Standpoint Theory

This week we talked about standpoint theory and how it accounts for our inability to be truly objective because we all come from a standpoint, which includes elements such as location, gender and race.  

Thinking about this theory made me think about my recent struggle with a developing a lesson plan. Good teachers often try to take into account their students interests; however we can never truly know what they will think of a topic, even when we think we have begun to really know them. A history teacher I work with is currently teaching the mid war era and is focusing on the topic of bootleggers, prohibition, and the current Mexican drug trade. He finds that the students quite enjoy this unit. So I have the challenge of creating a lesson that will go along side this. I choose to develop the lesson, “the history of the teenager” to show how social life changed so much in the 1920s moving forward. I wanted to bring in local and current articles that portray teenagers today and after a long search I found one article in the Saskatoon Bridges on the “Idle no More” movement. After sharing this with my co-op teacher he pointed out to me that my article was written by adults talking about 19-30 years olds as if they were young people. I did not have an article after all that reflected teens if the authors did not have this standpoint. So what now? Plan B: Have the students do a web quest and free search on, “what is teen culture today?” Even then “Seventeen Magazine”, popular “teen” websites, and blogs are written by adults, often those in their 20-30s, not teenagers. I hope to pose the question to my students, “Do you think that the online web findings, the media, and the news portray you as a teenager correctly? How would you describe 2013 Canadian teen culture to someone else years down the road?

This history teacher also pointed out to me that although I am still quite young, I simply don’t know what it is to be like a teenager from these student’s standpoints and that they simply have to tell me. I am so glad we had this conversation so I didn’t end up having my students read articles written by adults about young people. I look forward to hearing what they have to say and to see if they can spot the stereotypes in what they find during their web searches. We try our best to know our students but often their standpoints are made up of many elements that we can’t always see.  

-Week 9, Sarah

The Science of Blogging

The Science of Blogging, how to follow the “scientific method” of blogging.

I initially wrote this down to be silly and to get my creative juices flowing for my weekly reflection, but the silly part truly is how real and concrete it began to sound. Then I just had to Google it, “the science of blogging,” and sure enough the first website is exactly that. Oh boy! Let’s look this site over. The website is about teaching others how to maximize their blogging efforts including when the best time to post is and how to increase your credibility as a blogger. It’s a step by step guide of how to make the ultimate blog that is useful and generates comments. Ha!

This is some of the tips outlined by their “Scientific method”:

“I've heard the advice a lot to don't call yourself a guru. A lot of people say that. Don't call yourself a guru.”

and

“I'm going to talk about the more general marketing impact that blogging can have. And so I did a survey and I got about 1,400 responses. And in that survey, I asked how much do blogs affect your purchasing decisions? Right. So how often do you proceed to a purchase decision with blogging research? And what I found is that 71% of respondents said that blogs affect their purchasing decisions either somewhat or very much.”

So it suggests tips on what not to do as well as discusses the power of blogs in marketing.

http://www.hubspot.com/the-science-of-blogging/

I think that Chalmers nailed this trend, where science is intended to imply some kind of merit or special kind of reliability, in his article. Chalmers explains that this happens in everyday life and in the academic world as many areas of study are described as “sciences” by their supporters in an effort to imply that the methods used are firmly based and potentially as fruitful as traditional sciences such as physics. There is Library Science, Speech Science, Mortuary Science, and now even Blogging Science!

See, I have always thought that blogging was supposed to be creative and unique to the blogger. So when there is a step by step guide I feel like it takes away from that creative freedom. I think I will try to keep science out of my blog because I have a love for the social humanity subjects, which I believe embraces the creative side of my brain. If my blog is less credible then a “scientific blog” then so be it, for that would only prove our readings further in that society values scientific knowledge over other types.

-Week 8 , Sarah

Why Did the Plant Die?

Here I go giving our week’s topic, epistemology of mathematics and science, some thought today. I came into this week with a preconceived notion that I might not get much out of this week’s lessons because I did not pursue either of these subjects beyond high school. I have to admit the materials and lessons were really not all that bad actually. One idea that really stood out for me was the reoccurring theme that we need to learn how to accept failure as a positive element to learning because we can grow and learn from that failure.

Tom Murphy talked about the power of failure in science in his blog, “When Science is a Conveyer of Bad News.” Murphy tells us that the best description of the scientific method that he has seen is, “The scientific method involves the dynamic interplay between theory and experiment.” –Hobson. The idea that good experiments often lead to failure and that that was normal, natural and real.


Murphy uses a great example to frame this idea, he says, “Meanwhile, science fair projects across the nation—under the advisement of teachers who themselves often do not have personal experience in how science really works—approach their subject in an uncharacteristically formulaic way. Nine times out of ten the effort culminates in a proof that the initial hypothesis was right; as if that were the goal and criterion for success. The rare student is surprised by the data, admitting to a failure of the hypothesis, quickly reconsidering initial assumptions and driving into an unexpected yet rewarding direction (dynamic interplay). That’s the real scientist at work. Too bad the judges (in my experience as a judge) often don’t recognize this apparent failure as the true success.”

 

I think this also ties into how it is beneficial to let students come to their own knowledge and understanding through inquiry and experiment. The term and understanding of the notion “failure” needs to be uplifted and given new life in order for our students to be able to embrace their failure and learn more deeply in a result.
 

I had a wonderful chat with a grade nine teacher who has a unique and fresh view to education and teaching pedagogies. Entering his classroom is like getting a breath of fresh air. The environment is inviting, there are plants, art, games, food, and students who come from all types of backgrounds and situations.  In our conversation he told me that he lets his students take ownership of the classroom because this is their place to thrive and not just the teacher’s space. Just the other day one of their plants died and the students were wondering about it after. He asked them, “Why do you think the plant died?” It was eventually discovered that nobody had watered it in a long time. This small lesson hit home for me because I have a feeling I would have just watered it myself, rather than letting the students be responsible for its care. This teacher was able to turn this failure into a teaching moment where the students were asked to reflect, gather data, and come to a conclusion and I’m betting that the next plant won’t die so easily! Although this is no big science experiment, I thought that this lesson was very neat and it can be done in every class!
 

-Week 7, Sarah

See Murphy’s Blog at: http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2012/10/when-science-brings-bad-news/#more-1257

History is About Stories: Everyone Can Tell Them

I would like to Begin with a short story told by William MacLean on the Halifax explosion.

 

“History teaches us a way to make choices, to balance opinions, to tell stories, and to become uneasy…about the stories we tell.” – Wineburg

“The truth about stories is, that’s all we are.” –Thomas King

During our discussions and reading about the importance of studying History these two passages stayed with me as I pondered further about why we should teach History. History is my favorite subject to study and I believe it is valuable for many reasons. History is interesting and thought provoking because of its stories. I observe a few different History classes lead by two different experienced teachers. Although I see note taking, where students yawn and massage their hands, and text book reading with questions, that make me cringe, there is something that draws students to choose to take History. So what is it then? I believe it is the stories. It is when the teacher begins to capture the class through a story that the student’s eyes light up and they begin to ask meaningful questions. The students begin to tell their own stories, for example students who study History 20 slowly begin to tell their own stories about their grandmother’s war jobs and relatives battle stories. I really like that Wineburg includes that it is important to become uneasy about the stories we tell. History is shocking and painful. But the stories that make us uneasy are the ones we cannot stop telling. For they provoke feelings and thought and act as a way to remember wrongs that society has committed.

When I was asked if the teacher’s geography lesson was boring one day, I regrettably had to say yes. I just couldn’t lie. So how could we liven this lesson up to students who have never travelled and might never get to? I think the key is through stories.  Stories allow you to create pictures and memories more than a map with questions could ever do.  

History seems to have a bad placement currently next to Social Studies in University Education courses. I think this is generally due to Histories own history of being a power filled class where students are forced to learn about facts and about western powers, but it truly has a purpose that interests students. History no longer is about memorisation and minimal viewpoints, for it offers so much more that encourages critical thinking and memorable stories. History is my first teaching area and even though my respect has grown immensely for Social Studies, I am saddened by the fact that it was the last year where it would be accepted as a lone teaching area. If I wouldn’t have been accepted into Education this year I would have not been qualified later to apply with this major and I think that is wrong. We were asked in class, “what reading, writing, questioning skills would be lost if we eliminate history?” What a great question because we would lose so much. I feel like we are making a poor step in losing history already through the education program. I am thankful for the place where I am today. I hope as a young teacher I will learn more and more stories for my future History classes so that I can help students think about making choices, about balancing opinions, get them to tell their own stories, and to become uneasy about the stories we tell because, “the truth about stories is, that’s all we are.”

-Week 6, Sarah

 

Is Knowledge Individual or Social?

Is knowledge individual or social? I believe it is most likely is both, however I do think that knowledge is more of a social creation. I struggled a little bit with this week’s readings so when I went back to study the points that I highlighted during the first readings of Feminist Epistemology I approached the articles asking the individual or social knowledge question.  

This is something that I found:

“Despite the individualism of many naturalized epistemologies, a naturalized approach can operate as a very strong argument for a social epistemology: looking at how human beings know leaves little doubt that the vast majority of our knowing takes place socially. Even if the "socially" is understood in the minimal sense of individuals interacting with each other, exchanging information, the social interaction has the potential to be infused with the dynamics of gender, opening the door for analyses of how gender affects knowledge exchanges.”

(Grasswick, H. 2006, Feminist Social Epistemology)

This passage stood out for me because we spend a lot of time in class discussing articles and ideas with each other in small groups. It is understood that we all might come the conversation with our own “individual” knowledge and together we can grow from sharing with each other.

I feel that we are all different students with different social backgrounds and positions in society and that this affects the way we think, because society has shaped us to become who we are. So even though I am coming to my group with “my own” knowledge it has already been shaped socially by my previous experiences. Then my knowledge grows and reshapes when I am able to interact and exchange information with others. For that reason I value these group discussions because it helps me to see new perspectives, to understand more deeply, and to challenge my own ideas. Some days my group discussions are more valuable than others, for this depends if there is rich discussions happening and if there are diverse knowledge creators in the group, such as both genders represented. Although I used to groan at group work I now see the value in exchanging knowledge with others because others might approach information differently and come to see it in different and new ways.

-Week 5, Sarah

Can Three Months Erase Previous Experiences?

This week I read Sterzuk’s article on Indigenous English and Standard English Ideology which looked at a group of pre service teachers in Saskatchewan who are very similar to our Gamma group. She highlighted that the ease in which people take on such persisting views of the “right” language is a common aspect of White settler childhoods. While we, pre service teachers, learn about Indigenous English as varieties in English that are spoken by First Nations, Metis, and Inuit people, we come to know that it is our main stream views of English that need to change in order to create equitable classrooms. Sterzuk asked important questions when analysing her student’s essays. She questioned if their personal changes that they spoke of regarding their views of the power of language were really “real” changes and if three months of their lessons could really erase their previous experiences?

I feel that we all know that our previous experiences will always be with us and they truly do make us who we are today. We will never be able to truly erase our previous experiences, nor will we be able to not recognize that our surroundings, socialisation, and history make us who we are today. With that being said everyday my education creates more life experiences that also shape me immensely. I have learned to recognize my privilege as well as question why I think the way I do.  I see this change in myself at many dinner table gatherings when my family and friends gather and I end up cringing at some of the things that are said and believed. If I remained solely a part of this group, as I did when I was young, I would most likely have similar views as my peers. I truly do not believe that I would be cringing if it was not for my education that has changed me into a different version of myself. Unfortunately there are also times that I feel this same cringe like feeling over people’s behaviours at the University and schools as well. However, I’m sure I have made similar ignorant acts myself.

I believe that classes such as these, including Sterzuk’s, may not create new wonderful individuals, but they do provide the education that one needs to grow and become a better self if one is prepared to use it. Sterzuk needs to realize that those three months of lessons are not all for nothing when it comes to rural Saskatchewan students and that even creating critical thinkers and having them question themselves is a huge step towards creating better more equitable teachers.

-Week 4, Sarah

A good reader = A good person?

First off I would like to briefly summarize the article I read this week. Ladson Billings’ discusses the need for teachers to talk about race and explore how literacy and race are connected in diverse classrooms. She points out that teachers often avoid talking about race. She argues that the technical reasons for reading failure mask more powerful social structures and symbolic ones in U.S culture. As I read on I found that I was most struck when Billings explained that children equate being a good reader with being a good person.

At first I felt shocked and sad that children think this, but I also understand that this is probably true. There is a sense of pride that goes hand in hand with one’s ability to read and speak well according to Standard English codes. It is even more important to understand that those who are struggling with their reading might feel like they are bad people and that this needs to change. Teachers need to battle the trend where they grant certain children “permission to fail”, usually those who are from visible minorities, and approach these students with high expectations. The other articles we read also stressed the importance of allowing creoles and dialects to be used in the classroom because this use allows students to be more confident when they learn as they can express themselves in an open comfortable way.

Although I am a white privileged student I think that I can somewhat understand how children and youth reflect their literacy skills to their own self worth. In class this week someone mentioned that it is frustrating when proper grammar is not used correctly because it is simple to learn. Then a comment was even made that perhaps now we are just too lazy to learn it. This struck me because I feel that have, and still do, struggle with grammar, spelling, and phonics. However I do not connect this struggle to my lack of trying to master it. I remember my parents buying and having me play multiple word and spelling games for years. I am constantly looking up words and often feel frustrated when I continuously fail. I recently purchased a book with grammar codes and tips. I find myself thinking I can never be a successful English teacher if I can’t even spell soldier. In fact I even spelt grammar as grammer in my notes today! Some days my struggles really affect me and make me feel extremely discouraged and down. In university I feel like I have less to offer because my peers excel in what I struggle with. So I feel like is it most  important to make sure these struggling students realize that they have so much to offer in many other areas. Like myself, students might feel down due to their literacy struggles, yet they have so much more to offer and need to be recognized for those attributes to. This is when I have to remind myself that it’s not just about spelling and grammar, but about my passion and love for knowledge. However, my story is different because I am privileged and this article was discussing how race is a factor in literacy success and that we need to think about how Whiteness is often conferred on students and that this really needs to change.

-Sarah, Week 3