be there in 10 minutes.

Re: reading & presentation groups

Hello all,
   This week some of the readings are particularly lengthy. So, my recommendation, if you time is limited, would be to--as a group--delegate sections  (e.g., first 10 pages, second 10 pages, etc.) for group members to cover for presentations. Of course, my hope is that you read your article as well as all of the course articles in their entirety; however, I know that you all are busy, and that your respective schedules may preclude you from doing just that.

Assigned readings & presentation groups

De Certeau, M. (1984). Introduction and Chapters 10-12. The practice of Everyday life (pp. xi-xxiv & 131-175). Berkeley: University of California Press.

Travis

Uriel

Christine

Althusser, L. (1971). Lenin and Philosophy. New York: Monthly Review Press (pp. 127-186).

Kyle

Joyce

Amanda

Banks, J. (2005).  Multicultural education: Characteristics and goals.  In J. Banks and C. Banks (Eds.), Multicultural education: Issues and perspectives (pp. 3-30).  Fifth ed.  New York: Wiley and Sons.

Maris

Nam

Anna

Gee, J. (1991). What is literacy? In C. Mitchell & K. Weiler (Eds.), Rewriting literacy: Culture and the discourse of the other (pp. 3-11). New York: Bergin & Garvey.

Yvonne

Vi

Aubrie

Charity Hudley, A. & Mallinson, C. (2011). Understanding English Language Variation in U.S. Schools. Teachers College Pres. New York, New York. (Chapter 2, 11-36)

Rahwa

Bhavi

Martin

The Heterosexual Privilege Checklist. Accessed from http://queersunited.blogspot.com/2008/10/heterosexual-privilege-checklist.html, June 30, 2011.

We will read this together.

McIntosh, P. (1989). White privilege and male privilege: A personal account of coming to see correspondences through work in women's studies.  Working paper 189.  Wellesley College Center for Research on Women. http://librarian.lishost.org/?p=337

We will read this together in class.

Fanon, Frantz (1968). Black skin, white masks. New York, New York: Grove Press. The Negro and Language (pp. 17-33).

Jeremiah

Anzaldua, G. (1987). How to tame a wild tongue. In Borderlands/La Frontera: The new mestiza (53-64). San Francisco: Spinsters/Aunt Lute.

Sen

Mehanie

Jake

Diane

class will begin at 10:10am this morning

No NEW presentations tomorrow.

Hello all,
  As most of you know, I've been out of the loop, attending to my growing family. I am back on line now, at least for a little while. I just want to let you all know that, with the exception of groups who did not present on Thursday, there will be no (new) presentations tomorrow. Instead, presentations will resume on Thursday, 5/30. I will post the assigned readings and reading groups later on this evening.

Also, we will discuss field site happenings, in detail, tomorrow in class.

Introducing: Malachi Jeremiah Sims, born 5/26/12 @ 10:02pm

Blog Entry, Week One - Additive Approach

Jumping on the bandwagon...so what everyone else said about Jeremiah and his new son!

I don't have a specific article that I'm going to respond to, so I'll just reflect on a part of what we discussed in class last week. One of the concepts that stood out to me the most was the additive approach to learning. Jeremiah gave us the example of helping students improve their (SAT?) vocabulary by associating the vocabulary words with more colloquial ones that the students are familiar with. So my question is, why is it important that we use this sort of approach--to welcome each student's cultural identity into a classroom? As the name additive learning implies, it serves as a foundation to help the student build on to what he or she is already familiar with, such as a native language besides the "standard" one. From kindergarten to third grade, I was fortunate enough to be in Chinese-bilingual class settings in which the teacher taught the class in both Chinese and English; as a kindergarten student, it was easier to remember what "cat" meant because I could associate it with its Chinese name, mao. Sometimes (perhaps not so much today?), as Anzaldua talks about in her piece "How to Tame a Wild Tongue," students like her are discouraged from speaking in their native tongues at school and are pushed to speak something more standard instead. Although understanding standard English both in and out of the classroom is important, so is maintaining one's cultural identity and feeling comfortable expressing it through a native language.

blog entry 1: what is literacy?

What is Literacy?

On the first day of class, Jeremiah challenged us to revise the standard and archaic definition of literacy: being able to read and write.  Among other things, that definition lacks a certain contextual element, such as being able to “read a situation.”

In “Youth Culture and Digital Media: New Literacies for New Times,” Glynda Hull explores the concept of technological literacy.  She defines literacy as a “familiarity with the full range of communicative tools... sensitivity to the power and importance of representation of self and others, along with the space and support to communicate critically” (Hull, 230).  Essentially, she argues that literacy is the ability to communicate through different mediums with knowledge of how important that ability is.  Ultimately, she argues for multimedia literacy programs in classrooms, but I will not discuss the merits of that here.  What her definition implies is that literacy goes beyond books and words and should include pictures, videos, and other multimedia sources.  I agree that this conclusion is important for the increasingly visualized culture we live in, but I think it should be additive to the current definition and not necessarily replace it.  Remembering Freire’s notion of literacy as a tool to “either empower or disempower people” (Freire, 98), let’s explore the implications of Hull’s definition.  Pictorial literacy may benefit the youth culture, but it certainly harms the older generation, whose concept of literacy is based on the more traditional one.  Ultimately, I think Hull is arguing for a more comprehensive definition so as to empower more traditionally disenfranchised people and I do agree with her belief that literacy can be defined more broadly as the ability to communicate.  However, I do find it interesting to see what generational effects such a changing definition would have.

Hello everybody! :) I'm still a bit puzzled as to how the blog entry works, but I'm going to be posting on the Youth culture and digital media: New literacies for new times. Research in the Teaching of English as well. More than having a specific question, I want to pose my thoughts on whether or not this new media centered education will work or not, depending on its pros and cons. Well first of all, it's true that much of the youth today is very much centered around the media. Much of what we buy, much of what we wear and eat is derived of the media. From simple things such as TV reality shows and magazine articles to things such as the news or radio talk shows, we take those things in and allow ourselves to become immersed in and influenced by it. Then, (as the article is saying) since our daily social lives are so influenced by the media, it just makes sense that media should be able to have a positive influence on our educational lives as well. I think that this argument can have its obvious pros and cons. I guess as a youth and student myself, I should be able to see the pros first. I myself am not that creative of a person, but I can see how making films and songs and plays to depict what you're learning can help. Even in grade school, the happiest days are when the teacher rolls in the little TVs and plays a film. If that can be a regular part of education, I feel that students might even enjoy learning a bit more. Also, students tend to only focus on using the left side of their brain when working in school. The creative aspect of this method will force a student to also utilize his/her right brain. However, there are the obvious downsides of this education as well. Not only will it involve much doubt (what will work? what will not?) it will take an enormous increase in the already lacking funding. I guess it's more logistics. I myself don't mind learning with a textbook and notebook in front of me, but this sort of interactive learning can increase literacy in more ways than just being able to read a book. If this sort of youth culture&media program can be implemented in a timely & reasonably priced manner, I think it's a new method that we really should be thinking of. If you've already had the baby, YAYYAYAYYA! :) Congratulations!!!! See you all tomorrow :) Christine.

Week One Response: "How to Tame a Wild Tongue" by G. Anzaldua

Hey Guys! This is Joyce. I’m doing something similar to Nam’s post except on a reading from this Tuesday (5/29). Good luck to Jeremiah and his new son!! 

My Question: 

        In thinking about literacy, language plays an essential part, especially in Freire’s concept of “emancipatory literacy”. Freire writes that “language represents who we are and represents our existence”. Similarly, language and identity come hand in hand in G. Anzaldua’s literacy autobiography, “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”. Struggling to reconcile the two opposing discourses that embody the English and Spanish languages, Anzaldua uses the space of her writing, an act of literacy in and of itself, to construct her identity through a new form of bilingual literacy, where both Spanish and English need not be denied. I find it worth thinking about how Anzaldua was able to do so. She uses both Spanish and English in her essay, switching fluidly between the two languages without pausing to translate. Why? What is the effect of her doing so? How does this inform the way she internalizes language as part of her identity?

Response:

       Anzaldua is an example of someone who kept her culture and identity close to heart, thereby suffering oppression. She writes, “I cannot accept the legitimacy of myself. Until I am free to write bilingually and to switch codes without having always to translate…as long as I have to accommodate the English speakers rather than having them accommodate me, my tongue will be illegitimate.” It seems however, that by writing this piece where Chicano Spanish is fluidly weaved and integrated with English to the point that some of her main points are made in Spanish, Anzaldua is legitimizing herself. As her English reader, I am made to accommodate her language, finding myself asking Spanish speaking friends and resorting to translating sites to get the full meaning of her writing. Some of her thoughts turned out to be quite important: For example, “Un lenguaje que corresponde a un modo de vivir”, which means “A language that corresponds to a way of life”, elaborated how integral a part language plays in Anzaldua’s culture in a whole new sense. It was frustrating at first, but I came to understand it as Anzaldua’s freedom in asserting her identity through her native language. I could also see it as a mechanism to turn the tables and allow the readers to taste the language barrier disconnects she went through. In this way, she internalizes her languages to prove a part of her identity, proving her statement that “ethnic identity is twin skin to linguistic identity”. 

Response to Hull [Week One]

Hi everybody - I'm not sure if we're supposed to have a blog entry up this weekend, but just in case, I'm writing mine. Hope everything's going well for you and the baby, Jeremiah :)

Since there are no questions on this week's reading that I can find, I'm going to write my own on Youth Culture and Digital Media: New Literacies for New Times, by Hull.

My question - this week's readings were all really centered on the establishing literacy as something malleable and powerful. We saw how Freire deemed it a tool for overcoming oppression, and how Scribner saw it as a tool for self improvement [among other things]. Yet, we have yet to see this type of thinking, and these kinds of programs that Hull writes about trickle down to America as a whole. I think this is a phenomenon that's worth exploring - why this type of thinking isn't more widespread? Why haven't these ideas and programs become more popular, considering how empowering they seem to be for young students [and especially students of color]?

Response: While it is quite clear that technology has created a new level of literacy and understanding within students, I think this lack of support really can be traced back to two factors: an inadequate level of funding to support them, and an educational force mostly ill equipped to teach that literacy. Many teachers [at least in my experience] recognize that every student has life experiences worth bringing to the classroom, but not all of them have the time or energy or expertise to utilize or take advantage of those experiences in more creative and untraditional ways. Many English teachers have their students talk about situations in their lives that respond to the text, but because of the age of constant stimulation students are growing up in, I think Hull's types of programs are becoming more and more important - students need to be challenged in ways beyond the traditional verbal or written areas, if education as a whole is to adapt. Their literacies [and yes, students have many of them] need to be engaged as well. Perhaps what this suggests is a need for an overhaul of educational training - making the next generation of teachers aware of how these pools of resources their students bring with them, just waiting to be tapped.

Contractions are getting stronger, and more frequent.

Hello all,
   This is my last email until Baby Boy Sims #2 is born. We are getting close, and will probably be headed to the hospital soon. So, I will be incommunicado; I apologize if I owe anyone a response, but obviously, I am preoccupied at the moment.

Field site info

  As promised, the field site info is pasted below. My firm recommendations is that each of you take the time to go to the websites of each site, so that you get a better idea as to just which site you're most interested in working with. 

School Site Contact Info:

Oakland Military Instititue
3877 Lusk Street
Oakland, CA 94608
Phone: (510) 594-3900
Fax: (510) 597-9886
Email: info@omiacademy.org

Principal: Mark Ryan, mryan@omiacademy.org
Site Coordinator: Michael Appis, mappis@omiacademy.org

http://www.oakmil.org/omiacademy/site/default.asp

Our Lady of the Rosary678 B Street
Union City, CA 94587-2141
Phone: (510) 471-3765

Principal: Gloria Galarsa, ggalarsa@csdo.org
Site Coordinator: Jill Chacon, jchacon@csdo.org

http://www.olrschool.com/

Saint Anthony’s Catholic School1500 E. 15TH Street
Oakland, CA 94606
Phone: (510) 534-3334

Principal: Barbara Flannery
Vice Principal: Marisol Preciado, mpreciado@csdo.org
Site Coordinator: Rogelio Nevarez, rnnevarez@csdo.org

http://stanthonyschool.spruz.com/

St. Cornelius Catholic School201 28th Street
Richmond, CA 94804
Phone: (510) 232-3326

Principal: Sherri Moradi, sherrimoradi@yahoo.com
Site Coordinator: Gregory Defabio, gdefabio@csdo.org

http://home.catholicweb.com/StCornelius/

St. Elizabeth Elementary School
1516 33rd Ave.
Oakland, CA 94601
Phone: (510) 532-7392

Principal: Sr. Rose Marie Hennessy, rhennessy@csdo.org
Site Coordinator: Utami Setiyadi, usetiyadi@saintelizabeth.us

http://saintelizabeth.us/

St. Jarlath Elementary School2634 Pleasant St.
Oakland, CA 94602
Phone: (510) 532-4387

Principal: Rodney Pierre-Antoine, rpierre-antoine@csdo.org
Site Coordinator: Brother Chris Saindon, csaindon@csdo.org

http://www.stjarlath.org/

St. Martin de PorresSaint Martin de Porres – K-5
675 41st Street
Oakland, CA 94609

Saint Martin de Porres – Middle School
1630 10th Street
Oakland, CA 94607
Phone: (510) 832-1757

Principal: Ann Magovern, amagovern@csdo.org
Site Coordinator: Nora Kenney, nkenney@csdo.org

http://www.stmdp.org/

Castlemont Community of Small Schools
8601 Macarthur Blvd
Oakland, CA 94605-4037
Phone: (510) 879-3010
Site Coordinators:Linda Osuorji, losuorji@yahoo.com (530-680-1913)Ache Lytle, acheiam@aol.com (510-326-4398)

Blog Response Protocol

     Each week students in this section will be responsible for answering one (posted) reading-related question; all questions will come directly from the readings for a given week. Your responses should demonstrate some understanding of the material in question; that is to say, I am less interested in whether or not you liked the assigned articles (though I hope you do), than I am in your ability to identify and critically analyze the positions/main arguments presented within the texts. 
       However, if you do not find my questions particularly compelling and wish to pose your own instead, you are welcome to do so. Your query (in order to earn the full two points) must ask an important question and provide context as to why you have deemed the question “worth asking”. Likewise, if you opt to address a post from one of your classmates (in detail) rather than answer the assigned questions, this too is acceptable. I want this blog to be our dialogue; so, to be clear I am disinterested in twenty-plus, slightly differently-worded answers to the same two questions. I much prefer and feel it is far more helpful to have class-wide, multi-layered conversations on the texts that will be covering.

     Remember, you are precluded from answering a question on your assigned reading. That said, you are free to respond to any question on any reading other than the one that you are assigned to present on.


So now I’ll get to what you really care about...


In order to receive the full 3 points:

· Each entry should be at least 150 words, (but no more than 250 words).
· Spelling and grammar matter.
· Avoid summarizing in your responses; instead, offer an analysis of the text.

Reading groups for tomorrow, Thursday May 25th.

Here are your reading groups. Because we are somewhat rushed, I will set aside 45 minutes for you all to work together in groups, in class, to prepare your presentations. Obviously. you need to read your assigned article, in full, prior to tomorrow's class, so that you can get to work on constructing your presentation as soon as class begins.

Just a reminder, regarding how presentations will work:

Each group will have 10 minutes to present; then, following the presentation, a given group will remain standing for n additional 5 minutes in order to answer questions about the reading covered. I would prefer that each member participate, but will not negatively sanction people who are naturally taciturn, (though I do hope that this exercise will help us all come out of our shells).

Pointers on presentations:

• Make sure you capture and illuminate the thesis, or primary argument of your assigned text; you want to ensure that your classmates, at the very least, understand what the main point of a given text is.
• Feel free to take a position, i.e., you disagree or agree with a given writers thesis. Just make sure that prior to doing this you accurately and cogently delineate said writers main point.
• Offer an insightful summary: son't simply tell us what was written; instead, attempt to draw parallels with your own, subjective, experiences, course themes or other course readings.

Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and Education: an introduction to the philosophy of education (Chapters 1 & 2).

Tuongvi Troung

Aubrie Cook

Rahwa Hailemichael

Meygan Ngo

Duncan-Andrade, J. (2009). Note to Educators: Hope Required When Growing Roses in Concrete. Harvard Educational Review (Volume 79, Number 2; Summer 2009). ISSN 0017-8055

Xuemeng Li

Amanda Glass

Matis Asatyan

Travis Huang

Freire, Paulo. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. 30th Anniversary Edition (2000) with an introduction by Donaldo Macedo (pp. 71-86). New York: Continuum.

Ziqin Xu

Eddie Huang

Jake Wrobel

Yvonne Miranda

Freire, P., & Macedo, D. (1987). Chapter 7: Literacy and critical pedagogy (pp. 98—110). In Readingthe word and the world. London: Routledge.

Alex Tran

Dowon Kim

Medhanie Gebray

Nam Le

Scribner, S. (1988). Literacy in three metaphors.  In E.R. Kintgen, B.M. Kroll, & M. Rose (Eds.), Perspectives on literacy (pp. 71-81).  Carbondale, IL:  Southern Illinois University Press.

Kyle Caravelli

Bhavi Vohra

Anna Morris

Joyce Chang

Hull, G. (2003). Youth culture and digital media: New literacies for new times. Research in the Teaching of English 38, 2: 229-233.

Diane Cho

Martin Diaz

Uriel Lopez

Christine Yang