Final Project

For my final project I am planning on writing a traditional paper. This paper is something which has has the capacity to benefit me in three ways.
1) the requirement for this class
2) it allows to to focus on a topic of interest in a deeper way, this additional knowledge will hopefully benefit me in my future classroom.
3) I would like to write this paper in such a way that I can use it when I have to submit a piece of writing with my graduate school application.

Topic: I intend for my topic to be a three part question.

1) Due to the diversity of languages, dialects, etc. how might I as a teacher assess the individual needs of students with regards to their understanding and use of standard English?

2) Should I be assessing such things?

3) And if so, how do I incorporate, the findings of the assessment as a means to help expand understanding and use of language for students both individually and collectively?

I do not expect to find an answer which is hard cut and dry. After all, like the humanities themselves, I expect this answer is highly subjective. Instead of finding something definitive, I hope to explore what other educators may be doing within their own class rooms and how they tackle how and deal with the concept of enhancing student's use and understanding of standard English. I plan on  possible constructing a comparative analysis among  differing approaches. I might look into performance based education and the developmental continuum. I am sure I will also briefly touch upon stigmas attached to those who fail in mastering standard English.

I plan on using the journals which had been suggested by Dr. Branch in class.

~ English Journal
~Research in teaching of English
~English Education
~Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy

If any one else has any ideas, I'd love to here them.

Common Core

When I was an English major at MSU getting my undergraduate  degree I took a class on advanced composition. This class was a requirement for a variety of disciplines. The central activity of the class was the construction of a single research paper.  The instructor devoted the entire semester  for the construction of this paper. Using scaffolding, each student slowly constructed pieces of the paper. Each section was analyzed by the group, edited, expanded, and sometimes reworked. We worked together in groups and discussed our work together with the class as a whole.  Even though the format used by each student was similar, the differences in each discipline produced extremely different results. What was common in an analytic English paper might not be appropriate in a scientific research paper. A paper concerning art history was significantly different from that of an agricultural student, or an economist. Each discipline had its own unique terminology and format of writing. Seeing first hand the differences with in style was something which has stuck with me through out the years. A simple example of a difference is apparent when one considers the variety of citation styles.  here are a few commonly used.

- chicago style
- columbian style
-evidence explained
- harvard referencing
- modern language association
-modern humanities research association
-bluebook
-uniform legal citation
-british legal citation
- american chemical society
- american institute of Physics
-american mathematical society
-council of science editors
- the international committee of medical journal editors
-the institute of electrical and electronic engineers
- american psychological association
- american political science association
- american anthropological association
- american sociological association

An Epiphany during today's lecture.....a Temple of the Mind

Let me preface this post with this quick point. I usually find the class discussions in 338 to be engaging. This is not an attempt to kiss ass, but I feel it needs to be said because today I experienced something beyond  the level of engagement which I normally feel. Today I was struck with an epiphany in a most unexpected way.

In the quote by Dewey, where the he explores the inadequacies of formal lectures; a question was posed by Dewey and Dr. Branch about where lectures come from and how they are not a part of our regular daily activities. It was from this question that I was blasted with a lightening bolt of instantaneous understanding. A brief moment of clarity. Let me begin my rant!

There is only one place in western culture  where people all sit quietly and listen intently to the words of one man as if their souls depended on it. The answer is, THE CHURCH. It was at this moment that ideas began to start flooding in. Before there was an education system, there was the church. The first literate people in society were the clergy. I knew this from early Brit Lit classes, but I never truly understood how this connected into a direct lineage to the modern educational system until this moment in class.

The original purpose for literacy was to read the Bible. Obviously the goals have changed significantly from the earliest days of education. What is the purpose of modern education? I believe this purpose is no longer parallel with the earliest days of monastic pursuits.  In fact, things have changed so much that I think it its necessary to consider how the link between the church and educational system truly mimic each other, and only from there can we decide as future educators how we should chart our future path.

Consider for one moment the hierarchical power structure of the church. It mimics the power structure of the pyramid.   God hovering over the pyramid, the pope on top, and the layers of clergy descending down to the unclean masses. Yet, every day the university and public schools mirror  this same power structure. Knowledge hovering above the pyramid, with varying layers of administrators working their way down to teachers, students being the bottom rung. Even the students maintain a hierarchy of sorts according to age, grade, achievements, etc. Just look at the peak of Montana Hall.

If we do not want to preach from a pulpit as teachers, we should really consider how simply changing what is happening in our classrooms may potentially work its way up and change the very structure and nature of the system.

Oh well just something to think about......

C.C.R.

What does it mean to be College and Career Ready? I understand through our discussion on Monday, that the concept of literacy is something that exists on a continuum. Therefore it becomes difficult to pin down the precise moment one has reached this level of CCR. Everyone who has anything to do with the humanities can validate the subjective nature of the discipline. English does not have the same ability to be quantified as math or science. So, with this in aspect kept in mind, it becomes vital to apply a little common sense. For one to be College and Career Ready, they must possess an ability to read and write with a certain level of complexity and have mastery of a vocabulary which contains a fair smattering of multisyllabic words. The most import part of this CCR is for one to be able to ascertain meaning from written material and for one to be able to communicate their thoughts through written language as well.

What else may be important as an english teacher to convey to students with regards to literacy. I would like for my students to understand the true power of the written word. Through writing humans achieve immortality. They can pass on information and influence others thinking. The written word can transport a reader to alternate worlds or achieve time travel. The written word can help us assemble a kitchen appliance. To achieve mastery over written language, one suddenly has a voice and the ability to influence and change the world!

I was lucky

    I grew up with books. Every night I was lulled to sleep by a bedtime story. They were usually read to me by my mother. It was very common to receive books for gifts  whether it was a birthday or Christmas. For some reason I loved books on etymology. I also recall receiving one birthday a large brightly colored book on the secret world of the oceans invertebrates.
    Once my family moved to New Jersey, I was just starting elementary school. It was a small affluent town. The high light of my day was to ride my bike to the local library. My mother helped me secure a library card. From that point on I was a member of the library's book club. I even remember one of the first times I skipped class in the first grade. I slipped out of class and spent the day in the schools library. Once the principle noticed that I had spent several class periods sitting in a chair reading, he went in search of my teacher to find out why. I got in trouble of course, but looking back... I'm sure sure she got an earful too!

Appalachian English

  In 1991 I hiked the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. It took six months. During my adventure I wandered through the heart of the Appalachian mountains. The people I met left a major impact on me. One aspect of my experience, which always made me chuckle was the back woods country dialect of Appalachian English. Without having a background in English Literature i was unable to appreciate the the linguistic structure of what I was listening to.

When I began to research various sources for this project certain vocabulary words began to surface which were quite familiar to me. For example a bald is a mountain that is void of trees. I had heard the term in my hike such as various balds in Tennessee or Brasstown Bald which is the highest point in Georgia. The term Hollow was another such term. Again my mind raced back to the homestead of an old hill billy that I stayed with for over a week. He called his property Rusty's Hardtime Hollow. of course the Hollow was actually pronounced Holler'.

As a student in the modern world I was very much aware of how language evolves and changes. Examples exist around us everyday. it never really occurred to me until this assignment how a language could become isolated and cut off from the rest of the population. This is what happened to the native speakers of Appalachian English. Some sources suggest that  Appalachian English is a direct link to Elizabethan English, it was through their remote isolation that the pockets of this spoken language were able to flourish into the modern day.

Lacking the dummy 'do' auxiliary

     While reading the the the article on Bidialecticism in the classroom, the question which arose in my mind was concerning the written syntax when expressing  "lacking the dummy 'do' auxiliary" or  "the frequent absence of /s/ inflection for the positive plural." which is present in AAE. The examples given in the article piqued my curiosity concerning not only the grammatical constructs concerning these variations, but I was also drawn to wonder why these examples use the underscore as part of the lexical syntax. It seems this technique was part of the written exercise on the work sheet handed out the other day. I found my self asking a similar question. In class discussion this had slipped my mind. Seeing once again this variation in print form in this essay rekindled my curiosity. If anyone may know more concerning this use of the underscore I would  be interested to receiving an explanation.

The examples used in the article were:


‘The hospital seem_ nice’,
typical syntax from black teenage characters in June Jordan’s (1971, p. 10) novel.


‘My momma _ name is Annie’
(Labov, 1982, p. 170)