Pahl and Rowsell, Artifactual Literacies
This chapter focuses on the significance of personal objects and/or artifacts. Attached to the objects in someones life are experiences and memories. As stated by Pahl and Rowsell, "we have found that eliciting stories about objects from students opens up their home experience and enables teachers to access communities that may not be visible within schools" (1). I think this relates to many of the readings we have done in class regarding narrative writing.
It is important to have students write about what they are familiar with and enjoy so you can get to know them better as a person and a student. You may also get an insight as to what they experience at home, their cultural backgrounds and practices and you can then offer more personal assistance to help them meet their needs. As you get to know the student, it will be easier to understand what they are doing during class time and why.
The chapter then goes into discussing literacies, as we have discussed in class over the course of the semester. I think that Pahl and Rowsell explain literacies perfectly when he states, "The word literacies signals that literacy is multiple, diverse, and multilingual and spans domains of practice, from home to school to community, and in each domain there are different literacies"(4). Students can use their object and then tell their story in different ways. Poetry, music, videos, narratives, or drawings are all different types of texts that can be used in the classroom to tell the student's story.
It was also mentioned in class that objects can be used to learn something new. If an object is unknown, a students can use their imagination to write about what it may be or what it reminds them of. This may be challenging but can also improve writing and help the students learn about and unfamiliar object.
Fu, Chapters 2-4
Students who's native language is different than English, should be encouraged to speak their native language often, while learning the English language. Students are often told to speak English in class and at home, however taking away the native language may just set the student behind academically instead of moving them forward. Fu discusses the set backs students may face when trying to write only in English. They may get a serious form of writers block and their ideas may not translate over the same way. This could take away from how a student thinks, the topics they develop, organizing their thoughts and many of the important details that would contribute to the story. Fu states, "Letting them continue to write in their first language gives them the opportunity to further develop these skills"(29).
I think it is important to encourage the students to keep their native language and use it often at home. I loved reading and looking over all of the examples Fu provides of the student's work throughout the stages of writing development. Despite how I fully believe in what I read this week and I understand how important and helpful it is to learn to be bilingual, I am concerned for myself going into teaching these students. I do not know how I will be able to help and assess the student when I do not fluently speak any other languages, most of which I do not have the slightest background in learning.
I'm sure we will discuss this in class, but if anyone has any feedback, I would love to hear it!
Kelli, your ELL students will be assessed by an ELL specialist who will give information on where they are in using CAN DO INDICATORS and the WIDA Standards. That will show you where they fall and how you can plan your content around their skills.
ReplyDeleteI find it most successful to provide content in their native language and have them respond in both their L1 and L2. It is challenging!
I agree that encouraging ELLs to use their L1 in class is so important as well--it shows that we value their culture as an important part of who they are. Professor Toncelli who spoke in our 407 class said something important along those lines, too, when she talked about how some teachers want ELLs to only speak English, even at home. I feel like that sends the message that their culture and language isn't important, and can totally cause rifts in the families themselves if the children are speaking English when the parents don't. It's a small thing, but I think it's the major difference between calling students "English Language Learners" and "Emergent Bilinguals." The first places value on English alone, the second honors that there are multiple languages being spoken. :)
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