Blog 15 Research question

1. What role does codeswitching play in the classroom  and how does it affect student literacy?
2. What connections are made between teacher performance and  student identities when code switching is used in the classroom and how does it affect student learning?

So my paper is off to a late start and a change of topic is leaving me quite stumped in what is my research paper question. I am researching the connections teachers make with students when they use code switching in the classroom as a means of communication and how does it affect student learning. In this sense code switching is the use of black english/spanglish wich is a deviance from the typical standard english that teachers are expected to speak and teach their students. Code
swithcing focuses little on language structure and more on language use, and speaking. My goal is to find the positive effects it has on student learning and how it helps teachers make connections to their students home culture. The important question is in what context is code switching used. Is it in informal settings or part of the curriculum. The focus is on minority students; my subject teaches in an urban area. I don't know if that makes the topic to broad. I want to disprove the idea that the use of  code switching or black english is correlated with low achievement or low standards for students. Student are still capable of learning the same basic skills as any other student or non minority.
Here are some questions I will ask:

What is your:

Occupation?

Race?
Educational background?
Family life?
How were you influenced by literacy as a young child?
Where do you work/teach?
How did make the decision to teach at this program?
What type of student do have in your program?
 Are you familiar with code-switching?
Is code switching part of your teaching repertoire/ and where do you use it in the curriculum?
How do you make decisions about you are going to use black English in the classroom?
Does code-switching help you make connections to your students?
Does code switching help your students identify with you?
What connections are made between black speaking attitudes and underachievement, poverty, and low expectations by teachers?
Does a teacher’s negative attitude toward black language negatively affect student achievement?
When and where is code switching acceptable?
During your teaching instruction what did u or did you learn about standard english and it’s use in the AA community?
Do your students meet all the basic learning standards for the school curriculum?

 

 

Blog 13&14 Short Analysis Draft

I did my research on Literacy Narrative 2. The writer is introduced to literacy through the interpersonal relationships with her family, friends and environment. Through storytelling the writer shows us how the process of writing helped her form identies as a co-author, a good academic writer, someone who does not conceptualize as a writer herself. My research question This essay is based on the cultural story of this writer. It shows the affects that family, friends, and culture have on literacy. It also shows the myth and assumptions that this writer had to face when excepting her role in literacy. My research question is How do cultural stories and assumptions about writing affect the writer's ability to form identities as a legitimate writer?

p=paragraph

Coding

Assumptions and myths about writing
 
 Family influence on writing

  Cultural story development

Writer's personal relationship with writing















 p= paragraphs in essay (1-23)

p1.
- Does not attribute self as writer.
- Writers are innately inspired, don't mind long hours of deskwork.
- Writing is a solitary exiperience.
-  This image is a cultural story supported by mainstream sociey presents false assumptions.
- Misconceptions seem harmless but have consequences ( for those labeled as a writer/ and not    labeled).
-  Growing up development in literacy was bouncing off cultural stories to become writer I am.

p2.
-Started relationship with writing by reading.
- Involved with stories as an audience member.
- Mother passed along love of reading ( read children to sleep every night).
- took on task independantly as we got older.

p3.
- Love of books fed by family visiting library weekly.
- My sister and I read every book in kid branch of library.
- Read books in all other branches of library.
- by highschool we read through two more branches of library.
- Eventually resorted to sneaking out books because of maxed out book fines.

P4.
- My older sister Melanie had a habit of reading aloud during car rides.
- She is another person who influenced ny early life of literacy.
- books read were her reccommendation.
- read books together, took turns with it, discussed our readings with each other afterward.

p5.
- I use "we" because I consider reading a shared activity.
- In my experience , stories are found in the context of relationships.
- My sisters, parents and friends all had a direct and indirect influence on my reading.
- Stories formed by people, affected choices, and preferences.
- Reading does not need to be in fact a "solitary" activity.

p6.
- When my sister and I weren't sharing in someon else's story, we were making up our own
- Story observation and creation went hand in hand.
- vivid imaginations/  mother locked us out of the house for long afternoons of playtime
- Used imaginary play to become characters.
- This kind of imaginative playtime is something that carried longer into adult life than I care to admit.

p7.
- Through these activities I gained valuable experience from a young age at the art of story creation.
- I developed characters with voices and personalities.
- I created dialogue, described settings, established relationships.
- I invented plots, and subplots and knew how to make them progress.
- learned what was boring/funny.
- Everything made up jointly with support and interactions of my two best friends.
- I was a co-creator of stories, never facing potential judment of an audience.
- What was there to lose?

p8.
- This sense of innocence is exactly what gave story creation its power.
- Some suggest playtime and writing are two seperate things.
- Imagined stories are every bit as valid as written ones.
- Just as oral tradition of story telling is legitimate, stories created through verbal interaction in playtime are real stories, although may never face an audience.
- written word is a tool, choice of avatar, for communicating a story.
- A person's language may affect how their message is received adn understood, but does not ultimately change core of intended message.
- Heart of story remains true regardless of the format it is created in.

p9.
- The effect of the cultural story was that, although I enoyed playtime immensely, I didn't think of myself as a writer.
- As I learned how to write it didn't occur to me I could use this record for my own stories.
- There was no connection between my rich imagination and the writing world.
- Since stories were invented jointly I had no part in ownership for myself.
- I still believe in misconception that the legitimate story is created alone.

p10.
-My older sister was the one who filled the role of "writer" in the family
- She could write stories indepandtly, and have a natural talent "true" writers have
- My younger sister and I were allocated to more valuable roles.
- Sisters early works are chronicled in the attic/my only evidence of early literacy is perserved in homework
- I was always a good academic writer, but I placed this attribute under" good at school" heading but did not keep the "writer" part as my own identity.
- That would have been infringing on my sister, claiming what is rightfully hers.

p11.
- This kind of role placement affected my development as a writer.
- Saw writing as a tool for completing academic work
- Without encouragement and support that comes from being labeled a "writer" there is no reason to work hard to become a better one
- Cultural stories, unbeknownst to me, influenced how people saw me and therefore how I saw myself.

p12.
- I was on track to become another nameless non writer
- Technology revelution stepped in and altered the course I was on
- First windows 93 computer came to house when I was 10
-My adjustment to writing started gradually
-Melanie used computer to write, I watched
- She used play stories for inspiration
-Soon we were creating stories through play and then dashing in to record them.
- I became a cowriter and unbeknownst to me, writing stories jointy through process of interaction.

p13.
-When the internet came to my house , my relationship with writing adjusted again.
-Online forums became new source of creative energy
- Forums formed through different books and movies
- Members talk about RPG's
- Role playing games, members start off a story prompt and invite others to join in on it.

p14
- I threw myself whole heartedly into this setting
- I learned that my words set out in  a cyberworld could be used to entertain people.
- Could be used against me if I did not phrase them correctly.
- Kept going though, compelled by the love of a good story
-I still didn't consider myself a wrtiter though.

p15.
-Online writing is a new concept, society is still learning how to approach it.
- Writing through cyberspace is somehow less respectable that writing intended for print.
- If work is not formally published, does it have value?
- I think this is related to  the idea of imagination vs. writing, and I contend that no matter the format
it is the heart of the peice that counts.
- Although fanfiction and jointly created RPG's may never be presented for publication, they are no less valid stories.
- They were created through the passion of an author and passionate audience.

p16
- RPG's could not be formatted for publication/copywrite issues.
- Fanfiction uses characters and ideas directly from books or movies.
- Issues around plagiarism
- The cultural story which accompanies this trouble goes onto suggest that fanfiction does not constitute real writing/ideas not original to author.
- Simply false because, no one's ideas are truly original to themselves.
- People exist in context of other stories and ideas.

p17.
- Issues with RPG's that prevented me from recognizing it as legitimate writing/peices were co-authored.
- RPG means meant that different people through interaction were creating stories.
- The image of traditional writing goes like this: as silent figure by candle light, occasionally stopping to stroke their beard for inspiration.
-"True Authors" do their work alone.
- In reality authors, just like stories, exist in a social context.

p18
- The result of the cultural stories was that , I enjoyed RPG's but didn't take them as opportunities to call myself a writer.
- Getting genuine practice at writing: creating characters, dialogue and plot devices.
- Immediate audience to critique writing and to model better writing to me.
- Despite that, I  still continued my adolescent years still thinking that I was not a "writer" of the family and that I had no skill at writing.

p19
-Stories came to me in the midst of dreams.
- As I started to record my ideas/it occured to me that my stories would make a great book.
- Since I had no talent at writing, I asked Melanie to ghost write for me.
- Cultural stories kept me from realizing I had any merit as a potential author.

p20
-Melanie write stories/I provided her with first draft.
- Writing for myself kind of boring
- Nervous about allowing other people to see and make potentially negative comments.
- My writing deserved to be shared/ posted stories on forums.
-Pen pal best supporter.
- Posted about how good my stories were/ and parts she didn't understand.

p21
-This kind of encouragement starting point to gradual change
- No longer the sister of a writer but an author in my own right.
-Developed a deeper commitment to my story
- Different events filled life after highschool but I hope to publish my book one day.

p22
-Cultural story had a lasting effect on my life.
-Told people I planned to write a book.
- Self perception started to grow
- I was seen as a good student/including talent of good academic writing
- Peoples perception of you can change how you develop
- If their perceptions are based on the presumptions of a false cultural stories the results can be negative

p23
-This is related to nurture vs nature
- Do people develop based on how they are naturally or because of the influence of their environment?
- Cultural stories have a potentially dangerous power to change how writers develop.
- In my case cultural stories affected how other people saw me and how I saw myself.
-It is hard to say what could have happened if these negative influences were removed.
-Now I face the challenge of forging my own identity.
- Strip the labels and ideas others placed on me/ find myself standing over a great void
- Perhaps there are parts of me that constitute real talent
-The rest can be filled with endless number of options: skills I can develop, passions I can create, and other elements I can use to form a new identity as a writer.

Interesting patterns
  Family, friends and community play a primary role in literacy development. Through the love of reading books as a shared experience, and through imaginative play,story, character and voice development. Literacy is strongly influenced by the authors sister, who she labels a "true writer", that is the label her sister has earned. For the author writing, is used as an academic tool. Author is labeled a "good academic writer" but is not labed a legitimate "writer". Author does not identify with  the role of writer, based on the assumptions and myths about writing adn other poeples judgment of her writing.  Through these myths about writing she lost her potential as a "writer" claiming an identity of co-authorShe felt writer was her sisters identity and felt she owned the title in the family. Her claiming wrtier, would be taking her sisters identity.The author identifies her writing process as co-authoring. She identifies with someone with a vision not a voice, because her writing is through a shared experience. She takes on the role of writing through online forums and Role playing Games, where others can assist her vision, once again taking the backseat. As a young child she depended on her sister to write for her, now she had a forum or online community she could exist in without judgement. Poeple enjoyed her writing, and helped better herself as a writer. Cultural stories suggest that writing is a solitary act. One does not include he love of story telling, creating characters, and interacting with the environment. Legitimate writers are instinctual in their minds and not devoled through a process, or social context. Through the whole writing process the author could not commit to published any of her ideas independantly. She needed an audience, someone to critique and share in the  experience of her writing. If she had only been influenced and labeled a writer as she developed it may have been easier for her to accept her role in literacy.

  Some connections made are that life experiences, family, culture define our writing abilities,and form idenitities as a writer. We are influenced by our environment and society as whole. Through adolescence some of us tend to lose our identities as "real writers" expressing our own ideas through our own use of language. Instead we become "performers" for those who will judge and grade our work. The role of performer, influenced this author a great deal. The cultural story story and assumptions about writing has a negative influence on how the writer form their identity. If an author is labeled as an effective writer and cultivated in that direction, their experience is positive. The author of this story suffered she didn't think like a writer. She did not own it. although it had little direct effect on her writing, it had more of an effect on her thoughts about her writing. She could not clearly see the legitimacy of her stories, and her own potential The author opens the essay with this passive voice about writing. The writer does not consider herself as a writer, not taking ownership as if writing is seperate entity that takes on it own self. Writing is actually done by the "writer". She ends with the same passive that at the end of her process still has not found her voice, or style.

Blog 12 Short Analysis Project

My short analysis project will be on Sample Literacy Narrative 2. This essay is based on the cultural story of a writer. It shows the affects that family, friends, and culture have on literacy. It also shows the myth and assumptions that this writer had to face when excepting her role in literacy. My research question is How do cultural stories and assumptions about writing affect the writer's ability to form identities as a legitimate writer? I plan to code the data to show patterns, and connections to literacy throughout the writers childhood, adolescents and adulthood. The end of the essay will tie in all the elements and connections that I found based on my research question.

These are some of the questions I will look at when coding:

What is the writers cultural story?
How did writing start?
How did reading manifest in youth?
What role did family play in literacy?
What myths or assumptions about literacy did the writer face?

Some of these questions should lead me to categories and coding to form connections to my question.
I am having a little difficulty trying to process all the information needed for these short analysis essays and blogs. It can be overwhelming but I will try. I just need to organize the data and make relevant connections.

Blog 11 Gee Discourse analysis

Gees chapter 1-4 was a great tool for me. My research topic is researching Ebonics"black language" which ties into the Gees first four chapters. Gee explains thoroughly language and we use it to apply our meaning into a global society. Language is not just words but it is action, "saying", doing, and "being". There are important connections in what a person is saying and what identity they are forming at that time, and what it does for the listener. This concept is the foundation of my research questin "How do people make decisions about how they are going to speak"?  I find chapter 4 to be particullary useful as it is closely related to my topic. The chapter is called Social Languages, Conversations, and Intertextuality. Gee describes social languages as different varieties of language that allow us to express different socially signficant identities and enact different socially meaningful practices or activities. I immediately associated this with the idea of performing those "black identities" and when and what context is it appropriate.  Gee describes intertextuality as oral written text that idirectly or directly quote another text in a more subtle way. This helped develop my ideas of "code switching" from white english to black english. These ideas of how people communicate and what they are doing through language. Gee uses an example of young lady explaining a situation to her parents and the same to her boyfriend on seperate occasions. Although it is the same story the young lady uses different language in the separate social situations. Her language represents who she is and what she is doing in the separate situations. There are two versions of herself, the one she represents in front of her parents and the self that has conversations with her boyfriend. It shows how we use language to form identities.

Blog 10 Developing a Research Plan

 

After meeting with Dr. Chandler I found a great book on (Ebonics) or as the book calls it The Language of Black America. Talkin and Testifying by Geneva Smitherman, helped me familiarize myself with the topic of Ebonics, which is the first step in developing a research plan. I learned Non blacks perceive ebonics as language identities, synonymous with hustlers, pimps, street slang, rap music, and violence. In actually it a form of English termed "black english", or non standard english. With the standard form of English of course being termed "white english". When looking at the sociocultural context of "black english" is really a verbal art, used to explain the black experience. It is a verbal performance used as teaching and socializing with deep roots in the African American church. The book talks about ebonics as an oral tradition, a language that allows group approval and recognition of the speaker. It a part of black cultural heritage. Well how does "White America feel about it and why is it making its way into the mainstream language of non-blacks, including White America. There are black cultural influences everywhere. In music, the media, sports, art,clothing, advertisements etc... It seems befitting it would make its way into mainstream. A lot of the non-black population use Ebonics and are not even aware of it. It presents itself in the form of "code switching". Which is switching between two dialects in social situations. In the case of ebonics between black and white english.
Some of the questions we came up with are:
How do people make decisions about how they are going to speak?
How do people make decisions about forming black identities?
Is code switching a part of teaching repitoire.
What connections are made between black speaking attitudes, and underachievement, poverty, and low expectations by teachers?
Does a teacher's negative attitude toward black language negatively affect student acheivement?
What are the negative effects of teacher attitudes toward black speaking identities?

My plan is to interview about 3 professors at Kean University, and to do some connections between their ideas about "code switching" and "black identities" and student achievement. I am still fine tuning the ideas and plans behind my research. I was also thinking of doing surveys of students use of black language. In a sense of when is it acceptable to use it. College dialect vs. Street dialect, or work vs. play? When are we turning the switch on and off? How do you speak at home among family?

There are a lot of ideas in my head, I just have a hard time narrowing one down to make a great research paper.

Blog 8 Research questions

In researching Ebonics and how it is mainstreamed into non-black speakers some of the research questions I have are:

What context does the non black speaker use ebonics?
What are some of the ways people think of ebonics?
What pushes anger buttons?
Is language cultural?
What are the assumptions of black language?

These are all great questions to ask, that can easily be answere by a small population of college students to generalize what are the mainstream ideas about Ebonics and their use in society.

Blog 7 Research Plan

I would like to research language and how it affects the way we perceive each other. I would like to focus on the African American community. The idea that Ebonics is a form of broken English used to communicate in a percieved slang manner in the African American community or is it a  restructed form of English used by AA in opposition to the white form of english. The use of language in the African American community is a sensitive topic in terms of race. Speaking in white form of English can be considered to parts of the African American community as "acting white". The use of Ebonics or an AA form of english or ebonics can be considered to non African American as "ignorant".

Some questions I will have toward my topic are:

Is Ebonics a form of the english language or is it a slang?
Do you need to know proper english to fit into society, if you are a minority?
What context do people use Ebonics in shcool, or at home, or the office and to what extent?
Should Ebonics be taught in school?

In developing a research plan I would:

• Outline the topic
• research articles on the topic and other works in the field.
• Develop how my data will expound upon or differ from the sources researched.
• I will pose a question and show evdidence to be considered.
• Methods of research include, interviews, surveys etc..
• Development of topic based on all coded data and themes to form a hypothesis and conclusion.