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Post by carolinebyrnes on May 31, 2016 15:43:52 GMT
Here is a place to discuss breaking the silence
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Post by tom56omara on May 31, 2016 18:22:29 GMT
For each subject that is taught within education, students will always pose a question such as, "what is the purpose of learning this?" Because of this question that creeps in the minds of not just students but everyone, I think that many students are negatively impacted by it resulting in non-participation. How do we break the silence with these students?
Social Studies
History can definitely be boring to an average student. Learning about dead people isn't always the coolest thing. Their are many tips that could get students more active within the class.
1. Explain why it is important to learn about history. Compare it to your own life. "we make mistakes while we are young and learn from them just like we do in history." Many mistakes were made in history.
2. As a social studies teacher help the students form an opinion. Ex. Was Harry Truman's executive decision to use nuclear weapons against Japan justified? I think it is important as a history teacher to not always claim that "this is right and this is wrong." I think we should encourage students to ask themselves if something was morally justified.
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Post by tom56omara on May 31, 2016 18:23:48 GMT
Overall, I think that the above options will break the silence of many students and encourage them to part of the "inner-circle".
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Post by jessicadiazr on Jun 1, 2016 2:54:49 GMT
The content area that I chose was second language learning. I divided the content area into second language learners (by choice; eg. Spanish, French, German classes) and English language learners. For breaking the silence, I found it helpful to look at it in terms of an ELL student. One of the literacy practices I chose was being able to express yourself correctly in English. By this I meant being able to express yourself (ELL student) in a way that others understood. However, it is important to note that being understood does not equate saying everything correctly (eg. grammatically correct). If a student is in a math class and he says "us think it 9", we all still know that he thinks the answer is 9. By fostering an atmosphere of understanding and free of judgement, I feel like the "silence" (reluctance to speak unless you know you are saying everything absolutely correct in English) can be broken in this area.
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linda
New Member
Posts: 30 
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Post by linda on Jun 1, 2016 12:31:07 GMT
In classes with ELLs, providing multiple opportunities for practicing oral language in the content area builds confidence as well as acquisition. This can be done in ways that can benefit the entire classroom, such as by breaking up the students into small groups, which provides an easier stage for ELLs to practice their speaking and contributing in your classroom.
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Post by rachelmartin1 on Jun 1, 2016 20:07:47 GMT
In class, Caroline and I talked about the literacy practice of understanding the vocabulary that is involved in a math class. To break the silence, we talked about how students need to talk about math, and not just independently work on problems at their desk. If students are actively using the math vocabulary to talk with one another and the teacher, then they are making those terms a part of their expressive vocabulary and not just their receptive. To aid in this process, the teacher could have a word wall with all the important vocabulary words so that students have a visual reminder of what language they should be using when they are talking about math with their peers. By using the language and talking with one another, students are quite literally breaking the silence and becoming more engaged in the content-area.
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Post by Angelica on Jun 2, 2016 0:36:41 GMT
In a high school English Language Arts class one literacy practice is being able to articulate your own thoughts, both based on facts and opinions, on a particular text with your classmates. For example, maybe I want students to be able to summarize and analyze an informational text and present it to the entire class. One way I can break the silence is allowing them to choose whatever section they want in a newspaper, get into groups based on what they chose (sports section groups, local news, arts, etc.) and hold group discussions there before they present in class.
Since I'm letting the students choose what they want to read, they can probably activate their prior knowledge, and feel like they are somewhat of an authority on what the topic they will be reading. I think that working in teams and discussing in small groups helps break the silence because exchanging thoughts with a few peers is less intimidating than presenting to the entire class right away. It's a similar practice to what Rachel described in allowing students to talk to one another and also the same idea as Jessica in creating an atmosphere of understanding.
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Post by ariellegetz on Jun 2, 2016 11:51:44 GMT
It is not uncommon in history classes to hear students asking "why is this important?" In our group discussion we talked about ways to connect students to the past while keeping them grounded in the present. Aaron brought up having students interview their grandparents, which I think is a fantastic idea. Also, we discussed providing students with current event articles and asking them to think about the articles using whatever the class is discussing. For example, if the article discusses affirmative action, have students discuss how Brown vs. Board of Education may have had an impact on that.
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Post by Tiffani on Jun 4, 2016 19:16:27 GMT
These are the questions that I wrote down in class while reflecting on this idea:
"What’s an opportunity that can happen in the classroom for appropriate engagement in a literacy practice?"
Likewise, "What are obstacles that effect the acquisition of getting to 'the means to an end'?"
This relates very closely to the Nasir & Hand article and the idea that we have to motivate and encourage students to acquire a skill by helping them discover how their identity can be linked to the material or the settings in which they are learning.
"When an individual feels that his or her identity is linked to settings, he or she is more engaged and learns more" (Nasir, 2006; Wortham, 2006).
SO, How can we promote practice-linked identities as they are related to the content areas of the school setting?
We can do our best to link the material that is being taught to the interests of the child, as well as the contexts in which the child normally experiences (just as the article says). The student also needs to be given an environment in which there is a collaborative/ "distributive" nature of problem solving, as well as provide them with access to experts that are working to equally provide them with 1) access to the domain, 2) opportunities to take integral roles, and 3) opportunities for self expression in the practice.
Students need to feel like they "belong" to the content, and can identify with it in some way, to be encouraged to engage in the content to adequately acquire the skill-set. Teachers need to find ways to help students see how the content can be related to their identity.
"Engagement has to do with students’ feelings of competence and mastery in a social context, as well as their sense that the context will offer relationships that support and value their unique selves." - I loved this quote from the article!
It an educator's job to show students how they can too be experts on the content and just how they can personally resonate with the material.
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