet they certainly do not guarantee that we always stay on the right path, as situations in the classroom often unfold in unexpected directions. Hence, asking the right questions is actually an art, which requires improvising, planning, practicing, background knowledge, and so forth; it is something to be developed, but never achieved, through failure and success along an entire teaching career.

The article “A Focus on Vocabulary” offers valuable content for educators about the importance of vocabulary, vocabulary learning processes of children and youth, and techniques to promote the expansion of students’ vocabulary. I personally highly appreciate works such as this which provide pragmatical and objective information on teaching strategies that may be helpful guidance in our future professional practice. To that extent, the article is rather enlightening, especially as it suggests interesting methods to teach different kinds of words in different contexts.

Nonetheless, such strategies will be meaningless if the importance of vocabulary is not assimilated. Therefore, by showing the implications of having or not having a wide vocabulary, the section “The Importance of Vocabulary to Reading Comprehension” (2) is, for me, the crux of the text. More specifically the “Matthew Effect” unravels the need for enriching students’ vocabulary by showing that those who have a good vocabulary read more and thus increasingly expand their vocabulary, whilst those who have a poor vocabulary read less, do not sufficiently expand their vocabulary, and thus get ever poorer when compared with the first ones. In light of this, teachers must commit to breaks the latter cycle as early as possible in order to avoid large gaps between their students. Vocabulary is a key factor that can lead to either equality or inequality among students; it is up to teachers fight to make sure that all students are equally empowered by a wide vocabulary.