Craig,
I use several methods to teach advanced literacy explicitly.
For paragraph structure, I have students read paragraphs that have been
indented, following Christensen, to show their levels of generality. I point
out how one sentence leads to another, and have students explain to their
partner the relationship of each sentence to the others. I also italicize
antecedent structures and bold all consequent structures. This allows students
to see how one sentence in discourse refers to another. Following this, I
present the same paragraphs in scrambled order, initially including the bolding
and italicizing. Students unscramble the paragraphs, usually working with a
partner initially, later working independently and comparing, discussing, and
defending their order. This forces them to think very hard about the structure
of paragraphs, something that takes explicit instruction and practice. When
they write their own paragraphs, I have them italicize and bold the antecedents
and consequents to show the connections in their own writing. I also have them
highlight each sentence to show its function: blue for openers, green for topic
sentences and conclusions, yellow for the next level of generality, and pink for
detail sentences. Students can look at their own paragraphs and see how they
are organized and cohere. This also reduces the amount of time I have to take
on each paper; if students have done the careful work of structuring their work
and have shown me how it is orgainized, I can read for other features and give
other feedback.
Scott Woods
________________________________
From: Craig Hancock <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Fri, September 24, 2010 9:26:43 AM
Subject: Re: how heavy a lift is grammar
One reason I raised questions about literacy is that I am now teaching a
class of twenty-two students, all opportunity program first year, who all scored
below college level on reading and writing assessments. In previous years, they
would have been funneled into a non-credit course. This year, they are taking
analytical writing (3 credit, writing intensive) AND a non-credit support
course. I'm teaching both. It's my design. In effect, they are taking a five
hour version of a three hour class. But what's most relevant, I think, is that I
am making literacy the direct focus of the course. They are reading and writing
literacy narratives, approaching academic discourse dialogically (using They
Say/ I Say as a core text). The experiment, I guess (not totally new to me) is
whether making literacy itself more explicit will be helpful in achieving
literacy goals. The students, by the way, are encouraged to define their own
goals. Since many have more than one language in their lives, being bilingual is
sometimes an important part of that. One student just handed a paper to me about
his history as a rap artist, about how he has developed his craft.
I was/am generally curious about how we understand literacy as educators,
and whether we simply expect it to happen on its own.
It is obviously difficult to enter into public discourse without taking
things personally, maybe even more so for those of us who have much at stake.
That seems to me part of literacy as well.
Craig
Eduard Hanganu wrote:
>
>Richard,
>
>I cannot say that I have not been warned about your warm and kind
>personality and about your forgiving nature. Here is a sample of such warnings:
>
>_______________
>
>See what I mean?
>
>The bastard back-doored you.
>
>He thinks it makes him look good but reasonable people will know better.
>
>You'll never get the last word on Veit. That's just what he does and what he
>will keep doing.
>
>"Members should know what to expect if they reply to him", goes for him as
>well, in spades.
>
>Let it go!
>
>_________________
>
>I will take the warnings very seriously, Mister Hyde.
>
>Eduard
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: Dick Veit <[log in to unmask]>
>Date: Friday, September 24, 2010 8:24
>Subject: Re: how heavy a lift is grammar
>To: [log in to unmask]
>
>> Thanks, Craig, for your thoughtful response. It contrasts
>> sharply with the
>> message I received from Mr. Hanganu (below). It was off-list,
>> but members
>> should know what to expect if they reply to him.
>>
>> Dick
>>
>> Richard,
>>
>> I am not often redundant, but allow me the luxury this time: You
>> are a piece
>> of CRAP.
>>
>> Eduard
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Sep 24, 2010 at 9:05 AM, Craig Hancock
>> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> > Dick,
>> > I agree very much that we have to locate
>> abilities within the child that
>> > account for the acquisition of language. The difference of
>> opinion seems to
>> > be whether these are peculiar to language or whether the child
>> can acquire
>> > language using normal (domain general) cognitive processes.
>> Either way, it
>> > is a remarkable task.
>> > Tomasello suggests "intention reading" and
>> "pattern finding" as central.
>> > Bybee mentions "chunking" quite often. We can't learn language
>> without> accepting the existence of other minds. And what we
>> might be picking up
>> > might be something more than a formal system--form/meaning
>> pairings, which
>> > allow us to interact with each other and construe the world in
>> uniquely> human ways. How do we account for the ability to
>> construct texts, which some
>> > of us learn to do well and others seem to do poorly? Is that a
>> language> acquisition process as well? Why don't more five year
>> olds win Pulitzer
>> > Prizes? (I don't mean that at all sarcastically. I just want
>> to posit the
>> > possibility that a lot more than additional vocabulary and
>> Standard English
>> > correction is ahead of the child entering school.)
>> > I just question the assumption--I don't mean
>> that all generativists
>> > believe that--that literacy is just something that happens
>> more or less
>> > according to a biological program given a fairly routine language
>> > environment.
>> >
>> > Craig
>> >
>>
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