[ProfessionalDevelopment 2386] Re: Critical Thinking-Student InvolvementAndrea Wilder andreawilder at comcast.netSun Jul 20 07:05:28 EDT 2008
Hi again, Steve-- When a student comes into a program I think it is reasonable to ask what they want to read and move on from there. I think it is also a good idea to point out to students the documents, texts, that they may come across and which require critical literacy. In fact, I would applaud teaching which presented these documents to students in a kind of "text book." Andrea:) On Jul 19, 2008, at 8:38 PM, Steve Kaufmann wrote: > Andrea, > > I think it is an excellent idea to teach math or language using > practical examples from life or content that is meaningful to the > learner. However, I believe it is important to guard against > directing the learner in any ideological direction. I feel it is > condescending. By all means help the learner acquire necessary > language and math tools as efficiently as possible. The goal should > be the acquisition of the tools, and the if possible, the enjoyment > of them. > > Steve > > On Fri, Jul 18, 2008 at 6:35 PM, Andrea Wilder > <andreawilder at comcast.net> wrote: > Hi Steve, > > I thought some more about your question. > > An excellent lesson demonstrating some of what has been talked > about recently, here, would be one where a mortgage is the > centerpiece for critical literacy. > > Andrea:) > > On Jul 18, 2008, at 2:18 PM, Steve Kaufmann wrote: > >> Since you are interested in having your basic assumptions >> challenged, let me state my reaction to what I am reading here.My >> involvement in public education is that of a former pupil, and >> parent and grandparent of children who have attended or do attend >> public school. >> >> I find it quite unacceptable that teachers of math or English feel >> they have the right to mobilize learners to lobby politicians. In >> my experience with Adult ESL, for example, and this was borne out >> by the recent study I saw from the Center for Applied Linguistics, >> instructional hours have less impact on immigrant language >> improvement than what these immigrants do outside of the >> classroom. Instructional hours are a small part of the solution. >> >> That is also true with literacy learning where only a small >> percentage of people struggling with low literacy actually attend >> instructional classes. So if the goal is to have an impact in >> these areas, you should be looking at what to do beyond more >> funding for your own sector. Educators are in an obvious conflict >> of interest in "mobilizing" their students to lobby for more >> funding for their own jobs. >> >> I also feel that converting maths or language teaching into social >> activism courses is a distortion of premise under which tax-payer >> funding is allocated to teaching those subjects. >> >> I have challenged some of the assumptions here, but would be very >> interested to see my assumptions challenged. >> >> Steve >> >> On Fri, Jul 18, 2008 at 9:19 AM, Ellison, Art >> <AEllison at ed.state.nh.us> wrote: >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> Professional development for adult educators can be built around >> this concept of student advocacy. That includes a commitment at >> the state or local level to helping teachers to find or develop >> the materials that are needed in this area and to insure that all >> staff hired by local programs understand and agree to the concept >> of student advocacy. In New Hampshire we have a long term >> commitment to working with the Right Question Project, Cambridge, >> Ma which trains adult education staff in using the questioning >> process for students to gain the skills that they need to >> influence their world. >> >> >> Art Ellison, Policy Committee Chair, National Council of State >> Directors of Adult Education >> >> It sets math problems in the context of current issues around >> race, gender and class." >> >> Adult Education for Social Justice: News, Issues and Ideas is a >> biannual publication that "helps teachers incorporate social >> justice content into their curriculum". >> >> >> >> The contents of this message are confidential. Any unauthorized >> disclosure, reproduction, use or dissemination (either whole or in >> part) is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient of this >> message, please notify the sender immediately and delete the >> message and any attachments from your system. >> >> >> ---------------------------------------------------- >> National Institute for Literacy >> Adult Literacy Professional Development mailing list >> professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov >> >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/professionaldevelopment >> >> Professional Development section of the Adult Literacy Education Wiki >> http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/ >> Adult_Literacy_Professional_Development >> >> >> >> -- >> Steve Kaufmann >> www.lingq.com >> 1-604-922-8514 >> ---------------------------------------------------- >> National Institute for Literacy >> Adult Literacy Professional Development mailing list >> professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov >> >> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to >> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/professionaldevelopment >> >> Professional Development section of the Adult Literacy Education Wiki >> http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/ >> Adult_Literacy_Professional_Development > > > ---------------------------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Adult Literacy Professional Development mailing list > professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/professionaldevelopment > > Professional Development section of the Adult Literacy Education Wiki > http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/ > Adult_Literacy_Professional_Development > > > > -- > Steve Kaufmann > www.lingq.com > 1-604-922-8514 > ---------------------------------------------------- > National Institute for Literacy > Adult Literacy Professional Development mailing list > professionaldevelopment at nifl.gov > > To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to > http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/professionaldevelopment > > Professional Development section of the Adult Literacy Education Wiki > http://wiki.literacytent.org/index.php/ > Adult_Literacy_Professional_Development -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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