Group assignments & Instructions

We will continue to use the group format to respond to these questions. So, to be clear: each group member can answer any question for the reading assigned to her or his group. Also, if you do not see your name on any of the reading lists below, please email me; I am working from the two most recent attendance sheets.

This week the groups are as follows:

For the Gates, Jr. reading: 

Lead discussant: Wesley Borja

Rima

Shant

Yvonne

Alex B.

Jaquelyn

Jeff

Liliana

Adriana

For Douglass

Lead discussant: Naveet Singh

Jeong Seong

Polina

Kevin

Anias

Alex

For Laurie

Lead discussant: Joanna Wu

C.J.

Jessica

Jennifer

Mainor

Wiliam

Anu

Questions for the week: Literacy and race

Gates, Jr., Race as the Trope of the World

• Gates, Jr, argues that race is a trope, i.e., a word/concept that is used figuratively, what does he mean by this?
• Contiguously, is there a problem with the metaphor that he offers? More specifically, does Gates, Jr., by relegating race to an abstract concept, a metaphor, fail to account for the real, material effects fomented by race?
• Gates writes that  (pp.591 of the original text) many Western writers and (pseudo)scientists have  sought to reify race by arguing that it is inherently biological, i.e., on page 595 of the original reading, that it is “natural, essential, and absolute.” What, in your opinion, would prompt these writers and scientist to espouse this particular stance, and, whose interests does it serve (explain)?
• Likewise, Gates argues that there has been and continues to be an (erroneous) conflation between “race” and intelligence that permeates and pervades western thinking regarding innate ability/intelligence; who are the beneficiaries of this line of thinking?

Fredrick Douglass, Narrative life of Fredrick Douglass, An American Slave

• On page 53 of the original text, Douglass recounts the vicissitudes of his own literate awakening. What does his account speak to regarding the internalization of negative, oppressive reinforcement?
• What caused Douglass’ aversion to thinking? Why did it quickly become the bane of his existence?

Laurie Olson, We make each other racial...

• In your opinion, is there anything particularly glaring that Laurie missed in her analysis of and and explanation of the racialized spatialization of her target school?
• Does Laurie’s assertion that “we make each other racial”, in your opinion, exculpate people and apparatuses that support and benefit from long-standing vestiges of institutional and structural inequity?
• More specifically, in your opinion, does she simply address a symptom while eliding an authentic discussion of the root cause (the disease, if you will)?

No discussion questions this week.

Instead, in addition to mapping the readings, we also will discuss both the upcoming Literacy Autobiography (3/18) and Case study Assignments. Enjoy the rest of the long weekend.

Concept map 2

Concept maps from last section.

Regarding field notes:

Hello all,
  After combing through the first couple rounds of field notes, I identified many commonalities regarding areas for improvement. As a result, I wrote, basically, the same thing on nearly all of the field notes that I read. I am pasting the generic comment below; it encapsulates my feeling regarding the direction of each of your field notes. Please let me know if you would like more individualized feedback; (though, I must warn it will not be dissimilar to what I have pasted below):

Be as descriptive as possible: it will help you later as you construct your case study. You want to really paint a picture, i.e., really place the reader within the mise-en-scene, so to speak. For example, a student mentioned nearby “tattered” apartment buildings: my advice is instead relying on the word tattered to do all of the work, describe what it is that qualifies these particular apartments as tattered. This is what I mean when I say be as descriptive as possible.

All in all, these are good starts; that is to say, continue to construct field notes in this manner, with a little more detail, and you will be fine. Just make sure that there is an overall coherence to what it is that you write; it will make it easier to pull from for papers, later. Also, if you haven’t already, begin to narrow your focus to one or two student/s and/or teacher/s.

The questions...

Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed.

• In Freire’s critique of the banking model of education, he argues that students are posited as receptacles or depositories (pp.72 of original text). For Freire this is problematic because he considers the banking model inherently oppressive. Do you see a way or ways in which this metaphor can be appropriated and/or re-envisioned as something positive and or generative?
• Why is it in the best interest of the oppressor to “change the consciousness of the oppressed, not the situation that oppresses them (pp.74)”?
• Freire argues that the inherent contradictions, which he feels are constitutive of the banking model of education, will eventually lead the oppressed to “turn against their domestication and […] attempt to domesticate reality (pp. 74 of original).” What are the inherent contradictions that he is referring to? And, what would an attempt to domesticate reality look like?
• Freire argues for a problem posing pedagogy in order to subvert and counteract the damage caused by the banking model of education: what are the primary differences within these educational paradigms (pp.79)?

Freire & Macedo, Literacy: reading the word and the world.

• On page 98 of the original text, Freire argues that: “…the notion that literacy is [only reducible to] learning the standard [i.e., dominant] language still informs the vast majority of literacy programs…” Freire clearly has a problem with this; why?
• On page 99 of the original text (fourth full paragraph), Freire appropriates Althuasser’s (1971) conception of the ideological state apparatus (i.e., ISAs, which we discussed briefly in class) to describe the educational atmosphere in former colonies. Is the analysis of the situation that he describes limited to former colonies or can it also be applied to contemporary local and National contexts? Explain.
• In this chapter, Freire lists four approaches to literacy: the academic approach, the utilitarian approach, the cognitive development approach, and the romantic approach. Do you see parallels between Freire’s approaches and Scribner’s metaphors? Please explain.

Brumer, Phonics and the politics of reading instruction.

• In Brumer’s article, what does she feel led to the back-to-basics backlash; and, what events precipitated this backlash?
• What are the strengths and weaknesses of the whole—language and phonics approaches, respectively? And, what would an amalgamation of the two seemingly disparate approaches look like?

Pearson, Reading Wars.

• On page 223 of the original text, first full paragraph, Pearson argues that schools and educational staff have appropriated the “whole-language label without honoring its fundamental principles…(223).” Why do you think this is, and, is the elision of issues of empowerment consistent with Freire’s critique of the banking model of education?
• Pearson argues that issues of literacy education in general and reading research in particular are inherently political: do you agree? Please explain.

Questions for the week (Instructions).

All questions for a particular reading group need to be accounted for. Because there are more members than there are questions for each group, more than one person will answer the same question (which is fine). However, please answer any unanswered question/s before addressing one that has already be addressed by one the members of your reading team.

I am running late on posting this weeks questions...

Hello all,
   I am running late on posting the questions for this week's readings. (Busy day, and now I am getting ready to go on a long-overdue date with my wife.) I will post the questions by 12:00 pm tomorrow, which means that your responses won't be due until 12:00pm on Thursday.

Assignment for week five.

Hello all,
   Once again, great job in section. I truly believe that as a group you all have a fairly strong understanding of the readings we've covered thus far.

For this week, I will post the questions for the readings. However, unlike previous weeks you will not have total autonomy regarding the question that you answer. I want to try something a little different: students will be assigned specific readings to address. For example, if you are in the Pedagogy of the oppressed group, you need only respond to the prompts for that particular reading (and so on...). (Worth noting: It still behooves you to read all of the assigned readings, not only for your personal edification, but also because they will aid you in both your literacy autobiography and your case study.)


Group #1: Friere, Pedagogy of the oppressed.
Lead discussant: Giedre Novikaite 
Jeffrey Wayland
Liliana Zarate
Cynthia Sandoval
Alexander Leach
Jeong Lee
Wesley Borja


Group #2: Freire & Macedo, Literacy: reading the word & the world
Lead discussant: Naveet Singh
Sarah Wu
C.J Williams
Adriana Segurado
Jennifer Mendoza
Yvonne Lin
Rima Kadakia

Group #3: Brumer, Phonics and the politics of reading...
Lead discussant: Jaclyn Maquez
Anudari Haden
Kevin Jacobs
Mainor Claros
Alexander Bonte
Zoe Gholson

Group #4: Pearson, Excerpts from the reading wars.
Lead discussant: Anias Lavoie
Shant Aharonian
Maomi Amakawa
Polina Babina
Jessica Nevins

Concept map cont...

Group one's concept map:

Concept maps from today's section-2/09/11

For Dyson & Genishi, "Considering the Case"

1. Discuss the difference between Madlenka's and Tionna and Lyon's loose tooth experiences through the concepts of context, events, and practices described in the article; How does this relate to qualitative case studies?

2. How does angling visions lead to multiple cases within one setting?

For the Wong Filmore, Lily piece, Expectations in diversity

1. Fillmore explains how Cummins' argues that language proficiency is multidimensional (language skills), what is your perspective on Cummins' theory and why.

2. What does Fillmore suggest teachers should do in order to effectively teach students and for them to understand the material and what support/encouragement do they need.

Wong Fillmore: "English Language Development"

1. Fillmore explains that distinguishing between linguistic forms is crucial for learning language.  She expands on Cummins’ argument that language is NOT a unidimensional skill.  What are the two types of linguistic skills discussed and how are they distinguished from each other?
2. What does Fillmore suggest needs to be done for struggling readers to avoid a Catch-22?

Pics from Thursday's section...

Regarding Field Notes

I am combing through your field notes, I will get back to each of you, with comments, by class time this upcoming Tuesday. Generally, there will be weeks turnover time between your submission of field notes and when I reply with comments.

Great job yesterday! Assignment for next week.

You all did a wonderful job, on the "fly", of dissecting and analyzing the Rose piece. Next week we will jump right into both the Vygotsky and the Wink & Putney pieces, respectively. I want to try something different, because it is my form belief that teaching is one of the best ways to learn; so instead of formulating questions this week I will leave that up to you all.

Additionally, know that both your literacy autobiography and your case study will be impelled by (research) questions; that is to so, both of these assignments will require you to address questions that you formulate based on your observations. This assignment, then, should be viewed as a kind of preparatory exercise. (And don't fret if your name isn't on the list: everyone will get an opportunity to formulate a question. :)

Here are the students who are responsible for creating discussion question for next week:
Note: Even if you are formulating questions this week, you still need to respond to one of your classmates questions.

For the Wong Filmore, Lily piece, Expectations in diversity:
Jennifer Mendoza
Naomi Amakawa

For Wong Filmore, English Language Development:
Jessica Nevins
John Chony

For Dyson & Genishi, Considering the case...
Kevin Jacobs
Anais Lavoie

The questions should be posted by 7:00pm this Sunday, at the latest. For those of us who are not formulating questions, it is still our responsibility (myself included) to post by the Wednesday that precedes section, no later than 12:00 AM.

Please email me if you are interested in the Saturday newscast/literacy program

Hi all,

Please don't forget to send me an email if you're interested in working with this activity. Provide your first and last name, major, potential time conflicts (and dates if you know for certain), and a few lines on why you're interested in this activity. If you could do that no later than noon on Friday, I would appreciate it. If I don't hear from you, I'll assume you're working with one of the other Saturday OMI programs (and that's completely fine as well).

The newscast/literacy activity runs Saturdays 10am to 1pm at OMI, and this Saturday will be our first session. We'll be doing introductions, getting logged on to the space2cre8 social network I mentioned, seeing some sample digital stories and newscasts, and basically setting the groundwork.

Thanks!

Jenni

jhiggs@berkeley.edu

For section tomorrow: Polina, C.J, Rima, Joanna, Alex will discuss their responses.

Just like I promised last week, for section tomorrow, we will cover student-generated responses to the prompts.

So for the names above, please be prepared to discuss your responses tomorrow. We will do our best to cover most of the prompts; however, the discussion will not be limited to these questions. That said my plan is as follows: first, I will try to give a brief overview of the readings; then, we'll jump into the questions. After the questions are read, I will call on you one-by-one so that we can, as a class, critically analyze the texts in an attempt to uncover pedagogical implications that may potentially improve y/our praxis.

Lecture three

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Please respond to this post ASAP

For those of you who are going to OMI on Saturday, what type of program are you interested in creating or participating in?

According to Dr. Mark Ryan (OMI Superintendent):

"We [at OMI] are offering math tutoring across all grades Saturdays with an emphasis on grades six through nine so we can definitely use help with that. We also have kids who need writing help Saturdays. All will run eight to noon except film which will run ten to one. Have folks report to Mr. Weekes Saturday. He runs the Saturday math program. Ms. Donovan will be helping with the film program... "

re: volunteers for OMI Saturday sessions

Hi all,

I'm Jenni, a Kidnet GSR working at the OMI site. We (Berkeley researchers and OMI administration) have ironed out some details about what Saturday sessions will look like (Saturday sessions will run 10am to 1pm). We can accommodate 5 of you for Saturdays due to the small number of students we'll be working with. There will be 20 OMI students max in the Saturday program, which focuses on newscasts created by student groups of 4, so we only need one volunteer per group.

To help us identify volunteers best suited for the OMI project, we'd like you to submit a brief (1-2 paragraph) statement of purpose and email it to me at jhiggs@berkeley.edu no later than Wednesday evening, 10pm. It doesn't have to be fancy; just share why you want to work at OMI, what skills/knowledge you would bring to this project (e.g., technological know-how, film or journalism experience, previous experience teaching urban youth), and why it might be a good fit.

We will read over these statements and let the five selected volunteers know by Thursday evening, no later than 10pm.

Thanks for your interest, and thanks, Jeremiah, for letting me post this here!

Jenni