Errors and Guiding Principles

"Errors"reminds me of my conflict when I comes to speaking and writing in Spanish and now Portuguese. As I'm still learning both languages, I struggle to find and arrange words to get my thoughts and intentions out or to be grammatically correct which resorts to me having to look it up using a translator or dictionary. In talking to friends who were going through a similar issue learning English it seemed more important to create what they wanted to say to simply use the language and then after making that attempt criticize it correcting the errors made not to interrupt and discourage communication . This reading also reminded me of a conversation with another friend, on the topic of differentiated learning, whereas I'm a visual learner while he is more auditory. When I'm learning things especially another language I need to hear the words, speak them but more importantly write and see the word; Seeing the word is what 'ties it all together' for me.
Guiding principles speaks of a time and place for types of writing especially as it relates to different content areas. It also encouraged and gave examples of positives teaching strategies to encourage learning and maintain eustress. Like a trainer was discussing with me in at my trapeze training session earlier, she said "I find it better to tell people why they should do it a certain way. They usually forget it anyway but I made the effort and for most eventually it'll stick. We were talking about how to use concise and efficient instruction in classes with new students.

Writing across the Curriculum

Reading these two articles reminded me of a conversation i had woth a family friend who is a librarian in the DOE and her son who has observed this topic through personal observations and ddis ussoons with his mother. We were duscussing my plans to teach, his plans to design programs for biochemistry company's and somehow stumbled onto the topic of the absence of writing fundamentals. He stated in order to have a better mastery of coding and the various language programs, one needed to have strong reading and writing skills. " You have to know the rules so you know how to break them" was an old saying that came to mind, especially in relation to the shorthand used in coding programs. That idea is exactly what the first reading "Programs in Writing Across the Curriculum" also states, "writing is vital to most subjects".
The second reading elaborated further on the topic giving me a better understanding and elaborated more on one of the major focuses of the Common Core which promotes "writing to learn". It highlights an association that it expands on and then clarifies whereas writing is a good source of input and not solely output, an assessment or even punishment. It pushes the idea of having students write as much as they can to promote reading and also learning. One interesting point it mention reminded me of the topic from last weeks discussion and reding in relation to language, discourse and the dominant cultural model. Often adults will dismiss children's scribbles as meaningless and nonsensical because they don't understand it. This reminded me of how the Europeans may have viewed the Native Americans when they first colonized dismissing the relevance of their language, culture and values.

Discourse Analysis

While I don’t believe all discourse analysis is inherently political and critical as Gee suggests, I do believe that often is the case.  The 3 readings reminded me of a topic being discussed in another of my classes whereas education, in its origins in this country, is a means of control.  Although it has evolved into a much larger and critical portion of today’s society education still is a somewhat deceivingly efficient method of dominance; Training individuals to be seemingly knowledgeable, productive, morally sound, law abiding citizens while securing the classes’ unbalanced state with little to no growth or upward mobility.  The elite create an ideology promoted by the intellectuals for all to follow through education, having teaching individuals to confirm to a limited cultural model.

In Language, the narrator talks about the idea of “the oppressors’ language” in relation to various ethnic groups but mainly focusing on blacks here in the United States.  Black Africans, being displaced, took bits and parts of the English language creating their own form of the English language in order to communicate and progress.  Similar to how the British viewed American English as a bastardized form of their language, so did the well educated Americans when viewing the southern black vernacular.  When submitted in use in critical essays, editors would correct it according to Standard English claiming it needed to reach a more inclusive audience.  Gee spoke of two principles that serve as the basis of ethical human communication and interaction, the second being of people having a moral obligation to change a cultural model into a primary theory when there is reason to believe that the cultural model advantages oneself or one’s group over other people or other groups.  The rejection of the usage of the southern black vernacular in works of literature as a means of introducing another cultural model to me is a clear example of long standing political views.

Although my primary language is English and British English at that, my recent experience in Brazil as well my experiences immigrating to New York as well as growing up in Corona, Queens allowed me a find a better connection with the stories told in Eleanor Klutz’s Outsider to Insider”.  I moved to New York when I was 9 and it was a bit of a culture shock adapting most everything I learned as being ‘right’ to what was ‘a better way’ as a classmate told me and basically trying to fit in speaking as ‘proper’ as I did.  Living in a Mexican and Dominican dominate area of Queens where most of my friends spoke Spanish was another experience.  Hearing them converse and Spanish and or Spanglish and usually not understand what was being said around me.  When spoken to in English, at times I did not understanding the meaning/context of some of the words and the slang spoken being that most because I recently moved to the country.  While that didn’t entirely compares to the experience of Quy, Abby or Sophia, my trip to Brazil gave me such an understanding as to what it’s like to feel like an outsider.  While in Brazil I had the opportunity to take martial arts classes.  While acquiring the movement patterns was as difficult as in any other setting, trying to understand and analyze the instructions and corrections was at times discouraging.  I often didn’t want to speak or would only speak in response to a question.  I was determined to get through each class and learn as much of the language and the skills I could but it was a factor I had to deal with but I was able to work through it positively; I’m used to throwing myself “into the fire”.  I felt the more I learned in those classes, the better I would be mentally, physically and definitely verbally far as being able to converse in somewhat complete sentences and not just fragments.

I felt Gee’s analysis on the theory was well explained especially highlighting the impact the cultural models we hold have.  I thought of the good 4 Agreements, namely the first agreement ‘be impeccable with your word’.  Words all have a story attached to them and it’s important to know that story to actually understand the word.  That story as a variety of influences that are internal, external, conscious and unconscious and even in the same cultural model will vary vastly from person to person.  With that in mind many of those same sources, the people and things that influence the story, are often influenced by those well aware of the power of a word and use their model as the basis when establishing societies; A dominant cultural model helps maintains social order on a larger scale. 

Language and the use of the language is a powerful tool.