Diary 7/10

Jonathan Windsor
PM116:
7th October 2008

Finishing off Language Story posters: It’s great that everyone’s story is in the classroom – I think the task has been an interesting way to get to know people, and revealing in a way that goes beyond first impressions. We finished our poster by popping a pocket for the individual stories to go in – the kind of improvisation that would be useful as a teacher in the classroom.

Pupil’s Language History: Initially I was slightly intimidated by the amount of work that had gone into preparing the pupil’s potential tasks. The range of activities allows differentiation between pupils of varying abilities whilst still drawing them to a common goal. On reflection, however, it is reassuring to know that the challenge of differentiation can be met effectively, and as we discussed the tasks it became clear that this kind of preparation makes life easier in the long run.
Thinking about my own language history had given me experience of how this task would feel to a pupil. Teachers are encouraged to relate schoolwork to the pupil’s experiences to increase enjoyment - this task cuts out the middleman!
We were asked to try and adapt the set of tasks for a primary age group. We found that this would be perfectly possible with some of the tasks, for example with 4b – the pupils could adapt the Yorkshire Language Day poem, either in groups or as a class, to their own dialect. However, tasks such as task 2 would be more difficult. Younger pupils are generally less self-conscious than older pupils, and so might struggle to pinpoint exact examples in the past of where they felt embarrassed because of language. It is also a lot to ask a young pupil to distinguish between where instances of language have caused them embarrassment, and where it was something other than language. The moral of the story here then is that while it is possible to create tasks that all pupils can enjoy, we always need to be flexible – and discussing the above was a good way to discover this.

The Red-headed Thief: I found it very useful to hear the story told well, particularly when compared to my recounting of it. Recounting the story demonstrated again the need for a degree of preparation on my part at least. Then, sharing the story around the class provided the opportunity to see different approaches – to see what was effective.
This section of the lesson also provided a clear illustration of the differences between written and spoken English. This lead to a useful list of the differences on the lecture slides – including two words I’d never come across before – endophoric and exophoric. Expect them in an essay near you very soon. I put an asterisk in my notes next to the point about written language being a synthesis of ideas.

Child Language Acquisition: I’ve studied this before but it was helpful to blow out the cobwebs so to speak.

Poem: As soon as I’d finished reading the poem to the Dictaphone I wished I’d taken my time more, emphasised certain parts more and generally put more into it. I’ll finish with this as it rather sums up what I’ve learnt today – not to rush into things, but at the same time not to be afraid to make a big effort.

Great stuff, Jon. You come over as shrewd and thoughtful.
Can I ask everyone to have a go at commenting - on the content, and as someone who was there and has just completed the same task - rather than that kind of teachery thing I might say - the dialogue is so much more fruitful than the monologue...