Office hours today

Hello all,

   I will hold office hours today at the Starbucks on Oxford and Center. I will be there from 2:00-3:30. Please email me with your preferred time so that I can set appointments. I will see students in 20 minute blocks.

Best,

Jeremiah

415-786-8787

Cancelled: office hours for today

Hello all,

   I apologize, but I can't make it to physical office hours today. My wife suprised me with a mini-cruise for our 5th anniversary (which was yesterday). Thus, I will be out cruising the Bay until 4pm; and, after that we're heading to dinner. So, to make up for this time, I  will hold office hours tomorrow: most likely, I will hold office hours, on campus, from 2:00-6:00pm. If this window changes, I will be sure to update the blog.

I need to know who is taking the unit of field study ASAP

Hello all,
   If you plan on taking the one unit field study credit, please email me to let me know and include the amount of hours that you've completed as well. Thanks. By the way, great job on the presentations today!

Readings to focus on for the case study assignment

Hello all,
   Here is a list of readings that will, in my opinion, help you construct your case study. Some articles like Hull & Rose's "Wooden Shack Place", for example, and Mahiri & Sablo's work as well as the Lee piece provide exemplars of ethnographic case-study papers. Other articles, like Vygotsky's and Scribner's (respective) works offer theoretical lenses, which can be used as conceptual and/or theoretical frames for this assignment.

So, again, in my opinion, you should review the following articles for the case study assignment:

Hull & Rose, "Wooden Shack..."
Mahiri & Sablo, "Writing for their lives..."
Lee, "Beyond the model..."
Scribner, "Literacy in three metaphors..."
Vygotsky, "The prehistory..."

Remember, there are a few examples of case studies interspersed throughout the reader; and, I included the ethnography that I covered in class (my own) in the course-wide dropbox.

MWF group (final presentation), please email me your groups ASAP.

URGENT: Here are the final presentation groups that I have thus far (TTH group only):

If you do not see your name, you need to one of two things (or in some cases both): firstly, if you have not already done so, join a group; and, secondly, once you have joined a group (or if you already have a group but have yet to email me with memebers' names), please do so right away.

The people for whom I have yet to receive an email are: Preunky, Nicolas, Jisu, Donna, Andre, Tiffany, Helen, and Glen.

*The final presentations will take place, for the TTH group, this Thursday, August 11th. Each group will have 12 minutes to present. The assignment sheet is in the dropbox, should you need further clarification on the assignment.*


Group 1
Zack Aslanian-Williams
Tarchie Herron
Kelly Tche
Tuyet Truong

Group 2 

Astrid Ackerman

Patti Shnell

Yeri Kim

Chinyere Okereke

Group 3

Phillip

Yurina

Anna

Jashley

Nayiri

Phillip

 Yurina

Anna

 Jashley

 Nayiri

Class will start at 9:45 today

Hello TTH group,
   Due to unforeseen circumstances, I cannot make it to campus until 9:40. So, we will begin class at 9:45 this morning. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

The Steele & Aronson (2004) article that is we are covering this week is in the dropbox

Remember, class begins at 9:30 today.

Hello all,
    As we discussed on Monday, we will begin class at 9:30 today instead of 9:10. See you soon.

Remaining readings for this course and reading assignments for MWF group:

Gates, Jr.,: Ruby & Sarah

Douglass: Anna & Edwen

Mendoza-Denton: Lauchlin & Daniel

Steele: Sequoia & Arno

Lee: Michelle & Leshee

Tatum: Mary & Eileen

WEEK 5

Race & power

Gates, Jr., H.L. (1986). 'Race' as the trope of the world. In "Race," writing, and difference (pp. 590-597). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Gates challenges the careless use of "race" as the ultimate trope for irreducible difference between cultures; gives an account of Phyllis Wheatley's "oral examination" to prove that she, as an African girl, was capable of having written a set of poems; rehearses and refutes the European assumption, existing since the 1600's, that Africans were incapable of creating formal literature.

Douglass, F. (1987). Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass. In H.L. Gates, Jr. (Ed.), The Classic Slave Narratives (pp. 273-281). New York: Penguin.

This section of Douglass's autobiography gives an account of his learning to read and write, despite the fact that, from the perspective of Douglass's slave owners, "it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read."

Mendoza-Denton, R. (2010). Are we born racist? New insights from neuroscience and positive psychology. Framed! Understanding achievement gaps.

In this chapter Mendoza-Denton chronicles the erroneous assumptions, which later became aphorisms, regarding what was perceived as an inherent cognitive deficiency in African Americans; and, how these erroneous assumptions have informed rhetoric around the achievement gap.

Steele, C. & Aronson, J. (2004). Stereotype threat and intellectual performance of African Americans.

In this essay the authors discuss the ill effects of stereotype cues and stereotype threat both psychologically, and to a lesser degree, psychosomatically.

Lee, S.J. (1994).  Beyond the model-minority stereotype: Voices of high- and low-achieving Asian-American students.  Anthropology & Education Quarterly 25: 413-429.   

This article examines the complex relationship between Asian American student identities and perceptions regarding future opportunities and attitudes towards schooling.  

Tatum, B. (1997). Why are all the Black kids sitting together in the cafeteria? And other conversations about race (93-113).New York:  Basic Books.

Tatum writes in this chapter about how white people can develop identities both as white and as anti-racist.

WEEK 6

Final in-class presentations

Multiliteracies

Boal, A. (1979). Poetics of the oppressed (selections). In Theater of the oppressed (120-126; 142-156). New York: Theatre Communications Group.

Boal uses theatre to enact Freirean pedagogical theories that intertwine literacy and democracy, and that result in personal and collective revolution.

Movie in class: Shakespeare’s Children.

This documentary highlights a drama project carried out with kids in a Berkeley school.

Hull, G.A., Kenney, N.L., Marple, S. and Forsman-Schneider, A. (2006). Many versions of masculine : an exploration of boys' identity formation through digital storytelling in an afterschool program, The Robert Bowne Foundation: Occasional paper series, vol. 6, Spring, pp. 1-42.

This monograph examines how young male students of color use digital storytelling to realize complex masculinities for themselves, masculinities that defy limited (and limiting) perspectives on male childhood and adolescence.

Parker, J.K. (2010). Preface and Chapter one: Understanding youth and digital media (xi-xiv; 1-14). In J.K. Parker (Ed.), Teaching tech-savvy kids: Bringing digital media into the classroom, grades 5-12. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

This chapter calls educators to examine and capture the power of digital media, with specific examples from classroom teacher-researchers throughout the book.

Gee, J. P. (2005). Learning by design: Good video games as learning machines. E- Learning, 2(1), 5-16.

Gee connects video game design with effective teaching and learning principles.

Finnegan, Ruth.  (2002). A mix of arts. In Communicating:  The multiple modes of human interconnection (pp. 223-243). London: Routledge.

This chapter, which comes toward the end of Finnegan’s book, celebrates the creative and diverse means that human beings have invented to make meaning and interconnect.  How can we use Finnegan’s insights to rethink literacy?

Lee, C. (2009). Culture, Literacy and Learning: Taking Bloom in the Midst of the Whirlwind. Teachers College Press: New York. [pp. TBD]

This chapter articulates the potential for out-school knowledge in learning advanced literacy skills.

Hull, G.A. & Schultz, K. (2002). Connecting schools with out-of-school worlds: Insights from recent research on literacy in non-school settings. In G. Hull & K. Schultz (Eds.), School’s out: Bridging out-of-school literacies with classroom practice (32-57).

CASE STUDIES DUE MONDAY AUGUST 15

Class schedules

MWF Class 1: Wed 7/06 Class 2: Fri 7/08 Class 3: Mon 7/11 Class 4: Wed 7/13 Class 5: Fri 7/15 Class 6: Mon 7/18 Class 7: Wed 7/20 Class 8: Fri 7/22 Class 9: Mon 7/25 Class 10: Wed 7/27 Class 11: Fri 7/29 Class 12: Mon 8/01 Class 13: Wed 8/03 Class 14: Fri 8/05 Class 15: Mon 8/08 Class 16: Wed 8/10 Class 17: Fri 8/12

TTh Class 1: Tue 7/05 Class 2: Th 7/07 Class 3: Tue 7/12 Class 4: Th 7/14 Class 5: Tue 7/19 Class 6: Th 7/21 Class 7: Tue 7/26 Class 8: Th 7/28 Class 9: Tue 8/02 Class 10: Th 8/04 Class 11: Tue 8/09 Class 12: Th 8/11

Running late...

Hello all,
   I will be in class by 9:25. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

The Mendoza-Denton article is in the dropbox.

Hello again,
   For those of you that have been assigned the Mendoza-Denton article, you will soon find out, if you haven't already, that it is not in the reader. Instead, you will find it in the dropbox, ready to be downloaded.

IMPORTANT: Clarification on remaining blog entry

Hello all,
   I just want to provide some clarity regarding the final blog entry. You are supposed to complete five blog entries for this course. The syllabus asks for six entries; that is my mistake. We did not require an entry the first week (because you had yet to read any of the course material). So, then, at a rate of one entry per week, we are limited to five total entries.

Now on to the final blog assignment: we really wanted to give you all a "break" since you had so much going on last week. So, we decided to forego the blog entry assignment for this week. As a result, there can only be a maximum of four entries total. Enter the final blog question: this particular question is intended to elicit a more substantial, substantive response than the questions that were based on course readings, precisely because it asks you to critically reflect on your time at your field site by centering race and, subsequently, discussing the dynamic/s that were informed by it. Consequently, the minimum word length is doubled. This question, then, constitutes (i.e., counts as) two entries.

Here's how the math works:

Initially there were five entries required, each one worth up to four points. However, because we skipped a week there are three, each worth up to four points for a total of twelve possible points. Thus, in order to get to twenty total points, the final blog entry will be worth up to eight points (not six, as I'd previously posted).

The response to this question is due by August 10th, by 5:00pm; however, please feel free to turn it in anytime prior to the due date.

Please let me know if there are still lingering questions.

Hours log & final presentation assignment uploaded to dropbox

Hello all,
   Per the title of this entry, both the volunteer hours log and the final presentation (i.e., reflective performance) sheets have been uploaded to our course-wide drop box. The dates for the final presentations are August 11th for the TTH class, and August 12th for the MWF class (respectively).

Case Study assignment

Case Study Assignment for EDUC 140AC

Due Monday, August 15^th, by 9:00am

This assignment asks you to write a case study of some aspect of the after-school or school programs you’ve been working in, the activities you’ve engaged in there, or of child/young/person/adult or small group of students you’ve worked with there. Unlike your literacy autobiography, which was a personal essay, the case study is a type of writing that’s usually associated with the social sciences—like psychology or linguistics or education or sociology—and that relies on data— in your case mostly field notes, but conceivably interviews, audio-recordings, and artifacts or documents as well— gathered by the author. BUT…. This doesn’t mean that your case study should be dull or stilted or have no passion or voice. Quite the contrary. It should be beautifully written, represent someone or something you feel strongly and have thought carefully about, and in a general sense, provide an insightful account about your work at the after-school or school sites. And it will also need to abide by certain conventions that we describe below, such as being based on an analysis of qualitative data.

To begin: The best way to begin thinking about the case study to think about what stands out in your mind about your fieldwork. What one issue or child or event or activity or moment has struck you as most interesting or problematic? Have you come back again and again to something in your field note reflections or in your site check-ins? Here is your chance to dig deeper into some aspect of your experience at the after school or school site.

Some examples of qualitative research and case studies from our reader:

Student papers from previous semesters

Hull & Rose, “’This wooden shack place’”

Olsen, excerpt from Made in America

Lee, “Beyond the model-minority stereotype”

Lam, W.S.E., “Literacy and the design of the self”

Newkirk, excerpt from Misreading Masculinity

Skilton-Silvester, “Literate at home but not at school”

Possible topics:

· Language or gender differences

·A student’s confidence in her abilities

· Conflicts involving violence or harsh language.

·Perhaps your case study child/children/youth is one who has developed and grown over the course of the semester or one whose personality is so strong you see him/her interacting with the various people and activities in unique ways.

· Perhaps you see a group of girls work through issues of self-confidence, or you've been fascinated by watching a pair of best friends as they interact from week to week.

· Maybe there is a certain piece of software or kind of technology that you’ve seen a child or children or young people work through differently.

· Do kids’ out-of-classroom lives that have you intrigued; is there a way you can document their social worlds and explain how these come into play in after-school settings· You could also chronicle the development of a relatively new after school site, like Space2Cre8 program, or a new activity that you initiate, such as storybook reading at an elementary school.

· You could detail the process through which a particular video or digital story got created. You might also describe one interaction and then analyze all the influences that created that interaction.

Having trouble deciding or finding a topic? Read through your (and your classmates’) field notes. Take notes on patterns you notice. Think of scenes you remember. While working on-site, you should keep in mind your possible topic. Gear at least part of your field notes towards this topic. If applicable (and if you have permission from teacher and participants), use a camera, tape recorder or camcorder to document your topic (observe a pair of kids working together, or capture the different layouts of the snack/homework space each time the tables are moved.) Feel free to informally interview children or to ask them to produce something for you, if applicable. If you are doing a case study about an individual, you might also want to collect other information about him/her besides the information you have in your field notes, by visiting him or her at school or maybe doing an informal interview.

You will analyze your data, and you will use your findings to make an argument, as we will see from the case studies we discuss in class. Be sure your arguments are grounded in evidence—that is, material from the course and real lived experience. Finally, be sure to incorporate the ideas and readings we have worked with in class about literacy, learning, language, and development. These should be illustrated, supported or refuted by the evidence/data that you’re including in your case study.

Your paper is due Monday August 15^th, by 9:00am. Your paper should be from 6 to 8 pages double-spaced (not including Appendices). It should be well-written and documented with data. Make sure to define your key terms and concepts. Our hope is that this paper will be both fun to write and read! You should write the paper for someone who does not have any experience with the after-school or school settings where you are working, describing the programs rather than assuming that your reader already knows about them.

Here is the structure we would like to see in your paper:

Introduction: Background/Setting/Issue (1/2 to 1).

Research question(s) you hope to answer (paragraph or list)

Literature review: Readings that provide your framework (2 pp.)

Description and analysis of data you are basing your case study on (1/2 to 1 p.) and how you analyzed your data

Findings (around 2 to 4 pp.)

Conclusion (1-2 pp.)

Appendix A—Examples of Coding/Data Analysis (1-5 pp.)

Other appendices as appropriate

Final blog question, due August 10th by 5:00pm.

Final blog question:

Due: August 10th, by 5:00pm

Scale: 8 possible points (abridged scale below)

8 points = well-written, cogent, highly reflective/analytical account of the ways that race was manifested/performed.
7 points = well-written, less cogent than 8 point paper...
6 points = fairly well-written, yet, fails to critacally analyze/reflect the ways in which race is performed and/or represented.

5 points = somewhat reflective, not particularly well-written, and, fundementally misunderstands (not disagrres with, as it is totally fine to disagree) the impact that race has on the dynamics of schools site.

1 point = argument is overly simplistic, e.g., race is good or bad, poorly written.

Minimum word count: 300 words (give or take); and not to exceed 700  words.

In light of the numerous and particularly thought-provoking and generative discussions we have had on race, please write a short essay regarding the overarching racialized dynamics you witnessed at your particular after school site. For example, you can discuss/analyze the racial spatialization of a given classroom, specifically, or the entire school site, more generally. Or, you may want to discuss the ways in which race informed your subjective tutoring experiences or, perhaps, how you witnessed race in the ways that other tutors or teachers interacted with particular students. Or, you may want to discuss/analyze the ways in which students acted out racialized stereotypes or, instead, purposefully resisted racialized stereotypes in their comportment and behavior. This assignment is meant to be reflective; so, please discuss what it is that you felt vis-à-vis what you observed.

Response to Morrell and Andrade

I believe cultural vuluation lead to higher levels of literacy acquisition because people become more engage with literacy when they are familiar with the methods use to teach it. Most students do not perform well in literacy because they are not familiar with the tools and languages that are used in the teaching of literacy. However when any aspect of their culture are used in the process of teaching literacy they become better learners because they are comfortable with the subject been discuss. I believe when educators used students cultures in their teaching, students are motivated to learn because they are proud that people respect and honor their culture. Also I believe culture vuluation lead to higher levels of literacy acquisition because students become attentive when they recognize any aspect of their culture in the process of learning. Their love and respect for their culture encourge them to take literacy seriously. Using students culture in literacy make them better learners because they feel powerful and accepted in the education system, I believe they experience joy and attachment to literacy when they are discussing it with their native languages , arts or music.

Message to Anna Kite and Anna Wu

Hello Anna and Anna,
   I just realized that there is no way to differentiate between the two of you when you post. The tagline simple says "Anna"; so, can one (or both) of you also include your last name when you post? Thanks.

Castlemont field trip to Cal - volunteers needed!

Hi there,

Castlemont site coordinators are planning to bring students to Cal on Friday Aug. 5 and need Cal student ambassadors to join the fun. If you're available, please post a comment and let me know what time and how long you'll be free. You will, of course, earn hours for the time you spend with Castlemont students. We'll let you know of the agenda as the time nears, but if you're involved in a club or sport and would like to take some students to meet club members, tour a dorm, fraternity/sorority house, etc., please let me know. Likewise, if you know of any activities on campus going on that day, please let me know about that as well.

Thanks!

Nora

Check-in at St Martin de Porres: Tuesday, 3 p.m.

Hi there,

I just received an email from Julie that Mr. Harper would like to have a check-in, orientation follow-up with volunteers on Tuesday 7/26 at 3:00. If you go to SMDP, please try to attend; if you can't make it, please chat with Julie or one of your site buddies to get an update.

Thanks!

My response to Anna's astute email:

Hey Anna,

      Wow, Anna, you have so many powerful/helpful things to say. I think that you’re correct: I truly believe that stereotypes that portray Asians as obsequious are at least partially responsible for the overall dearth of Asian advocacy campaigns and groups. But my argument yesterday was that there is also something else going on, something that works, almost exclusively, at the non-conscious level. It’s a kind of silence contract that seems to exist between White, mainstream America and Asian America. That contract, in my mind at least, goes something like this: if you don’t cause problems, i.e., don’t seek to actively deconstruct the status quo, then the obstacles that non-whites face here in the states will be less burdensome for you. Please be clear, I am not devaluing the individual hard-work that many Asian American, of all ethnicities, have demonstrated time and again. I just think that the hurdles that many “Asian” groups face are “softer” than the hurdles that other marginalized groups face. For example, the black and brown male body, in our society, has been criminalized. So, many young black and brown men are perceived, in our hyper race conscious society, as potential threats and are treated as such. People will, seemingly, instinctually lock their doors or clutch their purses when one or more of these kinds of young men are present.

      Now here I need to be more specific. I am going to attempt to operationalize “Asian” for the sake of our discussion. In California Chinese Americans (and to a lesser degree Japanese/Korean Americans), for a myriad of reasons, have become the archetypes for Asian-ness. More on archetypes: for example, if I tell everyone in class to think of a bird, most people will conjure up the image of a sparrow or robin, because they are archetypical birds, rather than an ostrich or penguin, because these two birds are not consider to be archetypical. So to your point about South East Asians being consumed by an essentializing and (erroneously) all-encompassing umbrella term like “Asian” is spot on. So many times, when people invoke Asian-ness, they are often talking about Chinese Americans; this is especially true whenever the model minority notion comes to the fore. Consequently, south East Asians are not really factored into many discussions about Asians, at least not here in California. Worth noting, pigment plays a large part in the social positionality of ethnic groups: this is true in what is considered to be the Asian community as well. Laotian, Cambodian, and Hmong people are by and larger darker, pigment-wise, than Chinese, Korean, and Japanese Americans. As a result, in our Eurocentric society, darker skinned Asians are perceived (when thought of at all) quite differently than the other, more traditionally fair-skinned, Asian groups. And, consequently, their socio-economic statuses, by and large, are not on par with
the aforementioned “more fair-skinned” groups.

      There is also the issue of assimilation. It seems that while many older Chinese Americans may cling tight to their culture, this is not the case for many of their children and grandchildren. White people are notoriously acultural, because they are considered to be normative. It seems as though many Chinese Americans, (obviously, this is just my opinion), have assumed this ethos in an attempt to be more “American.” (Please feel free to disagree!)

      As far as stereotypes are concerned, I agree with you: there are no, intrinsically, good stereotypes; precisely because the impetus of any stereotype is to simultaneously differentiate and compartmentalize the individual in favor of generalizing the (purported) amalgam.

      Lastly, with your permission, I’d love to post this on the blog. It could be anonymous. Or, you could post it. It is so well-written and well-argued, that I think you could simply cut and paste the portions that you want to include. I think it will really get people talking. Plus, your comments are too good to be limited to just me.

Let's open a thread based on our discussion yesterday. This is open to the MWF group as well.

I am pasting Ann Wu's email, regarding our class-wide discussion, to this blog. (Of course, with her permission.) I am also pasting my response to her email. I invite all of you to chime in should you so choose. Thanks. Actually, she beat me to it. Thanks, Anna.

Continuation of Thursday's discussion

Hi class,

We had some great and powerful discussions in class this Thursday and I went home thinking a lot about them. So, I sent Jeremiah an email specifically about our discussion on Asian Americans and he asked that I share this with you all as well. I, myself, would love to hear what you all have to say. The following is most of my email to Jeremiah:

"We had some great discussions today in class! I just wanted to email you
about our discussion on Asian Americans and their economic and political
station in America. If I am not mistaken, you mentioned that many Asian
Americans are currently pretty well off economically. However, they lack
political power. This I agree with. I mean, I haven't seen any Asian
protest groups on campus either. However, I know of a few Asian youth
groups that do a lot of advocacy work in their communities (AYPAL in
Oakland being one). I can't help but wonder if whether our stereotypes of
Asian Americans (as submissive, docile, silent, etc) play a role in the
lack of political activism, or perhaps the stereotypes are keeping us from
seeing that Asian Americans are indeed active? I'm not very sure.

You also brought up a point that Asian Americans, unlike other minority
groups, have almost positive stereotypes. (Or more positive stereotypes
vis-a-vis those placed on Blacks or Latinos -- Asians stereotyped as smart
versus Blacks being stereotyped as dumb). Correct me if I took it the
wrong way, but I'm not sure any stereotype is positive. Being placed as
the "model minority" and being stereotyped as smart has some pretty
negative repercussions, especially for those Asians who do not meet the
expectations. A lot of the Southeast Asian ethnic groups (Laotians and
Cambodians for example) face a lot of the same realities many other people
of color in poverty face. However, when Asians as an umbrella group are
seen as doing well in the academic and professional realms, as being smart
enough, it unjustly covers up a lot of the struggles many groups of Asians
still endure -- and as a result hiding a lot of the political support and
help many Asian groups still need. It's this notion that Asians are doing
well, they are well-off economically (and some groups of Asians are) that
ties into this perception that political involvement is unnecessary.
However, I'm not sure lacking a political voice is ever desirable, even
with economic prosperity as a trade-off. (Not saying this is what you were
arguing, however. The discussion had me thinking.)

Please share any thoughts you may have."

Field notes - IMPORTANT

Hi all,

Jeremiah and I have been talking about the "one field note per week" rule and know it won't work for this summer's schedule, due to programs ending earlier than we anticipated. So, instead of doing one field note per week, please just do a total of five field notes, divided in a way that makes sense for you.

Thanks,

Nora & Jeremiah

Reading lists for T/TH groups

Ambe:     Jisu, Kelly, Chinyere, Donna
Ayers:    Tuyet, Andre, Phillip,
Morrell: Helen, Nayeri, Nick, Zack
Moll:      Preunky, Patti, Anna
Mahiri:   Michael, Jashley, Yuri
Hull:      Astrid, Toshi, Tiffany

Pearson and Bruhmer will be covered by either Nora or me.

If your name is not on this list, please email me right away.

IMPORTANT: Attendance

Hello all,
  I have noticed that they quite a few of you have unexcused absences. This is especially problematic because this class only last for 6 weeks. What is more, participation factors into your grade. You cannot participate in class discussion if you are not in class. So, to be clear, as with just about any class you will take here at UC Berkeley, more than two unexcused absences will negatively affect your course grade. We know that unforeseen emergencies also occur during the summer. Still, we ask that you alert us if you know that you will not make it to class on a given day; or, if you are unable to provide forewarning, as to the reason for an absence, please let us know as soon as you are able.

From the syllabus:

There are four main activities associated with this course:

1.  Regular class attendance and participation—Class meetings will include both lectures and workshops; in either case students should be prepared to discuss readings and/or fieldwork experiences.  Readings should be completed prior to class meetings so that they may be discussed during class. We only have 12 sessions, so it is critical to participate actively and attend every class. 

There are still a number (7) of "unknowns" on the blog.

Hello again,
  A week or so ago, I mentioned that there were a number of "unknows" on the blog. A few of you made the necessary adjustment. However, there are still "unknowns" on the blog. To be clear, when you post a resopnse as an "unknown", we do not know who to assign credit to. Please take the time to choose a pseudonym/screen name; then, after you have completed this step, please email Nora (and me) letting us know the screen name that you've chosen so that we match students up with their respective screen names. Thank you.

No questions for Ayers and Ambe.

Hello all,
   I have not developed questions for either Ayers or Ambe, precisely because though they are both valuable contirbutions to literacy studies, they are fairly straightforward and, in my opinion, do not need further explication. That said, I do encourage you all to read them. Both pieces, like I stated above, are important; and, both pieces are relatively short.

Questions for Mahiri & Sablo

Mahiri & Sablo:

• This article seems to operate under the assumption that literacy, in the final instance, is inherently“political”? Do you agree with His assertion? Please explain.
• Mahiri seems to be pushing for a reconceptualization of literacy, which includes the cultural offerings of traditionally marginalized students. Do you see this as a clear challenge to the American “canon”; and, how realistic, in the face of the overdetermination of a Western, Eurocentric epistemology, do you think the prospect of this reconceptualization is?

Questions for Morrell & Duncan Andrade

Morrell & Duncan-Andrade:

• Morrell and Duncan-Andrade argue that students benefit from culturally relevant instruction, yet there has been (and continues to be) ardent resistance insofar as rethinking or recapitulation the “canon” is concerned. Why do you feel that there has been continued resistance to the incorporation of this kind of pedagogy?
• The authors cite Ferdman (1990) who argues that cultural valuation leads to higher levels of literacy acquisition; why do you believe this is the case? More specifically, do you feel that cultural valuation (i.e., valuing a student's culture) in fact leads to higher levels of literacy acquisition?
• Why is it important for students to be taught in their own “native” tongues; and, what kind of transformational  experiences do the authors attribute to this kind of instruction?

Questions for Hull & Rose:

Hull &Rose:

• Why is freeing students from closed, canonical (and necessarily terminal) interpretations vitally important if we hope to help young people think critically about the sociocultural identities that are available to them?
• What do the authors mean when they argue that “hesitancy and uncertainty are central to knowledge making” (pp. 297 of original text)?

Questions for Moll:

Questions for Moll:

• Moll, on page 565 of the original text, claims that “by capitalizing on household and other community resources, we can organize classroom instruction that far exceeds in quality the rote-like instruction […] children commonly receive in school.” What would this shift practice look like, practically? That is, what would a classroom that eschews rote, mechanized instruction in favor of a more dialogic flow look life in your opinion? Describe the mise-en-scène.
• According to Moll, why is it important to account for the variegated household dynamics found within his focal classroom, which is a relatively diverse classroom milieu?

Reading groups for next week:

Hello all,
   Here are the reading gfroups for next week. Remeber, you are no longer limited to concept maps as far as presentations are concerned. You're free to present your assigned asrticles in any manner that you feel will be efficacious/edifying for your classmates. Lastly, please remember to create at least two questions to ask your classmates following your presentations. (The goal of these questions is to create an interactive dialogue).


Ambe: Daniel and Edwen
Ayers: Sarah and Eileen
Morrell: Ruby and Arno
Moll: Anna and Mary
Mahiri: Sequoia and Leshee
Hull: Lauchlin and Michelle

Running late.

I will be about 5 minutes late.

Field hours opportunity

Hi everyone (well, MWF section, really),

Here's an opportunity to earn some hours on Tuesday. Transportation has been arranged to/from St Martin, so you'd be joining the kids on the bus.

If you're interested in going, let Julie know. Also, if you can go, but you work at another site, I'm sure you'd be welcome, so just call or email Julie.

Cheers,

Nora

Hi Nora,

The 2nd through 8th grades will go on a field trip next Tuesday (26th) to the Exploratorium in SF.

We need some volunteers from 9 am to 3 pm.

If any of the ED140 interns would like to join us, please have them email me.

Many thanks!

Julie Merrill
Volunteer Coordinator & Development Committee
St. Martin de Porres School
675 - 41st Street
Oakland, CA 94609
(510) 652-2220 ext 32

Literacy autobiography

Hi all,

The literacy autobiography assignment sheet and rubric will be handed out in class Tuesday and Wednesday, but they're also in the dropbox.

Happy writing!

Response to Lam

According to Lam Binary oposition is a problem in discourse because it have the potential of preventing people from forming relationship with other people. When difference groups of people form relationships with each other they become members of more than one groups. According to Lam people association with people that are different from them enable them to share their discourse and use careful negotiation between their various discourse practices. When Binary oposition is used it create disunity among people, it create hatred and stop them from careful negotiation between their various discourse practices. Member of a group who believe they have been oppressed began to view their oppressor discourse as evil and they warn other members of their group about the danger and evil of the other group discourse. The hate that binary opposition create take away people ability to use careful negotiation between the various discourse practices they share. It take away their creative ability of having different views about reality. Binary oposition prevent people from forming important relationship that can expose them to new reality and ways of thinking. It prevent people from improving themselves.

Revised reading schedule for the MWF class.

Hello all,
  I hope that each of you is enjoying your weekend. Per the subject line above, I just added the revised reading list for the MWF class to our dropbox. To be clear, this doumment supercedes the syllabus; so, look to this list when you have questions regarding the chronology of course readings.

Emailing fieldnotes to Jeremiah OR Nora

Hi there,

We should've addressed this in class, but if you're in the Tuesday-Thursday class, please send fieldnotes and other class-related business to Nora, and if you're in the Monday-Wednesday-Friday class, please send fieldnotes, etc. to Jeremiah. If you've sent fieldnotes to Nora and you're in the MWF class, please resend them to Jeremiah and vice versa.

Thanks!

Nora & Jeremiah

Questions for Rodriguez

Many readers find Rodriguez problematic: Do you agree? How do you think other academics might respond to Rodriguez's stance in relation to cultural heritage and language? If you're familiar with Gloria Anzaldua's work, how do you think she would respond to Rodriguez's perspectives on culture, education, and assimilation?

Field note clarification

Hi again,

As it says on the syllabus, "Each set of field notes submitted in a week should be turned in as ONE email; put all the field notes for a week (if you're going to the site more than once) in a SINGLE file, and copy and paste the entire file into the body of the email as well."

To clarify, the requirement is to complete five individual field notes, each of which document one week's worth of tutoring. So if you go to a site on Tuesday and Friday, your field note for that week will address events (and generate data) for Tuesday and Friday. How you combine this is up to you, but I recommend you split them into days, with one part of the field note discussing Tuesday and the other part discussing Thursday (a general observation, focused observation, and reflection for each day). This isn't necessary, but, since these field notes are data for your case study, it's better to have more data as separated by dates. If you'd like to combine the information for the week, that's fine, too, and you won't be penalized or rewarded either way.

I hope this helps, but if you have further questions, please comment on this blog so that your peers can benefit from the exchange, too.

Thanks!

St. Martin de Porres Orientation schedule

Hi all,

Here are the schedules for St. Martin de Porres (SMDP) orientation (you don't have to wait to complete orientation to begin working at the school, however - see below):

*Wednesday July 20, 3 p.m. and

*Friday July 22, also at 3 p.m.

Orientations for both programs (elementary and middle school) will be at the Sacred Heart campus, 675 - 41st Street. Directions are on the site information sheet.

Here's the "below," a note from Julie, the volunteer coordinator, with my insertions in blue:

Students may begin as soon as possible, as long as they have completed their applications and bring it with them when they first arrive (applications were distributed in class - if you need one, please email Julie at juliemerrill@yahoo.com). If not completed, the TB test, Shield the Vulnerable on-line class are should be in process (please ask Julie for more information on this, if she hasn't already given it to you).

We are so happy to have your students. They are doing a great job! (Yay!)

I will be late today

I won't arrive to class until 9:30 today. I apologize for any inconvenience.

From Michael Appis at OMI

Good News.....

 

OMI now has a service that makes the live scan free to the education students volunteering at OMI. 

 

All they have to do is attain the paperwork from me and call the live scan operator for an appointment.  The live scan operators are open from Mondahy through Saturday.  They are local and the address is 2141 Broadway #2, Oakland, CA 94612.  Interested people have to call for an appointment---and take the paperwork from OMI with them for their appointment.  I will send copies of the documents to you later on, and to the four students that attended first and second round of orientation via e-mail.  I am holding a third orientaiton on Monday, July 18 at 5:30 pm.  If you have any interested students let them know. 

 

They can e-mail me or call my cell phone at 909-838-5649.

Anzaldua...

Anzaldua:

• Anzaldua writes that the "home" tongues are the languages spoken among family and friends; according to Gee, what type of discourse is this? Please provide an example of the differences between your particular "home" tongue and the tongue you most frequently adopt when not at "home".

• Anzaldua argues that language is, essentially, twin-skin to culture; that is to say, that language both instantiates and carries culture. Please discuss what it is that she means by this; and, argue for why you agree or disagree with this argument? 

• How can linguistic suppression, or worse oppression lead to negative mis-identification? More specifically, how can linguistic oppression  lead to the internalization of pejorative associations for linguistically marginalized groups?

Pratt

Pratt:

• It seems as though Pratt is arguing that the notion of a speech community is predicated on a false assumption of cultural homogeneity? Do you agree with this argument: And, if so, why is it problematic?

• Pratt mentions perspectives of power, how can these asymmetrical power relationships, like teacher-student for example, be made more equitable?

Lam questions...

Lam:

• Why does Lam feel that it is problematic, when engaging discourses, to focus on binary oppositions? And, do you feel that her concern is warranted?

• What does Lam mean by “transnational social fields (pp.83 of source text)” and how are they potentially counter-hegemonic (according to Lam)? Please explain.

• According to Lam, the development of intercultural voices and perspectives are vitally important for youth, especially immigrant youth. According to Lam, what do these two terms denote; and, do you agree with her regarding their intrinsic significance?

Questions for Howard (2006) reading...

Howard:

• Sociologically, race is classified as a social construction (i.e., not an irrefutable biological reality); that is, it is defined as an abstract notion, so to speak. Is this designation problematic for Howard; and, do you see any potential problems with this classification? Please explain.

• What are “legitimizing myths”; and, what purpose do they serve (according to Howard)?

• Why does Howard consider the notion of meritocracy, as delineated in our distinctly Westernized, Eurocentric National ethos, to be mythical (pp. 37 of original text)? Please explain.

• Also on page 37 of the original text, Howard discusses what he terms “social arrangements of dominance”: please provide examples of said social arrangements, and, explain just how they fit into the definition that Howard provides.

Mistake in group pairings...

Hello all,
   I mistakenly put Anna in two groups, while simultaneously failing to put Mary in any group at all. My apologies. So, Anna, you are no longer in the "Rose" group; Mary, you are now the newest member of the "Rose" group. Congrats.

If there's anything else that I missed, please don't hesitate to let me know.

The pairs/groups for next week's presentations (MWF class only).

Lam (2004): Shellea & Daniel
Pratt (1999): Anna & Sequoia
Anzaldua (1987): Sarah, Ruby, and Lehsee
Rodriguez (1981): Edwen & Kim
Bragg (1998): Lauchlin & Eileen
Rose (1989): Anna & Michelle
Howard (2006): Jeremiah
Olsen (1997): Jeremiah

Remember, the questions that correspond to these particular readings need to be answered by 11:59pm Sunday night (the 17th). Some of the questions are already on the blog. However, there are quite a few that still require questions; worry not, all missing questions will be posted no later than 5pm tomorrow evening.

Readings for this week, (which will be presented on next week):

Border-Crossing:  Language and Identities

Lam, W. S. E. (2004). Border discourses and identities in transnational youth culture. In Jabari Mahiri (Ed.) What they don’t learn in school: Literacy in the lives of urban youth. (pp. 79-97). Peter Lang: NY. 

This book chapter explores how Chinese immigrant teenagers create transnational/global cultural and social relationships, based on their reading of Japanese, Chinese, and American comic books.

Pratt, Mary Louise. (1999). Arts of the contact zone.  In D. Bartholomae & A. Petrosky (Eds.), Ways of Reading, 5th edition. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's Press.

Pratt introduces us the term “contact zone”, which she explains as “social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power.” She illustrates the term “autoethnography,” a tactic by which people who have been relegated to marginalized positions of powerlessness seek to regain their agentive voice.  Autoethnography is one example of what she calls “literate arts of the contact zone.”

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

This essay describes Anzaldua's experience as a bilingual/biliterate/bicultural woman living along the Texas/Mexico border, attempting to negotiate a number of boundaries that separate languages, peoples, and ideas.

Rodriguez, R. (1981). The achievement of desire. In Hunger of memory: The education of Richard Rodriguez, An autobiography. (pp. 43-73). Boston: D.R. Godine.

In this chapter, Rodriguez describes his education, and his resulting feeling of alienation from his family.

Bragg, R. (1998). Excerpts from All over but the shoutin’. New York:  Pantheon.

These excerpts are from a Pulitzer Prize winning author’s autobiography about growing up White and poor in Alabama.

Rose, M. (1989). “I just wanna be average.” In Lives on the boundary: An account of the struggles and achievements of America's educationally under-prepared (pp. 11-37). New York: Penguin.

Rose writes an evocative account of his years in the “voc ed” track, reflecting on his own school experiences in light of public discussions of education and the underrepresented student.

Literacy autobiographies by former 140AC students (please read 3 or more):

Aldabe, Lisa Marie.  (2006). Growing into literacy:  A college student reads and writes

Anonymous (2007). A Primary Reflection on the Role of Literacy in My Life

Bang, Katie. (2006). The end of education.

Chou, Justin. (2006). Techno-social literacy.

Ji, Fei.  (2006). White.

Jang, Taryn. (2006).  Beyond the notes.

Nakagawa, Jenna. (2006).  Then what are you doing in America?

Identity & Schooling

Howard, G.R. (2006). We can’t teach what we don’t know: white teachers, multiracial schools (pp.13-27; 53-67).Teachers College Press. New York and London.

In the first chapter of this powerful book, veteran educator, Gary Howard, writes of his coming to terms with his whiteness, and all that it entails, while living in a poor, predominately African American neighborhood during both the Civil Rights movement and its reluctant progeny, the Black Power Movement. Later, in the third chapter of this book, he systematically deconstructs what he refers to as the “dominance paradigm” employed by whiteness.

Olsen, L. (1997).  We make each other racial: The Madison High world as perceived by the “American” student.  In Made in America (pp. 58-89).  New York: The New Press.

This chapter presents high school students views on how race factors into their social experience.