CI 414/504 Fall 2024 Coppola

     This week's reading was a bit different than usual, but nonetheless I enjoyed the graphic novel. The Arrival by Shaun Tan is a wordless graphic novel that tells the story of a man that sails to foreign land to seek a better life, leaving his family behind. The graphic novel tells a story that a lot of people can relate to, not only to those who migrate to another country, but also those who struggle fitting in. Overall, I enjoyed the graphic novel not only for the story it convey, but also the art style. It give a drawn on old paper feel to it, which I very much find appealing.      I t was difficult trying to make a connection between the novel and my discipline, but I came up with a few ideas. In terms of thinking mathematically while reading, you can make connections to math concepts like graphs or mathematical notations or you can look for patterns like shapes, structures, etc. For example, on page 21 (of the pdf) students can identify geometric s...

     Buehl’s chapter emphasizes that building disciplinary literacy and inquiry skills is not just about understanding a text’s content, but also about helping students become thinkers within that discipline. By modeling and scaffolding inquiry, providing necessary background knowledge, and encouraging engagement with text features, teachers can help out students in navigating and critically engaging with the complex materials they run into in various subjects. From what I interpreted, the end goal here is to prepare students to think like disciplinary experts and critics, depending on the disciplinary context.      The question I want to ask everyone is; why do you feel building background knowledge so essential for students when reading disciplinary texts? What ways can teachers effectively prepare students to engage with complex, discipline specific content? Feel free to share any strategies you’ve utilized or plan to implement in your teaching spaces!

The graphic novel The Arrival by Shaun Tan has no words but still conveys a powerful message. With just illustrations, readers can see that this story is about a man who leaves his family to go to a new place in search of a better life. The story shows that this journey of being an immigrant can be scary and unfamiliar, but eventually, you find your way. Shaun Tan uses different colors to show the emotions that the characters feel at that time. For example, the illustrations have warm tones of yellow when the characters are happy. When it is scary or unfamiliar for the character, it is cold and has a grey hue. This strategy is really effective because warm tones are associated with feeling positive, and cold tones are the opposite. This is especially useful in art, but it also can be applied to many other disciplines. This association with colors is a scientific phenomenon because we feel happier when things are bright, and the sun is shining. Most of the time, we feel more depressed w...

I watched one of the documentaries provided by Free Spirit Media and one of them was on gun violence. Gun violence is an extremely prevalent concern within our nation and in our schools. While the documentary doesn't specifically touch on gun violence in school, but rather it talks about what could be the root of gun violence. It mentions our communities, the flow of guns and where they are coming from, the right to bear arms, all things that relates to guns and some thoughts about it. There is a part in the documentary that mentions the disparity of gun distribution in our city of Chicago. It was said that there is not many guns on the north side of Chicago. But rather, many of the guns are in the west and south side of Chicago where there are many minorities. The question that they posed was, why is it that there are more guns in the south and west side than the north? Is it our politicians or people in power and wealth that do nothing to help those communities out of that violen...

 ( Digital Literacies for Disciplinary Learning: A Call to Action )      This week's reading on literacies highlights a critical truth about modern education: information is abundant, but understanding and application continue to pose challenges and complexities. While access to digital tools has revolutionized the ways we engage with knowledge both inside and outside the classroom, it also raises the question about how we prepare students to thoughtfully and creatively navigate all information they can access with just a few clicks. As expressed in the reading, as digital change accelerates, educators can no longer rely on traditional practices and simply expect leaders to find the connection and apply them in online contexts. For me, it stresses the need for the design learning experience to go beyond consuming information, but to encourage deeper engagement with disciplinary practices through digital means.      One notable takeaway from the reading...

 I am mainly going to be focused on the reading about Mullen High School but it seems that for this week's readings overall there is a discussion about the use of including digital resources towards instruction.  What I liked about the Digital Atelier (DA) that Muller High School is the fact that it wasn't focused on one thing and about content material that they have learned in schools but instead on the students interests. On top of that mentors, that monitor and instruct students at the DA, are open to using online resources that will help students improve on their disciplinary trajectories instead of just relying on their disciplinary knowledge / expertise. Wilson points this out in the fourth paragraph of  Verbs, Language, and Culture , as teachers we tend to forget the wealth of our knowledge and try to rely on that when instructing students. There are so many digital resources now that could better visualize or explain something to a student and might lean towards ...