Topic: Two-Year College Teachers

Ten-second review: In what way are two-year college teachers perceived differently from four-year college teachers? Teachers in community colleges are ‘marginalized” when compared to teachers in four-year colleges because two-year college teachers usually do not engage in scholarly activities, i.e., publishing.

Source: J Andelora. Teaching English in the Two-Year College (March.2005), 107-108.

Comment: Two-year college teachers are focused on teaching sometimes difficult students with problems in motivation for learning, not on publishing and research as in the four-year college in which undergraduates are often taught by graduate students. RayS.

Topic: Learning How to Learn

10-second review: How can teachers help students become more conscious of how they learned what they learned? What is assessed is what is taught. However, teachers can deepen students’ understanding of how they learn effectively by having them reflect on what they did as they learned.

Source: P Johnston. Reading Teacher (April 2005), 684-686.

Comment: An interesting idea. Each time you learn something, you reflect on how you learned it. RayS.

Topic: Adolescents

10-second review: How should teachers deal with adolescents? “Florez-Gonzalez tells educators to pay particular attention to the interests and needs of individual adolescents rather than treat them as a homogenized population without regard for individual differences.”

Source: F Serafini, et al. Reading Research Quarterly (Oct/Nov/Dec 04), 488.

Comment: I think the same idea applies to students having trouble in learning. Don’t look at them as typical but try to get at the problems as the students themselves see them. Learning journals in which students respond to what they are learning can go a long way in helping teachers gain insight to how the students perceive what is occurring with their learning. RayS.

Topic: Stereotypes of Adolescents

10-second review: What are the effects of the traditional stereotype of the adolescent? “Traditional…conceptions of adolescence as a time of turbulence, raging hormones and immaturity diminish adolescents’ voices and agency. These conceptions downplay adolescents’ individuality and diversity. An emerging awareness of adolescence as socially constructed, rather than biologically determined, helps create space for new understandings of adolescents and what they need to succeed in school.”

Source: F Serafini, et al. Reading Research Quarterly (Oct/Nov/Dec 2004), 487-488.

Comment: I think, as in dealing with any other minority group, we need to stop thinking of adolescents as a stereotyped image. I think the idea expressed above is vital in working with adolescents. Look at them as individuals, not as a group stereotype. RayS.

Topic: Critical Thinking Activity

10-second review: Students collect bumper sticker messages, then discuss and interpret them and infer the characteristics of people who display them.

Source: LA Morton-Meier. Journal of Adolescent and Adult literacy (November 2004), 280-283.

Topic: Defining Critical Thinking

10-second review: “I link the term critical thinking with the doubting game. I don’t see how ‘critical’ can ever be pried away from its connotations of criticism, arguments, doubt and skepticism.”

Source: P Elbow. College English (March 2005), 39.

Topic: Application of Skills in Real-World Situations

10-second review: How apply student learning to real-world situations? The Math Standards recommend that students should learn math in contexts outside of math, in other words, in real world applications, like finance. Source: HS Shultz. Mathematics Teacher (April 2005), 531-532.

10-second review: Author sets out to answer the question, “How fair and accurate are drug tests of student athletes,” another real-world application of math. Source: IE Lyublinskaya. Mathematics Teacher (April 2005), 536-543.

Comment: I think in English, a major problem exists in helping students tackle real-world writing situations. We may teach the basics, but they need to be applied. Writing in real-world situations will almost certainly involve changing formats from the standard model of the five-paragraph essay. Students need to be taught how to make those adjustments. RayS.