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Transcript of PRTESOLGRAM Aug 2011
P R T E S O L - G R A M! AUGUST 2011
! PAGE 1
Sharon Robinson
Jackie, Values, and BaseballSharon Robinson is the author of many works of fic3on and nonfic3on. She has wri7en several widely praised books about her father, baseball legend Jackie Robinson, including Jackie’s Nine: Jackie Robinson’s Values to Live By, Promises to Keep: How Jackie Robinson Changed America, and her new picture book, TesFng the Ice, illustrated by Kadir Nelson. In addi3on to her wri3ng career, Ms. Robinson is an educa3onal consultant for Major League Baseball. In this capacity, she oversees school and community-‐based educa3onal programs. Ms. Robinson is Vice Chairman of the Jackie Robinson Founda3on and serves on the boards for the Roberto Clemente Sports City Complex in Carolina, Puerto Rico.
Paul Begley
Integra9on of Ethics and Values in the CurriculumDr. Paul Begley is a professor of educa3onal leadership at Nipissing University in Canada and execu3ve director of UCEA Center for the Study of Leadership and Ethics. He was a full professor at Penn State un3l 2009. He was a school teacher and school principal before working at the university level. He was awarded the Master Professor Award by the University Council for Educa3onal Administra3on. The UCEA Master Professor Award is given to an individual faculty member whose record is so dis3nguished that the UCEA must recognize this individual in a significant and 3mely manner. In addi3on, Dr. Begley’s teaching and research interests focus on all aspects of school leadership, including the influence of values and ethics on school leadership prac3ces.
Martha S. Burns
Neuroscience Applica9ons to Teaching English: How Teachers Build Brain Capaci9es That Reduce Bullying and Drop-‐out RatesDr. Martha S. Burns is an Associate Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University and serves as a Senior Clinical Specialist for Scien3fic Learning Corpora3on. She was a prac3cing Speech-‐Language Pathologist for over thirty years. Dr. Burns has published numerous journal ar3cles and three books on the neurological basis of speech and language. Dr. Burns is an engaging, dynamic and well organized presenter who offers cuZng-‐edge informa3on that is essen3al to today’s prac33oner. Her special talent is her ability to take complex informa3on and present it in a clinically meaningful and prac3cal way.
PRTESOL-GRAMA publication of the Puerto Rico Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
38th PRTESOL Annual Convention and Exhibit Plenary Speakers
P R T E S O L - G R A M! AUGUST 2011
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The mo7o of the Boy scouts is “Be Prepared”. As the month of August approaches, you and I need to be prepared to receive our new students for the upcoming school year. There are some important items that should be in your
first aid kit. Use this checklist to make sure you’re ready to start school. The key items you’ll need to be ready are a toothpick, rubberband, eraser, gum, chocolate kiss, bandaid, pencil, and a tea bag. You may ask, “Why?” Let me explain.
Toothpick: This will remind you to dig deep to find the hidden talents others have.
Rubber bands: To remind you to be flexible because people and things aren’t always the way you want
them to be.
Band aid: To help you cure those hurt feelings, yours or of others.
Pencil: To jot down every day all the blessings you receive. Eraser: To remember that we all make mistakes and nothing happens.
Bubble gum: To remind you to s3ck to every thing that takes effort. Persevere.
A chocolate Kiss: This reminds you that everyone needs a kiss and a hug daily.
Finally, the tea bag: What for? To take some 3me… to relax and make a list of all the nice things you have.
Remember: to the world you maybe only somebody,
but to somebody you may be the world.
Editor’s
CornerPRTESOL-‐Gram
Table of Contents Editor’s Corner: A First Aid Kit for Teachers.......................................2
Dr. Josué Alejandro, 2011 PRTESOL President.............. 3
Cheap (and free!) Technology That Makes Oral Produc9on Fun by Andrea Dabbs..........................5
Time to Turn the Table by John Corcoran..........................8
Tes9ng the Ice: A family Legacy by Sharon Robinson......................8
TEACHING TIPS: Random words Prof. Carmelo Arbona, Editor....... 9
Conference Calendar...................9
Focusing on the Academic Needs of La9no Students by Manuel Hernandez Carmona..10
Reducing Avoidable Errors by Hazel Davidson........................12
To Publish Or Not To Publish: An Ethical Dilemma For Ac9on Research Teachers by Petra E. Avillan-‐Leon..............14
Coping with Coinages: New arrivals in the English Language by Dr. Alicia Pousada...................16
Phone9c Reading, Or Sight Reading?by Vivian Mayol Kauffmann.........20
Using Emergent Classroom Situa2ons as Strategic Learning Opportuni2es while Engaging Students in Meaningful Research Milagros Marinez ScheZni, Ed.D. & Richard Román Spicer, Ed.D.........22
P R T E S O L - G R A M! AUGUST 2011
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PRTESOL President’s Message
We are glad that we can provide you with the second issue of the PRTESOLGRAM before the
beginning of the new semester. Hopefully, you will have more 3me to read this issue. It has many
interes3ng ar3cles about ethics, ac3on research, the
most recent developments in the English language, educa3onal technology, among others.
The PRTESOL Board has been working hard these past six months organizing professional
development ac3vi3es for our membership. The
first ac3vity was the Southern Chapter Spring Ins3tute in April; a great success in terms of
organiza3on, quality of workshops and recrui3ng new members. Then we had the Western Chapter
conference at the end April and the Metro Chapter
conference in May, both events were also very successful. Our last ac3vity of this period was the
Summer Ins9tute which focused on technology and was held at UPR Aguadilla. This ac3vity gave the
par3cipants the opportunity to have five hours of
intensive training in the effec3ve use of technology tools for their teaching. I a7ended the higher
educa3on workshop offered by Dr. Leonardo Flores which was indeed excep3onal and engaging.
One of my goals for this year has been to
make PRTESOL more visible and known by all English educators, poli3cians, and society in general.
We have been distribu3ng PRTESOL promo3onal material which has helped us make new contacts in
different places and ins3tu3ons. At the beginning
of this month we went to the legislature where we distributed the PRTESOL brochure and conven3on
poster and spoke to several key people. We s3ll have a lot of work to do in order to make PRTESOL a
more visible and respected organiza3on . Please join
us in this effort.
This coming semester we will have three
more chapter conferences, in August, Northern Chapter, in September, Eastern Chapter and
Southern Chapter in October. Then our most important event will be our 38th Annual
Conven9on on November 18-‐19 at the beau9ful
and spacious Puerto Rico Conven9on Center. The expecta3ons for our Conven3on are great. We have
three outstanding plenary speakers; Sharon Robinson (daughter of Jackie Robinson) educator
and author, Dr. Paul Begley, from Canada, Director
of the Interna3onal Center for the Study of Leadership and Ethics, and Dr. Martha Burns an
expert in the field of neuroscience and learning. We will also have 60 concurrent sessions offered by
presenters from Puerto Rico, the United States, the
Virgin islands and the Dominican Republic. Many exhibitors with the most up to date educa3onal
materials will be there. We invite you to stay at the new Sheraton Hotel and Casino next to the
Conven3on Center. Our conference par3cipants
have been given the excep3onally special rate of $139 plus taxes per night per room.
Please join us for this extraordinary professional development event for English
educators, the 38th Annual PRTESOL Conven9on
on November 18-‐19. Preregister so you can get the best rates and have the opportunity to par9cipate
in a raffle for a free night at the Sheraton Hotel. See the conven3on centerfold for all the
informa3on and forms and visit our website for
more details. www.puertoricotesol.org
May God bless you.
Dr. Josué Alejandro,
2011 PRTESOL President
P R T E S O L - G R A M! AUGUST 2011
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TESOLGRAM is a periodical service to English language educators and administrators published by
Puerto Rico TESOL, P. O. Box 366828,
San Juan, PR 00936 -6828.
Newsletter Staff Editor: Carmelo Arbona
Circulation: 1,000.
A r t i c l e s o n E n g l i s h -language teaching, theory, and education in general are welcomed. Submissions must be in MSWord format, double-spaced, no longer than five pages, and should f o l l ow APA o r TESOL Quarterly style. All entries are subject to editing for style, space, and other professional considerations.
Copyright Notice Articles may be reproduced for classroom use. Quotations up to twenty-five (25) words are permitted if credit to the author and the TESOLGRAM are included. In other situations, written permission is required.
Dr. Josué Alejandro, President
Carmelo Arbona, Editor
PRTESOL 2011 Summer Ins3tute, UPR AguadillaElectrify your Teaching: Technology in the Classroom
The Ins3tute was a great success!!! Forty-‐two PRTESOL members aIended this
excellent professional experience of hands-‐on technology workshops.
P R T E S O L - G R A M! AUGUST 2011
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Cheap (and free!) Technology That Makes Oral ProducAon Fun
Andrea DabbsESL Instructor/Trainer
www.writewiseconsul3ng.com
Looking for ways to increase authen3c speaking opportuni3es for your students? With a video camera, free soSware, and a set of headphones with a microphone, you can set up a classroom rich in authen3c oral assessment that is fun and easy to manage. When anxiety is low and excitement is high, your ESL assessments won’t feel like assessments at all. With a small amount of prepara3on you can,
• Lower students’ affec3ve filter,• Use dynamic, not sta3c, tools to
create forma3ve assessments• Provide a real, authen)c audience
for students• Collect data for oral produc3on
skills
Why these two tools? Not only are they cheap, but they are also immediately important to students of all ages. PowerPoint is the industry standard in the business world. Medical, business and law offices world-‐wide use MicrosoS Office products. Addi3onally, many students-‐-‐especially adults-‐-‐ are using video cameras with their families. It is a perfect meld
between the real world and the classroom.
PowerPoint NarraAon. Using a headset with a microphone built-‐in (approximately $15.00), you can create listening and speaking assessments for your class. Pair it up with Jing, a screen capture soSware from Techsmith.com(hIp://www.techsmith.com/download/jing), and you have the capacity to record non-‐readers because the students are able to listen and repeat.The set-‐up is fairly simple. Create a PowerPoint slide show with words, sentences or reading passages. You can design it to your liking. ASer it is created, using the microphone, record whatever oral components you wish. Dummies.com has a great online video that explains the h o w -‐ t o a t h I p : / / y o u t u . b e /QZp3jumnWUg.
How to use this in classroom? The possibili3es are endless. Students can listen and read aloud with the text or simply listen and repeat. For reading prac3ce, students can record themselves reading what the instructor has wriIen on the slides. They simply save the narra3on and the instructor can listen back to it later. As students advance, they can create their own sentences or stories and record their own narra3ons as well.
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Listening, speaking and recording themselves takes the pressure off of students to perform in a more anxiety-‐filled seeng, such as in front of the class. For some students, even having the instructor in the background can be cause for concern. Headphones provide a sense of privacy for many students and, thus, reduce any extra stress.
Students who need oral prac3ce but cannot read can s3ll use the tool. The instructor records the narra3on and the student listen and repeats. Need to grade it? Pair this up with screen capture soSware to listen to their responses. Several students can do this in a 40-‐minute class period.
Do you want pronuncia3on prac3ce? Add a web camera to the computer, and students can prac3ce ar3cula3on points on their own. No “remembering what was said” needs to happen—it is right there on the computer to listen back to. Also, it can be graded outside of class, freeing class 3me for instruc3on. Saving students oral produc3on provides a quick and easy digital porkolio of oral produc3on. Data collec3on for individual students as well as the en3re class can be done quickly and accurately.
Video Cameras. V ideo cameras p rov ide an un l imi ted resource for c rea3ng assessments. With very liIle “training”,
teachers can use a variety of techniques to encourage students to speak in English. Digital cameras come with a video op3on for short clips and digital video cameras can be purchased for as liIle as $60.00. Monitoring oral produc3on for ESL students can be tricky. When students’ perform speeches, public speaking anxiety can nega3vely influence their English produc3on. There is less anxiety when performing in front of a video camera, as opposed to these more tradi3onal “speeches” in class. For ESL students, you are more likely to get an authen3c assessment of their fluency and grammar skills. An easy way to get started with ESL students of any level is to film students reading their wri3ng or answering a ques3on. These projects require virtually no edi3ng, and cheap and easy soSware such as Windows Movie Maker make it into a movie in minutes. Beginning and Intermediate ESL students can begin videos with learning and reci3ng nursery rhymes. This provides prac3ce with rhyming words, word endings, past tense verbs, ques3ons and tag ques3ons. Tongue twisters provide pronuncia3on prac3ce with voiced & unvoiced sounds and other commonly confused beginnings and endings. As students advance, so can the projects. How-‐to projects, informa3onal v i d e o s a n d p u b l i c s e r v i c e
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announcements will give students the opportunity to not only speak, but also write and read in English. Grading is much easier and convenient. As opposed to tradi3onal speaking assessments, you have the opportunity to use the videos in two ways. First, grade what you are seeking. Second, collect data that will drive your next set of lessons. For example, if the target language for an assignment is to listen to students ask each other about their favorite food, you can listen to the ques3ons and answers. In those answers, you will catch any grammar, syntax or pronuncia3on mistakes that you need to address with your students. These mistakes may not have been caught “in the moment’ with more tradi3onal oral assessments.
Classroom management Aps:Let students do a small project before you do much instruc6on. Students are ready and oSen think themselves able to use technology on their own. Un3l they have had a chance to get their hands on the equipment, they are not doing much listening. ASer the fact, the instruc3on can be tailored to fit what students don’t know. It provides students with some confidence in themselves and authen3c learning. Plus, there may be students with a great deal of knowledge that can act as mentors during these projects.
Name your equipment. People take care of pets, not things. All technology in my classroom is named and introduced as a pet. We talk about each item and what it needs to be safe, healthy and happy. Introduce the idea of personifica3on. They name the items and check them daily to make sure they are s3ll “healthy.” Students would never drop a puppy on the ground; they should carry a video camera or laptop computer with the same deference. It’s a liIle “cutsey” but it works!
Teach nego6a6on language and require them to use it. Inevitably, you will come across groups of students who do not work well together. The older the students, the more cri3cal it is to teach them how to nego3ate. Adults in the “real world” must work together on projects. Nego3a3on in English requires advanced social language and, in many cases, understanding the subtle subtext of language. Technology projects should not be frivolous, extra ac3vi3es. They can, and should, be language-‐rich and authen3c. Keeping the language forms and func3ons available for students at all 3mes will keep them on task and make any project—video, digital or on the computer—connected to your TESOL standards and provide students with invaluable learning tools.
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Time to Turn the Tableby John Corcoran
Some of you may think I am old.But, in my mind I don’t think I am old.When it comes to reading I am bold,Or so I have been told.And perhaps I am bold, Because I know my people need to be told.
It’s true a teacher can never really succeed,Without teaching their students to read.A student can never ever really succeed,Un3l a student knows how to readA fact no one should ever concede,That we can and need to learn to read.
Street smarts and an observing eye may get you by,But inside we know most of it is a lie.Without out a full deck I played a good game.But in the game of life I always felt lame. You need the full deck to play your very best,Reading the printed page is your best bet to pass the test.
I did not learn to read as a lad of eight.I learned to read as a man, of forty-‐eight,And I have to say that was great.But, don’t you think a man that learned at forty-‐eightCould have, should have learned at eight.And wouldn’t that have been great.
I was glad and not mad.But I must admit I am sad.They s3ll call us learning disable.But we can learn; we are able.Perhaps is 3me to turn the table. Call it what it is, teaching disable.
Forget about the shame and stop the blame.Cut the cards, it`s a new game, We know we are learning-‐ableIt’s 3me to STOP using the lable “Learning-‐Disable”.It’s up to you ; it’s your deal. Are you able?
Speech Title/Synopsis - Testing the Ice: A family Legacy
by Sharon Robinson
From midwife to author and educator, Sharon Robinson learned the delicate art of risk taking from her famous parents, Jackie and Rachel Robinson. In 1947, Jackie Robinson shattered Major League Baseball’s color barrier. Today, he still holds the record for number of times he stole home during his famed ten years with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Building on this legacy of courage, Ms. Robinson partnered with Major League Baseball and Scholastic to develop Breaking Barriers: In Sports, In Life, a national character education program. Now in its 15th year, Breaking Barriers has reached over 19 million children. Using America’s sport, baseball, as a metaphor for life, the curriculum is based on the values associated with Jackie Robinson’s success on and off the field: Determination, Commitment, Persistence, Integrity, Justice, Courage, Teamwork, Citizenship, and Excellence. The heart of the program is the Breaking Barriers essay contest. The 2011 contest received nearly 10,000 essays from children across the United States, Puerto Rico, and Canada who described their efforts to overcome personal barriers. In her talk, Sharon Robinson will share her family’s inspirational story using art and family photos along with reflections on lessons learned from children who have beaten the odds.
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TEACHING TIPS: Random Words
Prof. Carmelo Arbona, Editor
When introducing parts of speech, which can be so tedious to some students, I will add an element of surprise: randomness.
Ater introducing let’s say nouns by defining what they are, giving examples of some characteris3cs of nouns (plurals, proper nouns, collec3ve, etc) I’ll write on the board the numbers from 1 to 10 or 1 to 15. Then I’ll ask the students to call out random nouns.
While the students call out, I’ll write the words on the board. Also I’ll try to make sure that we get an appropriate balance of persons, places, things, and ideas. Students paricipate ac3vely as they call out. Some3mes a student may call out a word that’s not a noun but does have a noun form. For example, a student may say beauFful. Ater clarifying that the word is not a noun but an adjec3ve, we’ll explore the term to determine if it has a noun form, beauty. Then we’ll add it to the list.
Once the list is complete, I’ll invite the students to write a paragraph or a story using all the listed nouns. At first, they students think it’s too difficult, but as they begin the task, they soon discover they can do it. They will come up with such a wide variety of stories. It becomes an excellent 3me for sharing their wri3ng with their partners or to read aloud to the class.
For students who are really just beginning, wri3ng sentences would be a sufficient task. The teacher may request that the noun be exclusively used as subject of the sentence or object.
A varia3on of this then would be to use other parts of speech: adjec3ves, verbs, adverbs, or pronouns.
For homework have students revise and rewrite the stories at home to turn in for final assessment. Stories can be added to their wri3ng porvolios.
S e n d u s y o u r T e a c h i n g T i p s t o [email protected]
CONFERENCE CALENDARMark your calendar now!
Don’t miss any of these great events en 2011!
AUGUST 13Vieques Outreach
ViequesEastern Chapter
August 20Northern Chapter
Enjoying What We Do
SEPTEMBER 10Eastern Conference
Character Values for an Effec3ve Learning
OCTOBER 15Southern Fall Conference
Pon3ficia Universidad Catolica,Ponce Campus
NOVEMBER 18-‐19 38TH ANNUAL CONVENTION AND
EXHIBITIntegra3ng Ethics, Values and Life Skills
in the Teaching of EnglishPuerto Rico Conven3on Center
and the Sheraton Hotel
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Focusing on the Academic Needs of LaAno Students
by Manuel Hernandez Carmona
Focusing on the needs of La3no students should not only be a statement made by President Barack Obama but a top priority translated into real academic policies. There are some very significant sta3s3cs revealed in the presenta3on, “Educa3onal Equity and the La3no Popula3on of the United States” by Francisco L. Rivera-‐Ba3z, presented at Teachers College, Columbia University on February 21, 2008 on the status of La3no educa3on. About 20 percent of all school age students between the ages of 5 and 17 are La3no but only 13 percent obtain college degrees. Data obtained from Rivera-‐Ba3z’ research depicts the La3no high school dropout at close to 30 percent. Because the La3no school popula3on con3nues to surge at a fast and furious rate, the needs of La3no students must be met with a clear present vision in terms of what to do and how to tackle their academic needs.
T h e a c a d e m i c n e e d s represented in numbers and sta3s3cs are alarming and reveal a huge difference between La3nos, their White counterparts and African-‐Americans. In 2007, 13 percent of
La3nos 25 and over had earned a bachelor’s degree or higher. In contrast, 32 percent of Whites and 19 percent of African-‐Americans 25 and over had a bachelor’s degree or higher (Digest of Educa3on Sta3s3cs, 2007, NCES, 2008, Table). La3nos are i m p r o v i n g i n e d u c a 3 o n a l achievement but not as rapidly as other groups. What happened to the dozens of thousands of La3nos that did not graduate from college? Why is the La3no high school dropout rate on the increase again? Despite the No Child LeS Behind Act of 2001, La3nos con3nue to qu i t s choo l and inadvertently fall behind in their quest of the so-‐called American Dream. What academic policies is the present administra3on crea3ng as a result of the already shocking sta3s3cs?
In 33 or more American states, standardized exams and the S.A.T.’s are the gateway to higher educa3on, but without a high school diploma, what kind of social , economic and academic horizons can La3no dropouts count on? How will they able to compete in America’s demanding workforce? When will the Un i ted S tates Department o f Educa3on make a serious recogni3on of culturally competencies and their ability to construct bridges to make predic3ons and outcomes about a poem, a story, an essay or a drama
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read in the English classroom? The Un i ted S tates Department o f Educa3on reading program is in dire need of a curriculum change. President Barak Obama’s past poli3cal campaign focused on the term, change. Why not get serious about changing our academic policies to help improve the quality of educa3on that La3nos and other Americans deserve as well?
Scien3fically based research has validated culturally based literature as key in the early stages of “learning to read”. Prior knowledge helps students to build bridges to make predic3ons and outcomes about the poem, story, essay or drama read in the English classroom. Reading for pleasure and iden3ty encourages the recently arrived student to make personal connec3ons. In a “learning to read” environment, pleasure and enjoyment form the ini3al jump-‐off point for further literary development. When students construct meaning from a personal standpoint, engagement with reading develops smoothly, and academic success is just a step away.
The US-‐DE reading program must make a transi3on from its hard-‐core tradi3onalist approach to a more integrated reading experience. States have the authority to design their own literature ini3a3ves, but the
Obama administra3on must set an example of the change in curriculum so desperately needed in schools throughout America. Even city, state and na3onal standardized exams should include a more varied list of authors. How can you engage interest in a La3no adolescent by reading one poem from a La3no author during Hispanic Heritage Month? That’s preposterous! I am sure Mar3n Luther King was envisioning Barak Obama’s swearing in as President of the United States in 2009. That was a dream come true for billions of Americans, but La3nos dream today of a beIer and quality educa3on that can really make a difference in their lives. This is the 3me to focus on the educa3on of La3nos in America!
(The author is an associate at Souder, Betances & Associates, an English Staff Development Specialist in Puerto Rico and author/editor of the textbook, La3no/a Literature in the English Classroom, Editorial Plaza Mayor, 2003).
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Reducing Avoidable Errorsby Hazel Davidson
ESL teacher from Australia, teaching English to adult immigrants (many of whom are refugees) from S. & Central America, the Pacific islands, SE Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa. Hazel has wriIen with her colleague Dorothy Court a number of reading and spelling packages for very low level classes where most students have had no prior schooling and are illiterate, not only in English, but also in their first language.
The students: The students for whom the technique below can be applied are level 3 or level 4 in the Australian system At level 3 students are expected to write a report, a formal leIer and a discussion, each of approximately 250 words and at level 4 of 500 words, with reasonably accurate grammar and spelling. The technique is not appropriate for students at lower levels than this.
The background: Like most ESL teachers, I have been frustrated on numerous occasions by elementary errors, which students repeat over and over again. We revise the simple past and leave it on the board – affirma3ve, nega3ve and interroga3ve – and then set the students to write a recount, only to find their wri3ng liberally splaIered with I was went, they going, he go… Or we go through the wh
ques3ons and prac3se the spelling and pronuncia3on of / / and are confronted a few minutes later by almost every Slavonic speaker in the class happily wri3ng wen and whit. Or we list words with the digraph au and see because spelt with the vowels randomly rearranged yet again.Oh, for a way to reduce these elementary avoidable errors!
Overview of idea: ASer years of tearing my hair out trying to find some solu3on to these sorts of problems, I aIended a session en3tled Structured monitoring of second order errors presented by Eugene Mogilevski of Monash Univ. at the AFMLTA Conference in Canberra, July 2001, where he outlined a strategy he had used successfully with his second year university French students. He reported a 40% reduc3on in the sorts of errors I had been trying to eliminate in my students. This inspired me to try to follow his example and to modify his LOTE (Languages other than English) technique to suit ESL students.
Procedure: As recommended by Mogilevski, I spend a short 3me (less than one hour) discussing with the students the effects of their errors of na3ve-‐English readers: • that errors which are more or less
inconspicuous in speech are quite
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confron3ng to a na3ve speaker when they appear in wri3ng;
• that the students therefore make themselves appear stupid in the eyes of their readers;
• that, since they were not stupid, they would not want to make themselves appear to be stupid.
I then go on to explain to them the procedures I intend to follow in an aIempt to help them reduce their errors. This consists primarily in making them conscious of their frequent problems and recording their progress in elimina3ng the avoidable errors; that is, those errors where they actually know the rules quite well and which they nevertheless repeat frequently through carelessness or inaIen3on. The first piece of wri3ng, they do in their usual manner. At the end they count the number of words they have wriIen (including ar3cles, preposi3ons etc). When I mark the work, I count their avoidable errors, the errors where I know they are well aware of the gramma3cal rules, and the spelling errors in common words they have seen and used many 3mes before. I convert this error count into a percentage of their word count and record that figure in my notes and on their marked work in red pen. When I return their work, I project onto the white board a list of avoidable errors they have collec3vely made and the students take turns around the class to correct the errors and explain what is
wrong in each case. The very elementary errors generally drop out very rapidly. I repeat this procedure with each p iece o f wr i3ng they complete throughout the term (10 weeks) and find they take a very ac3ve interest in the progress of their own scores and, in a number of cases , become quite compe33ve about their results. I tell the class who has scored the lowest propor3on of errors each 3me. In my marking, I emphasise the improvements each student has achieved and give a chocolate frog (or dried apricot because we oSen have diabe3cs in our classes) as a reward to each student who halves his/her error rate. I also point out that students who achieved zero or almost zero errors on one piece of work can expect occasional reversals, since no-‐one can remain perfect all the 3me. I do this because I am aware of the danger of pessimism creeping in for some very h i g h l y m o 3 v a t e d s t u d e n t s i f improvement is not absolutely consistent.
Conclusion:By the end of the term, I normally find every student has improved very s i gn ificant l y. The most d rama3c improvements occur in the first two weeks and aSer that the vast majority of the students maintain consistently low error rates. The students and I are always delighted. All student feedback on the technique has consistently been extremely posi3ve.
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To Publish Or Not To Publish:
An Ethical Dilemma For AcAon Research Teachers
Petra E. Avillan-‐Leon, M.Ed. ESL,
Ac3on Research Mentor
In today’s globalized world more and more we are invited to publish through the ever-‐ growing technological media. We read people’s opinions about everything that happens both locally and globally on blogs, in wiki’s and through emails, among others. But we hardly read teachers’ opinions on issues related to educa3onal policies, teaching strategies that really do work, reflec3ons on their role in society, standardized tes3ng or classroom situa3ons. The local educa3onal agency (LEA) readily and recurrently issues comments that indicate how teachers are working towards the country’s educa3onal goals and what parents, students and society expect from them. When teachers meet at workshops, training sessions or con3nued educa3on classes a catharsis occurs. They share their ideas, frustra3ons and concerns; oSen 3me concluding that the system does not understand them, is unfair in its evalua3on or is poli3cally inclined towards a posi3on that usually affects adversely the public opinion about teachers.
As a teacher, I have par3cipated of these events but with one difference, I always think of the words of my mentor in
classroom-‐ ac3on research, Dr Julia Reyes, t h e d i r e c t o r o f t h e C e n t r o d e Inves)gaciones e Innovaciones Educa)vas y Etnogra=cas (CIIEE) of the Department of Educa3on of Puerto Rico (DEPR) who would constantly tell us to publish. The teachers who par3cipated in the Ac3on Research Workshops offered by the CIIEE from the year 2002 to 2006, were ini3ated in ac3on research with the texts by Julia Blández and Antonio Latorre and we were mentored by educators such as, Dr. AnneIe López de Mendez and Dr. Yanira Raices, among other educators from the most pres3gious local universi3es. As we ventured into the wonderful world of ac3on research, we learned about how we could influence educa3onal policy, change or enrich curriculum, improve our teaching prac3ces and con3nue our development as educators. We discovered that we had “exper3se”, a quality usually adjudicated to external educa3onal researchers, to university professors or experts in other fields. One major difference was constantly clear, to be considered experts we needed to publish. It was in this aspect of research that we confronted our ethical dilemma; to publish or not to publish.
But, what is an ethical dilemma? At present we are very much aware of the importance of ethics. It has become the badge that poli3cians, educators, and business people wear on a daily basis. There are campaigns on the values that create character and there are na3onal
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and local ini3a3ves to develop ethics in the workplace and in our society. It is an issue that moves governments and marks ci3zens. Consequently, teachers are not exempt of its effects. Ac3on research teachers when deciding on conduc3ng research about their prac3ce find themselves confronted with two alterna3ves: “Should I publish my findings and put myself in the eye of the observer and expose myself to cri3cism?” or, “Should I keep my findings to myself and learn from my errors or successes?” Moreover, many teachers on a daily basis do small scale inves3ga3ons of their teaching prac3ces or students’ development without the rigors of an ac3on research project; oSen 3mes because they have not been instructed on the ac3on research process. Consequently, when we think of the ethics of the researcher we must also consider this dilemma. Do teachers avoid publishing their best prac3ces or ac3on research findings because they are unsure of the process and its ethical consequences? Are teachers aware that they should publish when they have done an ac3on research project? Is the LEA complying with the requirement of teaching the ac3on research process to teachers if they expect them to do classroom research?
The DEPR in its Curricular Framework published in 2003, states that teachers do ac3on research. I ask myself, if teachers do ac3on research,
where are the results published? How can the educa3onal community benefit from their findings? How can our best prac3ces be considered and eventually influence curriculum choices and educa3onal policy? To publish or not to publish is in fact an ethical dilemma.
hIp://areyouac3onresearcheducators.yolasite.com
References
Blandez, J. (2000). La Inves3gación-‐acción: Un reto para el profesorado. Guia prác3ca para grupos de trabajo, seminarios y equipos de inves3gacion. Barcelona:INDE.
Bausela, E. (2005). La docencia a través de la inves3gación-‐acción. Retrieved in May 2006 from hIp://www.une.edu.ve/uneweb2005/servicio_comunitario/inves3gacion-‐accion.pdf
COPE CommiIee on Publica3on Ethics. (2011). Retrieved in June 2011 from
hIp://www.publica3onethics.org/
E th i c s i n Educa3ona l Resea rch (annotated bibliography). Retrieved in June 2011 from
hIp://www.aare.edu.au/ethics/aareethc.htm
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Coping with Coinages: New arrivals in the English LanguageDr. Alicia Pousada, University of Puerto
Rico, Río Piedras
IntroducAon Coinages are words that have been coined or invented by individual speakers. If the speakers are influen3al, these words become part of the vocabulary of the speech community around them. Today, because of the mass media, coinages are common and spread very quickly. Part of being culturally competent in English is knowing the meanings of new coinages. Another name for coinages is neologisms (“new words”). Some good websites for checking on recent neo l og i sms i n Eng l i s h a re t he Birmingham University Research & Development Unit for English Studies at: hIp://rdues.bcu.ac.uk/neologisms.shtml and the Bri3sh Council BBC Teaching English site at: hIp://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/ar3cles/new-‐words-‐english.
Coinages are created via a variety of strategies. A very common technique is to use acronyms (words formed from the first ini3als of strings of words): • FYI [for your informa3on]• NATO [North Atlan3c Treaty
Organiza3on• LOL [laughing out loud]• RSVP [répondez s'il vous plait]
• scuba [self-‐contained underwater breathing apparatus], etc.
Another approach is to extend the meaning of an exis3ng word (semanAc shiV or metaphorical extension):• boOomless [“without a boIom,”
extended to mean “all you can drink”, as in the boOomless cup of coffee]
• rip off [“remove something violently,” extended to mean “steal or cheat,” as in He ripped me off.]
• bounce [“move up and down,” extended to mean “go or leave,” as in See you later, goOa bounce!]
• viral [“highly infec3ous,” extended to mean “extremely popular,” as in My YouTube video just went viral.]
Words can also undergo conversion (one part of speech becomes another): • sit in (verb becomes noun)• giW (noun becomes verb)• impact (noun becomes verb) • e-‐mail (noun becomes verb)• green (adjec3ve becomes verb
m e a n i n g “ t o m a k e environmentally friendly”)
• up (preposi3on becomes verb meaning “to increase”)
• ho ho ho (interjec3on becomes noun meaning “laughter”)
• do’s and don’ts (auxi l iaries b e c o m e n o u n s m e a n i n g
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“acceptable and unacceptable ac3ons”)
Compounding is an extremely popular way to coin new words. Nouns, verbs, adjec3ves, and preposi3ons can be linked to designate new items or ac3ons. Typically, they begin life as two separate words that are increasingly found together. Then they are hyphenated and may eventually move on to being true compounds with no hyphen: fast food, freeze-‐dried, zip-‐lock, open-‐faced, whiteboard, motherboard, sur\oard, etc. While compounding produces longer words, clippings (abbrevia3ons) create smaller words from long ones, usually from the beginning of the word, but occasionally from the end: fax (facsimile), lab (laboratory), sci-‐fi (science fic)on), chute (parachute), phone (telephone), etc. Blends (also called portmanteau words) combine aspects of clipping and compounding since they take a piece from the beginning of one word and combine it with a piece from the end of another word: smog [smoke + fog], brunch [breakfast + lunch], motel [motor + hotel], chunnel [channel + tunnel], and spork [spoon + fork]. Borrowing (or using elements from a foreign language and integra3ng them into English) is a rich source of coinages: nouveau riche, coup d’état, macho, mensch, kindergarten, barista, typhoon, tsunami, etc. A related tac3c is
loan translaAon, also known as calquing, in which foreign words or phrases are translated element by element into English: superman (from German Übe rmens ch ) , wor l d v i ew ( f rom German Weltanschauung), free verse (from French vers libre), by heart (from French par coeur), moment of truth (from Spanish el momento de la verdad [when the bull is stabbed in a bull fight], etc. Most coinages reveal considerable linguis3c crea3vity. Some3mes they are invenAons with no clear mo3va3on except the desire to be catchy and modern-‐sounding, e.g. Xerox, Velcro, Snapple, Google, Oreo , Kix, etc. Inven3ons are oSen seen in trade names for new products. Some3mes the coinages are imita3ons of natural sounds (onomatopoeia), e.g. blahs, yahoo, boo-‐hooing, zipper. On other occasions, the coinages are eponyms (based on people’s names): sandwich, cardigan, Fr i sbee, A lzheimer ’s , caesarean, guillo)ne, diesel, sadist, etc. Speakers also like to play with sounds, as in reduplicaAon (repe33on of syllables): no-‐no (noun), ta-‐tas (breasts), bye-‐bye, hoity-‐toity, chick-‐flick, itsy-‐bitsy. Finally, back formaAons reveal the budding linguist in all speakers. Words are analyzed, broken down, and then reverse engineered according to perceived structures and meanings: Such analyses do not correspond to scholarly etymologies found in dic3onaries (and
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t hu s a re te rmed fa l s e o r fo l k etymologies) , but they are very compelling to speakers. Some examples are:• cheeseburger, turkey burger, tofu
burger, salmon burger [under the false assump3on that the ham in hamburger (which refers to the city of Hamburg) can be separated and replaced by other proteins]
• Koreagate, Irangate [based on analogy to the 1972 poli3cally-‐mo3vated break-‐in and cover-‐up known as Watergate]
• enthuse [back formed from the noun enthusiasm]
• bartend [back formed from the noun bartender]
• bus ("to clear dirty dishes from the table") from the noun busboy (originally derived from omnibus boy, or all-‐around helper)
Coinages appear in virtually all social domains of our society. Some domains lend themselves more readily to coinages. The domain of arts and entertainment is fer3le ground for word coinage since it values novelty. Just think of: bling-‐bling, buzz (buzz word), dayca)on, goth, infomercial, re-‐giW, stayca)on, yada-‐yada. Technology is another coinage breeder. Consider words like blogging, cugng-‐edge, flame war (flaming) , gamer, googling, landline, lurker, micropublishing, and newbie. Poli3cians and poli3cal analysts are no
slouches either, contribu3ng dirty tricks Thursday, global village, Main Street vs. Wall Street, red states vs. blue states, Purple America, and urban village. Health and fitness enthusiasts use terms like: carb loading, core, glutes, menopot, muffin top, and six-‐pack. New terms coined by pop psychologists and social commentators to describe social rela3onships include: cling factor, cougar, cyberstalker, frenemy, gender-‐inclusive, metrosexual, road rage, sandwich genera)on, and yada-‐yada. The fashion world churns out many new words each season, among them: do-‐rag, fashionista, hoodie, skort, and Tencel. The food industry makes its linguis3c contribu3on via terms like: Frankenfood, supersize, tangelo, and vegan. Finally, economists speak of new concepts involved in produc3on, distribu3on, marke3ng, and personnel management, such as: bio-‐waste, Black Friday, boOom feeder, carbon footprint, downsizing, mall-‐rats, and silver ceiling.
Space does not permit me to go into the defini3ons of these terms. For that, I encourage you to check out a PowerPoint presenta3on of my talk on coinages at: hIp://humanidades.uprrp.edu/ingles/pdfs/faculty/coping_with_coinages.pdf
Conclusion We have seen that coinages are very common today, and certain social domains are more produc3ve than
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others in suppor3ng coinages. Some coinages will not stand the test of 3me and will expire as fads. Others will fulfill a true need and take their place in the stable lexicon. We should not be afraid to use newly coined words, since they permit a language to grow and help our own personal vocabulary to expand. So, as you read magazines and newspapers, scan websites, and listen to TV or radio shows, keep your eyes and ears open for new words and new usages of old words! You will then be a cu?ng edge speaker of the English language and never be regarded as a noob.
SourcesDent, S. (2004). Larpers and shroomers: The language report. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Goe, M. (2003) Spec ia l i zed discourse. Linguis)c features and changing conven)ons. Bern: Peter Lang.MacFredries, P. (2011). Word spy: The word lover’s guide to new words. Accessed on March 29, 2011 at: hIp://www.wordspy.com/ .Mead, L. (2009). Word-‐coinage; Being an inquiry into recent neologisms, also a brief study of l i t e r a r y s t y l e , s l a n g , a n d provincialisms. General Books.Rawson, H. (1995). Dic)onary of euphemisms and other doubletalk, 2nd ed. ( Being a compila)on of
linguis)c fig leaves and verbal flourishes for the aroul). NY: Crown Publishing Group (Random House).Safire, W. (1968). The new language of poli)cs: An anecdotal dic)onary of catchwords, slogans, and poli)cal usage. New York: Random House Publishers.Safire, W. (2008). Safire's poli)cal dic)onary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Steinmetz, S. (2010). There's a word for it: The explosion of the American language since 1900.
VocabAheadEnglishClub.com
ESL Site of the Month Award June 2011hap://www.vocabahead.com/
VocabAhead is a vocabulary building site that is useful for advanced English language learners. Visit the study room, where you will find video explana3ons of at least 1000 difficult words. If you are preparing for exams or standardized tests, these words will be extremely useful for you. You’ll be less likely to forget the words because they are presented with audio and visual explana3ons. You can also take quizzes to see how well you remember your new words. As well as using the videos from VocabAhead, you can upload your own vocabulary videos or view videos that have been uploaded by other learners. Top rated videos by users are promoted to the study room! VocabAhead apps are also available for your mobile device.
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Phone9c Reading, Or Sight Reading? Prof. Vivian Mayol Kauffmann, MA TESLPresenta9on given on November 13, 2010
PRTESOL Conven9on, Rio Grande, PR
Imagine that you have to learn to read in another language and each word has one symbol. Make a list of animals. How many can you think of? Now, make a list of food, how about a list of feelings? Could you remember a symbol for each of these words?
This is what happens to children who learn to read in Chinese. They have to learn as many symbols as they can to be able to read in Chinese. According to Norman, in Asia Society: “Studies carried out in China have shown that full literacy requires knowledge of between three and four thousand characters.” (Norman, 2008 pg. 3)
Chinese Symbol for LOVE The Japanese wri3ng system, on the other hand, is syllabified, meaning that each character represents a syllable, instead of a word. The Japanese language is phone3c, meaning that each character represents the sound of a syllable. For example, the Japanese word yama, mountain, is wri7en phone3cally by using the character sounding like ya with the character sounding like ma. Another word beginning with ya, ya sai, means vegetables. Other languages are easier for a Spanish speaker, like the Romance languages, Italian, Portuguese, and French, among others. These languages have evolved from La3n, the language of the Romans, and have a common alphabet. Italian vowels, for example, sound
almost the same as Spanish vowels. Casa, amore, fama, pasta. The wri3ng systems of these Romance languages are based on the Roman alphabet, also called La3n alphabet. This alphabet is the most widely used alphabet in the world today. It is used by Spanish and English. The alphabet is a collec3on of symbols or le7ers (graphemes) that represent sounds (phonemes). A language that is highly phone3c is a language that has more sound-‐symbol correspondence. Spanish is a highly phone3c language, while English is not. In Puerto Rico, most students learn to speak and read Spanish before learning English, with the excep3on of those who a7end English language schools or bilingual schools. Furthermore, some parents believe that children must learn only English, if they want to master this language. However, studies performed in the United States comparing several bilingual programs (Ramirez, et.al, 1991; Thomas & Collier, 1996-‐ 2001) show that ESL students who are taught their na3ve language, outperform English immersion groups (where students are taught English only).
For Spanish-‐speaking students who have learned the phone3c reading skills in their na3ve language, learning to read in English is a process of transferring these skills to English. As we all know, English has some phone3c rules, but there are many words that do not follow those rules. Understanding the difference between phone3c reading and sight reading could help many Spanish-‐speaking students master English reading. Students must learn the short vowels first. Those are the ones that sound almost like Spanish: cat, pet, pin, pot, want, etc. No3ce that these words can be read with Spanish decoding skills, consonants also have the same sounds as in Spanish.
Examples of short vowels: The cat has a red bed. The dog ran very fast.
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The pig hid in the mud.Long vowels, on the other hand, sound
like the alphabet name of each le7er and they usually are followed by a consonant and a silent e. For example, name is pronounced /n ei m/The first le7er of the alphabet (a) is pronounced /ei/ in English.
Sight reading is more like Chinese or Japanese. Since sight words do not follow phone3c rules, they need to be learned by memory and recognized as a whole, rela3ng the word to the image or picture in your mind. Try to read the following three sentences with Spanish phone3c sounds. Why do you think spelling of sight words is difficult for Spanish speakers?
My friend made me eat a cake.
Your house is huge and beau9ful.
The horse raced to the finish line.
Following are lists of words that need to be learned by memory for students to be able to read in English in the primary grades. The Dolch Word List is a list of commonly used English words that was originally compiled by Edward William Dolch in 1948. This list was based on children's books of the period, and selected 220 "service words" which children need to recognize in order to achieve reading fluency. Pre-‐primer: a, and, away, big, blue, can, come, down, find, for, funny, go, help, here, I, in, is, it, jump, li7le, look, make, me, my, not, one, play, red, run, said, see, the, three, to, two, up, we, where, yellow, you
Primer: all, am, are, at, ate, be, black, brown, but, came, did, do, eat, four, get, good, have, he, into, like, must, new, no, now, on, our, out, please, pre7y, ran, ride, saw, say, she, so, soon, that, there, they, this, too, under, want, was, well, went, what, white, who, will, with, yes
1st Grade: ater, again, an, any, as, ask, by, could, every, fly, from, give, giving, had, has, her, him, his, how, just, know, let, live, may, of, old, once,
open, over, put, round, some, stop, take, thank, them, then, think, walk, were, when
2nd Grade: always, around, because, been, before, best, both, buy, call, cold, does, don't, fast, first, five, found, gave, goes, green, its, made, many, off, or, pull, read, right, sing, sit, sleep, tell, their, these, those, upon, us, use, very, wash, which, why, wish, work, would, write, your
h7p://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolch_word_list
Reference ListChinese Names.org (2005-‐2009) Retrieved from
h7p://www.chinesenames.org/chinese-‐symbols/love.htm
Dolch, E. W. (1948) Problems in Reading. R e t r i e v e d f r o m h 7 p : / /www.dolchsightwords.org/? see also h M p : / / e n . w i k i p e d i a . o r g / w i k i /Dolch_word_list
Do l c h L i s t s : R e t r i e v e d f r om h7 p : / /w w w . l e a r n i n g b o o k s . n e t /whydolchwords.html#lists
Norman, J., (2008, Aug. 14). Chinese Wri3ng, Tradi3ons and Transforma3ons, Asia Society: EducaFon &Learning. Retrieved Nov. 7, 2010 from h7p://asiasociety.org/educa3on-‐learning/world-‐languages/chinese-‐language-‐ini3a3ves/chinese-‐wri3ng
Ramirez, et al (1991) Longitudinal Study of Instruc3onal Programs for Language-‐Minority Children. Bilingual Research Journal: The Journal of the NaFonal AssociaFon for Bilingual EducaFon, 16 (1-‐2) 1-‐62.
Romance languages. (2008) The Columbia Encyc lopedia , 6th Ed . . Retr ieved N o v e m b e r 0 7 , 2 0 1 0 f r o m E n c y c l o p e d i a . c o m : h 7 p : / /www.encyc loped i a . com/doc/1E1 -‐Romancel.html
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Using Emergent Classroom Situa6ons as Strategic Learning Opportuni6es
while Engaging Students in Meaningful Research
Milagros Marinez ScheZni, Ed.D.Richard Román Spicer, Ed.D
Educa3onal literature strongly suggests that research within the classroom is extremely important in the educa3onal process (Creswell, 1994; Creswell, 2003; Lucca & Berríos, 2003). Therefore, educators should become aware of this fact and encourage the development of a research-‐oriented culture among students.
However, even though literature states that authen3c learning experiences, such as conduc3ng research, are impera3ve in the learning process of students of all ages and abili3es (Lombardi, 2007), most teachers believe that they are too hard to provide for students in the elementary level. Nevertheless, situa3ons that emerge unexpectedly within the classroom can serve as a star3ng point for an authen3c learning experience for these students. Teachers and students can iden3fy a problem or situa3on, have the students iden3fy what they really want to learn, and look for solu3ons to the problems they have iden3fied (Farren, n.d. & Elln, n.d.).
In order to accomplish the previously stated, teachers should develop ac3vi3es that can give students the opportunity to influence the problem. It is important that students’ abili3es, as well as the students’ learning objec3ves, are taken into considera3on. However, since teachers currently face a standard based educa3onal system, curricular alignment between authen3c learning experiences and the standards should not be ignored. In fact, it is essen3al that teachers develop authen3c learning experiences based on educa3onal standards. This provides each educator the opportunity to focus in meaningful outcomes by adding value to the educa3onal experiences.
An example of what has been men3oned in this ar3cle can be illustrated with the experience of a group of fourth graders from the University of Puerto Rico Elementary School. This group of students decided to study sports as a theme unit. As the class developed throughout the school year, one of the students came up with an interes3ng ques3on. She wanted to know if boys were more interested in sports than girls were.
Knowing these students, this ques3on generated a great debate among them. Ul3mately, they decided they wanted to sa3sfy their curiosity and gather the evidence needed to answer this and other “research ques3ons” they came up with.
A plan to fulfill this purpose was designed and students became “researchers” in the process. A ques3onnaire was developed and a strategy for collec3ng the data was followed. The students administered the ques3onnaire and also conducted brief interviews. Ater hiZng the field, they returned to the classroom and analyzed the data that was collected. Students integrated acquired math skills as they calculated frequencies and percentages and drew bar charts that illustrated their findings.
Student administering a ques3onnaire.
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From these findings, the students drew their conclusions and suggested recommenda3ons. They truly experienced the rigor involved throughout the research process.
Finally, to their surprise, the student who began this en3re ordeal was right. According to the data collected from the par3cipants, boys did like sports more than girls If you would like to know why, we invite you to come and visit the students and ask them. The findings will amaze you!
Student analyzing her collected data.
In conclusion, the situa3on that emerged unexpectedly within the classroom became an excellent opportunity to provide students with an authen3c learning experience. It was observed that these situa3ons fostered their learning process and that they provided the students with the chance to integrate other skills. It was also observed that students were highly mo3vated and fully engaged in their learning experience. They not only integrated the knowledge they acquired in other academic subjects, but also enjoyed their task. It was also found that, as educators, we can offer our students a more authen3c learning experience based on experimenta3on and ac3on. Emergent situa3ons prove to be effec3ve triggering authen3c learning. They also transform the acquisi3on of knowledge into a social experience, into a less abstract and more
concrete acquaintance, intertwined with judgment and explora3on.
References: Authen3c Learning. Retrieved on November 5, 2010 fromhIp://www.cec.sped.org/AM/Template.cfm?Sec3on=Experien3al_Learning&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=24&ContentID=4697.
Barca, A., Cabanach, R.G., Marcos, J.L., Port, A., Valle, A. (1994) Procesos básicos de aprendizaje y aprendizaje escolar. Servicio de Publicaciones. Universidad de A. Coruña.
Creswell, J. (1994). Research design: QualitaFve and quanFtaFve approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publica3ons.Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: QualitaFve, quanFtaFve and mixed methods approaches, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publica3ons.
Elliot, C. Ac3on Research: Authen3c Learning Transforms Student and Teacher Success. Retrieved on November 6, 2010 from hMp://www.oswego.edu/academics/colleges_and_departments/educaFon/jal/vol4no1/4%20Elliot%20AcFon%20Research%20p%2034-‐42.pdf.
Farren, M. e-‐Learning and Ac3on Research as Transforma3ve Prac3ce. Retrieved on November 6, 2010 from hIp://innovateonline.info/pdf/vol5_issue1/e-‐Learning_and_Ac3on_Research_as_Transforma3ve_Prac3ce.pdf.
Gardner, H., & Hatch, T. (1989). Mul3ple intelligences go to school: Educa3onal implica3ons of the theory of mul3ple intelligences. EducaFonal Researcher, 18(8), 4-‐9. How Teachers Learn to Engage Students in Ac3ve Learning. Retrieved on November 4, 2010 from hIp://ncrtl.msu.edu/hIp/teachers.pdf.
Jabot, M. E. (2002). Teacher Pedagogical Content Knowledge as Predictor of Student Learning Gains in Direct Current Circuits. Docotral Degree Thesis. Graduate School Syracuse University.
Lombardi, M.M. (2007). Authen3c Learning for the 21st Century: An Overview. Retrieved on November 8, 2010 from hIp://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI3009.pdf.
Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock (2004) Classroom Instruc3on that Works: Research-‐Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement. Pren3ce Hall.
Ocasio de Rodríguez, N. (2003). La PrácFca de la enseñanza y aprendizaje. Publicaciones Puertorriquñas.
Seagall, A. (2004). Revisi3ng pedagogical content knowledge: The pedagogy of content/the content of pedagogy. Teaching and Teacher EducaFon, 20, 489-‐504.
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