The theme that I have chosen for my project is how to help further the knowledge of Americans on the topics of Ebonics. I am going to set up a course description. In the course I am going to dispel some of the myths around African American Vernacular English. Also I am going to talk about the structure and the functions of AAVE, to do this I am going to present the class with different perspectives of AAVE and engage them in activities that will help them to understand how and why AAVE is important. The reason that I have chose to do my project based on this theme is that while I was writing my last paper I realized that me, myself, didn’t understand how important AAVE can be in the classroom and other areas.
The first genre I am going to make is a report about the effects of taking the course. The report will describe the meaning and the intentions of the course. Also it will explain what the teacher will have the students be doing and engaging in throughout the course. Then I will provide examples of the projects and articles that are going to be presented to students. I want to engage students with new perspectives and ideas about AAVE.
Another genre that I am going to use is a newspaper article. In the article I am going to discuss Black English, its origin and how it was thought to be a misuse of Standard English when really it does have its own rules. The sources I am going to use for my article are probably going to be the article written by Ball “Expository Writing Patterns” and Smitherman’s article “It Bees dat Way Sometimes”. Also I may pull of few things from an article that I found online called “Black English”. I am going to have students read my article and demonstrate my theme to them.
I intend to use poetry as another way to demonstrate AAVE to students. I chose this genre because I saw poems while I was doing research on the topic and I thought this was a good way to help better understand the topic. Its something to read that is different from reading article after article and it will help keep students focused. The poem will show students that Ebonics isn’t just slang and that it is important and has meaning. For this poem I will most likely use the source written by Gilyard and Richardson “Student’s Right to Their Own Language”.
Then I am going to create a worksheet. In my worksheet students will have to answer questions that relate to and contrast patterns of AAVE and Standard English. In order to do this I am going to use a few sources that I found online such as “Codeswitching: Tools of Language and Culture Transform the Dialectally Diverse Classroom” by Rebecca Wheeler and Rachel Swords.
Finally I am going to show the class a letter exchange held between two African American students that are discussing the Ebonics in the classroom controversy. The conversation will have uses of Ebonics and Standard English and it will demonstrate the use of codeswitching. For this genre I am going to use the article “It Bees Dat Way Sometimes” written by Smitherman and also I am going to use sources that I can find online on the topic.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Monday, April 6, 2009
IAR Paper 3
IAR Analysis
What is invention? (What activities did the writer have to engage in to create the text?)
Research and Analysis of scholarly journals on composition studies
Analysis of class readings
Deciding on a problem to discuss and support
What is being invented? (What ideas, practices, arguments, etc. are created by the text?)
African American Vernacular English (AAVE) has a place in the classroom
AAVE is not just slang, but is important
How to make students better writers
How to build confidence in students
What is being arranged? (What is being put in relation to what?)
AAVE in relation to the classroom
Examples in relation to AAVE in the classroom
Examples in relation to solutions to AAVE use
What is arrangement? (How are things being put in relation to one another?)
Examples of people’s experiences
Proof from studies that have been done
Compare and contrast
Specific Quotes from scholars
What is being revised? (What is the writer trying to change (e.g. what ideas, practices, etc.)?)
Trying to change racism done on students writings by teachers
That AAVE IS important in the classroom
AAVE and other home languages can be incorporated when teaching Standard English
What is revision? (What strategies are engaged specifically to help the writer achieve the revisions?)
Examples of studies done that provide solutions to the problem
Examples and experiences from specific scholars
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Annotated Bibliography
Annotated Bibliography
Billings, Andrew. “Beyond the Ebonics Debate: Attitudes about Black and Standard American English.” Journal of Black Studies 36.1 (Sep., 2005): 68-81.
The author describes a specific study that demonstrates the differences between how people judge whites and blacks who speak Standard American English (SAE) and Black English (BE). I think this can be helpful for my paper when discussing African American Vernacular English (AAVE).
Godley, Amanda, Julie Sweetland, Rebecca S. Wheeler, Angela Minnici, and Brian D. “Carpenter Preparing Teachers for Dialectally Diverse Classrooms.” Educational Researcher 35.8 (Nov., 2006): 30-37.
This article is about preparing teachers in classrooms that are dialectally diverse. It explores the idea that teacher educators should make it a priority to prepare teachers to develop appropriate responses and methods to teach in diverse atmospheres. The article proposes that teacher educators should look at this difficult issue and expand on it, and that teachers need to recognize that there is diversity in every community and that it can be used as a resource. This source seems like it can be helpful in my paper.
Mantle-Bromley, Corinne, and Ann M. Foster. “Educating for Democracy: The Vital Role of Language Arts Teacher.” The English Journal 94.5 (May, 2005): 70-74.
The author discusses how important literature teachers are when different cultures are incorporated into the classroom. Also the classroom will always be diverse. I’m not sure if this source will be really useful to me but I think I can pull a few facts from the discussion to use in my paper.
Whitney, Jessica. “Five Easy Pieces: Steps Toward Integrating AAVE into the Classroom.” The English Journal 94.5 (May, 2005): 64-69.
The author of this source discusses different reasons that African American Vernacular English (AAVE) should be used in the classroom to help students better learn Standard English. And in my paper I am going to discuss how AAVE is appropriated in classrooms over time. This is a very useful source for my paper.
Billings, Andrew. “Beyond the Ebonics Debate: Attitudes about Black and Standard American English.” Journal of Black Studies 36.1 (Sep., 2005): 68-81.
The author describes a specific study that demonstrates the differences between how people judge whites and blacks who speak Standard American English (SAE) and Black English (BE). I think this can be helpful for my paper when discussing African American Vernacular English (AAVE).
Godley, Amanda, Julie Sweetland, Rebecca S. Wheeler, Angela Minnici, and Brian D. “Carpenter Preparing Teachers for Dialectally Diverse Classrooms.” Educational Researcher 35.8 (Nov., 2006): 30-37.
This article is about preparing teachers in classrooms that are dialectally diverse. It explores the idea that teacher educators should make it a priority to prepare teachers to develop appropriate responses and methods to teach in diverse atmospheres. The article proposes that teacher educators should look at this difficult issue and expand on it, and that teachers need to recognize that there is diversity in every community and that it can be used as a resource. This source seems like it can be helpful in my paper.
Mantle-Bromley, Corinne, and Ann M. Foster. “Educating for Democracy: The Vital Role of Language Arts Teacher.” The English Journal 94.5 (May, 2005): 70-74.
The author discusses how important literature teachers are when different cultures are incorporated into the classroom. Also the classroom will always be diverse. I’m not sure if this source will be really useful to me but I think I can pull a few facts from the discussion to use in my paper.
Whitney, Jessica. “Five Easy Pieces: Steps Toward Integrating AAVE into the Classroom.” The English Journal 94.5 (May, 2005): 64-69.
The author of this source discusses different reasons that African American Vernacular English (AAVE) should be used in the classroom to help students better learn Standard English. And in my paper I am going to discuss how AAVE is appropriated in classrooms over time. This is a very useful source for my paper.
DW3b
I found an essay called “Five Easy Pieces: Steps Toward Integrating AAVE into the Classroom”. A white teacher, Jessica Whitney, who is trying to understand the African American Vernacular English (AAVE) controversy, wrote this essay. She believes that students should no longer be punished for the use of their home language in the classroom, yet she still has hard time determining AAVE’s place in the classroom.
Whitney describes five steps that can help teachers work with students who have linguistic differences in classrooms. The first step she discusses is called “Teacher, Educate Thyself”, which explains that teachers need to understand AAVE such as that AAVE is not slang or improper grammar or that ninety percent of African Americans speak using AAVE features at some point or another. Teachers who are uneducated on the topic are more likely to think that AAVE speakers are slower and less able than Standard English speaking students. Step two is called “Incorporating Multiculturalism into the Classroom”, which states is important in order for reforming schools to support equality and pluralism. Multiculturalism can provide students with a better view of Western cultures and allow voices that have been ignored be heard and appreciated. “Create a Learning Environment Rich in Oral Language” is the title of the third step. Students strong in oral language are also stronger in reading and writing. This step argues that when readings are read aloud it helps students put language in context and recognize the differences between Standard English and their home language. Whitney also provides many examples of activities that teachers can enact to provide oral language in classrooms. Step four is “Encourage and Demonstrate Code-Switching in the Classroom”. This step demonstrates that teachers should provide discussion with students about the appropriateness of different linguistic styles, which studies prove makes it less likely for students to use features of AAVE in their writing works. Teachers must also provide students with opportunities to use what they have learned. And finally step 5 which is called “Allow Students to Write like Writers”, which emphasizes that students need to be taught how to write to different audiences. When students know their audience is helps them come up with strategies for their writing. Whitney also explains that these five steps can help students feel comfortable in their classrooms, which can help them flourish. Students are allowed to express themselves openly without fear of being criticized.
This journal seems to argue that incorporating African American Vernacular English into the classroom is a very good way to help students progress. The journal clearly states that allowing home language into the classroom can benefit many students. When students are encouraged to engage in learning and then told how they express themselves is wrong without any explanation then students begin to care less about their work and put forth less effort. The author of this journal did some very good research and used her own personal experiences to provide information about AAVE in composition studies.
Whitney describes five steps that can help teachers work with students who have linguistic differences in classrooms. The first step she discusses is called “Teacher, Educate Thyself”, which explains that teachers need to understand AAVE such as that AAVE is not slang or improper grammar or that ninety percent of African Americans speak using AAVE features at some point or another. Teachers who are uneducated on the topic are more likely to think that AAVE speakers are slower and less able than Standard English speaking students. Step two is called “Incorporating Multiculturalism into the Classroom”, which states is important in order for reforming schools to support equality and pluralism. Multiculturalism can provide students with a better view of Western cultures and allow voices that have been ignored be heard and appreciated. “Create a Learning Environment Rich in Oral Language” is the title of the third step. Students strong in oral language are also stronger in reading and writing. This step argues that when readings are read aloud it helps students put language in context and recognize the differences between Standard English and their home language. Whitney also provides many examples of activities that teachers can enact to provide oral language in classrooms. Step four is “Encourage and Demonstrate Code-Switching in the Classroom”. This step demonstrates that teachers should provide discussion with students about the appropriateness of different linguistic styles, which studies prove makes it less likely for students to use features of AAVE in their writing works. Teachers must also provide students with opportunities to use what they have learned. And finally step 5 which is called “Allow Students to Write like Writers”, which emphasizes that students need to be taught how to write to different audiences. When students know their audience is helps them come up with strategies for their writing. Whitney also explains that these five steps can help students feel comfortable in their classrooms, which can help them flourish. Students are allowed to express themselves openly without fear of being criticized.
This journal seems to argue that incorporating African American Vernacular English into the classroom is a very good way to help students progress. The journal clearly states that allowing home language into the classroom can benefit many students. When students are encouraged to engage in learning and then told how they express themselves is wrong without any explanation then students begin to care less about their work and put forth less effort. The author of this journal did some very good research and used her own personal experiences to provide information about AAVE in composition studies.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
DW3a
I chose to write about the essay “Students’ Right to Possibility: Basic Writing and African American Rhetoric by Keith Gilyard and Elain Richardson. This essay talks about students having the right to their own language. They explain how people discourage African American Vernacular English in schools because school districts are trying to prepare minority students for success in the market place. But the authors believe that there are many people in the market place that have advertised hip-hop and used other black dialect and have become very successful. A study was performed to try to answer a few questions about AAVE.
The study recruited students through advertisements to participate in a class that studies the student’s ways of writing. The course was taught over several semesters using the same materials and research procedures. It involved writings of students from two different major universities. The study focused on discourse and rhetorical analyses of an out of class essay. The students were given writing instructions using African-centered materials and stimuli. The students were given two weeks to write their papers and they were also given in class and out of class time to work on them. The main focus of the study was for African American students to identify themselves as being situated within African American Vernacular discourse. This class taught students that the most important thing about writing is about making your argument clear and stating your position. Students said they learned a better understanding of the importance of their own language and culture. They also feel more comfortable when writing because they feel they have better control over when and how to use black discourse. Students were taught how to write depending on the audience they are trying to present to.
This essay is trying to say that it is important for students to use their own language. Students should be able to use their own language and use Standard English when necessary. The essay clearly states its argument in the first few paragraphs and states other sides of the argument, such as students should be using Standard English in order to become successful in our economy. Throughout the essay the writing doesn’t seem to keep focus on its standpoint. The authors explain the study and provide specific examples of students writing and student’s comments but they do not state what exactly they found from doing the study. I think that this study is a good way to research the topic and that it can be very beneficial to the field.
The study recruited students through advertisements to participate in a class that studies the student’s ways of writing. The course was taught over several semesters using the same materials and research procedures. It involved writings of students from two different major universities. The study focused on discourse and rhetorical analyses of an out of class essay. The students were given writing instructions using African-centered materials and stimuli. The students were given two weeks to write their papers and they were also given in class and out of class time to work on them. The main focus of the study was for African American students to identify themselves as being situated within African American Vernacular discourse. This class taught students that the most important thing about writing is about making your argument clear and stating your position. Students said they learned a better understanding of the importance of their own language and culture. They also feel more comfortable when writing because they feel they have better control over when and how to use black discourse. Students were taught how to write depending on the audience they are trying to present to.
This essay is trying to say that it is important for students to use their own language. Students should be able to use their own language and use Standard English when necessary. The essay clearly states its argument in the first few paragraphs and states other sides of the argument, such as students should be using Standard English in order to become successful in our economy. Throughout the essay the writing doesn’t seem to keep focus on its standpoint. The authors explain the study and provide specific examples of students writing and student’s comments but they do not state what exactly they found from doing the study. I think that this study is a good way to research the topic and that it can be very beneficial to the field.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
IAR analysis
Taking Black Technology Use Seriously: African American Discursive Traditions in the Digital Underground by Adam Banks
What is Invention? (What activities did the writer have to engage in to create the text?)
What is Invention? (What activities did the writer have to engage in to create the text?)
- Research on AAVE
- Research of how AAVE is used online
- specific quotes from Smitherman and other scholars
- Example of a specific website that uses AAVE, blackplanet.com
What is being Invented? (What ideas, practices, arguments, etc. are created by the text?)
- examples of how African American use AAVE online
- the internet is place for people to be themselves and provides comfort for African Americans who lvie in mostly white environments
- how people express themselve differently online
What is being arranged? (What is being put in relation to what?)
- the internet in relation to AAVE
- AAVE in relation to "underground"
- "underground" in relation to digital divide
- digital divide in relation to the website blackplanet.com
- black planet in relation to rhetorical features
What is arrangement? (How are things being put in relation to one another?)
- general to specific
- specifc to problem
- problem to examples
- examples to explanation
What is being revised? (What is the writer trying to change (e.g. what ideas, practices, etc.)?)
- to prevent the digital divide.
- to prevent dicrimination and stereotypes online
- to accept AAVE as a primary language and allow African Americans to speak their own language without discrimination
What is revision? (What strategies are engaged specifically to help the writer achieve the revisions?)
- specific quotes from linguists and scholars
- specific examples such as the website blackplanet.com and "the underground"
- specific examples of AAVE being used online
- specific solutions to the probem
Sunday, February 22, 2009
DW2b E-Space
In the reading “E-Racing difference in E-space: Black female subjectivity and the Web-based portfolio” Knadler talks about how e-spaces free people to create new identities and speak out based on how others are interacting threw electronic interchange (Kandler 237). The author is trying to explain how important it is for people to be able to express themselves in their own ways. The Internet is an easy way for people to be themselves; people may not feel as though they need to be as proper or as polite when they are communicating with others their own age and with their same backgrounds.
Also, Knadler talks about how important online communication is because the user’s sense of self is freed from social and discursive constraints and it allows for the hidden or repressed self to come out (Knadler 239). He mentions that students may conform to some degree of white norms but at the same time these students may never feel completely free to just be themselves in white environments and online blogging and web pages can provide a place for blacks to express themselves with a style of speech that doesn’t have to self-consciously fit into white standards (Kandler 243).
This is related to the website that I found and the blog postings that I mentioned because people are free to say what they want and give their opinions about certain situations without any consequences. The postings that I found on BET.com were a perfect opportunity for people of the same backgrounds or even different backgrounds to share their experiences and their opinions about a certain situation. The website is not monitored by an adult or professor making it easy for people to show their full personalities and use the language of their choice. Online people don’t feel so restricted as to what they can and cannot say unlike how they would feel if they were in a classroom or speaking with an adult. Also, when being online people aren’t able to know exactly who is speaking which leaves out the complications of age, race, gender, or class. This makes it easier for people to speak their minds without the fear of being judged by their peers. The site that I have discussed and many other websites provides a place for blacks to feel comfortable and speak using their own language. The website that I discussed shows that electronic interchange is a place where students/teens are not afraid to say what they think and feel and argue their own opinions.
Also, Knadler talks about how important online communication is because the user’s sense of self is freed from social and discursive constraints and it allows for the hidden or repressed self to come out (Knadler 239). He mentions that students may conform to some degree of white norms but at the same time these students may never feel completely free to just be themselves in white environments and online blogging and web pages can provide a place for blacks to express themselves with a style of speech that doesn’t have to self-consciously fit into white standards (Kandler 243).
This is related to the website that I found and the blog postings that I mentioned because people are free to say what they want and give their opinions about certain situations without any consequences. The postings that I found on BET.com were a perfect opportunity for people of the same backgrounds or even different backgrounds to share their experiences and their opinions about a certain situation. The website is not monitored by an adult or professor making it easy for people to show their full personalities and use the language of their choice. Online people don’t feel so restricted as to what they can and cannot say unlike how they would feel if they were in a classroom or speaking with an adult. Also, when being online people aren’t able to know exactly who is speaking which leaves out the complications of age, race, gender, or class. This makes it easier for people to speak their minds without the fear of being judged by their peers. The site that I have discussed and many other websites provides a place for blacks to feel comfortable and speak using their own language. The website that I discussed shows that electronic interchange is a place where students/teens are not afraid to say what they think and feel and argue their own opinions.
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