week 15 prompts

hey all,

now that the calmail drama has subsided (for now), here is this week's blog 

prompt. please post a response no later than the final day of class on 
12/1 by 11:59p.

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_changing_education_paradigms.html

Blog Questions:

Let’s have some fun with this one.

1. Watch Ken Robinson’s animated Changing Education Paradigms (approx. 11
minutes long).

2. Respond personally: First, what do you think of what he has to say?
Second, respond to the question posed by the person before you.

3. Use two references from ANY previous readings to support your
opinion/reaction.

4. Pose a question for the next student to respond to.

week 14 prompts

1. Watch this video entitled "Oppression in Education" by the Forum Theater Troupe (directed by Julian Boal, son of Augusto Boal)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecwFetYMy5Y&feature=related

Next, read the Ayers and Alexander-Tanner comic strip on reader page 961.

What closing thoughts on teaching does the comic strip leave you with? What closing thoughts on teaching does the dramatic performance piece leave you with?


2. Freire’s pedagogy of literacy education involves not only reading the word, but also reading the world. This involves the development of critical consciousness (a process known in Portuguese as conscientização). The formation of critical consciousness allows people to question the nature of their historical and social situation—to read their world—with the goal of acting as subjects in the creation of a democratic society (which was new for Brazil at that time). How (if it all) does Augusto Boal's piece enhance/contradict/complicate our thinking about Freire's original formulations on critical consciousness/critical literacy?

wk 13 prompts

sorry folks! i posted the wrong set of questions last time! luckily there is only one 

response (trinity's response) to the wrong question so far. here are the correct questions 

i would like  the rest of you to answer by monday 11:59pm. thanks and sorry for the 

confusion!  

Multimodality and assessment

Stornaiuolo, A., Hull, G., & Nelson, M. (2009). Mobile Texts and migrant
audiences: Rethinking literacy and assessment in a new media age. Language
Arts, 82 (5), 382-92.

   -  In this article, the authors argue that young people growing up in a
   digitally mediated educational milieu have “wide-ranging opportunities to
   choose how to represent themselves in relationship with others (pp. 383 of
   original text).” Does this argument seem somewhat naïve or romanticized in
   that these very same young people face far greater constraints, where
   identity construction is concerned, i.e., available selves, vis-à-vis their
   more affluent white counterparts?


   - The authors argue for a re-conceptualization of the current
   measurements, which seek to gauge young people’s cognitive
   abilities/capabilities. More specifically, they argue for assessments that
   take into account poor, marginalized students’ multimodal,
   culturally-informed, pre-existent identities. If these types of
   measurements are enacted, what if any, effect do you feel they will have on
   the lives of young people whose lived experiences mirror the students
   highlighted in this paper?

Stein, Pippa.  (2004). Representation, rights, and resources:  Multimodal
pedagogies in the language and literacy classroom. In Bonny Norton &
Kelleen Toohey (Eds.), Critical pedagogies and language learning (95-115).
Cambridge, UK:  Cambridge University Press.

   - The author argues that: “Classrooms are semiotic [meaning-making]
   spaces in which multimodal texts are constantly being produced and
   transformed by human beings who are the agents of their own meaning-making
   (pp. 98 of original text).” Do you agree with this line of thinking? More
   to the point—are students truly “agents of their own meaning-making” or are
   they identities, in fact, informed and (re)configured by the institutions
   and structures that they are enmeshed within? (This doesn’t have to be an
   “either/or” argument.)


   -  Do you agree with Stein’s argument that language is limited? What
   does she mean by this? Please explain.

wk 12 prompts

1. Hull and Stornaiuolo approach social networking through the lens of
“cosmopolitanism,” which they define as “…a strategy for reconciling the
tensions inherent in a vastly interconnected yet deeply divided world,
where we have ‘obligations that stretch beyond those to whom we are
related by the ties of kith and kind, or even the more formal ties of
shared citizenship’ (Appiah, 2006, p. xv)” (p. 792 in reader). How does
this concept further our discussion of literacy? Why should we view
student behavior through this lens?

2. Boyd and Ellison walk us through a history of social network sites and
past research. How can we think of social network sites as spaces for
literacy development? Do you think SNSs have a place in the classroom? Why
or why not?

week 11 prompts

Please post responses by Monday 11:59pm at the latest.  

Q#1. On (reader) page 724-5, Hull et al discuss the 

importance of agency and "de/recontextualization" and, 

in Gee's terms, how "good learning requires that learners 

feel like active agents (producers) not just passive 

 recipients (consumers)." With these ideas in mind, 

discuss how the teachers in the Parker excerpts enabled 

students to learn agentively. What implications do 

these approaches have for pedagogy in general? 

Q#2. Choose one of the learning principles discussed 

in Gee's article about video games and discuss how you 

would use a video game to teach specific content 

(a concept in math, physics, language arts, physical education...)

week 10 reading prompts

Hi all,

I'm late again! Dang! Sorry!! I'll give you an extra day to respond :-). Consider an impromptu gift for writing such awesome literacy autobiographies! Please 

post your blog response no later than Monday @ 11:59 pm. Thanks and see you all 

soon!

Q#2 In "'To Protect and Serve': African American Female Literacies",
Richardson touches on several overarching course themes (multiple
definitions of literacy, literacy as a social practice, race), as well as
more narrow course topics (stereotypes, AAVE, gendered literacy practices,
bridging home and school literacies, etc), just to name a few. On page 655
(reader page), Richardson argues that "Black teachers who can codeswitch
can help students to decode texts and contexts, offering them models of
learners who go both ways- across the borders."

Considering all you've read up to this point, how would you respond to
Richardson's quote? Do you agree? Disagree? Use at least 2 authors from
past readings to support your answer.

Q#2 Summarize Newkirk's discussion on television watching and its relationship to  nonfiction and fiction literary genres in the classroom.  Does the recent 

explosion of 'reality' TV make Newkirk's comments more or less relevant today? 

this week's blog responses

hi all,

if you need to respond to a blog this week here are the questions. Please respond by tomorrow night by 11:59 pm. thanks!

Q#1 Do you agree with Ogbu's argument regarding the classification of
   "minorities?" And do you find it a useful tool for discussing and closing
   the "achievement gap?"

Q#2 How have "model minority" mythologies affected you? And how does Lee
   connect to Ogbu's work?