A Metacognitive Exercise - Essay Example

Personal Response Journal: A Metacognitive Exercise 1. Module Entries: Language-Listening Speaking and Learning Entry I was most interested in the links established, in Green and Campbell, between a particular text, whether spoken or written, and its origins. By this, I mean that I found it both interesting and logical to characterise a text as essentially derivative. By tracing a text to the cultural context in which it was created, by linking the text to particular social objectives, and by examining communication practises and norms, it becomes much easier, from my point of view, to understand how a variety of linguistic features are chosen, manipulated, and employed. This is most evident in the variation of linguistic features, such as grammar or word choice, in the study of alternative text types. One can seemingly step into the thought process, feeling the cognitive steps of organising and constructing a text, of various writers. I feel much more comfortable analysing a narrative, for example, when I can consider the language more holistically and more particularly. There are, to be sure, different vantage points. The largest impression that I take from these readings, initially at least, is the impression that there are many sub-languages and that each of these sub-languages derives from different assumptions regarding culture, setting, and purpose. The extant to which the goals of a particular text's creator vary can most certainly affect the use of linguistic features. In this way, language functions in significant ways as a social science. In evaluating the text examples provided for in the activities, I found some things rather intuitive; for instance, the use of the past tense for events that have occurred. On the other hand, I was also surprised by the extant to which many linguistic features of a text may actually derive from a larger social context. In the textual excerpt from the Drover's Wife, for example, a couple of rereadings of the text emphasised the significant effects of word choice in the narrative text. The choice of words such as "reared" and "crushed" and the use of punctuation such as "Thud!" truly affected the mood and the feeling conveyed by the text. As a mental exercise, I arbitrarily changed some of the words in order to see how the meaning might be altered; the results were quite significant. In sum, from the point of view of a student or a writer, I find the concepts of metalanguage and social purposes of text very helpful both in terms of understanding a text and in terms of creating a text. Though seemingly intuitive, these concepts add very much to the understanding of language, linguistic features, and meaning. To this regard I have the initiative to improve myself by answering the following activities: Activity: Describe the genre used by the seven-year-old child in the following text. List the features in terms of use of verbs, general and specific participants and descriptive words and statements. What understandings of the convention of written language does she demonstrate "I was going Dawn cabell terast on my Big Bieck. It was a Stiep Hill and my brakes pat up when I was haf the wai dan the hill and I broacd my coliaBone and I had to to go to the hosPtall to get a slliea on it. Its getting beta, ten I can ride I't a gain" Answer Using what I have learned from Green and Campbell, I recognized the genre of the text as a narrative. It tells the story of a seven year old boy in a sequential manner- precisely how Green and Campbell defined narratives. It also uses past tense form of verbs and makes use of the linking verb "and" to denote what happened next. It can also be recognized that the text is full of grammatical errors such as spelling and punctuation. However, it can be seen that the child is able to use the basic Subject - Object construction with the verb in between. The text displays the " how you pronounce it is how you spell and write it" system. Entry 2: Being particularly interested in writing, I found the work by Harris rather interesting. He presents questions which, I think, most people have asked themselves at one point or another during their lives. More specifically, as related to literacy learning, why are we doing what we are doing in school Is our writing designed to accomplish some specific purpose What is that purpose Do instructors clearly present that purpose Are they, in fact, aware of their purpose Do students understand that purpose Is this a valid purpose or merely some form of busy-work These are the questions which ran through my mind as I studied this chapter; indeed, these are questions which I have asked myself many times before. The "what, who, how" task is, in my opinion, a useful approach for helping both instructors and students to understand the purpose of writing in varying social situations. This is because the writing purpose is reduced to its most elemental functions and because writing purposes can be compared in different situations. Abstract thought is not really needed; quite the contrary, personal experiences can aid in the completion of such tasks and activities. Students can summarise content, they can identify participants and roles, and they can describe, both generally and specifically, how language was used and how formal the language was. In sum, this type of task allows the children to look at language from the outside, to view it as variable, and to be able to create linguistic features which fit different situations. As an instructor, the teaching possibilities seem endless. One could, for instance, create dialogues and word choice matching exercises which students need to coordinate given different participant roles and settings. The ability to manipulate meaning, the ability to manipulate linguistic features, seems so complex and so simple at the same time. The key, from the point of view of literacy learning, would seem to be the construction of activities which illustrate to students how meaning is created in real situations and which allow students to have a hands-on experience in creating and manipulating meaning. The effect is therefore much more powerful than, say, mere decoding. In this regard I have accomplished the following Activity: Look at the range of media different cultural groups have used such as the message stick, smoke signal, sand painting, totem poles and bardic epics. Discuss their impact on the message Answer: Smoke signals can be particularly effective when there is a need to quickly relay message over long distances. This type of media was used by the Chinese to signal to other parts of China, that the Mongolians were coming. While smoke signals are spatially advantageous, sand painting, totem poles and bardic epics are more preferable to solve temporal concerns. This is because the material in which they were inscribed can withstand, to some degree, the passing of time. The message that they convey can be read by other generations. The message stick is a useful tool such that the message can be read by other people in different frames of time although not as long as the bardic epics, totem poles and sand painting. Entry 3: Having classified texts into types, and having seen how different text types are characterized by different linguistic features, it seemed natural to then study how literacy is learned. Literacy learning was particularly interesting in terms of children's motivation. I can imagine quite clearly the desire of children to construct meaning about the world around them. They construct meaning at home, outside with their friends and playmates, and at school with teachers and classmates. These are the answers I can offer to the question posed by the text - "How do young children construct their writing world". I find myself asking many questions as I read the work by Ruddell. For example, (1) at what age do children begin to be able to alter and manipulate meanings, (2) by what mechanisms can children manipulate linguistic features (i.e., diction, word choice, etc) in order to accomplish different purposes and (3) to what extant are these literacy skills and capabilities learned naturally or taught in a formal classroom setting I am beginning to see the connections between the mature use of language and the cognitive developmental stages in children. Of particular interest is the role of the "influential teacher", especially as it relates to what Ruddell calls a child's "dual motivations." In addition, I had some initial difficulty attempting to reconcile the stages of cognitive development as set forth by Piaget and Vygotsky. Both seem to have valid points. Most generally, the biological cognitive developmental stages outlined by Piaget, and manifest in the notion of Developmentally Appropriate Practice, are useful in terms of constructing age-based learning goals and methods. On the other hand, I find it fair to agree with Vygotsky in the sense that (1) not all children operate on the same cognitive plane, and (2) that social circumstances and motivations affect literacy learning as much as purely biological factors. Though I don't feel qualified to offer any precise conclusions, it seems to me that literacy learning ought to incorporate aspects of both Piaget and Vygotsky. The rereading exercise is illuminating in this regard. Biological factors may be similar, but a child's prior knowledge is not; developmentally appropriate practice may limit a child's hypothesis, but meaning may be more expansive; and, finally, social circumstances may encourage alternative literacy choices. The influential teacher, as noted by Ruddell, is able to recognize these possibilities, able to activate a child's internal motivation to explore these literacy possibilities, and, hopefully, able to broaden cognitive development in the literacy context. In sum, it would seem to me that an effective teacher might be able to transcend, in some respects, the purely biological stages of cognitive development posited by Piaget. This is an exciting possibility. Entry 4: The final entry in this module, kind of an overarching commentary to meaning, is complicated by the fact that meaning comprises so many things (colours, sounds, settings, expectations, etc) and the fact that even scholars, such as critical theorists and post-structuralists, disagree so vehemently about what constitutes meaning. The only way in which I can manage this type of overarching topic is to reduce it to a number of guiding principles. First, language exists with varying social contexts. Different social settings impose different expectations and different norms. The example of the movie, My Cousin Vinny, is both humorous and informative. It is informative because it demonstrates that language and discourse varies; more specifically, the guiding principle is that language and meaning is variable in the larger picture and more absolute in more specific settings. Second, efforts to establish an "absolute meaning" might be better directed to efforts to find "most situation-suitable meanings." By this, I mean to suggest that absolute meaning is in many ways, from the literacy learning perspective, a misnomer, and that this notion may inhibit more than encourage literacy learning. Finally, as illustrated by the activity dealing with a post-structuralist interpretation of the Tom and Mary text, the social, historical, and discursive settings affect text interpretation. The text is more alive for the reader, more informative, and more adaptable. I do not mean to suggest that texts should be deliberately misinterpreted, but that multiple interpretations are the norm rather than the exception, and that these multiple interpretations are well-grounded in variable situations. In sum, the post-structuralist approach is persuasive in terms of its main criticism of the critical theory; that said, there is so much to digest and consider, in terms of meaning, that one is left gasping a bit. Me, too. I have also learned from contemplating the activity " Re-read the snapshots. What theories of language and language teaching underpin the work of these teachers". I remembered Vyogostky and Bruner. They said that to better improve the learning process of learning, there is a need for a good facilitator. By providing a facilitator who can arouse the interest of the children, the students can now have a deeper sense of what he is taught about. 1.2 Module 2 Entries: Reading for Understanding Entry 5: The previous entries have reflected the possibilities, the vast world of meaning, and the hopes that instructors have for improving both (1) literacy learning environments for children and (2) more comprehensive forms of cognitive development. Then, as set forth in the immediate readings, I run into a brick wall. Constraints rather then possibilities are presented and it is clear that choices must be made. Children are referred to as existing within "insulated" social environments. They are dependent on adults for access to the outside world; in effect, they are dependent on adults (parents and teachers) for access to the very social situations which shape language. The parents are actually The question thus becomes, in large part, what types of access shall we grant to children in terms of literacy opportunities Put another way, and as set forth in the text by Green and Campbell, how do teachers create optimal conditions for classroom learning I find this a difficult question, a difficult task, because there are so many competing considerations: (1) language learning is affected by external social factors, (2) children operate within insulated environments, (3) scholars disagree about what learning environments are most conducive to literacy learning, and (4) teachers function with limited resources and regulatory constraints in terms of what types of information and situations they may expose their students to. The trick, therefore, is to create a classroom environment which incorporates immersion, demonstration, engagement, experience, responsibility, use, approximation, and response. This is the answer I can offer to the activity "Look for the positioning of children in photographs". The children are placed at the forefront as to engage them to be more confident in express themselves. An instructor thus becomes much more than a medium of communication; indeed, an instructor must also become a facilitator with limited resources. They must be taught how to respond for a certain situation. This chapter presents some very real challenges for the instructor. Prior to engaging in the teaching of reading, therefore, an instructor must spend time thinking about the structure and the substance of the reading program. These plans must be in place prior to the beginning of the formal class. The dilemma and the contradictions are real: (1) theory suggests broad social exposure whereas classrooms are resource-limited; (2) literacy is dependent on the exploration of meaning whereas children have limited social experiences; and, (3) social circumstances embrace the good and the bad whereas parents and adults tend to attempt to insulate children from bad or negative social experiences. The challenges, in short, are very real and very substantial. Entry 6: I found the readings in Chapter 6 of Green and Campbell among the most useful thus far; I mean useful in terms of actual suggestions which I might implement in my own classroom. These readings transcended theoretical frameworks, such as those espoused by Piaget and Vygotsky, and offered practical steps for implementing a reading-based literacy programme. Given the "insulation" previously mentioned, I found the topic of a childhood literature-based reading programme, as a particular application of reading, both interesting and useful. In particular, as I explained in one of my previous essays on this material, I like how Campbell and Green demonstrate how a teacher can use the four resource model effectively. They begin with a teacher reading a story to the children. The code breaker skill can be taught by focusing on small excerpts, hopefully exciting, and having the students concentrate on how adjectives or verbs are used. The children can experience the power of these selected topics and see how they contribute to the larger text. The text participant role can be fulfilled in a variety of ways. The central question is how may children participate and thereby interact with the text. They may be asked to construct story maps of the plot in chronological order, to construct literary sociograms based on the characters, to create a storyboard that reflects their interpretation of the text, or to simply read and re-read the text themselves (pgs. 127-129). The text user is an active role, and can be taught by employing a variety of methods. Students might prepare a mock television broadcast of the text, about the text, or write a review or advertisement. Finally, the text analyst role can be taught by allowing children to reach different conclusions than what actually happens. Children might be shown instances of foreshadowing and asked to brainstorm and make predictions. They might be asked to read an excerpt and compose their own headlines and draw their own photographic representations. The four resource model of reading, with children's literature as a textual source, is significant benefit in the classroom. I am drawn to this approach to teaching reading specifically, and to teaching literacy more generally. Entry 7: Moving on to Winch, I was impressed by the choices available to the instructor and the different theoretical reasons for making the different types of choices. I have already noted my acceptance of the four resource model of reading, and my personal belief in the potential value of a literature-based reading programme. The next step requires a great deal of thought and the making of many decisions, such as the organization of the classroom and students, the selection of texts, and the design of lessons. Integrating the aforementioned theory in ways which promote and sustain effective teaching, in the reading context, seems both thought-consuming and time-consuming. Nonetheless, decisions must be made. In this chapter, I was most interested in how to group students and how to manage interactions in order to best realize learning objectives. This is not to minimize the importance of the other classroom variables, but to suggest that, in my view, poor student groupings and a lack of interaction would function to defeat even the wisest choice of texts and the most carefully crafted lesson plans. I make particular reference to using mixed abilities and mixed interest groups in order to maximize the prior experiences which students bring, in a more collective sense, to the text. The individual limitations, the insulation of a particular child, can in some ways be overcome by creating group-based reading tasks. The grouping techniques can also be designed in order to promote enhanced interaction; for instance, mixed-ability groups can lend balance to discussions among groups, mixed-interest groups can debate alternative meanings, and groups can be used to accomplish a variety of objectives. 1.3 Module 3 Entries: Writing and Thinking Entry 8: I must say, as this is a personal response journal, that I am beginning to feel better-prepared for the readings as the modules progress. I now find myself skimming some of the material as it restates principles and data previously learned. There is a rather persistent restatement of the notions that language and literacy are culturally-dependent and situationally-based. In terms of the writing and thinking module, I find myself eager to compare the reading research with the writing research. As a preliminary matter, I find myself anticipating the information. By this, I mean to say that reading and writing are closely related. Reading is decoded and interpreted. Writing is planned and created. Having developed a better understanding of reading, I imagine that more options will be available to the writer. I was particularly interested in Chapter 9 of Green in Campbell. More specifically, having mentioned in Entry 1 how texts are derivative, this chapter offers a modern spin on the sources from which today's children derive meaning. Not to be trite, but today is not yesterday; indeed, today's multi-media digital social environment contrasts fundamentally with older print-based cultures. What offered meaning to us a mere two or three decades ago has been supplanted by new sources of meaning. In terms of pedagogic practices, the instructor would be well-advised to present meaning in the same ways in which children derive meaning. This may be a shock to many old-fashioned teachers, trained themselves in different social and technological environments, and yet it is part and parcel of our social development. Instructors need not be fearful or critical of change. The literacy goals, after all, are not being fundamentally altered; quite the contrary, the alteration is simply in the means by which literacy instruction is presented. Context changes, but language and literacy remain. As an instructor, however, I would have some concerns. Hypertext or email communications differ from more formal types of written communication. This, though, is not all that different than the scenario presented earlier regarding the "who, what, how" tasks. A written email communication is, in some ways, comparable to an informal conversation with friends at the school cafeteria. Children can observe the literary conventions, describe them, produce them, and then compare them with more formal written conventions. Technology is not a threat. It is an additional opportunity for comparison and learning. This is precisely what could be done in the activity about Warren's case. Since Warren is more inclined multimedia texts and desist print, then an alternative approach is to use multimedia materials for instruction. The case of interests applies. When someone is interested in A and desists B, then he can be made to be interested in B if it can be directly connected to A. Warren can, for example, read newspaper material and journals in the internet rather than on print. The teacher must therefore be aware of how to effectively use other medias to further the learning of his student. Entry 9: The prior entry focused on the effects of changing technologies on written text. The current entry is more concerned with the specific means of classifying writers as text encoders. My particular interest is how teachers might assist writers in improving their text encoding skills. I have always considered myself to be fairly adept at decoding and encoding, at being able to pick apart and create texts, but I was unprepared for the theoretical framework presented by Harris et al in Chapter four. The division of encoding skills into an early phase, an emergent phase, and a fluent phase, was so detailed, and so well-supported by examples, that I found this to be one of the chapters that taught me the most. I admit that I didn't know quite as much as I thought I did, at lease from a theoretical point of view. The schematics presented provide a wonderful basis for writing assessment and a wonderful foundation for lesson preparation and design. In terms of linkages, I am reminded of the Piaget-Vygotsky debate regarding the precise nature of the stages of cognitive development. Harris seems to employ Piaget more generally and Vygotsky more particularly. I loved this chapter. Here are the activities I have done for Chapter 3 and 4: Think of 3 strategies for the following to make sure that you are catering to the diverse needs in your writing program: Immersion - selecting community newsletters as reading material, being aware of any community activities, selecting materials that the student seems to be interested in Demonstration - have an extensive array of demonstration topics, make a mental note on how each child responds, accommodating all questions about the demonstrations Engagement - making the child write a topic that happened in his community, providing him ideas on how to best deal with his topic, giving him examples related to his topic Expectation - giving children examples showing what the teacher expects of their paper, relating expectations in a fun manner, using any vernacular language that is present among the children. Responsibility - requesting each child to read their paper in class, role playing in class, requesting each child to share his works to his classmates Employment - having a wide range of activities in mind, finding out the social environment to which the child belongs and providing examples of written materials from the community Approximation - having information on the socio-cultural environment of the student, giving him a list of topics he can choose from or request him to make a topic for his own. Response - commending all students on their works, giving each student helpful reactions on their work, being aware of child's habits and attitudes as to have an idea of how he interprets things. Entry 10: My previous writing entries have noted how technologies have changed and how writers develop. These are use in descriptive terms, and as providing a basis for teaching and developing writing literacies. I found some of the readings redundant, but Chapter 2 of Harris presented some new concepts. In particular, I was struck by the connectivity of reading, writing, speaking and listening. We have dealt with these skills separately, both theoretically and in terms of teaching methods, and yet they remain inextricably linked. I chose the 24 hour writing task and considered everything that I had written in the past 24 hours. I had written lists, emails, revised class notes, and a work memo. I reconsidered these written products, my audiences, my goals, and the means by which I attempted to convey meaning. I encoded in very specific ways. I altered linguistic features depending on the type of written communication and I altered word choice, in terms of formality. I operated, intuitively, in the same manner which the readings theorized. Now, from a metacognitive point of view, I find myself questioning some of my choices. These readings have clearly made me more aware of the choices that I have made, and how to improve the choices that I make in the future. Teaching this sort of literacy awareness to children, I suppose, is the ultimate goal. I feel empowered at the end. 1.4 Conclusions: Synthesis and Comments Entry 11: The first conclusion that I have reached, reflecting on the modules and the readings, is that language and literacy learning is both overwhelming and, surprisingly, well-researched. I say overwhelming because the depth of research is staggering, from the selection of reading texts to a child's stages of cognitive development, to the variables affecting interpretation and meaning. This initial sense of being overwhelmed, however, later gives way to a sense of security as the readings come together to form a more comprehensive whole. To be sure, there are theoretical disagreements. There are areas in need of additional research. That said, there really is a sufficient groundwork, in both theoretical and practical terms, with which to plan meaningful literacy lessons and programmes. Read More