Title: Challenges, Opportunities, and Choices in Educating Minority Group Students 2. Multiliteracies Pedag
1Challenges, Opportunities, and Choices in
Educating Minority Group Students2.
Multiliteracies Pedagogy Promoting Collaborative
Relations of Power in the Classroom
- Jim Cummins
- The University of Toronto
- Hedmark University College, October 27, 2006
2Coercive and Collaborative Relations of Power
- Coercive relations of power
- the exercise of power by an individual, group,
or country to the detriment of another individual
group or country (power over others) - Power as a fixed quantity
- Subtractive in nature the more one gets, the
less is left for others - Collaborative relations of power
- Empowerment the collaborative creation of power
(being enabled or empowered to do more) - Power is not fixed the more one partner becomes
empowered, the more power is available for the
other to share (Additive)
3COERCIVE AND COLLABORATIVE RELATIONS OF POWER
MANIFESTED IN MACRO-INTERACTIONS BETWEEN
SUBORDINATED COMMUNITIES AND DOMINANT GROUP
INSTITUTIONS ?
? EDUCATOR ROLE DEFINITIONS ?
EDUCATIONAL STRUCTURES
? ? MICRO-INTERACTIONS
BETWEEN EDUCATORS AND STUDENTS forming
an INTERPERSONAL SPACE within which
knowledge is generated and
identities are negotiated EITHER
REINFORCING COERCIVE RELATIONS OF POWER
OR PROMOTING COLLABORATIVE
RELATIONS OF POWER
4Diversity as Problem
In recent years, increasing numbers of ESL
students have come into my science classes.
This year, one of my classes contains almost as
many non-English speaking students as there are
English speaking ones. Most of the ESL students
have very limited English skills, and as a result
are not involved in class discussions and cannot
complete assignments or pass tests.
5Diversity as Problem (cont.)
I respect these students as I recognize that
often they have a superior prior education in
their own language. They are well-mannered,
hard-working and respectful of others. I enjoy
having a multiracial society in my classroom,
because I like these students for themselves and
their high motivational level. However, I am
troubled by my incompetence in adequately helping
many individual students of that society.
Because of language difficulties, they often
cannot understand me, nor can they read the text
or board notes. Each of these students needs my
personal attention, and I do not have that extra
time to give.
6Diversity as Problem (cont.)
As well, I have to evaluate their ability to
understand science. They cannot show me their
comprehension. I have to give them a failing
mark! I question the educational decisions made
to assimilate ESL students into academic subject
classes before they have minimal skills in
English (extracted from "A teacher's daily
struggle in multi-racial classroom", B. Dudley
Brett, Letter of the Week, Toronto Star, 1994,
April 2, p. B3).
7Whats Wrong with this Scenario?
- Isolation no evidence of any communication with
ESL teachers or other content teachers - Leadership vacuum why is this issue not being
discussed within the school level - No awareness of relevant research at least 5
years is typically required for ELL students to
catch up academically cant be fixed in 1-2
years of ESL - No awareness of scaffolding strategies to make
content comprehensible for ELL students - No conception of possible alternative assessment
strategies.
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10 Kantas Perspective (intersection of identity
affirmation and language validation) And how it
helped me was when I came here in grade 4 the
teachers didnt know what I was capable of. I
was given a pack of crayons and a coloring book
and told to get on coloring with it. And after I
felt so bad about that--Im capable of doing much
more than just that. I have my own inner skills
to show the world than just coloring and I felt
that those skills of mine are important also. So
when we started writing the book The New
Country, I could actually show the world that I
am something instead of just coloring. And
that's how it helped me and it made me so proud
of myself that I am actually capable of doing
something, and here today at the Ontario TESL
conference I am actually doing something. Im
not just a coloring personI can show you that I
am something.
11Tomers Perspective
- I think using your first language is so helpful
because when you dont understand something after
youve just come here it is like beginning as a
baby. You dont know English and you need to
learn it all from the beginning but if you
already have it in another language then it is
easier, you can translate it, and you can do it
in your language too, then it is easier to
understand the second language. - The first time I couldnt understand what she
Lisa was saying except the word Hebrew, but I
think its very smart that she said for us to do
it in our language because we cant just sit on
our hands doing nothing.
12Identity Texts a tool for cognitive engagement
and identity investment
- Identity texts refer to artifacts that students
produce. Students take ownership of these
artifacts as a result of having invested their
identities in them. - Once produced, these texts (written, spoken,
visual, musical, or combinations in multimodal
form) hold a mirror up to the student in which
his or her identity is reflected back in a
positive light. - Students invest their identities in these texts
which then become ambassadors of students
identities. When students share identity texts
with multiple audiences (peers, teachers,
parents, grandparents, sister classes, the media,
etc.) they are likely to receive positive
feedback and affirmation of self in interaction
with these audiences.
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16Fast-tracking academic participation in the
multilingual classroom
Lisa Leoni The way I see it everything has to
relate to the identity of the students children
have to see themselves in every aspect of their
work at school. My overarching goal as a
teacher is to uncover all that is unknown to me
about my studentslinguistically and culturally,
and especially to understand the community they
are part of (their parents, their friends, their
faith) and the list goes on. So when a student
enters my class, I want to discover all that I
can about that student as a learner and as a
person. For example, when Tomer entered my
class last year, a lot of the work he produced
was in Hebrew. Why? Because that is where his
knowledge was encoded and I wanted to make sure
that Tomer was an active member and participant
in my class. It was also a way for me to gain
insight into his level of literacy and oral
language development.
17THE DEVELOPMENT OF ACADEMIC EXPERTISE
Teacher Student Interactions
Maximum Cognitive Engagement
Maximum Identity Investment
- Focus on Use
- Using language to
- Generate new knowledge
- Create literature and art
- Act on social realities
- Focus on Meaning
- Making input comprehensible
- Developing critical literacy
- Focus on Language
- Awareness of language forms and uses
- Critical analysis of language forms and uses
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19- Frequent Assumptions in EAL Provision
- and Literacy Instruction
- Teaching EAL students is assumed to be
the job of the ESL teacher - Literacy is assumed to equal English
literacy - Students L1 is treated with benign neglect
little opportunity to use it in the classroom
20An Alternative Set of Assumptions
- It is the responsibility of the entire school to
ensure access to the curriculum and to promote
academic language development ESL support is
required across the curriculum - ELL students cultural knowledge and language
abilities are important resources in enabling
academic engagement - ELL students will engage academically to the
extent that instruction affirms their identities
and enables them to invest their identities in
learning.
21ELL Students L1 as a Resource Within the
Classroom
- Invite students to
- Complete dual-language assignments such as a
bilingual advertisement (e.g. to attract visitors
to a country or region) or a dual language story
or book - Work with same-language partners to discuss a
problem and clarify information in the L1 before
reporting back in English (e.g. think, pair,
share in L1) - Create multilingual displays or signs
- Write first drafts, notes, journal entries, and
outlines in L1 - Provide bilingual support for newcomers (e.g.
class partners or cross-grade tutors who speak
the language of the newcomer can highlight or
translate key concepts). - (Ontario Ministry of Education (2006) Many
Roots, Many Voices. http//www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/d
ocument/manyroots/)
22What Is English Language Proficiency?Conversation
al Fluency
- The ability to carry on a conversation in
familiar face-to-face situations - Developed by the vast majority of native speakers
by the time they enter school at age 5 - Involves use of high frequency words and simple
grammatical constructions - ELL students typically require 1-2 years to
attain peer-appropriate levels.
23What Is English Language Proficiency?Discrete
Language Skills
- Refers to the rule-governed aspects of language
(phonological awareness, phonics, spelling,
grammar, punctuation, etc.) - Can be developed in two independent ways (a) by
direct instruction, and (b) through immersion in
a literacy-rich home or school environment where
meanings are elaborated through language and
attention is drawn to literate forms of language
(e.g. letters on the pages of books) - ELL students can learn these specific language
skills concurrently with their development of
basic vocabulary and conversational fluency.
However, there is little direct transference to
other aspects of language proficiency (e.g.
vocabulary).
24What Is English Language Proficiency?Academic
Language Proficiency
- Includes knowledge of the less frequent
vocabulary of English as well as the ability to
interpret and produce increasingly complex
written language - ELL students typically require at least 5 years
to attain grade expectations in language and
literacy skills - In order to catch up to grade norms within 6
years, ELL students must make 15 months gain in
every 10-month school year -
- Because academic language is found primarily in
books, extensive reading is crucial in enabling
students to catch up - Frequent writing, across genres, is also crucial
in developing academic writing skills.
25From Edgar Allan Poe The Pit and the Pendulum
My outstretched hands at length encountered some
solid obstruction. It was a wall, seemingly of
stone masonry very smooth, slimy, and cold. I
followed it up stepping with all the careful
distrust with which certain antique narratives
had inspired me.
26Social Studies Vocabulary (grade 5)
27B. What Do We Know about Learning?Bransford,
Brown, Cocking (2000) How People Learn
- Engaging prior understandings
- new understandings are constructed on a
foundation of existing understandings and
experiences (Donovan Bransford, 2005, p. 4). - Integrating factual knowledge with conceptual
frameworks - deep understanding of subject matter transforms
factual information into usable knowledge
(Bransford et al. p. 16). - Using metacognitive strategies to take active
control over the learning process - a metacognitive or self-monitoring approach
can help students develop the ability to take
control of their own learning, consciously define
learning goals, and monitor their progress in
achieving them (Donovan Bransford, 2005, p.
10)
28Empirical Support for the Role of Engaged Reading
-
- Drawing on both the 1998 NAEP data from the
United States and the results of the PISA student
of reading achievement in international contexts,
Guthrie (2004, p. 5) notes that students - whose family background was characterized by
low income and low education, but who were highly
engaged readers, substantially outscored students
who came from backgrounds with higher education
and higher income, but who themselves were less
engaged readers. Based on a massive sample, this
finding suggests the stunning conclusion that
engaged reading can overcome traditional barriers
to reading achievement, including gender,
parental education, and income.
29The Centrality of Literacy Engagement
- Amount and range of reading and writing
- Use of effective strategies for deep
understanding of text - Positive affect and identity investment in
reading and writing -
- Guthrie notes that in all spheres of life (e.g.
driving a car, doing surgery, playing golf,
gourmet cooking, etc.) participation is key to
the development of proficiency. He notes that
certainly some initial lessons are valuable for
driving a car or typing on a keyboard, but
expertise spirals upward mainly with engaged
participation (2004, p. 8).
30Cultural Diversity as a Resource Within the
Classroom
- Geography Have students present a climate graph
on their country of origin to use their personal
and previous experiences as a basis for
information. - Physical education Have students teach the class
a game or activity from another country
including key words and phrases related to the
game. - Mathematics Allow students to solve problems
using previously learned strategies and encourage
them to share these with the class. - English/language arts Invite students to create
poems in their two languages. If they are
newcomers they may write first in their L1 and
then translate the poem to English (with help
from classmates, community volunteers, or
bilingual teachers) if they are more fluent in
English than L1, they can write first in English
and then get help from classmates, parents, or
teachers to translate the poem into the L1. - All subject areas Ask English language learners
and English-speaking students to - work together to create dual-language posters or
brochures on topics being studied. - (Ontario Ministry of Education (2006) Many
Roots, Many Voices. http//www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/d
ocument/manyroots/)
31Web Resources
- www.multiliteracies.ca (Multiliteracies project)
- http//thornwood.peelschools.org/Dual (Dual
Language Showcase) - http//www.curriculum.org/secretariat/archive.html
(webcast on Teaching and Learning in
Multilingual Ontario) - http//www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/manyroots/
- (Many Roots, Many Voices)