Week 12: Vocabulary Development

Choosing Words to Study

Tompkins describes the three tiers of the practice of choosing words to study.  Tier 1, or basic words, contains words that are used socially, in informal conversations.  Very little instruction is needed on these words.  Tier 2 includes words that are used more frequently in writing than in speaking, or “academic” words.  Tompkins states, “Students often understand the general concept represented by the word, but they don’t recognize the specific word”.  Tier 3, the most specific tier, involves specialized words.  These words are those that are content-specific and are not frequently used in speech; thus, it is only necessary to teach them as part of a thematic unit.

All three of these tiers are represented in The Breadwinner, specifically in the first chapter, as the reader is introduced to the characters, as well as the community and culture of the characters.  Many Tier 1 and Tier 2 words are used, as well as a number or Tier 3 words.  While reading the chapter, it seemed to me that there were an overwhelming number of Tier 3 words since both the Afghan culture and community are very different from American communities and culture.  Examples of words belonging in each tier are listed below:

Tier 1:

•  afraid
• school
• marker
• family

Tier 2:

• enemy
• forbade
• false
• attack
• conqueror

Tier 3:

• Pashtu
• Dari
• burqa
• chador
• Taliban
• bomb

The words that seem most important to focus on to help students better understand The Breadwinner are those that are in Tier 2 and Tier 3, specifically forbade, attack, enemy, Taliban, and burqa.  From what I have read so far, these words are frequently used throughout the novel.  Without knowledge of their definitions and meanings in the initial stages of the book, students will have a difficult time comprehending the events of the story, as vocabulary is an essential factor in comprehension levels.  For instance, the involvement and rule of the Taliban is briefly described in the first chapter; however, Parvana and her family are confronted and questioned by Taliban soldiers on a daily basis.  Without understanding of the function and purpose of the Taliban, students may be confused as to why Parvana and her family are constantly harassed and oppressed.  However, this and the other Tier 3 words are content-specific, thus, it makes more sense to choose Tier 2 words for instruction, as they “allow students to express ideas more precisely” (Tompkins, 238).

Mini-Lesson

As stated previously, students benefit from vocabulary instruction most if it is focused around Tier 2 words, as they have a strong impact on students’ vocabulary development.  The Tier 2 words listed above are somewhat content-specific, but more importantly, can be used in other subjects and across the curriculum.  However, two of the Tier 3 words, burqa and Taliban, are necessary for students to know in order to understand the various unfortunate events in the novel.  A possible lesson involving these words is described in the following outline:

1.      Introduction

Before beginning The Breadwinner, students will be introduced to the words enemy, forbade, attack, Taliban, and burqa.  These words will be displayed on the SmartBoard for all students to see.  After all five words are chorally read, the teacher will explain that they are frequently used in the text and that it is important to become familiar with them before reading.

2.      Prior Knowledge

The teacher will read each word again, but afterwards ask students to indicate if they are familiar with the word or not by giving a thumbs up or thumbs down.  The teacher will then record these numbers for each word and place students in small groups accordingly.  These groups will contain two or three students who are familiar with a word, and two or three students who are not.

3.      Group Work

In the five small groups, students will create a diagram for the word that they are assigned.  Tompkins states, “They write the word, make a box around it, draw several lines from the box, and add information about the word in additional boxes they make at the end of each line” (241).  The category of the word, examples, characteristics, and a sentence using the word will be included in the diagram.  While students are working, the teacher will monitor for progress and understanding of the word and the task.

4.      Share

Once all students are finished, the diagrams of each group will be shared with the whole class.  A representative of each group will share each branch of their diagram and answer any questions their fellow peers have about the word.

5.      Closure

Once all groups have shared, the teacher will explain to students that each of these words will be used throughout the novel, so it is important to know their meanings in order to understand the text.  The teacher will then check for any remaining questions or misconceptions about the words presented.

New Literacies Blog Post

My group and I chose to create a Glogster web page about cultural literacy. It was an interesting experience that provided me with many new insights about my learning and how I am going to incorporate technology and teach cultural literacy to my future students.

Conceptual Understanding

At the beginning of class we were asked to find a definition of literacy that we thought matched our own ideas. The definition I found said that literacy is being knowledgeable about a certain topic, and having the ability to read, write, and use/create media about this topic. Now that I have completed my project on cultural literacy, I feel that the definition I chose is no longer as well rounded or appropriate as I thought it was.

I believe that I have experienced growth because of my choice to do cultural literacy. When I first began the New Literacies Project I chose cultural literacy simply because I enjoy learning about different cultures, languages, and traveling. Cultural literacy helped me to broaden my idea of what literacy actually is.

I learned that cultural literacy is being knowledgeable about the language, history, perspectives, and traditions of the people of a certain culture (and especially your own culture) so that you can interact and be integrated into many aspects of their society. I also learned that there are so many different cultures, even in one small area. For example, the people of the United States can have a collective culture, then the state of Michigan, then specific groups or types of people within Michigan, and so on.

Suddenly my responsibility in the classroom became even more gigantic! I realized that it would be impossible for me to teach my students about every culture. I have learned that it is one of my most important roles as a teacher to help students find tools to explore the different cultures that they are a part of, as well as how to immerse themselves and gain insights and appreciation for others cultures.

Classroom Implications

After this project I now have a much better idea of what it means to provide effective literacy instruction to all different learners in my classroom. One of the Common Core State Standards that I used in my Language Arts lesson was that students would have the ability to look at a text and make a connection to themselves, as well as understand what the overall theme and message of the text was.

Students will need to know their own cultures in order to be able to get started with cultural literacy. They will also need to be able to recognize how their culture is different or the same as the information that we will read in texts, their classmates, and people all over the world. I will support my students by providing them with real world examples of different cultures. This type of literacy is great for promoting field trips, guest speakers, group discussions, and online studies. I will give the students many experiences with culture to match all of the different cultures that there are out there.

Glogster, my digital tool, can be a great way for students to continue to explore outside of the classroom, or even a place where they can go to gather more information. Students will need to have a basic understanding of different websites and how to follow instructions to accomplish the building of a website as part of their digital literacy. I will provide support with digital literacy by using technology in many different ways in the classroom so that my students can get comfortable with it. I will also Provide tutorials and allow students to work in groups. Often in class we talk about how putting the right students together when using technology can allow the students to help each other, learn from one another, and create a beautiful and creative piece that they wouldn’t have been able to accomplish on their own.

New Literacies Final Blog Post

Conceptual Understanding

Before being introduced to this project and its contents, I thought of literacy in its traditional form.  When I heard someone say the term “illiterate”, I automatically assumed that they were talking about someone who was unable to read or write.  By exploring our class website about literacy and its various components, I learned that literacy is not just about reading, writing, listening, and speaking.  More specifically, it includes the knowledge of how to interact socially with those surrounding you; the knowledge of one’s own culture and other cultures; the knowledge of emotions; the knowledge of the world and its geography; the knowledge and use of numbers; and how well an individual can benefit from visual representations.  I first became aware of this when I researched definitions of literacy.  The one that I found from the NCTE website provides a general description of literacy outside of the traditional form.  More specifically, it encompasses many of the ideas and current issues discussed in class; with the constant change and new developments in technology, it is vital that literacy development parallel with the digital environment students are currently raised in.  It has been recently noted that we are preparing children for jobs that will no longer exist once they graduate from college because of developments in technology, thus, instruction should incorporate various forms of technology into reading and writing.  With this definition, I was better prepared to start my research on cultural literacy, as it was not included in my previous notions about literacy in general.

While researching cultural literacy, I found a number of definitions, some similar to one another and some that were not.  Because of this, my group and I combined all the definitions found into one that we thought best described being culturally literate.  I originally thought that cultural literacy only focused on the knowledge of one’s own culture; however, it also involves the knowledge of cultures around the world.  Thus, our definition discusses both of these components and how they can affect one’s interaction with different forms of media.  Forms of media vary across cultures, thus, the skills learned in one culture may be inapplicable or worthless in another culture.  So, the cultural literacy of an individual can affect how well they are able to function in the society they reside.  As a future educator, it is my job to ensure that my students are able to fully function in my classroom in terms of cultural understanding.  For example, students from other countries or states may be unfamiliar with the behavioral norms or languages of a new culture and in turn, not know how interact with those around them.  This may result in behavioral, social, or academic difficulties.  But, with an understanding of the new culture, students can feel fully functional and have a sense of belonging in the culture they are within.

In addition to the development of my own cultural literacy, I believe that I also developed my own digital literacy.  More specifically, I realized that it is important for students to be given a choice in how they learn, like in this project.  I believe that currently, there is a significant disconnect between the digital literacy of teachers and the digital literacy of students.  I am seeing this in my placement classroom; my students are five and six years old, and they already know how to access the internet, go to a certain website, and “log off”.  This was astonishing as I went to the computer lab with them for the first time.  I reflected on my own experience with the internet and realized that I was not able to access it in this way until I was nearly ten years old.  Therefore, I believe that it is essential for teachers to be aware of the current forms of technology and use them in their instruction so that students are fully prepared for the world they will enter beyond their education.  I consider myself to be in between a digital addict and a digital immigrant, so in order for this to happen in my future classroom, I need to continually develop my competency in technology and the digital world.  I was able to see this in my use of Glogster; I was very unfamiliar with it even though it has been around for a considerable amount of time.

Classroom Implications

Because literacy is a combination of multiple aspects, it is important to include each in Language Arts instruction.  Although this definition has been established, many schools are still focusing on reading and writing with print texts.  As the amount of technology increases, I feel that as a future teacher I should strive to include multiple forms of media in the classroom so that students are able to improve their literacy in all cases.  I discovered this while using Glogster, which is a site that allows the user to create products that are very similar to scrapbook pages, posters, or collages.  Many times in my education, when I was given the choice of how I wanted to do an assignment, I used poster boards.  Glogster is very similar to this; students are still able to organize information into a collage, but the product is much more interactive and intriguing.  More specifically, students can include links in the product so that viewers can access additional information.  I fell in love with Glogster as I was using it to make my group’s product, so I definitely picture myself using it in my future classroom, as well as giving the students the option of using it when creating a product.  Giving them this choice increases their digital and visual literacy, as well as their traditional literacy by pushing them to read text in a form other than paper.  However, in order for students to develop their digital literacy, they need to be aware of the dangers of using technology, as well as how to determine if a source is legitimate when researching.  Therefore, before using different forms of technology in the classroom, it will be necessary to state the rules and expectations I have for my students so that they use technology safely.

Additionally, in order to develop the cultural literacy of students, it is necessary to expose them to different cultures, including the one that they currently reside.  As stated before, without the literacy of one’s own culture and those around the world, a person cannot fully function in the world.  In our Glogster, our group discussed the importance of knowing a culture’s primary language in order to interact with different forms of media that exist.  This is especially an issue with English Second Language Learners.  By only knowing minimal amounts of a language, the academic success of ESL students is significantly hindered; their reading comprehension, speech, listening, and writing all depend on how much of the language they know.  Not only are academics hindered, but social interactions are as well.  For example, if a student does not know that, in a certain culture, when speaking to another person, they are expected to make eye contact with them.  When they do not know to do this, their behavior is considered disrespectful or they may be perceived as non-compliant.  This, unfortunately, may lead to social isolation or solidarity in the classroom.  With that, it is important to build a quality classroom community and an environment where students feel welcome and ready to learn the elements of a culture.  Various activities should be used to make all students, not just ESL students, aware of the American culture, as well as different cultures around the world.  Such activities include watching videos from the History Channel, reading Time magazine, following blogs, or watching newscasts.  Learning about events outside of a child’s small community can lessen their egocentrism and expand students’ mindsets, especially those that are very young.

blog post week 10

When I was first introduced to this assignment I did not realize how many different parts of literacy there was. I thought of the literacy definition, as one is able to read, write, and speak. I also thought a little bit about being able to use technology in the sense of reading online, and writing a paper. At the beginning of this class and of this lesson I was illiterate and had a very basic understanding of what literacy truly was. However, throughout this project and class I began to develop a greater understanding of what literacy truly is and that literacy involves many aspects like social, cultural, technology and many other areas. When working on social literacy I learned that it is not only face-to-face interaction but also the interaction through technology. It was very interesting to learn the new forms of social literacy and the importance of teaching students how to appropriately communicate when using technology. Cyber bulling is happening all around us with millions of students being affected around the world. I believe it is teachers and parents job to make sure students are being aware of how to be socially literate when using technology. When I was growing up my mother always reminded me of the social cues that were expected of me when introducing myself or going into another persons house. Now that more social interaction is happening online it is still important to educate students and young adults on how to appropriately act when interacting with others.

Through interacting and exploring other classmates’ projects I have now realized the importance of becoming a more literate person, not only is it important for myself but as a future teacher it is my job to learn how to communicate with a range of people and to teach my future students how to appropriately interact, speak, use technology, and engage in the world around us. I still have a lot more information that I need to learn in this area however I plan on making an effort to learn so that I will be able to influence and push my future students to become literate in many different ways other than just speaking, reading and writing.

Young adults have grown up with digital literacy all around them, I think we were the last generation that can remember what it was like not to have a cell phone, facebook, txting, and all the other pieces of technology that is now available to use. Since our future students have grown up in a digital world I believe they will be more digital literate than their teachers, they will have experienced all the new pieces of technology and devices as they grow up. However, it is still the teachers job to help students use the devices and technology that they are so familiar with to help educate them and help them learn in the classroom.  Students need to be given the opportunities to learn using digital technology and provided the chances to explore their world the way they grew up using it. I think one of the biggest supports that students need for digital literacy is providing a safe environment and helping students understand the correct ways to use digital technology to help them learn and grow and how to behave and the language that is appropriate when using technology. I plan to having my students interact with technology daily however I will first set up rules and expectations on how to properly use the technology and what my expectations are of the students. Also, before giving them an assignment I will provide an example for them. This will allow them to see my expectations I have for them. Also, this will provide me with the understanding on how to use the piece of technology incase the students have any questions. I think however it is important to let students be creative and explore the device on their own so that they are able to learn how to interact with it on their own.

The literacy I did was social literacy; I think this is a great area that all students need to learn about. It is important that students understand that there is different social cues that are expected out of them when they are speaking with someone face-to-face or when speaking to someone online. I think also it is important for students to realize that there are many positives and negatives to both, but it is important to use technology and face-to-face interaction in their daily life.  I think first students need to learn how to appropriately act when they are communicating to people in person; they need to learn how to make eye contact, shake someone hands and the correct language to use. I would make sure that when my students are speaking to others they follow these social expectations, I remember in high school my chemistry teacher made us stand up whenever an adult walked in the room to show respect. So no matter if she was teaching, we were taking a test or working in a group if an adult walked in the room we all had to stand up. I do not think I would do this for my students however through my experience this year I have realized there are a ton of students that do not look into the speakers eyes and contain eye contact when speaking. These basic social expectations are very important to have even if our world is becoming more technology base. Then after my students have learned how to appropriately act face to face I would work with the students on how to appropriately act and communicate on the internet. I think it would be great if my future students had pen pales in another country where they would have to write back and forth, the students would have to learn how to write and socially communicate depending on the social expectations that their pen pale comes from. Working with students and improving their knowledge on the appropriate social expectations are very important for the to succeed in a social world. 

Week 9: Cultural Literacy

Cultural literacy can be defined as “knowledge of history, contributions, and perspectives of different cultural groups, including one's own group, necessary for understanding of reading, writing, and other media.” This definition of cultural literacy is not unlike many of the definitions we have come up with. Many of the definitions of literacy have included the ability to have deep knowledge about something and having the ability to read, write, and use forms of technology to process and communicate your information. I am learning that every person is born with the ability to conform to the culture that we are born into. There is research that says that a person’s culture is “non-instinctive” and we are not “genetically programmed” or drawn to a particular type of culture. I have also learned that a person’s culture is an ongoing development, meaning that it is a collection of every environment and experience that we have had. Humans aren’t usually aware of their culture because they consider what they are doing everyday to be normal. It is only when a person steps into the environment of a new culture that they are able to compare and contrast their culture to those of others. Culture can also change over time rather than over an area of land. The general culture of East Lansing has greatly evolved from the seventies to today.  In my placement my students attend a Spanish class once a week. They are focused on learning new vocabulary words and phrases. But cultural literacy is more than just learning a new language. It is also about understanding the history and aspects of people’s everyday lives that they find important. I feel that if the Spanish teacher at my placement provided more insight to the different Spanish speaking countries, their customs, and traditions, the students would be gaining much more cultural literacy than they are now. I have been learning a lot about Glogster, my chosen technology for this project. I feel as if my group and I have made a smart choice by choosing Glogster because it incorporates many different types and aspects of technology. This mirrors cultural literacy because a person’s cultural literacy is dependant on a number of different factors, and not just one. Glogster can help us create a virtual poster incorporating links to other websites, photographs, text, slideshows, and videos. I like Glogster because it can allow my group and I to cover cultural literacy from many different perspectives and angles. One of the limitations with this technology is that we have not yet figured out a way to make it interactive. We can have links to other websites that have interactive activities, but the actual Glogster website doesn’t have this feature. Our class blog website allows us to view other people’s blogs and reply to them. I feel that this would be a positive addition to our virtual poster. It would also promote the sharing of different cultures, which is our ultimate goal for this project. This virtual poster is going to be different in many ways from traditional teaching materials that would take place without technology. The virtual poster will not have enough room to take on large amounts of text and explanation. Instead, the textual information needs to be concise, condensed, and appealing to the eye because there are so many other things going on within the poster. In place of much of the traditional text movies, photographs, and links can be present. We will have to make sure that these alternate ways to present information are saying exactly what we would have said in words. I feel that this poster may be more engaging for students than traditional methods because it is visually stimulating and incorporates many things that kids enjoy doing such as games and movies.

Cultural Literacy: Week 9

The definition of cultural literacy, according to dictionary.com, is the knowledge of history, contributions, and perspectives of different cultural groups, including one’s own group, necessary for understanding multiple forms of media.  This is related to the definitions of general literacy that some of my peers posted.  One definition states that it is “a complex set of abilities needed to understand and use the dominant symbol systems of a culture – alphabets, numbers, visual icons – for personal and community development.  The nature of these abilities, and the demand for them, vary from one context to another”.  This parallels to the meaning of cultural literacy because forms of media are likely to vary across cultures.  Additionally, the skills learned in one culture may be inapplicable or worthless in another culture, thus, an individual may have to learn an entirely new set of literacy skills.  Another definition posted by one of my peers states, “Literacy is a fundamental human right and the foundation for lifelong learning.  It is fully essential to social and human development in its ability to transform lives.  For individuals, families, and societies alike, it is an instrument of empowerment to improve one’s health, one’s income, and one’s relationship with the world”.  This definition also relates to that of cultural literacy because in order to fully function in a culture, one must understand the different forms of media within that culture.  Therefore, each form of traditional literacy (reading, speaking, listening, viewing, and writing) is absolutely necessary in being culturally literate.  With these skills, an individual can improve and develop all areas of their life.

Cultural literacy is a subject of concern in my field placement classroom.  Five of my students are English Second Language Learners; some of them have parents who speak only their first language and are therefore bilingual, and some have moved from a different country and are monolingual.  Hence, they know many skills that are prevalent in developing literacy in terms of their first culture, as well as skills that are prevalent in the American culture.  However, some students are still in the emergent stage in more than one of these skills.  This, in turn, affects how their ability to function socially, behaviorally, and academically.  One student, in particular, has only been in the United States for nine months and knows a minimal amount of English.  As a result, he does not fully engage in lessons of all subject area and often wanders around the room or displays off-task behavior.  Additionally, he has very few conversations with peers and does not continue conversations if they are started.  Conversely, if he knew more English, he would have higher success in reading, writing, speaking, and listening; therefore, pushing towards becoming fully functional and developing a complete sense of belonging in American society.

Aside from cultural literacy and its prevalence around the world, my digital literacy is developing as a result of investigating Glogster, the technology my group is using to present our understanding of cultural literacy.  This technology is useful for teaching because it is site that supports all types of learners.  It allows the user to post videos, use various graphics, layouts, and texts.  It is also kinesthetic, as the user can interact with links and various parts of the information presented.  Thus, the site can attract and maximize the understanding of the information of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners.  In terms of my own learning, I typically acquire information better if it is displayed in a brief, outlined format.  Glogster does not require the producer of the product to write paragraphs on paragraphs of information, but rather a few sentences or bullet points.  This may be beneficial to children with reading disabilities, who become overwhelmed when given a lot of information.  This form of technology does not require students to use concepts of print; while looking at a Glogster, the viewer can go anywhere on the page in no specific order.  This may be both an advantage and a disadvantage to those students who have not yet developed some of these concepts, or to those who rely on order and structure in reading, respectively. 

week 9: literacy blog post

Literacy is one’s ability to use written and printed information to function in a society where they are able to accomplish their goals and learn.  I think social literacy and literacy are very similar. Social literacy is a person’s ability to communicate with their family members, citizens, workers, and life long learners. When needed to communicate and mediate between different people and settings, one needs to be able to communicate their thoughts and express with others information. One often uses oral language to communicate with others however in todays world, facebook, twitter, and txting are becoming the main way to communicate to a wide range of people, one needs to be able to communicate their thoughts and opinions through written text.  

One activity that we did last semester in history was the fish bowl discussion. the video How to teach math, as a social activity from edutopia, also used a fish bowl method for a math lesson. The students discussed with one another the different ways they solved the problem. The teacher made it clear that before he was able to have the students take part in the fishbowl activity they needed to establish rules and guidelines as to which the students thought of. This provided the students to take ownership in what they value is important and have some responsibility when choosing the rules. After the students were taught how to speak and disagree politely, ask questions, and communicate appropriately the class was able to take part in fishbowl discusion. This allowed the students to be able to learn from other students instead the teacher having to be the one teaching always.  For fishbowl or other group discussion or team activities my students would definitely need to review and set up some rules in place for the classroom. The students talk over top of one another and do not listen to each other’s ideas. Also, the students need to learn how to disagree in a mature way and discuss why they disagree with one another. My students need to relearn the steps to have a successful conversation and how to successfully help other students that does not just have them copying answers.

Social literacy is any way that one communicates to other people. I never realized how much our world today is using social literacy in our every day occurrence. Students use social literacy through classroom discussions, however what is important though is that teachers prepare students and give them the foundation to become successful in social literacy. Even though in todays world social literacy is very common, there are different expectations and rules in the classroom verse the outside world. In the classroom it is important that teachers provide the expectations and rules so that student feel comfortable to express their feelings and thoughts. It is also important to try and provide all students with time to share their ideas and thoughts. Even though teachers are expected to cram in a lot of information throughout the day it is very important for all the students in the class to feel that they are able to share their thoughts and questions. By providing the correct expectations and a safe environment students will learn how to apply classroom expectations to the outside world and how to properly act on facebook, twitter or other resources where they are able to share their opinions and interact with others.

The technology device we are using is weebly, this is an Internet site where you can create a page and upload information to the internet site. This is great because it can be seen on any computer and anyone can see it as long as you make it public or just a couple of teaching friends that you would like to share the information, then you would just have to make it private. What is great is you can upload videos, pictures, text, and hyperlinks to other sites from your website. This allows yourself and other educators to see the important information that you are sharing.

Weebly is similar to writing a paper because you are allowed to type out text and write out information you would like to share. However, what makes this site more interactive for viewers is that pictures, animations and videos can be uploaded to the site to be viewed and receive additional information. One is able to create their website how ever they want it to look One can change the background colors, font, and really personalize it for themselves and their viewers. This is great if you have students that need special accommodations and struggle seeing specific colors or need a larger font size. Using Weebly one is able to create a site specific to the viewers needs. Teachers are allowed to create a site and then have students explore information on the site, by providing a couple directions and steps to advance students through the site. The students would easily be able to navigate through the website learning information through txt, videos, pictures and audio.