Verbs, Language, and Culture
I would like to start this post by praising the researchers behind this study. In their consecutive summers of work, they continued to increase the length of their summer institutes, allowing teachers to take more time to apply what they were learning and create things to be used in the classroom. One of my biggest issues with the professional development structure at my school (and this practice is not extraordinary) is the lack of time to process what they want us to learn.
They give us an hour, to two hours, of professional development, and then move on. We do not get the time to digest the material or think about how it can be used in our classrooms. Schools want to check the professional development box and think we are like robots. If we have the information we can just change things on the fly, not thinking of the planning, grading, student-parent communication, etc. that we already have on our plate.
I do not use textbooks in my history classroom, we as a department select readings from various texts and put them into a booklet for each unit for our students to read. I think in doing this we remove a lot of the issues around language because we use writers like Yuval Harari, the Stanford Exchange, or the OER project (any of my history people I highly recommend diving into the curriculum they provide and see what bits you like). In this way, our students get a much more narrative approach to history, especially through Harari's writing. I used to complain about Harari's writing a bit because he can drag points on and on with different examples, but in reading things for today's class I believe that is a better approach for students.
I really like the idea of categorizing verbs that Schleppegrell brings up. I have to remind myself from time to time that I have a wealth of knowledge many of my students do not have. As a non-English teacher, I know a lot about the English language subconsciously and that makes it harder for me to identify struggles some of my students may have. I know how these verbs function in a sentence, but I do not know how to teach my students about how they function. A simple activity to start every unit to classify action-verbs, thinking-feeling verbs, and relating verbs can go a long way in helping both ELL, and native English-speaking, students be able to access texts more easily.
Now in reading about English and Language Arts, it was wonderful to see students pride in their culture and how they were able to connect with it through the medium of poetry. Props to our professor. Although as a history teacher, I do not get to have students create things via their culture, I think I can do a better job of showing off culture. One thing that comes to mind is including more languages in the analysis of primary sources. I do not teach ELL courses, but I do have students who read/speak other languages. I can include the original languages of the primary sources we analyze along with an English translation. I can also do a better job of highlighting the cultures we are studying and the beauty they provide the world.
These readings have come at a great time for me because we are going to start looking at the Old World System (OWS) in our next unit. For those who are not familiar with it, the OWS is the interconnected trade routes of Afro-Eurasia. In this unit, we are going to take a non-eurocentric approach and look at all the wonderful things about Afro-Asia and how European accomplishments were only possible because of the greatness that was Afro-Asia. This is the perfect time to intentionally include culture, and language, in my course.
When I first read this article, I was finding myself saying "well, duh" to a good portion of it as CBI was something that was taught to be a core component of L2 instruction, until I saw the date of publication being 20 years ago. Now, I think this article and others like it were instrumental in what I learned during my undergrad courses.
ReplyDeleteDespite that, I actually haven't really considered the tactic of separating out sentences by Subject/Verb/ Object (also really liked the section commenting on who is given agency in these texts and who isn't). This would be beneficial to many students as a comprehension strategy but even more useful for ESL students who's L1 grammar syntax is different from the English SVO structure. It would even be useful for students that use English as their L1, but struggle making meaning from text anyway for any reason. It helps students actually engage and think about the text by organizing the information presented on them.
When I was teaching at a therapeutic day school, we had professional development days that I also found to be not helpful. We mainly just used those days to catch up on grading and read chapters about classroom management since that was very important in that school.
ReplyDeleteI found it interesting that you put excerpts from history textbooks for the students to read instead of giving them the entire textbook. This definitely is a good strategy because middle and high school students might find reading the entire textbook difficult, and it also may not be necessary for them to do that. I have also found that kids in this new generation struggle to read more than the others. This could be the fact that they were born around technology, so the parents just give them the iPad instead of reading a book with them and having them practice the language outside of school. Because of this, it is important to help the students read in school and give them small amounts of reading so that they do not get overwhelmed and perform poorly.
I want to preface this comment with the fact that I feel like I always find a way to resonate with the points you make in class and on these blogs, and it really shows how relatable you are as an educator and as a person. That being said, I wanted to point out a similar struggle I'm having in just the idea of teaching a foreign language (given I haven't started my teaching career yet). Just like you, I subconsciously know how English and Spanish work, which makes explaining how language/grammar works on a technical level and it's a very intimidating concept (for me) to consider, given that this is my chosen profession.
ReplyDeleteThe unit you guys are covering right now seems very interesting in that it challenges certain aspects of white exceptionalism and how curriculum has changed since I was in formal education. Goes back really well to the pieces we read last week in regards to Baldwin and teaching students their OWN history, so props to you.
Even though I did not read the same article as you, I am intrigued with categorizing verbs. Creating time to perform activities allows students to understand what teachers assume they already know. I think it is also important to let your students know that you are learning along with them. As a student who last took History in my senior year, I remember being bored reading chapters from books. I do believe there is plenty of information these textbooks can provide but it can be challenging to digest and stay on task. Reading, in this case, was done to check off my list of homework rather than understanding fully what it meant. I appreciate that you use various texts as it makes it (hopefully) entertaining, nontraditional, and meaningul for students.
ReplyDeleteI read your response, and I wanted to express my enthusiasm for your department using sources that are assessable for all students regardless of reading level or language barrier. However, I wanted to ask what do you think textbooks are good for? I also wanted to converse on when you think textbooks are good for. I’m thinking of it now, and I think I may use a textbook in my class. But for me. I think they may be useful in leading your lectures in specific directions, but this is where I wanted to comment on your statement about letting students create their own narratives. I think combining the two of lecturing and textbooks (for yourself) is useful. Overall, I liked the point you made and wanted to know your thoughts on textbooks.
ReplyDeleteIts great to see that you're advocating for practical, impactful profession developments that gives students time to apply new methods effectively. The way you select specific readings instead of using a traditional textbook, add value to the students learning experience, making history more engaging and relevant. Your idea of categorizing verbs is also a clever way to help students understand more complex tests, benefiting both native English speakers and those learning English. Your thoughtful preparation of your Old World System unit will surely inspire a meaningful connection to global history and learning experience.
ReplyDelete"Learning history requires much more than just reading the textbook. Students need to engage in a variety of activities, using both everyday language and academic language, if they are to gain control of the discourse through which history is told." This quote really summed it up for me from this week's reading on how significant of a role language plays in understanding the full scope of what's being taught in subjects such as history. I really like the way you go about addressing this by not assigning textbooks for reading, and instead compiling select readings for your students. This approach is making more and more sense to me because I feel that students sometimes lose interest in reading from the same textbook over and over again in a linear fashion and also assigning readings from various sources allows you to draw upon multiple sources to teach students just in case one source wasn't effective at getting the job done for whatever reason. This approach would of course have to be supplemented with techniques covered in the reading such as Identifying the participants, identifying the events, categorizing the verbs, etc... in order for the students to have the best chance of understanding what's happening and retaining that information, as well. All in all, I enjoyed reading through your discussion post this week because you introduced me to OWS, OER, and the Stanford Exchange and it got me thinking about how important linguistic analysis is for teaching a subject such as history.
ReplyDeleteIts interesting to see the non-use of textbooks, as a student i hate textbooks and i feel like we never really use them in class. Or at least I never see them used, especially for my priority of math. All through highschool when we had to get textbooks just for them to never be touched throughout all of class. I do remember many classes using texts taken from places other than the textbook and i think thats cool and all but when i still have to get textbooks in the beggining of the year it annoys me.
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