Rebecca Black’s “Digital Design: English Language Learners
and Reader Reviews in Nonfiction” highlights the interaction between reader and
writer in online mediums as a mechanism for the writer to organically build her
writing skills. Since we began this class, I have been thinking about how to
use in collaborative writing in my role as an English tutor. This chapter
certainly gave me a new way to think about that, as I have a few students whom
I think would be really engaged in the fan fiction genre. I don’t have ELL
students at the moment, but I can certainly see how this more natural way of
practicing and building skills would be beneficial to a kid learning to
navigate the intricacies of the English language.
“Nanako is able to leverage her knowledge of anime culture
to practice conventional and pragmatic aspects of English, experiment with
different genres of writing, gain a great deal of discourse or communicative
competence in the fan fiction register through her written exchanges with other
fans.” This isn’t about just using tech or social media for the sake of using
it, it’s utilizing it to create a meaningful experience for students to connect
themselves to text.
I really connected with Black’s emphasis on creating
lifelong learners instead of kids who know the content we’re teaching. I agree
that students will benefit from moving away from a classroom environment
focused on propositional knowledge, shifting more towards procedural knowledge,
which is geared towards building skills and strategies to learn and continue
learning.
The Translanguaging Guide for Educators helped me to better
understand an aspect to teaching that I’m not familiar with at all. I wasn’t
aware that the way that someone navigates between two languages, or even the
way that a household or group navigates between two languages, could be so
complex. One of the ideas that stuck out to me strongly was the idea of
translanguaging as a way to empower students. “But by making use of flexible
language practices, translanguaging releases ways of speaking that are often
very much controlled and silences. When new voices are released, histories of
subjugation are brought forth, building a future of equity and social justice.”
Using culturally relevant texts (or texts about a content-area topic but in the
home language), drawing upon community for inspiration, including specific
language objectives, and having students respond to readings using English and
the home language using graphic organizers were some of the examples that I
think would be useful in my future classroom.
Students, especially middle and high school students, really want to identify with their culture, at least my students do. Especially because there is a stigma in schools to just focus on English. But I agree that having students draw on English and their home language would help students. My only question is, how do we grade a graphic organizer in a language that we as teachers do not understand? Or is that something that we just don't grade?
ReplyDeleteFor me, there is a fine line between students and teachers appreciating, treasuring, students' home languages and remembering that I am their English teacher. The target language is English, and it is my job to expose them to English. Their home language is necessary in many ways, but academically speaking, is not always helpful. It depends on how much the student has learned in their home language. I agree with Jaime- it also creates a problem to hand in work that is written in a language other than English. There are many ways for students to express themselves as they learn English, and we need to foster those experiences while still respecting and acknowledging the home-language skills that they bring.
ReplyDeleteI like that idea of lifelong learners too. I am always nervous for my students when they leave my class. Happy that they have gotten promoted but anxious about what they will take with them and apply to their future studies.
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