As a high school teacher, I originally thought that reading “Meaningful Differences” would provide me with compelling insights but little immediate practical strategies to implement in my classroom. Although I stand firmly behind the belief that children develop essential skill prior to entering school, when I reflect at the end of a long week, I wonder how key findings from the research might be useful for secondary educators in particular when we consider the power of language.
I appreciated reading all responses to Molly's post, because once students reach secondary education, strategies for parent involvement in vocabulary development is not as widely discussed. Choosing appropriate wording is often discussed for secondary teachers in regards to management and investment, but I’ve rarely considered how the language I use on a daily basis when interacting with my students could be used to expand (or unfortunately continue to stifle) their vocabulary development.
As Molly mentioned in her “Making it Meaningful?” post, Chapter 4 describes methods by which parents may add quality to their conversations with their children. I’m interested to learn how secondary educators could use research like this help students develop a stronger vocabulary without explicit vocabulary instruction. If I was to be recorded teaching, how much of what I say and do is truly developing these skills for my students? How can I become more conscience of my language in each part of my lesson?
In Chapter 3, the authors discuss differences in language style. A key focus of this section was the politeness and consistent use of interrogatives in place of curt imperatives. The authors note that “The parents’ language seemed to reflect the number, variety, and flexibility of the behaviors they had for coping with the inventiveness of their children.” I think this concept can be directly applied to our language style as educators. Although I wouldn’t typically call some of my students’ cursing and verbal outbursts “inventive,” I think secondary educators also have a responsibility to see our interactions with students as an opportunity to respond in a manner that will develop the essential social and vocabulary skills that our students need.
I think it is important to recognize your comments regarding language and classroom management. I can't relate to the secondary setting because I teach third grade, but I do reflect on the language that I use when I address behavior concerns. I try to use active language and tell the students by doing something they are making a choice to have particular positive and negative consequences. One thing that I notice with my students is as I get frusterated or annoyed my level of vocabulary elevates. I have been trying to use these moments as teachable moments and have students look up words that I use in the dictionary. It has taken some of the emphasis off my frustrated and generated some powerful vocabulary lessons. In response to creative language, I discourage my students from using negative terms and slang. I tell them that when they use phrases like shut up and he's nice at football, they are not explaining how they really feel and making communication difficult. I may need to find more opportunties for creative language or allow them to explore with language. Does anyone have any suggestions? Thank you. - Alli
ReplyDeleteGood post, Megan. I think you are right - this book is slightly difficult to apply to secondary teachers simply because of the importance of the first 3 years of a child's life. That being said, I think it's important to watch our own language in the classroom, but to what extent is it necessary to correct our students' styles of language?
ReplyDeleteThis gets me thinking about that one reading we did in this class from our book. It was called, "The Best of Both Worlds" by Marlene Carter. She compares Standard English to Black English, which can be defined as:
"the language spoken by many African Americans which differs in syntax, phonology, morphology, intonation, stress, and pronunciation and whose existence is explained by certain social, political, economic, and historical facts from Africa and the United States."
She argues, and I think I agree (although I don't think I know enough to develop a firm opinion), that we should not, as educators, be constantly correcting our kid's non-Standard English. Instead, we should teach them the differences between Standard and Black English, and then teach them how to "code-switch" between the two.
Ok, I know this is a little off topic, but thinking of language, I do think we need to put an emphasis on language in vocabulary in our classroom, but I'm not sure how we should go about doing that. There is a lot to consider, and the way our students speak is unique and different from us, but not "bad" or something that needs to be changed.
As a language arts teacher in a secondary setting, I attempt to carefully select the vocabulary that I use with my students. I try to use grade level vocabulary at all times, but I often find myself editing out words to ensure that my students fully understand the content. The balance between rigor and meeting my students at their current skill level is very difficult. I often purposefully say phrases incorrectly in class to draw attention to my speech patterns. My students unfailingly note and correct my errors, but struggle to correct errors in their speech and writing. While I understand it is difficult to monitor your speech and vocabulary use, I hope that I am providing a reasonable example for my students.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to the ideas presented in Marlene Carter’s article, I have encountered some friction when attempting to help my students understand the difference between Standard English and Black English. While I will not allow text message shorthand in an essay, I can understand how their speech patterns and regional dialects are closely related to their sense of identity. As my students begin to develop their vocabulary skills, I have tried to help them think about how language can improve or impede the reception of their ideas. They have been more willing to revise their speech for classroom discussions and essays; however I know that I have to strive much harder to help them to understand code switching and why it is important.