Jiajin35's Blog

New Literacies, Technology, and Media 11/17

jiajin35 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:48:10 +0000

In the current information/communication technology environment, I think that traditional print literacy still takes on importance in the computer-mediated cyberworld when people need to scrutinize and scroll tremendous amounts of information, putting new emphasis on developing reading and writing abilities. For examples, chat rooms, blogs, e-mails, and varied Internet discussion groups require writing skills in which a new emphasis on the importance of precision is emerging. In her article, Moje raised an issue about the influence of digital text reading on students’ school achievement. In my view, medial literacies now offer students a variety of reading materials and they can obtain such materials easily. To interpret such materials, students still need basic reading skills.

Media representations help construct our images and understanding of the world and that education should meet the challenges of teaching media literacy in a multicultural society and sensitizing students to the inequalities and injustices of a society on the basis of gender, class, and race inequalities and discrimination. Teachers can have students analyze media texts as products of social production and teach them to be critical of media representations and discourse. Also, teachers can help students learn to use the media as modes of self-expression and social activism.

Critical Literacy 11/10

jiajin35 — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:14:51 +0000

I am learning to take a more critical stance on what I read and heard. However, as Green stated, ideologies embedded in society are still powerful. Few days ago, my mother asked me whether I planed to have a baby? I answered “No” without hesitation. Then she started to give a lecture on the responsibility of a married woman. I did not listen to her lecture carefully. I further asked her why having children was so important. She just said this is our (Chinese) tradition. Chinese people blame married women who do not produce children. I did not keep arguing with my mother. This did not mean that I accepted this Chinese tradition. On the contrary, there were many doubts in my mind. Why should I care about people blame me for having no children? Why should I produce children to please my parents-in-law? Why my husband and I cannot lead our lives with our own way? I have no idea about the value of this tradition. In my culture, many traditions constrain people’s behaviors. Disobeying these traditions seems offensive. To be honest, the more I learn, the more conflicts I have. I want to be a “good” daughter in my mother’s mind. I am trying to obey her commands as I did before. Nevertheless, I do not feel right when doing something that is unnecessary or ridiculous in my mind.

Out of School Literacy 11/03

jiajin35 — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 15:35:31 +0000

Young people’s funds of knowledge shape their lives. Their school learning draws from multiple funds related to their identities. Their families, communities, peers, and popular culture all represent sources of knowledge about the ways of understanding the world and many of these funds have connections to literacy learning. Teachers have to actively create third space by engaging students in discussions, reading, and writing activities that centers on experiences of many different communities. Teachers need deep understandings of the particular funds of knowledge that students obtain outside school. However, I think the challenge for most teachers is that how to develop curricula that meed the needs of many different communities in which people have their own unique language practices and sets of social concerns.

Literacy and Culture 10/27

jiajin35 — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:23:00 +0000

I cannot understand why the authors said “the use of proverbs tended to be more associated with collectivist societies”? I was taught to adopt proverbs for enriching essays. I do not see the relation between proverbs and collectivist societies.

Concerning differences in writing styles, in writing Chinese essays, I was taught to describe things associated with a main idea first and then put the main idea at the end of each paragraph. However, in writing English articles, I put a key point at the beginning of each paragraph so readers can follow what I wrote more easily. It took me long time to find this difference. Now I seldom use Chinese. Few weeks ago, I translated a consent letter into Chinese. I had hard time figuring out accurate characters and I did not know which writing style I should adopt.

I think that there are two reasons to explain why some Chinese immigrant parents did not have communication with their children’s teachers. One is that these parents are busy making money. I know several Chinese restaurant owners here. They said that they worked more than ten hours per day. They tried hard to survive in the U. S. society. The other is that these parents speak little English so they have difficulty communicating with their children’s schools.

Literacy and Culture 10/13

jiajin35 — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:08:30 +0000

I am a mainstream person in my country. I grew up in a middle-class family and community. My parents and teachers taught me beliefs and perspectives of mainstream culture. I was seldom aware of the issues of minority people. I knew I have to respect minority people, but honestly, I was not kind of open-minded. Even though most of my students were from working-class families, I did not try to understand their culture. Once my student who was a aboriginal person mentioned that his pastime was hunting in his diary, I was so shocked and assumed that he was joking because I never heard middle-class people said that hunting was their pastime. At that time, I was unaware that hunting was a tradition in aboriginal people’s culture. I used my middle-class frame to see my student.

Now I am a minority person in the U. S. During the first second years, I felt I was an alien. For example, I cannot understand my class’s jokes and contextualization cues. I had no idea what “2$5″ meant in weekly advertisement. (Why can’t it just say $2.5? ) I did not feel comfortable to share my culture with mainstream people since I was afraid that I would be regarded as a strange person. I now understand how my minority students felt. I feel guilty that I used my mainstream perspectives to judge my working-class students.

Respecting minority people and appreciating their rich cultures are emphasized over and over again. However, I think that it is still not easy to change mainstream people’s particular images of minority people.

Writing 10/6

jiajin35 — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 03:37:02 +0000

Newkirk’s word “International students who write in U. S. universities often resist this view of topicality…”let me think back whether I resisted to write in English before. Well, the answer is negative. Honestly, writing in English was a big challenge to me in previous days. However, if I resisted to practice, how can I make progress. I took writing courses and attended writing workshops. My writing work now is as good as English native speakers’. At least, I make much progress and can express my meaning clearly. Honestly, I appreciate that instructors correct my grammar errors in papers.

The ways of writing papers in Chinese and in English are quite different. In writing papers in Chinese, we often describe many related things first and then put a main point in the end of each paragraph. This may be one of the reasons that the instructors in my master program cannot catch my key points. However, I found that most English native speakers put the key points in the beginning of each paragraph so readers can follow what they wrote easily. In addition to vocabulary and grammar, I think that one’s writing style also partly determines whether or not readers can understand his/her work.

Writing 9/29

jiajin35 — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 14:40:01 +0000

The blank page, the quill pen with its dark fluid were long ago replaced by more mechanical means. The computer now serve as the means to bring order to chaos. Technology has brought changes to how we write and publish. As writing with a pen, I have to think carefully before putting any word in paper since it is not easy to change what I have wrote. However, as writing on a computer, it is much easier for me to revise what I have wrote. Also, I can put words in an essay at any time. I tend to enjoy writing more when writing on a computer since it is easier for me to organize and revise my essays.

Technology brings me much convenience in writing, but I find that I spell less well than before. Since the typing system now can correct any misspelling, I do not pay closer attention to spelling when I write on a computer. As a result, when sometimes I have to write something using a pen and paper, I have a hard time figuring out accurate spelling.

When I write something which is not for serious purposes, technology changes the way I write. For instance, I simplify messages when chatting with friends on line. I put “NP” to represent “no problem”. I admit that such simplified messages that people send me sometimes bother me since I have a hard time decoding them.

Literature Discussion 9/22

jiajin35 — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 03:45:08 +0000

I recently read several Dr. Anderson’s articles about collaborative reasoning and found that participants in his studies were third, fourth, and fifth graders. He never examined younger children’s performance on argumentative tasks. This let me wonder whether collaborative reasoning also helps younger children develop higher-order thinking. Since CR aims to provide elementary school children with an opportunity to become skilled in the discourse of reasoned argumentation, why did he just focus on third-fifth graders?

In Maloch’s article, Antwan and Chris’s case reminded me of my learning experience in the U. S, particularly my first year of master program. I do not think that I am a shy person. However, I had hard time participating in group discussions because it was not easy for me to get the floor. Very often when I was ready to respond to other group members’ opinions, someone else got the floor or the subject was changed. This experience let me understand how my less capable students felt when they had hard time participating in groups. Fortunately, such phenomenon gradually disappeared when I knew how to interact with group members and my English language proficiency was improved.

Literature Circles 9/15

jiajin35 — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 13:16:36 +0000

Literature circles reflect a constructivist, student-centered model of literacy. Students do not take meaning from texts. On the contrary, they construct meaning. As Rosenblatt (1978) claimed, reading as a transaction. a dynamic interaction among authors, texts, and readers. Understanding of literature in enriched when students share their experiences and interpretation through authentic reading and writing events. During literature circles, students meet in small groups to discuss books that they have read. I agree with an idea that small groups provide students with more opportunity for everyone talk. In a large group, only a few are comfortable talking. However, a small group is a less stressful environment in which to share. In a small group, students maybe more likely to share tentative ideas that have not been thought deeply. These tentative ideas are critical to literature discussion since they allow the group members to build an understanding, but not convince each othe of individually formed opinions. In addition to the idea that students have more opportunities to talk in small groups, I think literature circles encourage responsibility and independence. When several groups are meeting simultaneously in a classroom with just one teacher, students take over responsibility for the group and make it their own.

Reading policies and practices

jiajin35 — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 06:13:15 +0000

After reading Allen’s article, I was so surprise that the U. S. government adopts mandates standardized tests. In fact, this type of exam has been criticized for more than 20 years in Taiwan. The Taiwan government now tries hard to use other measures to assess students’ academic learning. The standardized exam is not the only one option.

Honestly, I was a failure in standardized examinations. As a student, I was not good at memorizing knowledge so I seldom got high scores in pencil-paper exams. However, I did have many opinions and arguments on issues mentioned in textbooks. Well, this did not count! I had hard time passing the Examination of University Entrance. I cannot memorize so much useless knowledge (for my teachers, this knowledge was useful) so I failed once. I really did not have idea why I should know trigonometric function. Can I use this in real world? I did not have idea why I should know the terminal point and the starting point of each railroad in China. Readers, do you know how many railroads in China? More than one hundred. If I will take a train in China, I can “GOOGLE” and then I know how to get to the destination immediately! Moreover, I had to memorize the emperors of each dynasty. Chinese history lasts more than five thousand years. Readers, you might know how many emperors I should memorize. That I scored low in the pencil-paper exams did not mean that I was a stupid student and I did not work hard. I just did not fit in this type of exam and educational system. In my view, preparation for such exam that emphasizes retention of facts often leads to the acquisition of inert knowledge. The information fails to become part of a usable store of knowledge.

I do believe that all children can learn as they learn in an educational system which matches their learning styles. The following is my story again. After working in the elementary school for four years, I tried to go to graduate school in Taiwan. Not to my surprise, I failed in the Entrance Examination (pencil-paper exam) again. After this, I decided to apply for graduate schools in the U. S. since passing the exams was too difficult for me. I got my confidence back after studying in the U. S. My effort is shown in my assignments and papers, but not the pencil-paper examinations.