Double Entry Journal # 15

1. "In my mind, play and learning can and should be intimately
linked."

I selected this quote because it is something that I strongly agree with. I think that playing and imagining is how students learn. This is because they model life experiences and have the ability to think freely.

2. "If we want
children to develop as creative thinkers, we need to provide
them with more opportunities to create."

I selected this quote because I agree that schools don't give students enough opportunity to create an original product. A lot of teaching strategies require students to complete worksheets with definite answers or answer choices instead of allowing students to learn on a broader scale.

3. "Lots of things can go wrong, stick with it"

In my 30 hr. clinical I was faced with situations during teaching that I wasn't prepared for. I didn't want to waste the students' times, so I tried backing out of my plan and changing to a new lesson. By following through with my plan, I was able to find quicker, better, and more productive ways of completing my lesson.

Double Entry Journal #14

Chapter 7: Shape-Shifting Portfolio People * Chapter 8 A final Word the content fetish

1. What was the most interesting idea you encountered as you read the chapter?

The most interesting part of the chapter for me was when the author described Seasame Street, Barney and Friends, and Blue's Clues. All of the information hat he described were things that were obvious for me except for when he states that Seasame Street is designed to include the parents in watching the show. When he contrasted the other two shows to Seasame Street in this sense, I was really intrigued with the differences and his reasons for how that changes the show.

2. What connections can you make between Gee's critique and Sir Ken Robinsons' critique of traditional schooling?

I can see a relationship between Robinson's point that schools kill creativity and Gee's point that learning is done best as a cultural process. Learning isn't done because the uniqueness, creativity, and culture of each student is not accepted or valued in the classroom.

3. How did this book change or support your understanding of good teaching?

It helped me better explain why students should gain experience in particular interests in order to learn. This is because the vocabulary and language won't have a meaning for the person until they've had an experience that causes them to give a word a meaning.

Short Responses to the Youtube Video "Do Schools Kill Creativity?"

Three ideas you agree with.

Two ideas that surprised you.

One idea that confused you or that you disagree with.

___________________________________________________________

1. Everybody is unique and extremely creative. Because of this our future circumstances are unpredictable.

2. The younger a person is the less frightened they are to be wrong. This is a likely cause as to why I feel less creative at the age of 21 than I did when I was 5 or 8.

3. The value of art and creativity is greatly unappreciated in public schools. The lack of support causes people to avoid careers in drama, music, and art.

_____

1. I was surprised by the story of the student who was drawing God in class. I think she surprised the teacher with her response as well.

2. (I thought some of his jokes were funny and helped with his presentation.)

_____

1. Academic inflation. I understand what the speaker meant by the term; however, is it really a problem that higher degrees will award you a specific job? What is the real problem? Is it that schools teach us what the world already knows? Should college be more a journey and less like it is? A journey that allows students to participate in inquiry in a real environment instead of a virtual environment..?

Double Entry Journal # 13

Chapter 6: Affinity Spaces

1. Give an example of a "community of practice" in which you are currently participating in.

Becoming a culturally responsive teacher with peers who are also working with a host teacher.

2.Why is the term "community" better defined in relation to spaces rather than groups of people?

There are limits as to what makes you a member of a community. Spaces focus on how people interact with content and one another.

3. What is a "generator"? What is it's counterpart in school?  Something that gives a space content. The textbook may be a generator for a classroom.

4. What is a "content organizer"? What is it's counterpart in school? A content organizer is a designer of how to communicate content. The teacher who rethinks the content based on student beliefs, actions, and interactions.

5. What is a "portal"? What is it's counterpart in school? It is anything that gives a person access to the content and to ways of interacting with the content. In school this could also be the textbook.

6. What do people have an "affinity" for in an "affinity space"? How does this inform your understanding of good teaching?

They are attracted to  engaging in the sharing and gaining of knowledge of the content. It makes me want to find attractive ways to make my classroom an affinity space where everyone's voice is heard and everyone engages with the content in their own way.

7. How do "affinity spaces" support inclusive classrooms? Choose two characteristics below to make connections between "affinity spaces" and inclusive classrooms.

Affinity spaces support inclusive classrooms because they require everyone to find a portal to the content and engage in the sharing and learning of knowledge of that content. This is only obtainable if the classroom has a sense of community. Affinity spaces are also defined as a place were "newbies and masters and everyone else share common space, which is characteristic of a place where students have the opportunity to be problem solvers (as explained in the 7th characteristic of an inclusive classroom below.)

7. Students as Problem Solvers - Successful inclusive schools involve students as partners in the school community. As students are allowed a greater participation in the community, they become more responsible and effective in the inclusive process. Common among inclusive schools is the use of students as:

a. peer mediators - students trained to help resolve disputes among other students.
b. peer tutoring - students help other students learn and review material.
c. cross-age tutoring - older students helping younger students.
d. cooperative learning - teams of students problem solving and working together.
e. buddy systems - two children who agree to help each other; may be made up of any two children, regardless of educational status, who want to help each other.

The following describes a characteristic of inclusive classrooms:
 1. A Sense of Community - An inclusive school is a school where every child is respected as part of the school community, and where each child is encouraged to learn and achieve as much as possible. In order to achieve that sense of belonging for each child, many schools have found that fostering a sense of community is of primary importance.

8. How are traditional classroom different from Affinity Spaces?
The major differences between traditional  classrooms and affinity spaces are that in classrooms students are segregated by grade level and ability. Another difference is that in classrooms portals are rarely strong generators where students interact the content and modify it. Traditional classrooms students are also encouraged to gain the same knowledge across the board and excelling students are not allowed to teach the teacher or other students the knowledge they have gained above that limit.

Chapter 5: Learning and Gaming

1 What is the main argument the author is making in Chapter 5.

The school system is not "learner friendly". In addition to a school's poor attempt to facilitate learning, the current school system doesn't allow students to approach education as gaining of skills. Instead it makes students feel as if their abilities and potential in a subject are based completely on their grades. 

2. What constitutes a theory of learning?

A well tested, but not completely proven, idea of how learning best occurs.

3. Why did the author struggle to learn to play Warcraft III? What needs to proceed before good learning principles?

Motivation for an extended engagement. The author couldn't engage with the game, so it became too hard for him.

4. How would have the authors struggle with learning to play Warcraft III been interpreted in school?

It would have been recognized as the students fault instead of the teacher. A teacher has to be able to motivate their students to commit to the learning of a subject such as chemistry. The students need to find a valuable reason to study the subject. A reason that allows them to connect the content to their current and future lives.

5 What kind of learning experience might be better suited for at risk students?

A good learning experience in which the students receive a different aspect of the content. One that might really be attractive to their lives. This is not to be a "dumbed-down" version of the content.

6. Why does the school-based interpretation of "at risk" lead to bad learning?

Some teachers "dumb- down" the curriculum; consequently, the motivation to learn is decreased even more. A teacher who recognizes their students as "at risk" are providing the students with low expectations and a poor self- esteem. Instead the teachers need to continue high expectation of learning the curriculum combined with a more interesting approach that motivates the students to learn. (Self- fulfilling prophecy)

7. What do schools need to do to function more like a good game?

Allow the students to take on roles of humans in real life situations, so that they can look/participate in at the world in a new way. 

8. What is different about how good games and school assess learners?

Good games allow players to self- assess their abilities in a way that doesn't give them a false sense of their potential. Many students who struggle in school receive poor grades and immediately get the feeling that they will ALWAYS be bad at a particular subject. Good games allow players to see that they are progressing and always learning. 

9. What are the attributes of a  fish-tank tutorial that make it an effective learning tool? How is it different than school-based learning?
It allows players to solve problems by assessing themselves which allows them to learn things about what they did and what not to do. The tutorials also contain player choices. When skills are mastered, the player sees that it fits into the whole system. The information is given multimodally (visually, orally, and in print). The fishing tank operates in the Zone of Proximal Development for the player.

10. What is a sand-box tutorial? Why is effective? How is it different that school-based learning?

The sandbox allows the player to act in the real game with easy opponents. The player also receives a lot of hints.  It is effective because it requires the player to think about what they are doing and what they are learning. In addition, it allows players to immediately apply what they've learned. Many school- based instruction strategies do not require students to apply the knowledge until much later. 

11. What is a genre? Why is it important for good learning?

Genre is a type or style of something. It is important for learning because "good learning always involves a knowing early and well what type of thing we are being asked to learn and do"

12. According to the author, what to learning and play having in common?

Learning and playing is engagement. To learn you have to be engaged in the content. 

13. How are the skills test in good games different from skills tests in school?

The skills tests are developmental for the learner and not evaluative. School skills tests are decontextualized and not related to how the knowledge is applied. For instants, a chemistry test may ask a student to recall the definition of a word instead of using it to solve a lab procedure.

14. How does RoN support collaborative learning? 

Players can compete in multiplayer mode online. Also, players can watch other players' strategies to help them advance their knowledge of how the game can be played.

15. Match at least one learning principle of good games (on page 74) with each the following learning theorists you have studied in 3352:

Dewey- 17)- They let learners create their own unsupervised sandboxes.

Vygotsky- 25) They ensure that the learners have and use an affinity space wherein they can interact with peers and masters, near and far, around a shared interest (even passion), making use of distributed and dispersed knowledge.

Piaget- 9) "Experienced" doesn't need to mean "expert"; it can mean that one is well prepared for future learning.

Gardner - 14)- They give information via several different modes. (visually, orally, and in print).

Bandura- 1)- they create motivation for an extended engagement.

Skinner-  reinforcement...in video games power ups occur for good tactics.

Fostering High Quality Formative Assessment: A Policy Brief by The National Council of Teachers for English

In a blog posting answer the following questions:

What is formative assessment?

Formative assessment is an assessment FOR learning that is beneficial to a student. Formative assessment utilizes immediate and high quality feed back as the means for improving student understanding. The task may or may not be a graded assignment.

What is the CENTRAL purpose of formative assessment?

Student learning.

Connect a best practice in formative assessment to one research-based strategy.

Providing Feedback

Give an example of how a specific assessment can be used formatively and summatively.

One way to make an assessment both formative and summative is by providing student's a rubric with their project. For example, I recently gave students a week to make a model of an atom for an element of their choice. This project allowed me to provide the students with a formative assessment by immediately telling them the parts of the atom that they ignored or had a misconception about. By giving the students a rubric that detailed what items I was looking for in the project, enabled me to give the students a grade for the project. This aspect helped to make the project a summative assessment.

Give an example from your field placement related to formative assessment and timing.

By implementing an intermittent schedule for quizzing last week, I surprised my students with a pop quiz that required them to have read the assigned sections from their textbook. Many of the students realized as a result of the quiz that they were not prepared for the future chapter test. By quickly returning the students' quizzes with feedback, I helped them narrow down which topics they needed to spend more time studying for the chapter test.

What are some strategies to help formative assessment be more effective when providing students with feedback?

From the text:

High-quality formative assessment takes many forms, but it 

always:

 emphasizes the quality rather than the quantity of 

student work; 

 prizes giving advice and guidance over giving grades; 

 avoids comparing students in favor of enabling individual students to assess their own learning; 

 fosters dialogues that explore understandings rather 

than lectures that present information; 

 encourages multiple iterations of an assessment cycle, 

each focused on a few issues; 

 provides feedback that engender

Name two advantages to high quality formative assessment.

1- "It helps  identify students who are struggling with particular tasks or operating under misconceptions.  This, in turn, can lead to improved instruction that addresses student learning."

2- "For students, formative assessment offers increased feelings of confidence and control.  Students who experience high-quality formative assessment are more likely to transfer learning from one class to another because they understand the given area thoroughly and can relate new learning to what they already know." 

What are some challenges to implementing high quality formative assessment?

One of the challenges mentioned in the reading is that teachers have to work within policy in order to effectively be active with formative assessment. To the community and parents, formative assessment could make teachers look as if they are not doing their job by "shirking responsibilities".

Double Journal Entry #11

QUICK RESPONSES TO Chapter 4:Simulations and Bodies 1. What does the author mean when he says, "Learning doesn't work well when learners are  forced to check their bodies at the school room door like guns in the old West."  I feel like the author is saying that student's cultural experiences are ignored in the classroom. As a person who is taking guns, a teacher is taking the resources and ammunition from a student and preventing them from using it in their classroom. 2. According to the author, what is the best way to acquire a large vocabulary? A large vocabulary is obtained by a person who has experience with a word in a meaningful way. For example, a student in one of my classrooms will gain a large lab equipment vocabulary by using the equipment while talking about the names and uses of the equipment instead of reading about them in a textbook. 3. What gives a word a specific meaning?  Its specific meaning is based on a model simulation that a person builds about the word and the actions with an object. 4. What does the term "off the hook" mean in each of these sentences? a. My sister broke up with her fiance, so I'm off the hook for buying her a wedding present. Not in pain of doing a difficult task. b. Them shoes are off the hook dog. Extremely attractive or awesome. c. Man that cat was fighting 6 people and he beat them all. Yo, it was "off the hook", you should have seen it!! Unreal or awesome. 4. According to the author what is the"work" of childhood? Do you agree? The work of childhood was described as working toward the ability to read. In this sense, work was used to make reading a skill that takes a lot of effort to master, which is the task of a child. Opposing this view by traditionalist, the author says that the "work of childhood" is playing. I completely agree with this after my experience at WVSTA this weekend. Thankfully, I was reading this chapter of the book while attending many science teacher workshops. During some of these workshops, I was reminded about how students who earn more experiences generally gain a larger scientific vocabulary. I believe that free thought and play are what allow children to become better readers, so I agree with the author. 5.Why is NOT reading the instruction for how to play a game before playing a game a wise decision? A person who reads the instructions is likely to know less words used in the instructions. The trial and error process enables a player to view words as meaningful when they later attempt to read the instructions. 6. Does knowing the general or literal meaning of a word lead to strong reading skills? A small portion of knowing the literal meaning of a word is helpful for reading. It is more important to know ways the word can be used. It leads a person to have a more diverse vocabulary. 7. What does the author mean by the terms "identity" and "game". Give an example of 3 "identities" or "games"  you play? The author is referring to the roles that people take on in order to complete a task effectively. One identity that I have is a teacher in which I act out the role of a teacher. The acting part of this is what I see as the game. Second, at the racetrack, I take on the role as a racecar driver who plays into the mind of the spectators as a different person than the role of a teacher. Although I am the same person, I am acting a different role. A third example is the terms(jargon) I use when taking on the role of a skateboarder. 8. According to the author what is good learning? Good learning is the altering of a perspective that betters life in the future. Sometimes this is done through games that give people virtual experiences but still understanding how a decision could affect the future. 9. How does understanding that being able to build a mental model and simulations of a real-word experience is closely tied to comprehending written and oral language support of change the way you think children should learn in school? It doesn't change it too much. I've believed for a while now that modeling events through hands- on activities is the way to help students learn. 10. Why is peer to peer interaction so important for the language development of young children? How does knowing this support or change the way you think children should learn in school? It is important to let peers interact and communicate with each other because it allows students to say and express what is on their mind without the fear of the teacher correcting their mistakes. It also is powerful that students who are correct can fix misconceptions that students have about a topic. I also am in favor of allowing peer to peer interactions in my classroom because it allows me as a teacher to sit back and pick out the misconceptions that need to be addressed as a class.

Double Journal Entry #10

Chapter 3: Language and Identity At Home

1. What are the features of the forms of language that are spoken in a home environment that align with academic varieties of language?

repetition, parallelism, oral story-telling, and the use of figurative language

2. What are the features of Leona's specialized form of language?

Leona's specialized form of language is rather poetic. She specializes on parallelism and repetition. She is interested in making a pattern out of language that generates meaning by comparing and contrasting.

3. Why is Leona's specialized form of language not accepted in school?

The academic language requirements stress linear step-by-step events or facts that are organized around one topic that contain no emotional connection.

4. Explain the contradiction between the research conducted by Snow et al. (1998) and the recommendations made by Snow et al. (1998).

The recommendations state that early phonemic awareness and overt instruction on decoding  improve their initial skill levels and improve academic language learning. This research says that students in regions of high poverty will fall behind regardless of the initial reading skill level.

5. What other factors besides early skills training will make or break good readers?

cultural stereotypes that are in place due to evident differences in written and oral language.

6. Why do some children fail to identify with, or find alienating, the "ways with words" taught in school?

Those academic varieties of language are not taught to coincide with informal ways with words. Instead children do not fell like they belong at a school that doesn't value/recognize their home-based language practices.

Double Entry Journal #9

Responses to the following questions for

Chapter 2: A strange fact about not learning to read.

1. What is the strange fact about not learning to read? 

The ability to read is instilled in everyone. The reason that students struggle is due to not being associated with an "in group".

2. Why is this fact so strange?

The fact that a select group of students who are generally good in school are good as a result of their social status and not their potential and abilities that must be practiced for master. 

3. What is it about school that manages to transform children who at good at learning things like Pokeman into children who are not good a learning?

It is the school's lack of acknowledgement of cultural differences and a child's funds of knowledge.

4. What is the differences between a traditionalists approach to learning to read and more progressive educators?

Traditionalists advocate a sequential, skills- based approach to reading instruction  while progressive educators stress meaning- making.

5. Is learning to read a natural process like learning to speak a language?

No. I agree with traditionlists who say that learning to read is not biologically supported. Rather I think that learning to read is a biological process that is a learned behavior. The human brain capable of learning this behavior may or may not be born into an individual. Although it is rare, I do believe that physical determinants may affect a child's ability to read during and after birth.

6. What is the differences between natural, instructed and cultural processes and which process should reading be classified under?

A natural process is acquired by everyone who doesn't have a disorder. An instructed process is one where something is learned when it its learned.  And a cultural process is where a cultural importance of a skill causes a member of that culture to learn the skill in order to live in the culture. The cultural process involves masters who create an environment rich in support for learners.

7. How do humans learn best? Through instructional processes or through cultural processes? How is reading taught in school?

Instructional processes are least efficient in learning, which is how reading is taught in school. Children who learn to read successfully do so because, for them, learning to read is a cultural and not primarily instructed process.

8. According to the author, what is the reason for the "fourth grade slump."

Students have a difficult time reading in the content area.

9. What is a better predictor of reading success than phonemic awareness?

Early language ability. (vocabulary, the ability to recall  and comprehend sentences and stories, and the ability to engage in extended, connected verbal interactions on a single topic.

10. What is the difference between "vernacular" and "specialist" varieties of language? Give an example of two sentences, one written in the vernacular and one written in a "a specialized variety",  about a topic in your content area.

The difference between the varieties of language is the use of the language. Vernacular is a relaxed variety that is used for face- to - face conversations and for "everyday" purposes. Specialists varieties are used for special activities and purposes.

Vernacular example- John's racecar was zooming around the track last weekend.

Specilaist- John's racecar probably reached the highest velocity of all the competitors in the race.

11. What is "early language ability" and how is it developed? Early language ability is the ability to use language at an early age due to the recognition of vocabulary, recalling and comprehending sentences and stories, and other items. It is developed through family, community, and school language environments in which children interact intensively with adults and more advanced peers and experience challenging talk and texts to sustain topics.

12. According to the author why and how does the traditionalist approach to teaching children to read fail?

The skill and drill approach lacks meaning. This causes readers to have a difficult time understanding content area reading.

13. Are parents of poor children to blame for their children's inexperience with specialized varieties of language before coming to school?

No. If anything, there lack of success in school is due to the school's inability to properly initiate an academic language acquisition process.

14. Did you struggle with reading this text? Why? Are you a poor reader or are you unfamiliar with this variety of specialized language?

I enjoy reading this book.

Student Interviews

Observation: Prior to selecting this female student, I considered a few items. I had managed to make a bridge between many of the students and myself prior to the interview assignment. This student was one lady who didn't seem to be too outgoing, so I felt like asking her to help me complete this task was a good way for us to make that bridge.  She seemed to always be on task and working and never had any difficulty with the work, which is why that bridge was not built as quickly. 

Interview Questions:

• Do you enjoy school? She does enjoy school when she is fully rested. Some days drag for her.
• What kind of student are you? She described herself as a person who often is practicing procrastination. In the end, she seems to do just fine.
• What do you for fun outside of school? She is a very artistic lady and enjoys molding clay, drawing objects around her. She likes to practice shading.
• How would your classmates describe you? Her classmates generally describe her as nice, helpful, quiet in school, and mature.
• Who are you friends with? What do you and your friends do together? Her friend Jess and boyfriend Elijah are important to her. She enjoys playing Xbox or any zombie game (Which was really a surprise for me! We diverged from the interview and talked about the series The Walking Dead. I was glad to have finally made that bridge.)
• Tell me a good memory you have about school?  She'll always remember her lunch table with Alison and the events that happened at the table. Particularly a conflict with some freshmen who tried to steal her table this year.
• Tell me a bad memory you have about school? Recently her male friend, who is also in our class, was involved in a physical altercation with her boyfriend (he instigated the fight). She felt terrible for causing the situation for him.
• Describe a "good" teacher or tell me about a favorite teacher you had in the past. Her favorite teachers were hands- on teachers that taught English and photography.
• What is one thing you wish your teacher knew about you? She wanted me to know that she has a hard time with math. I told her that I'd remember that. I also told her that I'm very open and asked her to tell me when I need to repeat myself and to simplify my math when she needed it.

As a follow up, I felt that she was using the bridge that was created as a result of the interview. The next time I was in the class she was heating a chemical in a test tube for the first time. She felt security with me around during the process.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

  Observation: I originally had planned to interview a different gentlemen, who is VERY shy in my Earth Science class. The student is in a crowd of fellows who could be labeled as "at risk". Again, I wanted to make that connection. Upon asking him with the interview he declined because I didn't require him to work with me. Instead, I selected another guy in the class who is very easy to talk with. He seemed to appreciated the previous lesson that I had taught, so I thought it'd be a good idea to follow up and get some feedback. The student seems to struggle in school because of his association with the self- proclaimed "at risk" class.

Interview Questions:

• Do you enjoy school? He said, "yeah"
• What kind of student are you? He immediately referred to grade level as a way to measure the type of student he is by saying " C student. I have trouble in math and sometimes science classes." This indicates to me that he has a false self- concept. Although he has high self- esteem, the young man doesn't realize the capability of his brain. He already has obtained many skills and knowledge regarding science (such as chemical and physical properties) through his experiences. Being in the current classroom probably prevents him from developing a better self- concept.
• What do you for fun outside of school? His interests include welding (like most guys in the class who are in welding classes), wood cutting, hunting, fishing, outdoors.
• How would your classmates describe you? He says most of the classmates would say that he is joyful, playful, and has a sense of humor. (I would agree that he is light- hearted.)
• Who are you friends with? What do you and your friends do together? He is close friends with many of the guys in our classroom. He just moved to the school from another region in the state.
• Tell me a good memory you have about school? He remembers having class for 4 years in a row with one of his good friends. He thought that was cool and will always remember that.
• Tell me a bad memory you have about school? His only bad memories are from when he has failed a test because he hasn't paid any attention.
• Describe a "good" teacher or tell me about a favorite teacher you had in the past. His favorite teachers were also hands- on teachers. He mentioned that he thinks I do a great job. He enjoyed getting out of his seat during my lesson. He also felt like the content that I presented was meaningful for his life. (INSIDE I WENT YES!!!!!! :P)
• What is one thing you wish your teacher knew about you? He didn't really have an answer, so I asked him to share his life plans after high school. He had said that he wanted to continue welding or to take a profession like his fathers in oil drilling.

As a follow up, I just want to say that Brad is a patient guy who is really going to enjoy life as a result of what he has learned in high school. He enjoys earth science because the topics can be easily adapted to knowledge for his life. He also was excited to know that I am a dirt track racer in Elkins.

Questions for Introduction of Situated Language and Learning

Situated Language and Learning: A critique of traditional schooling by James Paul Gee

 Introduction

1. What is the main challenge being addressed in the book?
     There are different ways with words because different tools are used to get different sorts of jobs done.   Generally, it addresses feelings about academic and school- based forms of language and thinking.

2. What does the author mean by the phrase "ways with words"?
     The use of words in a particular fashion. Words may be used jargon and academic language.

3. What is the core argument being made by the author of this book?
    The core argument of the book is that people learn ways with words, in or out of school, only when they find the worlds to which the words apply compelling.

4. Give an example of a specialized variety of a language or "way with words" you have learned outside of school?
     I was a huge Pokemon fan and still am. James Paul Gee expresses this specialist language varieties  best on page 4 of his book. In addition to this, I've learned special terms used to explain what is happening during a dirt track race.

5. According to the author, how do people learn a specialized variety of a language or "way with words" best?
     Have more learning experiences outside of school that is important for their futures.

6. If people are to be successful in the 21st century, what must they become?
     People who gain many diverse experiences that they can then use to transform and adapt themselves for fast- changing circumstances throughout their lives, which the author termed as " shape- shifting portfolio people".

7. The author states that learning academic language is NOT sufficient for success in modern society? Do you agree? Why or Why not?
     I don't agree. For the same reason that the author states that non-academic language is important. "shape- shifting portfolio people" have the ability to distinguish use appropriate languages according to the situation. Academic language is still important for many purposes. For example, a team of workers at a hospital will use a degree of academic language in order to communicate during a crisis or emergency situation. My point is that the understanding and application of academic language is important during situations that occur everyday just as non-academic language is important during daily events.

Challenges Facing Inquiry Based Instruction

Initially, teachers who are not comfortable with the structure of inquiry- based instruction tend to feel that their is no structure at all, which results in an untrained teacher who views inquiry approaches as unproductive. The largest challenge associated with inquiry is successfully training and altering the perception that teachers have on their instruction. This is a major concern as students who initiate in inquiry are those who find school more interesting and meaningful.

One of the consequences of a teacher who is not practicing inquiry approaches in their classroom is that students are not easily adaptable to the demanding activities associated with Project Based Learning (PBL) activities, which is a form of instruction incorporating inquiry. This unfortunate consequence is also true in the case of a teacher who is not sufficiently implementing inquiry- based instruction in the classroom.

Because these practices help students create meaningful, self- driven questions that requires them to collaborate as a group of individuals solving a real life problem or scenario, the teacher's role is even more important. Teachers must be able to provide students with technology that is current with the dilemmas of everyday life in order to coach their students during these activities (Why use old technology to solve a current problem when new, improved technology can provide more insight??). This is true for more than just technology. This presents teachers with the challenge of stepping out of their comfort zone.

In addition, teachers are faced with the careful planning, development of collaboration, and assessment techniques involved with inquiry- based instruction.This all takes time. I believe that many teachers, which I wish not to disclose, fear that the time associated with this teaching method will take away from the time they need to provide content to their students. To me, this shows the need for training and practice so that teachers can make the transition, first outside of their classrooms, to providing the desired types of content with this meaningful learning style of teaching.

Double Entry Journal #6

According to Teaching for Meaningful Learning, the dominant paradigm of teacher instruction and teacher reliance on textbooks as a primary source of knowledge acquisition through discussion and reading is showing signs of wear. Thankfully, this is being accomplished due to the increase in inquiry- based learning strategies that are being implemented across the United States. One approach to inquiry- based instruction is with problem- based learning.

Meaningful learning occurs with problem- based learning (PBL) as students complete and present complex, real world challenges that are central to the curriculum of their courses, are organized around questions that focus on the central principles of the content, are constructed to allow students to perform inquiry, are student managed, and are authentic, real world scenarios. (Barron & Darling- Hammond)

One benefit of PBL activities is that students gain in factual learning that is better or just as good as traditional  teaching practices. This is proven to be true in a study explained in Teaching for Meaningful Learning. In this particular study performed by Shepherd, significantly higher test scores were achieved by fourth and fifth grade students who dedicated nine weeks of their school time toward defining and finding solutions related to housing shortages of several countries. Not only did the students engaged in this PBL gain confidence in their learning but they also proved to increase their critical- thinking skills.

Problem- based learning approaches have many more advantages for students. Some of which are explained  in Teaching for Meaningful Learning in the following:

     "Other short-term, comparative studies of  traditional vs. project-based approaches have demonstrated several benefits from projects,  such as an increase in the ability to define problems (Gallagher, Stepien, & Rosenthal, 1992), growth in their ability to support their reasoning with clear arguments  (Stepien, Gallagher, & Workman, 1993), and enhanced ability to plan a project after working on an analogous problem-based challenge (Moore, Sherwood, Bateman, Bransford, & Goldman, 1996)."

In addition to project- based learning approaches, an approach to teaching that also is diminishing poor, past teaching practices is termed Learning by Design. This instruction method allows students to deeply engage with and apply their knowledge in order to create an artifact. One study, which is also explained in Teaching for Meaningful Learning, demonstrates the importance of implementing a design project. A group of sixth grade students were found to systematically understand the respiratory system and understand the functions and structure of it better than students who engaged in respiratory system activities that were not  approaches that supported learning by design (Hmelo, Holton, and Kolodner, 2000).

I find satisfaction in the fact that both of these instruction strategies are applicable in science as well as other content areas. It is hard to pick a preference because all of the instruction strategies associated with inquiry- based practices are beneficial for science students. The major difference is that there are different amounts of inquiry associated with each instruction method, which makes the Learning by Design approach a goal to carry out in my classroom as I believe it requires the most prior knowledge and effort from the students. The effort they put into their projects will be rewarded with an educational outcome equal to the amount of effort they put into the project.

Because the students are applying their knowledge and the content covered in class to real world scenarios, I believe that the most beneficial factor with inquiry- based instruction is that students will find meaningful connections of the school material with their current and future lives.




References

Barron, B., & Darling- Hammond, L. teaching for meaningful learning a review of research on inquiry-based and cooperative learning. Edutopia. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/pdfs/edutopia-teaching-for-meaningful-learning.pdf

Gallagher, S. A., Stepien, W. J., & Rosenthal, H. (1992). The effects of problembased learning on problem solving. Gifted
Child Quarterly, 36, 195–200.

Hmelo, C. E., Holton, D. L., & Kolodner, J. L. (2000). Designing to learn about complex systems. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 9(3), 247–298.

Moore, A., Sherwood, R., Bateman, H., Bransford, J., & Goldman, S. (1996, April).Using problem-based learning to prepare for project-based learning. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York.

Stepien, W. J., Gallagher, S. A., & Workman, D. (1993). Problem-based learning for traditional and interdisciplinary classrooms. Journal for the Education of the Gifted Child, 16, 338–357