Post 9

 During the poetry night a few different things stood out to me. I really enjoyed when the students from ISU read their own poetry. Many of these poems seemed to speak to me in a way that I related to more than the Black Took Collective style of poetry. It was my first time at a poetry reading and it was almost what I expected it to be. At first I almost pictured a room with bean bag chairs and bongos by the microphone. I quickly realized that happened in the cheesy movies I watched but would not be in the Prairie Room. As far as the content and language of the poems, I was surprised at first to hear the swearing and sexual content, however my shock faded fast. I realized the importance of personal expression. I personally have never thought of myself as a poet. I would never dream of being able to put myself in such a vulnerable position; on stage, talking about myself and issues that I have. The culture aspect in some of the poems was astonishing. It's great that there are people comfortable enough to share their outlooks and experiences. Hopefully in my future classroom I will be able to have students feel comfortable enough to share cultural experiences with me.

Post 8 (readings)

 Culture is a word that people throw around very lightly in my opinion. I find that many times in my education classes students say it as an answer for almost anything the teacher asks. Of course I agree it is an important topic to address but I think there are so many aspects of culture to address. Until reading this article I never thought of culture diversity to affect language misconceptions. But, since language is a part of culture, it obviously has a connection. When I think of my time spent in an ESL classroom, I recall a few times when there were language differences stemming from cultural backgrounds. We were discussing parts of a room and a student did not understand why there was a table in the kitchen. In their culture they prepare food in the kitchen and bring the meal out to the dining room. This is just one example, there have been quite a few times where I have caught myself using idioms unconsciously. It has definitely made me reflect more on my use of cultural influences in my language.
 Another thing I often forget is that students' level of proficiency differ for each language domain. I used to assume if you could speak English you could write just as well. I have come to change this way of thinking. I noticed in my ESL 2 class a student who spoke very well and I asked why he was not in a higher level class and she showed me his homework. I would never have guessed his skills were that poor. I'm glad now that this has been brought to my attention and I will no longer overgeneralize. Even in retrospect, my Spanish writing ability is way above my speaking ability. I used to assume the speaking would come naturally without actually practicing speech. Needless to say, that's not how it works. This will help me in my future classroom so I equally focus on speaking, writing, reading, and listening.

Post 9 (lesson plan)

Kristina, Katie, and Cara's lesson plan: picture of man with buttons at a protest rally.

Introduction: background and other images from a women's liberation movement. Have them find other images relating to protests and discuss them.

Sociopolitical issues to bring up:
-protests vs. freedom of speech
-feminism: this photograph, others, personal opinions, connections to women's lives in other countries.

1) read an article about global feminist movements
2) find other images associated with women's liberation
3) discuss different points of view on the topic (possible debate)
4) make buttons expressing their opinion on the topic
5) write about experiences in a different country and how the culture related to women's roles differ.

Post 8 (video)

 I think this video showed a great way for teaching about the pioneers in relation to the students. In my opinion history is a difficult subject to relate to students when it should be. I recall plenty of times in school when I would complain about how boring my history class was. I think this teacher did a wonderful job of bringing the topic to life.  This way would easily help students remember the main focus of studying the pioneers. It was even better that they had a guided discussion afterwords. The questions were open enough for the students to have beneficial information to share. It was a great way to relate to the students and have them relate to each other. When young students can find a similar experience in their life the event becomes more meaningful. Also, when students can add onto knowledge they already know, it deepens their understanding. The activity at the end of the lesson included authentic materials, which was beneficial in this case. The students were learning about brochures as well as putting their knowledge about travel and relating it to the pioneers. This is a great way to have a project at the end of the lesson that ties in everything that has been discussed.

Post 7

 Before reading Kuma's chapter on learner autonomy I thought I knew all about it. I just thought it was common sense that the learner has a say in how they learn. I now understand more, that the teacher must influence the student to want to understand how to learn.  Metacognition is a complicated idea because it's weird to think about thinking, but if we set the oddness aside we can really focus on the important factors of what it takes in order to learn. I think it is important for students to understand the way they learn because this can help them self-correct. One of the 4 processes that enable learners to exercise control over their learning is evaluating.  In the book it says this is done at the end of an activity. I disagree with this. The example given was reflecting and thinking about what to do differently next time. While I think this is a good idea, I personally think it's better that the student correct himself in the process. I feel that they need to know that mistakes are okay and once they recognize that they have made a mistake the best thing to do is correct it. I feel this will actually facilitate learner autonomy because they will be self aware.
 I feel that this idea did not come into play until the end of high school, through college for me. In high school, like most others I feel, were just interested in finishing their work. Looking back on things I wish I would have known then what I know now. I think this idea ties in well with intuitive heuristic learning because it focuses on the learner knowing and understanding their learning process. I question whether high school students have the ability to think in this mindset. I wonder if the maturity level of the students needs to be higher in order to think of learning in such a way. Whether they can or cannot understand I think it's important to bring to their attention. Maybe once it is, they will be able to grasp the concept at least a little bit in order to start the metacognitive process.

Post 6

 After reading the articles I noticed how they carried over. First, the idea of a trilingual classroom is quite daunting. Then to think of how to create a curriculum for such a class adds to the intimidation factor. I have never really considered a trilingual classroom at one time. I do know that many younger children from other countries learn multiple languages at a young age, I just never thought they learned them at the same time.  I assumed after a student mastered a language enough to use it in  a class, then they moved on to a different language the next year. I do not know if this method is completely awful or if it holds true in some countries. I do find that trilingual classrooms can be beneficial. I feel this may be difficult unless a teacher that had grown up speaking the three languages and is fluent. Answering questions and hopping from one language to the next seems like a task that would be difficult to get the hang of. However, if the course carries out properly, then it can mean a wonder of opportunities for the student.
 The reason this can be difficult for the teacher is because of the curriculum that must be created for the classroom. I think creating a curriculum for one language is difficult, let alone three. I do not believe all the aspects would carry over from one language to the other. So, each language would have to be assessed and the skills the teacher is hoping for would need to be specified. I think about my time in the public school. During study hall students ask me questions about their Science homework. I have never been a fan of science nor have I been very good at it. I just think about how difficult it would be for me to create a curriculum about that and I compare that to creating three curricula.

Post 5

The article about studying abroad was interesting to me. I studied abroad in Spain and I loved every minute of it. There were so many opportunities that opened up once I landed in Europe I couldn't even handle it. I traveled and to this day want to continue traveling. I encourage all of my friends and people younger than me to study abroad no matter where because once they leave the US it's a whole different world. It does not surprise me what students are taking into account when looking at different universities. I obviously chose Spain because I'm a Spanish Education major, but the reason I chose Granada was because of the popularity of the university. The program guide that I was given made it seem more than worth it, and I'm glad. I think studying abroad really opens people's eyes to different cultures and a different way of life. It allows people to be more accepting and another plus is the opportunity to travel.

In terms of heuristics, and the battle of inductive versus deductive teaching in my opinion can never be solved. I believe that the student needs to be taken into account moreso than which method has more potential to be effective. There are different types of learners and some do well when explained how to use a rule or the definition of a word. These students would likely excel from a deductive teaching method. Students who have the ability to think critically and figure out reasoning for themselves would be more likely to succeed with an inductive approach. I do feel that both types of students have potential to learn language skills. I do not see one way as better or worse. I do find though, that the students who would do well with an inductive approach would be more likely to notice the gap because they think for themselves more than the students who need be told what do in a step by step process.