Activity 3

The “Where I am From Project” helps us to understand that everyone has their own story and just because it isn’t exactly like ours doesn’t make it any less special. We need to embrace everyone’s differences and celebrate the fact that each person comes from a different background. It also helps us see that there are people who we might have never thought we had anything in common with until we see their video.

Language and literacy greatly complement each other as a child develops his/her communication skills. Teachers have the power to provide connections through meaningful language and literacy experiences for children during every part of the daily routines. Since speaking listening, reading, and writing develop together.  It is important for educators who plan to teach in the Appalachian region to understand that relationship because teachers should never judge someone based on their background or even the way they act when it comes to what they know about language and literacy. In the article “ As Soon as She Opened Her Mouth it states that “In fact, all children do not behave in ways that let us know that they have learned and are learning about written language when they are very young.” Educators we are responsible for guiding our students and overcoming cultural deficit perspectives of our students by using different strategies to make sure that are students language and backgrounds are not left out in the cold. One strategy that I believe is very affective when overcoming cultural defect is utilizing our community resources. In the article by Louis Moll he “urges teachers to create their own social networks of assistance to help each other take advantage of community resources.”

Teachers can or have contributed to poor literacy instruction over the years by not allowing their students to use what they already know as a building block for furthering their literacy knowledge. Teachers are refusing to step out of the box and use different approaches such as group work which allows students to learn from one another. In the article by Donna Bolima, she states that “Teachers, parents and students involved admitted that they had gained insights from the process of sharing information across groups." Teachers also contribute to poor literacy skills by viewing their students in a cultural deficit perspective. Educators must understand that a child can learn no matter.  Instead, teachers are more focused on meeting certain requirements or teaching straight from the text book. Some strategies that can improve literacy instruction for speakers of non-standard English include building bridges of meaningfulness between home and school experiences and encouraging students to listen to one another. By using these strategies the teacher is showing the students’ how important cultural capital is and even though each person has their own dialect doesn’t mean they aren’t capable of learning.

The “Where I am From” projected supported culturally responsive teaching because it allows other students to listen to their peers stories, it teaches students to respect their own as well as others culture and it allows students to incorporate their home life into something they are creating for school. I plan on implementing culturally responsive teaching practices in my future classroom by supporting my students and encouraging them in any way I can. I also plan to let my students have a say in what they want to do. I believe that allowing your students to make decisions on how they want to learn something will improve their knowledge of what they are learning.

Sources:

Adolescent literacy. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Positions/Chron0907ResearchBrief.pdf 

Bolima, D. (n.d.). Contexts for understanding: Educational learning theories. Retrieved from http://staff.washington.edu/saki/strategies/101/new_page_5.htm

Epstein, P., & Harring-Harris, L. (2011, September 15). Honoring dialect and increasing student performance in standard english. Retrieved from http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print

Funds of knowledge: A look at luis moll's research into hidden family resources. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B38BSV_Zo7aHSGVoMWEtOFRGMVE/edit

O'brien, J. (2003, May 10). Tall tales of Appalachia. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/10/opinion/tall-tales-of-appalachia.html

Purcell-Gates, V. P. G. (n.d.). As soon as she opened her mouth!: Issues of language,literacy, and power. In The skin we speak. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6DFAmexYq7vMGQxMjI1OTEtMjAyZS00NzJmLTg1OTUtODlmMGQ0ZDIxOTVk/edit?hl=en_U