Critical Litercy in Science

Have you ever saw a subatronic spectacle of matter collapse on itself? This is probably not a question you would normally ask of yourself. Let me ask you this then, have you ever looked down from a somewhere far off the ground such as ledge or on top of a tall building and wondered "How far is it to the bottom"? One way you can find out is by dropping a stone and counting how long it takes. This can simply be done by using this equation: vertical distance is equal to half the gravity multiplied by the square value of time or otherwise known as y= 1/2 x g x t^2. Gravity is measured as 9.8 meters per squared second.

Try and see how far these guys have been fell.

If you have an answer more or less 45158 meters than you are right. In real life this may not be completely accurate, but you were able to come to a value or an answer.

Literacy in science is about doing things. I never completely understood this phrase until recently. Literacy is science is all about asking questions and finding your own answers based on what you know. It is about looking for evidence and testing to find results. Its all about problem solving and translating your knowledge into your reasoning and exploration to discover the truth. 

Thus, brings me to another idea. Is everything we know to be true. Is there such a thing as global warming and are we to blame? This topic has been a political debate for over a decade. While searching for the answer you will find discrepancies from scientific findings, where one party is biased toward one idea. So you have to wonder, how is the findings distorted? Who are they targeting? and for what reasons is there distortion if any?

In the following article you can find that there is a push towards global warming when the data is not there to support it.
How We Know Global Warming is Real

Common Core

Since the adoption of Common Core there has been praise and criticism that followed. The aftermath of the failed No Child Left Behind Act prompted liberal legislators to create state standards that provided equal opportunity to minority, low-end economic, and high economic areas. Once credited by Arne Duncan as the future of education and the biggest academic achievement since Brown vs. Board of Education, such standards have been met with criticism and the repeal in multiple states. However, criticism is now generated from both conservative and liberal politician as Governor Cuomo of New York dubbed Common Core, "flawed" and is planning to restructure how is state adopts standards.

Educational reformer Diane Ravitch who is a proponent of educational legislation and standards discusses her criticism below:

Aside from criticism is the anomaly, Massachusetts. As our New York times article we are discussing tomorrow states, "Yet he staunchly defended the effort, saying Massachusetts went through the same pains two decades ago after it adopted new standards, and now consistently scores as high as the top countries do on international measures." However, this took two decades to achieve, and the standards taught today face many issues such as educators who are unaware of how to teach standards effectively, the acquisition of technology, textbooks, and materials that will prepare each student equally for standardized testing. Critics of Common Core advocate this is simply impossible and students will continue to be considered inadequate, especially in lower-income areas where access to materials and technology is limited.

I feel as though the adoption of standards is necessary in order to close the achievement gap between high-income and low-income areas. It goes without saying that students are given more opportunity in high-income areas, than those in low-income areas. It is simply impossible to meet achievement standards with some of the problems these areas, families, and schools face. Furthermore, educators are not equipped yet to teach in alignment with Common Core, and we are seeing students fearful of mathematics and other disciplines. There is a great issue with Common Core, and states such as Oklahoma have already repealed the standards and implemented their own. I am not sure what the real solution would be, but Federal control of education and the equal distribution of funds is a plan that could provide students equal opportunity. Additionally, it is unfair to lower-income areas to meet standards and receive funding if they are not properly prepared to teach Common Core. Common Core in my opinion has done nothing but perpetuate an already existing problem in education, and the legislation was passed almost in secret without the public fully understanding the implications. 

Common Core

Ever since they were brought to the public's attention in 2010 the common core state standards have faced strong opposition from the right, but the standards are now beginning to lose some of its support from the left. The opponents claim that the new standards will hurt students already at a disadvantage and that the standards for math will actually cause more students to become uninterested in the subject. They also believe that rolling out the new standards is hurting districts performance. The supporters of the common core state standards claim that these new standards will help disadvantaged students by leveling the playing field, and it will help make the United States competitive in global market.The two videos below will help to illustrate these points. 

The Colbert Report
Colbert Report Episode Guide,  More Colbert Report Videos,  Comedy Central Full Episodes

Many administrators, government officials, and parents are beginning to claim that actually implementing the standards are creating problems for districts. Many of the teacher required to teach these new standards have not yet received proper training or materials, and it is causing the test scores within those districts to drop. However, I believe that this is only temporary. The New York Times article from the readings this week states that Massachusetts faced many of these same challenges when it adopted new standards about two decades ago, but it now scores as highly as top performing countries do on international scales.

Those opposed to common core also claim that the standards will put students who are already at a disadvantage in a worse position because of the increased amount and difficulty of the work they are expected to do. However evidence shows that overall standards are beneficial for disadvantaged students. Education analyst John Chubb has stated that, "student achievement has grown much more rapidly in the last decade...than during the 1990s, especially for the lowest achieving and most-disadvantaged students in the nation." and since 2000, "The bottom 10% had gained far more than the national average..."

Lastly, many of the critics of common core say the standards for math will create a generation of students who are uninterested or fearful of math because of the complex word problems and the advanced subject matter. While I agree with the critics about the problems with the standards for math presented in common core, I believe that the standards for literacy are essential for preparing students for college. The skills that are presented in the standards are students should read and analyze rigorous texts, see the link between content and comprehension, and it emphasizes their close reading skills. Which are all skills that I use in my daily life as a college student.

Oral Language: Literacies, Languages, and Chicago

In the article, "Literacies and Ethnolinguistic Diversity: Chicago", a major theme that was discussed was the different ethnolinguistic and literacies that make up, and even define, the city of Chicago. For the majority of Chicago's history, the city has been known as a crossroads of trade and (more importantly) a crossroads of ethnicities and linguistics. From Native Americans to today, Chicago has seemed to always be the place where various people from various ethnicities and/or who speak a different language come together to trade, work, or live. A great statement that accurately sums this up is, "thus both historically and currently, ethnolinguistic practices in Chicago are inextricably linked to events, people, and institutions in their places of origin" (278).

Although this article continues to talk about the difficulties that many ethnicities have had to overcome in order to establish an identity from their original country, I think a bigger "take-away" from the article is thinking about how our students are reacting to this environment. For the most part, not all of our students are going to come from the same ethnolinguistic background, and one of the problems that our adolescent students will face, especially the ones in high school, are establishing an identity for themselves based on their domestic cultural and linguistic upbringing and the culture(s) and linguistic(s) they experience around them. This can be extremely difficult enough for our students, but what can make this even more challenging for them is not allowing them to develop their identities in schools (and I guess in this case it would be high schools) by shoving academic language and literature down their throats for seven to eight hours, five days a week.

There needs to be a balance and a connection between academic ethnolinguistics and the cultural ethnolinguistics for our students during school. Many students dissociate cultural ethnolinguistics from their academic subjects because they do not see how the two worlds connect. I think that it is very important as teachers to connect what we are teaching to our students' ethnolinguistic background so that they can have a better understanding of the importance of the material being taught to them and how it helps them in developing their identities. A simple solution to this is allowing our students to speak in their ethnolinguistic preference to one another in the hallways, before class begins, or to help them think of an answer, and to not have (or show) a negative label on our students for it. By creating this respect, teachers can create a classroom that is open for all students to learn and to not worry about being judged based on who they are.

Another important statement in the article was, "The world's languages and dialects, used alone and mixed with each other or English, create vibrant communities with range of oral and written genres" (278). Because of the way technology has advanced and mixing of ethnolinguistics, our usage of slang has increased and advanced. Instead of trying to completely cut it out of schools though, we should allow our students to speak in their own way to help them understand academic material.

Oral language in the classroom

 As future educators, we will encounter students with diverse backgrounds and languages. We should support and empower our students' voices. This week's reading by Marcia Farr, was insightful and put into perspective how the literacies and enthnolinguistic diversity in Chicago shapes identities. The relationship between language and culture encompasses ethnic/racial, gender, class, and other identities. Farr argues that individuals create identities around the verbal styles that characterize them. Thus, it is an integral part of one's life. Chicago is a prime example of a multicultural and multilingual city. Our students' languages are an inherent part of their identity. We should acknowledge the importance of their language and encourage and teach them academic language. However, oral language in our classrooms can both hinder and support learning in our classrooms.

How can oral language hinder our students? As a former ESL (English as a Second Language) student, (I say former because nowadays I mostly speak,write, and read in English than Spanish, even though I try to keep a balance.) I struggled with literacy, especially reading. I came into kindergarten speaking only one phrase, "I need to go pee pee!" I took ESL classes until 5th grade, when I started learning a third language, Italian. I flourished in my Italian class because of its resemblance to Spanish. I owe much of my success in English to my teachers and parents. I had very supportive and thoughtful teachers who encouraged me and provided extra help with reading or with vocabulary. English language learners (ELLs), for example, may need more help with vocabulary and grammar. As teachers, we may need to modify texts for those students or have students work in groups. Discussions are effective because students can take part in rich and structured conversations. Also. hearing and listening to their peers will help them learn English. In my elementary school, I never spoke Spanish but I think it helped me learn English faster because no else was speaking Spanish. 

Code-switching

 I often refer to my language as Spanglish. I do this a lot especially when speaking with my parents or older family members. But what exactly is code-switching? Well, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as: "the switching from the linguistic system of one language or dialect to that of another." Here's a *funny* example:

 This article lists interesting explanations as to why we code-switch. I know I definitely code-switch when in a classroom. The jargon I use when speaking with a professor, is very different from the one I would use to speak with a friend. Our students will come from different backgrounds so it is imperative that we teach them and guide them to use academic language in our classrooms. However we should be careful not to label their home language as wrong, but rather have them recognize the difference between home and school speech. 

Anchor Standards (Common Core)

"To build a foundation for college and career readiness, students must have ample opportunities to take part in a variety of rich, structured conversations—as part of a whole class, in small groups, and with a partner. Being productive members of these conversations requires that students contribute accurate, relevant information; respond to and develop what others have said; make comparisons and contrasts; and analyze and synthesize a multitude of ideas in various domains."

These standards are helpful when preparing students for college and careers. 

How do you think code-switching can affect our students' literacy? 
How will you empower students' voices? 

Formative Assessments and Adaptability

This week's reading, Assessments to Guide Adolescent Literacy Instruction, focuses on the use of formative assessments in the classroom and how the information gathered from these assessments can be utilized by teachers to mold their lesson plans to fit their students needs. The reading states that  "Assessments given to obtain information useful for guiding instruction are typically referred to as formative assessments." There are three different types of formative assessments: Classroom based assessment, benchmark assessment, and formal and informal screening and diagnostic assessments." Much of this article focused on classroom based assessments, which are the daily assessments used by teachers to monitor their students progress through out a lesson. The reading later explains that the information gathered from these types of assessments is only useful when the teacher who gathers it is able to adapt to their approach to instruction based on the information stating that " formative assessments are only effective if they are followed by effective instructional responses or appropriate feedback."

I completely agree with this statement, it is extremely important for a teacher to know how to successfully take the information they have gather and use it to adapt their lesson plans to fit their students needs, but it is also important for teachers to understand how to adapt on the spot if the information they have gathered requires it. One example that is given in the reading is of a teacher who was instructing an eighth grade class of children with learning disabilities. The class was learning how to analyze text to find evidence to support an argument. As the teacher walked around the room she noticed that many of her students were not using the correct strategies needed to efficiently find the information that was required to support their arguments, so asked them to explain how they were analyzing it. After the students explained their technique, she adapted to the situation based on the information that she had just received, and created a "mini-lesson" on the spot to teach her students more effective tools and strategies that they could use while analyzing text. After, this she made a note to remind herself to monitor students independent use of the strategies, so she could further assess thief progress. 

The reason I think this example is so important is because it shows how you can effectively use the information gained through formative assessments and quickly adapt your lesson plan to fit your students specific needs. Also, the ability to when know how to take the information you have gathered and improvise on the spot allows you to quickly clear up any misunderstanding in your classroom and allows you and opportunity to provide scaffolding for your students to improve their knowledge and chance of success in your classroom.

Literacy Assements

Testing our students.












This article talks about the various ways,we as teachers, can asses our students to see what their capabilities are and to indicate us, based on their results, on how we should modify our curriculum. The article mentioned one of the most common assessments teachers use today, which is formative assessment.

By definition, formative assessment means, "assessments given to obtain information useful for guiding instruction." If this is the case, then in my opinion, we shouldn't  penalize our students for doing poorly on such test. We should reiterate to them that the results are used to indicate us what their problem areas are. The article mentions the three crucial times students should be assessed to monitor their progress and identify their struggles: begging, throughout, and end of the school year. I think this a great way for teachers to check progress, but in my opinion the scores shouldn't be used as grades.

As great as formative assessments sound, it is my experience that teachers generally do not use their student's test results as a way to shape their curriculum. From the times that I've observed, being in a high school classroom, teachers don't care too much about the scores their students get as a way to form their next lesson plan. The most that I've seen teachers do is a test review, and then they move on to the next lesson. Teachers will suggest that students seek tutors and study on their own time, but I've never actually seen a teacher alter their curriculum based on assessment scores. A lot of teachers have their curriculum planned from the begging of the school year and most of them are set in their ways.
 
In my opinion, that s not the way to go because when a student is struggling in an area that is essential to their learning and it doesn't get the attention that it requires, the student will then have gaps in their learning. As the class get harder and harder the students who did poorly on the assements test will most likely fall behind because they cant advance to more difficult skills without fixing what they previously missed. If student don't know or learn the basics, how can they be expected to master the rigors of advanced material? How do they go from A to Z, when they're having a hard time getting from A to B?

I think this is where students get frustrated the most, because as the class advances, and the assignments get harder and harder, they're going to struggle to keep up. It is here where we see students give up, or have lack of motivation. That's why, I do agree with formative assessments, but I know that a lot of teachers don't practice it.