A brief side note

On my way back from Portland after Thanksgiving break, I sat next to an elderly gentleman named Bill on a rickety propeller plane going into Seattle. I quickly learned that Bill was a superintendent for a school in Alaska and while our conversation started off through comfort during my anxiety for takeoff, it rapidly turned into a personal conversation. Bill told me all about life in Alaska, and I similarly told him of my life in California, Oregon and Montana.

After an hour of non-stop conversation we landed safely in Washington and Bill gave me a relaxed wink along with his business card. He told me that if I was ever looking for a teaching job, or a friend in Alaska, I could always look him up.

What stuck me most about this experience was not the job opportunity that he had "promised" he would give me if I came searching, but rather, the friendly manner in which we conversed. This is why I love language--this is why I love conversation. Being in the air, with absolutely no internet service at all, offered me a chance to get to know someone I otherwise would never have conversed with. Throughout this entire flight I did not once turn on my I-pod, my computer or even so much as open a book because I was so engrossed with our conversation. Not only was I suddenly fascinated with his life, but it was obvious that he had taken a keen interest in mine as well. I made a friend that day--not through facebook photos of my "normal" life or through witty text messages that were considerably thought out...but through actual face-to-face conversation. No pauses for intelligent responses, no fake personalities and no force. What I search for most, what makes me happiest in life, are these brief encounters with strangers that leave a startling aftermath within me. Conversation that is genuine is the most significant part of human interaction.

Today I emailed Bill on the screen name that he put on his card with no other intention but to say hello and to thank him for the engaging conversation that we shared during our fifty minute flight. This interaction left me thinking about the lasting effects that language and conversation can have in the most   unplanned situations--it also gave me the boost I needed in order to truly grasp the enthusiasm I need when facing the topics of this class.

Project Proposal Part 2

For my final project I would like to write a research paper on the effects that technology has on language. Since our discussion in class I now know that I need to approach this paper without a bias or conclusion in mind when going into it. Rather, I would like to observe the change in our language due to technology, without saying if it is a bad or good change. Some changes I expect to see are shorter conversations, more abbreviations and the invention of new words/slang.

I wrote a paper previously on the effects of technology on empathy and when writing that paper I noticed a cross over between empathy and language. That is what sparked my interest in this topic. For what is empathy without the ability to express it through language? My first paper on empathy and technology, which I wrote for Kevin O'neill's class, revved my interest so much that I am very excited to be exploring it further.

I have chosen to write a research paper because I think that I will be able to get the most out of the project this way.  I believe there will be many articles on the web about my topic and I have also found a few books related to it as well. I believe I will be able to produce the most information this way. That being said, some of my research may include a few short interviews with people. I have not fully decided yet, but I may include a few quotes in my essay from questions I ask people.

Some questions I have about my project are:

• Is anyone doing a project similar to mine, and would they like to try and pair up for some of it? 
• Kirk, do you want me to draw a conclusion of my own in the end? Or remain completely objective throughout the entire paper? 
• Is there any way to narrow down my topic so that it doesn't turn into a twenty page paper? 

Close Reading/ Proposal Idea

Close Reading of The Common Core:

Paragraph Chosen: Research and media skills blended into the Standards as a whole

• ·      He uses a blend of vernacular and specialist language. His choice of words at times is very casual yet he will also throw in very factual scientific and technical words or phrases.
• ·      He uses fancy phrases like “in like fashion” where one otherwise would probably just use the vernacular word “similarly”.
• ·      He is saying it is a social good to familiarize yourself with many different forms of technology and in order to become successful one is going to need to “produce and consume media”.
• ·      He is trying to create an action out of his words by informing students what they need to learn to be successful in today’s society. By writing about this subject, he is hoping it will motivate students to focus on the right subjects and in turn will eventually create action. This is like Gee’s idea that language is about saying, doing and being.
• ·      In the beginning of the paragraph he uses very specific language: “college”, “technological society”, “students”, “workforce training”.
• ·      Towards the end his language gets a little bit more vague: “extensive range of print”, “consume media”, “standards”. These words are very open for many different forms of interpretation. Instead of specifically naming things he uses a very broad definition in order to cover a wide range of topics in one sentence.

Thoughts on proposal idea:

I am not entirely sure if this topic is too broad for the ideas we have discussed in class, but I was thinking about discussing the idea of technology and the role in plays with changing our societies language. In short—I believe that the constant use of texting and facebooking, etc. is condensing our societies thoughts. We interact in short brief sentences, we abbreviate, and we speak in terms of what we think people want to hear, rather than how we actually feel. Rather than offer long advice to a friend, we opt for a short response, similar to how we would text, because we believe that no one will listen past a sentence or two. Similarly, rather than tell a friend how you are doing in detail, we usually respond in one word replies—good, bad, okay. I believe that the classroom is the last place where real discussions take place on a daily basis and I believe that it is one of the few places where people truly express their ideas in great length. I would want to write a paper on this idea. A lot of this is just my own opinion so I am not yet sure how to incorporate research in it (if that is even a requirement). I feel really passionately about this idea so I hope that it follows the basic guidelines!  

Make those shy kids speak up!

One thing that stuck out to me when reading the transcripts aloud was just how much student participation there was. I had gone into this project expecting to see one student dominate the conversation while everyone else steered clear of having their voice recorded--but that wasn't the case at all. In the class that I recorded, the teacher barely even talked for more than a sentence before the students jumped in, eager to participate.

This project was really interesting to me because when reading the transcripts I had absolutely no idea what was even going on and could probably hardly even summarize the topic. Yet when other students in our class read them out loud with different voices and tones it made it much easier for me to follow along. I found it interesting just how much adding a voice can make sense of something that would otherwise be gibberish. Perhaps I should start reading difficult homework assignments out loud more often...

The most difficult thing about this assignment was reflecting on the idea of how to set up a classroom in order to let the discussions flow more easily. I have never been a fan of circle seating because personally I feel like it hinders the readiness for students to speak up because all eyes are on them. The fact that one can't look anywhere without meeting a dozen expectant gazes has always been why I have trouble speaking up in class. However, when reading over the transcripts it really surprised me to see that most of the classrooms were set up in a circular fashion and almost every student was more than willing to discuss freely. This made me re-think whether or not seating formation is really the problem or if a students shyness will stay with them no matter what the seating arrangement is. I definitely think it helps discussions when the teacher is willing to either take a step back and see where the conversation will go or be able to converse as casually as the students do. I have had teachers be extremely strict in high school with letting the students openly discuss and most of the time they would cut off the conversation without even realizing that it could lead to something they never considered before. To me, I think the best questions and issues arise when one stops trying to control and confine the discussion with strict limitations. "Gregging" may not provide the most useful information, but it creates a comfortable environment when one is willing to share a humorous anecdote and it allows students to loosen up and become more engaged. With a comfortable atmosphere students will talk more and if they are not cut off to quickly a teacher may be happily surprised at the genius that can come out of the most unlikely discussion. 

Taking your ideas off the page

This question is a hard one because the phrase "college and career readiness" implies that they are the same thing, when in actuality being career ready in no way means that one is necessarily college ready. Many people often choose a career without ever going to college. I believe what this phrase is trying to imply is being at a certain level of academic intelligence, which has nothing to do with a career per say, so it should really just be shortened to "college readiness".

In my opinion, college readiness means that one is able to maintain an intellectual conversation and can express their opinions both on paper and in person with a certain level of sophistication. By sophistication I do not necessarily mean in terms of grammar, but rather, being articulate and having the ability to formulate your own ideas and beliefs.

The second question again is very difficult for me to personally answer because my standards for literacy will be significantly lower than teachers of a higher grade level. My goal for my students will be to have one capable of describing a feeling or emotion and expressing it in a way that is understandable. I will not be dealing with literacy on a reading level, so my focus will be the ways in which my students will be capable of communicating with one another in a respectful manner. Literate is often mistaken for only being able to read and not the way in which one can comprehend and communicate in a fluid and effective style.

Literacy

Of course the obvious definition that I am sure comes to everyone's mind when they hear the word literate is the ability one has in understanding how to read and write. Literacy means that one is capable of not only sounding out sentences and spelling basic words, but also having the capacity to form complex thoughts in multiple different ways. More often than not when one is called "literate" it goes beyond meaning that they can read the words cat and dog. The word literate generally has a deeper meaning attached with it--being intelligent. If a man is in his thirties and could still only read books meant for first graders, I would still call that person illiterate even if technically he can read and write on a basic level. Similarly, the word illiterate often times is used to express more than just one's inability to read and write, but suggests a stereotype into a persons upbringing. I think that it is very easy to say on the surface that one means you can read and write and the other means that you can't, but to me these words are connected with a much larger concept.

Grammar Shmammer Part 2

I just wanted to write a brief update to my last post because after going to class today it really helped clarify a few points that I was unsure about. I realize now that grammar 1 is not what I will be teaching my students because that is what comes instinctively and can't actually be taught, or at the very least is unnecessary to teach. After better understanding the definitions of the different grammars I would say now that what I will be primarily focusing on is grammar 2. I honestly don't think that I will be going any deeper than just basic conversational grammar because children don't even really begin to write until about 1st grade. I was interested in clarifying what exactly kindergarten teachers cover just for my own better understanding so I went online and found out just how basic it really is. What I found online about the overall basics of kindergarten learning was:

Recognize and form uppercase and lowercase letters of the alphabet.

Match sounds to each alphabet letter.

Recognize and use rhyming words.

Begin reading words by using initial consonant sounds and such sound patterns as -an and -at (fan, man, can) and (sat, rat, pat).

Recognize a few frequently used sight words such as: the, and, is.

Capitalize the first and last name of a person and the word "I".

Count, recognize, and write the numbers up to 20.

Identify, draw, cut, and name squares, circles, triangles, ovals, diamonds, and rectangles.

Classify and group objects according to such characteristics as shape, color, size, texture, and so on.

Understand how people in communities work together.

Use their five senses to make simple scientific observations.

So to be perfectly honest I may now be completely going against my previous post in saying that grammar may not be widely covered at all in my classroom. I think it is hard for me being in this class because I want to participate and be able to stretch my positivity into thinking I can cover most of the topics we talk about in class, but after looking at the basic  guidelines that kindergarten teachers cover, it gave me quite a wake up call.  I guess in my mind I had kind of linked kindergarten and 1st grade as pretty much the same thing--but I am quickly learning that this was a very false assumption. What I will be doing mostly in my class is just preparing the students for what is next to come in terms of grammar and writing. I will mostly be working hands on through oral communication, grammar 2, and as I know realize that may just be the extent of it. 

Grammar Shmammar

To be perfectly honest, grammar is extremely difficult for me to understand. It has always been more of an instinct to me and I have found that whenever someone tries to explain the rules behind it, I get completely lost. It is because of this that the article was exhausting for me to get through. From what I understand, as a kindergarten teacher I will be mostly dealing with Grammar 1. Besides a child's natural instincts, this will be the first proper introduction my students will have to grammar and so it will be my job to teach the basic fundamentals. Now, because grammar is hard for me to understand I want to use my weakness as a way of helping them by understanding that complicating grammar doesn't do any good. In this sense, I will encourage students to go with their natural tendencies and then work from there on what I feel needs to be helped. I really want to stay away from over-complicating like so many of my teachers did to me. But, with this in mind it really isn't until middle school that a student starts to use extensive and intricate grammar. As far as grammar 3 is concerned with "linguistic etiquette", I am not sure if this is something that I will be seeing a lot of with students of such a young age. However, I am planning on teaching in Montana and because of this I am aware that in general the language being used will be a little bit more rural than what I grew up with.  From my experience in Bigfork (where I spend my summers), I have definitely noticed a lack of grammar 3 being used with both adults and children.

This is definitely a topic that I have to consider more thoroughly when it comes to my personal teaching approach because at this point in my life I am unsure of how I even feel about the importance of grammar. All I am really certain of right now is that when it comes to this topic, less is often more.

Childhood Bedtime Routines

One of the most prominent things I remember about my childhood bedtime rituals is that my dad would always make up stories to me. We very rarely would read from an actual book and when we occasionally did it was always one of those fill in the blank books where you pretty much got to make up the story as you went. (For example, the book would ask me to think of a happy place, think of what color the sky was and who was with me.) This was always my favorite kind of tucking in routine. If I could, I would have someone read this type of story to me every night for the rest of my life. I absolutely loved using my imagination and knowing that whatever I created, no matter how absurd, was no one's business but my own. Even when my dad would read these types of stories to me where I made up the surroundings as he read I would never talk about them out loud--I would always just quietly think to myself what my perfect magical land looked like. To be the youngest child of three, it was nice to have one place that was all my own and that was controlled by no one else but me.

With my mom, we would also hardly ever read from traditional bedtime story books and instead would look at "Where's Waldo" or "I spy" together. I don't remember really ever reading to my parents at all, I was always the one being read to. I also remember that my mother was very strict when it came to what cartoons I could watch. There were certain cartoons that she had deemed inappropriate or too intense. I remember that she would never let me watch tiny toons, for example, but I was always allowed to watch loony toons. To me, they seemed like the exact same show but to her, tiny toons was seen as vulgar (to this day I still don't understand how that is possible).

My parents generally would always talk to me like an adult; they were never the type to communicate to me through a high pitched baby voice. If I was bad I would get a time out, and nap time was never negotiable. My parents weren't exactly "tough" by any means, they just didn't give into the idea that a 4 year old could have more power than them. However, my mom was definitely always the stricter parent.

Da Hawaiian Pidgin Project

This project was so much fun for me that it didn't even feel like homework! I have not laughed that hard in such a long time the way I did while trying to develop the perfect accent to go along with our dialect. I just wanted to preface this by saying that I really did truly enjoy this project. With that said, it helped me understand a little more about just how hard it could be to teach a child who has grown up speaking a different dialect as their first language. After looking at how completely contrasting Hawaiian pidgin is from standard english it definitely gave me a reality check on how tough it would be to get a student to gradually slip into what seems to them to be a completely different language. However, it also showed me that learning and teaching other dialects can be fun! Before this project I was a little confused on how I would teach kindergarteners what a dialect even is, let alone how to make it fun in a way they would understand. But after seeing how much I myself enjoyed learning about the different dialects it gave me a new boost of excitement to teach others.

Not considered correct--just socially accepted as the best?

When reading the article bidialecticism I found myself wondering how we can teach children that all dialects are equal, while at the same time telling them that only one is considered the most socially acceptable and will get you further in the professional world? It seems like what we are really teaching them is that we can't outright label standard english as correct...yet it is what you need to learn in order to stay on top in our society? We say SAE is not the only "proper" form of english, yet we judge every other dialect in comparison to it. I am having a hard time understanding how to teach my students about this topic without sounding like a hypocrite.

The Dialect Divide

As a kindergarten teacher, the minds I will be molding will be young enough that there may not be as great of a divide as one might see with a high school teacher. At the ages of five or six, they are still young enough that they have not been ingrained with the false beliefs that specific cultures, and therefore dialects, may be considered superior over others. Because of this, I will be given the advantage of having a jump start on teaching them that there are no correct or incorrect dialects before others have the opportunity to tell them differently. With that said, it will still be my job to teach them the rules and regulations of both speaking and writing in standard english vernacular. While I would encourage students to be comfortable speaking in their specific dialects, I would continue to speak to them in the standard english that I was taught in school so that they can become familiar with both ways of communicating.  However, because children are so easily influenced by others, I believe it is the perfect time to teach them to be open minded. I would definitely establish that speaking differently from another person is in no way incorrect. It is certainly not my place to try and change the way a student would speak when he or she is around their friends and family, but it is important to teach the most socially accepted vernacular so that they can be fully prepared to excel when their time comes to face the professional world.

That girl who always blushes. . .

I suppose the first thing you should know about me is that I am not actually trying to become an english teacher, but rather, a kindergarten teacher. I am, however, an english major (writing option). Because I am the youngest of four I have always been the one to be guided and helped but have rarely ever been given the opportunity to share my own wisdom and advice. I guess this is what initially sparked my interest to become a teacher. The other reason--I absolutely adore kids.

I am the type of person who can meet someone on the street and chat with them for hours, however, put me in a classroom and for reasons unknown to me I become extremely shy. It is not that talking to others individually in the classroom makes me nervous, it is more the idea of addressing the entire room at once that chokes me up. For some reason, I blush all the time in class yet rarely get embarrassed anywhere else. This may seem like a very odd personality for someone trying to become a teacher, but kindergarteners don't intimidate me. I am sure once the class presentations start, the title of my blog will make much more sense. To be clear, I do not blush in a subtle or endearing way... no, no-- my face literally becomes the darkest red humanly possible. (Enjoy).

Other random facts: I went to high school in California but have spent most of my life traveling. I have had a house in Bigfork for eight years where I would spend every summer. With every summer I spent in Bigfork I found myself wanting to go back to California less and less. It has now gotten to the point where I can't imagine ever wanting to live anywhere but Montana.  I went to the University of Oregon for my freshman and sophomore year but decided it wasn't the place for me. When the time came to choose another college, I knew the state I needed to be in. After I am finished in Bozeman I hope to move to Whitefish and teach there.

Second Assignment: A True Story

What struck me the most about this story was how contrasting the narrators language was with Aunt Rachel's. The only other book I have read that has been this difficult for me to decipher an accent was Huck Finn. Based on the language, slang, and pronunciation in this story, it is very clear to tell right off the bat what race each person belongs to, even without Twain's physical description. When just looking at Aunt Rachel's grammar it is easier for us to infer more about her circumstances than it would be for us to do with the narrator. Through Aunt Rachel's thick accent, dropping all "R's" and replacing them with "W's", it is clear to the reader that she is from the South. However, by just looking over the narrator's few lines, he could come from anywhere.

While the spelling is far from correct in Aunt Rachel's speech, the reader can make out every word phonetically. I found that I had to read this entire story out loud and even develop my own accents for each of the two characters. When trying to read silently in my head the words became one jumbled mess and without patiently sounding out each word aloud I simply could not get through it. Another thing that threw me off when looking over the text was all of the punctuation. The way in which Aunt Rachel would continuously combine her words together practically put an apostrophe in every word.

I think Aunt Rachel's language is what gives the story a more personal feel. It is easy to understand her emotion, while the narrators voice can often be hard to figure out what he is really feeling.