The First 5 Classes: Setting a Foundation For Continued Conversation

My students took their first "quiz" today through which we "wrapped" up our foundational discussion which, for me, set the stage and tone for the remainder of our course. I was pretty out right critical of most methods courses and my own critical experiences in a elementary education program when I was an undergraduate from day one. I also told them while I would be giving/sharing and having them consider various practical considerations in the classroom, our class would not be assuming a methods Dominance.

At least it seems my role is best served in making them a better consumer and knowing what to "put" in their language shopping cart etc. with the context they will work within, rather than telling them some recipe - that will very quickly disappear into thin air...

Okay, I digress.

Our first five classes covered the following:

Defining terms like phonology, morphology, lexicon, and asking "Who cares?" and then going to the ERC to ask the question "What dominant aspect(s) of language is this curriculum emphasizing?"

Context, context, context - the range of demands on academic writing vs. academic speaking vs. just speaking and writing for different purposes - bringing in language as modality and a few sentence intro on semiotics. Doing this whole context thing through experiential approach (students actually went through a series of exercises to experience how language shifts, their own register shifts, etc.)

Putting privilege out there - analyzing one's own privilege and assumptions about teaching language and literacy and bringing in themes of language as power, language as capital.

Putting language as identity out there and having a discussion of language production, judgment of 'self' through languages and language connection to the production of selves in society.

Discussing the various internal and external processes associated with reading, writing, oral language (and how these are often silent production and often expressive productions)... i.e. cognitive demands are thus quite varied and different. In this piece got AWESOME critique from Mike after class about his background in music and how he really felt like I missed the mark in not talking about listening as a an active process in all this ... (I know class is going well when a student takes time out to critique the learning after class!)...

Language teaching and social justice - the dicey but incredibly important aspect of teaching students to constantly realize the tensions of language as power/capital and language as identity/modality etc.

The various areas of research and their influence on language (educ. psychologists, sociologists, linguists) and what they bring to the table.

Redefining the notion of "grammar"


Honestly, because of my mind being rather focused on other things (comps, etc.) I thought class was not going as well... but three markers from today were solid signs:

1. Email from student appreciating the fact that this was NOT a memorization kind of class and enjoying the flow (but also a friendly reminder to me to go over the first paper soon!)

2. Mike's critique after class - ended up being a 10 minute conversation which lead me to look into adding a whole piece on listening and oral language - Mike was genuinely "critical," and although he was was almost apologetic (i.e. I know you said all that stuff and you get to...) our conversation ended with him taking the "chalk" from me and telling me what was getting to him. His background in music is awesome stuff to tap into - I would have never known! So, we will be adding a whole piece on the active processes of listening and language.

3. Another student's after class conversation today asking for advice - Should I apply for this teaching health gig? She talked about how she was making super cool connections between language discourse and pedagogy and her work with Non-Dominant youth ... whether she would be able to give them what they needed through language but with a focus on health. WOW! She was bringing the class into her own life/interests as a budding teacher! We talked and brainstromed ideas for her interview this Friday!

So, nope, don't know their 23 names (except that I have three Jennys and two Kaitlins) :) ... and will probably need to be continued and reminded to give something or change something...
But it's going solid ... and I'm only at 60% capacity right now... So totally look forward to the class gaining momentum...

Oh, almost forget: Added practical advice to each class as well. So far we have covered:

1. Pencils, pencils, managing pencils in your classroom
2. When you cannot show to class- the language teacher's bucket of stuff to have in your room.
3. The "shy" language student and what to say/do to encourage production of language
4. Color coding and using shapes - Great tricks!