Research: Schools and Technology

Question: How are schools using technology?

CDW-G. (2010). CDW-G 2010 21st-Century Classroom Report: Preparing students for the future

or the past? Vernon Hills, IL: CDW-G. Retrieved June 15, 2010 from http://www.cdwg.

com/21stcenturyclassroomreport

Reports the results of an online survey of 1000 high school students, teachers, and district IT

professionals about how technology is used in their schools. Sample included people at urban,

rural, and suburban schools across the United States.

Answer: Students think technology is important to their future, but that schools are not preparing them to use technology. Students think teachers are using technology for teaching, but not for student learning. Everyone thinks districts should focus more on 21^st century skills.

Comment: What, specifically, are 21^st century skills? RayS.

“Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” Richard Beach et al. Research in the Teaching of English (November 2010), Internet. Note: The editors of RTE said that so much research was available they did not want to burden the paper edition of the journal with it, so they relegated their annotated reports on research to the Internet.

Research: Writing Instruction: Blogs vs. Process

Question: Which results in better writing, blog writing instruction or process writing instruction?

Arslan, R. S., & Sahin-Kizil, A. (2010). How can the use of blog software facilitate the writing

process of English language learners? Computer Assisted Language Learning, 23(3), 183–197.

Answer: Blog writing resulted in higher levels of students’ writing as compared to process-related writing instruction.

Comment: Authentic writing situation wins. RayS.

“Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” Richard Beach et al. Research in the Teaching of English (November 2010), Internet. Note: The editors of RTE said that so much research was available they did not want to burden the paper edition of the journal with it, so they relegated their annotated reports on research to the Internet.

Research: Autoethnographies

Question: How does an autoethnography differ from an autobiography?

Answer: “In contrast to autobiographies, which focus on the unique qualities of individuals, autoethnographies compel authors to foreground their experiences in relation to a larger social group…. The etymology of each root word reveals important differences: auto(self)-bio (life)-graphy (writing) means to write about your individual life, often in much greater detail than your context, whereas an auto (self)-ethno (culture)-graphy (writing) means to write about yourself necessarily as a member of a larger social group.” P. 183.

Comment: The purpose of an autoethnography is for students to understand themselves in the context of their culture. They see themselves as part of a larger social group. Having defined what the author means in contrast to an autobiography, I’ll stop there and let the reader discover a purpose for the activity. RayS.

“Starting with Self: Teaching Autoethnography to Foster Critically Caring Literacies.” Patrick Camangian. Research in the Teaching of English (November 2010), pp. 179-204.

Research: Home-school Literacy Practices

Question: How can teachers incorporate home literacy practices in the classroom?

Answer: “This study offers ways in which Head Start teachers (and all teachers who experience/d literacies which differ from their students’)  may start to authentically incorporate home literacy practices in their classrooms, challenging traditional roles of students as recipients of knowledge. Teachers alone cannot singularly redesign processes that represent and include students’ home literacy practices in the classroom. Students are the ones who are full participants of such communities of practice and as such should be positioned as experts.” P. 175.

Comment: This study seems to have two purposes. The first is to learn the literacy practices of the home/community and use them in the classroom. The second seems to resist looking at the students as passive receivers of knowledge, becoming the “experts” in conveying the home/community literacy practices. Home visits by teachers were a requirement of the study. The researcher and two Head Start teachers and their students and the students’ families were the participants in the study. RayS.

Title: “Challenging Ethnocentric Literacy Practices: [Re]positioning Home Literacies in a Head Start Classroom.” Mariana Souto-Manning. Research in the Teaching of English (November 2010), pp. 150-178.

Research: Spanglish and Academic Language

Question: How can we use the resources of “hybrid” language to master academic American English.

Answer: Spanglish, of course, is the “hybrid” use of Spanish and English interchangeably. The author suggests that this code-switching actually offers advantages for the use of academic English. Spanglish is not a deficit, but a positive resource for achieving the mastery of American English. The challenge is to find out how to make use of this resource.

Comment: It seems that ever since Mina Shaughnessy turned perceived deficits or mistakes in writing into a positive point of view in improving writing, professional educators have been trying to turn attitudes toward nonstandard English away from the deficit point of view to recognizing the strengths of the perceived deficit in achieving skill in academic English. I applaud the challenge. Therein lies opportunity. RayS.

Title: “Spanglish as Literacy Tool: Toward an Understanding of the Potential Role of Spanish-English Code-Switching in the Development of Academic Literacy.” Ramón Antonio Martinez. Research in the Teaching of English (November 2010), 124-149.

Research: Professional Development

Question: What is some needed research in teachers’ development?

Answer: “Suggests that there is a need for further ethnographic accounts of the teacher’s work which focus on processes of personal and professional development.” MKR Chance-Reay. 1984. P. 204.

Comment: I would like to suggest the use of professional articles as a way of studying teachers’ development, personally and professionally. Teachers often begin their articles with problems that they have encountered. What is the nature of these problems? How did they resolve them? RayS.

Title: “Annotated Bibliography of Research in the Teaching of English.” JD Marshall and RK Durst. Research in the Teaching of English (May 1985), pp. 183-204.