My Ideological Stance in My Ideological Stance in Content Area InstructionContent Area Instruction

Aziza Abdul KareemAziza Abdul KareemEDUC 505EDUC 505

Dr. NelliDr. Nelli

Background of Students• Business, Science, Mathematics, and

Technology High School in urban setting.• Ninth grade class ages range from 14-17.• Students come from low socioeconomic

background.• Reading and writing abilities of students

varies.• Active learners who prefer group work and

very opinionated.

Learning OutcomeLearning OutcomeAs a result of classroom instruction students will be able to construct knowledge about the application of multiple reading strategies while deciphering when and how to utilize comprehension techniques through engagement with texts. Implementation of this learning outcome will result from a dialectical constructivist model which emphasizes the teachers’ ability to anticipate student’s needs by providing strategies that serve as a scaffold to reading awareness, supervising the learning process through modeling exercises, and guiding student’s understanding as they internalize the model provided in creation of their own comprehension techniques (Pressley, Harris, & Marks 1992).

Critical thinking is supported through the continued interaction between the student and the classroom environment. Acquisition of new knowledge and reorganization of what is already known (e.g., White, 1959) is motivated by the gap between current understanding and the understanding required to comprehend the world as it is (Pressley, Harris, and Marks 1992). In turn, academic language stemming from the social science discipline is developed through group discussion and explicit instruction such as think aloud or guided practice using morphemic analysis (word chunking), context clues (use of context to interpret reading), and key concepts (general class linked by a common element or idea) (Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz 2011).

Critical Thinking&

Academic Language

Ideological StanceMy ideological stance is based upon three concepts: promotion of intellectual social justice or the ability to make intelligent claims that counter authority figures’ beliefs, open minded acquisition of learning or the ability to consider opposing views, and encouraging students’ critical judgment in the analysis of ideas and comments faced in texts while supporting claims with evidence.

GoalAcademic Literacy

•Academic Literacy involves becoming proficient in reading and writing while developing characteristic methods of acting, interacting, valuing, feeling, dressing, thinking, believing with other people and various objects, tools, and technologies (Gee 2012 pg. 152).

•Access to Social Science Enduring Understandings comprises academic language proficiency which requires students use linguistic skills to interpret and infer meaning from oral and written language; discern precise meaning and information from text, relate ideas and information, recognize the conventions of various genres, and enlist a variety of linguistic strategies on behalf of a wide range of communicative purposes (Dutro & Moran 2003 pgs. 230-231).

Challenge• Elliot (2008) suggests, that the “critical analysis of the

relationship between belief and practice is fundamental to teaching, yet many educators do not see it as imperative” (pg. 210).

• The tension between use of reading strategies and student construction of social science enduring understandings is based upon the teacher’s ability to implement techniques that provide students with competencies while grappling with complex vocabularies, and developing necessary skills in the areas of analysis and synthesis of ideas. In other words, although reading strategies are implemented in instructional practices, this is not an indication that students know how to use these techniques independently.

Pedagogical Approaches

• Cooperative Learning

• Modeling

• Active Literacy

Cooperative Learning

• Cooperative groups facilitate active participation and should be a primary form of classroom organization when teachers bring students together to comprehend texts (Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz pg. 152).

• Based on the social constructivist theory in which the collective efforts of students impose meaning on the world (Ormrod, 2011 pg. 221).

• Equity and Access occurs when students’ zone of proximal development includes learning and problem solving with assistance from more competent adults and peers (Ormrod, 2011).

• Social Science enduring understanding is achieved through positive interdependence, individual accountability, equal participation, and simultaneous interaction (Kagan, 1998).

Examples:Jigsaw Groups Group InvestigationLearning Circles Group Retellings

Modeling

• Modeling of academic skills can be especially effective when the model demonstrates not only how to do a task but also how to think about a task (Ormrod, 2011 pg. 330).

• Based upon the social cognitive views of learning cognitive modeling helps students learn many academic skills, at least in part, by observing what others do (Ormrod, 2011 pg. 330).

• Equity and access occurs through the use of demonstrations, integration of technology, and use of think aloud to provide follow up assistance to students with varying needs (Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz 2011 pg. 129).

• Social Science enduring understanding is achieved through making predictions or showing students how to develop hypothesis, describing visual images, sharing an analogy which links prior knowledge with new information, verbalizing confusing points, demonstrating fix-up strategies(Alaska Department of Education & Early Development Instructional Methods).

Examples: Think-Aloud, Modeling with Explicit Strategy

Active Literacy• Active literacy involves what a teacher does before, during, and after

reading (B-D-A) as a crucial, active, and purposeful component of reading (Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz 2011 pg. 131).

• Based upon the constructivist theory students take many separate pieces of information from before, during, and after reading activities to build an overall understanding or interpretation (Ormrod, 2011 pg. 218).

• Equity and access is achieved through assignments that allow students to process content from multiple perspectives (Vacca, Vacca, & Mraz 2011 pg. 283).

• Social Studies enduring understanding is developed through generating questions, summarizing, clarifying text, and predicting.

Examples:Anticipation Guide, Double Entry Journals, and Exit Slips

ConclusionIn conclusion, use of the three pedagogical practices of cooperative learning, modeling, and active literacy provides the necessary scaffold for students’ comprehension and acquisition of literacy strategies. In turn students will develop skills necessary for academic language development and content understanding. Through collaborative interactions meaningful learning takes place as a result of collective metacognition.

ReferencesAlaska Department of Education & Early Development Instructional Methods Retrieved on 11/21/12 http://www.eed.state.ak.us/tls/frameworks/sstudies/part3a5.htm

Dutro, S. & Moran, C. (2003). Rethinking English Language Instruction: An Architectural Approach. In G. Garcia (ed.) In English Learners: Reaching the Highest Level of English Literacy. Intl Reading Assoc., Pgs. 227-258.

Elliot, P. (2008). Mapping the Terrain(s) of Ideology in New Urban Teachers’ Professional Development Experiences. In L. Bartolome (Ed.) Ideologies in Education: Unmasking the Trap of Teacher Neutrality. Peter Lang. Pgs. 208-228.

Gee, J. (2012). Discourses and literacies. Social linguistics and literacies: Ideology in discourses (4th ed.) (pp. 147-178). New York, NY:Routledge.

Kagan, S. (1998). New cooperative learning, multiple intelligences, and inclusion. In J.W. Putnam and R. W. Slavin (Eds.), Cooperative learning and strategies for inclusion: Celebrating diversity in the classroom (pp. 105-136). Baltimore, MD: Brookes Publishing.

Pressley, M., Harris, K., & Marks, B. M. But good strategy instructors are constructivist! Educational Psychology Review, Vol 4., No. 1, 1992

Ormrod, J.E. (2011). Educational Psychology: Developing Learners (7th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, N.J. Pearson.

Vacca, Richard T., Vacca, Jo Anne L., and Mraz, MaryAnn. Content Area Reading: Literacy and learning across the curriculum. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc. 10th Edition 2011