It seems that our world is
highly dependent on an insurmountable amount of terms, definitions, categories,
groupings and classifications. The application
of these definitions and categories and such, has created a society that tends
to view things, people and circumstances, through a sort of tunnel. We’ve becoming so accepting of certain ideologies
and practices and now they are so deeply ingrained into our psyches. Most, if not all educators base their
teaching practice on the ideas and theories of “experts” in the field, and they
rarely challenge these theories – I personally admit to demonstrating a certain
level of complacency when it comes to accepting popular theories as truth or
the “right way” to approach a particular aspect of teaching. Strangely enough, it’s a challenge to abandon
old and ineffective practices and adopt new ones. Now, this can apply to anything in life and in
the world, but when it comes to education and trying to figure out where we’ve
gone wrong with certain groups of students who are consistently
struggling. In his book, Situated Language and Learning, James
Paul Gee has offered some insight when it comes to providing more adequate
instruction for our students and “updating” our teaching practices.
Once we begin to understand
(and for some it may be a matter of accepting), new ways of defining the term
literacy, many of the programs that have been designed and implemented in most
classrooms may actually start to align with our increasingly more technological
world. They may also begin to as meet the demands of a population that
continues to become more diverse.
Throughout the readings, much of Gee’s references were to minority
groups that were comprised of African-American’s and Latino’s, and how they
performed academically in comparison to their White counterparts. However my classroom, and I’m sure many
classrooms across the GTA, is made up of mostly South-Asians, and I’ve had to
take some time to consider whether or not Gee’s theories still apply. I concluded to myself that regardless of
racial background and socioeconomic class, the problem of differing abilities –
within classrooms and school wide – is still quite significant. Asians and South Asians, have been
stereotypically deemed as highly successful ethnic groups who have a great work
ethic and often perform very well academically. However I’m seeing a bit of a
shift in this trend. Many of my students
are struggling when it comes to reading and writing and language heavy subject
areas, such as Social Studies and Science. Gee has challenged me to ask a hard
hitting question about what might be happening inside my classroom – is it
really a matter of a lack of ability, or have I neglected to allow my teaching
practice to evolve and compliment these “new literacy’s” that are becoming more
predominant? Is it a language barrier that is causing this change in the level
of success or do the expectations within our curriculum no longer align with this
new generation of thinkers?
Gee focuses a great deal of
his theories about literacy education on the benefits of such things as
creating opportunities for experiential learning, providing children with an
adequate vocabulary bank early in their development, and the positive effects
of game play and the use of technology. I think these examples of situated
learning are incredibly powerful as I have witnessed the outcome of this type
of learning first hand, and on many different occasions. I was able to make a personal connection to
Gee’s suggestion that children who are more successful in school tend to have
had exposure to certain academic-like practices well before entering
school. I remember my dad encouraging me
to trace letters and words in old books and magazines with a pen that he
brought home from work. It was a fancy
gold Cross pen that had run out of ink.
I felt so important and business-like. My Cabbage Patch and Barbie
dolls, and playing “house” were no longer of interest – pretending I worked in
an office was much more entertaining. My parents offered my brothers and I
plenty of guidance and were excellent role models when it came to placing a
great deal of value on excelling academically and having a thirst for knowledge.
The quote, “people like us, do and value things like this” (Pg. 24), really
resonated with me. In discussions that
I’ve had with some of my colleagues, we’ve often concluded that some of our students,
who are struggling, are in this position because their parents aren’t spending
enough quality time with them when it comes to homework or introducing them to
certain academic behaviours. We can’t be
sure that this is the case, but Gee’s research is quite compelling, and has
lead me to believe that it really could be that simple. As suggested by Gee,
It’s the situation that counts. If a
child is watching something on TV and their parent engages them in conversation
about what it is they are watching it can have a profound effect, but if the
child is watching it alone, it’s a passive experience, therefore it can be bad,
of have no effect. In essence it becomes a mindless activity (pg. 21).
Gee’s suggestion that people
learn best when their learning is connected to social practices that they value
(pg. 77), is simple yet profound. When I
think back to the mediocre level of success experienced by many of my students,
I’ve begun to conclude that perhaps I have not offered them the opportunity to
make meaning connections to what they are being taught. Many of my language lessons can be
characterized as having a heavy mechanical focus and can be quite process
oriented. If I neglect to “update” my
practice and include such things as social justice, ensure that my lessons are
culturally sensitive and enrich the general learning experience through the use
of various forms of technology, I will be doing a great disservice to my
students. At the same time, I don’t want
to be too hard on myself – I do believe some excellent learning does takes
place in my classroom. However I do
think that it is important that I challenge myself to shy away from the “Status
quo” and adopt a few new approaches as suggested by Gee. After all, change is good.
