Phillips: 540 Week 15 Blog Post

Pedagogical Tactics for Increasing Inclusion: Johns, Lovejoy, and Delpit 

Lovejoy

“I want my students to learn to make thoughtful decisions in their writing, decisions that are based on purpose and audience and context. I want them to see how some pieces can be written appropriately in the students’ own language while other pieces are more appropriate in EAE. An even within EAE, there is room for variation. That is the direction I am taking in my own introductory writing classes—getting students to fit their writing to the situation for which it is intended and helping them to make careful decisions about their writing on that basis” (106).

Delpit

“Despite good intentions, constant correction seldom has the desired effect. Such correction increases cognitive monitoring of speech, thereby making talking difficult” (94).

“iz” example asks students to explain something in a halting way by incorporating extra syllables. For example, <maybe> becomes [miz-ay-biz-ee] <apple> becomes [iz-ap-piz-le]. The idea is to simulate what it would feel like to be an AAV speaker (or other varietial speaker) who is made to revise her/his speech incessantly.

Johns

“Critical thinking is cultural thinking” (142).

“…[W]hich kinds of assignments should be graded for error and which should not?” (143)

“We also need to design assignments that are clear, explicit, and well modeled, so that all students, second language or not, understand what they are to do and what a successful paper (or other assignment) might look like” (143).

Assessment Recommendations: Page 144

•Assessment connected to learner’s world and frame of reference--i.e. to do well students need to care about the topic

•Offer students multiple ways to demonstrate/represent knowledge and learning--e.g. poster sessions, visual representations, oral presentations, formal and informal out-of-class activities

•Self-assessment is essential to the overall assessment process--e.g. reflection, pointed feedback Q&A Note: not all students will be comfortable with self-disclosure, so offer options

Group-Work Recommendations: Page 147

•Teacher should set-up "ideal" groups

•Rotate group roles between projects

•Provide projects appropriate for a diverse audience

•Draw upon student-to-student exchange so they can teach each other

•Structure group activities wherein problem-solving creates cohesion

•Build interdependence into group activities

•Individual accountability must be included as well as peer-to-peer assessment

Counter Point to Johns

For this post, I have highlighted some of the things I found most useful with one exception. Johns notes that we should design projects that are explicit in content and demonstrate "what a successful paper" might look like. I don't believe the "real" world works that way. On some level, I worry that it is disingenuous to say that a paper is a "success" when mastery is not a realistic goal in a short-term course. Aren't students better served if assignments focus on beneficial research skill-sets rather than what John's seems to imply here, which is a de facto "success" scenario? Put differently, is John's too out of sync with the more chaotic environments people face in the workplace and elsewhere? Adaptive skills seem more important to me than what Johns suggests. Of course, this is a matter of opinion and open to debate.