Cultural Whiplash

Experimental Paper Writing

2012-01-09T19:45:00.000-08:00

An Examination of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman Through the Subject Index of Including Students with Special Needs: A Practical Guide for Classroom Teachers by Friend and Bursuck

Corbin Campbell
C&I 518
8-1-2011

This paper is written in an unusual manner. I am using the Subject Index of the course text, Including Students with Special Needs: A Practical Guide for Classroom Teachers by Friend and Bursuck, to inform my thoughts about The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman. All of the basic concepts that I am writing about come from the Subject Index, and will not be cited directly other than they are all contained in Friend and Bursuck from page 568 through page 575.

Considering that everything about the Spirit book is from my own opinion, I will not be using citations unless absolutely necessary. Additionally, I will not be supporting my opinions from the book since I think that this would take too much time and distract from the unique nature of this paper. Besides, you and I have both read the book and you will know if my ideas are supported or wild imagination. If you notice anything that absolutely requires a citation, please let me know and I’ll be happy to supply it. This will help indicate to me if I’m unclear on what absolutely must be cited.

The practice of citations has gone from one of courtesy (required, but of no particular format) to one of certain doom over the years (required for every single stray mark or idea that happens to occur in a text, regardless of whether you’ve ever read the book or not, assuming that nobody has original ideas any more…). Having originated with the courteous approach, I find the current trend of citation formats excessive.

I’m going to go through these subject items (in italics followed by the Friend and Bursuck page numbers as given in the index) in alphabetical order, as they are listed in Friend and Bursuck, and make my related comments:

“Acceptance,… creating atmosphere of, 247” (Friend and Bursuck, p. 568): MCMC did not create an atmosphere of acceptance. Their common employees treated the Hmong as any other patient, and perhaps as less because they couldn’t communicate in a common language. Additionally, the doctors may have blindly thought they were promoting acceptance while they were instead pushing the Hmong families away. The Hmong family of Lia, on the other hand, also did not create an atmosphere of acceptance. This was due to their culture, however, with people coming to visit them not going through the proper cultural channels. This rendered statements made to the parents possibly invalid.

“Accommodation,… involving parents in teaching children, 351-352” (Friend and Bursuck, p. 568): For this concept, I’d like to consider Lia’s family as the children and their elders and hierarchical superiors in Hmong society to be the parents. The hospital failed to involve the ‘parents’ then in teaching Lia’s family the proper procedures when dealing with hospital staff.

“Accommodation,… for students with speech or language impairments, 245-248” (Friend and Bursuck, p. 568): In consideration of the parent as students, the hospital did not do very well accommodating their language and did not use adequate assistive communicative technologies. This may have been due to a failure of financial resources more than a failure of the hospital itself.

“Accuracy in diagnosis, 141-143” (Friend and Bursuck, p. 568): I cannot stress this one enough. Lia was misdiagnosed, or the diagnosis of her bacterial infection simply was not performed due to whatever reason. Had it been noted only a month earlier, and maybe only a few days earlier, her mind could have been saved.

“Articulation, 244” (Friend and Bursuck, p. 568): While I’m sure the doctors felt that they articulated well, they were doing so to a wall of silence. So did they pat themselves on the back and say they’d done what they could? What efforts did they take to ensure 100% communication on the next visit? I hope they learned to be better communicators as well as that it doesn’t matter how well they articulate if the patient and their parents don’t understand any of it. Also, I hope they realize that patients who understand half of the information are much more dangerous than when patients understand none of the information. With no information, nothing is done incorrectly. With partial information, the parents could possibly make mistakes.

“Asking for help, 323” (Friend and Bursuck, p. 568): Did the doctors or medical staff ask for help, or was it even an option for them? If they did ask for help, who did they ask and for what reasons was it not given? Who brought the translators, the parents or the hospital? The parents asked for help. Lia’s seizures asked for help. The Hmong medicine men were willing to at least try to help, as well as her parents.

“Assessment,… culturally diverse backgrounds and, 125” (Friend and Bursuck, p. 568): The very first time Lia came to the hospital there should have been a better assessment made. Cultural and language barriers cannot get in the way of a thorough medical assessment, which means that assistance needs to be available for translation or some other method of getting all relevant information from the parents. This could have given Lia an earlier start on her medications in a less stressful situation. By later seizures, the situation had become more stressful and made full assessment more difficult I think. Additionally, in such a situation I think that they absolutely must make the primary concern the patient, and by realizing the cultural situation they will know that they must make full assessment of the culture before they should take any actions other than life-saving.

“Circle of Friends program, 46, 486” (Friend and Bursuck, p. 569): Could this program be used in multicultural medical situations with success? Could similar programs? Building a Circle of Friends around Lia may have been helpful in diagramming who the medical staff could work with, or who they should direct their questions and advice to. Perhaps something similar, developed specifically as an activity of this sort (visual learning and communication aid), would help in similar situations.

“Collaboration, 77-110” (Friend and Bursuck, p. 569): I had highlighted every sub-entry beneath this main entry as having relevance to the situations described in the Spirit book. However, I think I addressed this in a forum post or two, as well. Collaboration of a real sort was lacking due to lack of communication. Communication was the biggest factor that could’ve saved Lia’s life. I think it is painfully obvious throughout the Spirit book that if the two sides could have just had one good day of solid communication about every little issue, with everyone involved in Lia’s treatment present as well as her parents and extended family, they would have had immensely more success.

“Communication disorders,… language problems, 244-245” (Friend and Bursuck, p. 569): I think Lia’s language loss could’ve been avoided. In any case, as soon as she was old enough (as soon as she started learning words) she should have been given instruction in English, or at minimum toddler sign language. At least in this way she could have had some ability to communicate with hospital staff. Perhaps she was too young, but by the time she had the big seizure she would have already been speaking and able to communicate a bit in English. Somebody should realize that infants with seizures like this (or other constantly random life-threatening disabilities) should learn to communicate as a priority. Whose responsibility is this? I recommend it as the hospital’s, or as a social worker’s, since they are the ones who will likely be seeing the child in the hospital for years to come (or, preferably only seeing the patients monthly to check up on them as they are on the proper medications).

“Concept maps, 330-331, 340” (Friend and Bursuck, p. 569): Communication, when seen as difficult, should have immediately generated different attempts. Concept mapping would have been important, I think, as one visual method of communicating what was going on to the parents. Particularly helpful, perhaps, would be a flow chart that shows the following pictures to explain exactly how western medicine settles on the proper medication for a patient:
1. Picture of sick child and doctor with stethoscope. Go to number 2.
2. Picture of doctor choosing a medicine bottle from a shelf of many different types. Go to number 3.
3. Picture of child taking medicine at prescribed times of day (using the cock’s crow clock to be culturally sensitive, in this case). Next, there are two arrows pointing to two choices, 4a and 4b.
4. A. The child looks better. Go to number 3.
B. The child looks the same. Go to number 2.

I’m sure it could be developed a little bit better than this, but the idea is a closed flowchart that demonstrates that this is an ongoing process, and that the doctor may need to try other medications to find the right one.

“Home placement, 70” (Friend and Bursuck, p. 571): The staff knew that Lia was well taken care of by her family. They should have known at some earlier point that treating her at home between seizures was a necessity given the lack of communication and understanding. Whether a nurse was simply to visit and take vitals, or a live-in aid would have been able to spot signs of the bacterial infection is an interesting idea. I believe somewhere in the book it is implied that the doctor’s noted that if they’d had information about how Lia was from day to day at home, they would’ve spotted the infection immediately.

“Individualized family service plans (IFSPs), 11, 101” (Friend and Bursuck, p. 571): I’m not sure at what point it is realized that a family needs more help than it’s getting, but if the help had come sooner, perhaps the tragedy could’ve been avoided. A family service plan may be necessary for certain medical conditions, and should perhaps be implemented immediately for residents who will be attending the hospital on a regular basis. This kind of intervention would be handled in a culturally sensitive and calm manner, taking the necessary time to develop it as well as possible in a collaborative meeting.

“Learning strategies,… for managing time and resources, 395-397” (Friend and Bursuck, p. 572): I picked this one because there was an issue of time not being understood in the same way by the Hmong. As soon as this became apparent, they could have (taking the culturally sensitive approach) made visual aids for giving medicine that used Hmong time measurements. Then, there would’ve been no misunderstanding about when medications were to be given.

“Station teaching approach, 92-93” (Friend and Bursuck, p. 574): I thought that perhaps if the hospital had hosted Hmong information days, using teaching stations written in Hmong or presented by Hmong medical translators, the community would’ve been better served. In fact, this is something of a community outreach program. Perhaps they did have such a program, but its effectiveness is in question. Perhaps it should include an inclusive practice segment, showing medicine men working with doctors and parents with traditional medications and doctor-prescribed medications. A demonstration of the values of each would be necessary, as well as information provided to the Hmong that there can be dangers when mixing their traditional medications with those provided by the doctors, and that the ingredients of such herbal remedies need to be known by the doctors, as well as the way in which the traditional treatments are applied.

I hope this experimental essay has been a success, or at least an interesting diversion from typical papers. Let me know if you have any questions or comments and I would be happy to answer them. Also, if there is a major problem with my citations, let me know and I’ll consider this a rough draft and revise as necessary.

Bibliography:
Friend, Marilyn and Bursuck, W.D. (1996) Including Students with Special Needs: A Practical Guide for Classroom Teachers. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.

Fadiman, Anne. (1997) The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

EFL/ESL Technology, Curriculum, Theory, and Application

2012-01-07T14:17:00.000-08:00

https://www.createspace.com/3765903

This fantastic collection of papers explores the idea of a new paradigm for EFL/ESL using technology as the vehicle.

Highly recommended for EFL/ESL teachers, chairpeople of English departments, educators, English curriculum writers, English learning theorists and linguists, and anyone else interested in education using technology.

Information Literacy as an International Concept

2012-01-03T16:37:00.000-08:00

A BROAD TO NARROW PERSPECTIVE ON INFORMATION LITERACY AND HOW IT APPLIES IN EDUCATION

Consisting of the following sections:

[Information Literacy Defined Broadly; Socio-Cultural Dimension of Information Literacy; An Academic Information Literacy; Information Literacy Integrated with UDL Curricula; Information Literacy Degree of Implementation Based on Grade Level; Origin and Use of the Term: Information Literacy; An Educational Definition of Information Literacy; Addressing 21st century literacies and Information Literacy used in Education; Information Literacy as Envisioned in a Multicultural UDL Classroom; Information Literacy in the First Grade; In Conclusion; References]

INFORMATION LITERACY DEFINED BROADLY

Information Literacy is difficult to define. While it is possible to rely on a single definition of Information Literacy a person must be careful which definition they use. Most definitions that are available are currently slanted toward one or another group’s agenda, based on context. These definitions should be looked at with caution, and someone who has researched Information Literacy will know that they are but part of a larger, more inclusive definition that is not commonly in use, nor easy to find. Due to this problem part of this paper is concerned with discovering the definition of Information Literacy, and how and why it is different for educational purposes.

In order to define Information Literacy in a way that is useful for us in education, we’ll have to review the overall trend of use of the term Information Literacy. While various educational definitions do exist, they, and the standards derived from them may not take everything into account. Information Literacy has become a phrase that is used in so many fields as to have a spider’s web of meaning.

Each definition of Information Literacy is valid from its own perspective. However, different perspectives tend to define Information Literacy solely for their agenda, application, perspective, or use. The most recent definition of Information Literacy encountered in the research of this paper is from the American Library Association, aka the ALA.

However, it is somewhat problematic that there are several possible definitions at www.ala.org, the oldest (and yet most recently republished of the sources I looked at) of which is “To be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.” (from “American Library Association. Presidential Committee on Information Literacy.Final Report.(Chicago: American Library Association, 1989)”) (source 5.A., www.ala.org, 2009).

A second source from the ALA, A Library Advocate’s Guide to Building Information Literate Communities, gives nine separate definitions for different audiences in answer to the question, “What is Information Literacy?” (source 5.B., www.ala.org, 2001)

The third, and perhaps clearest ALA definition of Information Literacy is from the web page titled Information Literacy for Faculty and Administrators:
“There are many different definitions of information literacy, but perhaps the best succinct and comprehensive definition is:
• Information literacy is a set of abilities requiring individuals to “recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information.” Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education. American Library Association. 2006. (Accessed 27 May 2009).

A more comprehensive definition communicating the substance and breadth of information literacy is also useful.” (source 5.C., www.ala.org, no date given)
However, notice that the ALA definitions do not make cultural considerations nor include other perspectives on Information Literacy. The ALA perspective is based in western, particularly U.S. culture, with an emphasis on academics, libraries, and learning.

Another definition, for example, consists of the business perspective from western culture. This perspective tends more toward the free economy, supply-and-demand market. The term used here, infomediary, more or less refers to a person who helps people access information but who can also restrict information. (Taylor, 2003) “At the rural level in developing countries, infomediaries are often NGOs. Each has its own agenda which could be political, social, linked to religion etc. The information they generate and provide will be informed by those agendas, or those of the donor agencies funding them. People need to know how to evaluate such information.” (Taylor, p. 21, 2003). Just because there is a free economy doesn’t mean that information is freely given, freely gained, or free, which means that Information Literacy in some cases isn’t fully realized due to business limits.

The last definition given consideration in this paper is that of Information Literacy is one that relates to politics. This is an aspect of Information Literacy, which is often combined with an educational or business standpoint (or others). Typically, politics involve access to information, control of sets of Information Literacy skills that are given or withheld, and other issues of culture or ideology. “Among other points made were about the inadequacy of such a ‘librarianship’ model to explain how sources of information are designed, created and propagated, and the importance of the sometimes problematic role of ‘information intermediaries’. In societies where direct access to sources of information is limited and skills in handling information are not widespread, information intermediaries are ‘gatekeepers’ who have the power to facilitate access to information, but who often control, filter or bias information or deny it to those of whom they don’t approve.” (Taylor, pps. 2-3, 2003)

This relates to issues where anti-poverty groups may use their own definition of Information Literacy to further their own goals, in the belief that Information Literacy will lead to the betterment of humanity. “It was agreed that we need to participate in other international forums to promote a pro-poor perspective, to head off the tendency to reserve privileged access to information and freedom of expression.” (Taylor, p. 3, 2003)

While there are probably more definitions, this is sufficient to show that there is more than one definition, and that these definitions vary widely based on the agenda of each group that creates a definition for their purposes. To obtain a broader, more inclusive and accurate definition we have to give consideration to all of these definitions and extract the common themes. An even more accurate definition might be rendered by researching further perspectives on Information Literacy.

An example of a possible broader definition of Information Literacy is: Information Literacy is the field of study of information, permeating all academic fields and perspectives, where ‘information’ is anything that is to be communicated, and where ‘literacy’ indicates knowledge of and use of skills to obtain information.

From this definition we have the importance of communication to Information Literacy. There can, then, be Information Literacy specialists in fields such as Art Information Literacy, Medical Information Literacy, Social Information Literacy, Educational Information Literacy, etc. In essence, any field that communicates ideas or knowledge, abstract or tangible, meshes with Information Literacy and has to be acknowledged as a part of the integrated whole. In this sense, communication studies are a social branch of Information Literacy.

SOCIO-CULTURAL DIMENSION OF INFORMATION LITERACY

Since the social aspect of Information Literacy must invariably be associated with education, it is important to how we look at Information Literacy. Part of this is to acknowledge culture as containing the social layers of Information Literacy. Different cultures have different ways of relating knowledge, doing research, thinking, and categorizing/filing information. In other words, there is Information Literacy intrinsic to each culture which existed long before the term was ever conceived.

This intrinsic Information Literacy must be tied into local educational efforts; both as part of an integrative education that includes the community and as a way of enabling cultural exchange of knowledge. However, to apply this intrinsic cultural Information Literacy, we have to know what it is, how it exists, how it works, and how it relates to the originating culture. The intrinsic cultural Information Literacy is one part of the curriculum which has to be determined locally, based on the cultures present in the school and the Information Literacy standards that apply to each culture.

There are at least two ways of getting these alternative culturally-based skills to the students. The first way, which is preferable, is to have an adult from the culture who is an Information Literacy Specialist for their own culture present their own ways of Information Literacy in a way consistent with their cultural teachings.

The second preferred way is to get community members of other cultures involved and collaborating in teaching their ways of Information Literacy. To do this, the community members involved would need a task sheet explaining Information Literacy in the educational context and how they can contribute to it in the cultural context.

Another valid way is for an Information Literacy specialist in general, a well-trained teacher, or a Library Media Specialist to present the alternative cultural ways.

One wonderful thing about these different cultures of Information Literacy is that none of them are truly conflicting. All different ways of managing/transmitting information are valid in their own context. The difficult part is for students to understand that there are many other non-cultural contexts, and that each culture has its own context.

AN ACADEMIC INFORMATION LITERACY

The definition from the ALA is the definition of Information Literacy that is most and primarily applicable to the future of American Education. Any academic pursuit of Information Literacy at an international and/or cultural level is missing from the ALA guidelines, however. Information Literacy, as an academic field, would have to consider Information Literacy at a higher and broader level than the ALA, allowing for specialization in Information Literacy of specific regions, countries, states, localities, and cultures.

There would be, for example, Information Literacy international specialists, Information Literacy local specialists, and Information Literacy cultural specialists. Additionally, there will be specialists based in certain groups with certain agendas, such as a business Information Literacy specialist, or a governmental Information Literacy specialist. Simply put, the true definition of Information Literacy will have to be inclusive.

INFORMATION LITERACY INTEGRATED WITH UDL CURRICULA

There are several ways for Information Literacy to be divided into different groups of skills, based on the needs of the organization. Since this paper is education-related, it will assume these groupings as being based on educational needs and standards.

The ALA standards are very good, as well as the Big6™ standards. I think that perhaps one useful method for education to align with Information Literacy is to have the standards adapted by grade level. To do this, it would be ideal if the ALA and/or Big6™ standards are merged with UDL guidelines in the creation of curriculum.

INFORMATION LITERACY DEGREE OF IMPLEMENTATION BASED ON GRADE LEVEL

Also, the degree to which Information Literacy is taught in any grade increases from primary school through graduate level academics. For example, a more general set of skills is taught, and built from over the years so that students at a certain grade level have Information Literacy skills of a certain level. In general, at graduation from high school, students should have sufficient Information Literacy skills to meet the standards for higher-learning academics.

At this point, they are prepared for a higher level of Information Literacy skills, at which time broadening the scope of Information Literacy to include the systems of other cultures, groups, and countries might be a good idea. This could also be when Information Literacy becomes a field of research and study for students, leading to specialization eventually.

Although some books and publications on Information Literacy standards may include such integration plans based on grade level, they may not have realistic goals defined through research that include the systems of other cultures.

ORIGIN AND USE OF THE TERM: INFORMATION LITERACY

Many of the literacies I mention above, such as media and computer skills, seem to indicate that the concept of literacy has to be expanded from what it was a decade ago, let alone a century ago.

Literacy, in its earliest senses probably refers to (literate, literature) reading and writing skills, and perhaps loosely to oral spoken skills based on the grammar used in speech indicating degree of literacy. At that time only reading, writing, and perhaps oral tradition (e.g. Shakespeare, bards, troubadours, songs, and poetry) were related to literacy. However, in the past there were other literacies as well if we consider ‘literacy’ in the way it is currently being used.

Understanding the basis of and meanings apparent and hidden within religious art is a type of literacy that was not necessarily recognized as such. Perhaps it would have simply been considered ‘art appreciation’ at the time. Yet, that literacy did exist, as well as the literacy required to create such works.

Survival skills in the forest, such as reading the signs of nature, would have been a type of ‘literacy’ based on a survival/cultural context. Guild-learned skills would’ve been yet another type of ‘literacy.’

Culturally, different ways of knowing would have been considered literacy by these broader standards. Yet, the distinction between literacies and skills was made due to the etymology of the word.

However, at this time ‘literacy’ has been increasingly expanded to suggest use of a wide variety of tools with appropriate relevant information processing skills. And yet this is one of the problems with the term, Information Literacy.

Strict translations of ‘literacy’ result in less than applicable results. “There is not a unified term to denote information literacy in the Spanish-speaking world. The Spaniards have favored the phrase “Alfabetizacioninformacional” in their recent meetings, a phrase that in Mexico is translated as “Alfabetizacion informative”. However, the term that has been coined in Mexico and used in some countries of Latin America, is “Desarrollo de habilidadesinformativas (DHI)”, a term that also emphasizes the process rather than the result of user information training.” (Lau, p. 33, 2007).

Lau adds that “There is a general reluctance to use information literacy as such, because it denotes “rather basic skills”. Information literacy means, for most people, the challenge of not being able to read and write the challenge of being illiterate. Users who are graduates, professors and education administrators reject to attend workshops where they will be “alphabetized”. (Lau, p. 34, 2007)
Either the word ‘literacy’ needs another definition, or in translation it must be noted explicitly which definition of literacy is used.

We could also remove ‘literacy’ from all non-academic uses of the term. Thus, for business, it would be called Business Information Specialization, rather than ‘literacy.’ In other words, reserve use of the term ‘literacy’ to be only applied when related to education, academics, and library skills. After all, once a person is Information Literate they would be ready to take on professional level research.

AN EDUCATIONAL DEFINITION OF INFORMATION LITERACY

To revisit the earlier general definition of Information Literacy, let us adapt it to this new concept of being solely for education...
Information Literacy: A field of study and research of information and ways of knowing; wherein ‘information’ is considered to be anything that is to be communicated, documented, or otherwise recorded, filed or transmitted; whether the information is ideological, ideas, knowledge, or in any other form; also wherein ‘literacy’ is considered to represent the acquisition and use of skills and denotes that Information Literacy as a term is intended only to represent academic, educational, and library-associated interests; and wherein Information Literacy is acknowledged to have cultural and other contexts that must be identified to know what area of Information Literacy is being discussed.

Thus, it is not Information Literacy when the agenda is related solely to business and customer market research. We might call such an area Business Information Research, or Consumer Indexing System, or something else, but we’ll take the ‘literacy’ term out of it because it’s not in a historically related context and has a different purpose/agenda.

However, this is still a difficult position, since research in Business schools may constitute Information Literacy since its purpose is academic. However, for the sake of argument, once the context has changed and the information research is conducted as market research for business purposes, it is no longer a strictly academic domain. And yet, if such a study generates information, that information will undoubtedly be recorded and retrievable in a way that makes it possible for an Information Literacy specialist to use.

ADDRESSING 21ST CENTURY LITERACIES AND INFORMATION LITERACY USED IN EDUCATION

As noted above, listing all 21st century skills as literacies in their own right would make an extensive list. Therefore, we’ll only use the education/academic/library context for our consideration of how to use Information Literacy to address the needs of students researching another culture. However, we cannot remove Information Literacy from its intrinsic links to culture.

One problem that exists is defining what Information Literacy means to different grades. It certainly means a slow progression of developing the full set of skills, but which skills apply when? Perhaps the best way to proceed with Information Literacy is to consider skills to be learned based on the outcomes desired. Certainly, children will probably not be writing essays until sixth, seventh or even eighth grade. However, writing papers is only one expression and outcome of Information Literacy.

With UDL involved, we will have to consider several outputs of results as being viable alternatives to papers. (see www.cast.org for further information about UDL. Retrieved from: http://udlonline.cast.org/guidelines)

Variable outputs are also a factor of the Big6™ standards, which allows for flexible demonstration of learned skills. “Academic content area standards emphasize finding creative solutions to problems for which we do not yet have answers, and communicating those solutions in a format appropriate for the audience. We want to produce students who can “think outside the box” to generate ideas and create solutions that have so far eluded us. In order to achieve that objective, we must challenge them to flex their higher level thinking skills throughout school.” (Murray, p. 78, 2008)

The younger the age group, the less writing involved and perhaps more modeling, acting, demonstration, talking, music, art, and other forms expressing skill acquisition. Perhaps, given research, we would know which of these gives the best results at each grade.

To begin with, let us assume an unusual, but not impossible situation, which is that the curriculum for this school or program has been developed using UDL with Information Literacy integrated, and local cultural differences have been acknowledged and valued.

INFORMATION LITERACY AS ENVISIONED IN A MULTICULTURAL UDL CLASSROOM

Taking from the above thoughts, let’s envision the UDL Information Literacy classroom situation. We’ll imagine one example from the first grade in order to demonstrate how differently, yet similarly, Information Literacy translates for different age groups. We’ll also consider this to be a multicultural school in the U.S. with a majority population of Latin American students, a minority population of Native American Indians, and a minority population of Caucasians. A general area for this imaginary exercise is in the Southwest region of the United States.

A key component for this to work, then, is collaboration, community, and context. “Collaboration between school professionals and parents and families is less about creating a set of activities than it is about forming a mindset based on “want to” rather than “ought to.” This is especially important when working with families from diverse racial and cultural groups.” (Friend &Bursuck, p. 302, 1996 (from inset: Working Together: Creating a School Environment for Collaborating with Parents))

The first benefit of UDL is that it allows for multicultural classrooms and differences in backgrounds and learning styles. With Information Literacy integrated, we are basically providing for all of the students different ‘ways of knowing,’ as well as for different ways of expressing their knowledge with the ultimate goals defined by Information Literacy for this project.

We are also giving the students a broader, better-defined set of Information Skills that have multicultural relevancy, and validating for students that their own culture’s ways of knowing are acknowledged, accepted, and valued.

INFORMATION LITERACY IN THE FIRST GRADE

In a classroom of first grade students, they have a task that involves one way of learning how to know things. The previous week, they discussed knowing by using colors and decided that one way of knowing is to ‘look.’ A Hispanic art teacher came in to teach them how to look at various pieces of children’s art from Latin America. The response task involved was to match sets of colors that were slightly off-hue in reasonable groupings. Then, the teacher gave them in-between colors, and after some consternation the students came to the conclusion that these belonged in two groups at once, and that together they all made a color wheel. How did they know a color belonged in two groups? They looked.

This week, they are learning another way of knowing. One of the Apache parents comes in to help children learn to ‘watch’ to learn. Children are asked what will happen if the ball is placed on the slide. They answer correctly, probably. However, the parent then asks how they know this, then demonstrates by rolling a ball down an angled slide.

The conclusion is that they know this because they’ve seen it happen before, and the Apache relates this to a story from their oral tradition. Then the teacher places some other kind of object on the slide. What will happen? Although the object is unfamiliar, the children may (correctly) infer that the same will happen with another object. At this age, however, they are told that they ‘know’ this by ‘watching’ what happened before. This lesson fits with traditional ways of knowing in all cultures. Additionally, by teaching these first observational skills, children are on their way to becoming self-learners.

There are multiple tools to use in conjunction with Information Literacy: computers, libraries, community resource centers, non-profit organizations, cell phones, radios, art, museums, and more. Which tools are used depend on the lesson, but the important thing to note here is that the number of options available to teaching Information Literacy allow for splendidly flexible, engaging, and interesting lessons with tangible results.

In fact, studies could be done (in non-UDL situations) to see how highly students rate these Information Literacy experiences, which may find that they value, enjoy, and learn more from these activities than from typical classroom experiences. On the other hand, students in UDL/Information Literacy Integrated programs would probably find all of their classroom experiences valuable.

IN CONCLUSION

Information Literacy is intrinsically tied to culture, the community, and self-learning. It is also used within different contextual situations and is intricately related to all fields of study.

Students must be able to recognize that Information Literacy has different contexts, different cultural expectations, and that Information Literacy applies in all fields. Information Literacy standards must be research-based, culturally-based, and contextually based.

For a multicultural school, this means that administrators and teachers should all be aware of the different Information Literacies represented by the different cultures within the school, and all of these should be taught to the student population at least to a basic degree. Thus students of different cultures will understand how each other learns, and be able to help each other learn better.
Schools must look to the community for Information Literacy insight to be provided in cultural context to students. In conclusion, Information Literacy is complex, but with good research, community collaboration, and integrated implementation it doesn’t have to be taught to students in a complex nor rushed manner.

References

1. Friend, M. and Bursuck, W.D. (1996). Including students with special needs: a practical guide for classroom teachers (Fifth Edition). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc.

2. Lau, J. [.pdf] (2007). Information literacy: an international state-of-the-art report [I read section on Latin America, pps. 33-38] (Second Draft). Retrieved from http://www.ifap.ru/pr/2007/070824aa.pdf

3. Murray, J.R. (2008). Achieving educational standards using the Big6™. Columbus, Ohio: Linworth Publishing Inc.

4. Taylor, C. (Ed.). (2003). Information Literacy, the Information Society and international development: report of a meeting. [.pdf] Retrieved from http://www.archive.org/details/InformationLiteracyTheInformationSocietyAndInternationalDevelopment

5.A. ALA definition of information literacy [.pdf] (2009). Retrieved from ALA website: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/issues/infolit/standards/using/infolit-highered.pdf

5.B. A library advocate’s guide to building information literate communities [.pdf] [Action Pack 2001] (2001). Retrieved from ALA website: http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/ola/informationliteracy.pdf

5.C. Information literacy for faculty and administrators. Retrieved from ALA website: http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/issues/infolit/overview/faculty/faculty.cfm

6. UDL Guidelines – Educator Checklist. Retrieved from www.cast.org: http://udlonline.cast.org/guidelines

Dualistic Thinking, Maintaining Philosophy, and Maturing Society

2011-12-04T03:48:00.000-08:00

Philosophy is a necessary replacement for polytheism in a monotheistic setting. This is because all of the aspects of humanity assigned to multiple gods require much deeper thinking than the dualistic thinking that becomes more common with monotheism. In essence, the transition from multiple gods (with multiple human characteristics to be considered) to a single God (relatively inhuman and ideal, who only gave humanity its form, not its characteristics) may have changed thinking from multiplistic to dualistic for many generations.

Note: As a concession to the human nature of humanity, God gave us Jesus (from the Christian perspective), who was entirely human yet miraculous and ideal (just how entirely human isn't really mentioned, and such writings have been excluded from the bible).

In order to maintain deeper and broader thinking on multiple levels and of multiple viewpoints (humanistic) we have to maintain philosophy as a higher order of thinking which is necessary in higher and middle education.

Dualistic thinking is better for younger children as part of scaffolding in order to get to multiplistic thinking in middle/high school and above. So, education should use dualistic thinking for elementary school at a higher degree than in later schooling. This is necessary for maturing societies in which monotheism and dualistic thinking are prevalent.

Educational Reform Research

2011-12-02T09:45:00.000-08:00

My research of MA 2020 Reform initiative as well as of the Reform Leader William T. Harris can be found at the following links.

MA 2020 Reform: http://curriculumreform.wikispaces.com/Massachusetts+Reform+2020

William Torrey Harris: http://curriculumreform.wikispaces.com/William+Torrey+Harris+Reform+Leader

Excerpt from Historical English Teaching Precedents and the VR System

2011-11-12T10:55:00.000-08:00

Multilingual World

In many English teaching and learning literature and philosophy there are considered to be four or five important skills associated with learning English effectively. I disagree completely with this, and see it as a narrow conception promoted solely within the discipline of English or the discipline of Linguistics, or even as something of an educational hangover from the formative years of teaching English in the United States (and perhaps other countries).

I actually see the situation as more hierarchical. Communication comes first, followed by Communication in English. Communication in English includes Nonverbal Communication, Conversation, Reading, and Writing.

Following these, we have component skills of Conversation, which are Listening, Thinking, Speaking, and Lexicon.

Nonverbal English Communication is also covered by the VR System, but would consist of a type of “listening” (any sense other than ears), Thinking, and a type of “speaking (body language, sign language, sensory response such as making noises, motions, etc. with something).’

Notice that of these three, Thinking remains relatively the same as with normal English Conversation. As disorders are becoming better-treated, thinking normally will become more accessible to students who have disabilities (assuming that better input translates to better output). The Lexicon of students who have disabilities is sometimes unique to the individual and their personal mode of communication. Expanding their English modes of communication, however, is desirable and necessary.

Reading and Writing require Thinking, Grammar, and Lexicon. However, Reading and Writing get better if they include Conversation in the product, just as Conversation gets better by including Readings and Writings in the communicative act. Nonverbal communication can be wonderful and fun, but is augmented by Conversation, Reading, Writing, and therefore by Grammar, Lexicon, Listening, Speaking, and Thinking.

The multiple primary means of communicating in English noted here are Nonverbal, Reading, Writing, and Conversation. Not all of these methods for communicating exist in all cultures, but if you can accept that English has (at minimum, because there are several more e.g. information literacy systems are unique to each culture) four primary means of communication then it is easy to see that a person who is learning a second language is actually needing to learn (at least) four means of communication in that new language in order to have an integrative, holistic language perspective.

Also note that learning one new language holistically means a person doubles their methods of communication to eight, and that a third language triples their methods, so that they would have twelve methods of communication. There are two points that derive from this.

The first is that people who learn only one method of English communication are missing out on the other 75% of English communication to a large degree, and that everyone should be taught 100% (at least four methods of communication or more if a language has more) of the language’s communicative methods. This can’t be done effectively in parts, and must be approached in a holistic manner for higher efficiency and success.

The second point is that if most of the world population has at least eight methods of communication available to them, and there are only seven degrees of separation (what was that from?) then we should all be able to communicate with someone in at least one method. This means a 100% communication-networked planet, reducing inefficiencies that currently exist to the point that information transfer is not just rapid, but almost instantaneous between any two people on Earth.

Since this is the direction that humanity is moving, we should prepare for it with something like the VR System.

Visual Breakdown of the Current Educational System

2011-02-26T07:46:00.001-08:00

Bill Gates Concerning the next generation of online education. Pay attention to the second half in particular.

2011-01-03T07:24:00.001-08:00

Bill Gates on Internet Education

2011-01-03T07:14:00.001-08:00

deleted

2010-07-02T05:04:00.000-07:00

Other Ways of Knowing, post 1

2010-03-14T16:38:00.000-07:00

An Analysis of the Title of Keith H. Basso’s Book, Wisdom Sits in Places

The title of Basso’s Wisdom Sits in Places reflects the nature of Western Apache thought. In its brevity and clarity, the title accurately says everything about how places and wisdom are related. The only thing missing from the title is an explanation, e.g. how does it sit in places, why, what, and whose wisdom? This paper is not concerned with matters of explanation, but rather with the meaning of the title.

The meaning of the title is fairly simple. The title states the meaning succinctly and precisely. There is not much to be analyzed with regard to the meaning of the title. Perhaps just word choice is available to be analyzed, then.

Why is ‘wisdom’ chosen, as opposed to knowledge, intelligence, or any other term? Quite simply, this is the term used by the Western Apache themselves to describe the issue. The title itself was stated by Dudley Patterson, “Wisdom sits in places.”(p. 127) Although this was spoken in Western Apache and translated by Basso, I am fairly certain that we can assume that Basso’s translation is based on an Apache translation of their own language. Additionally, we can presume that Apaches that read Basso’s book would have helped to reveal and eliminate any mistakes on the ethnographer’s part.

It could have been translated to any other word that is similar, like ‘understanding, knowledge, insight, perception, astuteness, intelligence, acumen, or good judgment,’ (MS Word synonym suggestions), but it wasn’t. The chosen operative word is ‘wisdom.’ Giving the time at which this text was written, it would be a relatively safe assumption that Western Apache knew English well enough to have corrected Basso if he’d had such a major misunderstanding of the term that became part of the book’s title. So, clearly wisdom is the intended term.

The same analysis can be applied to the rest of the title, drawing the conclusion that the statement made by the title is exactly the one intended. So, now that we’ve ruled out linguistic translational drift, we can address the meaning within the words.

By wisdom, the Western Apache include all synonymous meanings, like the suggestions from MS Word noted above. Their use of the term is loose in descriptive regard, but very constricted with regard to place. The word ‘wisdom’ (or rather, the Apache word from which the translation stems) quite simply does not have any meaning if it is not related to place.

Why does the wisdom sit in places? ‘Sit’ is a very appropriate choice, since when you realize that Apache place-names put the viewer in a particular position, which is where the ancestors perhaps ‘sat’ when the place-name was conceived. “To picture a site from its name, then, requires that one imagine it as if standing or sitting at a particular spot…”(p. 89) Additionally, places “provide points” (p. 109) from which to look out at current life events (while sitting thoughtfully, maybe?).

Wisdom Sits in Places, Keith H. Basso, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1996

Reflection on the Tattooed Man by Herbert Kohl

2009-11-04T10:18:00.001-08:00

I've written something about the Tattooed Man by Herbert Kohl. The chapter is well-written, and certainly brings back memories of childhood and the love I had for writing during journal time, as well as experiencing professional live performances as eye-opening.

I have to view the world with some sense of hope. My philosophy is that it's better by far to create than destroy. Ironically, when I write, I tend to write fiction or fantasy.

The paragraph that I can most closely identify with is the one that begins on page 58 and ends on page 59.

"Live music, and especially that particular concert, was beautiful beyond all expectation." (Kohl, page 58) This sentence alone brings back memories of elementary school, and going to Ashland, Oregon to view Shakespeare at the theatre, or a concert at the Peter Britt Festival. Or, as I was fortunate in this regard, watching my parents and grandmother play the piano at the concert hall in Yreka, and turning the pages in the sheet music for my father.

The upper grades, six through eight I believe, went to one Shakespeare play per year. The teacher would prepare us for it by having us spend a week or two, or maybe it was more because it sure seemed like forever, reading from the book (it was The Taming of the Shrew one year). The work in class was extremely tough and highbrow. I barely understood any of what was going on in the play. And when we finally went to the play, it was still way beyond me. I believe I may have even fallen asleep during the play, since the English accents were done in an authentic manner and almost impossible to decode.

Does this mean that the event was a failure for the students? I don't think so. "I might even call that experience life-transforming, in that music, all kinds of music I never knew of as a child, has become an abiding joy in my life. It is hard for many people to realize that what is ordinary for them, a matter of common experience, can be a revelation to other people." (p.58) Between the Britt Festival and Shakespeare, I believed that all of my peers had had the fortune to experience live performances.

For me, this experience, and a variety of music presented by my dad, and at our surprisingly multicultural talent shows, as well as by my 3rd through 5th grade teacher who played guitar and sang with us, all led me to experience the variety in the world around me. "Throughout my teaching life my first encounter with live Mozart has been a metaphor for the joy of discovering that the world is larger and more beautiful than you imagined it. It has allowed me to explore new subjects and themes over the years, to move from a Bronx-centric stance in the world to one that is open to experiencing the range and variety of human creations that make life complex and so confoundingly challenging." (p.58) It was a breadth of education and open-mindedness applied to everything that I was under the impression was given to all students.

Only as I grew older did I realize that what I'd perceived as a shared experience was far from being that. It's something of a shame that not everyone can experience a quality live performance at a young age. It would be better yet if they could experience many. I'm talking about a carefully choreographed performance by professionals in their respective fields.

This brings me to the single most important statement in this paragraph, in my opinion. "It has also allowed me to understand that not knowing something is no crime if one never had an opportunity to know it." (p.58) Why is this so overwhelmingly important? I have encountered people who tend to put down children when they don't know something. These people tend to operate on the principle that if you don't know something that they think that they know, you must be stupid. Perhaps the reality is that these people are acting out aggressively in response to defensive feelings they had as children, when they didn't know anything and were embarrassed in front of a classroom.

I can't conceive of how they could possibly think that someone else is stupid for not knowing something. If you don't know something, it doesn't mean you're lacking intelligence. It just means you're lacking knowledge. Knowledge can be gained a lot more quickly than intelligence. I particularly take issue with people who try to assassinate the character of others by insulting their intelligence. "I refuse to judge students on the basis of what they can't do or don't know." (p.58)

"Rather, one of my roles as a teacher is to insinuate complexity into the lives of my students, to present them with new experiences and ideas whether they be contemporary or ancient, local or global." (p.58) As a teacher, I would endeavor to pursue these same goals. And, by following the path that I am following, I will have a wealth of experience and cultures to draw from.

Perhaps a better perspective to take on this chapter would be that it is about how Kohl became a 'hopemonger' in spite of adversity, as opposed to being a chapter about the virtues of being a 'hopemonger.'

"I Won't Learn From You" And Other Thoughts on Creative Maladjustment, Herbert Kohl, The New Press, 1994

Modalities in Education

2009-11-04T10:09:00.000-08:00

I am not very familiar with the Multiple Intelligences, but I have encountered them in various ways over the years. The main way was through tests designed to indicate a career path. These kind of tests are great for indicating jobs that you might like.

Willingham has truly opened my eyes in a number of regards. The biggest eye-opener for me, which makes perfect sense, is that there is no evidence that applying modalities when teaching individuals based on their professed preference has any benefits.

I think the most important problem with modality approaches is the assumption that modality can be applied successfully based on the individual without regard to what is being taught. Teaching someone with a visual preference using a visual modality will not bear more fruit than the usual teaching techniques. Another problem is that modality approaches assume that children learn best in only one way, and that we have to specialize instruction for each individual student. Willingham's research has debunked this myth, perhaps.

Instead, the modalities are most usefully applied in the classroom as supplemental materials. They are more useful for livening up the class than for teaching specific individuals. With regard to workload, this should make teachers happy. It means that rather than spending inordinate amounts of time per student, they can create their lesson plan for the entire class, with a minimal focus on specific students 'learning styles.' In other words, only the students who truly need special circumstances will require that preparation.

What we've learned from Willingham is that modality can be used in the classroom to liven up the material in general. Certain subjects will lend themselves to certain modalities more readily than others. For example, music appreciation is primarily taught by listening, although basic music theory can be illustrated on the board as well. However, since "Children are more alike than different in terms of how they think and learn," it isn't necessary for modality thinking to dominate the classroom. (Willingham, page 113)

Other subjects can be taught in a variety of modalities which can make the subject matter more interesting and applicable for the students. Altogether, it is perhaps best to use modalities in a holistic manner. They should be integrated with the standard curriculum as supplemental materials in order to maximize their usefulness. I think that it isn't necessary to use modalities in instruction, but I also think that the students would be appreciative of their inclusion, even if kept to a minor role in the classroom.

Why Don't Students Like School?, Willingham, Daniel T., Jossey-Bass, 2009

Reflection on the value of MI in Learning

2009-09-28T00:48:00.001-07:00

I have always been convinced that there is a learning style for each of the senses. One can learn by touch, smell, taste, sound, and vision. If we want to take the 5 basic senses and expand them to include the additional senses that have been added by research over the years, this statement still holds.

Academically, people learn primarily by sound and vision. The typical elementary school system is set up so that the bulk of learning is done by seeing, hearing, and doing. In high school, we lose a lot of the doing, and teaching leans more heavily on seeing and hearing. In trade schools, the emphasis is on doing. In culinary schools I think all five senses are used.

Some people learn better using a particular sense than others. Some people learn better from auditory lessons, some learn better by visual demonstration, and some learn better by other senses.

I think this way because in helping others to learn and in my own learning, I've had to apply the use of the senses, and find that certain senses help to learn certain things more quickly. Do you learn that something is hot by looking at it? While there is often a visual indicator, the very first time you picked up something hot, you learned that it was hot by the sense of touch. (I'm including hot/cold, pain, and pressure in my definition of touch.)

I think that what Willingham is discussing in the first chapter is the relevance of a problem to a student. If conditions are right, the subject is relevant and the student can learn. If conditions are wrong, the subject becomes irrelevant to the student. A student might like candy bars, but if given a problem about candy that the student can't solve, the fact that they are working with candy becomes irrelevant.

Conversely, if a subject is made relevant by being appropriate to the student's level of development with regard to the course, the student can excel and is interested in doing so.

So, it seems that what Willingham is really saying is that any student can learn under the right conditions. This means that no teacher should give up on their students. At the same time, it makes things a lot more complicated for teachers.

It isn't practicable to teach every student at their level. Ironically, while it seems that to do so would be easier at smaller schools where individual students have more attention, it may actually be easier to do at bigger schools. Bigger schools have more individuals at the same level, making it easier to teach large classes at a level appropriate to them.

I found it very interesting that people who already know the facts and have the procedures for learning start out ahead on everything. What this implies is that by giving open-book tests and not requiring students to learn the material, teachers are doing a disservice to their students.

Considering that recent research has indicated that long term memory is suffering in modern times due to devices that remember everything for us, we need to make sure that long term memory doesn't become a thing of the past. Thus, we have to force students to learn and remember things rather than giving them an easy way out.

When the thinking process does not provide an easy solution, there is no satisfaction for having spent so much time thinking. It should come as no surprise, then, that people really don't want to think about problems that they have no knowledge about. They prefer to stick their heads in the sand and hope that someone who understands the problem better will solve it. And, if we consider what Willingham says about how "factual knowledge must precede skill," we can see how a lack of knowledge in the subject matter of the problem can cause the 'head in the sand' phenomenom.

However, people also like to have solutions. When you give people a problem to take home and consider, they will often return the next day with interesting solutions. Many of the solutions might not work, but I think that what is important is that they tried to get to an answer. A class that has no facts to base their solutions on is probably less likely to come up with even possible answers.

The text and the movies we watched have added a new level of understanding about this subject for me. It will take some time for me to assimilate this information and put it to use, but I am now aware of a whole new aspect of learning.

Willingham, Daniel T. Why Don't Students Like School? 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.