On our first day of class, Dr. Vasquez asked us to define critical literacy... I wish I could recall exactly what I wrote to see how it contrasts with my ideas as I've journeyed through this class through reading, blogging, and podcasting (listening to and creating). It certainly hasn't been a traditional class, but I think the format has allowed our class to explore and define critical literacy in our own way since we all teach different subjects, grade levels, students, classes, and schools.
I remember the first time a teacher ever used the word "critical" in refering to how we should learn and think in school. It was my senior year in high school in AP English. My teacher had us focus on reading text as "critical thinkers" and we were supposed to read between the lines and develop meaning from the Grapes of Wrath, 1984, Bonfire of the Vanities, etc... It was all about finding symbolism and metaphors in literature.
I remember when we had to present in front of the class that some of us did it as a forum, some used drawings, some did traditional book reports and essays, and then there was a student who did an interpretive dance. I really thought this teacher was absolutely crazy because we hardly ever just sat in class and read and wrote papers like my other previous English classes. After reading many assigned books, we were finally given the chance to pick a book on our own and read it. I couldn't remember the last time I was given a choice on a book to read for school since elementary school when I would pick Hardy boy mysteries in 5th grade to do reports on.
Reading wasn't one of my favorite things to do and I hadn't read a book on my own since the 5th grade. I was lost in what to pick and we had to pick a novel to compare and contrast to 1984. I stayed after school one day to ask my teacher for help in choosing. Without hesitation, my teacher told me to go the local bookstore (because I wouldn't find it at the school library) and to see if I would like A Clockwork Orange.
I won't get into details about the book, but what amazes me to this day was how my teacher had analyzed the way I processed what we read in class, how she was able to understand what I would be interested in reading, and how she could suggest a book that most public school teachers wouldn't even dare to mention around students! I can't say that I didn't still think she was crazy after suggesting this book to me, but I did respect that she was living the ideas of thinking critically by doing so with her students. She knew that I would find the book relevant to some of the ideas that I had expressed in class and that I would find the book interesting.
I hope that I can think more critically about my students and make connections and impacts on them the way that my crazy AP English teacher did for me.
-MF EDOOMCATOR
Monday, March 26, 2007
Friday, March 16, 2007
Teaching to the 4th Power
(T)(T)(T)(T) = T to the 4th power
So, in reading through the article on Teaching to the 4th power it made me think back to my post and podcast on "Where's the critical literacy in y = mx + b?". It's been almost 8 weeks since my class first did this assignment and now we are about to take our Mid-terms. I wonder how well my students will do with questions on linear equations? I think we were able to achieve 3 of the Ts: Transmission, Transaction, and Transmediation. Will they be able to go back to transmitting their knowledge on a test that assesses their mastery learning?
I'm going to reflect on my teaching process on the linear equations mini-project and contrast it to the model presented in the article.
Transmission:
Through transmission, students consume knowledge that is fed to them by the teacher. This is really all about direct instruction. I presented the 4 views of linear functions to my students in the form of telling a story, modeling with an equation, creating an input-output table, and graphing by using various instructor-led examples to get them used to the idea. This perspective was quite new to the students and new for me to teach, but I found that it captured the essence of creating context with Algebra I material and putting multiple perspectives into one picture. I was transmitting my knowledge of linear functions in these 4 views to directly instruct my students.
Transaction
Transaction requires students to use the knowledge. After having gone through several examples as a class, I gave the students a set of 4 problems. I divided the class up into groups of 4 and assigned each group 2 of the problems to work on with some guidance from me. After giving the students a chance to work through the 2 assigned problems, I partnered them up with another corresponding group that worked on the opposite 2 problems and had them share out and explain their solutions together. Students were transacting their knowledge to each other through sharing out solutions and by explaining out the process they had previously learned.
Transmediation
Transmediation asks students to interpret knowledge. For this, I had the students create their own contextualized problems and present them to the class. This was a way for the students to create a metaphor of something they experience or have had experience with and apply it to algebra concepts. I found this part of the process to be the most exciting way of assessing my students. My students quickly explored how algebra can have an impact on things in their lives. Although some of the students just recreated the scenarios that were presented to them, they put their own names in place which gave the problems a bit more self-worth.
Transformation
I've been thinking about how my students could have taken action on their mini-project and in what ways could they have taken their learning to the level of producing knowledge. As a culminating event, I had the students present their problems to the class and explain it. In retrospect, I could have assigned the students to investigate some examples where data on social issues could be modeled linearly. They could have then taken their findings to other classes in the school and presented the issues and show how they could make predictions on the trends based on the linear models. This would be giving my students the chance to produce knowledge and show the value and use of linear equations to other students.
All in all, I'm happy with the way the unit turned out because my students got more of chance to see learning conceptually versus direct instruction. But, since that time 8 weeks ago... our school and curriculum has been under stress for reviewing for and preparation of the standardized testing and unfortunately, my class has been stuck revolving around the first two Ts. I guess the measure of the real value of my teaching to (almost) the 4 Ts will be in how well they do on Tuesday on the Mid-term when they are asked to model a scenario with linear equations and answer some critical thinking questions about it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed...
-MF EDOOMCATOR
So, in reading through the article on Teaching to the 4th power it made me think back to my post and podcast on "Where's the critical literacy in y = mx + b?". It's been almost 8 weeks since my class first did this assignment and now we are about to take our Mid-terms. I wonder how well my students will do with questions on linear equations? I think we were able to achieve 3 of the Ts: Transmission, Transaction, and Transmediation. Will they be able to go back to transmitting their knowledge on a test that assesses their mastery learning?
I'm going to reflect on my teaching process on the linear equations mini-project and contrast it to the model presented in the article.
Transmission:
Through transmission, students consume knowledge that is fed to them by the teacher. This is really all about direct instruction. I presented the 4 views of linear functions to my students in the form of telling a story, modeling with an equation, creating an input-output table, and graphing by using various instructor-led examples to get them used to the idea. This perspective was quite new to the students and new for me to teach, but I found that it captured the essence of creating context with Algebra I material and putting multiple perspectives into one picture. I was transmitting my knowledge of linear functions in these 4 views to directly instruct my students.
Transaction
Transaction requires students to use the knowledge. After having gone through several examples as a class, I gave the students a set of 4 problems. I divided the class up into groups of 4 and assigned each group 2 of the problems to work on with some guidance from me. After giving the students a chance to work through the 2 assigned problems, I partnered them up with another corresponding group that worked on the opposite 2 problems and had them share out and explain their solutions together. Students were transacting their knowledge to each other through sharing out solutions and by explaining out the process they had previously learned.
Transmediation
Transmediation asks students to interpret knowledge. For this, I had the students create their own contextualized problems and present them to the class. This was a way for the students to create a metaphor of something they experience or have had experience with and apply it to algebra concepts. I found this part of the process to be the most exciting way of assessing my students. My students quickly explored how algebra can have an impact on things in their lives. Although some of the students just recreated the scenarios that were presented to them, they put their own names in place which gave the problems a bit more self-worth.
Transformation
I've been thinking about how my students could have taken action on their mini-project and in what ways could they have taken their learning to the level of producing knowledge. As a culminating event, I had the students present their problems to the class and explain it. In retrospect, I could have assigned the students to investigate some examples where data on social issues could be modeled linearly. They could have then taken their findings to other classes in the school and presented the issues and show how they could make predictions on the trends based on the linear models. This would be giving my students the chance to produce knowledge and show the value and use of linear equations to other students.
All in all, I'm happy with the way the unit turned out because my students got more of chance to see learning conceptually versus direct instruction. But, since that time 8 weeks ago... our school and curriculum has been under stress for reviewing for and preparation of the standardized testing and unfortunately, my class has been stuck revolving around the first two Ts. I guess the measure of the real value of my teaching to (almost) the 4 Ts will be in how well they do on Tuesday on the Mid-term when they are asked to model a scenario with linear equations and answer some critical thinking questions about it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed...
-MF EDOOMCATOR
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