Author: cyeung

It was interesting to read this chapter on academic writing right after the short practicum because I actually used one of the techniques Zwiers suggested in one of my classes. At the beginning of the second week of my practicum, my sponsor teacher gave me the opportunity to help my Science 10’s carry out a lab. Since it was their first lab of the year, I felt it was necessary to spend some time before the lab to remind them on how to write a lab report. After brainstorming for some time on how I would carry out my lesson, I decided to develop a lab report template for my students to follow. On the lab report template, I listed headings for six sections I wanted them to include in their lab report (title, purpose, procedural diagram, observations and data, analysis and conclusion). Underneath each section heading, I provided short descriptions (around 1-2 sentences) to help guide my students on how to complete each section. I even labeled where I want them to write in their name, their partner’s name, and which block they were in.

However, I did not believe just handing out a copy of the template would be enough for my students to truly understand how to complete it. As Zwiers mentioned in this chapter, it is important for teachers to model how to write within each content area (219). After handing the templates out, I spent the next five minutes going over the entire template describing in more detail what I expected in each section. I even turned on the overhead projector to show my students how I would represent the collected data in tables and graphs under the ‘Observations and Data’ section. Hopefully by setting an example for my students to follow, they would encounter fewer problems when completing their lab reports at home.

For my inquiry class this week, each student must bring 3-4 significant objects for a class activity. For our activity, we must divide ourselves into groups of 2-3 students and interview another person on their objects. Each interviewer’s task is to ask questions that explore their classmate’s thoughts and beliefs about education, with the ultimate goal of interpreting their partner’s teaching philosophy.

In our LLED360 reading this week there is a section where Zwiers emphasizes how important it is for teachers to focus more on the process of group work activities, rather than the product (139). This idea resonated with me because it reminded me of my own interpretation of one of my significant objects, and how it relates to my thoughts on education. One of my objects is a Polaroid camera that was given to me on my 21^st birthday from a group of my closest friends. I love taking pictures because it helps to capture past memories of my life. I have always believed that the journey is more important than the destination, and I can relate this to one of my views on education. As important as it is for teachers to focus on getting their students to learn a prescribed outcome, I believe it is more important for them to focus the bulk of their time in planning and executing different fun and engaging ways that will help their students to learn the content.

For example, the most prominent memories of my vertebrate structure and function course consisted of everything I learned during the fascinating lab dissections I got to do. Having to compare and contrast the different forms and functions of different vertebrate classes was easier to accomplish when my lab partners and I got to work together and share our ideas on why certain traits evolved in different groups and how these traits may help a particular group survive. Not only did I learn course content through these lab activities, but I also learned how to respect my group members by providing appropriate academic responses to what they said (especially when I disagree with them). When I look back on this course, my group work in labs definitely stood out more than my memories of sifting through endless pages of lecture notes.

A lot of students are under the impression that school is a place where they must impress their teachers by achieving excellent test scores and respond to their questions with all the right answers. Why? Maybe it’s because of how the school system is modeled within TV shows that they watch, or simply because it’s implied from the learning methods they’re use to within their own classroom. One of the ways in which teachers may mislead their students is by the overuse of the traditional IRF format of school talk. An IRF ambience should only be maintained by teachers to a certain extent because it can become counterproductive in the end. This could possibly be the reason why students may possess the misconception mentioned earlier. By leading discussions where teachers are in control of what questions are asked and giving feedback to their students’ responses, students will be extremely cautious of what they say since they are now under the impression they need approval from their know-it-all teachers (111). Students may refrain themselves from participating unless they were one hundred percent sure their responses are correct.

Zwiers also explains what display questions are, and how they are a way for teachers to help students connect to pass knowledge or to recall on information that they have recently learned (104). However if it is overemphasized in the classroom it may lead students into thinking that to pass a course they only need to demonstrate their surface knowledge since higher order thinking was not encouraged by their teachers.

Through the incorporation of open ended questions, teachers may allow their students’ ideas and thoughts to build on one another. Effective class discussions are most easily facilitated when teachers are able to create classrooms environments which are warm, supportive, and one “in which pleasing the teacher is not the focus” (111). By creating this kind of classroom environment, shy, unconfident, and even ELL students will be more likely to participate. As teachers, we need to demonstrate to students that we are there to help them, and the only way in which we may most effectively do so is by understanding what troubles them. Unfortunately this does require students to make mistakes in order to learn from them, a process in which students aren’t always comfortable in going through. Only by discovering their students’ mistakes will teachers be most helpful in broadening their knowledge. Teachers need to convince students that they are on their side, and that teachers are not there to judge students based their mistakes but to use it as a way to help them instead. The only place where students will feel safe in making mistakes is in classroom they feel most comfortable in.

I like how this chapter discusses important thinking skills within each of the four disciplines. I also like how it informs teachers on how to help their students build on these skills by providing lots of excerpts of how other teachers scaffold their student’s learning. By examining the four disciplines in detail, the author allows teachers to get a glimpse on the variation of academic language that students face every day in other classrooms. Hopefully by realizing this, teachers may avoid stepping into their “expert blind spots” (69) and learn to take the extra time in developing lesson plans that will go over all necessary information in order for novices within their field to succeed. I agree with Zwiers when he claims teachers need to “[know] how novices think and struggle as they are learning the content” (70). Just as a history teacher would develop their students’ abilities in taking on different perspectives by being “able to think ‘in the shoes’ of another person” (83), it is just as important for teachers to place themselves inside their students’ shoes in order to figure out what they’re struggling with. Once teachers understand this, the process of devising a way of helping their students won’t be too difficult.

I found Fang and Schleppegrell’s article very informative on how to effectively ease a student’s transition from the simple and everyday language of elementary text to the more complicated language patterns observed in secondary readings.  I have never been introduced to the Functional Language Analysis before, but through the examples that Fang and Schleppegrell provided I can understand how simplifying the information into feasible parts can aid in a student’s clarification and analysis of the language content.

Although I have always enjoyed reading as a hobby, I still found myself struggling as I completed my readings for class in past undergraduate courses. Reading scientific articles proved to be the hardest as most of the time it consisted of a vast amount of terminology, many of which exceeded the level an undergraduate science student was required to know. Not only were the terminologies hard to keep up with, but the sentences were structured in such long and complicated ways that I found myself reading it over and over again only to make little sense of it. It’s unfortunate I was never fully trained during the senior years of high school to prepare me for what I was expected to carry out in university readings.

To prevent my future students from having to learn the hard way that I did, I would like to implement literacy exercises in my future practices as a science teacher. In doing so, I hope my lessons will not only help them acquire a firm grip on simplifying chunks of condensed material into manageable parts, but to also aid in identifying and building on the pool of technical terms in which the science discipline consists of.  I believe that timing plays a crucial role in a student’s success in developing their literacy skills. I think this development is a continuous process, stretching across their entire educational experience, and it is up to teachers to guide them along in a step by step fashion. For example, at the beginning of high school, students are expected to have mastered the language patterns presented to them in elementary text. It is now up to teachers working with them to build on this skill, through the use of language interpretation activities, to ensure that by grade 11 and 12, they will be prepared enough to comprehend and develop disciplinary literacies across their specialized subjects.

In addition, there is something I would like to clarify from this article. Mathematics is not the only discipline that evokes the usage of two different languages – natural language and symbolic language (Fang, and Schleppegrell 590). Within the general science curricula for grades 8, 9, and 10, students are also introduced to the wide range of symbols through complex concepts and equations which include, but are not limited to, α, β, Δ, and λ. Science students are also trained to acquire the skills in interpreting, organizing, and presenting a set of data in an appropriate way through the use of graphs, diagrams, or charts.

Upon the completion of my readings this week, I was reminded of my own personal experiences learning English as a second language. I can relate to the “background-school disconnect” (Zwiers 4) feeling that other diversity students mentioned in this chapter had as well. Culturally, I always stood out in my class, and to make matters worse I felt a huge barrier was set between mainstreamer classmates and me because I lacked the language skills to communicate with them. Reflecting back on those moments today, I completely agree with how important it is for teachers to take special notice of the struggles that engulf non-mainstream students in learning English, and to not let them fall victim to their invisible criteria. By developing a solid support system in their school, it provides these students the confidence they need to improve and to help them accept that it is okay to struggle a little before succeeding. It is important for students to improve on their academic English as soon as possible because their struggles in this language could eventually affect their performance in other classes. The last thing any teacher wants to see is their students giving up in science or socials because they can barely understand the lessons. I also believe that parents play a crucial role in this support system. By enrolling their child in extracurricular activities or providing them with educational novels and/or T.V channels, it helps to facilitate learning English even outside of the classroom setting. I was lucky to have teachers who noticed my struggles and set aside ESL class time for me, and parents who provided me with a broad range of extracurricular activities after school. This allowed me to build on my English skills, academically and socially. I definitely noticed a change in my performance and behavior at school after I passed my ESL course. Prior to passing, I was shy and extremely quiet in class. I never wanted to raise my hand and contribute in class discussions as I feared my accent was still obvious, or I would form sentences that were grammatically incorrect. While every student’s learning style and response to strategies is different, school support and extracurricular activities served to be the appropriate combination for me to develop my social, knowledge, and linguistic capital.

My discipline is in the sciences, and I have spent the past few years tutoring in this area. A strategy I have found very helpful in describing complex scientific topics to my students is by relating it something they already know. From this week’s reading, I was able to identify them as the use of metaphors, analogies, and personification. The key to helping a student understand a concept they just can’t grasp or visualize is to find common grounds through which you, as an educator, may start building the connection.