Double Entry Journal #11

Chapter 4:Simulations and Bodies 1. What does the author mean when he says, "Learning doesn't work well when learners are forced to check their bodies at the school room door like guns in the old West."  Students learn better when they have a purpose to learn or are intereseted in what they are learning. The book says that when they learning something as a cultural process their bodies are involved because it usually involves a specific experience. The students are made to just set at their desk and memorize words or read from a textbook and not allowed to get up and move to learn. 2. According to the author, what is the best way to acquire a large vocabulary?  Through conversation and experience with other around them. Many words are used in different contexts depending on the situation. Larger vocabulary will be obtained through interacting with others in many different situations.

3. What gives a word a specific meaning?
The specific words aroung the word gives that word a certain meaning. A person uses context clues to figure the words meaning. 

4. What does the term "off the hook" mean in each of these sentences?

a. My sister broke up with her fiance, so I'm off the hook for buying her a wedding present. They don't have to buy her a gift.

b. Them shoes are off the hook dog. The shoes are awesome.

c. Man that cat was fighting 6 people and he beat them all. Yo, it was "off the hook", you should have seen it!! It was amazing and unbelievable.

4. According to the author what is the"work" of childhood? Do you agree?
I agree that the work of a child is play. When children are playing together the are interacting and leaning how to communicate with one another and how to work out different situations.

5.Why is NOT reading the instruction for how to play a game before playing a game a wise decision?
Instructions are usually very hard to understand if you have never played the game. Kids need to experience the game to learn the way and it works.

6. Does knowing the general or literal meaning of a word lead to strong reading skills?
Yes because that means that the person has had some experience with the word. If the word is used in a different context the reader will use context clues to figure out what the word means so this will also lead to strong reading skills.

7. What does the author mean by the terms "identity" and "game". Give an example of 3 "identities" or "games" you play?
"Game": playing something in a fun way to learn
"Identity":act out to be recognized.
1) As a daughter, I am expected to respect my parents.
2) As a future teacher, I am expected to learn as many contents as possible and act in a respectable manner.
3) As a future bride, I am expected to plan a wedding and find the perfect wedding dress.

8. According to the author what is good learning?
When a student can identify with learing. For example, do the students know how this connects to the real world?

9. How does understanding that being able to build a mental model and simulations of a real-word experience is closely tied  to comprehending written and oral language support of change the way you think children should learn in school?
When we teach children we need to relate the learning to a real-world situation because they will see meaning in the learning. They also need to use hands-on activities and get the students up out of their seats. If they are up experiencing something they will most likely remember that content.

10. Why is peer to peer interaction so important for the language development of young children? How does knowing this support or change the way you think children should learn in school?
Children who interact with one another are experiencing language situations that well help them develope their language skills. This means that students need to interact with each other throughout the day while working on school work.

Double Entry Journal #10

Chapter 3: Language and Identity At Home 1. What are the features of the forms of language that are spoken in a home environment that align with academic varieties of language? Talking to a child and asking them questions as they are watching tv. Allowing children to pretend to read a book. Having children write freely when they ask to. Allowing children to play with video games that will increase the reading skills. "Social practices" within the home in general. Connect thinking to forms of language. Talking with your children in the car or around the dinner table. 2. What are the features of Leona's specialized form of language? Story telling Vernacular language She uses stanzas to break up her lines Free verse The story was structured and had a certain pattern Use of punctuation Close echo with many words 3. Why is Leona's specialized form of language not accepted in school? This may not be accepted in school because it would be considered meaning less even though it means something to her and her culture. Also they may say that she uses inproper english when she writes.  4. Explain the contradiction between the research conducted by Snow et al. (1998) and the recommendations made by Snow et al. (1998). First Snow et al. says that poor readers are concentrated " in a certain ethnic groups and in poor, urban neighborhoods and rural towns."  Then he syas that black students inproved in reading although the white-black gap remained the same. 5. What other factors besides early skills training will make or break good readers? Belonging to a certain social class How much exposure they have had to a variety of academic languages 6. Why do some children fail to identify with, or find alienating, the "ways with words" taught in school? Because their home language is unused, ignored, or denigrated in schools.

DoubleEntry Journal #9

Chapter 1: A strange fact about not learning to read.


1. What is the strange fact about not learning to read?

That we are in a "reading crisis" and  a lot of children are not learning to read well enough. Traditionalists say its because thes students do not get enough phonics instruction. Also poor and minority groups are the main studentsthat struggle with reading

2. Why is this fact so strange?

The people from poor and minoruty groups believe that they hve to be unaffiliated with the school for many reasons.


3. What is it about school that manages to transform children who at good at learning things like Pokeman into children who are not good a learning?

Students learn Pokeman easily because it is something that they are interested in and they do it outside of the school setting.

4. What is the differences between a traditionalists approach to learning to read and more progressive educators?

A traditionalist approach to teaching deals with the overt instruction from the teacher. The students will listen to the teacher and that is how they will learn. The progressive educators believe we should let students experiement and let them learn on their own through exploration.

5. Is learning to read a natural process like learning to speak a language?

The book says no but I believe that if a child is exsposed to reading at an early age at home then reading can be a natural process for some students.

6. What is the differences between natural, instructed and cultural processes and which process should reading be classified under?

A natural process is when a child is exposed to the right sort of imput and enviornment. For example when a child learns to walk or talk. Instructed process is when something is taught to a child by overt instruction. For example mathematics and physics. Cultural process is something a child learns that is important to their culture. For example in some cultures women are made to learn how to cook. Like I said before if a student is exposed to a reading enviornment at a young age then it could be a natural process but if a child is not exposed to a reading enviornment then the process for learning to read would be instructed for that child.

7. How do humans learn best? Through instructional processes or through cultural processes? How is reading taught in school?

Humans learn best through the cultural process because instruction is a less efficent process.Reading is taught by the instructional process in school so that may be why we are in a "reading crisis".

8. According to the author, what is the reason for the "fourth grad slump."

The fourth grade is when you have to start reading on standardized test and since students struggle with reading they do bad on this portion of the test.

9. What is a better predictor of reading success than phonemic awareness?

If students know the meaning and structure to language. If they know these things then they will also aquire good phonemic awareness skills.

10. What is the difference between "vernacular" and "specialist" varieties of language? Give an example of two sentences, one written in the vernacular and one written in a "a specialized variety", about a topic in your content area.

Vernacular varieties of language are in the native dialect of a specific population or group of people. Specialized varieties of language is language connected to learning or a specific content area.

• Vernacular Sentence: The farmer used a tedder to rake their hay.
• Specialized Sentence: The word ray in mathematics is different from the word ray that comes from the sun.

11. What is "early language ability" and how is it developed?

Early language ability is the ability to read and have phonimic awarness at a very early age. These in vocabulary, the ability to recall and comprehend sentences and stories, and the ability to engage in connected verbal interactions on a single topic. and  It is develeoped through family, school, and community language enviornments where children interact a lot with adults and very advanced peers where they are ingaged in challenging talk and texts in many genres of oral and written language.

12. According to the author why and how does the traditionalist approach to teaching children to read fail?

Most student start learning academic language and home but if a child has never been exposed to academic language it is not started for them at school. They just teach students to read through phonics and mostl through vernacular words.

13. Are parents of poor children to blame for their children's inexperience with specialized varieties of language before coming to school?

Yes and no. If the parents are poor they don't have a lot of resources to help their children before they enter school. Although they should talk to their students about specialized varieties of language so that they will be exposed to it before they enter school.

14. Did you struggle with reading this text? Why? Are you a poor reader or are you unfamiliar with this variety of specialized language?

No I read this chapter just fine. I thought it was a lot easier to read than the introduction.

Student Interviews

I have a Kindergarten classroom so the students I interviewed didn't have much to say.

Struggling student = (SS)      High Performing Student = (HPS)

•Do you enjoy school?
(SS): Yes
(HPS): Yes


•What kind of student are you?
(SS): Good
(HPS): I am a good student.

•What do for fun outside of school?
(SS): Go to the slide and play with friends
(HPS): I pass football with my dad.

•How would your classmates describe you?
(SS): Good friend
(HPS): Fun

•Who are you friends with? What do you and your friends do together?
(SS): Morgan and Haley, Play on the playground.
(HPS): Nicholas, Sam, and Matthew, We play tag, play with cars, and chase kids.

•Tell me a good memory you have about school?
(SS): Playing
(HPS): Coloring

•Tell me a bad memory you have about school?
(SS): None
(HPS): I don't have one.

•Describe a "good" teacher or tell me about a favorite teacher you had in the past.
(SS): Someone who is fun
(HPS): Letting us play outside

•What is one thing you wish your teacher knew about you?
(SS): My name
(HPS):Where I live

Conclusion
It was really hard to get any answers out of the struggling student. I had to ask each question more than once before she would answer because of her attention problem. The high performing student acted very nervous and said he wanted to answer everything right even when I told him that there was no right or wrong answers.

Double Entry Journal #8

1. What is the main challenges being addressed in the book?

• The new ways with words
• The academic laguage or "jargon"
• Connecting school language and home language

2. What does the author mean by the phrase "ways with words"?

• He is trying to say the way in which you use your words is important. The way you talk or write has an affect on your aduiance and what kind of audiance you will attract.

3. What is the core argument being made by the author of this book?

• That we need to coneect our ways with words to the modern word that our students are living in.

4. Give an example of a specialized variety of a language or "way with words" you have learned outside of school?

• I learned the farming ways with words. For example most people would not know that a goose neck is what we called a trailer.

5. According to the author, how do people learn a specialized variety of a language or "way with words" best?

• They learn it best by actually beinging involved is something that has a specific way with words. For example, belonging to a certain discourse community.

6. If people are to be successful in the 21st century, what must they become?

• Specially designed spaces (physical and virtual) constructed to resource people tied together (Gee, 2004)

7. The author states that learning academic language is NOT sufficient for success in modern society? Do you agree? Why or Why not?

• Yes I do agree because academic language is becoming a thing of the past. More people are starting to use their own language they are learning from this discourse communities and they use those words to communicat now.

8. What do you think about this author's "way with words"?

• To be honest I think that the introduction was kind of hard to follow. I had a hard time comprehending what she was trying to say. Her "way with words" was very different than I am use to.

Observing a struggling student

I am in a Kindergarten classroom and I have one little girl in my class that is really stuggling. She struggles with writing . She can't understant that you have to push down hard with the pencil so that her writing will show up. She also has a hard time making her letters so she has really bad hand writing. So with both of these issues combined you can't really read her writing. She also has a hard time following directions. This is mostly because she is not listening to the teacher and is staring into space so she is lost and doesn't know what to do. She also has a hard time trying to read simple sight words so she can hardley read at all. She also seems that her head is always in the clouds. She is always talking to the other students and more worried about whats going on around that classroom than doing her own work.

Double Entry Journal #7

What are some challenges to inquiry approaches to learning?

• Teachers need to develop a new classroom management techniques.
• Teachers must be able to create inquiry-based lesson to meet a variety of criteria.
• It is hard to teach if a student lacks prior experience in the approach.
• Some may think the the approach is "unstructured".
• Teachers miss oppurtunities to advance the learning because they can't hear all of th esmall group discussions.
• High-income students don't benifit as much as lower-income students in small groups.
• If a teacher doesn't have help or support if will be hard to use in the classroom.
• The approach may fail to provide proper scaffolding.
• Students have a hard time generating meaningful questions.
• Students may lack background knowledge needed to make sense of the inquiry.
• Students may find it hard to work together.
• Students might have a hard time managing time.
• Students may find the work very complex.
• The teacher may find it hard to motivate the students.

Resource:
Barron, B., & Darling-Hammond, L. (1991). Teaching for meaningful learning. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/edutopia-teaching-for-meaningful-learning.pdf