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Reading Why School?

Reading Why School?. Using Why School? to build community and critical dialogue skills across a community college FYW program and the wider community. Kathryn Weller April 16, 2014 AL992. Introduction. MSU FYW journal entries

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Reading Why School?

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  1. Reading Why School? Using Why School? to build community and critical dialogue skills across a community college FYW program and the wider community Kathryn Weller April 16, 2014 AL992

  2. Introduction • MSU FYW journal entries • indicated the need for increased interaction between students in first-year writing • Inspired by A Search Past Silence • Mike Rose’s Why School? (WS?) • Program-wide read • Critical dialogues • Community building

  3. Outline • Literature review/Theoretical frameworks • Why School? overview and rationale • Context of study • Implementations

  4. Literature Review/Theoretical Frameworks • Critical dialogue • Social context • Whole-school read • Adult learning • Funds of knowledge • Freire

  5. Critical Dialogue • Sites of Possibility: Ed. Jennings et al. (2010) • Language tools and skills developed during critical dialogues: • Hypothetical, metaphorical, intertextuality, problematizing, creating new realities, sense of agency, multiple perspectives

  6. “Learning to Read, Learning Community: Considerations of the Social Contexts for Literacy Instruction” • Rasinski and Nathenson-Mejia, Sally (1987) • “Schools need to help children learn to become responsible and caring citizens” (260) • “Children [students] saw each other as people to collaborate with and be concerned about” (264). • “I-It” or “I-Thou” orientation

  7. Whole-school read:Jewett, Wilson, and Vanderburg (2011) • Deliberate choice of text • Relevant to students • Text is “not enough” • Teachers need to be intentional about critical dialogue • Sharing learning • Building community

  8. Adult Learning: Ames, 1992; Cleary, 2012; Sullivan, 2011 • Relevant and meaningful writing (and reading) tasks • “Belonging” can increase motivation and self-efficacy beliefs • Creativity and interest can also increase motivation in learners

  9. Funds of Knowledge: Moll and Gonzalez (1992) Adult literacy process as cultural action for freedom: Freire (1970)

  10. Why School? • Policies • NCLB/RttP; standards and testing; remediation • Trends • MOOCs • Issues • Poverty; veteran education

  11. Why Why School?? • Variety of topics could be relevant for large number of students • Personal and humanizing stories • Accessible language and examples

  12. Context • Elgin Community College; Elgin, IL • 18,000 students: 69% attend school part-time • 50% of students over age 23 • ECC offers university transfer programs as well as career/technical program • Many programs require/offer ENG-101 (English Composition 1)

  13. Implementation/Pedagogies • Integration into FYW curriculum • Engaging topics that are meaningful and relevant to students in writing tasks • Journal dialogues among students (within and across sections of ENG-101) • Cisero and others, journaling pedagogy and uses • Critical dialogues, learning communities, I-Thou orientation • Events designed for sharing and community building • Bringing together FYW students, faculty, families, students from all programs, college community

  14. Conclusion • So what? • A way for the work students do in first-year writing courses to go beyond the classroom walls • Could this be a step toward addressing issues like those I saw in my students’ journal entries?

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