The Faculty Inquiry Network

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The Faculty Inquiry Network

• Basic Skills in Complex Contexts

From the Margins to the Center
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From the Margins to the Center
Understanding Identity, Engagement and Learning
FIN Presenters Jan Connal, Cerritos
College Scott Hoshida, Berkeley City
College Akilah Moore, Los Medanos College Sandy
Wood, Santa Ana College
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A Common Concern
Our Thorny Issue Identitys Impact on
Learning How the learner defines him or
herself is intimately connected to his or her
learning mindset. We develop skills and acquire
knowledge in service to identityLearning changes
who we are by changing our ability to
participate, to belong, to negotiate meaning.

Etienne Wenger, 1998
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Faculty Inquiry Approach
Our Approach to Getting at this Issue Faculty
Inquiry asking questions about the teaching
and learning that goes on in their own
classroomsaround a problem or something thats
not going right seeking answers by consulting
the literature, gathering and analyzing evidence,
and engaging students in the process whenever
possible using what they find out to improve
the experience of their students and sharing
this work with colleagues so that they and their
students can benefit too.
Mary Huber, 2008
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Faculty Inquiry

• Examples of Faculty Inquiry
• Berkeley City College
• Santa Ana College
• Los Medanos College
• Cerritos College

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Berkeley CityWhere did we start?...

• How do we help student persist from one class to
  the next? How do they become the hero/heroine of
  their own stories?
• Stumbling through research we found that
  Metacognition Motivation Strategic use of
  skills and knowledge.
• Personal Storytelling/Writing as a crucial place
  for students to understand themselves and their
  motivations creating reflective students.

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Berkeley CityThe Heros Journey (J.Campbell)
RETURN Returning with new knowledge and sense of
self
DEPARTURE Leaving Home, Family, Community
What happens when students place themselves on
this continuum? What happens when they must
narrate their own journey?
INITIATION Entering the Classroom
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Berkeley CityWriting Your Story Two Paths
Student does not feel ready to take the risks
necessary to challenge himself and become a
self-motivated persistent learner.
Fear and Shame (from past)
Protect identity. Reveal little or inauthentic
INITIATION Students Enter Classroom. Asked to
Share Personal Story
Student practices connecting her life to her
goals, develops motivation, and increases
willingness to take risks.
Feels safe and able to share.
Identity is something that can change
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Berkeley CityLast Thoughts

• Classroom Context (the vibe, the trust) Matters
• Relationships with teachers and peers
• Emotional safety helps student get over humps,
  helps them take personal AND intellectual risks
• Sharing of self brings the whole student into the
  classroom

Questions What is the role of teacher in
facilitating this context? Of framing their
narratives? How does self-disclosure for
instructors impact this context? When students
share personal stories does it change their
motivation? Their ability to learn from their
past? Does it lead, in some ways, to persistence
from class-to-class?
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Santa AnaWho are Generation 1.5 Students?

• Never acquired or are losing literacy in home
  language.
• Have cross-cultural identification, or confusion
  about cultural identification.
• Completed most or all of their schooling in the
  U.S., but often incorrectly placed and have
  limited experience with academic reading and
  writing.

• Typically speak 2 or more languages fluently.
• Aural and oral learners, learning English through
  listening and speaking, not reading and writing.
• Often sound like native speakers.
• Limited knowledge of academic English.

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Santa Ana Generation 1.5 students at Santa Ana

• For 25 years English and ESL faculty have
  referred to a group of SAC students as ESLers,
  showing characteristics of both ESL students and
  native speakers.
• Our FIN work is designed to find out who these
  students are and discover ways to help them be
  more successful life-long learners.

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Santa AnaIdentity Issues for Generation 1.5

• Usually born here -- raised without English at
  home. Between language worlds.
• Dont see themselves as ESL due to speaking
  fluency and knowledge of social customs, U.S.
  culture and idioms. I may be learning another
  language but I am not ESL.
• Identified by instructors as having weaker
  literacy proficiency than native speakers. Placed
  in low ability classes.
• Identify with both U.S. culture and home
  culture. Develop language like group(s) they
  socialize and/or identify with.

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Santa AnaImplications

• Not a monolithic group!!
• Writing samples are the most valuable assessment
  to identify Generation 1.5 students, not
  standardized placement tests.
• They have very strong opinions about being
  labeled ?Generation 1.5. Results of our lesson
  study Labels are bad!!!
• Maintaining low expectations of these students is
  not the correct strategy.

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Santa AnaNew Questions?

• How does language proficiency affect identity?
• How do we meet learning needs WITHOUT adding new
  courses or additional layers to their education?
• How do we utilize their language strengths as a
  bridge to acquiring academic literacy?
• Are they between or fusing cultural worlds?
• How do we make the institution aware of this
  population without stigmatizing them?

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Los MedanosUmoja FIN Inquiry
Passion The retention and success of African
American students particularly in
mathematics. Problem Many African American
community college students enter developmental
math classes with low efficacy and experience low
success. Purpose To investigate how addressing
affective issues in the context of a math class
may influence African American community college
students cognitive abilities.
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Los MedanosAddressing Identity

• Math Efficacy Measurement Tool
• Journal Writing
• Positive Affirmations

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Los MedanosBuilding Community

• Brother/Sister Keeper students are partnered
  with a brother or sister to hold each other
  accountable and encourage each other
• Group Projects working together toward a common
  goal
• Everybodys Business atmosphere created where
  there are no secrets
• Community-based Projects service learning
  project of relevance to the African American
  community

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Los MedanosStudent Voice
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Los MedanosEmerging Questions

• What are other ways we can intentionally address
  learner identity in a mathematics classroom?
• How do we make an explicit connection between the
  affective issues (ie. math efficacy, learner
  identity, etc..) and students cognitive
  abilities?
• Is there a point when addressing affective issues
  is no longer necessary?
• How can we teach students to do this on their
  own in other classes and settings?

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Cerritos Listening to Students
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CerritosInsights
How might this students identity be influencing
her learning? What are the implications for our
practice? Emerging thorny questions/issues?
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Questions
Questions
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FIN

• Basic Skills in Complex Contexts
• Thank You

From the Margins to the Center
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Contacts

• Jan Connal
• jconnal_at_cerritos.edu

• Scott Hoshida
• shoshida_at_peralta.edu

• A kilah Moore
• amoore_at_losmedanos.edu

• Sandy Wood
• Wood_Sandra_at_sac.edu