DIALOGUE, LITERACY AND THINKING

1. DIALOGUE, LITERACY AND THINKING Week 5 Summary (5 February 2007)

2. Learning to Talk and Talking to Learn • Guiding principles: • When your child appears to be trying to communicate, assume that s/he has something important to say and treat the attempt accordingly. • Because a child’s utterances are often unclear or ambiguous, be sure you have understood the intended meaning before responding • When you reply, take the child’s meaning as the basis of what you say next - confirming the intention and extending the topic or inviting the child to do so him/herself. • Select and phrase your contributions so that they are at or just beyond the child’s ability to comprehend.

4. Think about: • why you like your best friend • the best way to getfrom Santa Cruz to Berkeley • why some objects sink while others float • what to write about in the mid-term paper • how to persuade your friend to vote for X as the next President HOW -- by what means did you think about each?

5. Social Speech and Speech for Self Voloshinov (1973) considered that all thinking involved mediation by (mainly linguistic) signs and argued that it is only through the construction of inner signs in the course of interaction with others that consciousness itself can arise. Indeed, for Voloshinov, “experience exists even for the person undergoing it only in the material of signs. Outside that material there is no experience as such.” (p. 26) “Any higher mental functionwas external because it was social at one point before becoming an internal, truly mental function.” (Vygotsky, 1981, p. 162) By taking part in meaning-making in interaction with others, we appropriate the interpersonal ways of using language for intrapersonal thinking and so become able to engage in speech for ourselves, or inner dialogue, in which we are able to formulate problems, consider alternative solutions, weigh evidence, and arrive at conclusions, using the interpersonal forms of discussion in solo mode. “How do I know what I think ‘till I hear what I say?”

6. Why is Dialogue So Important? Dialogue enables us to communicate with others in order to: • collaborate in getting things done • learn how other members of the community make sense of the world and their experience in it • learn the ‘tools’ for thinking with • develop one’s own understanding in interaction with others • “ ..the prime aim of education ought to be to help children learn how to use language effectively as a tool for thinking collectively; and classroom-based involvement in culturally based ways of thinking collectively can make a significant contribution to the development of individual children’s intellectual ability.” (Mercer, 2002, p. 141)

7. “Knowledge is constructed in the dialogue between people who are doing things together.”

9. Reading and Writing Writing - and all other written symbol systems (e.g. mathematical and scientific formulae, musical and dance notation) - preserve meaning and make it available in different times and places. Most important, a written text allows the writer and other readers to revisit it and to engage in a dialogue with the meanings they construct in interaction with it (Rosenblatt, 1999). Writing is a particularly powerful tool for thinking with. It helps us to organize our thoughts and feelings and to make them clearer and more coherent. Rereading and revising a draft is a very important part of this process of “making meaning with text” (Emig, in Reader). But, most important, there must be a personal purpose. Vygotsky wrote: “Teaching should be organized in such a way that reading and writing are necessary for something … [they] should be incorporated into a task that is necessary and relevant for life” (1978, pp. 117-118).

10. Learning to Read and Write Written text is not self-explanatory Texts communicate meaning through visual symbols Like speech, they have a purpose and a topic In alphabetic language, they make use of phoneme-grapheme relations Talk About Text Dialogic read-aloud

11. David has chosen a picture storybook, The Giant Jam Sandwich, which he has obviously had read to him before, and sits next to his mother on the sofa so that he can see the book as she reads. David: The Giant Sandwich [4-second pausel Mother: Who's this here on the first page? [indicating the first page] David: The wasps. Mother: The wasps are coming. [Turns the page] Here's some more, look. Wow! [Reads] One hot summer in Itching Down Four million wasps flew into town. David: I don't like wasps . . . flying into town. Mother: Why's that? David: Because they sting me. Mother: Do they? David: Mm. I don't like them. Mother: They won't sting you. But four million would be rather a lot, wouldn't it? They'd get rather in the way. [Reads] They drove the picnickers away . . . David: Mm. Mother [Reads]: They chased the farmers from their hay They stung Lord Swell [chuckIes] on his fat bald .. David: Pate Mother: D'you know what a pate is? David: What?

12. Mother: What d'you think it is? David: Hair. Mother: Well-yes. It's where his hair should be. It's his head-Iook, his bald head. All his hair's gone. David: Where is it? Mother: Well, he's old, so it's dropped out. He's gone bald. David: Where's- Is that his hat? Mother: Mm. He's running, so his hat's fallen off. [Reads] They dived . and hummed . and buzzed . and ate David: D'they eat him? Mother: [laughs] I expect they might have tried to. I dunno. D'you think wasps eat people? David: No. Mother: What do they eat? David: [with relish] They eat vegetables. Mother: [laughing] Vegetables. David: Yes. Mother: What sort? What do they like? David: They like [5-second pause) Um . . . Mother: What kind of vegetables were you thinking of? [Long pause] As his mother turns to the next page, David looks intently at the illustration, which shows three male inhabitants of Itching Down, each attempting in his own way to get rid of the wasps.

13. David: Is that a spray to shoo them away? Is that a spray to shoo them away? Mother: Yes. It's probably some sort of insecticide . to get rid of them. And what's that net for, do you think? [A butterfly net] David: It's for catching them with. Mother: It doesn't seem to be much good though, does it? David: No. They come out the holes. Mother [laughs]: The holes are too big, aren't they? And what about this man? What's he got? David: He's–What's he got? Mother: What's that? David: A note. What does the note say? Mother: A note on a stick, is it? Is that what you think? David: Actually it's a sound. Mother: A what?

14. David: A sound. What's it called on the–on the stick? What is it? What's that man got? Mother: Well you know, um– David: Yes . . Sign. Mother: You think it's a sign? Yes it looks very like a sign with writing on it, doesn't it? David: Yes. Mother: But it isn't. It's like Mummy's–um–fish slice [slotted spatula]. David: What is it? Mother: It's a swatter. He's going to hit the wasp with it. David: How d'you hit wasps with . otters? Mother [checking]: Swatters? Well, they're made of plastic usually– David: Yes. Mother: And they–you bang them down. See if you can squash the wasp. (He) looks very angry. David: Did they sting him? Mother: Maybe he’s already been stung . that’s why he’s so cross David: Is he hurt? Mother: It looks as if he might be, he's making a funny face. David: Why he making a funny face? Is that man- .. is that man shouting for them to go away? Mother: Think so. He's got his mouth open, so he could be shouting. [5 second pause as David continues to explore the picture]

15. Mother: Anyway– • David: Yes • Mother: [Reads] They called a meeting in the village hall • And Mayor Muddlenut asked them all, • "What can we do?" And they said, "Good question," • But nobody had a good suggestion. • Then Bap the baker leapt to his feet • And cried, "What do wasps like best . to- • David: (completing the line) - best .. eat • Mother: Strawberry- • David: (completing) - jam. • Mother: Now wait a minute. • If we made a giant sandwich - • David: Yes • Mother: We could trap them in it. collaborative writing

16. TO: Baby .. (dictates as he writes) CH: Baby dinosaur~ dinosaurs (Group chimes in) TA: Hm you put dinosaur DinoSAURS (emphasizing the plural form) TO: I can't do anything now (refers to erasing) ER: What did he do wrong? dinosaur school? TA: Dinosaurs, he put dinoSAURS (again emphasizing the plural) like thousands of them, more than one TO: So, so that's what the school is TA: A school is for the kids (laughs) BA: Whoever heard of a dinosaur school- school of one kid TA: Baby dinosaurs must go to school inside a volcano (laughs) Once every five years, a fire alarm will go off as an eruption. BA: Ya, that's funny (everyone laughs) TO: Okay? …. Baby dinosaur ‑ TA: Dinosaur, dinosaurs' (corrects Tony) TO: Dinosaurs school, baby dinosaurs school TA: Baby dinosaurs go to school inside a volcano BA: Who cares if you don't know how to spell ‑ ER: What are you writing? TO: ‑ "school" TA: Baby dinosaur school' ‑ (reads) TO: Yeah TA: What? ‑ were inside a volcano

17. TO: Dinosaur school ER: Baby dinosaur school is every where There were more than one school. BA: Were volcanoes TA: Were in volcanoes TO: Baby dinosaur schools are in- are in . volcanoes TA: WERE in ER: Were in TA: They are not right now . are dinosaurs living right now? were' (repeating as Tony writes) TO: But this is make believe (Children speak at the same time) TA: I didn't realise there's really a dinosaur school (1aughs) TO: were in volcanoes, in a volcano' (saying out loud as he writes) TA: In volcanoes TO: V O K ‑ V O K (invents spelling) V O K ‑ K A ER: Tony, I think you've got it wrong It's V O L ‑ volcanoes BA: Who cares? [several overlapping utterances] CH: ‘Baby dinosaur schools were in volcanoes' (reads) BA: When there was a fire drill TA: SH‑Sh every other, every five hundred years the fire drill will go off as an eruption .. that is what I said. TO: Okay, every ‑' (dictates as he writes out the sentence) ER: **** (objecting to something that TA said)

18. TO: Yeah man BA: Because you guys don't talk TA: (laughs) TO: How do you spell that again? BA: You just cut us TO: What? CH: E V E (They continue to try to write the sentence) BA: Baby dinosaurs lived in schools ‑' (reading) TO: Every five hundred years ‑ ' ER: I know ***** TO: Okay TA: Yeah, five years Because they won't be alive in five hundred years ER: Yes, they would TA: But they wouldn't be babies anymore TO: Yeah BA: They'll be five ER: So they'll be in grade six ** TA: They are in grade six . they'll be in school, they'll be teenagers, not babies anymore TO: I made a mistake BA: Who cares? TA: They'll be eighteen They'll be in high school

19. DINOSAURS SCHOOL… • Baby DINOSAURS Schools were in • VOCKANOS. Every 5 Years The • Fire Drial would Go On as an • ERUPTION. THEY WriHT About People. • THE Paper was 10 mters long. And • The Pencil is 5 mters long. There • Close is poka Doted. And THERE • Poget is about THE Fugter. THE • Librery is called Home read stone. • And The books or made of saled. • Rock. THEY live in haya rock. • THERE Brians or as small as marbells. THERE • LUnCH is Brontobrgers. THERE TOYS • ARE all With batreries, THERE HOUES is • MADE OF Pebulls. • by Tony, Tanya, Barbara, Margaret and Eric.

21. Question: Why did an odd bird figure in a cloak protect doctors? • (referring to an image from a history book showing a doctor clad in leather and wearing a beak mask that makes him look like a bird) • Ian: I don't have a total answer for this, but the paragraph underneath the picture says • that the bird mask is to filter out the polluted air, and the wand is to heal patients. Don't ask me why he/she wears a leather cloak. • Eren: If what this guy is wearing is a mask, it might have actually helped him stay healthy. • Alec: This is good Ian, but why a bird/man/penguin? • Justin: At the end of the caption of the bird figure, in quotes, it claims, "doctors hoped to avoid the contagion by looking more like a crow than a man". Can anybody try to clarify the quote? • Alec: Why a crow? • Suzanne: People probably wanted to be birds because they saw that the birds weren't dying. This is because birds don't get fleas and fleas caused the Black Death. • Matt: It was not the bird figure protecting the doctors like a god, but it is a form of disease proof clothing. The beak is an early form of gas mask, the cloak of heavy leather. The wand is for soothing the patients. The doctor is covered from head to toe, therefore keeping out the disease.

22. Ray: Theoretically, the birdlike cloak thing might prevent the fleas from getting to the doctors skin, thus giving the individual the plague. The cloak was basically a shield. • Suzanne: This could and probably is true, but I doubt the people of the time knew that. • Jon: I think it is a witch doctor because of what he is wearing. • Justin: It is just a doctor dressed in leather wearing an early edition of a gas mask. More like a doctor wearing a shield from the fleas. • Suzanne: But Justin, the doctor didn't KNOW that fleas cause the disease, therefore he couldn't have been wearing it for protection. That's why I agree with Jon that yes, the doctor probably is a witch doctor. The bird suit only had a spiritual meaning. • Justin: I didn't say that he/she knew. I mean that the doctor was using the leather as a shield. • Ray: The birdlike figure of a god worked. Scientifically speaking, it protected the wearer by preventing the fleas from reaching the skin. It had religious value too. The power of the costume prevented the virus from taking over. COMBINATION • Some guy who lived in a town saw his friends dropping like flies. He then decided to cover himself up with lots of clothes. He put clothes on that made him look like a bird. Some doctors noticed he didn't get the plague and thought it was a spirit who protected you when you wore the clothes. But what they didn't know is that it stopped the fleas from getting to you. Question solved. • Justin: Did the odd bird figure protect doctors? What is your source? How did these people have the technology when they did not know the cause?

23. Brad: No Justin, the bird man didn't protect doctors. It was the fact that all of their skin was covered and no fleas or rats could pass the disease on to them. • Colin: Brad, I must agree, with their bird suits on, the fleas infecting the patient could not penetrate the skin, spreading the disease. • Ray: The reason that they thought the suit protected was spiritual. The reason it actually protected them was that it kept the fleas off them. Please reread my previous notes. • Alec: This is crazy. It keeps going from spiritual focus to just plain protection and shield edge. Let us first try and get which one is correct. Maybe they're both right. I don't know. • Justin: It's not crazy. It keeps on doing that because we are arguing over spiritual and protection. They are both right because the doctor thought it was spiritual, but it was a shield. • Alec: Well put, Justin. I now understand why it keeps going. Thanks. • Amanda: Maybe that was what doctors wore all the time anyway. • Brad: Amanda, I really truly doubt that doctors wore that all the time because I remember reading something that said those costumes were first used during the Black Death.