tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8795191114711867462024-02-28T15:42:01.612-08:00Feeling the Burnbayanprofessorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18178669402814988313noreply@blogger.comBlogger132125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879519111471186746.post-37300159411411520922020-03-09T13:42:00.002-07:002020-04-04T22:04:36.979-07:00Taking Their Pulse: Five Weeks In, And Students Are Feeling . . . <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">One of the key takeaways I’m getting in a professional development program I'm attending is how the subject I’m teaching is more significant than English. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The <i>real </i>subjects I’m teaching are the humans in the classroom. On a grammatical tip, students are agents, the ones doing the learning, not passive objects. They are people on a journey to resolve the problem of how to express ourselves in written academic discourse, the objective of our class.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So it’s on me to find out who the humans in my classroom are, what’s on their minds and in their hearts - just as it's on me to know the subject matter. A strategy I often use is focused free writes with stems, sentence starters that focus students on a particular topic or theme. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">At the five-week mark, I used sentence stems for a brief class warm-up. These "stretches" are part of an effort to ease students into the day's lesson, using writing and/or partner discussion, to help folks “enter” the classroom. On this day, I provided three sentence stems for students to share in partners or triads: </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><i>Five weeks in, and I am . . . </i></b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><i>An obstacle to learning I’m facing . . . </i></b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><i>A unique gift I bring to our learning community is . . . </i></b></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I wanted students to reflect on their experiences. They’ve been working hard, and I figured it was a good time to do a quick self-audit. And I wanted to prepare them for a low-stake writing task, giving students a chance to mull over the questions before a take-home writing task.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The purpose of this homework assignment was to have students practice with written fluency and to reflect on their experiences as college students and writers. Most of the students are first-generation college, so in addition to thinking about writing and reading, they need time to focus on their experience, even for a minute. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Here’s a sampling of the kinds of comments students had to the “Five weeks into the semester” stem:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I am excited for what's to come! I'm motivated by my classes and looking forward to new challenges.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I am feeling pretty good, because I am getting really good into school, and I might be experiencing some difficulties. However, nothing is impossible to get over.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I'm feeling more confident than the first day of class and I'm excited to keep learning on how to break down and put together my ideas.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I'm feeling more confident in my abilities as a student. I have learned many new things that are helping me discover more about myself and what I wish to do with my life in the future.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I'm feeling like I have learned a lot since the first day of class, the different learning and writing techniques that I have learned throughout these five weeks have helped me a lot in my other classes and I strongly believe that they will help in my future semesters</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I'm feeling like I have a good hold of most of my classes so far. Primarily in this class, I think the workload seems manageable but not boring, as it still engages me without overwhelming me.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I'm feeling like I've gotten much better at expressing my own thoughts and personal takes on topics at hand.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I’m feeling very overwhelmed but at the same time I’m very happy as well because I’m finally in school.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I'm feeling more confident that I was at the beginning, I was just scared of being here in class but not anymore.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I'm encouraged by these responses; students seem to feel safe and brave. I hope we are setting a good foundation for when we come closer to some writing deadlines that are fast approaching. I plan to ask students at the end of the semester about their thoughts and feelings about doing activities that attend to their affective domain and student development. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I wonder how activities like these help or hinder learning. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And the next time I do something like this, I'll ask anonymously, too, to encourage more honesty. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Check out subsequent blog entry where I will post some of the students’ self-reported "obstacles to learning" they are facing. </span></div>
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bayanprofessorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18178669402814988313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879519111471186746.post-87399195129925444112020-03-07T22:01:00.001-08:002020-04-04T22:02:05.984-07:00Students Curate and Share Examples of Freire's Modes of Education <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">As students in my composition courses prepare to write essays that take a position on Freire, we spent time collecting images, poems, and quotes. While students basically "get" Freire's ideas, I wanted to assess whether students could find illustrations on their own and if they could explain how those images exemplify Freire's ideas. In other words, do students know what I mean for them to know? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Students have already read and analyzed a variety of poems and images that illustrate the Banking Concept and Problem Posing Modes of education. Those clips are included on the below Padlet, the ones labeled "Henry A." For this particular assignment, a student looked for their own resources and had to explain in writing how those resources illustrate Freire's ideas. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This Padlet task supports the "big essay" assignment on Freire's ideas. Students have two options for the prompt: "The kind of education I deserve" and "The education that <a href="https://www.swccd.edu/" target="_blank">Southwestern College</a> students require to solve our community's problems." Freire's two modes of education serve as our "theoretical framework" to help students articulate their answers, answers they've already been addressing for a few weeks previously (see previous entry titled "<a href="https://bayanprofessor.blogspot.com/2020/02/writing-as-pre-reading-strategy.html">Writing as a Pre-Reading Strategy"</a>).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This challenge allowed me to assess how well students understand the material (they do!). And students are developing explanatory skills, justifying how their references indeed depict a concept. Indeed, what written can quickly be revised into sections of their essay where they have to explain Freire's ideas to their readers; they are composing short parts of a draft in a low stakes situation. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Moreover, the entire class benefits from our collective labor. Students shared examples, and students' explanations teach each other, thus increasing our communal knowledge. The implicit lessons? I see at least two: We are "smarter together." We can use theory to "read our world." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">If you aren't familiar with Freire's notions about Banking Concept and Problem Posing Mode, can you figure out those ideas from the students' entries? What other examples can you add to this list of models? Share them below in the comments section. </span><br />
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bayanprofessorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18178669402814988313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879519111471186746.post-849966382215650262020-02-20T16:29:00.001-08:002020-04-04T22:07:15.126-07:00Writing as a Pre-Reading Strategy: Thinking like an Education Philosopher<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">-Dehumanization and schooling is the theme of the first writing project in two of my English Composition courses this semester. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We will read chapter two from Paulo Freire’s <i>Pedagogy of the Oppressed</i>, where he outlines the “banking concept” and “problem-posing” modes of education. Instead of diving directly into his prose, I wanted to see how students were already engaged with Freire’s ideas, even without having read his text. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">To do this, we examined several editorial cartoons that depict the banking mode of education and a couple others that point to the possibility of another mode of education.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">After discussing what we observed and interpreted, students had the opportunity to talk in pairs about what they experienced in school. How representative were the cartoons of their own experience or observation? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Students followed up with a written challenge, completing three stems that I provided. The stems meant to help students clarify and express the kind of education they experienced, and the type they deserve, and the kind of education they believe they need to make a difference in our world. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">To keep the assignment low-stakes, I asked them to spend only two minutes per stem, inviting them to take breaks between each one. The time constraint, I hope, did two things: the short time limit seems doable, and using a timer perhaps gives them a little extra jolt to get something on paper. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This Padlet features a few of the writers’ responses. As you can see, the time limit didn’t seem to curtail these writers. Indeed, they wrote kernel essays, ideas that could stand alone as well as serve as seeds for a more fleshed out composition. And despite sharing the same structure, their individual voices rang true.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And for those of you who are familiar with Freire, I bet you can detect where these thinkers are already engaging with his theories - even before they tackle his text. Writers mined personal experience and analyzed a few editorial cartoons and already thinking like an educational philosopher. Imagine how much richer their ideas will be as we dive into the theory! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Our next step? Getting writers to add clarity to their stories - details, examples, explanation, quotes. This addition will hopefully help writers “thicken” and elaborate on their ideas, making their essays particular - and “juicier” for their reading audience. </span>bayanprofessorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18178669402814988313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879519111471186746.post-38982021407426209322020-02-15T19:04:00.004-08:002020-04-04T21:59:52.265-07:00Using Mentor Texts to Reckon with Nuanced Reactions: Aly Wane's "A (Complicated) Prayer for Kobe"<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aly Wane, Human Rights Worker in Syracuse, New York </td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">To acquaint students with using the texts they read as mentors for their writing, I chose as our first topic, Kobe Bryant. I wanted to pick a timely topic that would help students work through their complicated reactions to Kobe's death. I selected what was initially widely disseminated on a Facebook post by Aly Wane, a peace activist living in Syracuse, New York. Published under the title of</span><a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/01/28/complicated-prayer-kobe" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-large;" target="_blank"> “A (Complicated) Prayer for Kobe.”</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"> Wane’s piece has subsequently been published in the online magazine</span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"> <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/" target="_blank">America: Jesuit Review</a>. </i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Wane’s poem enacts a dialogue going back and forth between the narrator’s contradictory feelings about Kobe Bryant and the moment of national mourning. Was Kobe a hero? A villain? To whom? And why? The poem doesn’t definitely land on one side or the other. Instead, Wane asks us to recognize our own messy, imperfect human lives that can’t be reduced to a single moment or action. As Wane points out, “I will hurt and harm the people I love." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Before introducing the poem, I asked students to think of a person, place, activity, or object about which they are "of two minds." I shared my ambivalent feelings about my relationship with my father, how as a kid, I saw him in terms of either/or rather than both/and. I asked them to talk with a partner, reminding folks to use discretion: don't' share if you don’t feel safe or brave enough. Topics ranged from family, specific family members, gender roles, work, and their majors - and as we discussed potential issues, I learned a lot about the people in my class. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Writers next took out their writer's notebook to jot down a two-sided list with their topic as the headline, each column reflecting either the positive or negative aspect of that their focus topic. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Then we read Wane’s poem, first for content, then to notice the moves he made. Many students wanted to share their feelings about Kobe's death, so we took a moment to begin reckoning with their reactions. Then we took a look at how Wane's used writing to work out, even provisionally, his own responses. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Students noticed that structurally, the stanzas were often single lines. They noted that Wane alternated back and forth between positive and negative, sometimes layering several positive or negative statements about Kobe before dropping the opposite feeling. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Students noted that this back and forth read like someone debating with himself and that this debate’s thesis ended the poem, making a broader point than merely passing judgment on Kobe. These moves, according to students, made the poem easy to follow and dramatic in the shifts in direction Wane took. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">After listing these moves, I challenged students for homework to take their two-sided list and compose their own version of that dialogue, emulating the moves that Wane used.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">As a class, we practiced emulating “micro-moves” that Wane used to craft the title of his poem. I projected the title on the board and asked students to categorize the different elements (article, adjective within parenthesis, type of text, and topic). Everyone quickly noted the adjective within parenthesis, and several were able to easily state the effect those parenthesis had on the title, how that typographic choice simultaneously hid and emphasized an essential element of Wane’s argument with himself. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr_aEqdUfdDnLJ5zjnOkKO3Ddm-E5-AONm9o2MJvBPw-DakUGDHaPkJose59XchQS-qiHr117iSGrNIBadoXbUFZQi3d-VouMqPGn4MzhSVEM2-th-O-3U7nZ1FLRzmjoB33IGQSN32-Q/s1600/beste.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="405" data-original-width="787" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr_aEqdUfdDnLJ5zjnOkKO3Ddm-E5-AONm9o2MJvBPw-DakUGDHaPkJose59XchQS-qiHr117iSGrNIBadoXbUFZQi3d-VouMqPGn4MzhSVEM2-th-O-3U7nZ1FLRzmjoB33IGQSN32-Q/s640/beste.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">I demonstrated composing titles using Wane’s as a framework. I point out how even though I was “biting” his </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">structure, replacing my content made the title my own. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Finally, I asked students to experiment with their own poems, crafting titles that used Wane’s as a model. Here are a few that they came up with on the fly: </span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Our (Prosperous) Song of our Feelings</b></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>An (Ambivalent) Essay on the Internet</b></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>My (Conflicted) Reflection on Work</b></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>A (Complicated) Letter to Mom</b></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>On my (Timeless) Love of Driving</b></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>(Ambivalent) Feelings about being the Oldest Sister</b></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>My (Contradictory) Feelings about Cooking</b></span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">Students seemed to enjoy the experience, seeing that they can decode a writer’s moves and apply them to their own writing. I'm in the middle of assessing the final drafts, and I am excited to see that students have figured out what I mean by using mentor texts. Once I get permission to share, I'll post a few samples here, as well as writers' reflections on their experience with mentor texts. </span></div>
bayanprofessorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18178669402814988313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879519111471186746.post-21487479351288674472020-02-01T21:43:00.005-08:002020-04-04T22:12:19.117-07:00Attending to Affective Domain with Word Clouds<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjItXiF3DyztsnssG-ge9GeJH4LZC6e-EYU0GutHLPNQHkozcZOz3iG-gE8WcdhlbemNUQPNO8hsiFdgrJ3ngf4jhXcZcudWSoae80YKnGc6psQA80iTjiHHEXJDqpDyTZWOzofkUxE9wA/s1600/wordle+1st.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="603" data-original-width="1337" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjItXiF3DyztsnssG-ge9GeJH4LZC6e-EYU0GutHLPNQHkozcZOz3iG-gE8WcdhlbemNUQPNO8hsiFdgrJ3ngf4jhXcZcudWSoae80YKnGc6psQA80iTjiHHEXJDqpDyTZWOzofkUxE9wA/s640/wordle+1st.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>This Wordle captures students' responses on the first day of class.</i></b></td></tr>
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<span style="color: #1c1e21; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This semester, I want to do my best to weave in social-emotional learning and affective domain into lessons or activities that engage critical thinking and writing skills. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We began our first week of school this past Wednesday. I wanted students to reflect on their initial thoughts and ideas about being back in school after a six-week break. So during our first meeting, I asked the class of just under thirty college students to jot down three single words that describe their thoughts and feelings about being in an English class. Then at the end of our second meeting, I asked them about what they were thinking and feeling now that we've met twice. The Wordle above captures the "before" responses, the one below, the "after." The fonts size represents the number of responses. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyvfm3gBQt5cRafPz6gdR-EtdOnjixcwzW_B8qQsINYX_fF1UwWZ4wQQDUY2ImEre08hWYEF4MHm1QyGWv8Z6dEgkSyxyZ-tDglTTvo87INSFMaelGJml3wV3OlJJTPYL8sDWtkQg3yQg/s1600/wordle+2.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="603" data-original-width="1337" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyvfm3gBQt5cRafPz6gdR-EtdOnjixcwzW_B8qQsINYX_fF1UwWZ4wQQDUY2ImEre08hWYEF4MHm1QyGWv8Z6dEgkSyxyZ-tDglTTvo87INSFMaelGJml3wV3OlJJTPYL8sDWtkQg3yQg/s640/wordle+2.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>This is the "after" Wordle</i></b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">On the agenda for our third meeting? Sharing and discussing both slides. I'm curious about what the scholars "make" of these word clouds, to see what "claims" they can come up with based on the evidence we gathered. Sneaking in some CER (Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning work)! In terms of significance, the "so what." So, I may ask questions that go something like this: Why is tracking our emotions important? Why bother taking time to check our individual and collective mood? Still percolating. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #1c1e21;">I'll follow up with a short digital journal assignment, urging students to intentionally include a claim, evidence, and reasoning in their entry. CER is a different way of conceptualizing AXES paragraph templates, where "A stand for Assertion, "X" for eXample, "E" for Explain/Elaborate, and "S" represents Significance. While it's formulaic, I hope to get students to recognize the patterns and elements of arguing a point, essential component of the "game" of academic writing. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #1c1e21;">I will post excerpts of students' journal responses in a subsequent entry. </span></span></div>
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bayanprofessorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18178669402814988313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879519111471186746.post-34989216098067675472018-12-02T22:51:00.002-08:002018-12-02T23:09:17.784-08:00Using On-Line Bulletin Boards to Help with Reading<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyBCqpPP3g5EX-r0_oWUiC1hl-m9ZVI6uH_3aj4EHskpRdnys_932EkqzVLOvfVgWUZnIcq0o4oEfSQqayQt7grwnoBcY17fgjiX1J0bLUb1QUby958Uok5qYZeDaj7VsYZF2WlXN2ogg/s1600/download.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="273" data-original-width="184" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyBCqpPP3g5EX-r0_oWUiC1hl-m9ZVI6uH_3aj4EHskpRdnys_932EkqzVLOvfVgWUZnIcq0o4oEfSQqayQt7grwnoBcY17fgjiX1J0bLUb1QUby958Uok5qYZeDaj7VsYZF2WlXN2ogg/s400/download.png" width="268" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">An important skill scholars are supposed to practice in composition is to find meaningful quotes and passages from the texts we read. We expect writers to support their ideas with outside sources. For sure, scholars’ opinions can be rooted in personal observation and experiences. But that isn’t enough; writers need to buttress their positions by quoting other thinkers, “recruiting” other writers’ words and ideas to support their own. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In addition to finding quotes, developing writers need practice paraphrasing those ideas, rewording those quotes to illustrate how those sources fit into their own arguments. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">To practice finding and paraphrasing quotes, I’ve been experimenting with the bulletin board application <a href="https://padlet.com/" target="_blank">Padlet </a>to record and share the intellectual labor students accomplish. My goal was to make the process less solitary and to help the entire class profit from each others’ work. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">After we read and initially discussed chapter two of Paulo Freire’s <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedagogy_of_the_Oppressed" target="_blank">Pedagogy of the Oppressed</a></i>, I divided the class into groups. Each group tackled one of five topics we’d noted during those discussions: banking mode, problem posing, oppression/conformity, freedom/liberation, relevance/real life. I asked students to locate where Freire defined, clarified, or elaborated on those themes, urging them to look for quotes that they thought were especially meaningful or relevant.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />Using <a href="https://padlet.com/" target="_blank">Padlet</a>, a representative from the group typed each quote the team found into its own entry. Then teams crafted paraphrases of those quotes, beginning each paraphrase with the stem, “This means . . . " This way, other students working on other themes could rely on each other's "translation" to make sense of each others' selections. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I used the classroom’s SMART system to project an example on the screen, a template to follow. As teams began working, I traveled around the room, observing and helping out where I could. Once I saw that teams were clear on the process and engaged, I went to my computer to eyeball the entire class' progress, occasionally calling students' attention to a quote a team had posted. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLrxiANZHgAbKFK3Q0I3IxOH6a-jQ5SHrkv0dWhyphenhyphen0qtoC5Mpi-y_nVKFoEv_uE5nOHnqdTrwD2Q2b5U-nH8-F9fNFZQ7orKGVw76fBzywiFEswQFkEIC2bTYXjE1zTXgdlOq2KO1FPgNI/s1600/UMOJA+Blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="401" data-original-width="469" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLrxiANZHgAbKFK3Q0I3IxOH6a-jQ5SHrkv0dWhyphenhyphen0qtoC5Mpi-y_nVKFoEv_uE5nOHnqdTrwD2Q2b5U-nH8-F9fNFZQ7orKGVw76fBzywiFEswQFkEIC2bTYXjE1zTXgdlOq2KO1FPgNI/s320/UMOJA+Blog.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I added my own comments and questions to their entries, hoping to compel students to dig deeper. I also added images that we had used earlier that week - slides, illustrations, and quotes - to complement the students' findings. I wanted to get as much mileage out of that work as I could! <br /><br />In less than an hour, scholars came up with twenty meaty quotes they could use for the essays and paraphrases that explained the quotes’ meanings. And they had access to my comments and suggestions for each quote. Students got to work in teams, which made the activity less solitary. They were able to stand on the labor of each others’ work, building our learning community’s cohesion and shared focus. And by making their progress visibly public as they were worked (I kept the projector on all period), teams were motivated to by a sense of friendly competition. However, that competition meant to support the collective goal of developing a shared bank of resources for a writing project. <br /><br />Later that evening, I embedded the Padlet on our class’ Learning Management System so folks could refer to it during their writing process. As for assessing what we did, that is, did students learn what I had hoped they’d learn, we’ll see how the ideas the constructed in class make it into their written project. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Next time I try this activity, I need to include quick exit card or reflection. I need to know what students took away from the activity and what else they need. As well, to continue to engage dual processing of information (visual and textual), I can ask students to find images or quotes of their own to complement their written entries. And I need to think of a follow up activity that compels students to review the Padlet, perhaps asking them to respond to one of the questions I posted on various entries. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">To magnify on of the entries, float your cursor of the upper right-hand corner of that entry and click on "expand". </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Anyone else use Padlet? I'd love to hear how others use this tool in class. </span></div>
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<div class="padlet-embed" style="background: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 2px; border: 1px solid rgba(0 , 0 , 0 , 0.1); box-sizing: border-box; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 100%;">
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<a href="https://padlet.com/?ref=embed" style="border: none; display: block; height: 16px; line-height: 1; margin: 0; padding: 0;" target="_blank"><img alt="Made with Padlet" height="16" src="https://resources.padletcdn.com/assets/made_with_padlet.png" style="background: none; border: none; box-shadow: none; display: inline; margin: 0; padding: 0;" width="86" /></a></div>
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bayanprofessorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18178669402814988313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879519111471186746.post-55617004469155324792017-10-05T21:46:00.000-07:002020-04-04T22:10:19.292-07:00Poetry & Pedagogy: Prepping for an In-Class Essay<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjSfu_FuO5Na5iK1z_HqbXr_nUV_0RWFeYYi_FFVcSvkVckE-Bc05H0j_gZAww2JPMhzmUWjFYn-mnTZLkcACMSnPcsEqZZNccUyh6EjmxLKi9ya_3OOgk9o_OLLaXToKr20EjsqtZraM/s1600/blog+1.PNG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="511" data-original-width="787" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjSfu_FuO5Na5iK1z_HqbXr_nUV_0RWFeYYi_FFVcSvkVckE-Bc05H0j_gZAww2JPMhzmUWjFYn-mnTZLkcACMSnPcsEqZZNccUyh6EjmxLKi9ya_3OOgk9o_OLLaXToKr20EjsqtZraM/s320/blog+1.PNG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">To prepare students for an upcoming in-class essay, we did a version of “reciprocal teaching.” The essay prompt asks students to use two scholar’s theories to make sense of a phenomenon. In this case, the theorists are Paulo Freire and Jean Anyon, two educational scholars. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The object of study is a classroom of their choice - perhaps one they remember from elementary or high school or one they are currently enrolled in here at college. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We’d done multiple “draft readings” and several pre-writing activities to unpack the scholar's ideas, but the “moment of truth” was upon us, and I wanted to them to rehearse. </span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Instead of a classroom, for this exercise, we used poetry that describes an educational issue, Suli Breaks' spoken-word piece “I Will Not Let An Exam Result Decide My Fate.” The piece is short enough that we could listen and read along with a transcript twice. The first read-through, I asked students to simply listen to take in the piece, to get a feel for Break’s content and style. Students did a quick pair-share, discussing noteworthy passages or ideas.<br /><br />When they shared in the large class discussion, all I did was ask them to take us to the line in the poem and affirm their selection. No challenging. No way to be wrong - just share what struck them. Students spoke about several moments in the poem, recognizing themselves in Breaks’ passages, mainly where he spoke on exams and test scores.<br /><br />Before listening to the poem a second time, I showed my notes, how I simply marked sections or phrases that seemed connected either to Anyon’s or Freire’s ideas. I instructed them to do the same: “As you listen this time, simply mark wherever you think a quote in the poem speaks to something from Anyon or Freire.” Working individually, half the class focused on Freire, the other on Anyon. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This time, I played the poem at 75% speed to make it easier to read along and annotate. I told them I didn’t expect them to catch everything, but I did challenge them to mark as many connections as they could. Next, I split the class into pairs, each working on the same author. They shared their annotations and explained why they believed their marked passages were linked to their theorist’s ideas. Moving from group to group, I observed most students had many accurate annotations - they found this part easy. So I urged them to keep looking for connections. </span><br />
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After a few minutes, I asked pairs to shuffle, mixing it up, so each pair had an Anyon and Freire expert. They shared and explained their annotations, and I challenged them to find where the poem manifested both scholars’ concepts. Throughout this portion of the activity, I buzzed around different pairs, listening in, prodding, and guiding as necessary.<br /><br />The majority of the pairs invested in the activity, pointing out the connections they had found. I could tell they had more than a competent grasp of the concepts. During the large group discussion, students shared links between the poems and the scholars’ ideas. The more difficult task was explaining the connections they found, walking us through the relationship between the theory and poetry. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Students gave one-word explanations, implying the connections were self-evident, unnecessary to clarify. So I modeled two different examples, showing them how to articulate how I “squeezed” what happened in my brain into a step-by-step verbal expression that others could follow. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9S8uDunjFawOkUWxvfP2HOe6VfIaYTz4gphvgdDW_Ml69iatyXKeOoVpextC7Rf4rnT8ZUhjf1sVodMJRH2yZBOY-R8d6byyj_ot_iUqwjMjKi89cNDUbbF2-9JhHQaBXJm89iJAwJ5w/s1600/blog+2.PNG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="520" data-original-width="802" height="206" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9S8uDunjFawOkUWxvfP2HOe6VfIaYTz4gphvgdDW_Ml69iatyXKeOoVpextC7Rf4rnT8ZUhjf1sVodMJRH2yZBOY-R8d6byyj_ot_iUqwjMjKi89cNDUbbF2-9JhHQaBXJm89iJAwJ5w/s320/blog+2.PNG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I gave them time in pairs to practice with one connection they agreed would be easy to explain. They shared out again, this time with better results, with lots of prompting from me. While I could tell students knew the theories well enough to use them, I saw that they needed help elaborating on their logic, articulating the connections they had made practically immediately. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So the review was successful in two ways. Students got a chance to practice wielding theory on an object. They can apply theory! Secondly, I have a stronger sense of what to focus on in the next unit, i.e., helping students express their reasoning more clearly, the thinking behind that application.<br /><br /><b>Notes for Next time: </b></span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I need to design mini-lessons to help them make visible the lines of reasoning their neurons processed so rapidly. And that line of reasoning needs to be a sequential, step-by-step expression that listeners or readers can follow. </span></li>
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<li>I need to do a better job of having students collect and curate critical ideas and quotes from their sources before this stage of rehearsal. Creating their own “cheat sheets” may help them better “lock-in” key concepts. - and students will have them at the ready for exercises like this (instead of relying on their highlighted, annotated readings). </li>
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<li>I need to prepare a set of examples - perhaps with a stanza of the poem. Perhaps a handout or a slide - something concrete illustrates the kind of intellectual work I expect them to approach. I did that with the annotations - I need to do the same with the “connections” aspect of this activity. </li>
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<li>I can add a short written component, either immediately or for homework, where students practice the kind of thinking with a single quote from the poem and a unique concept from either Freire or Anyon . Keeping it short will make it easy for me to quickly assess and reteach if necessary.</li>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><i>Muchismas gracias to IM for her able revision assist. </i></b></span></div>
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bayanprofessorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18178669402814988313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879519111471186746.post-65394956092671430512017-10-01T22:00:00.002-07:002017-10-01T22:04:37.258-07:00Brain Dumps, Summaries, and Collaborative Writing<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF8BUJ_Zs6V6dVYNWIvAzqXzYcZipevIy0xxO2bZ5X7SBZq3ZdfxV6utZNL1kTSlp8o7FoQ9FX31VxYSR4oaIzQFy8CXpNws5Aq7TUO1SHJNui_AhnWtBXD6rOrnJ0WZf__0LBG3yKbZA/s1600/blog+two.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="388" data-original-width="566" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF8BUJ_Zs6V6dVYNWIvAzqXzYcZipevIy0xxO2bZ5X7SBZq3ZdfxV6utZNL1kTSlp8o7FoQ9FX31VxYSR4oaIzQFy8CXpNws5Aq7TUO1SHJNui_AhnWtBXD6rOrnJ0WZf__0LBG3yKbZA/s400/blog+two.PNG" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Today in two of my classes, we did a brain dump, where both class went the whiteboard and “dumped” everything they had in their brains about two of the major readings we’ve been analyzing. By “dump" I mean list absolutely everything they knew about our two readings. Half the class worked on <a href="http://engl102-field.wikispaces.umb.edu/file/view/Freire.pdf" target="_blank">Paulo Freire chapter “The ‘Banking Mode’ of Education”.</a> The other focused on <a href="http://www.jeananyon.org/docs/anyon-1980.pdf" target="_blank">Jean Anyon’s “Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum.” </a>We’re working on a big writing project based on both readings, and I wanted to do some retrieval practice and to compose summaries - a key element of their essay.</span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />I put a handful of markers at two sides of the whiteboard, one side for Anyon, the other for Freire. I split the class in half, and asked students to dump away on their essay. I told student they could use their notes. Several small groups clustered around single recorders, sharing responses and arguing what would be the best way to phrase their responses. Others passed around markers, adding their ideas to the board one by one. Some even started sketching icons and images representing ideas. I urged the students who couldn’t get to the board (it got crowded and loud!) to share ideas with a partner - to loosen up their brains and practice speaking their ideas.<br /><br />After five minutes, teams switched theorists and sides. They first reviewed what their peers had written before adding their fresh ideas. I continued coaching folks to keep working - in teams or individually, or to simply eyeball notes and share ideas with a partner.<br /><br />Next, I asked for volunteers from each side of the board to read their lists and to explain any illustrations. I praised students for their efforts and for their collaborative spirit. Even the folks who worked solo seemed to feel invested in communal effort.<br /><br />Students returned to their seats and I reminded them of our big task - to compose an analytical essay using Anyon and Freire’s conceptual frameworks. I noted that their essays would require a summary of each text and that we would draft those now while their minds were fresh. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5tdBaSyRahZmPb0TTqgdCjms4le9N9eBAhJSwYEuafKbxnIfSekujjFCj7izKfE1jITz_W15usoGxBEfZTlnqLXFNvw7HIP6fgEreGBc5ieCkGtEPmNhMUshL9uVl5gxiexrxMNi5BfE/s1600/BLog+one.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5tdBaSyRahZmPb0TTqgdCjms4le9N9eBAhJSwYEuafKbxnIfSekujjFCj7izKfE1jITz_W15usoGxBEfZTlnqLXFNvw7HIP6fgEreGBc5ieCkGtEPmNhMUshL9uVl5gxiexrxMNi5BfE/s400/BLog+one.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">After counting off by two, I assigned “ones” to compose a quick and dirty “nutshell” summary of Freire’s ideas. “Twos” were to do the same with Anyon’s ideas. I told all to imagine explaining their author’s main ideas to an interested friend, someone who really wanted to know what we were learning but who hadn’t read the essays. "Make 'em short and sweet,” I said. “But be sure to capture the scholars' big idea, not just details!” I also reminded them to consult the board for the raw material they’d just harvested.<br /><br />The following silence contrasted our spirited brain dump. All I could hear were students riffling through essays and notes, scanning for key phrases and words. Heads bobbed up and down as students’ focus shuttling back and forth between the board, their readings, and their drafts. <br /><br />After ten minutes of incredible concentration, I divided the class into groups of students who summarized the same reading. I asked students to read their drafts to each other and to find and consolidate their most important, clearest ideas together into a single, short summary. This took about fifteen minutes. Energy levels rose again as students debated the meaning and structure of their summaries. I shuttled between groups, prodding and guiding students. That prodding consisted of me directing them back to the original texts, to each others’ drafts, or to the board. <br /><br />Then they posted their nutshell summaries on the board and shared them with the class. We noted similarities and differences in content and structure. Because we had six groups, three teams per reading, students now had three solid first draft summaries for each article, “quick and dirty” drafts to revise,edit, and work into their bigger essay. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia4wX29Jm5HiWLPBvTPksziaYWWf7NQkTodHO8jbfKzZJhHWqfGW_10TxJBVtYPqyc8N0gWeCc4yEX_q7XkitjxVPqGeFDHmcoT8xQRv3z12P-pmkWVfajY69ZTk-qghosE7dl_MgoynU/s1600/blog+4.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="513" data-original-width="746" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia4wX29Jm5HiWLPBvTPksziaYWWf7NQkTodHO8jbfKzZJhHWqfGW_10TxJBVtYPqyc8N0gWeCc4yEX_q7XkitjxVPqGeFDHmcoT8xQRv3z12P-pmkWVfajY69ZTk-qghosE7dl_MgoynU/s400/blog+4.PNG" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Students snapped images of the paragraphs to their cells phones. In one class, a student volunteered to type up all the paragraphs so we could work on revision and editing next week. In the other class, volunteers from each team to sent me digital copies of their drafts. <br /><br />Below are the sample Anyon “nutshells” that students in my “one-and-two levels below-transferable-English” class drafted. Each team had at least two or more English language learners in the group. I admit that I did some minor polishing and proofreading before posting here. But I assure you, the content is theirs. <br /><br /><b>(1)</b> There is no secret to why the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor. The article written by Anyon it focuses in the different types of working classes and how the education bestowed upon their kids is dependent upon their income. Kids whose parents make less money get an education that prepares them for a job like their parents and the same for rich.<br /><br /><b>(2)</b> In the essay, “Social class and Hidden Curriculum of Work” by Jean Anyon she states four social classes and they are, working class, middle class, affluent professional. And lastly the executive elite. The working and middle class are the 40 percent of the population, the affluent professional is the 10 percent of the population and the executive elite is the one percent of the population.<br /><br /><b>(3)</b> Schools mold students mind according to their social class recreate/reproduce more of the same class type keep everyone in the same “lane”, aka class. The different social classes are just recreating the same thing. Teachers train students in different ways according to which social class they belong to.<br /><br />To be sure, the drafts show mechanical and surface level errors, an aspect of composition I have yet to address. And the second sample, while accurate, left out Anyon’s main argument, i.e., that our education system recreates the social classes by the way students are taught, by the mode of instruction. But you will note that two out of three identified the essay’s most salient idea, despite relatively minor surface level errors. And this was, after all, a </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; text-align: center;">draft with zero craft instruction. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><br />Tomorrow, we will review and identify craft errors (after we clarify Anyon’s argument!). This will happen in the context of an authentic writing task. But no one can tell me that these students cannot handle the material. They comprehend. Yes, their writing is not at college level - yet. But when given the appropriate scaffolding, students can handle challenging texts. We’ll work on structure, grammar, and the like - but in the context of a substantial college topic. </span><br />
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<br />Students did a remarkable job, from start to finish. They listed. They manipulated ideas, prioritizing and evaluating ideas. They paraphrased and consolidated ideas. And they practiced crucial soft-skills they’ll need as they move through college and into their careers: negotiating, working in teams, managing tasks and time. And they experienced how working together made accomplishing the task easier, more effective, maybe even pleasurable! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><i>Many thanks to KM from the mighty, mighty ENG 99 class for her able revision and editing notes! </i></b></span></div>
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bayanprofessorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18178669402814988313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879519111471186746.post-45071257938757335652017-09-28T00:43:00.001-07:002020-05-27T02:36:15.026-07:00Spotlighting Student Voices Using the Author's Chair<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizFO-1zOOJ-XlJO1ZZp9vqs3EMRyONzPTtUwYTDvyhU5q0RSRQw7gk7Mvm2-5kY7isTtWwDSNvWlRRL6MEp0b4YqTz5_RmyVFxSzKcs8si7Hr7y8Vl1lV46agIBq7dOcWbLw2v4MmSgeY/s1600/blog+1.PNG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="288" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizFO-1zOOJ-XlJO1ZZp9vqs3EMRyONzPTtUwYTDvyhU5q0RSRQw7gk7Mvm2-5kY7isTtWwDSNvWlRRL6MEp0b4YqTz5_RmyVFxSzKcs8si7Hr7y8Vl1lV46agIBq7dOcWbLw2v4MmSgeY/s400/blog+1.PNG" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">I finally attempted the “author’s chair” activity, something I had experienced at <a href="http://sdawp.ucsd.edu/" target="_blank">San Diego Area Writing Project</a>. This protocol calls for students to take a seat in the front of the room to read a piece of their writing, typically a work in progress. I never had the nerve to try before. What if no one volunteered? What if students didn’t respond? What if students weren't interested in each others' ideas?<br /><br />On this particular day, students had completed a mini-essay, a flash draft. I set up the room, explaining the process. I reminded folks about one of our “class agreements”: No apologies! What we write in class are first drafts, sloppy and scribbly, so there’s no need to say “I’m sorry". I want students to be be okay with the natural imperfections of an early draft. I want them to develop the nerve they need to share works in progress. <a name='more'></a></span><div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Another “norm" I'm trying to establish is that no one need editorialize or make commentary when we read our drafts - just read what’s on the paper. I want writers to experience their words as written, and notice that wherever they feel the need to make commentary is precisely where they should do revision. <br /><br />In all three of my classes, a heavy silence descended into the room once I announced the activity. it took a long, painful two or three minutes of shifting in chairs and nervous giggling before anyone volunteered. I had to bite my tongue, trusting someone would share. After the first reader shared at last, other students snapped their fingers and applauded the reader. I called out one or two words the writer used that were noteworthy, words like “agency”, “creativity”, and “conformity”. I did so to let the reader know their words “landed” on me and for the others in the class to jot down ideas they might use in revision. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">The second and third round of readers were still hesitant to take the chair, but as more students read, a sense of joy and levity unfolded. Students genuinely enjoyed hearing each others' ideas.<br /><br />I also noted that even without being assigned the actual prompt for the composition on education, students were already taking positions on one of the theorist’s ideas. And several, I was happy to announce to the class, only needed minor tweaking before becoming a solid “nutshell version” or thumbnail draft of a full-blown composition.<br /><br />Just as important as the cognitive challenge students faced and conquered, their affective take-away were remarkable. Students’ body language indicated they were encouraged by their classmates’ words. Individual readers began to build self-efficacy - they wrote and read an essay, albeit short and sweet. Members of the listening audience saw that perhaps they, too, could have read aloud and been appreciated for their efforts. A sense of "collective efficacy" permeated our classrooms.<br /><br />Here are two student samples ton Freire’s notion of "modes of education" - PRIOR to direct study of his words (<i><a href="https://bayanprofessor.blogspot.com/2017/09/previewing-pre-writing-first-year.html" target="_blank">see my last entry</a></i>). I’ve taken the liberty of doing minor editing - fixing spelling errors and correcting punctuation.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbtkAZglTbBCBElz5g72bN3ZaMA_wLvEMKdnlkXkPMyk0sYsM5X0SA6GgXhMajmtJoSMjhVGSONbhrQbyk40zKryZd7rSdQsKuwat7oWsyQYM2DuXmG5Zzaw21_8XOmYN09cMIfH7nuDo/s1600/blog+3.PNG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="324" data-original-width="555" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbtkAZglTbBCBElz5g72bN3ZaMA_wLvEMKdnlkXkPMyk0sYsM5X0SA6GgXhMajmtJoSMjhVGSONbhrQbyk40zKryZd7rSdQsKuwat7oWsyQYM2DuXmG5Zzaw21_8XOmYN09cMIfH7nuDo/s400/blog+3.PNG" width="400" /></a></div>
<b><i>Writing Sample #1</i></b>: When I think of my mode of education I've mostly experienced was limited education. What was taught to me was specific teachings . . . issued by the district and was not always into depth. Now that I'm in college, the mode of education that I want is unlimited and unfiltered. I want to hear nothing but the truth. And I want to be mind blown and overwhelmed by all the knowledge that's in store for me (I am NOT saying I want to get tested on each single fact). I want to be educated on multiple things! Given the world we live in, we need more students who go after knowledge that they aren't given. We may still be given limited education, but it up to us to educate one another and make sure we stay woke and aware of issues and the society we live in.<br /><br /><b><i>Writing Sample #2:</i></b> When I think of my K-12 experience, the mode of education I’ve mostly experienced is what I call mummy mode. I came up with this name for it because school felt boring and lifeless. I felt so wrapped up in what the school system wanted I could not reach the treasures in my own tomb (my mind). Now I’m in college and the mode of education I want for students is what I call angel mode. by this I mean angels have the freedom to fly and soar, letting the world see their wings. Students should be allowed to have the same mode when it comes to their education and success. Given the world I want to live in, our society needs students who have the freedom to pursue what they want as a career without all the prerequisites that do that do not apply to the career they are striving for. I feel like this would give us a group of proud and passionate professionals in all areas in our near.<br /></span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">This list collects representative student comments about the author's chair process: </span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">I think the hot seat was a nice cause we got to give student the spotlight and listen to what they have to say and not just listen to the teacher, so that was cool. </span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">I felt like it was good for people to share their papers because little did we know we could . . . draft an essay that quickly.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Hearing other people share their papers helps me better mine because of the words and ideas getting passed around the room.</span></li>
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<ul><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0VMECna_NHFZ4cGiAjdC-dWbYZ7-gO4Omts6nJul2UiMp9R_kCF-kwQWDJcP3UVzhalVeHTibF_CUjuUOho-weAof-YM5UpLrhUysLar8eFk4dXe424sn0JWfbQnvjL5hxfYKV87Eqkk/s1600/blog+2.PNG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="216" data-original-width="294" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0VMECna_NHFZ4cGiAjdC-dWbYZ7-gO4Omts6nJul2UiMp9R_kCF-kwQWDJcP3UVzhalVeHTibF_CUjuUOho-weAof-YM5UpLrhUysLar8eFk4dXe424sn0JWfbQnvjL5hxfYKV87Eqkk/s400/blog+2.PNG" width="400" /></a>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">I enjoyed hearing what other students wrote for their mini essays it helped to see other people's’ point of view.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">If you are familiar with Freire's theories about banking and problem solving modes of education, you can see those themes running throughout these writers' flash drafts. With only a little scaffolding, we were able to begin glossing Freire's major concepts based simply on what student writers brought with them to class. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">You know that I was beaming all day long after these classes. I saw students demonstrate their capacity to think along side those we study. And I was inspired to hear and see them influence each other with their words! </span><div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><i>Shout out to UMOJA scholar AA & Acceleration writer NS for their spot-on revision assistance. </i></span></div>
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bayanprofessorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18178669402814988313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879519111471186746.post-64137203302952438872017-09-25T17:04:00.003-07:002017-09-26T00:07:22.850-07:00Previewing & Pre-Writing: First Year Students Dive into Freire<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD6IgvbPwsSaP2aS83zhY9u7X14MOooK3o0FvddxpnjlknBlSeSemd-1sG-i3oDl_ABtDewXaIICiZaW-3aqaxR4KzK10XRwj9pqjDsO8g_E8Cii3mrbNEusD-nqVbg1ESTW3WqQq1I0c/s1600/tumblr_os6wlwxaXm1uvues3o1_500.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="297" data-original-width="500" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD6IgvbPwsSaP2aS83zhY9u7X14MOooK3o0FvddxpnjlknBlSeSemd-1sG-i3oDl_ABtDewXaIICiZaW-3aqaxR4KzK10XRwj9pqjDsO8g_E8Cii3mrbNEusD-nqVbg1ESTW3WqQq1I0c/s400/tumblr_os6wlwxaXm1uvues3o1_500.gif" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I’m rediscovering how important it is to provide students with multiple “ways into a topic” when approaching a new text. I admit that I used to simply assign a reading and then be upset with myself and students for not understanding the text. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Starting last year, I took intentional steps to to solve the problem of preparing students to read. My particular challenge this semester? To access prior knowledge and to provide background knowledge before plonking them into chapter two of Paulo Freire’s <i>Pedagogy of the Oppressed</i>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We began by examining a pair of images, an editorial cartoon and a GIF I'd found on Tumblr (if you recognize the image and know the source, please let me know!). Both are highly critical of what Freire would call the “Banking mode” of education. Students worked in pairs to identify the elements of the images that depicted the illustrators’ take on education: gloomy, mechanistic, quiet, systematic, conformity, deadly, boring. We listed these traits on the board. Next we brainstormed what a positive cartoon of classrooms might portray: rainbows, color, life, excitement, loud, and spontaneous. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">After generating these lists, I asked them to come up with our own names for the two modes depicted: Mummified Mode vs. Angels' Flight; Black & White vs. In Living Color; Mechanical vs. Organic. Remember, we hadn’t even set eyes on Freire's text. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />As folks shared, I noted that the concepts there brought up are in the Freire reading. I linked their words to Freire’s concepts, asking them to write down Freire’s version of their ideas. I wanted students to know that they are thinking along his lines AND to prepare them for the difficult task ahead . Some of the concepts students came up with included biophily, necrophily, education-as-narration, dialogue, teacher/student contradiction, and students-as-receptacles. Students sat up a little straighter when they heard me say that they could think along side Freire. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Our next move was to depict the “opposite mode of education”, one contrary or counter to the mode illustrated in the editorial cartoons. I encouraged students to draw their own illustration, to write a mini-composition, or to do both. We left the lists on the board and the cartoons on the screen for inspiration. I urged students not to be too concerned about being perfect - that this was an exercise to help us generate visual and textual fluency on our topic.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihysSvAQ5oGT3uyk0qgn20qxtN9hICBUw-d9bIC9dQ59uvzldtNJQf1jmy2Qko0ppS2eL_241jOAi-bKaRLkbqak_0IKzmLyWtsn0727R_tMh_Rddwv5T_LyQuRLZ2atUryvAVhfVFumE/s1600/experience.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="509" data-original-width="853" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihysSvAQ5oGT3uyk0qgn20qxtN9hICBUw-d9bIC9dQ59uvzldtNJQf1jmy2Qko0ppS2eL_241jOAi-bKaRLkbqak_0IKzmLyWtsn0727R_tMh_Rddwv5T_LyQuRLZ2atUryvAVhfVFumE/s400/experience.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>We used these stems for the "quick write" sequence.</i></b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">After a five minutes of focused composing, folks moved about the room from partner to partner, sharing and explaining their "scribble draft." One class was large enough that we created a large "mingling" space in the room, like a cocktail party. In another class, we stepped out doors for round-robin sharing. I encouraged folks to jot down notes from their conversations. <br /><br />When we returned to our seats, I set up a "flash draft" essay - a super quick focused-free write strategy to help them give their ideas shape. I posted three sentence stems on the board, one at a time at two to three minutes intervals.I asked them to copy each stem and use it to generate sentences. I challenged them to use material from the lists on the board, the new vocabulary, or ideas they gleaned from conversation. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The homework assignment attached to this lesson was simply to transcribe their initial draft and to add any ideas or correct any mistakes they might want to clarify. I also asked them to do a quick metacognitive reflection on today’s lesson. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I leave you with a couple “flash drafts” students wrote on Freire’s work - PRIOR to direct study of his actual words. The bullet items are representative of students’ comments. I’ve taken the liberty of doing minor editing - fixing spelling errors and correcting punctuation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /><b><i>Student Sample ##1</i></b>: When I think of my K-12 experience, the mode of education I’ve mostly experienced was conformity because truly every teacher was teaching the same way, so, it was a black and white image of learning and not much of a good experience. Now that I am in college, [the] mode of educating I want is freedom. It’s more of a faster pace but not only giving the important information needed to pass the class. Now [that I am] learning, I find myself wanting to learn more. The atmosphere is also lot more friendly and makes it easier to learn. Given the world I want to live in, our society needs students who enjoy the learning experience and don’t let others destroy their ideas and destroy them.They can create something of themselves. They have the motivation to keep going.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><i>Student Sample #2</i></b>: When I think of my K-12 experience, the mode of education was very systematic. Teachers did not really care for students who didn't understand a topic. It was very clear to me that teachers might also have become zombies from doing the same thing every year. Teaching the same things and assigning the same old boring handouts and packets. Now I'm in college, and the mode of education I want is a motivated one. To me, being motivated is one of the most important aspect of learning because it helps me stay focused on the topic. It has also helped many students not get lost in lessons and are more willing to keep trying their best. Given the world I want to live in, our society needs people who are willing to keep an open minded and strive for peace. People who are motivated to change it for the better, and those might not know what they want to do but actually wanting to help and being part of that change is important. It would be the best to see people helping people instead of competition. Hopefully the mode of education is a big motivator for change.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Students compose their version of education they want.</i></b></td></tr>
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<li><i>Talking with partners helped me out a lot because it gave me new ideas based on what we have talked about. </i></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>Well talking with classmates helped me because with the pictures I would see the obvious parts but discussing with the classmate . . . helped me . . . to see the other parts of the images.</i></span></li>
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<li>The activity that was most effective to me was [brainstorming the] modes of education because us as a class would tell the positives and the negatives of this activity.</li>
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<li>I liked hearing other people share what they wrote because a lot of them had really good ideas that I took into consideration to make my paper sound better.</li>
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Students actually essayed, in the classical sense, their initial thoughts about Freire and his concepts - <i>even before diving into his dense prose.</i> Sure, their texts require more support, more evidence. But what a start! And, in the tradition of Michel de Montaigne, these students were able to use writing to test out their thinking about an important issue in their world. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>Special shout out to CW & Xris for their gracious help with revising & editing. </i></span></div>
bayanprofessorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18178669402814988313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879519111471186746.post-3274485236067356642017-09-20T21:02:00.000-07:002020-04-04T21:56:00.405-07:00Feeling the Burn of Mentor Texts & Mea Culpas<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe4kcnTah5yhaS6BxKfFyF6Y2LF1ow3mPqmJnbetBMxVQ4t08HXRVxsmc1xW2F9CJPaEeaOsbE2VuXT5_raKdHn4xSyaI8_WyVSImfE_-ob2F4uqAQMnfR_WVbJQE3Pcf1rLAfVcGNjJc/s1600/picture+two.PNG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="453" data-original-width="675" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe4kcnTah5yhaS6BxKfFyF6Y2LF1ow3mPqmJnbetBMxVQ4t08HXRVxsmc1xW2F9CJPaEeaOsbE2VuXT5_raKdHn4xSyaI8_WyVSImfE_-ob2F4uqAQMnfR_WVbJQE3Pcf1rLAfVcGNjJc/s400/picture+two.PNG" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Teachers should learn from students. This statement has become so axiomatic as to become cliche. Tired, even. And yet, it’s a home truth, one that I subscribe to because of my study of Paulo Freire and bell hooks On an intellectual, theoretical tip, I get it. Teacher-student. Student-teacher. Resolve the contradiction between those roles. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">A recent pair of episodes, however, hit me at an experiential, gut level. What happened in class taught me, in a new way, essential lessons. Students modeled how I can “practice what I preach in terms of the kind of person I want to be and the kind of writer I aspire to become. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">During a retreat for the UMOJA Community, several students’ actions impressed me for their courage. A few days prior, during class, students got into the typical kind of beef we would have in our class. We focus on race, identity, and education, so you know the topics are intense. And because we are a community, students enroll in linked courses, the vibe is intimate. So it got heated. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">At our retreat, one student, in an appropriate manner, made a “process call” - commenting that the class had unfinished business getting in our way: “I think we need to talk about what happened last week.” We were engaged in a group activity, with half the class standing in groups around the room. She noted the tension in the room, and she said we needed to clear the air. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So, the one student who felt targeted by other students expressed her anger and pain. When she first spoke, her classmates stepped back, giving her space. But as she continued, students leaned in toward her, physically and emotionally. We all experienced shared experience of closeness as she spoke her truth. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">A third student piped up, apologizing with genuine words for the part she played in the prior beef. She copped to what she did, without excuses, and an audible sigh of relief spread through the room. A second student made another amends. Again, heartfelt without humiliating herself. I suspect all the students who spoke up experienced healing as we witnessed the power of genuine dialogue. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivKZoNlOjamVXTZ_lyoaNQIlOD-pyr7i1TdzNXAt_A5yHM1shMsNfoyU6vle_hMCbmuj9h4ZMPIrnC_yCEKUSd4itL1uJjIyv68wb9pPmPXAtZ7M0USsDXkh1kosFPr-1OmOq2CKtcnEU/s1600/oops.PNG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="348" data-original-width="344" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivKZoNlOjamVXTZ_lyoaNQIlOD-pyr7i1TdzNXAt_A5yHM1shMsNfoyU6vle_hMCbmuj9h4ZMPIrnC_yCEKUSd4itL1uJjIyv68wb9pPmPXAtZ7M0USsDXkh1kosFPr-1OmOq2CKtcnEU/s400/oops.PNG" width="395" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Individually, all four students grew in self-efficacy in that they know for a fact they can stand up and speak their truth, regardless of how scary. They showed themselves their capacity to do the right if difficult, thing. And the entire class gained “community-efficacy” - seeing we could work through the routine, expected bumps in the road any community experiences; we had evidence. And I can confidently say our “porch talk” left us all enriched. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The next week, I lost my temper with a co-worker and picked a fight. I got heated; my behavior and attitude incongruent with my stated values. But I didn’t realize the contradiction until later. It wasn’t until a few hours later that my churning stomach and my mind’s incessant replaying of the scene told me I had to do something, that I was in the wrong.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I had to apologize. But even then, it took me a few days to take action. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">What finally pushed me over the edge was when I reflected on the retreat and how my students exhibited the courage and bravery I expect from myself. Their lived values trumped my stated values. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">But where to begin? How to apologize? What to say? I mean, I knew the meaning I wanted to express, that I was unhappy about my behavior, and sorry for being rude. I had the content, the message I wanted to convey. But I needed structure - a proper shape for apology. This is particularly so in this era of back-handed, passive-aggressive "faux" apologies: “I’m sorry IF you took it that way.” “I apologize if you feel that way” or some other version of “sorry, not sorry.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This time, I heard my own teaching voice speak back to me. For how many times have I heard students say that they know what they want to express but didn’t know where to start, how to shape their message? My stock response? Find a mentor text, a sample, or a set of writings that could show me how my writing should look.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I’d urge students to review something we’ve read or to look around for texts that we could re-purpose to fit our own ends. If we needed to figure out how to quote or paraphrase a discussion, I’d point students to a text we’ve read that featured an especially recap of a conversation, study the moves the writer made, and emulate those moves, executing the structure that best expresses our content. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So in the spirit of living my principles, I looked for apologies (Google is my friend!). To my surprise, I found many examples and outlines that spelled out what a sincere apology should include and look like. So I picked a format and wrote the apology. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ohRDizFFt1rVj431IvC04OuM5-KP_3W9SbSV0qPOHFuWQOLYx-RQ_DrIIivuz2eT-TRxOsOtPoMjcB0FSGm07MWGpKACOUdPQegjoqpnglUP7pYvEe6XAXI0wixpF_sBA1SnyWUcpqE/s1600/onepicture.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="724" data-original-width="960" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ohRDizFFt1rVj431IvC04OuM5-KP_3W9SbSV0qPOHFuWQOLYx-RQ_DrIIivuz2eT-TRxOsOtPoMjcB0FSGm07MWGpKACOUdPQegjoqpnglUP7pYvEe6XAXI0wixpF_sBA1SnyWUcpqE/s400/onepicture.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I still found myself slipping into “not sorry” land, trying to justify or explain why I did what I did. But I kept checking my moral compass to orient myself to that best self I aspire to be. Remembering the authentic apologies my students had offered and reviewing the mentor texts kept me from veering away from my purpose. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I drafted, revised, and revised again. And I sent the note and fortunately received a gracious reply accepting my apology. Even if the apology didn’t satisfy the person I offended, I knew in my heart that I did my best, just as I saw my students do. And in the process, I once again “felt the burn” of approaching the kind of person and writer I want to be. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>NOTE</b>: <i>Many thanks to my students/teachers GJ, DT, and AL for their generous help revising and editing this post.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>NOTE</b><i>: Revised 9/21 for typos. </i></span></div>
bayanprofessorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18178669402814988313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879519111471186746.post-83850467777942153872017-09-16T15:36:00.000-07:002017-09-20T21:04:06.658-07:00Debriefing DACA in the Writing Class<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6YsH1a9UkcJiWibBzTxznC7DjqInla7xtVmaDONNQfrZY1FCUkgHniUsRF7eSvdUKFqDXLNzkAnUN_CB09C4FYkRh2TQ8DI-1BYm6mrBcyrKN_aeziy-YGbxbNMcxmCmB1k98MSdA-xM/s1600/class+picture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="960" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6YsH1a9UkcJiWibBzTxznC7DjqInla7xtVmaDONNQfrZY1FCUkgHniUsRF7eSvdUKFqDXLNzkAnUN_CB09C4FYkRh2TQ8DI-1BYm6mrBcyrKN_aeziy-YGbxbNMcxmCmB1k98MSdA-xM/s400/class+picture.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">When given a chance, students testify to their desire for meaningful lessons. As one student wrote in an exit ticket, “Teachers can help us learn . . . about real life.” In an online discussion, students agreed they want to know how to deal with issues they encounter in their lives. They want relevant lessons that apply to their lived realities. That and the fact that our campus is located in Chula Vista, a stone's throw from the border, compelled me to discuss the repeal of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA). As a college professor, I have a duty to address an issue that affects so many in our community. I am also obligated to show students how a critical thinkers might approach these kind of issues. </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />Inspired by a <a href="http://lanetwork.facinghistory.org/3-teachers-share-their-first-days-back-to-school" target="_blank">blog entry</a> from the good people at <a href="https://www.facinghistory.org/" target="_blank">Facing History and Ourselves</a>, I hacked a reliable schema building exercise for just that purpose: the KWL table. This activity calls for students to generate three different lists on a topic. The first column, "K," stand for what we KNOW about the topic. The "W" column is for what we WONDER. The "L" lists what we learned about the topic, the post-lesson reflection.<br /><br />I decided that instead of using "K" for Know, we would consider "What we <b><i>THINK </i></b>we know about DACA and its Repeal." Using "what we think we know" allows for students to be wrong and to identify misconceptions we would need to clear up should we explore further.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5JDvWo4yvpeoddsWaIdDs5KtZiyeV-AX-EcgQlDPNc1ojJhGk8wyAAg2aSlwwSpi-NQgbOCoow1i_SNczmnlIiGue_9OdRL5GcfU1c3c3P7lAK6NNcB9OvWKD_J5R0Vw1ByhuUujn5tk/s1600/adsklfj.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="631" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5JDvWo4yvpeoddsWaIdDs5KtZiyeV-AX-EcgQlDPNc1ojJhGk8wyAAg2aSlwwSpi-NQgbOCoow1i_SNczmnlIiGue_9OdRL5GcfU1c3c3P7lAK6NNcB9OvWKD_J5R0Vw1ByhuUujn5tk/s320/adsklfj.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>What you think you know about DACA</b></td></tr>
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Before diving into listing, students composed a solo free-write responding to this question: <b><i>“What thoughts and feelings come up for when you confronted with news of the DACA repeal?"</i></b> I told students that this was "sloppy copy" writing - not meant to be collected nor shared but to generate and clarify their thinking. I did not collect nor ask anyone to share these “sloppy copies."<br /><br />Students next met in pairs, putting aside their sloppy copies. Dyads brainstormed what they thought they knew about DACA and it's repeal and what they wondered about the issue. They had a few minutes before we went around the room and contributed ideas and questions on the board. <br /><br />After discussing both lists, I used the next few minutes to amplify how what we just did is a mini-version of what researchers do. Scholars and thinkers inventory what they <b><i>think </i></b>they know and generate questions. Next, we would investigate our beliefs to verify, correct, and clarify our preconceptions. And seek out what others might say.When I asked students how they met inquire for more information, they quickly responded that they could use the internet great formative assessment for me!). Since this is their first semester at college, I introduced the idea that they could ask their professors. New and first-generation college students need organic reason for speaking with someone they might not know how to approach. This is what I hoped I could provide - something that fit into the learning objectives of a course meant to introduce students to academic discourse and practices. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdUJlpSHSYqo14VEIGrcq63GnDqwdr3gJg8GiDAKgwZInPzvXVURHmrNDeaEFpo-kbcv8L1Hdu0q8awZz1I8ahA_efsahiezGP5e0FTLMMo-41w_cWXy1TIVqbSEabB321hzwgSnF-eSg/s1600/What+we+wonder.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="465" data-original-width="767" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdUJlpSHSYqo14VEIGrcq63GnDqwdr3gJg8GiDAKgwZInPzvXVURHmrNDeaEFpo-kbcv8L1Hdu0q8awZz1I8ahA_efsahiezGP5e0FTLMMo-41w_cWXy1TIVqbSEabB321hzwgSnF-eSg/s400/What+we+wonder.PNG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>What you wonder about DACA</b></td></tr>
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<br /><br />The other outcome had more to do with the interpersonal and relational aspect of being in a learning community. The answers students came up with, regardless of their position on the DACA repeal, indicated more than an intellectual concern but one about the human aspect of the ruling. Students saw that we could have a difficult conversation about real issues, building trust with each other, and themselves for being courageous enough to share opinions - privately, in pairs, and in the whole group. And hopefully, the activity affirmed their belief that college is an important place to explore meaningful issues. </span></div>
bayanprofessorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18178669402814988313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879519111471186746.post-53556201323242914782017-04-17T14:27:00.005-07:002017-04-17T15:10:30.321-07:00Experiments with Digital Annotation<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxeHtC2sTKRek1xZTpuj5ybh-h1-fhj2yhGzp34AQsgh8mYck2Q_Z0qRUCwsKqQ3kpYifDtk2jFS5yOoO4L4pWULfzpYwz8uJ-dtKqlnsyntXNMDn7l0eST2KQiwtoRoDZ-z3ylcJ7gAo/s1600/150px-Hypothes.is_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxeHtC2sTKRek1xZTpuj5ybh-h1-fhj2yhGzp34AQsgh8mYck2Q_Z0qRUCwsKqQ3kpYifDtk2jFS5yOoO4L4pWULfzpYwz8uJ-dtKqlnsyntXNMDn7l0eST2KQiwtoRoDZ-z3ylcJ7gAo/s320/150px-Hypothes.is_logo.jpg" width="235" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I wanted to help students comprehend assigned readings. So I felt excited to give<a href="https://hypothes.is/" target="_blank"> Hypothes.is</a>, an online shared annotating/note taking program, a try. I’m still getting acquainted with the program and all its functions. But I can already attest to the value of digital annotating. Students can highlight as they would on actual paper, and they can jot down notes, or add links and images. Since everyone in class can see and comment upon everyone else's digital notes, students can start discussion threads anchored to readings.<br /><br />The big goal here isn't to learn to highlight for the sake of highlighting nor to use digital tools out of a commitment to technology. Instead, I wanted to provide students a way to engage in meaningful reading and dialogue to develop content for their essays.<br /><br />So I uploaded readings them onto Hypothes.is, “seeding” them with highlighted notes about content and structure. I introduced the texts to students. And I demonstrated Hypothes.is in class, devoting laboratory time for students to sign up and practice.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />Because I wanted to encourage lots of participation, I faithfully responded to student’s annotations, posing questions, affirming ideas, and urging students to think more deeply. During class, I pointed out where students began annotating and started their own discussion threads.<br /><br />But after three weeks, only a handful of students took to Hypothes.is. Yet their comments, for the most part, were “meaty,” thoughtful considerations of the text. I wondered what I could do to increase this level of participation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Reviewing the annotations, I noted how one student’s notes consisted of thoughtful questions, some rhetorical and others directed to me and her peers. In articles about racial identity and power, she wrote, “I want to hear comments on this quote.” She highlighted passages and wondered, “Is this [idea] taught, an instinct, or just picked up from environment?” and “[Can] you relate to how another race feels, or is the experience totally different?”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />What wonderful conversation starters! Even better, these questions came from her cognitive engagement, her focused psychological activity. Not mine. Woo hoo!<br /><br />I decided to reserve class time for students to share their annotations. I invited a few to read their annotations, directing them to discuss how and why they chose their passages. I didn’t give presenters much advance. I wanted the discussion to be natural, extemporaneous - not a formal presentation but a conversation about their ideas.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In one class, a student shared and paraphrased her conversation thread. She spoke about how she might use the quotes in her paper. Students paid rapt attention. I pointed out how her commentary, (a paraphrase and her opinion about the passage) might be revised into a paragraph or two for her paper. Presto! Her sharing illustrated how annotation and threaded discussions serve as a prewriting strategy.<br /><br />In another class, a student shared his annotations. Classmates noticed his comments matched several quotes from past lessons. Discussing his work, we came up with a central idea (claim!) that held together his chosen quote, his notes, and the other evidence. His reading and our discussion produced an idea worth using in our research project. I explained how what we discussed could, with elaboration, could be developed into a solid paragraph. This was a revelation for some as many students had trouble seeing how the readings might inform their writing. This “organic discovery” came from students’ thinking, with minimal direct instruction from me.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiecU19sQ-71roNVSTRQMYnKr7X14r2w3iezqBeXfpTUI1FAfnzDRaCe9UMsEMs-7VqoYt-zczwF0uOOCyYXbtFW_vQDQ3HvySW8_bbpOSoLpUlZzT6o8n0y0lwheF99_yMdkq62hse69Y/s1600/Capture.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiecU19sQ-71roNVSTRQMYnKr7X14r2w3iezqBeXfpTUI1FAfnzDRaCe9UMsEMs-7VqoYt-zczwF0uOOCyYXbtFW_vQDQ3HvySW8_bbpOSoLpUlZzT6o8n0y0lwheF99_yMdkq62hse69Y/s640/Capture.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Screen shot of reading. Right column shows threaded convo anchored to highlighted text. </i></span></b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The student with smart questions took the podium the next day. She began by reading her passage and threaded comments. She also posed her question. I planned to spend 15 - 20 minutes on her demonstration. But her question sparked one of the most productive conversations we’ve had, so we spent about an hour on her single annotation.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />Her question prompted students to tell personal stories regarding her observation. With minimal facilitation, students saw connections between their stories, readings, and concepts we've studied. Our conversation showed how our academic reading pertained not only to our project but to their own lives (#Relevance).<br /><br />I hoped student demos of their Hypothes.is process would encourage others to use it, too. But what happened was better than I imagined. Students saw how ideas generated by reading and discussion (virtual or face-to-face) might find their way into their writing. As their semester progresses, we’ll see how well Hypothes.is helps students translate the fruits of reading, annotating, and discussing into their writing. But for now, we are the right track.<br /><br /><b>Notes For Next Year/Learning Curve Lessons</b></span><br />
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<b style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">(1)</b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Start off with easier texts - something accessible, not a full-on academic journal article.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">(2)</b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Don’t overwhelm students with too many signposts. I over did it, setting off cognitive overload!</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">(3)</b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Provide more time in lab, more than to sign-up and get acquainted with the tool. We need enough time to ensure everyone has one decent chunk of focus time using this digital tool - with me in the room for guidance.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i><span style="font-size: small;">Sample Hypothes.is Group Home Page</span></i></b></td></tr>
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<b style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">(4)</b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Build in time for students to share their annotation process in front of each other. Why? To make their thinking public. And we can use their demonstrations to spark discussion.</span><br />
<b style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;"><br />(5)</b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Ask students to show where Hypothes.is annotations influenced their writing choices. I can ask how and why they decided to use Hypothes.is generated ideas in their papers. I can definitely do that this semester, too.</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">(6)</b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Scaffold several annotating assignments on a single text. For a “first-draft reading,” students can annotate passages they find personally meaningful. On a "second reading draft,” they can annotate sections that speak to the writing assignment. Later, students might mark structural moves they observe: description, definition, illustration, compare/contrast, or cause/effect. I could also assign students to work in teams to take part in discussion threads.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Why so many passes at the same text? I want students to see the value of reading a text more than once, or even twice. Just as writers complete several written drafts, writers should also do multiple "reading drafts." Having students read a single text several times serves at least two reasons: content (to generate ideas) and text structure (to emulate writers' moves).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i><b>*Shout out to scholars Danae, Kenetta, Darrell, Anne, Ayzha, Kyrstin & Sergio for their help with the activity and blog post. Many thanks!</b></i></span><br />
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bayanprofessorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18178669402814988313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879519111471186746.post-10636937006168962902017-04-11T20:28:00.000-07:002017-04-11T21:15:22.904-07:00"Chopping Up" Pinoy Psychology: AXES Illustration Paragraphs <div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The above clip features psychology Professor Kevin Nadal (he also does stand-up - talk about renaissance man). I like how Nadal illustrates Filipino American psychological phenomena using humor. I use his text book<i> Filipino American Psychology</i> in a composition class I teach. Why? For one, the class is part of a Filipino American Learning Community, so the subject matter is right on time. Secondly, the book features rhetorical modes typically found in college textbooks. And one of the big lessons I hope to teach is how to recognize and replicate those types of writing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">By "rhetorical modes", I mean the patterns of paragraph organization, i.e., the way writers build paragraphs to support a particular point. Pattern and structure implies putting particular elements in a certain place. Generally, an expository paper for college includes a topic sentence that states the writer's point, followed support, and ending with a conclusion. We use the acronym AXES to name those elements:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">A</span>:</strong> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><em>Assertion, the topic sentence</em></span></span></span></strong></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">X</span>:</strong> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><em>eXample, the concrete evidence</em></span></span></span></strong></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;">E</span>:</strong> <span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><em>Explanation, where the writer</em></span></span></span></strong></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><strong style="font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">S</span>:</strong><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><em><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Significance, the "so what" of the paragraph</span>.</em></span></span></span></strong></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Below are two paragraphs from Nadal's book to demonstrate one of those patterns: illustration, the rhetorical mode that makes a point by using examples, also known as exemplification. These paragraphs also exemplify the AXES model. I marked where each element begins.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMb0_7NviC6pWsJlWPiQQL9whW5VTH9cxkLy_PfZZTVVl4bTz8cK3W592U5AaZqTfGIg45CAZXz7yal_F0RrqKSd8u2GcOBJMeuPiyuLdkLjmfXNU9VNe4ZdfVVj_e-DltO0q3cPTGtlI5/s1600/tumblr_kox1sgsprC1qznkf2o1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMb0_7NviC6pWsJlWPiQQL9whW5VTH9cxkLy_PfZZTVVl4bTz8cK3W592U5AaZqTfGIg45CAZXz7yal_F0RrqKSd8u2GcOBJMeuPiyuLdkLjmfXNU9VNe4ZdfVVj_e-DltO0q3cPTGtlI5/s400/tumblr_kox1sgsprC1qznkf2o1_500.jpg" width="264" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b> (Assertion)</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> In the United States, race is often viewed as a Black and White issue,with members of general American society tending to concentrate on the historical and contemporary racial conflicts between African Americans and White Americans. </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(1st eXample and Explanation)</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">This phenomenon can be exemplified by the recent election of President Barack Obama in 2008, in which the mainstream media concentrated primarily on the voting patterns of Black and Whites without much regard to the opinions or voting practices of Latinos, Asian Americans, or other racial/ethnic groups.</span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(2nd eXample and Explanation)</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> This is also demonstrated in many interpersonal dialogues on race (e.g., in academia, legal systems, and work places) that ten to focus on racial relations between Blacks and Whites without examining experience of race for Latino Americans, Asian American, or other racial /ethnic groups. </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(Significance) </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Because of this emphasis on Black versus White in American society, the existence of these other racial/ethnic groups is often minimized, forgotten, or made invisible. (2)</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span data-offset-key="7f9r-0-0" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; letter-spacing: -0.2px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span data-text="true" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">N</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">adal asserts that American society tends to focus on Black and White racial issues. </span></span></span><span class="hardreadability" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.2px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: 0.5s; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span data-offset-key="7f9r-1-0" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span data-text="true" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">He supports his opinion with two examples that include explanations to verify his assertion</span></span></span><span data-offset-key="7f9r-2-0" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif; letter-spacing: -0.2px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span data-text="true" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">. Nadal ends with a statement of significance, the "so what?" of his assertion: the preoccupation with Black/White issues tends to erase Filipinos. <span style="font-size: 17px;"> </span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Na</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">dal repeats the pattern of organization in this second paragraph (</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">starting with an <b>A</b>ssertion, continuing with three supporting e<b>X</b>amples and <b>E</b>xplanation, and concluding with a statement of <b>Si</b>gnificance): </span></span></div>
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;"> (</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Assertion</b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Unlike any other Asian American group, Filipino and Filipino Americans have been placed into several racial and ethnic categories. </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(1st eXample and Explanation) </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">According to the 2000 U.S. Census, Filipino Americans currently are classified as “Asian American.” However, according to the U.S. Department of Education, Filipino Americans have been categorized as “Pacific Islanders, while some academics have classified Filipino Americans as “Hispanic” due to the Spanish colonization of the Philippines for 350 years. </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(2nd eXample and Explanation</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">)</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Moreover, California Senate Bill 183, which was passed in 1988, has required that all California state personnel surveys or statistical tabulations classify persons of Filipino ancestry as “Filipino” rather than Asian, Pacific Islander or Hispanic. </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(3rd eXample and Explanation</span></b><b style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">)</b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">Finally, because Filipino Americans may have a different phenotype, they often are mistaken as belonging to different racial/ethnic groups, including Latino, Pacific Islander, and Arab Americans. </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(Significance) </span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "courier new" , "courier" , monospace;">These experiences (which my be positive, negative or neutral) may also impact the ways Filipinos self-identify. (18) </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm6trni7fZoTdMoQfaVqZS2Pi3kizOrH3sJhnvzmRzmkr8JPD5EW7REfk4pY1qpGnkT_vZDDjaAKF3qSanVjzCj4IW9vmGbZnHnozfq2g8uUS5REXGXMlXmFrl6GHtULS-aGUji2r8q6Ue/s1600/kevin-nadal-04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" kda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm6trni7fZoTdMoQfaVqZS2Pi3kizOrH3sJhnvzmRzmkr8JPD5EW7REfk4pY1qpGnkT_vZDDjaAKF3qSanVjzCj4IW9vmGbZnHnozfq2g8uUS5REXGXMlXmFrl6GHtULS-aGUji2r8q6Ue/s320/kevin-nadal-04.jpg" width="230" /></a><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span class="veryhardreadability" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; letter-spacing: -0.2px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: 0.5s; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span data-offset-key="7f9r-0-0" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span data-text="true" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">Nadal's assertion that Filipinos in America "have </span></span></span><span class="passivevoice" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; letter-spacing: -0.2px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: 0.5s; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span data-offset-key="7f9r-1-0" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span data-text="true" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">been placed</span></span></span><span class="veryhardreadability" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; letter-spacing: -0.2px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: 0.5s; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span data-offset-key="7f9r-2-0" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span data-text="true" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"> into several racial and ethnic categories" finds support in three examples: 1) National categories are different; 2) State categories are different; and 3) Individual Filipino/as are subject to misidentification</span></span></span><span data-offset-key="7f9r-3-0" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; letter-spacing: -0.2px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span data-text="true" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">. </span></span><span class="hardreadability" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; letter-spacing: -0.2px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: 0.5s; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span data-offset-key="7f9r-4-0" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span data-text="true" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">The larger significance of this claim is that this confusion in labeling may affect how Filipino/as view themselves</span></span></span><span data-offset-key="7f9r-5-0" style="border: 0px; color: #111111; letter-spacing: -0.2px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span data-text="true" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px;">.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> Both paragraphs feature different content, yet they each follow a similar structural pattern: AXES. Nadal generated different ideas supported by evidence. And he followed a particular form - a standard pattern. His explanations, and commentary to make clear how those examples support his assertion. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Once my eye became alert to AXES, I noticed how many paragraphs are organized </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">this way: big idea up front followed by support. I became more effective reader. Recognizing this pattern helps me scan paragraphs in a college textbook or work documents to find the major points, especially if I'm short on time or simply want to cut to the chase. I can more closely examine the rest of the paragraphs when I have more time or if I need evidence, clarification, or further explanation (as in, "how do we know this idea is accurate, relevant, or significant?). Knowing the main idea (the </span><b style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">A</b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ssertion) helps me figure out the relevance of the support, too. Seeing the pattern puts the e</span><b style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">X</b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">amples and </span><b style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">E</b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">xplanation in context. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx6uwVqQBn3bOIsEkYJ148ZPhz1D14DgaG0kYkVUFPbXww7H-7iZ9eKIvyT3k6woUAO8HHxLT14MLE-4FvOayFfGbo5BEGjeCl9LYI8PcNAegynlVxJrAWbriaL6VbmG2DDlGnOzWXW5ET/s1600/escher-hand_draw.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; height: 240px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; width: 320px;"><img border="0" height="240" kda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx6uwVqQBn3bOIsEkYJ148ZPhz1D14DgaG0kYkVUFPbXww7H-7iZ9eKIvyT3k6woUAO8HHxLT14MLE-4FvOayFfGbo5BEGjeCl9LYI8PcNAegynlVxJrAWbriaL6VbmG2DDlGnOzWXW5ET/s320/escher-hand_draw.png" width="320" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Seeing how writers use AXES also gives me an idea how to format my own paragraphs. I think of AXES as a structure or container to hold my ideas - <b><i>the content</i></b>. Each letter of the acronym is a placeholder for particular kinds of content. And the more I read and notice AXES paragraphs, the more aware I become of the variety of different ways writers use and sequence (chop up?) the moves within paragraphs. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Sometimes there is so much evidence that the I choose to split a single large point with several complex examples into two or three paragraphs. I can use <b>S</b> of the first paragraphs as transitions and reserve the final <b>S</b> for the significance of the whole set of paragraphs. </span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">As I writer, I'm free to emulate ("bite") different writers' structures and patterns of organization - that's not considered plagiarism or copying. I just have to be sure that the content I include (the ideas, the particular examples) are my own. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Here's <a href="https://marshall.ucsd.edu/doc/doc3/AXESMethodParagraphDevelopment.pdf" target="_blank">a helpful page </a>from Thurgood Marshall College at UCSD that provides more information on AXES paragraphs</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms";">Reference: Nadal, Kevin. <em>Filipino American Psychology: A Handbook of Theory, Research, and Clinical Practice</em>. Wiley, 2011.</span>
bayanprofessorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18178669402814988313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879519111471186746.post-91048839611343355652017-04-09T20:10:00.000-07:002017-04-09T20:16:49.657-07:00P.O.W.E.R. & Thriving: Formulas for Success<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcKAC3qWhqvjfhjiBxV95jThFFy0mIzXCBUwcsyQ0wAkY8ntFEtrycHoFzvM0EnRV9c38PmlZyZ5vZr_LWms6H-wEcFrQPnbxbtrdv-1s_oSQ7ecFlQBPT7tfVDx7TR-tefkfHIW4V5SA/s1600/Resistance.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcKAC3qWhqvjfhjiBxV95jThFFy0mIzXCBUwcsyQ0wAkY8ntFEtrycHoFzvM0EnRV9c38PmlZyZ5vZr_LWms6H-wEcFrQPnbxbtrdv-1s_oSQ7ecFlQBPT7tfVDx7TR-tefkfHIW4V5SA/s400/Resistance.JPG" width="308" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We’ve been studying various ways to explain growth - leaning on traditional models of student development like <a href="https://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/perry.positions.html" target="_blank">Perry </a>and <a href="http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~ncoverst/Kohlberg's%20Stages%20of%20Moral%20Development.htm" target="_blank">Kohlberg</a>. We also examined racial identity development models (see beverly Daniel Tatum's <a href="http://isites.harvard.edu/fs/docs/icb.topic551851.files/TalkingAboutRace%20Tatum.pdf" target="_blank">"Talking About Race, Learning about Racism"</a>), another crucial area of growth. Movement through developmental models (ethical, moral, racial) can lead to an overall state of flourishing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">One formula that measures how students flourish is what education professor Laura Schreiner calls the “thriving quotient.” Her formula accounts for the kind of growth we’d like students (and ourselves, as life-long learners!) to achieve. Schreiner breaks up her formula into five common sense factors: Social Connectedness, Positive Perspectives, Academic Determination, Valuing of Diverse Citizenry, and Engaged Learning.<br /><br />She describes those ingredients in her essay, "<a href="http://www.wellesley.edu/sites/default/files/assets/departments/studentlife/files/thriving_overview.pdf" target="_blank">The Thriving Quotient</a>.” Social Connections speaks to fostering social capital and “soft skills” we need for collaborative work. Positive Perspective refers to positive psychology theories like <a href="http://www.nais.org/Magazines-Newsletters/ISMagazine/Pages/Brainology.aspx" target="_blank">Carol Dweck’s “Growth Mindset”</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H14bBuluwB8" target="_blank">Angela Duckworth’s “Grit.” </a> Academic Determination has to do goals, attitudes, and skills for growth. Value for Diverse Citizenry isn’t only about the ability to work well with different kinds of people. It’s about hope and the spirit of optimism that intergroup collaboration makes a difference. Engaged Learning accounts for actively participating in one’s learning. </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> <br />That same month we analyzed Schreiner's essay, a presenter at a Black History Month event spoke about the relationship between resistance and growth. Communication professor, poet, and artist, Dr. Rachel Hastings introduced us to the acronym "POWER" which stands for her version of success. Her reading accounts for resistance against oppression. This was apt since the event celebrated Malcolm X and his heroic struggle for social justice. Here's what Doc Hastings proposed:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLYanpUopmT_ZJa6QcIndGjwPm20-p1JCZPGLggET2rJ6DVxFjmGcDECqzqaSx2ApHva1G78YcUrEE08uEpfMVY-0v3eOMxIPuPUmc84fSr0F7JeyGJpoxeB-0OhobFfL6r0DEjzCaz8A/s1600/Hasting%2527s+POWER.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLYanpUopmT_ZJa6QcIndGjwPm20-p1JCZPGLggET2rJ6DVxFjmGcDECqzqaSx2ApHva1G78YcUrEE08uEpfMVY-0v3eOMxIPuPUmc84fSr0F7JeyGJpoxeB-0OhobFfL6r0DEjzCaz8A/s640/Hasting%2527s+POWER.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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Though the two frameworks don’t map onto each other perfectly, we noted important similarities. Both formulas call us to be intentional and purposeful (<i><b>Academic </b></i><b><i>Determination </i></b><i><b>+ Pick Your Purpose + Walk the Walk</b></i>). Each prescribes active, “live” learning (<i><b>Embrace your Education + Engaged Learning)</b></i>. Both argue for intra-personal understanding, an internal optimistic mindset (<i><b>Offer Openness + Positive Perspective</b></i>). And, in certain ways, “offering openness” and “social connectedness” are complementary, both asking ourselves to trust ourselves and others.<br /><br />Yet two differences strike me. First, Schreiner lists abstract concepts - her ingredients are conceptual nouns. In contrast, Doc Hasting offers everyday, tangible actions along with concepts - she directs listeners to act. What’s so important about this difference? Nouns suggest a destination (place!) or possession (thing!). Schreiner’s factors seem like you must “arrive” at an abstract state, or own an non-concrete object. You’re there, or you're not. You “got it,” or you don’t. The POWER formula calls for decisive, easy to grasp actions (pick, offer, walk, embrace, and read are all verbs). Verbs capture the processual, developmental aspect of flourishing. Doc Hasting's thriving is not a "one-and-done" event. Sure, the concepts remain abstract, but the actions are accessible. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>Malcolm X urges us to read behind the media's rhetoric.</b></i></td></tr>
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Also, think of the contrast between the questions, “<i>Do you have 'academic determination'?</i>” and “<i>Are you 'walking the walk'?</i>” Both need a yes, no, or a slightly nuanced “somewhere-in-between” answer. The first question, the one from Schreiner’s recipe, asks the us to mull over our condition, our state. The other question, the one derived from Doc Hastings, asks if we whether or not we are being active in our own education. Hasting's acronym </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">suggests that growth is a course of action, not just a meditation. They phrases are directives, injunctions </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Her commands are more memorable because Hastings uses alliteration and repeated grammatical patterns (Verb + Noun). Her use of rhythm lodges the acronym in our head more securely. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Perhaps I'm being finicky over word choice, but the image and action implied by POWER seems more motivational, more visceral, than the headier, more abstract phrases Schreiner coined. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />A second difference has to do with “Read through the Rhetoric,” the factor refers to developing a critical eye, an analytical mindset. This makes sense at an event celebrating Malcolm X. Doc Hastings would want listeners to notice how discourses of domination operate in the media, popular culture, government, places of worship, and our education systems. Schreiner’s formula misses the critical analysis and anti-oppression stance POWER promotes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Yes, "valuing diverse citizenry" speaks of hope. But "valuing" and "hope" bespeak a willingness to dream of justice instead of deconstructing systems of advantage. That’s a crucial omission. The abstract terms "valuing diversity" and "hope" risk erasing the need for naming and dismantling oppressive structure. The flourishing I want doesn’t passively accept the stories that shape our society. I want a theory of success that compels me to critically examine and deconstruct oppressive narratives in order to create a just society.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This is precisely what Malcolm X asks us to do when we consume media: to look behind the surface meaning of messages, to look for implications,interpretations and interpretations that contribute to colonized thinking. bell hooks also promotes reading through the rhetoric, using critical thinking in order to advocate for everyone's success.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy2-0_6xN2soyEK41Tz41JKDNoM06LGtLfXmh5L2-svWKj7p0DGpuvi4EtLFFD7DPzeYIH3UjkQDeLHpZOyPbhFBW4zfzrAMDz5JVKjuIuAjZT2npdrTOzi-GL7efuZr9alWPNf-4qxrk/s1600/bell+hooks+reading+through+the+rhetoric.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy2-0_6xN2soyEK41Tz41JKDNoM06LGtLfXmh5L2-svWKj7p0DGpuvi4EtLFFD7DPzeYIH3UjkQDeLHpZOyPbhFBW4zfzrAMDz5JVKjuIuAjZT2npdrTOzi-GL7efuZr9alWPNf-4qxrk/s400/bell+hooks+reading+through+the+rhetoric.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><b>bell hooks asks us to interrogate what & how school teaches.</b></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Regardless how engaged our learning is or how academically determined we are, when we carelessly “believe the hype,” we maintain the status quo. The final injunction in Hasting's POWER acronym urges us to see the imbalances in our systems, those gaps and broken places that give rise to injustice.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />Don’t misunderstand. I like Schreiner’s equation. Her concepts are useful. And to be fair, her discussion about optimism, hope and diverse citizenry does approach what I like about Hasting’s acronym. Still, POWER promotes a flourishing, a mode of success that explicitly urges us to actively critique ourselves and the world around us. POWER prescribes a praxis for success for all. </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>A hearty thanks to Doc Hasting for her permission to write about her talk and to our students Krystin S. & Ayzha H. </i></span><i style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">for their help revising this post. #EngagedLearning #AcademicDetermination</i></b></div>
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bayanprofessorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18178669402814988313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879519111471186746.post-1037544235614671092017-02-22T15:32:00.002-08:002017-02-23T13:00:33.499-08:00Podcasts & Classroom Conversations<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIlf-cHM5x0Ti4_witjT7HlWws0wvSPs02ivMl5vVcSziy35u-PzZPF-8BjlsT-DL3S7S_Mo1oLnTWWuptb601URZyu6Tcj8hjn1BNfcSyxnTAThngwsavXm8le0gPq2mIsbRupJzYjZU/s1600/between+world+and+me+cover.jpe" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIlf-cHM5x0Ti4_witjT7HlWws0wvSPs02ivMl5vVcSziy35u-PzZPF-8BjlsT-DL3S7S_Mo1oLnTWWuptb601URZyu6Tcj8hjn1BNfcSyxnTAThngwsavXm8le0gPq2mIsbRupJzYjZU/s1600/between+world+and+me+cover.jpe" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">As is my habit, as I drove home from work, I was listening to a podcast, <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/the_audio_book_club/2015/09/ta_nehisi_coates_between_the_world_and_me_book_club_and_discussion.html" target="_blank">Slate’s Audio Book Club.</a> Because we are in the middle of studying Ta-Nehisi Coate’s recent book <i><a href="http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/220290/between-the-world-and-me-by-ta-nehisi-coates/9780812993547/" target="_blank">Between the World and Me</a></i>, I wanted to supplement my reading with the opinions of <a href="http://www.slate.com/" target="_blank">Slate</a> journalists that I respect: <a href="https://jamellebouie.net/" target="_blank">Jamelle Bouie</a>, chief political correspondent, <a href="http://www.slate.com/authors.katy_waldman.html" target="_blank">Katy Waldman</a>, a staff writer, and <a href="http://meghanorourke.net/" target="_blank">Meghan O'Rourke</a> who writes about culture, and she has recently published a memoir about her mother’s death Their <a href="https://soundcloud.com/panoply/abc-between-the-world-and-me" target="_blank">podcast conversation </a>was smart. Erudite. Insightful. The journalists manifested a breadth and depth of knowledge that added so much to my reading of Coates’ epistolary memoir. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Listening to them reminded me of being in graduate school seminar, where we tested our ideas, took (and changed!) tentative positions about an author’s content, and sought to find the significance of the texts before us. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I felt pleased that in my own reading of Coates' book, I had picked up on several of the themes the journalists brought up: embodiment, abstract citizenship, social construction of race, memory, and the narrative of American exceptionalism. Hooray! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">At the same time, I felt challenged, as if a step behind their conversation. That's exactly how I felt when I entered seminar (and admittedly, more than once during my grad school experience). Back then, I struggled to keep up with their conversation. My peers made this type of talk seem so easy, natural. What I realize now is that my classmates didn't just stay "in" the text they were discussing; they weren't simply interpreting line-by-line. Instead, their lines of reasoning had to do with the connections they discovered - and forged - between the text and other texts, and between the text and their own personal and academic interests. And they seemed to know a secret set of rules about how conversation should take place. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I imagined myself sitting in the studio with the journalists, professionals at the top of their game. I imagined being</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"> ill equipped to keep up, and not just because of pace</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">. I would both be “in” the conversation and lost. There, but not quite! Just like in grad school, I would pay close attention, so much so I would break into a sweat. Their pace and back-and-forth between themselves and an array of topics they brought into the conversation would simultaneously exhilarate and enervate me. The journalists, as did my seminar classmates, seemed to understand a particular "code" or set of rules for classroom discussion that I didn't know. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I imagine many students experience a similar sensation when we attempt to have discussions about a reading. I’ve been experimenting with some of the ideas Donald Finkel promotes in his book <i><a href="http://www.heinemann.com/products/0469.aspx" target="_blank">Teaching With Your Mouth Shut</a></i>, and I do see that the discussions are getting more substantive. Students are beginning to trust that our discussions aren’t “gotcha - sessions” where I’m trying to bust someone for not reading the text. Safety is important. And now that their participation suggests they feel safe, I struggle with how to encourage more meaningful discussion. How do I get them to effectively approach discussions? And how do I get them to comprehend what good discussions looks like?</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Click <a href="https://soundcloud.com/panoply/abc-between-the-world-and-me" target="_blank">here </a>for link to the podcast.</b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Though I was listening to the podcast to deepen my reading of Coates’ text, I realized something (again!) about teaching: I cannot expect students to know what it looks and feels like to be in meaningful, thought provoking seminar unless I showed them. I could describe one. I could cajole and lecture them over the “genre expectations” of this type of classroom talk. But a concrete illustration would be much more effect. In other words, don’t just tell, show! <br /><br />Here are a few of the things I heard the book club members do that made their discussion so rich and robust:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Discussants came prepared to read and analyze meaningful passages, sections that held significance for them - page numbers at the ready! </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">They could quickly encapsulate the key ideas of their passages - and the book, too. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">All three brought questions about the text - not factual, text-based questions one could find the answer on a particular page or paragraph. Their questions had to do with implications of the author’s ideas, the significance and relevance of the text. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">All three linked their reading of the text to other important topics, their own interests, and their own lives. They all spoke about how Coates’ work was particular resonant now in the era of Black Lives Matter. And O’Rourke was able to find a connection between Coates' work and her own study of mourning she did for her recent book. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">And as they discussed each others’ comments, participant were able to point to a particular section of the book that corroborated his or her point. </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">None of these noticings are brand new discoveries. I already ask students to make these moves. But now I have a means to demonstrate what those moves look like in action. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">There’s plenty of ways to strengthen how I create conditions for meaningful talk. I can do a better job of providing pre-reading guidelines and “bread crumbs” for students to follow as they prepare for class. And I can do a better job of providing reflection questions for them to ponder prior to a discussion. And now, when I hear podcasts that demonstrate what "seminar talk" sounds like, I can share excerpts with students so they can envision themselves in a seminar classroom and hear the skills they need to develop to join in academically rigorous discussions. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>*Shout out to Krystin and Najma, two students from one of my classes, for their generous and first-rate help with revising this blog post. </i></span></div>
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bayanprofessorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18178669402814988313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879519111471186746.post-30283392625595914202016-12-07T18:30:00.000-08:002016-12-07T18:43:47.161-08:00End of Semester: Minor Victories! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy0S05BtVeswETaBhE1Kb7KAl43ERlPYPFnvV3jatvHms7P-bfzI3_6qf5J1RqmbPGFROgFPM3p1Vz1p7V4OCvE04eP4JAKJKwqjBd8Xr9rxQgAltHAEjIi8AARVpl1VphsMZGeTYzFL0/s1600/2897128392a8d43a88dcaccede7feddb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy0S05BtVeswETaBhE1Kb7KAl43ERlPYPFnvV3jatvHms7P-bfzI3_6qf5J1RqmbPGFROgFPM3p1Vz1p7V4OCvE04eP4JAKJKwqjBd8Xr9rxQgAltHAEjIi8AARVpl1VphsMZGeTYzFL0/s320/2897128392a8d43a88dcaccede7feddb.jpg" width="270" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Finals start today. And I’m feeling, well, pretty good. Usually this time of year, I’m out of sorts. And that’s putting it mildly. It’s the season of recriminations and regrets: “I didn’t finish everything I had planned! Students won’t be ready for their next English class. How did I fall so far behind? Someone’s gonna figure out I’m a fake.” The chorus in my head should be working overtime. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">But it’s not. I’m almost feeling . . . optimistic, uncharacteristically calm. Is this denial? Have I drunk so much coffee and eaten so much junk food (stress eater!) that I’ve numbed myself out so completely, immunized against my inner critic? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">For certain, there are kernels of truth in my Greek chorus’ remorseful refrain. I could have more effectively prepared student. I could have used my time more wisely. And I’m definitely a master of “acting as if.” But for some reason, my self-recriminations aren’t piercing my so deeply. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">As think about it, I made a few small changes things this semester, which upon reflection, appear to have paid off big time in terms of reducing the end-of-semester stress syndrome. A couple tasks have to do with logistics. And one has to do with what and how I taught. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">A</span>ttendance</b>: This is one of my biggest bug-a-boos, completely stressing m me out, especially at census, withdrawal, and dropping deadlines. But taking attendance is important, not just for accounting purposes but for staying aware of what’s going on with students. First year, first generation college students often aren’t ready for the more <i>laissez-faire </i>attendance policies of many junior and senior level classes. I'm not doing students any favors by being so . . . relaxed. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This semester, I took up a peer’s suggestion to have students sign in as they walk into class. I tried last semester, but didn’t follow through. I did better this time around, stationing a podium with a composition book (one dedicated to each class) near the door. It became part of our classroom culture - by the second week of class, students reminded me to set up the sign in station, and I consistently kept track of attendance. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">G</span>rades: </b>One benefit of using the composition book to take roll? Jotting down notes about what happened in class directly on the page where folks signed in. When students participated in activities that weren’t meant to yield something I would formally collect, (peer revision, group work, pre-writing and drafting, think-pair-share, postering and carousel sessions, annotating texts etc.) I’d mark that on the day’s attendance. I wasn't happy about loosey-goosey assigning“participation” grades. Students (and I!) need to know, at least in broad terms, what work they might have missed if they were absent. And this has helped tremendously when tabulating scores - a huge stressor I avoided this time around. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">G</span>oogle Docs</b>: I’ve dabbled with Google Docs for several years now, but this is the first time I’ve asked students to set up and share dedicated file for their work of their work. This took a lot of time at the beginning of the semester, but the investment made a big difference. Getting students to uniformly title files and has been a huge time saver and ultimately freed up time for commenting. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">F</span>ocus and Multiplier Effects</b>: I’ve been pretty good about using group activities and discussion to help students develop oral fluency and group work skills. It’s a source of pride how I engage students. But one of the things I hadn’t done so well with these types of activities them into students’ actual writing project. The activities and discussions were independent, stand-alone, often far afield topic-wise relative to what students were actually writing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This semester, I’m happy to to say that practically every demonstration,YouTube clip, podcast,and discussion fed into the writing process of the project students were actually doing at the moment. This increased oral fluency and comfort level with the topics directly transferred into those projects. For instance, instead of using the “writing-into-the-day” activity to respond to a video or news item I thought was interesting, I disciplined myself to stay on topic, using media directly related to the project at hand. This coherence between “fun stuff” and the “serious” assignments made for meaningful preparation for writing projects- students were able to express and explore their ideas multiple times in different ways before drafting. And so I don't feel guilty about poor use of time. Sounds pretty basic. Sometimes learning curves can be as long as they are steep. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms, sans-serif;">Of course, I didn't do all this perfectly. And yet,these small, initial steps were enough to forestall the finals' gloom. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4WovmfCM7h1ac62bFJUjJdSCVexhiW5fNcWgty-_utRvpGyZ9m3mxNJmga97KnWUz-B6smhsUc3h8kAYq1Hg5rrpH9VTGWjlqKJsX5DZbG5Y3oJ-_V9J4SsGXz7F16yfQOjjEsCzxBLU/s1600/65240871.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4WovmfCM7h1ac62bFJUjJdSCVexhiW5fNcWgty-_utRvpGyZ9m3mxNJmga97KnWUz-B6smhsUc3h8kAYq1Hg5rrpH9VTGWjlqKJsX5DZbG5Y3oJ-_V9J4SsGXz7F16yfQOjjEsCzxBLU/s320/65240871.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Me. In five days. Maybe less. </b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><i>Notes for Next Semester</i>:</b> I had planned, with the attendance procedure, to draw a line at about five minutes into class time to keep track of who was late. Also, I need to use the attendance data on a more timely basis - contacting folks when I see patterns of absences and tardies on a more uniform basis.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">In terms of actually recording grades into my grade book, I need to do that weekly so I can stay on top of (and share) student progress. Since I teach primarily first-year, first time students, relying on essays, a midterm, and a final isn’t an effective way to help them build the kind of study habits they'll need. I’ve found it’s often too much independence too soon. I’m not commenting on student work (who is?), but the Google Docs is making it easier to do so. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">But I’m not beating myself up this semester the way I typically would because those few steps I took have precluded stress in ways I hadn't imagined. And since I am experiencing the benefits, perhaps the emotional inertia (I won't be ill after finals, as is my typical m.o.) will push me to keep improving next semester. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">All I have left to do is assess the last essay, the final exam, tabulate grades, and upload them. As I draft this post, students are hunched over their blue books completing their exams! Usually, I'd be scrambling through my notes, trying to recreate attendance rosters and in-class participation grades. Perhaps since I’m in a better place than usual this time of year, I’ll be able to get seven hours of sleep in every day until grades are due. A first!</span></div>
bayanprofessorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18178669402814988313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879519111471186746.post-90642213796809145542016-09-27T12:24:00.000-07:002016-12-07T17:53:18.929-08:00Courageous Conversations at Southwestern College <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">My colleagues and I organized a Courageous Conversations dialogue program recently for all three of the multicultural learning communities here on our campus: Bayan, the Filipina/o American focused learning community; Puente, the Latina/o learning community: and Umoja, the learning community focused on African and African American students and issues. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We, along with the professional development office on our campus, wanted to create a space for dialogue about human relations issues that our students face - race, gender, criminal justice issues, internalized racism, colorism, and class to name a few. And we wanted to broaden the circle of safety that naturally develops in a learning community to a wider circle. <br /><br />We used as our inspiration the book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Courageous-Conversations-About-Race-Achieving/dp/0761988769" target="_blank">Courageous Conversations About Race</a> by Glen Singleton and Curtis Wallace and a version of a discussion protocol called “conver-stations” from the <a href="http://www.cultofpedagogy.com/speaking-listening-techniques/" target="_blank">Cult of Pedagogy</a> website. In addition, I was inspired by a workshop I attended in Spring presented by the S<a href="http://sdawp.ucsd.edu/" target="_blank">an Diego Area Writing Project</a>, revising their program for a student audience. I'm grateful to all our sources for their intellectual generosity! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Participants at the SDAWP workshop ( K- 16 teachers, professors, and administrators) rotated through three rounds of conversations ranging from sexual orientation and diversity to social justice activism to institutional racism. Each conversation took place at a table with about ten (10) people and a facilitator. After the workshop leader welcomed participants and reviewed communication agreements, facilitators at each table asked participants to introduce themselves and to briefly (ever so briefly!) state their investment in the issues. Then, each facilitator took a brief moment to either share short readings or share a set of provocative questions to get the conversation going. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />The goal was not for participants to come to a consensus or agreement about their particular topics. Instead, it was our opportunity to engage in dialogue, which especially for topics such as these, cannot be solved in a single conversation. Yet, there is value in having these kinds of dialogues - to share, change, and sharpen perspectives. <br /><br />For the college student version, we kept with the three rounds of concurrent discussions. In addition, we prepared for the dialogue on three separate occasions prior to the program, attempting to do the same thing in all three communities. About ten days before the event, we introduced the concept of courageous conversations to the students and polled the classes to see what students felt were important issues to discuss . A few days later, we reviewed communication agreements and anticipated what it would be like talking with the students from the other communities. And a few days prior to the dialogue, we we asked students to select their top three choices on the menu of topics we collected before. <br /><br />And then the great shuffling! At the SDAWP event, participants self selected in the moment. For the college program, we wanted to assure that each table a healthy mix from all three communities. So we did our best to assign as diverse a roster per table because we wanted students to lean into conversations with others - conversations they might find themselves having in other classes. Our event gave students a facilitated foretaste of being in situations where they may be asked to speak on difficult issues - in a multicultural/inter-racial setting they are bound to find themselves in their other classes. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The topics students came up with were racism, gender issues, sexual orientation, bullying/peer pressure, being mixed race, immigration, language diversity, racial profiling, Black Lives Matter, colonial mentality/colorism/internalized racism, and inter-religious understanding. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">We had to accommodate multiple rounds for high-interest topics such as racism, racial profiling, gender issues, and bullying/peer pressure. And we also tried to offer at least one session for the other topics. Not everyone got all three topics they requested, but we did our best to make sure everyone got at least two. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />The two other differences (not counting that our program was three hours long and the SDAWP version was 90 minutes) was that we were able to serve lunch, which allowed folks to talk informally, and our closing. We had enough time for participants to jot down a simple action plan vis-a-vis the event: What information do you need to deepen or broaden your understanding about the issues you spoke about today? With whom do you need to speak in your own classroom community within the next three days about one of the issues? With whom in your "outside world" might you want to dialogue about any of these issues? <br /><br />After lunch, we asked students to share possible answers to their “action plan” and to poster sample responses. The director of professional development made some encouraging closing statements and we announced several ongoing and follow up activities that have already been in the making: a Black Lives Matter series and an off-campus retreat to name two.<br /><br />Response was phenomenal. The biggest complaint was not having enough time (agreed!). The second most repeated comment was to have more activities like this one (you bet!). Here are few comments students from Umoja and Bayan communities wrote in their reflections on the day: </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>When you had announced the activity we would doing on Thursday, and before the class had even started that day, I was already nervous and anxious because we were going to be with two different learning communities with new people, and we had to talk to each other about current issues.</i></span></li>
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<li><i>At first, I thought the program would be an orientation where we would basically get to know one another, or so I thought. Then the title actually made sense to me Aha! </i></li>
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<li><i>What I got from [the event] was a sense of awareness of diversity and how our differences don't exactly draw us apart, but bring us together.</i></li>
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<li><i>This exercise made me step out of my comfort zone and really think outside of the box [which] I typically don't do. </i></li>
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<li><i>It was funny how I learned that a lot of my table members from the other two communities said they rarely if not ever experienced racism as often as me and my classmates from the Umoja community because “they don't see color.” [They said they] were raised to see everyone as equal. I found it hard to believe because surely that couldn’t have been true. </i></li>
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<li><i>I wanna know more what other issues [the other communities] are struggling with and to be aware to what is happening to the society . . . I could do some research using social media because everyone is using this and maybe this will get me thoughts about their lives. </i></li>
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<li><i>I really liked that we all come from different areas and backgrounds and had different life experiences and were able to be open about real problems that most people kind of tip toeing around. I didn’t think I was going to share as much as I did but I actually felt pretty comfortable talking to the people in my groups.</i></li>
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<li><i>Talking about this issues at the time kind of made me feel like taking action. I liked talking about these issues because otherwise [they] would just fly over my head. Talking . . . is a great way to spark up interest and have someone take action. I know one person in the whole group is going to take action because of what they were talking about today.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<li><i>I think that was a pretty cool and interesting thing to be apart of. We did get to know one another from different communities, we saw/heard other point of view’s on different topics, and I actually enjoyed it. People who are usually quiet (including myself) voiced our opinions and it felt great. I’d like to do this again with different topics. </i></li>
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So what should we, the organizers, do differently (because you know we are going to do repeat and revise this process)? I like how we had a couple of preparatory meetings prior to the actual event. I’d like that prep to be a little bit more formal, perhaps including more directed discussion (oral language development). Perhaps include a preliminary,low-stakes writing "event" (What do you expect or hope will happen? What are the benefits and risks of enlarging our conversation? Which of the communication agreements do you think are most important? What do you hope to find out about yourself and each other?). Perhaps we could craft the prep set writing events to lead to a full-on writing project. I suspect stronger prep sets that included more than merely polling and reading over guidelines would be more effective. <br /><br />Thinking about a "full on" writing project, I wonder about providing short readings to students prior to the conversation - perhaps fact sheets, statistics, and short informational references pieces on our topics - would help generate stronger conversations. Doing so may help make the point that while their subjective experiences are important that even a small amount of context may help illuminate the issues. I also wonder about a stronger post activity debrief - perhaps something a week or two after to ask students, perhaps in our respective communities, what they think and feel about the event now. </span></div>
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bayanprofessorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18178669402814988313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879519111471186746.post-58118008702389669692016-09-18T20:02:00.003-07:002016-09-18T23:06:34.369-07:00Using Music to Distinguish Between "Content" and "Structure" <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">A major objective in all my classes is for students to distinguish between content and structure, between the meaning of a text and the strategies authors use to construct that meaning. Students typically come into my class with strong summary skills, and they are definitely on the path toward being able to identify an author's </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">main and secondary ideas, i.e., the content. Certainly, they can strengthen those skills - and that’s why they're in my class! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />The more difficult skill to master for practically everyone in my classes is to identify the moves or structures that the authors use to express those ideas. By “moves” and “structures,” I mean what the writer <b><i>does </i></b>to express her content: describe, explain, contrast, express effect, tell a story, use dialogue, state a point, or give examples. <br /><br />Certainly, “meaning” and “moves” are mutually reinforcing, difficult to separate. At the same time, I want students to be able to identify what writers do so they can emulate those moves to express their own ideas. To introduce students to this process, we examined texts students are already deeply invested in: music they love. </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />I demonstrated with India.Arie’s “I Am Not My Hair,” asking students to articulate her message and moves. They proceeded to give a great summary and slight variations on her message. Practically all the comments about the content were on the money. Identifying structure was a bit more complicated. <br /><br />To help students along, I wrote a list of different “moves” on the board: explain, define, state, list, compare, tell personal story, give an example, use dialogue, state the cause or effect, etc. Then I asked students, who were working in pairs, to identify where they saw these moves being made, these strategies being used. And they basically got it - with prodding and guidance. But I know that mastering a single activity doesn't translate into deep understanding.<br /><br />To reinforce the lesson, I asked students to select a song of their choice (something in English, not instrumental, and something that had a meaning beyond trying to get a date or party). Students uploaded a YouTube clip of the song to a shared Padlet (see below for what the UMOJA Learning Community posted) and brought printed lyrics to class the next period. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Again, we brainstormed a list of strategies, and then I asked students to work independently to jot down notes about their song’s personal significance, the song’s message and which line(s) best expressed that point, and the lyricist's moves (taken from the list of strategies). I asked them to write their brief answers directly on the lyrics they had printed to use as notes for when they would share their songs with a partner. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I cased the room, helping people identify strategies. In many cases, students noted literary devices that they noticed (anaphora, epithet, epiphora, metaphor, and hyperbole), so I named those for them. I wasn’t so concerned about distinguishing between moves/mode and literary devices - just as long as students could identify that lyricists were “doing” something with words.<br /><br /> After about eight minutes of solo work, I asked students to pair off and “teach” each other their songs. I gave them about eight minutes to discuss their song's significance to each other,to share their songs' content, and to identify strategies the lyricists used, being sure to point to actual lines or stanzas in the lyrics. Because students were invested in the music they chose, the interest level was high. And I was able to help ground the definitions of “content” and “structure” to something personally relevant. Here’s a sampling of some of their comments that I took directly off their notes: </span><br />
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<li>O<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">ne student chose to write about the song “The Hound and the Fox” by the group I the MIghty (not to be confused with Pearl Bailey’s rendition of the Disney tune of the same name - damn, I’m old!). “I chose this song because of what the lyrics express,” he writes. “ . . . it tells a story based on the corruption in our society.” In addition to noting that the lyricists used narration, the student also caught that the lyricist directly states the song’s point, uses rhetorical questions, and provides comparison. </span></li>
<li>Regarding the song “Young & Stupid” by Travis Mills, one student wrote, “I can relate to a lot to this song. The language is powerful.” This student also noted repetition of particular words and phrases. She also noted how lines toward the end of the song referred to moments earlier in the song, and how the singer reflected on the content. </li>
<li>Another student wrote this about “Warning” by Biggie Smalls: “This song taught me a lesson about how friends can become foes” . . . “how when things start going good for you, people may get jealous and want what you got.” This student noted Biggie’s extensive use of dialogue, violent wordplay, how the lyrics opened with a rhetorical questions. </li>
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It was interesting to read what made particular songs so important to individual students. It helped me recognize students beyond their role in the class but as consumers and interpreters of signs. And because I’ve aged out of being “in the know” about contemporary popular culture, the activity helped me keep abreast of some of what students enjoy and value. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Plus, I realized that by asking students to express their subjective experience of their music, I am better able to help them distinguish between their personal reaction to a text and the text's meaning and moves - the kind of critical distance they'll need to do analysis. Too often, I find myself having to corral discussion away from their personal connection to a text toward a more “academic” analysis (can I get an “amen?”). I expect we’ll revisit this notion of subjective response vs. critical observation throughout the semester! I also can appreciate that I need to make some space, however small, to acknowledge how texts have a subjective impact. <br /><br /> As an introductory set, I recognize that I can’t fully elaborate on the distinction between larger structural pieced/modes and literary/rhetorical devices. The activity did allow me to assess how hard it is to even notice that writers make particular decisions about how to express their content. And after reviewing their notes, I have a sense what we need to attack next. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGW-YNQmIrGbrzmv0JBpUd6fDjblY2K_CDIK6ymTIJhOUT6Mdt8bDHkl8gvdhl9DvAAYJgE2MzWN9zFcM9ioVov5hUzkougCJd2ZfXMPQrA9WIZh01emJ2cEctTTGQ0_jN-GiBA2BW6sA/s1600/pairs.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGW-YNQmIrGbrzmv0JBpUd6fDjblY2K_CDIK6ymTIJhOUT6Mdt8bDHkl8gvdhl9DvAAYJgE2MzWN9zFcM9ioVov5hUzkougCJd2ZfXMPQrA9WIZh01emJ2cEctTTGQ0_jN-GiBA2BW6sA/s320/pairs.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">As we proceed, I expect to make finer distinctions between organizational patterns (description, definition, compare/contrast, cause/effect, problem/solution) and craft moves (rhetorical devices). This gives us a good primer as we dive into more formal texts, which they've already begun to analyze for meaning but not for moves. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /> Another possibility (if time were no issue!) is to mine the students' musical choices, for example structures and devices, to have them learn from texts they’ve chosen. Of course, the goal is to move to other texts - slowly by slowly, looping back to what we tried here to deepen and broaden their understanding of what writers do. </span></div>
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bayanprofessorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18178669402814988313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879519111471186746.post-75801620972428003402016-09-12T15:54:00.001-07:002016-09-12T22:17:12.793-07:00Using Comments to Foster Community & Communication<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSrKKmg6rk6_TUI7JNueOQbwvFY6Y0TKjgdjUXimhit3xyAirT5vDVBm412IqOnCzVeNmHm43ZAZYcfAUuHUkPvcAw7_1hcAPI_i80ZFt4z9JqVO-TNKI1TVtZS1OOY8A28nd0V3Mm1A8/s1600/Affirm+UMOJA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSrKKmg6rk6_TUI7JNueOQbwvFY6Y0TKjgdjUXimhit3xyAirT5vDVBm412IqOnCzVeNmHm43ZAZYcfAUuHUkPvcAw7_1hcAPI_i80ZFt4z9JqVO-TNKI1TVtZS1OOY8A28nd0V3Mm1A8/s400/Affirm+UMOJA.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">One of the biggest problems I have when teaching peer revision is getting students to comment on each others’ drafts. Student often lack confident enough in their own opinions and reactions, so they believe they have nothing of value to say when giving feedback. So while I’ll never completely prevent their reticence to commenting, I chose to do some work that might warm students up to the task. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br />For homework, I asked students to reflect on their time in college. Since most (with the exception of two or three) of the students in my classes are entering freshman, I’ve been assigning reflective writing assignments over the weekend. This particular assignment was the “<b>4S</b>” reflection. Students wrote about what <b>S</b>urprised them about their first weeks in college, what <b>S</b>acrifices they are making to be in college, what <b>S</b>olutions they are having to come up with for the problems they are encountering, and what they think or feek about becoming a <b>S</b>cholar. Low stakes writing. But meaty enough questions relevant for students transitioning into college.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw7kT-iyERSAS_8yS3OtbiO1f9qoN87taPfEe0ZZj0lFWYDa6v2V40UJ19Yv4Ek6lGSPRRXsqhdUrF7yTfxFI8OHCLNAZW_1VfnGJE1dmBJ1mXrpFEUZxVHpL67aWPWdA9Bn7kfKnTnoU/s1600/14289866_10154417820249705_8382053619122078258_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgw7kT-iyERSAS_8yS3OtbiO1f9qoN87taPfEe0ZZj0lFWYDa6v2V40UJ19Yv4Ek6lGSPRRXsqhdUrF7yTfxFI8OHCLNAZW_1VfnGJE1dmBJ1mXrpFEUZxVHpL67aWPWdA9Bn7kfKnTnoU/s400/14289866_10154417820249705_8382053619122078258_o.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The following class period, students sat in groups of three. I asked them to exchange papers. For the first round, they silently read one of their partners papers. Then, I presented them with three different types of comments to make on their partner’s paper: Affirm, Solidarity, and Critique. For each type, I provided a few simple stems for them to use. I asked students to highlight or mark the quotes in their partner’s paper, quotes they wanted to affirm and mark quotes that communicated an idea for which they stood in solidarity<span style="background-color: white;">. And they were to mark quotes they wanted to offer a gentle critique. </span>I also urged them to jot a comment or two for each quote they marked.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I adapted (stole) this activity from one of my peers from the <a href="http://sdawp.ucsd.edu/" target="_blank">San Diego Area Writing Project</a>. She called these “social justice stems,” and I figured they’d be useful for not only building community but for giving students an easy “in" to making comments even if they believed they had nothing worth noting on their partners’ papers. <br /><br />After a few moments, I asked folks to pass the marked paper to the other member of the triad, instructing that person to read the comments and to add her own affirmations, statements of solidarity, and critiques. These two rounds were held in silence. Next, students returned the papers to their author, and the author took a moment in silence to take in the comments. <br /><br />Here is a sampling of their comments: </span><br />
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<li><i>I honestly thought I was the only one who noticed this. </i></li>
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<li><i>I appreciate that you said this because sometimes I don’t know what to say, either. </i></li>
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<li><i>I hear you! I was a nervous, too. </i></li>
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<li><i>I also feel a difference in the way teachers talk towards students. We’re treated as adults now. </i></li>
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<li><i>Have you ever thought that the other students in your class are thinking the same thing? </i></li>
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I originally hoped that the exercise would get students comfortable writing comments. And that happened. You can see from the photos I’ve included that students took to commenting. Next round, I’ll add more questions, walking students toward giving and receiving comments about content, structure, and craft.<br /><br />What I didn’t realize is that these kinds of comments “close the circuit” of communication that in my classroom is often left incomplete. Because I’m not always able to comment on every paper, students written words must seem to just float about in space, waiting for a grade. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This lack of back - and forth communication, the closing of the circuit, may account for why students don’t take to writing. They experience that their words “land” anywhere outside of aiming for a grade. And if developing writers don’t experience their ideas “landing” on a real audience, then writing risks becoming a pointless exercise - an activity to be evaluated rather than to foster communication. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The other realization I made was how important students' feedback was to each other - they were so focused on reading what their peers wrote. Their comments to each other resonated with them in ways my feedback may not register. As much as my comments may help them become better writers (crossing my fingers!), so too do their comments to each other help them to build community and to value this kind of writing as a mode of communication</span>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">As the semester progresses, I plan to loop back to this activity. I can see how this activity helps prepare for peer revision and commenting. But making sure that I provide writing events that close a circuit, relevant writing that reaches a real reading audience and encourages dialogue. </span></div>
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bayanprofessorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18178669402814988313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879519111471186746.post-24737677723170027682016-09-09T16:35:00.000-07:002016-09-09T16:35:09.147-07:00Low Stakes + Building an Academic Community: Two for One! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Two important lessons I re-learned during professional development last summer was the importance of assigning low-stakes writing tasks and of building community. During the <a href="http://cap.3csn.org/" target="_blank">California Acceleration Program</a>’s Summer Workshop, facilitators urged us to consider using low-stakes (sometimes called “writing-to-learn” activities) to ease students into more complex writing tasks. At the <a href="http://umojacommunity.org/summer-learning-institute/" target="_blank">UMOJA Community Summer Learning Institute</a>, we reviewed the significance of building communal intelligence, the intentional calling out and supporting of students efforts to build their knowledge base together. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This last week, I attempted to weave together both these principles in all four of my classes. We used a digital bulletin board to compile “meaty” quotes from their readings and the reasons they thought those quotes were meaningful. Students are in the middle of composing a synthesis essay based on texts by Paulo Freire, Jean Anyon, and bell hooks - a pretty heady, complex set of readings for first-time freshman. One of the big objectives of this assignment is to give students practice incorporating quotes into their essay. They have to select quotes that support a larger claim, which not only means finding quotes. It means being able to interpret those quotes, explaining to readers how and why that quote supports the student writer’s synthesis. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So I asked students to identify specific quotes, one from each essay, that they believed were juicy - full of meaning related to their argument - and to briefly state why they thought this quote was so relevant. They didn’t have to fully comprehend the entire readings. They didn’t even have to be sure the quote would actually end up in their final draft. I wanted them to simply find a quote (one from each reading) and discuss in a few sentences how each quote might be connected to their particular argument. This was the low stakes aspect of the assignment: picking a quote and explaining - even tentatively - how that relates (“<a href="https://bayanprofessor.blogspot.com/2016/09/of-queens-athletes-images-kicking-off.html" target="_blank">queezing</a>”) to their project. I've included two of the bulletin boards here - one from my Bayan Learning Community and second from the Athletics Learning Community. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Because the digital bulletin board (<a href="https://padlet.com/" target="_blank">Padlet</a>) allows writers to post their work, the class had access to a wealth of potentially useful quotations that might end up in their essays. As a community, they created a bank of knowledge and publicized their thinking. They could see the collective power of their individual intellectual work.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Of course, some students may end up simply copying someone else’s quote and interpretation. But simply including a quote isn’t going to cut mustard unless the quote and explanation is related to the student writers’ particular augment, linked in a reasonable fashion to his or her own position. But in terms of sharing ideas, this digital bulletin board serves as a great tool for publicizing and compiling the students' ideas. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Our next step this week is figure out the mechanics of incorporating their selected quotes into their essays. Given the quality of the quotes they’ve found and their initial interpretations (<a href="https://bayanprofessor.blogspot.com/2016/09/of-queens-athletes-images-kicking-off.html" target="_blank">queezing</a>!), I’m confident they are ready for the next level. </span></div>
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bayanprofessorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18178669402814988313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879519111471186746.post-47903286776557170832016-09-04T16:02:00.000-07:002018-04-18T11:05:54.929-07:00Of Queens, Athletes, & Images: Kicking off the Semester<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipgk-lVdMRBTl31nPUVjkW-4LTWBfbixxE5ZJeipjK2MII0ZH6bpbVuxRDOcnVQvrMZfyZCu1e-e4S-wRKNUUWvwRANZ28gf67SP6YCd9ZqQYsm2fmyo6qYVB-Owk42mm-nqsBkpyICds/s1600/blog+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipgk-lVdMRBTl31nPUVjkW-4LTWBfbixxE5ZJeipjK2MII0ZH6bpbVuxRDOcnVQvrMZfyZCu1e-e4S-wRKNUUWvwRANZ28gf67SP6YCd9ZqQYsm2fmyo6qYVB-Owk42mm-nqsBkpyICds/s320/blog+3.JPG" width="268" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>Hank Willis Thomas</i></b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The first weeks of school have been about building a classroom culture, about learning how we will learn together. This includes the protocols, practices, and vocabulary (our inside language!) that we will use. One of the practices I use, which I introduced to all four of my classes this week, is called “queening” - a way of reading a text (or set of texts) to make meaning. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Queening</b>, a process I adapted from the <a href="http://umojacommunity.org/" target="_blank">UMOJA Community</a>, consists of four overlapping recursive stages: Quoting, Queezing, Quonnecting, and Queening.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Quoting </b>happens when we observe a text - a poem, essay, book, song, or work of art - and simply identify direct evidence. It’s noting key words, phrases, images, or sounds. In a poem or other written text, that would be an author’s exact words. And just as writers quote each other, artists quote each other, too - think of the way Picasso quotes African art or how <a href="http://kehindewiley.com/" target="_blank">Kehinde Wiley</a> does the same with classic art. Musicians quote each other all the time when they sample and remix sonic elements from each others’ music. So quoting isn't limited to what we traditionally think of as texts. </span><br />
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<b style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;">Queezing </b><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">(from the word “squeeze”) has to do with explaining what the evidence from the quotes mean. It’s interpreting the objective evidence. Basically, queezing is coming up with a claim that ties the data together. I like the term because it suggests action, that intellectual work of “crunching” evidence into meaning. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Qonnecting </b>has to do with making associations across texts, finding relationships and noticing patterns between different text, even across genres. Quonnection might be about linking what we see to what we already know (schema), too. For many of our writing projects, quonnecting means looking for how assigned readings are in conversation with each other. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Queening </b>asks thinkers to figure out, through another layer of queezing, the idea that binds texts together, comings up with larger claim that quonnects a set of texts (or how texts interact with what we already know - schema). Basically, queening means coming up with the thesis, the idea that rules over the quotes, initial queezings, and quonnections. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 8pt;"><i><a href="https://www.haikudeck.com/p/40c9e33898/queening?utm_campaign=embed&utm_source=webapp&utm_medium=text-link" title="Queening Education Presentation">Queening</a> - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires - the first image comes from Tim Burton's <b>Alice in Wonderland </b>and final slide is an image from Jean-Michel Basquiat's "Crown" series. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">T</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">o illustrate the “queening” process, we examined photography by </span><a href="http://www.hankwillisthomas.com/" style="font-family: "trebuchet ms", sans-serif;" target="_blank">Hank Willis Thomas</a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">, observing the evidence in his photos: people playing sports, dark skinned people, two individuals facing off in a football stance on a football field, cotton, Nike footwear, chains, a basketball. Those are quotes of a visual text. We also noted what was <i>left out</i> of the picture: the rest of the basketball player, obscured faces, and a black void instead of the background one might expect. What's left out of a text is also evidence. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">After queezing meaning, i.e., trying to figure out Thomas’ point, students came up with varied readings of the texts. We argued back and forth which “quotes” they used to “queeze” their interpretations, their claims. I helped them see the difference between “claim” and “evidence” and asked them to reason how they got from “quote/evidence” to “queeze/claim.” </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>From Hank Willis Thomas' Branded</i></b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I used our discussion to point out how our brains process data almost instantaneously. In many cases, folks (myself included!) jump to claims (queezing) almost immediately after taking in the a text, taking the “quote/evidence” step unconsciously. Many students realized that noticing evidence (experiencing the quotes) happens quickly, beneath the level of awareness. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Beyond distinguishing between quote and queeze, between evidence and claim, I had to slow down students’ conversation enough to make their thinking visible, how it is we move from quote/evidence to queeze/claim.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">As the semester progresses, we’ll take a closer look at how we jump from evidence to claim, how reasoning relies on a funky mix of assumptions, logic, unchallenged conceptions, and our own schema to construct claims. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Our task this semester to make visible this often invisible process. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">After exploring our initial readings of Thomas’ photos, I introduced a different set of “texts” to see if they could “quonnect” his project to current events: Colin Kaepernick’s staying seated during the playing of the national anthem and Gabby Douglass’ not putting her hand over her heart during the Olympics. Folks were quick to say that race and professional sports binds all the texts. They easily named a the topic, and with minimal prodding, they were able to make new, more sophisticated claims about the images. Here are a few: </span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The history of African Americans still implicated in contemporary sports. </span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Black minds, voices, and opinions are not as valued as is their physical labor, i.e., being athletes or entertainers. </span></li>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzzRdDtaAjrCeUMhW1RZ0OjTkF46Ur-XzvWkmTp7ynED8HvcJKwtEZpx0BiauS6o9r6yQ7uDkucNJKLndlTjwYbzHTvcTocGHMRX1hXf_XYcbpCayzUxpecnvzjSVSI8fa5ODnTA_RhQA/s1600/blog+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzzRdDtaAjrCeUMhW1RZ0OjTkF46Ur-XzvWkmTp7ynED8HvcJKwtEZpx0BiauS6o9r6yQ7uDkucNJKLndlTjwYbzHTvcTocGHMRX1hXf_XYcbpCayzUxpecnvzjSVSI8fa5ODnTA_RhQA/s400/blog+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><i>From Hank Willis Thomas' Branded </i></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<li><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Athletics is practically a form of slavery. The circumstances and consequences are at completely different scale. However, being “uppity” gets punished. </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Making connections between texts compelled students to think more deeply about their original readings; their claims were informed and complicated by considering multiple texts. They came up with more significant claims. This deepening is important because all of ourwriting projects ask students to synthesis several texts (including their schema) to come up with claims worth exploring and reading.</span><br />
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bayanprofessorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18178669402814988313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879519111471186746.post-87837471001259745182016-08-28T20:43:00.000-07:002016-08-28T20:43:23.621-07:00A Fresh Start & Two Commitments<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">It’s the beginning of a new semester! Despite the typical turbulence that comes with a new year it’s an exciting time. I get to meet one hundred and twenty plus new students, most of whom are first-time freshman.College is as new to them as Hogwarts was to Harry Potter It’s been refreshing greeting students who are excited for this next phase of their lives. And for a few days, I get to wear the mantle of authority, an ersatz Dumbledore. </span><div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Adding to joy of the new semester is reuniting with colleagues I haven't since May.. Rekindling personal and professional relationship - all refreshed after a few months off - feels great. <a name='more'></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">One colleague, my blogging buddy, returns after a lengthy sabbatical. Within a few moments of greeting each other, she proposed that we start blogging again, to reflect on our practice. She wants to get her “teaching legs” back. And I need to have a regular writing practice. So I agreed. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Our first challenge is to reflect on two practices we want to try or improve upon this semester. Here are mine:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The first has to do with paperwork. I am terrible at taking attendance. Terrible. So I will try (again!) asking students to sign in every day as they enter class. I’ve designated a composition notebook for attendance and for keeping track of what’s going on in class that I’ll leave on a desk near the door. I stole this idea from a colleague and tried it last semester. When I actually remembered to do it, I did fine. This semester, I’m amping the stakes by using the attendance notebook to capture what happens in class. Perhaps that will help me remember to take roll, to record what we did, and to reflect on my teaching. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The second practice has to do with strengthening what I already do: use youtube clips, music, images, editorial cartoons, and other short audio/visual text for mini-lessons. I might use a song to introduce rhetorical appeals. Or I will use an editorial cartoon to illustrate implicit arguments. Another day, I’ll present a piece of art to have students identity evidence and come up with claims about the image. We’ll discuss in pairs, small groups, large group, and do a some low stakes, focused free-writing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I’ve been largely successful with those activities. Students are engaged, and I often get feedback about how fun and meaningful the activities are. But what I haven’t done is directly tie those short activities to the content of whatever they are writing, unconnected. While students learn skills and concepts, I miss out on the opportunity to explore those skills in the context of actual writing assignments. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">This semester, my commitment is to make sure that whatever song, poem, short story, youtube clip we “play with” in class thematically relates to the topic of writing project we are doing at the time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">“In context” is my phrase <i>du jour</i>. All semester! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">On the first day of class, I typically show and analyze a video and a couple of editorial cartoons to illustrate what we will do the rest of the semester and to introduce the skills we will improve.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">Because this semester students will write about their view of education (we’re exploring Paulo Freire’s <i>Pedagogy of the Oppressed</i>), I chose the spoken word piece by <a href="http://sulibreaks.com/blog-masonry-boxed/" target="_blank">Suli Breaks</a> “Why I Hate School and Love Education” (see below) and two editorial cartoons relevant to their first paper’s theme. We were able to get a feel for the classroom culture I want to set up and to explore several concepts having to do with rhetoric - at the same time we explored content for their first assignment. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">The results have been remarkable. Barely done with our first week, these freshman students pretty much “get” the difference between banking and problem-solving concepts of education (thank you, exit tickets). And students already composed several short pieces that they can easily thread together for a first draft. At least that’s my hope! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I admit that I also “stole” this strategy. This time, I lean on the work of San Diego Area Writing Project (<a href="http://sdawp.ucsd.edu/" target="_blank">SDAWP</a>) and their amazing team of teacher-facilitators for upping my game. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I’m grateful, too, for my returning teaching peer for challenging me to reflect on paper. Writing will (perhaps!) keep me accountable to ongoing reflection. And that reflection will allow me to nurture students’ enthusiasm - casting spells that will (hopefully!) keep them as excited as they were this first week of college. </span></div>
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bayanprofessorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18178669402814988313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879519111471186746.post-46835822320596599602016-06-25T08:39:00.001-07:002016-06-26T08:21:36.018-07:00Ubuntu, Individuality, & Playing with Words<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The leaders of our Summer Learning Institute divided us conference attendees into several groups (the SLI is a professional development program for educators interested in increasing the success of African and African American college students).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Each group lined up single file, all of us remaining in the conference space together. The leaders subtly urged each group to repeat the words, "I am because we are," an English translation of the Bantu term for "unity." </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>"I <i>am </i>because we are. I <i>am </i>because we are."</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">After a few moments, separate groups' refrain emphasized different pauses - emphasizing particular words and enunciating the chorus in slightly different ways:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b><i>"Because </i>we are, I am. <i>Because </i>we are I am." </b></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Within groups, chanters' voices harmonized, becoming distinct as different groups' respective refrains took on their own, pace and points of emphasis. Where its sounded like sentences began and ended shifted and changed. Some repeated the phrase as if it included stops for a comma; others spoke the lines without any punctuation at all, words crashing into each other in a long run on sentence.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>"WearebecauseIambecausewearebecauseIam . . ."</b></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Within my group, our beat and spoken emphasis changed and shifted - fitfully at first, but eventually we found a dynamic rhythm. At first we seemed to be following an unacknowledged leader or set of leaders. Paradoxically, at that point we simultaneously led and followed each other, even as the way we parsed the phrases evolved. It's as if we communally experimented with the meaning of the words and the physicality of speaking. Playfully manipulating our voices, breath, pace, and volume, we used out bodies to create shared meaning. We manifested a community-in-sound.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>"We are <i>because </i>I am. We are <i>because </i>I am. We are <i>because </i>I am."</b></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Even as we found our collective groove in my group, I was always aware of different rhythms and beats the other groups created, too. Were they experiencing the same "community-in-sound" as I did. Those voices created a dynamic wall of sound that at first agitated my ears. But gradually, as groups created their distinct rhythms and as I concentrated on staying cued up to my group, the process became almost hypnotic, that "alpha-brain-wave" state we experience when being mindful.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>"Because<i> I </i>am, <i>we </i>are. Because <i>I</i> am, <i>we </i>are" .</b></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I started to lose the sense of the individual words and sounds of the phrase I became more focused on making sure my my voice, breathing pattern and spoken rhythm was in harmony with my group.The distinct sounds and meaning of words slid in and out of my conscious awareness, sometimes focused on the words, others focused on the physical experience of breathing and using my body to make sound.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Sometimes it felt like I was repeating a sing-song lullaby with nonsensical "baby-talk" lyrics or even chanting in a language not my own. Sometimes I understood the words - the mental content of the chant. Other times I became more aware conscious of air moving in and out of my lungs and the physical sensation of vocalizing. Throughout, I felt variously "lead" and "followed" by members in my group as the chanting went on.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I was conscious of the other groups and their chorus, too. I could, at certain points in the exercise, hear the other groups' unfolding utterances. At one point, I could almost hear (or imagined I heard?) each and every persons' single voice. At another point, I heard one or two voices rising above all the others. Once, it even sounded as if each group spoke through a single pair of lips, standing alone as a single unit, seven distinct speakers at their own mic stand or podium. It was a dynamic vocal tapestry.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">This playing with words and our bodies basically "performed" the content of a short lecture delivered earlier in that day. He facilitator reminded us about the U.S. American notion of the self, that scrappy, rugged individual, who through sheer force of will, is able to succeed on his or her own. This is an American cultural value - myth that often operates on an almost subconscious level - that explains our notions of identity and relations. Think here of Horatio Alger and the "lift yourself up by your bootstraps" mentality. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Our teacher urged us to analyze the word "individual" itself, noting that the word itself contains a paradox. If we divvy up "individual," we have "indivisible" and "dual" One the one hand, indivisible connotes the stand alone, a singular irreducible unity. And dual, of course, means two or a pair. The contradiction between "single" and "multiple" exist in the same word. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Our word that denotes the singular unit bears traces of the multiple. I recognize that the etymological analysis of "individual" doesn't support this reading of the word. But it is interested that the "multiple," a hint of community exists in the word. Like a ghost. Like a phantom limb. Like the return of the repressed communal values of other cultures in African and around the world. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOFzfBpZBpTJnW8XMEmQVfQk1O6GzAZhyMq3P1tnPYclsIE1fIPm2WCeHN2W9TXt-39dkUzJWwQ9NKWu4ITfe5NMp1pannN9ErUCR3AH_bpVyNv9S1NhUy546ABkQZqHaLy9kLGp3FhIs/s1600/Ubuntu+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOFzfBpZBpTJnW8XMEmQVfQk1O6GzAZhyMq3P1tnPYclsIE1fIPm2WCeHN2W9TXt-39dkUzJWwQ9NKWu4ITfe5NMp1pannN9ErUCR3AH_bpVyNv9S1NhUy546ABkQZqHaLy9kLGp3FhIs/s400/Ubuntu+1.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">For me, the exercise manifested internal contraction that haunts the the American cultural understanding of the individual. I heard and felt the way the grammatical construction of "I" and "We" in the chant rested on each other. "We" and "I" are both cause and effect of the other. Repeating, in community, the word engendered a visceral understanding of dynamic interdependence between the individual and community. We brought our individual voices together, creating a dynamic, shifting whole. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I "got" that the two, the singular unit and the community, mutually reinforce the other. I experienced, rather than merely comprehended, how we are bound up in each other, just like the vocal tapestry we created in the space of the conference room. </span>bayanprofessorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18178669402814988313noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-879519111471186746.post-5568426250082507772016-06-23T00:43:00.001-07:002016-07-06T23:19:21.752-07:00Engaging Minds, Hearts, & Bodies - UMOJA Summer Learning Institute<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwyUmqHgwH1QYNvbCBQ7KAvVjiTXleOj1SyUpzbPS64-DwCeRXRUbc3pveL_h88r1qTibmWtdfefVUZAlXpyyvszIzSPrLitu0boqYn73DcFtL99cP5TtfPNwQUH2c9wAgdQbSjRMQK6U/s1600/umoja+pic.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="325" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwyUmqHgwH1QYNvbCBQ7KAvVjiTXleOj1SyUpzbPS64-DwCeRXRUbc3pveL_h88r1qTibmWtdfefVUZAlXpyyvszIzSPrLitu0boqYn73DcFtL99cP5TtfPNwQUH2c9wAgdQbSjRMQK6U/s400/umoja+pic.JPG" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">One of the most important criteria I have for professional development programs is whether or not the facilitators actually practice the sort of pedagogy/andragogy they promote. Many of us teachers have attended (been subjected to?) professional development where the leaders simply lecture or present a PowerPoint. I wish I could say I was exaggerating. I'm not. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I don't need anyone to read me a lecture or recite from slides, regardless how brilliant the ideas. I want to experience the ways successful teachers create classroom climate. I want to observe their philosophies in action and to experience the sort of lessons the experts advocate (<i>Note to self</i>: I need to live up to this standard, too!).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">If today, the first day of the <a href="https://bayanprofessor.blogspot.com/2016/06/reading-to-get-ready-umoja-summer.html" target="_blank">UMOJA Summer Learning Institute (SLI)</a>, is any indication of what to expect, I will be heartily pleased. Today's program manifested deliberate intention on the part of the organizers to demonstrate the sort of classroom culture and pedagogy/andragogy they expect us to create and deliver next semester.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I <a href="https://bayanprofessor.blogspot.com/2016/06/reading-to-get-ready-umoja-summer.html" target="_blank">wrote yesterday</a> about the two texts we were to read in advance of the SLI: bell hook's <i>Teaching to Transgress: Education as the Practice of Freedom</i> and Joy DeGruy's <i>Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome</i>. The opening activities did not directly refer to particular pages or passages of either book. The program did, however, hit the same content, but from a different angle. More importantly, the organizers created the conditions for us to experience the kind of teaching practices they want us to learn from our readings. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">A significant section of DeGruy's book outlines the devastating experience and ongoing effects of the African Holocaust. Her words provide an competent outline of the historical facts, a solid primer on the legacy of American-style slavery and the abuse suffered by kidnapped Africans. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Instead of merely reviewing notes and providing a lecture on DeGruy's work, the organizers lead us in an experiential workshop that meant us to learn - <i>experientially </i>- what history cannot capture. Certainly, slave narratives serve as direct evidence of the Holocaust. And fictional accounts like Toni Morrison's </span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Beloved </i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">and Octavia Butler's </span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Kindred </i><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">allow for affective experience that literature can provide. But history is an intellectual, rational process. And even with the emotions gained from literary depictions, those works approach thought experiments.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirBtFiTghyphenhyphenP59zJZXMIgxZocDjZ4wUddIeHkBbCxkrtVWWsG90Qx1oLk_Eit5PE0viFh_ParHPDCL_HNWpKhGLMsEGCautHo8kaLO6fqwZjt-wkhCIX77D4V_1sMOqMJWGS7CwPYpHyDI/s1600/Middle_Passage_ship_ride.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirBtFiTghyphenhyphenP59zJZXMIgxZocDjZ4wUddIeHkBbCxkrtVWWsG90Qx1oLk_Eit5PE0viFh_ParHPDCL_HNWpKhGLMsEGCautHo8kaLO6fqwZjt-wkhCIX77D4V_1sMOqMJWGS7CwPYpHyDI/s400/Middle_Passage_ship_ride.jpg" width="400" /></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So the exercise on the content was experiential rather than didactic. I won't completely give away everything about the exercise, but I will say that part of the activity included wearing blindfolds and being lead through path meant to recapitulate the kidnapping from Africa, the Middle Passage, and the experience of slavery. The exercise engaged all of our senses - (lack of) sight, sound, smell, and physical touch as we had to place our hands on our partners' shoulders (as one might do in a "trust-walk" activity). Our whole bodies were involved in ways that lectures nor books cannot access. Indeed, the activity compelled us to physically experience notions community and connection vis-a-vis the MIddle Passage well beyond the dictionary definition or even viewing a movie. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The activity left me emotionally drained, bouncing back and forth between despair and hope. During the debrief, I didn't speak (which isn't how I normally participate in exercises). Feeling numb after the activity, I chose to dine alone to pull myself together. It's only now, a full seven hours afterwards, that I'm able to string together my initial responses to the exercise. If you think I'm incoherent now . . . </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><b>Note:</b> I do not claim that today's activity could replicate or even approach the horrors of slavery. The whole time, I was, as were many of my colleagues, aware this was an exercise, one we could opt out of in ways the actual targets of slavery could not. The experience remained a "thought experiment," but one that tweaked our bodies in way neither history nor literary book could.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">While several participants discussed the possibility of organizing an activity like this in their classrooms or campuses, I wondered how the experiential "taught" us differently than a book or lecture. I wondered what elements of the process I might hack or recalibrate for my purposes in my own classroom.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Here's where hooks' ideas might be instructive. I'm still thinking this through, so my ideas are a sketchy. The sort of topics I use for my English classroom have to do with identity, diversity, and oppression. Much of those social justice issues have everything to do with material bodies and how those bodies are perceived, represented, judged and legislated. Those of African descent find themselves placed in subordinate positions based on their black bodies. Women, the gendered body, find themselves placed below men. The "perverted desires" of gay, lesbian, bisexual bodies find themselves on the receiving end of homophobia. And those who feel as if they are born into the wrong gendered body find themselves under surveillance, as in "Which restroom can I use?".. Indeed, it's as if the only way to be a citizen is to be without a body (see note below).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">So talking about racism, about slavery, is a deeply embodied issue. The justification for slavery is the body, and an immediate site of damage is the sensate body. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Yet in the classroom, rationality, cognition, and transfer of intellectual knowledge is the order of the day. That's how I was taught. And how I was taught to teach. Indeed, as hooks reminds us, "We are invited to teach information as though it does not emerge from bodies" (139). </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC2AIMa56VKFHEtmxKEcS4-_zsj3XhJpMJkRtSHeN7f4S3zwYhkqaLXULtQlrlyqIRnT2qzoaLnECQYpoDYkG4Cfcg1PSx5UGIsu5Ix8e5AkIlg4r-W6x8B-m29jhneXi2AcRf7276O-U/s1600/jason-decaires-taylor-vicissitudes.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC2AIMa56VKFHEtmxKEcS4-_zsj3XhJpMJkRtSHeN7f4S3zwYhkqaLXULtQlrlyqIRnT2qzoaLnECQYpoDYkG4Cfcg1PSx5UGIsu5Ix8e5AkIlg4r-W6x8B-m29jhneXi2AcRf7276O-U/s320/jason-decaires-taylor-vicissitudes.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Jason de Caires Taylor's "Vicissitudes" </b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">What the UMOJA organizers did was genius; they found a way to engage our emotions to make the lesson more than intellectual and more than affective. They engaged our bodies, helping us recognize how we ourselves might - ever so slightly -feel if we were kidnapped and enslaved. This approach practices what hooks promotes when she writes, "Once we start talking in the classroom about the body and about how we live in our bodies, we're automatically challenging the way power has orchestrated itself in that particularly institutionalized space." (137). In other words, if we are to truly deconstruct the oppressive forces in play because of the legacy of slavery, we need to find ways to embody those lessons, to, in an appropriate way, bring the body back into the classroom through out own. As hooks explains, "We must return ourselves to a state of embodiment in order to deconstruct the way power . . . [denies] subjectivity to some groups and accords it to others" (139).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I guess what I'm trying to knit together what I've learned from reading DeGruy and hooks and what I felt (emotionally and physically) from participating in "The Middle Passage" experiential to figure out what the means for me in my role as teacher.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">I don't have concrete answers yet - it's just the first day! But I do have questions to consider as I plan units and lessons for next semester. How do I engage bodies in a meaningful way that is relevant to the lesson at hand? What emotional and physical factors should I consider if I move toward a more experiential classroom? In what ways does my own classroom deny students' subjectivity? What transgenerational or epigenetic trauma might students bring into my classrooms? Indeed, what kinds of trauma have they suffered at the hands of teachers and other authorities, experiences that may affect our relationship? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">The fact that I left today's program with my mind full of questions testifies to the efficacy of the teaching that took place today. The UMOJA organizers demonstrated how they might, under these particular circumstances, engage the heart and body in what simply be treated as an intellectual question. They demonstrated how to stoke hunger for more inquiry, for more reflection. </span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">They got me, even after a long day, to crack open my books and begin thinking deeply about my practice. Now t</span><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">hat's the kind of teaching I'm talking about! </span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1l2m_laHtrdjY85npn-7mvIsp0-96Pt6sbniz0GAPZJRgKmiH2kGeKM8Kl-RwSytu4bboYjp8mcKMBws13y2Ifb3ENpb6nModRH1Gs6PKV-R9dAaaqNA3iTL_kTbxH-53CeEGp16tww8/s1600/umoja.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1l2m_laHtrdjY85npn-7mvIsp0-96Pt6sbniz0GAPZJRgKmiH2kGeKM8Kl-RwSytu4bboYjp8mcKMBws13y2Ifb3ENpb6nModRH1Gs6PKV-R9dAaaqNA3iTL_kTbxH-53CeEGp16tww8/s1600/umoja.JPG" /></a><span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i><b>Note</b>: I'm thinking here of Lauren Berlant's essay "The Queen of America goes to Washington" which discusses "abstract citizenship", i.e., notion that the American subject, as a white heterosexual male, is without substance. A "colored" or "sexed" or "queered" body is material, tangible. The white male is beyond body - an abstraction. Can you say body/mind split, where the body is the subordinated, baser material, and the mind is spirit, the important essence?</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;"><i>revised 6/23/2016</i></span></div>
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