Blogger sucks

As discussed in section today, we've moved the reading discussion to BSpace/Forums. Check it out, yo. If BSpace works out, we won't be using this blog for reading responses anymore. Thanks for stopping by! :D

Reading groups for Thursday Sept. 22

Hi there,

Sorry this is so late, but here's the reading group information, as I collected it in class last week. Also, scroll down...I have an idea about reading presentations...

Group 1, Mike Rose, "I Just Wanna Be Average" (he is the same "Rose" who wrote the "Wooden Shack" article, btw:

Enoch (enochsales@berkeley.edu)

David (davidvelasquez@berkeley.edu)

Victor (evidenceofllama@gmail.com)

Rachel (rkschall@berkeley.edu)

Group 2, Gloria Anzaldua, How to Tame a Wild Tongue

Andrew (dewsanborn@berkeley.edu)

Dom (dgalas@berkeley.edu)

Aimee (ashimizu@berkeley.edu)

Poonam (poonam42@berkeley.edu)

Group 3, Richard Rodriguez, The Achievement of Desire

Yoori (yoorichung@gmail.com)

Stephanie (sv_nguyen@berkeley.edu)

Nick (nicholasasantos@berkeley.edu)

Amanda (arortega@berkeley.edu)

Group 4, Amy Tan, Mother Tongue

Marissa (mminovitz@berkeley.edu)

Norielle (noriellead1@berkeley.edu)

Mayra (super_girl@berkeley.edu)

Angelica (angelicag@berkeley.edu)

Group 5, Literacy autobiographies

Kenny (keblueford@berkeley.edu)

Vincent (vincentyoung@berkeley.edu)

Lilibeth (lclelo1@berkeley.edu)

Erika (serika07@berkeley.edu)

Group 6, Eva Lam, Border Discourses

Fernando (fernandorms89@berkeley.edu)

Cassie (jiun.cassie.seo@berkeley.edu)

Will (williamchiang@berkeley.edu)

Oscar (ovarela21@berkeley.edu)

Group 7, Mary Pratt, Contact Zones

Yania (yania.escobar@berkeley.edu)

Monali (monalisheth22@yahoo.com)

Hwajong (Alex) (alexl08@berkeley.edu)

Since there are so many readings, let's pair them so that groups talk about relationships between articles. I'll give you some time in class to chat as a larger group, but here are the pairs:

Anzaldua and Rodriguez

Pratt and Lam

Tan and Rose (think about relationships between children, parents, schooling, and power...)

Literacy autobiographies

I just created spaces under "BSpace/Forum" for each group pairing. I think you can post threads and chat with each other here before presenting to the class on Thursday...maybe you can come up with one core question to present to the class, which worked great last week.

Enjoy!

Week 5 Reading blog questions

I'm going to try to have a little more fun with this week's questions...remember to skip the summary and just go straight to the meat of the question...also, remember that these are due on Sunday by 11:59 p.m. and that, in 350 words, you should address two questions. And thanks for a GREAT first "real" section; we're going to have a lively semester, which thrills me! I have some ideas for tweaking the in-section reading discussion, which I'll introduce over the blog this weekend...stay tuned...

This week's questions:

1. Why does Mike Rose want to be average? And what does he mean by "students will float to the mark you set?"

2. What are the implications of Mike Rose's educational trajectory, given the contrasts between vocational education and college prep content?

3. Imagine Gloria Anzaldua and Richard Rodriguez are at a language, literacy, and education conference. They find themselves at the same reception and have a few too many drinks. What kind of conversation do you think they would have about bilingual education and education in general? What, exactly, would they say to each other?

4. Now imagine that Amy Tan cruises into the reception at the end of the night, when the conversation's especially sloppy, and joins Anzaldua and Rodriguez. What does Tan have to contribute to the discussion?

5. What themes, if any, emerge throughout the literacy autobiographies? How are the papers alike? Different? How, if at all, do they inspire your own narrative?

6. In Eva Lam's article, how does Willis demonstrate Pratt's ideas about the contact zone? And how do these contact zones compare to your own?

7. Like last week's readings, many of this week's articles deal with normative notions of language, literacy, education, and identity. From where do these ideas originate and what impact do they have on individual lives, as illustrated by this week's authors? Address this theme and show how assimilation impacts at least one of this week's authors, as evidenced by their work. (And, yes, you may use one of the literacy autobiographies to address this question...)

Blog word counts

Hi,

The syllabus (and we) aren't super clear about the reading blog word count requirement, so here it is: Your entire blog post should be no more than 350 words and should include answers to both questions. Again, the maximum reading blog word count is 350 total, for both answers.

Thanks!

Nora

Week 4 reading blog

The reading for this week is as follows:

Supporting student reading and writing

Hammons, Jane. (2001). Bigger than Michael Jordan. High Plains Literary Review XVI (2&3), 138-152.

Hull, G. & Rose, M. (1990). “The wooden shack place”: The logic of an unconventional reading. College Composition and Communication 4, 3: 287-298.

Ambe, E.B. (2007). Inviting reluctant adolescent readers into the literacy club: Some comprehension strategies to tutor individuals or small groups of reluctant readers. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, (50), 8, 632-639.

Meeting students halfway

Moll, L., Amanti, C., Neff, D., & Gonzalez, N. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms. Theory Into Practice, (31), 2, 132-141.

Morrell, E. & Duncan-Andrade, J. (2004). What they do learn in school: Hip-hop as a bridge to canonical poetry (247-272). In J. Mahiri (Ed.), What they don’t learn in school: Literacy in the lives of urban youth. New York: Peter Lang.

Please answer two of the following questions, with a limit of 350 words (aim for 250 words, please); to do so, just add a comment under this post and, in the comment, address two of the questions below. Alternatively or in addition, if you'd like to pose your own question - or answer a question a classmate poses - please feel free to do so. When you write your blog, it might be helpful and most productive to read at least one classmate's post and respond, thus initiating or continuing a dialogue we can continue in section.

Important: You MUST create a blogger identity in order for me to grade your blog. If you create an identity that doesn't match your name or email address, I won't know it's you posting the blog. Questions? Email me at ed140.nora@gmail.com.

1. Jane Hammons's "Bigger than Michael Jordan" explores the complexities and intersections of race, gender, socioeconomics and the impacts thereof, literacy, schooling, identity, and violence in many forms. What did you take away from this reading and to what effect? What do you think the author intended to accomplish with this piece?

2. '"The Wooden Shack Place' The Logic of an Unconventional Reading' references "judgments about cognition" (reader p. 159), "conventional readings" and students answers being "off the mark." What are the authors referring to? Who sets "the mark" and to what effect? How do the authors position themselves and the student Robert in relation to the academy and to what effect? Furthermore, what do the authors seem to suggest as a remedy for this "mismatch" between what a teacher expects and what a student does?

3. Ambe's piece outlines strategies for supporting "reluctant" readers. Likewise, on reader pages 169 and 170, the author lists and explains the many labels used to categorize students. What impact do such labels potentially or actually have on student-teacher/tutor relationships? And how can this labeling practice be interrupted while very real challenges face teachers and students in classroom settings each day?

4. If you were the tutor described in the Ambe piece, how would you engage and instruct Jamie?

5. In "Funds of Knowledge for Teaching," Moll, Amanti, Neff & Gonzalez employ language and methodologies that contrast with deficit-based perspectives on students, literacy, and learning. Likewise, the authors explicitly interrogate how stereotypes limit teaching and learning. Given that not all teachers have the opportunity to engage in qualitative research with their students and their families, how can teachers - and you as tutors - construct culturally relevant, asset-based curriculum and pedagogy? What ideas and suggestions do you have for moving beyond deficit perspectives?

6. How do Morrell & Duncan-Andrade realize Freirean notions of learning? And how could you adapt their approach to your tutoring needs?

7. How does this week's readings illustrate or refute previous readings from this semester? For example, how would Bakhtin deconstruct the dialogue analyzed in the Rose & Hull "Wooden Shack" piece? Or how has Vygotsky, perhaps, influenced Moll et al? This is your chance to synthsize this week's readings with an author from another week who you find compelling. Go for it.