Thoughts on Wilhelm's Article

The first thing about Wilhelm’s article which stood out to me is how crucial it is as a teacher to know your own philosophy of what a school is for, and also what theories you identify with as the backbone for why you create a lesson. For example, if you believe the point of school is to prepare students to be successful in the community whether it be in college, a technical career or beyond that just in daily life, you must prepare them for a variety of outcomes. This means that Wilhelm’s ideas about learning how to complete a task, and learning how to apply the knowledge students are gaining is more essential than the content itself. As in the example with Swift’s Modest Proposal, it is of very little benefit if students are exposed to this classic piece of literature if they do not know how to spot irony in other texts or understand why and when it is appropriate to use irony. This leads to his idea that when teaching you should be answering the questions what, why, when and how. If students can answer all of these questions then they can apply their learning beyond the immediate content and this creates life-long learners. The best way for students to learn how to use this knowledge is by showing them how we use our knowledge. This is my favorite part of the article and something I can’t wait to train my brain to be an automatic part of my teaching. The article breaks it down into four basic steps, I do you watch, I do you help, you do I help, and you do. This system is a clear example of Vygotsky’s scaffolding and allows for a very easy learning transfer. I like this approach because it is the tangible example of what we’ve learned in other teaching courses such as 406. It’s using the mindset of switching from the teacher at the pulpit to the Socratic Method where the teacher works alongside the students using inquiry and exploration.

 

 

Literacy Profile- Am I Literate?

Literacy is a term I always associated with knowing how to read words on a page. But then it developed into a larger idea of being “well-read, or fluent in a task.” This means that to be literate in something simply means you have the ability to do it well, often after much hard work and practice. As was mentioned in our class, a great way to help students gain academic literacy is to help them understand what they already are proficient in. Perhaps it is technology, a sport; cooking or baking, By asking students what they have mastered it allows them to process the list of many things they are good at therefore fostering confidence in their ability to master new tasks such as academic ones.

            The best way of teaching students how to do this kind of reflective metacognition is to model it yourself. So, let’s begin with a task I have become literate in which is not included in the academic world.  One hobby I’ve taken pride in is my passion for foreign languages. I am fluent in Italian, and in the process of learning Spanish. I only use this as a non-academic example because my passion and success for these languages came outside of a classroom not from within them.

 My love of languages began with Italian and developed out of a deep family connection. Growing up my grandmother and other relatives spoke Italian and I was raised with very strong ties to the Italian culture. So that’s what motivated me, I wanted to be able to participate in something so deeply connected to my family and history.  The “why” for me started with an emotional connection to the language and the desired skill, as well as a real-life example of how useful it could be in my life specifically.

            So once I had a desire to learn it and saw the possible applications to my life, I needed to actually acquire the skill. I used a number of strategies in order to develop this new skill. Among them was the use of questions, the mindset of curiosity and boldness as well as the aid of those more skilled in the language. The first thing I did was look for examples of others who spoke Italian well. I looked for those who spoke the language at different levels. I started with my aunts who spoke a variation of passed down Italian and I looked to my grandmother who knew Italian simply by osmosis of it being her native language. I then got the chance to go to Italy and looked for those who knew the language even more in depth. I interacted with adults who had learned it in school and were currently using it at much higher levels than myself, and additionally children who were at the same level as me but learning it differently, as they learned it as part of their education.

            Once I found experts in the field, I observed them and copied the vocabulary they used, how they used it, the exact sounds and tones and how they put phrases together. While observing, I had to have an open and humble mind to want to find out more but be willing to make mistakes on the way. I had to know what questions to ask which meant an understanding of what I already know and how much I could speak and what I still needed to know. I also had to put my new knowledge into practice. I had to use the words on my own, take the phrases I heard and manipulate them to make my own new phrases. With all of this practice at something so new, it meant I made a lot of mistakes, I often did not sound like the “experts” in the field, and at times would leave whole pieces of language out because I didn’t have enough of the knowledge. I needed the space to feel safe making these mistakes and the environment to brush off mistakes and learn from them. It required patience from those who taught me, and motivation from myself to constantly monitor what I had learned, correct it if necessary and add more to my knowledge. It was a continuous journey of questioning, asking, modeling and practicing. But in the end, all of my hard work paid off because I am now fluent in the language and can easily converse with those who were one the “experts.”