There were things that I definitely regret saying and things that I did not say at the right time. If I were given a choice to possess anything, I would choose ‘wisdom’ over other things. But then… people can become wise with experience and lots of readings. I wish though that I can just have it without going through all the troubles and embarrassing moments. Just like.. voila! I am wise! (this is different from being smart…!)

1)   on fb more than I used to and definitely more than I should be (reading every single comment and status? No… not that much)

2)   suddenly finding every single article on NYT interesting and my reading ends with Classifieds (just to be ready for next summer when I have to find a new place…right…)

3)   constantly feeling the necessity to clean my room (and even move my furnitures around)

4)   complaining more than I used to (for those around me, I am sorry)

5)   listening to Christmas music 24/7

6)   filling my cabinet up with junk food like squirrels storing their food for winter

7)   drinking at least one cup of coffee a day

8)   writing something that is totally not related to 4137…

and the list goes on…

Anyway, for my last paper in 4137, I am researching and writing about effectiveness of classroom discourse. Since I did not have much discussion in my high school and undergraduate classes (especially mathematics), I was skeptical about this method at the beginning of the term. By the mid of the semester, I came to a realization how effective the classroom discourse is to students’ learning. Then, after a study tour to Russia and followed-up research on other countries’ education systems, I now cannot say or decide that I prefer one method to the other. I used to criticize the teachers who did not prepare any group work in their lessons. However, I now understand why they used certain materials and methods. The direction I am to take in my paper (which will be ‘revealed’ later) is solely based on other studies, books, and my observations, yet I hope to have better ideas once I start student teaching.

Making ComicLife was definitely FUN! (I thought cartoonists all drew their own lines/borders! Never thought of the computer program like this!) Anyway, I am off to Russia tomorrow! wheeee! And I still haven’t started packing yet! I am somewhat excited, but also worried about finals/papers that are waiting for me after I come back… Until then, have an awesome Thanksgiving everyone!

jkim

Making Public Writing Possible ‘in Classroom’ –  As for the choice of writing topics, it seems obvious to me that topics which students can relate to themselves are more appealing and “feeling of ownership is enhanced and the chance for deep engagement is elevated”. I guess ‘not-so-obvious’ part is where a teacher has to relate these issues to the topics in curriculum. Then, the section on plagiarism suggests topics that would prevent plagiarism, and these were also suitable in increasing students’ interests in general.

Writing in Knowledge-Building Communities

“full literacy – the disposition to engage appropriately with texts of different types in order to empower action, thinking, and feeling in the context of purposeful social activity – will never be achieved until students’ interests and purposes become the driving force for the literacy curriculum”

“writing is usually monologic in its production” — Even if I know who my ‘readers’ are going to be, I sometimes find it hard to organize and express my thoughts in writing. Then the article continues, “In order to make one’s meaning clear for others, one must first make it clear for oneself. Writing is thus potentially a powerful means of developing one’s own understanding of the topic about which one is writing.” Ah-ha!

“Writing thus encourages one to interrogate one’s interpretations of others’ utterances as well as of one’s own personal experiences and beliefs in order to add to the ongoing dialogue in some way that enriches the community’s understanding of the relevant area of experience.”

It was interesting to read a case of Computer Supported International Learning Environment since I recently observed a class where the teacher did the exact same thing. She gave a project to her students, and they had to post the journal/article of their choice, write analysis, and comment each others’ writing. Also, the three examples in this article show how the knowledge building related to collaborative work, “composition of a synoptic text”, and development of critical thinking in a written form. So far, I’ve seen numerous cases where collaborative work boost students’ interest to do anything (writing, talk, and read), but the issue is that I do not see any success cases in high school or I do not see how far this ‘collaborative knowledge building’ can lead students into writing, especially in different genres and tones, besides ‘argumentative’ form.

Three important roles that teachers should play (from the article): 1. Create settings and activities in which genuine purposes for writing may develop as well as audiences to whom the writing may be addressed. 2. Provide advice and instruction when they will be most helpful. 3. Be contingently responsive support to individual students at varying stages in the composition and revision of their texts.

“(requires that) educators teach students not only knowledge but also how to critique knowledge”

“This mainstream knowledge – whether historical or scientific, mathematical or literary – is thought to shut down possibilities for other forms of knowledge to be generated or to send implicit messages to students about the value of their community or home knowledge”  - I find this point quite the opposite of what I have seen all my life. Schools, where the mainstream knowledge are provided, encourage students to value ‘community or home knowledge’ and to share them with their peers. From what I have experienced, many students are involved in activities with their communities that students do not gain all knowledge from math or science.

“The simple rules served as guidelines for how to proceed, and the teachers acted as coaches and mentors when, inevitably, problems developed and questions arose”.  I used to think that teachers have responsibilities and have to take great parts in students’ learning. However, as I observe classes and read articles like this one, I learned that teachers can only help, but should not overdo it. In other words, teachers should not ‘do’ the thinking for students.

“How were they to know that the learning process has its natural ups and downs?” I thought this article explained quite well the process of students’ understanding, from an introduction of new materials to application of the newly gained knowledge.

Why Historical Thinking Matters… The last time I took a course in history is in my junior year in high school. I do not remember much of involvement of thinking, but rather the memorizing (maybe this is why I have become more attracted to mathematics than history). However, when I come across the art works based on history (books, paintings, movies, etc.), I find history quite fascinating. We study history so that we can learn from it and not to repeat the mistakes we made in the past. Nevertheless, as we can witness everyday, the issues in our society and the ongoing wars do not seem to reflect the purpose in studying history. (Maybe it is because of all the ‘cramming’ just as mentioned in the video…) How much information is true? How precisely and truthfully do journalists report in newspapers, which will eventually become history to the future? Can we believe them? When stories are skewed (politically or in any other ways), it seems that historians do have tough jobs to set the records straight…  Looking forward to meeting the guest speaker today :]

Looking Closely at a Science Trade Book: Gail Gibbons and Multimodal Literacy:  It was definitely interesting to read about the process of writing a textbook (not just any textbooks, but Gibbons’ creative and exceptional science books). One phrase that I would like to mention: “illustration technique was quite important, even in nonfiction”.  I think it could have been stated as “especially in nonfiction” since the article focuses on “deepening children’s connections to the visual content”.

A. Flurkey and Y. Goodman’s article was somewhat new to me. What I mean by this is that I have never read The Magic School Bus books, but only watched shows a few times in Gr.8 Science classes;  after this reading, I was quite fascinated by all the work and reasoning behind that were put into these narrative non-fictions. The research (with Zachary) certainly provided many different aspects of analyzing one child’s learning progress and behaviors. However, I could nt help to wonder if other children would show the similar reading styles or the miscues that Zachary had.  I understand that how important these visual representations are,  especially for younger children. Although, if they become comfortable for having visual representations all the time, would they still be able to absorb the information just from text as easily?

C. Donovan and L. Smolkin’s article was a rather slow reading for me. A few ideas like Lexical density and descriptions of different types of information books were not totally new to me.  However, elements of genre and all other technical terms just confused me; visual diagram, more of a tree diagram, helped me a bit to get rough ideas. I guess that texts do affect largely on students’ learning, and I think I need to work on my ‘reading to learn’. 

It seems that the books I read for this course and other courses point out many times how important it is to connect between prior and new knowledge. I do not disagree, but what would happen if a student does not have that particular prior experience or knowledge in relevance to the new one? I just cannot see how students (grade 1 students for instance) have related experience for every single topic. Also, if they do not have related experience, what are the steps to take in order tohelp them to understand the new concepts? Am I being too critical?…

Facilitating Meaningful Discussion of Mathematics

I have so far read, heard or discussed many times how important mathematics classroom discourse is. This article was somewhat refreshing because unlike other articles, it actually provided three phases of a successful discussion. These three parts are “generating ideas, comparing and evaluating ideas, and focusing the range of ideas.” I was very impressed how David carefully and constructively put the lessons together, and how well they worked. The three steps are very easy to understand, yet when I think of coming up with such lessons, it wouldn’t be an easy task. Nevertheless, I definitely look forward to try implementing this method in the future and search for more possibilities.

to be continued…