More Standards than We Can Define

As I being to dig through the new Common Core Standards for English Language Arts, I must admit I am a little intimidated.  The sheer number of standards is a little overwhelming.  I have spent the least amount of time going through the CCR standards and am therefore still unfamiliar with them.  However, their very name has me concerned.  College and Career Readiness?  What does this even mean??? My problem biggest problem is the fact that we are supposed to apply these standards to every student but each student's required "readiness" will undeniably be different.  A student who wants to be a doctor will need different skills than a lawyer, or a mechanic, or a teacher...the list is endless.  Every career requires a different set of skills.  For general purposes, I think these standards mean we must do our best to equip our students with the tools they will need to navigate the "real" world in either a career or college.  This includes being able to read and comprehend documents of all types that may come into their hands be they business related, social, or technical in nature.  Students also must be able to communicate through writing and speaking.  This may include the ability to speak in public while conveying the point and not throwing up on the stage.  This may include being able to type a professional email detailing your business concerns.  Regardless, students must be able to communicate clearly, concisely, and effectively.  I do not know if these are the skills CCR covers, but I sure hope so.

As for other forms of literacy, I hope my students will be socially literate when they leave my classroom.  College and careers both require the ability to work with other people.  Therefore, students need to be socially literate, able to communicate, collaborate, and compromise when working with others in a classroom or work setting.  This means I will be using a lot of group work in my classroom to help establish these skills.  I also hope my students will be culturally literate when they graduate.  They should know what's going on in the world.  They should understand cultural references to important works of literature and history.  My focus will be on introducing students to the literature aspect of our society's cultural canon.

College and Career Readiness will mean something different for each student.  As teachers, all we can do is give our students the best tools possible to navigate the general world and hope the student knows how best to apply their resources to their individual situation.

Literacy

By my definition, to say someone is "literate" means they have the ability to proficiently read and write.  "Proficiently" in this sense means reading and writing at a level which allows that person to function in basic society.  They can read bills, newspapers, and other life essentials.  Having a higher level of literacy would then mean possessing the ability to read at a higher level--dense academic papers and the like.  Someone who is "illiterate" is someone who can not yet read/write at the basic level required by society.  Reading and writing are an essential part of functioning in society.  They allow us to communicate with others, gather news, navigate using signs-the uses are endless.  The gap between literate and illiterate, then, is an important one.  Being illiterate would make functioning in society much more difficult (though not impossible).  As teachers, it is our job to at least provide students with enough skills to read the important documents and communicate with others in their lives.  A higher level of literacy would be preferred but is not absolutely essential at the basic level.

To teach or not to teach..Grammar that is

I do believe grammar still has a place in the classroom.  Most students don't enjoy learning grammar.  Most teachers probably don't particularly enjoy teaching grammar either.  Unfortunately grammar is something students need to know.  Like it or not, standard English is expected in higher institutions and the working world, and grammar is an important part of this knowledge base.  I plan on incorporating Grammar 4 (school grammar) in my classroom.  Grammar will not be a huge focus, but some lessons will be learned.  For example, I think punctuation is essential to writing a well written sentence.  Meaning can be totally misconstrued without proper punctuation.  Spelling and sentence structure are also essential to understanding.  The point of good writing is to accurately convey a message and this cannot be achieved without proper grammar.  I also don't think it's important to teach Grammar 2 or the strict science behind grammar.  Those rules are too complicated for any student to memorize or comprehend- I still don't understand most of them.  This article argues that grammar comes as a subconscious knowledge of the language, but I do not this this is always true.  As we have discussed in the class, students come from all different backgrounds which affect their basic concept of language.  For example, a student who speaks AAVE may not inherently know all the rules of Standard English grammar.  They must learn these rules to meet society's expectations (whether these expectations be right or wrong).  Ultimately, unless the entire globe agrees we can do away with grammar, the subject must still be taught in schools in order to prepare students to meet the expectations and communication standards of their society.

Dialect Project Thoughts

I thoroughly enjoyed this dialect project.  I had never even heard of Hinglish before this assignment so I had the chance to dive into an entirely new language.  I find language differences fascinating.  Learning about differences in pronunciation and grammar makes me question why we speak the way we do, and what makes us so sure our way of speaking is the "correct" way.  This assignment taught me some of the nuances and rules of a different dialect, which was fascinating.  However, I think the more important lesson was making me question how many other dialects are out there and how important these are to various functioning societies.  Hinglish is spoken by millions of people in multiple countries.  That's sort of mind blowing considering it's not the internationally accepted form of proper English.  Living in Montana, it's easy to forget how many other languages and dialects infiltrate most of the world.  As a teacher, I am sure I will face these differences in my students and their families.  Hinglish seems so far away and therefore it's easy to assume I will never encounter the dialect personally.  However, in doing research, I discovered a video of a little girl in America telling her sister a story in Hinglish.  We didn't have time to show that video in class but here's the link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB2fKbx8yLY&feature=related  This video helped me realize that I may quite possible encounter ANY dialect in my classroom and I must be prepared to deal with them appropriately.  I am still figuring out how to go about doing this but right now I think the most important aspect is to keep an open mind and never count a different dialect as wrong just because it's not the language I use on a daily basis!

The Eternal Question

This question was posed to me in a comment on my last post and is still puzzling me now (and very well may continue to do so for awhile).  How do we tell students that SAE is the accepted dialect in the academic and professional world without making it sound superior to other dialects.  Does this reason even exist or is it just one of those social rules created without rhyme or reason to the frustration of many?

The Great Divide

The great clash between linguistic reality and social acceptance  for dialects is a tough one to tackle in the classroom.  Students pick up on the social attitudes towards various dialects.  As a result, we as teachers must be careful about what bias we may pass on to our students.  I believe it is our responsibility to teach the variations in dialects while also teaching standard English to prepare them to function in higher institutions.  I think it is quite possible to teach various dialects without raising one above the other as "right" or wrong".  Social Studies do a similar thing with religions all the time--they teach the basic concepts without promoting one religion over the other.  We can do the same with dialects.  Teach the basic grammar, syntax, word structure etc of a specific dialect.  This will teach students the difference between standard English and said dialect and help them realize one style is not necessarily "correct."  However, we must also explain that standard English is the most accepted among higher institutions, businesses, etc.  These lessons will help prepare students to function in multiple aspects of society using various dialects and will help wipe out ignorance concerning "uneducated" ways of speaking.

An Introduction to Cassidy

I hail from Missoula, Montana.  Just to get things straight-yes I was born and raised a Grizzly but I love my Bobcats.  I'd say I've lived a pretty standard life so far.  I've always loved school.  However, I also enjoy many alternative activities.  I've been involved with music for years now.  I started playing piano when I was five and took lessons for 11 years.  I picked up the flute in fourth grade and still play in the MSU wind ensemble today.  Music has taken me on several journeys--the biggest of which was a 1 month-6 country tour of Europe with a national honor band.  The experience was amazing and will hopefully aid me in contributing to discussions about language in this class.  I also enjoy sports-I've played soccer, basketball, and ran cross-country in high school.  I'm also a major fan of ultimate frisbee, hiking, rafting, camping, and all the wonderful activities Montana has to offer.

My love for the Montana is one reason I'm attending MSU-I simply couldn't bear to leave this beautiful state.  My father taught high-school English for 20 years (he now works in the library) and has been my biggest influence in becoming a teacher.  I have a great love for reading and the English language and will consider myself a successful teacher if I can pass on that passion to a handful of my future students.  I am halfway through my education and becoming both excited and nervous to get into my own classroom.  I'm looking forward to this class and our discussions of this crazy language we all love!