Information management and tools

Reflecting on the importance of explicitly teaching our students how to manage their information. I have over 30 years to learn my preferred learning style, and I am still learning. Our students, especially in secondary, need to know different technological tools that will assist them. I use Google docs in order to collaborate (simultaneously) and to be able to store and  access my documents anywhere, anytime. I use a blog as a reflective tool, yet have learnt that I am best to write and store my information previously. Technology allows for the engagement of our student's learning...but it still all about purpose and what is best for my need, as to what tool I will use.

Thomson, Jack. 'Post-Dartmouth developments in English teaching in Australia'

Changes in English teaching 1966-2009

1. Learning processes:

Deeper understanding of and awareness of interconnection between cognitive development, emotional-intellectual feeling, role of language in learning, language development, development of writing & reading abilities & skills

thinking & language processes - importance of metacognition - of students reflecting on their learning

2. Relationship between theory and practice:

importance of teachers theorising their own practice - to be able apply relevant aspects in their teaching - intentionally explore theoretical understanding how best we learn

3. Language as a tool of learning:

we learn language by using it and we learn by using language

language is a tool of learning = language and learning (Britton 1970, Wilkinson 1971,1975)

language across the curriculum (Barnes 1976)

negotiating the curriculum (Garth Boomer 1982)

change from emphasis on language & language processes to emphasis on learning and learning processes

central importance - passing on the secrets of the curriculum to students - make explicit purpose of all that we ask them to.

4. Learning language: Brian Cambourne's eight conditions of language learning (1988) relevant to all kinds of language learning:

1. immersion
2. demonstration
3. engagement
4. expectation
5. responsibility
6. approximation
7. employment
8. feedback

Reading, writing, talking, listening = treat as a unity = ie 'whole language' 'holistic literacy development' = importance is the meanings and purposes of students literacy activities - comunicating and understanding meaning. Culturally acquired way of learning.

5. Learning about language: the contribution of linguistics

language difference is not language deficit - need to accept & positively encourage dialects of non-dominant social groups, while also teaching mastery of the standard dialect - in context of purpose, why they need mastery = to give them access to wider culture and ability to operate with more choice and power in it.

Range of language functions we use language for & different purposes language serves - work by Michael Halliday (1973) and James Britton et al (1975) - emphasis importance of organising language activities in the classroom so that students develop competence in all functions and to the highest levels of performance.

The conscious exploration of language in the classroom - textuality

Doughty, Pearce and Thornton (UK 1970s) - creation of materials for student exploration of social uses of language (genres, discourses, registers, function of languages). Further developments by Leslie Stratta, Andrew Wilkinson & John Dixon (in Patterns of Language) - hasfurther developed into classroom work on textuality - learning processes of construction, deconstruction and reconstruction of texts of different kinds for students own transactive (authentic) purposes. Links with  'rhetorical model' of English teaching (Richard Andrew) & critical literacy (Hilary Janks 1993, Wendy Morgan 1996, Colin Lankshear 1994).

6. The development of a deeper understanding of the relationship between language and power

Hilary Janks 'critical language awareness' - concern with politics of meaning - ways dominant meanings are maintained, challenged and changed

7. The development of wider definitions of literature and new ways of teaching it

describes forms of writing - includes student's own imaginative writings - students write as well as read literature - rewriting eg. imaginative exploratins of alternative possibilities of texts - 'dependent authorship' (Peter Adams) - students learn the rhetorics of literature as apprentices to master writers.

8. A developing understanding of contemporary cultureal and literary theory and its porfound implications for the teaching of reading, writing and textuality

goes beyond reading different kinds of lit, to reading all the sign systems of our culture

"a literary canon is itself a cultural formation serving the specific aims and interest of the gorups who contstructed it in the first place"

The important question: 'Whose canon is it?'

'Who constructed it, and for what purposes?'

'Whose interests does it serve?'

'Our job is not to produce "readings" for our students but to give them the tools for producing their own" (Scholes 1985)

Texts, readers and reading practices culturally constructed - reading and writing two sides of same active process - students learn to read texts from a writer's point of view and to write texts from a reader's point of view - can choose to read a text in many different ways.

9. Questions for readers and stages of reading development

'What is it that I am bringing to this text that causes me to respond to/interpret/construct it as I do?'

Robert Scholes - reading - largely unconscious activity - requires as much knowledge as skill - 'our job....is to show them the codes upon which all textual production depends, and to encourage their own textual production' (Scholes 1985)

Understanding own reading is being able to answer ' what makes a story a story?', 'how does a writer construct a character?' etc

Intrepetation - understanding the cultural codes implicated in any text

Criticism - one way is "to ask them where their sympathies are in a text and where they think the author's sympathies are"...ask "is it posssible that they are by manipulated by the text?" - to generate discussion

to unpackage concealed ideologies - transpose their elements (Hollingdale 1988) eg changes of gender, race, nationality, class and age - can be entertaining & revealing e.g. imagine the character as.......

See Thompsons (1987) identifying 6 levels of response to literature

Moffett (1968) & Brittton (1975) development model of thinking from concrete experience to more abstract conceptualisation - Britton - developmental levels of transactional writing - Moffett's scale of lanaguage development

10. Developing understanding of multimedia technology and increasing mastery in using it

Students are increasingly able to read, interpret and criticise a range of multimedia technologies and use them to construct texts of their own

11. An increasingly powerful range of assessment & evaluation procedures

In the best English classrooms student's work is now being assessed by themselves and their peers, as well as by the class teacher, and larger groups beyond the classroom. Teacher's assessment more meangigul to students as it now takes place in context of negotiation in which students are fuly conversant with teachers assessment criteria - made explicit to them in advance

 Students required to reflect on & evaluate own learning & performance =to understand processes of their own learning & develop practice of questioning what is hapening in classroom - active role - also student's contribution toward cooperative projects group work

12. New models of English teaching

includes older models of English teaching but extends to include:

cultural heritage model - awareness of way students own cultural history has positioned them

language skills model - mastery of all language skills - not teaching individual & unrelated skills outside of any context - but language in use (Doughty et al 1973) & critical literacy work (Hilary Janks 1993, Wendy Morgan 1996) - teaching language  skills in meaningful social and cultural context

personal growth model - (Dixon 1967; Sawyer)Personal growth (PG) & development still crucial, including pleasure & enjoyment in reading & values of beauty & ethical understanding. PG extended by deeper understanding of historical, cultural and political/ideolgoical contexts

cultural studies or textuality model - English placed in wider cultural context - incorporate enlarged definition of 'literature' & range of texts - all sign systems of high,popular & mass culture that can be read for their social purposes.

= new model rhetorical and ethical model - Rhetorical, Ethical, Socio-Cultural, Political model - RESPonsible model or REPresenting humang agency  (Andrews 1992; Thomson) - involves:

          personal growth

          full awareness of relationship between language and power

          familiarity with social practices & their discourses

          understanding of political & ideological formation of texts

          understanding of matters of value & ethics

Thomson emphasises: "in helping students to develop the literary - and literacy - abilities to make such judgements, we want such judgements  to be made by students themselves and not to be imposed on them by teachers (or by media commentators, politicians or other community leaders)

- fostering in our students a genuinely critical stance towards language & its discursive formations...active participants, not passive

Ethical teaching practices - see implications for classroom practice # 18-22

Implications for the classroom:

1. classroom activities "can be either agents of literary growth and empowerment for students or meaningless routines of industrious futility merely filling the daily time available for work in English"

2. students need to understand the point of doing them ie. within context

3. students need to be able to reflect on their learning  - looking at what and how they have learned

4. students need to know their own  preferred ways of learning. Teachers need to be aware of differences (individual, cultural) preferred ways of learning

5. teachers need to be able to understand and articulate what is the present theory of leanring that underpins our present practice

6. encourage students to use informal & comfortable language in talk & writing to sort, understand & share new ideas and interpretations

7. talking informally in small groups

8. writing expressively - notes, response statements, reading journals, learning logs, self reflection

9. make explict to students point or purpose of all that we ask them to do

10. accept & positively encourage dialects of non-dominant social groups 

11. authenticity/context/purpose

12. extending literature from deconstructing texts to reconstructing & writing new texts of their own

13. importance to promote students to analyse, to think, to reflect, to make judgements

14. self & peer assessment

15. teacher assessment criteria made explicit in advance

16. importance of reflection & evalation of student's own learning & performance

17. cooperative, collaborative group work

18.do not teach one reading practice as if it were the only way to read

19. do not impose own value judgements on students, but be honest about your preferences when asked

20.teach students all of reading practices available in community so student can read same text in multiple ways, & choose a preferred reading

21.help students to recognise & respect point of view of other readers whose preferred interpretations arise from different repertoires (of experience, cultural knowledge, values, & historical-cultural positioning)

22. help students to understand that cultural differences be respected

23. rhetorical/ethical model

            invite students to challenge and question their world

            students take responsibility for their own learning

            to come to understand themselves in relation to others

            to learn to cooperate with others to solve problems

            to make choices about what they do

            to make decisions, & to understand & make informed responsible & tolerant judgments about issues of values & ethics

Sawyer, W. 'Knowledge about language' and grammar

Sawyer looks at the historical background and the connections between grammar and 'knowledge about language' (KAL). 

Grammar has a narrower and traditional context which teaches the skills and processes compared to KAL which is seen as a social phenomenon (Myhill) and looks at how language enables the effective interaction and communication of not only knowledge, and skills but attitudes, feelings and opinions (Australian National Curriculum 2009). Sawyer explores the connection between the two with reference to past research studies that have been conducted, in particular looking how grammar has influenced writing.

I feel that Sawyer does not 'throw the baby out with the bathwater'. In spite of numerous studies focusing on whether formal grammar teaching improves student's writing skills (and concluding in the negative), Sawyer acknowledges that we do need to consider the 'how the grammar was taught' and "whether the teaching made connections between grammar and writing". 


Sawyer certainly sees a place for grammar, but I believe he agrees with Andrews that teacher professional judgment re teaching 'abstracted grammatical rules' or grammatical terms is of crucial importance. I can imagine a classroom scenario whereby a teacher explicitly teaching grammatical terms to a class or individual would benefit, and other scenarios where teaching or referring to grammar could only confuse the student. As Sawyer states "Let us be clear here. Clarity matters. Effectiveness matters. Effects matter".

It does come down to the context, and Sawyer acknowledges that for the last 30 years or so, the specific approach to grammatical knowledge has been "seen as most effective in the context of actual writing, throughout the writing process and over time". 

Sawyer agrees with Nancie Atwell's teaching of the mini-lesson. Teaching those skills at the zone of intervention when they are most needed by the student. This comes down to knowing your subject or the topic, your students and again coming back to a teacher's professional judgment. 


I liked Sawyer's scenario of sitting down and writing. He is correct. We do not start from a grammatical base, but rather write with 'content in mind, a conscious sense of audience', purpose and hopefully 'a general sense of overall organisation'.  Our knowledge of grammar particularly comes into play explicitly when we are reflecting on our writing, and going through the drafting processes of reflect, edit and refine.


The key questions that Sawyer reiterates (and we need to ask ourselves) are:
"what kind if knowledge about grammar might be of use in the secondary classroom?" and "how can this best be deployed to be of benefit to students". When explicitly teaching grammar we want the student to be able to transfer their knowledge of these skills to new writing contexts.

Learning Log p.9

• the meaning/s of literacy:  literacy has extended beyond traditional literacy of reading, writing, talking and listening as within the subject specific English teaching. There are many multimodal literacies that include these areas but extend beyond them to incorporate information literacy, critical literacy (ability to critically read and evaluate), digital literacy (being knowledgeable about digital formats),and visual literacy (reading beyond the written text, to what and how the image extends ), ethical literacy et al. 
• There is also a move to consider a transliteracy http://nlabnetworks.typepad.com/transliteracy/
• this ties in with the need for the term multiliteracies... we can no longer be confined to "traditional" concepts of literacy. The changes in the form and function of texts due to technological changes in our information society has moved us beyond to a need to understand the many different aspects of literacy.
• the meaning of discourse: communication through language - written, spoken, visual....
• ideologies that underpin the teaching of English: philosophical, theoretical, pedagogical

Grammar Check

• current defintion: includes traditional grammar (formal language of the written text - the what, the rules of structure) and functional grammar which looks at social purposes of text including cultural context - ie the how and why a text is constructed
• grammatical terms: noun (object,) proper noun (person, place),verb (action), adjective (descriptive), adverb (modifies adjective e..g moved slowly, usually ends in -ly),preposition (links, indicates location e.g. in, at),
• sentence type
• clauses

Quickwrites p.7

Some important facets of an English teacher's role:

• bringing literature and language alive for our students - engagement & enjoyment
• critical thinking skills
• developing literacy skills - writing, reading, oral, visual
• making English relevant to the students - transfer of knowledge to their daily lives
• assessment

Qualities and abilities that are strengths:

• experience as teacher (working 20 years), i love working with students of all ages
• my experience as teacher librarian - strong background in literature already there
• prior knowledge of language acquisition/nature of language as part of my TESOL course 
• critical thinking
• love reading!
• always keen to learn new skills especially ICT

Knowledge & skills to learn:

• greater depth & understanding of English at higher level (my background is Primary)
• knowledge of NSW English syllabus/curriculum
• creating, teaching & assessing

Learning all the time...

Just found out, after many attempts last night to post in the learning log tab that:
"It's not possible publishing more than one text to a static page. Static pages are not supposed for regular posts. They are created to be used for topics like 'About Us', 'General Terms and Conditions' and other information which should not look like a blog-post. Regular posts always will be  published on the main site resp. later on the archive sites of your blog.".
Thank you Blogger Help Forum. Job tonight, is to revise the layout of this blog :)

A new beginning...

Well I am continuing my journey as a lifelong learner. I must admit I am excited to be studying a subject that I majored in at university, and which really started me on the path to my career as a teacher librarian. The two, English and libraries are so intertwined, that I feel I will benefit from knowledge of both.

I am also on the nervous side, wondering how I will keep up, with my study, a family and a full time job as Head Librarian & Primary Curriculum Coordinator  for an international school here in Osaka, Japan.

I have received the module books and have ordered the Charged with Meaning (Gannon et al) book from Australia. I am thinking that I may come up with a 30 things about me rather than a digital biography as such -  I have not created a digital story yet, and I feel daunted that it may take up alot of time to create. I will go and watch Beverley's :)