Double Entry Journal #4

     This week I read this article. It is basically a short summary of an ongoing research project after a year. The project was whether or not working with each student's dialect within the English classroom, rather than harping on "Standard English," makes a positive change within the learning environment. The project, after a single year, was successful. The teachers participating actually noticed a positive difference in students' grasp of "Standard English," when the teacher adopted the use of the students natural dialects in the lesson plans.

One thing I learned from reading this article is a good way to go about research (I know not what the reader was expecting, right?). Bringing in multiple professionals of different environments and experiences as well as using a previous study or piece of literature as a basis for beginning research are two good ways to get started. I like that they studied two books that pertained to their study. They did not just read it, they "studied" it. That is a great way to go about it, it may seem simple, but I enjoyed the enlightenment.
 Another thing I learned from this article was that I didn't know students had trouble learning Standard English just because it doesn't pertain to their original dialect. I figured students learned it like it was a completely new subject, like math, or music, something they never may have experienced, but are open to new things.
One last thing I learned was that is a great idea to honor students own dialects when teaching a subject, especially language.

• Build bridges of meaningfulness between home and school experience.

An example of this would be teachers using examples of the way students' parents act (in a positive way), or talk, at home to drive home a point. The teacher would learn about the student's experience, and use it in context of the lesson. This can show how learning at home is just as great as learning in school.

• Use small groups to foster collaborative learning.

An example of this is to have students sit in a group and create a paragraph to read to each other, each group member reading the same paragraph to the other group members. After each person reads the paragraph, have the others in the group talk about how that student read that paragraph compared to how it is written on the page. Then to compare each others dialects.

     I don't have too many examples that come to mind of good or bad literacy instruction. I didn't pay a lot of attention to these things when I went through school. I do know how much I used to correct other people's grammar if anything was wrong. At the time, what I didn't know was that speaking and written language are two different things. So, technically I was mostly wrong during those situations.

 

    This video is a video posted for Mr. Triplett's class in college talking about his appalachian dialect. It includes an interview with a student who has a similar dialect and about her experiences with other people asking about her dialect. I think it pertains, since it is one example of this dialect that we have been using as an example for classroom lectures. This video also mentions that many people stereotype those with this dialect and that sometimes it can hinder students' abilities to learn effectively.