Name: Petros Tedla
Class: FYW: Writing Seminar
In "Home and Away: The Tensions of Community, Literacy, and Identity," which appeared in the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, Bronwyn T. Williams writes to writing teachers so that they tolerate diversity, background and culture in the classroom in order to make students feel comfortable and include their identity in their writing. In order to achieve this aim, he uses 3 moves: factual evidence, quotes from experts, and logical organization.
Williams uses factual evidence to develop his idea that writing His childhood, filled with arguments and influences by his family, teachers and professors and His mother’s reaction when he got a PhD all add to the strategy to gain credibility from peers.
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His organizations by using topical order created a clear organization and helped maintain flow in the article ranging from introducing discourse, defining terms to sending the final message to writing teachers. He defines primary and secondary discourse under the title, “Adopting an “identity kit”. This part of the article introduces readers to terms Williams will use in the article with an explanation of teachers’ preference in writing in the classroom. On the second part of the article “The tension between home and school”, Williams adds a student’s view, his father and Bourdieu to contrast the culture students have at school and the hardships they experience. He even points out his disagreement with his father, who thinks identity shouldn’t be included in writings. These prove that he is in fact affected by the gap between the discourse at home and school. This part of the text acts as a main body and a transition to the final message from the introduction. On the final part of the text, “Balancing discourses”, He wraps up his message to teachers. Saying they should encourage students to write about their cultural values and understand how they view the …show more content…
Before high school, I was in a middle school in a country where English wasn’t a first language. Instead of analyzing text or writing persuasive essays, I was learning how to communicate. Being one of the few students at my school who reads books out loud at home or who watch movies and talk after the characters, I was able to grasp the idea of using evidence, rhetorical devices and diction. When I came to the United States and learned how to include those in my writing was a wonderful experience. Understanding Shakespeare, analyzing poems by Emily Dickinson and being able to visualize Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” opened up the world of writing and its impact for me. Using “I” in writing was all I learned in middle school with a class full of kids with the same background while wanting to above and beyond. Writing personal journals, leaning tenses and memorizing definitions didn’t quench my thirst of learning how to write a well written work like the one’s I read in my native language. Williams argues that culture should be included in writing and teachers should tolerate that while I have a different point of view on the subject. Including my culture and background in my identity didn’t make me stand out from my class, my use of rhetorical devices and use of words did. One of the reasons that I was able to build my writing skills in high school and not struggle in my English class was not by the use of my identity but by
Wardle, Elizabeth. "Identity, Authority, and Learning to Write in New Workplaces." Wardle, Elizabeth and Doug Downs. Writing about Writing A College Reader. Boston: Bedford/St.Martin's, 2011. 520-537. Print.
How can you nurture and support the confidence of all students and help them forge unique writing identities? Through writing, people can understand themselves and other people better. We are all constantly reviewing and assigning meaning to our life experiences and putting those experiences into words—whether through self-talk or telling stories to other people. This ‘language’ is a way ‘we’ understand, organize, and relate to, making the chaos of our communities and lives coherent. In a writing environment that is loose and for the most part free we can slow down this articulation process in order to become increasingly and critically conscious of the meanings we assign to our experiences and communities in which we belong. It makes people think more about what they want to say and how they are saying it.
The intention behind this unit of work is to give students the impetus in the usage, appreciation and understanding of the English language. Through the readings and analysis of the selected Australian novel, Nona and Me (Atkins, 2014) students will be afforded the opportunity to develop meaning in an interpretative, critical and powerful manner. The overall approach in regards to this unit is built upon a conceptual theme, that being identity, both personal and national. The unit requires students to explore the complexities of identity, forces that challenge it and how identity changes within time. Additionally, this analysis will be perceived in playing a role in the exploration of our nations own identity and its associated challenges. This unit is designed for a year 10 mixed ability class from Liverpool girls high school, predominately made up of a multicultural mix, were 87 percent of students are from a ESL background. This has influenced the core text, supplementary content and teaching strategies, with more attention placed upon the use of visuals and collaborate work. Burke (2012, p.42) theorises that good teaching invokes both the “heart and head”, in order to reassert students’ knowledge and abilities as well as giving them the confidence to act upon this knowledge. Thus, one’s overall approach towards this unit reflects the development of teaching ethos in oneself, were the goal is for students to think both critically and independently. One’s teaching ethos draws inspiration from Robert Frind (1995) characterisation of a passionate teacher as someone being able to get to the heart of their subject. In other words, the lessons are structured alongside an inclusive teaching pedagogy that shows students the relevance...
‘Helping students meet the challenges of academic writing’ by Fernsten and Reda is an interesting study how reflective writing practices can be useful for marginalized students, who are struggling with “negative writer self-identity. The possible causes according to Fernsten & Reda are, “issues such as race, class and gender that are marginalized factors for many basic writers”, in addition to the expectations of the dominant academic culture. However, even though Fernsten & Reda illuminated the ‘potential conflicts’ within the academic world, they have failed to provide conclusive evidence that supports their argument regarding their solution. Their reliance on dated research that provides a one sided historical perspective, may no longer accurately reflect current socio/economic issues. In addition, education has been evolving to an inclusive curriculum approach, as immigrated children enter the school system in record numbers. “Persons obtaining legal permanent status in the U.S from the year 2000-2010 are roughly eleven million” (Homeland Security,pg.10/2010). Fernsten & Reda’s confidence of their own limited teaching practices without legitimate comparables from an empirical study leads to their underlying assumptions about the true effectiveness of reflective writing strategies and the causes they believe are associated to a student’s socio/economic background.
David Foster Wallace, author of the essay “Authority and American Usage*,” praises and advocates for “good” writers who have a strong rhetorical ability, which he defines as “the persuasive use of language to influence the thoughts and actions of an audience” (Wallace 628). To have a strong rhetorical ability, an author needs to be aware of whom their audience is, in order to present their information in a way that will be influential on their audience. Wallace recognizes that an author who applies a strong rhetorical ability will be able to connect with the audience so that they respond “not just to [their] utterance but also to [them]” (Wallace 641). An author needs to take into consideration not just content, syntax and grammatical structure (their “utterance”) but also how their character will be perceived by their audience. A positive tone will make the author seem more pleasant and relatable, whereas a negative tone connotes arrogance and pretentiousness. That is why it is crucial for an author to recognize that an audience will respond to “them” and not just their “utterance,” as an author’s appearance to their readers can also shape how impactful their writing is.
When a writer starts his work, most often than not, they think of ways they can catch their reader’s attention, but more importantly, how to awake emotions within them. They want to stand out from the rest and to do so, they must swim against the social trend that marks a specific society. That will make them significant; the way they write, how they make a reader feel, the specific way they write, and the devotion they have for their work. Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgard Allan Poe influenced significantly the American literary canon with their styles, themes, and forms, making them three important writers in America.
Stein, Marcy and Robert C. Dixon. "Effective writing instruction for diverse learners." School Psychology Review 23 (1994): 392-406.
In The Long Way Home: An American Journey from Ellis Island to the Great War, by David Laskin, twelve men leave their deep-rooted lives and their mother country to seek opportunities. The author emphasizes on the importance of immigrants who traveled long ways to America. He believes that millions of these immigrants pushed the U.S. forward to a world of prosperity. Laskin accentuates twelve brave men being assimilated into the war and training procedures of the U.S. Army without even knowing English. Their service in the Great War was a major advantage for the U.S. Military, due to it’s plentiful of soldiers fighting for them. Laskin is an author who attended Harvard College and graduated with a history and literature degree. His work is known
Mellix, Barbara. ?From Outside, In.? Writing Lives: Exploring Literacy and Community. New York: St. Martin?s, 1996. 75-84.
The AP Language and Composition course is purely designed to help students excel in their own stories, but more importantly, become more attentive to their surroundings. A conscientious goal, that would properly be attained through the collection of nonfiction paperbacks. Because of the purpose of this course and the current state of today’s children, one must undeniably agree that in selecting the “perfect book”, the overall idea of self-reliance would hold a prominent factor. This curriculum not only focuses on the rhetorical analysis of nonfiction texts, but it attempts to make students distinguish how the world plays with the dialectic of persuasion, also known as the art of rhetoric. In doing so, this course aims at making students aware
According to Dr. Bean’s class syllabus, the primary goal for this course is to, “help you develop the literacy skills you’ll need during your academic career”. In other words, this class was designed to teach students to write like professionals in an academic discourse community. Through several writing and research assignments, we acted as researchers on a quest to examine “how discourse—written, spoken, and digital—is shaped by social practice”. Although I felt I was a decent enough writer, I had doubts that I could accomplish such a tall order of directives. In the end, I found that I could do it, and I did it rather well, thus giving me the boost I needed to continue to move forward on my dream of obtaining a college degree.
As stated in my Week 3 Journal Entry, at one point I was helping in a classroom with a child who speaks Spanish. Instead of trying to force the child to speak English, I tried to use some basic Spanish when I worked with them in order to make the child feel more comfortable. I believe by making this small effort to speak the child’s native language that the child was more willing to participate in class and try to learn English. An additional example of making a relation from the text to a personal experience is when I was in elementary through high school. I did not realize until reading Spring’s book how little cultural diversity was taught in my elementary, middle, and high school. I went to school in a very Scandinavian county, and we did not have a lot of diversity. There were several students in the district who came from Hispanic, Asian, or African decent—but they were very few. I cannot recall a day when a teacher spent time to discuss a one of these student’s cultures, which is utterly ridiculous. With the amount of time spent in school and the amount of diversity in the world, it seems illogical to barely speak of ethnic and cultural diversity. Even though there were only a handful of students in the district from different cultures, it would have been beneficial to learn more about the rest of the world because when high school is done we all go out into that diverse world. I know I will take the time and make the effort to teach my future students about the beauty of diversity and
Never should students be steered away from their goals or looked down upon because of their grammatical abilities. Overall, students should be proud of their ethnic background and proud at the same time to be an American. Works Cited Hairston, Maxine. Diversity, Ideology, and Teaching Writing. College Composition and Communication 43.2 (May 1992): 179-195.
As every well-read person knows, the background in which you grow up plays a huge role in how you write and your opinions. Fuller grew up with a very strict education, learning multiple classic languages before she was eight years old. Fern grew up with writers all throughout her family and had a traditional education and saw first hand the iniquities of what hard-working had to contend with. Through close analysis of their work, a reader can quickly find the connections between their tone, style, content, and purpose and their history of their lives and their educational upbringing.
Summary of “The Classroom and the Wider Culture: Identity as a Key to Learning English Composition”