Tuesday, October 16, 2012
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.
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.
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.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
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:
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.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Blog 6 Literacy Narratives (A Cultural Story)
Literacy Narratives 2
Questions:
How does the writer find a relationship with literacy?
In Literacy Narrative 2 we meet the author of the piece who struggles to attribute the term "writer" as a self label. Although the author fostered the love of literacy through the influence of family and friends, therer is this self conflict to identify as a writer because of this "cultural story", or traditions and misconceptions about writing. I found that this is the theme throughout all of the Narratives read in class. This whole idea of the "literacy myth", or "cultural story" that serves as this connection to the authors story and the effects it had on their roles in literacy. They are these misconceptions and assumptions that literacy or "writing" the challenge the author of this story faces, is this lonely, solitary act, where inspiration comes from the intellegence of ones mind and not their actions. On the contrary literacy for the writer was a shared experience, nurtured through family and friendships. An influence started early with a mother being a role model for literacy and a sister being a peer model. Through these experiences a "story" and a "writer" were developed. The writer had to understand that imagination, play, interactive dialogue and characterization would serve as the framework for his/her ability to create stories. The writer could not connect to writing as and individual like the sister could. The writer connected through environmental responses, being a co-author, or a member of the audience, or an online community where his/her talent could be nurtured through a social context. Being introduced at a young age to the computer the writer was able to find his/her indivuality or identity as a writer. However just as in childhood their needed to be an audience creating a shared experience. Encouragement was a starting point to a gradual change to "author". Letting go of the cultural story and releasing the labels society puts on writing and literacy shaped the writer's confidence. The writer may have developed into the role sooner if he/she would have honed in on the skill, instead of letting the fear of individuality, and labeling to define their acheivements.
Questions:
How does the writer find a relationship with literacy?
- Started relationship with writing by reading.
- Mother passed on love of reading to author and two sisters (read to the every night/frequent library trips).
- Sister had an influence on early life of literacy in the author through reccomendations of books, reading together, and follow up discussions.
- Did not consider his/herself in the role of a "writer" (Sister filled the role of " writer").
- Considered writing as an academic tool, claimed the role of "good at school" in terms of their writing.
- Fears of judment of work, and judment of audience
- Cultural Stories keep him/her from realizing they had any merit as a potential author.
- Used imaginitive play and role playing to connect the art of story creation
- Developed ideas, characters, dialogue and settings through verbal interactions with sisters and friends
- Used this time to piece together stories and ideas through shared experiences.
- Learned to use online communities as an audience
In Literacy Narrative 2 we meet the author of the piece who struggles to attribute the term "writer" as a self label. Although the author fostered the love of literacy through the influence of family and friends, therer is this self conflict to identify as a writer because of this "cultural story", or traditions and misconceptions about writing. I found that this is the theme throughout all of the Narratives read in class. This whole idea of the "literacy myth", or "cultural story" that serves as this connection to the authors story and the effects it had on their roles in literacy. They are these misconceptions and assumptions that literacy or "writing" the challenge the author of this story faces, is this lonely, solitary act, where inspiration comes from the intellegence of ones mind and not their actions. On the contrary literacy for the writer was a shared experience, nurtured through family and friendships. An influence started early with a mother being a role model for literacy and a sister being a peer model. Through these experiences a "story" and a "writer" were developed. The writer had to understand that imagination, play, interactive dialogue and characterization would serve as the framework for his/her ability to create stories. The writer could not connect to writing as and individual like the sister could. The writer connected through environmental responses, being a co-author, or a member of the audience, or an online community where his/her talent could be nurtured through a social context. Being introduced at a young age to the computer the writer was able to find his/her indivuality or identity as a writer. However just as in childhood their needed to be an audience creating a shared experience. Encouragement was a starting point to a gradual change to "author". Letting go of the cultural story and releasing the labels society puts on writing and literacy shaped the writer's confidence. The writer may have developed into the role sooner if he/she would have honed in on the skill, instead of letting the fear of individuality, and labeling to define their acheivements.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Blog 5 Shaggy Dog Stories
Reading the Shaggy Dog stories are very amuzing. Some of them are really draw you in and have a great punchline. There are some however that in my opinion are very dull but still serve the purpose of drawing you in and delivering a punchline. Here is how I predicted how the other class would rank the stories.
(1) String
(3) Dentist
(4) Ghandi
(2) Lawyer
String- I predict that the other class would like String the best because it met the most criteria for what we percieve as funny.
Legnth= was the longest of all stories, and it offered a back and forth dialogue between the string and bartender which showed character and scene development.
Connections to the Audience= String is something we can all identify with. As well as a scene in a bar where this is dialogue between the bartender and subject. The back and forth banter and conflict draws you in and you anticipate the punchline.You can imagine in your head this piece of string sitting at the bar and asking for a drink. It was the most absurd because it dealt with ther personification of an inanimate object. That always makes for a funny story.
Ironic contrast= In the story it seemed the string the "underdog" you wonder if he will ever get his drink. He is being refused by bartender after bartender and bar after, bar.
Surprise= The string "the inanimate object" uses his wit and smarts, which is absurd and comes up with an idea or plan to get his way. "He had a passerby tie him up into a bow and frazzle his ends. Then he went back into the bar, and climbed up on the barstool. "Bartender, gimme a beer!" he said loudly.
Conflict/Wordplay= At the end of the story you assume the string gets his beer, but the bartender recognizes him. "Hey, aren't you that string that was in here a few minutes ago?"
Lawyer-I predicted this would be in second place because I think the majority of people could relate to a good lawyer joke. At the college level it safe to assume that everyone knows what a lawyer is and the stereotypes that are associated.
Legnth=The legnth of the story worked well for what is considered funny. The plot developed very well with a beginning, middle, and end. The character development worked well with different characters being introduced into the story. The wealthy lawyer, the Czech friends, the sheriff and the absurd and infamous bears. The bears bought an element of violence which of course is an element in what the reader finds to be funny according to our analysis.
Ironic Contrast=The idea of a bear eating the Czech friend whole, and the cowardly lawyer running away is absurd and funny. One female bear and a male bear are presented which sets up the elements for the punchline. The female bear in the story gets shot which is an element of surprise.
Conflict/Wordplay="The sheriff grabbed his shotgun and dashed back to the berry patch with the lawyer. Sure enough, the two bears were still there. "He's in that one," cried the lawyer, pointing to the male, while visions of lawsuits from his friend's family danced in his head. He just had to save his friend. The sheriff looked at the bears, and without batting an eye, leveled his gun, took careful aim, and shot the female". This was a great presentation of conflict and conflict resolution which makes the punchline "getable". I like the fact that there were two references in this story, one for the Nutcracker."What did you do that for?" exclaimed the lawyer. "I said he was in the other one!
Ironic Contrast= Ghandi is a very serious religious leader. The overall joke was definitley not something the reader could have imagined when thinking about a serious of character as Ghandi. The story was initially filled with facts, that didn't draw you into the aburdity of we aspect to be funny. "He walked barefoot everywhere,his feet became quite thick and hard. Even when he wasn't on a hunger strike, he did not eat much and became quite thin and frail. He also was quite a spiritual person." These are all serious facts and then your thrown off with "Furthermore, due to his diet, he ended up with very bad breath. Served as a disconnet while eluding to the punchline.
Word Play=He became known as a super-calloused fragile mystic plagued with halitosis.
Connections to Audience= Readers would have to have seen Mary Poppins and understand the phrase "supercalifragilisticespalidoshes" in order to get the spoonerism. They would also need to know who Ghandi was in order to get the joke. It is a little harder of all the pieces to connect to a broader audience.
(1) String
(3) Dentist
(4) Ghandi
(2) Lawyer
String- I predict that the other class would like String the best because it met the most criteria for what we percieve as funny.
Legnth= was the longest of all stories, and it offered a back and forth dialogue between the string and bartender which showed character and scene development.
Connections to the Audience= String is something we can all identify with. As well as a scene in a bar where this is dialogue between the bartender and subject. The back and forth banter and conflict draws you in and you anticipate the punchline.You can imagine in your head this piece of string sitting at the bar and asking for a drink. It was the most absurd because it dealt with ther personification of an inanimate object. That always makes for a funny story.
Ironic contrast= In the story it seemed the string the "underdog" you wonder if he will ever get his drink. He is being refused by bartender after bartender and bar after, bar.
Surprise= The string "the inanimate object" uses his wit and smarts, which is absurd and comes up with an idea or plan to get his way. "He had a passerby tie him up into a bow and frazzle his ends. Then he went back into the bar, and climbed up on the barstool. "Bartender, gimme a beer!" he said loudly.
Conflict/Wordplay= At the end of the story you assume the string gets his beer, but the bartender recognizes him. "Hey, aren't you that string that was in here a few minutes ago?"
Lawyer-I predicted this would be in second place because I think the majority of people could relate to a good lawyer joke. At the college level it safe to assume that everyone knows what a lawyer is and the stereotypes that are associated.
Legnth=The legnth of the story worked well for what is considered funny. The plot developed very well with a beginning, middle, and end. The character development worked well with different characters being introduced into the story. The wealthy lawyer, the Czech friends, the sheriff and the absurd and infamous bears. The bears bought an element of violence which of course is an element in what the reader finds to be funny according to our analysis.
Ironic Contrast=The idea of a bear eating the Czech friend whole, and the cowardly lawyer running away is absurd and funny. One female bear and a male bear are presented which sets up the elements for the punchline. The female bear in the story gets shot which is an element of surprise.
Conflict/Wordplay="The sheriff grabbed his shotgun and dashed back to the berry patch with the lawyer. Sure enough, the two bears were still there. "He's in that one," cried the lawyer, pointing to the male, while visions of lawsuits from his friend's family danced in his head. He just had to save his friend. The sheriff looked at the bears, and without batting an eye, leveled his gun, took careful aim, and shot the female". This was a great presentation of conflict and conflict resolution which makes the punchline "getable". I like the fact that there were two references in this story, one for the Nutcracker."What did you do that for?" exclaimed the lawyer. "I said he was in the other one!
"Exactly,"
replied the sheriff. "Would you believe a lawyer who told you the Czech was in
the male?"
Connection to audience=Again the violence panned out to a spoonerism reference the chech is in the mail, which is a phrase that a college level student can identify with.
Dentist- I predicted this would be in third place. It was not very funny to me but a little more funny than the Ghandi. It met some of the criteria for what we percieve as funny in the Shaggy Dog stories.
Length= Not very long. Story does develop with the man and dentist in a dialogue, however it lacks and overall conflict the reader likes.
Ironic Contrast= the story was just rediculous as well as the reference to the hollandaise sauce.
Word play= The word play was developed throughout the story, with the hollandaise being introduced at the very beginning and followed throughout. The punchline was definitley unexpected with a reference to "No place like home for the holidays."
Connection to audience= This is a punchline that all readers may not be able to connect with if they dont celebrate the holidays. It wasnt violent in nature and did not meet a lot of the criteria for what is perceived as funny
Ghandi- I predicted Ghandi to be in fourth place because of its length and element of surprise makes it the least funniest of all the stories.
Legnth=It was the shortest of all the stories, which may take away of what the reader percieves as funny according to our analysis of the funnier stories being the longest. It didn't develop over a long period of time, and the punchline was very quick. Reader did not have time to be drawn in.Ironic Contrast= Ghandi is a very serious religious leader. The overall joke was definitley not something the reader could have imagined when thinking about a serious of character as Ghandi. The story was initially filled with facts, that didn't draw you into the aburdity of we aspect to be funny. "He walked barefoot everywhere,his feet became quite thick and hard. Even when he wasn't on a hunger strike, he did not eat much and became quite thin and frail. He also was quite a spiritual person." These are all serious facts and then your thrown off with "Furthermore, due to his diet, he ended up with very bad breath. Served as a disconnet while eluding to the punchline.
Word Play=He became known as a super-calloused fragile mystic plagued with halitosis.
Connections to Audience= Readers would have to have seen Mary Poppins and understand the phrase "supercalifragilisticespalidoshes" in order to get the spoonerism. They would also need to know who Ghandi was in order to get the joke. It is a little harder of all the pieces to connect to a broader audience.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Blog 3 Oral History
I interviewed Joe Palinsky. I was the interviewer, and I shared with Joe the details of my account of what happened that day.
How old are you and were do you live?
Joe: 26 years old and I live in Colonia, NJ.
Me: I live in Rahway, NJ (Joe and I realize how close we live to each other, 5 minutes away.)
Where were you on 9/11?
Joe: I was 15 years old at the time, a sophmore in Union Catholic H.S. I remember being in Italian class it was about 9:30am when the anouncement came over the PA system about a small plane colliding into the world trade. We had inaccurate accounts about what actually happpened but class went on anyway. At 11:30 am my third period chemistry class teacher was all distraught and acting very confused. Her account was that a plane hit disney land. In Union Catholic we all had individual laptops so I went online but couldn't get any info, cause the server was down. We didn't have hi-tech connections back then. It was shear pandemonium as people started finding out what really happened.
At 11:30 in gym class people had found out that the news of what really happened and some students got picked up, the rest of the students stayed in school the rest of the day.
Me: I am can't believe you all had a full day of school. I was 24 and in college at Middlesex County, which has a large Middle Eastern population. No one new what happened initially, the professor in my first class said the world trade was bombed and told everyone to leave immediatley.
What was the sentiment of the people around you?
Joe: It was a lot of fear. I am not a person who is afraid of much. I don't usually get in a state of paranioa , but I was afraid. My religion class teacher showed us the tower falling. There were conflicting views on what happened it was overwhelming. I was hoping it wasn't as bad as it seemed. I had hope as we saw people being pulled out of the wreckage.
Me: As I was leaving school I saw some students of Middle Eastern decent laughing and cheering about the catastrophic event. (Joe is in shock, he could not believe that anyone would cheer at the demise of others.)
Did you have a connection to anyone at the twin towers, pentagon, or on a plane that was affected by 9/11?
Joe: I wasn't really worried about my immediate family no one lived in NY at the time. I did have a friend that it was ironic that both of his parents called out of work that day, and they worked at the towers. I was a little guilty that I was happy about that but it was a small victory. I was happy they survived. I also knew a priest who was connected with my high school who died at the towers.
Me: I didn't have anyone who directly connected but I realized in an instant that I was going to be connected to 9/11. While people around me were thinking of others, I was thinking of how it was going to effect my family. At the time I was a reservist in the United States Army, and I knew after watching the news and hearing a war would be waged on terrorist that I may be called to go overseas.
What did you think about the attackers?
Joe: At the time it happened I didn't know anything about the attackers. I later found out that the terrorist used a computer in William Paterson, the college I was in. He used the library to book a ticket for one of the planes.
How has 9/11 changed the world?
Joe: The world has never been the same. The world is definitley much more bizarre. People are more fearful, there was more profiling of middle eastern groups. Muslims were being treated badly, more wrongs came from the event. The political premise was unecessary, people were patriotic and unpatriotic at the same time. I hated that people were capitilizing off of it. People were afraid to go to NY after that. My parents were not afraid of NY they went to a show in Times Square a couple of weeks later.
Me: I remember people becoming upatriotic and profiling groups that had nothing to do with 9/11. I also remember the boom in cell phones, and no contract cell phones, before that you needed a big deposit to put down if you wanted one, and phones and plans were very expensive.
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