Class notes 7 July 2005
Thoughts on our initial questions about
language arts, transmediation and literacy
EDCI 6350 7 July
2005
Discussion over the initial questions we have about language arts
We read today lots about how students can respond to text
Transmediation as a Metaphor for New Literacies in Multimedia Classrooms by Ladislaus M. Semali and Judith Fueyo
http://www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/semali2/
Research shows us that student teaching is the greatest defining time of a teacher's professional life
- it has a huge conditioning impact
Mellinee went through an alternative certification program and did not go through student teaching
Student teaching in most instances is NOT the time to "step out on your own"
Questions to consider:
1- What constitutes text in this context?
2- What symbols are present?
3- How are symbols and texts culturally mediated?
Story of person who Mellinee knew that had been 6th grade teacher, experiencing cognitive dissonance
- advice: take some throwaway time (like Friday afternoon) and start to implement some of this stuff
- one project: asked students to bring in old cardboard boxes and create something with it
- really helped him connect with students that were not successful in the traditional setting / format of school
- he learned never to give up on students from this
- also a valuable lesson about navigating the space between what he was mandated to do and the freedom he had
Discussion about how recent federal mandates with "Reading First" and NCLB has transformed education
- piece that is differnet now: it is monitored and policed, people are stepping into the classroom and going through lesson plans in ways they had not before
Students in our class are coming from very different perspectives
I find it very interesting that reading/writing workshop ideas are not considered "cutting edge" in the body of literacy research today
- that is the "third age" according to the article we read yesterday by Jan Turbill
terms "literacy" and "language arts" grew out of different traditions
- if we pull reading out, we are typically focusing on comprehension, phonics, phonemic awareness, deconding, metacognition, how students read, construct meaning from text (this is commonly understood)
- language arts, on the other hand, grew out of a tradition (Holidays work on how children begin to talk) that focused on developmental processes and how that connects to student's thinking
-- this tradition of languag drama, response, integrating the ways we use language to communicate and understand
-- language arts methods is a broader concept: talking about a language and response classroom, letting kids verbalize in different ways
Literacy now takes a broader view of these things
- reading, language arts, writing
the label "language arts" is becoming antiquated now
- it was a relevant term in the 1970s when we were thinking about language development of preK and elementary students
Mellinee's preference is to think of what we are discussing more as LITERACY rather than just language arts
- for our position papers, we need to focus on one specific / discrete piece of this
We are now going to do a couple of reading activities
- using dust bowl / great depression as place to read
movie "Cinderalla Man" is all about Great Depression
using this photo essay about the Great Depression:
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/depression/photoessay.htm
"Migrant Mother" photo series from the Library of Congress:
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/128_migm.html
Writing project: Observing and responding to the Texas Tech Dairy Barn
1- What constitutes text in this context?
- the plaques on the wall, the surface of the building itself, the roof that is damaged, the peeled paint on the boarded over windows, the stories of this barn as the first gymnasium at TTU, and the students who were allowed to bring their stock to campus here and sell the milk to pay for their schooling (until 1935)
- conversations we had around the barn
2- What symbols are present?
-- some of the text I mentioned above probably constitute more symbols than text
-- weathervane
3- How are symbols and texts culturally mediated?
-- knowing more about the history of the building and its use really helps
-- culture of preservation
Photo of Walter, the 1920s silo and the new TTU English building:
http://flickr.com/photos/wfryer/24314402/
Additional photo with the barn and the English/Philosophy building:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wfryer/24317317/
Discussion over the initial questions we have about language arts
We read today lots about how students can respond to text
Transmediation as a Metaphor for New Literacies in Multimedia Classrooms by Ladislaus M. Semali and Judith Fueyo
http://www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/semali2/
Research shows us that student teaching is the greatest defining time of a teacher's professional life
- it has a huge conditioning impact
Mellinee went through an alternative certification program and did not go through student teaching
Student teaching in most instances is NOT the time to "step out on your own"
Questions to consider:
1- What constitutes text in this context?
2- What symbols are present?
3- How are symbols and texts culturally mediated?
Story of person who Mellinee knew that had been 6th grade teacher, experiencing cognitive dissonance
- advice: take some throwaway time (like Friday afternoon) and start to implement some of this stuff
- one project: asked students to bring in old cardboard boxes and create something with it
- really helped him connect with students that were not successful in the traditional setting / format of school
- he learned never to give up on students from this
- also a valuable lesson about navigating the space between what he was mandated to do and the freedom he had
Discussion about how recent federal mandates with "Reading First" and NCLB has transformed education
- piece that is differnet now: it is monitored and policed, people are stepping into the classroom and going through lesson plans in ways they had not before
Students in our class are coming from very different perspectives
I find it very interesting that reading/writing workshop ideas are not considered "cutting edge" in the body of literacy research today
- that is the "third age" according to the article we read yesterday by Jan Turbill
terms "literacy" and "language arts" grew out of different traditions
- if we pull reading out, we are typically focusing on comprehension, phonics, phonemic awareness, deconding, metacognition, how students read, construct meaning from text (this is commonly understood)
- language arts, on the other hand, grew out of a tradition (Holidays work on how children begin to talk) that focused on developmental processes and how that connects to student's thinking
-- this tradition of languag drama, response, integrating the ways we use language to communicate and understand
-- language arts methods is a broader concept: talking about a language and response classroom, letting kids verbalize in different ways
Literacy now takes a broader view of these things
- reading, language arts, writing
the label "language arts" is becoming antiquated now
- it was a relevant term in the 1970s when we were thinking about language development of preK and elementary students
Mellinee's preference is to think of what we are discussing more as LITERACY rather than just language arts
- for our position papers, we need to focus on one specific / discrete piece of this
We are now going to do a couple of reading activities
- using dust bowl / great depression as place to read
movie "Cinderalla Man" is all about Great Depression
using this photo essay about the Great Depression:
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/depression/photoessay.htm
"Migrant Mother" photo series from the Library of Congress:
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/128_migm.html
Writing project: Observing and responding to the Texas Tech Dairy Barn
1- What constitutes text in this context?
- the plaques on the wall, the surface of the building itself, the roof that is damaged, the peeled paint on the boarded over windows, the stories of this barn as the first gymnasium at TTU, and the students who were allowed to bring their stock to campus here and sell the milk to pay for their schooling (until 1935)
- conversations we had around the barn
2- What symbols are present?
-- some of the text I mentioned above probably constitute more symbols than text
-- weathervane
3- How are symbols and texts culturally mediated?
-- knowing more about the history of the building and its use really helps
-- culture of preservation
Photo of Walter, the 1920s silo and the new TTU English building:
http://flickr.com/photos/wfryer/24314402/
Additional photo with the barn and the English/Philosophy building:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wfryer/24317317/
Posted: Thu - July 7, 2005 at 03:51 PM |
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Published On: Jul 07, 2005 03:51 PM
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Published On: Jul 07, 2005 03:51 PM
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