Thursday, February 22, 2007
"Digital Dj-ing"
LP record mixing & scratching; to CD "scratching & mixing"; digital media mixing; to the age of digital photo, music, images, and video mixing. The DJ has "crossed over". Once seen as the music maker for an underground hip-hop movement, the ideas behind this mixing and reshaping of music seem to be finding roots within the educational system. Using a variety of media to make information relevant to students as well as making the dissemination of it engaging for the techno-savvy student.
Allowing students to link their own ways of seeing the world with media that they find accessible and not at all foreign, the students were able to think critically about a problem, to present it in a clear and logical way and to think about how it could be made palpable and relevant to an audience that would be academically and socially diverse with a wide range of ages.
It is becoming increasingly important for educators to understand that literacy can no longer just be the words read off the page or written on to it, but that these written words have a connection to a larger context that can not easily be removed without affecting the meaning of the text that it is a part.
If we are to teach then we must be constantly learning, searching, and evaluating the many ways that we can engage students (in this case engage them in literature) and make sure that we don't stick with status quo or adopt things because we are told this will be so. This article reminds me that I will be a guide for my students, pointing out important parts of the literary landscape while simultaneously allowing them to point out things I have missed, helping me and fellow classmates to take a different perspective and look at something we may never have seen or found relevant.
The description of the presentation demonstrated this, that our students think on levels we may not understand, but are no less important pathways for sparking an interest in learning about something they may or may not have thought or cared about before.
After reading this article, it reaffirmed the importance of creating an environment where students feel comfortable expressing opinions that may not be of the mainstream or that may stir up controversy. All the while remembering that the fun of education is attempting to navigate these waters with a critical eye, to ask questions that people think about but are often afraid to ask, and to learn the importance of specificity in identifying problems and developing possible solutions.
Allowing students to link their own ways of seeing the world with media that they find accessible and not at all foreign, the students were able to think critically about a problem, to present it in a clear and logical way and to think about how it could be made palpable and relevant to an audience that would be academically and socially diverse with a wide range of ages.
It is becoming increasingly important for educators to understand that literacy can no longer just be the words read off the page or written on to it, but that these written words have a connection to a larger context that can not easily be removed without affecting the meaning of the text that it is a part.
If we are to teach then we must be constantly learning, searching, and evaluating the many ways that we can engage students (in this case engage them in literature) and make sure that we don't stick with status quo or adopt things because we are told this will be so. This article reminds me that I will be a guide for my students, pointing out important parts of the literary landscape while simultaneously allowing them to point out things I have missed, helping me and fellow classmates to take a different perspective and look at something we may never have seen or found relevant.
The description of the presentation demonstrated this, that our students think on levels we may not understand, but are no less important pathways for sparking an interest in learning about something they may or may not have thought or cared about before.
After reading this article, it reaffirmed the importance of creating an environment where students feel comfortable expressing opinions that may not be of the mainstream or that may stir up controversy. All the while remembering that the fun of education is attempting to navigate these waters with a critical eye, to ask questions that people think about but are often afraid to ask, and to learn the importance of specificity in identifying problems and developing possible solutions.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
"Reading Images"
Literacy is often times thought to be the ability to read words and write sentences. However, literacy is a complex network of words, pictures, denotation, and connotation. The more people investigate other types of information related to reading and/or writing the more complex the definition of literacy becomes. The article "Reading Images" is a very good example of how images help shape, and can shape the meaning of the text to which they are associated. They can also inform the reader of how the author views a particular situation.
A good example of this was seen in the article about the picture of the bathtub and the accompanying sentence, "Every night I have my bath before I go to bed." A few things are implied. Parents bathe or have their child bathe each night before bed, children take baths not showers, children have toys and should play or need to play in order to take a bath. There is a washcloth hanging over the side which means that the child soaps herself/himself or is being soaped with a towel by hand. Because of the accompanying text, it makes it more difficult for the reader to be inventive (as mentioned in the article). Also, by exclusively showing the bath it limits the reader as to what might be in the bathroom or at least it is less likely that one reading this book out loud would think about what else was in the bathroom.
I also found it fascinating that the less "exciting" picture without words made it more possible for more inventive stories or stories that may not need to be grounded in reality. The picture looks fanciful so those reading may feel less constrained about what they would talk about.
Whereas images that are very closely linked to reality might make it harder for people to imagine different scenarios because there is a closer association to reality than with a drawing or picture that looks less like the "real" thing.
A good example of this was seen in the article about the picture of the bathtub and the accompanying sentence, "Every night I have my bath before I go to bed." A few things are implied. Parents bathe or have their child bathe each night before bed, children take baths not showers, children have toys and should play or need to play in order to take a bath. There is a washcloth hanging over the side which means that the child soaps herself/himself or is being soaped with a towel by hand. Because of the accompanying text, it makes it more difficult for the reader to be inventive (as mentioned in the article). Also, by exclusively showing the bath it limits the reader as to what might be in the bathroom or at least it is less likely that one reading this book out loud would think about what else was in the bathroom.
I also found it fascinating that the less "exciting" picture without words made it more possible for more inventive stories or stories that may not need to be grounded in reality. The picture looks fanciful so those reading may feel less constrained about what they would talk about.
Whereas images that are very closely linked to reality might make it harder for people to imagine different scenarios because there is a closer association to reality than with a drawing or picture that looks less like the "real" thing.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
"A World Without Print"
As I sat down to write this blog for this particular article, it struck me how I much I take my own literacy for granted. I wake up every morning, read the box of cereal, the shampoo bottle, the toothpaste, my schedule, and random postings and signs as I walk to class.
When I see a letter or letters together I read them often times without thinking. As I read the article, it really struck me time and time again how much reading has just become a part of my daily life, just as the absence of reading is a part of their daily life.
I realized that for many people seeing letters, words does not mean anything (in the sense that they don't read them, nor could they if they wanted).
I appreciated that the author not only talked about the how they set out learning to read, she always talked about the fundamental differences between written and oral language. She created a context for understanding the many facets of language. In this way, she addresses the myth that if you can speak language you ought to be able to read and write it or that it somehow makes it easier to read & write.
The article also implicitly addresses the profound psychological affect on the the family because they appear to deviate from mainstream society, they can't read. Although reading is important for our culture because so much of what we do is print-based, there is a misconception that one can not survive in a literate world when one is illiterate. Or that one's life will be less fulfilling without the ability to read.
I was struck by the fact that when Jenny told the school that they cannot read, the school continued to send things home (in this instance from the perspective of the school, they just seemed to be following some kind of protocol & we do not know if they cared or did not care about the situation discussed in the article). Rather it was disconcerting that the school appeared to ignore whatever information Jenny was giving them to assist her son.
Although I think reading is an excellent past time & I recommend it to anyone who will listen, I realize that for many reading is a chore, something to be done, not something that is fun or enjoyable.
What I find interesting is that if someone can read & chooses not too, our culture finds that less objectionable compared to someone who cannot read, whether by choice or circumstance.
Purcell-Gates did an excellent job of allowing the reader to (or at least try to) look at the family from an objective standpoint.
It was refreshing to read the article because she never made it seem as if the family were abnormal or that they must learn to read immediately. It was not meant to demonstrate how reading & writing are better or worse, rather something that is culturally constructed and endorsed by the people who live in it. You also come away from the article understanding that often times people are illiterate by circumstances and then indirectly because of that circumstance they choose to remain illiterate.
When I see a letter or letters together I read them often times without thinking. As I read the article, it really struck me time and time again how much reading has just become a part of my daily life, just as the absence of reading is a part of their daily life.
I realized that for many people seeing letters, words does not mean anything (in the sense that they don't read them, nor could they if they wanted).
I appreciated that the author not only talked about the how they set out learning to read, she always talked about the fundamental differences between written and oral language. She created a context for understanding the many facets of language. In this way, she addresses the myth that if you can speak language you ought to be able to read and write it or that it somehow makes it easier to read & write.
The article also implicitly addresses the profound psychological affect on the the family because they appear to deviate from mainstream society, they can't read. Although reading is important for our culture because so much of what we do is print-based, there is a misconception that one can not survive in a literate world when one is illiterate. Or that one's life will be less fulfilling without the ability to read.
I was struck by the fact that when Jenny told the school that they cannot read, the school continued to send things home (in this instance from the perspective of the school, they just seemed to be following some kind of protocol & we do not know if they cared or did not care about the situation discussed in the article). Rather it was disconcerting that the school appeared to ignore whatever information Jenny was giving them to assist her son.
Although I think reading is an excellent past time & I recommend it to anyone who will listen, I realize that for many reading is a chore, something to be done, not something that is fun or enjoyable.
What I find interesting is that if someone can read & chooses not too, our culture finds that less objectionable compared to someone who cannot read, whether by choice or circumstance.
Purcell-Gates did an excellent job of allowing the reader to (or at least try to) look at the family from an objective standpoint.
It was refreshing to read the article because she never made it seem as if the family were abnormal or that they must learn to read immediately. It was not meant to demonstrate how reading & writing are better or worse, rather something that is culturally constructed and endorsed by the people who live in it. You also come away from the article understanding that often times people are illiterate by circumstances and then indirectly because of that circumstance they choose to remain illiterate.
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Scribner & Cole
What implications does this have for schooling and literacy?
The biggest implication of this article is that it opens up an arena for serious discussion about literacy not just in school, but its place in American society as a cultural activity. It also provides people with a frame for debate about how literacy can continue to fit in the educational setting and what would be the appropriateness of integrating the way students use current technologies to facilitate their literacy.
I think Scribner & Cole said it best, " The most challenging question...how to balance appreciation for the special skills involved in writing with an appreciation of the fact that there is no evidence that writing promotes "general mental abilities". We did not find superior "memory in general" among Qur'anic students nor better language integration "skills in general" among Vai literates."
The beginning of the article starts by setting up the premise for the study they conducted with the Vai, group of people from northwestern Liberia. Essentially, due to a variety of educational and social policies, students' writing skills are on the decline. Although the article does not go into great detail about the possible reasons, the assumption is that a decline in writing implies that the ability to think and or process information in very specific ways will be affected.
The research conducted is in and of itself has very important implications for how we perceive literacy skills and its correlation with learning, thinking, and higher order processing.
Literacy is a "hot button" issue and Scribner & Cole article attempt to tackle the idea that those groups of people that possess literacy are better abstract thinkers and that they have the ability to think beyond the contextual world. On the reverse side, those groups of people who do not possess literacy are "crippled" and their language is stuck in a "primitive" stage.
The findings of the research provided a lot of "food for thought", it put writing into a different category. Writing is not just for some, but an activity that can be used in a variety of contexts with a wide range of groups. As future teachers, this article demonstrates that writing can be a useful tool and that there can be ways to integrate new technologies with current technology.
An example, is the blog allowing students to express them utilizing a forum that they are comfortable, not only provides them with a safety net, but it allows other people to exchange, share, and argue points with others they may not normally.
An implication of this article is that in indirectly provides a frame with which to place groups of people who come from non-literate or newly literate cultures. In the past, there was a tendency for those from literate societies to look down upon those "less fortunate".
This article indirectly posits that those from non-literate societies are not necessarily "mentally crippled" in terms of abstract thinking or that they are not able to decontextualize or possess better memories than groups of people from non-literate societies.
The biggest implication of this article is that it opens up an arena for serious discussion about literacy not just in school, but its place in American society as a cultural activity. It also provides people with a frame for debate about how literacy can continue to fit in the educational setting and what would be the appropriateness of integrating the way students use current technologies to facilitate their literacy.
I think Scribner & Cole said it best, " The most challenging question...how to balance appreciation for the special skills involved in writing with an appreciation of the fact that there is no evidence that writing promotes "general mental abilities". We did not find superior "memory in general" among Qur'anic students nor better language integration "skills in general" among Vai literates."
The beginning of the article starts by setting up the premise for the study they conducted with the Vai, group of people from northwestern Liberia. Essentially, due to a variety of educational and social policies, students' writing skills are on the decline. Although the article does not go into great detail about the possible reasons, the assumption is that a decline in writing implies that the ability to think and or process information in very specific ways will be affected.
The research conducted is in and of itself has very important implications for how we perceive literacy skills and its correlation with learning, thinking, and higher order processing.
Literacy is a "hot button" issue and Scribner & Cole article attempt to tackle the idea that those groups of people that possess literacy are better abstract thinkers and that they have the ability to think beyond the contextual world. On the reverse side, those groups of people who do not possess literacy are "crippled" and their language is stuck in a "primitive" stage.
The findings of the research provided a lot of "food for thought", it put writing into a different category. Writing is not just for some, but an activity that can be used in a variety of contexts with a wide range of groups. As future teachers, this article demonstrates that writing can be a useful tool and that there can be ways to integrate new technologies with current technology.
An example, is the blog allowing students to express them utilizing a forum that they are comfortable, not only provides them with a safety net, but it allows other people to exchange, share, and argue points with others they may not normally.
An implication of this article is that in indirectly provides a frame with which to place groups of people who come from non-literate or newly literate cultures. In the past, there was a tendency for those from literate societies to look down upon those "less fortunate".
This article indirectly posits that those from non-literate societies are not necessarily "mentally crippled" in terms of abstract thinking or that they are not able to decontextualize or possess better memories than groups of people from non-literate societies.
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