Blog 19

I haven't quite finished my paper yet, but this is what I have so far..................

Subrina Samaroo

12-8-11

Research Paper Rough Draft

Dr. Chandler

            Have you ever walked into a classroom while a teacher was reading a story to the students? What kinds of things would one observe the students doing while the story is being read? Many times the students are sitting in a circle on the carpet or in the reading corner listening and looking at their teacher. However, how can teachers tell if the students are actually understanding and comprehending the stories being read to them? Is there a skill that teachers can implement while reading that students can do to show his or her understanding of the material? Here is something to think about, during story time many students like to picture the characters, setting, and even the plot in their heads. So what if teachers have students put these pictures on paper what affect could this have on the children in terms of literacy? In other words, how do picture drawings influence how children remember or interpret text from stories?

            If I were to attempt a hypothetical research experiment for this focus there are many things that I would need to consider. First I would need to come up with a specific focus question which is stated is the above paragraph. It states, how picture drawings influence how children remember or interpret text from stories. This is the question I would base all my research on because it is what I am trying to answer. There is already much research being done in our society on what effects storytelling has on children. For example, one can find numerous articles and essays about how reading to children when they are young helps them become better readers as adults. Or articles on the why reading to children is important for their development as they grow into young adult. However, it can be difficult to find research on how children can contribute to story time and how the students interpret the stories.  Just like adults, students have their own opinions and like to use their creativity and imagination. In an article written by Amy MacDonald she states, “What is often overlooked is that the children, who live this experience, and their interpretation of events, may be vastly different from that of their parents and teachers.” (MacDonald, 40) My research project backs up this point by Amy MacDonald because I would like to get the child involved in my in the experiment. It is very important that children know that their ideas and viewpoints matter, as well as they have a voice in every aspect of their own learning. I believe that is the most essential part of my project.

            There are two main things that I would like to accomplish from my research project. The first is being able to help teachers find a new way to get students to interact and be interested in stories. In many classrooms, story time starts out great with everyone listening attentively and very eager to see what will happen next. However, sometimes half way through the book students begin to get bored and start to wander. This can cause distractions for the teacher as well as other students, and in some situations could put an end for story time for the day. From my project, teachers can engage the students attention to description of characters, setting, and plot and explain that there drawings have to reflect upon the descriptions. This can help to keep the children interested and help them to pay attention.

            The second thing I would like to accomplish from my project is to have picture drawings be a help for children to interpret or remember the stories. Having the students draw their own pictures can help them remember the sequence of events that took place in the story. For example, after drawing pictures for the fairytale Cinderella a child might say, “I remember that Cinderella had to home for the ball at 12 o’clock because I drew a picture of a clock with the number twelve.” Here it is seen that the child was able to interpret what time Cinderella had to be home from the picture he or she drew.

            In order to carry out my research project, the first thing I will need to do is figure out what research methods I should use. My thinking behind what research I would choose would be based on the following actions to get answers to my question. I would need to go to more than classroom setting while a teacher uses the skill from my focus question with the students. I would need to observe what children do as well as the teacher, speak with a variety of educators, numerous students, and then analyze the results I come up with.

            Based upon the steps I would have take to put my plan into action the first research method I would use is ethnography.  As an ethnographer, not only will have to be an observer, but I would also be a part of the observation. So after getting all the necessary paperwork done, I would do my observations in a classroom setting with a group of five to ten kindergarten students. The story I would to read to them is called I Can Read With My Eyes Shut, by Dr. Seuss. While reading I will observe the students actions, what they say, what they do, and how they interpret the story through drawing.

            A big part of using ethnography is taking notes. Since one of the main points in my focus question was about the pictures children draw, I would have to analyze and do note taking on the pictures. From the pictures there are a variety of things I should look for and interpret. For example, I can analyze the colors, sizes, and positions that children choose to incorporate with their pictures. Then I ask myself questions such as why did the student use a certain color, or why did he or she make one character bigger or smaller than another? Also I can analyze the content of their pictures and how it relates to the story I read in class. Did the child draw the most important parts of the story? Or why did he or she think one event was more important to draw than another?

            The second research method I think is important and connects well to ethnography would be interviewing. I would conduct two sets of interviews; the first will be an active interview with two kindergarten teachers. Both subjects will be asked the same set of questions consisting of what book did you decide to read to your class? What kinds of pictures did the students draw? How did the pictures relate to the story? What kind of reactions did you get from the kids? Do you think picture drawing is an effective strategy to help children interpret and remember stories? After getting the answers from the participants I would take time to compare and contrast what each had to say. This way I can get a clear understanding as to if my subjects had somewhat similar or complete different responses.

            The second interview would be with two kindergarten students who have used the picture drawing skill in their classroom. Once again I would ask a series of questions such as, what story did the teacher read? What did you draw a picture of? Why did you use a certain color or place objects in certain places? Did you like drawing pictures? Would you like to do it more often?

           

Blog 18

FOCUS QUESTION FOR RESEARCH PAPER:


How does picture drawing influence how children remember or interpret text from stories?


Research Methods I Plan to Use:
 Ethnography: I would observe in a classroom setting as I read a story to the students and observe and take notes on what they draw.
     Things to look for in their drawings would include:
                         -> Content
                         -> color, size, and position of characters, settings, and plot.
                        -> other features of the pictures


Interviewing: I would interview a teacher who has done this exercise with their students.
                   Some questions I was thinking to ask:
                           -> What book did you read to class?
                          -> What kinds of brainstorming did the kids use to draw their pictures
                          -> What sorts of pictures did the children draw?
                          -> How did the pictures relate to the story?
                          -> What kinds of reactions did you get from the students?
                          -> Is picture drawing a good technique to use? 
                          -> What were some of the advantages and disadvantages of picture drawing?


I would also interview one of the student's (with parental permission and also the parent would have to be there for the interview)
             Some questions I would ask:
                      -> What story did your teacher read to the class?
                     -> What did you draw a picture of from the story?
                     -> Why did you use a certain color, or make a certain character bigger than others?
                     -> Did you have fun drawing your picture?
                     -> Is picture drawing something you would like to do more often?
                     -> What did you learn from the story?


This is what I have so far... I am still working on my sources and brainstorming more questions to ask. I am planning to begin writing my paper very soon and see what things I need to add or leave out............ Hopefully with Dr. Chandler's feedback I will know if I'm heading in the right direction!! 

Blog 17

Final Draft: Discourse Analysis Paper

Subrina Samaroo

11/17/2011

Eng. 3029

Dr. Chandler

         

             In a literary transcript between a college professor and one of her students, the two discussed the student’s personal experience using online chat rooms. In the first excerpt the interviewer represented by “Ch” asked the interviewee who was represented by “A” a series of questions regarding the student’s first experience talking to someone she did not know in a chat room. The subject “A,” responds to the questions by telling the story of how she thought she talked to a pedophile and how she was scared in the situation.  A also explained that her parents did not know much about computers, and because of her experience monitored her siblings while they used the internet. In the second excerpt, of the transcript Ch asked A about what kinds of activities she and her friend did on the internet. A explained all of the different things they would online while browsing the web including talking to people in chat rooms.

In my analysis of this chat room transcript, I attempted to analyze how through A’s growth from excerpt 1 to excerpt 2, she was able to gain the authority needed to become a confident internet user. In excerpt 1, A is represented as a child using the internet for the first time. A states the quote below:

“and you could also chat strangers - which was dangerous cause I think I talked   to a pedophile I'm not sure, I I was in fifth grade I gave him my phone number when he called me I hung up I was so scared.”  

In this response by A, there are a few assumptions that can be made just by the language she used. It can be assumed that since she was not sure if it was a pedophile she talked to in the chat room, that her authority within the conversation was limited. This leads us into the following question as to why she gave the person her phone number. In this situation it seems as if the person A was talking to in the chat room had all of the authority because as A mentioned in the beginning of the transcript, she did not have much experience with the internet before this. After this response, Ch asked the question if she ever told her parents about this situation at the time it happened.  A responded by saying the following:

“no I never told my mom or my dad.” “I mean, I think I told them later on when I was in college, but it's dangerous, cause my parents weren't familiar with computers or web tv and I was a child exploring it -like - there was no restrictions, my parents didn't know how to put restrictions, they weren't too familiar with it.  It's only maybe three of four years ago that my mom learned how to use a computer so being a child, discovering it on your own could be really dangerous when there's chat rooms, and talking to people telling you that they're your age, but they're not.”

Here, a big question that could be asked is why did she not tell her parents? Was it because she was scared that she would get in trouble? That is a possibility, but since A stated that her parents did not know much about computers at the time of her experience with pedophile, who had the authority to control A’s online activities? Or was there any authority at this point in A’s life regarding using the internet?  If we look at the language in the above quote, A explains that she was still a child exploring something that no one in her family was familiar with. So as A learned new things by exploring, we can assume that she began to grow and gain some authority to help her know some of the dangers the internet holds.

 In the second part of excerpt 1 in the transcript, A described as she got older she monitored her siblings while they used the internet. A stated:

“I was careful, and then I was strict on my younger sister and my brothers using the computer.  I also hogged the computer because I liked talking to my friends. But when my sister started going online I would check up on who she's talking to, I would look over, I would check the history, see what websites she went on.”

 Here, it can be assumed that A was a little overprotective of her sister and the kinds of websites she used online. A question that can be asked is why was A more concerned with her sister more than her brother? Did it have to do with gender or more of the authority A gained through her experience with the pedophile? We can see that in this situation A has authority over her sister and can take control over what she does on the internet. A ‘s language in this quote also shows her confidence in using the internet. There was no hesitation as she explained to CH how she overlooked what her sister was doing. A knew exactly what things to check for to see if her sister was in danger. For example, A told CH that she knew how to look up the people her sister was talking to, and she had now gained the authority to warn her sister about questionable persons in chat rooms and what things to look for that could be suspicious.

This brings us to excerpt 2, where we can see A continue to grow as an online user, as well as how A gains some more authority on the internet. CH and A discussed another chat room experience with A and her friend.  CH asked the question, “so what did you and your friends do on the computer in a typical session - if you went over to your friend down the street?” From this question, we can that assume that A was not alone on the internet this time around, how would her responses be different than in excerpt 1, where she was by herself when she spoke to the pedophile.  A responded with this answer:

“our emails, check our home pages, see if people left us messages, go in chat rooms and chat with our friends, exchange pictures with people that lived in our area that was our age, which could be dangerous, cause they could be imposters, we really didn't care.”

Here, it is quite clear that A is much more confident with her online skills.  She now knows how to email, message and chat with friends, and exchange pictures. So she has gained authority of using the internet and feel in control of what she does and who she talks to. So why did she not care if she exchanged pictures with people who may have been imposters? Was it because she was with a friend or perhaps the reason might be because now that she was surer of her abilities, A had gained authority over how she approached different situations through her experiences. Even though her friend was there, A still had control over her own identity from the knowledge she picked up while exploring various websites. Unlike excerpt 1, where she was not confident in her actions with the pedophile, in this excerpt A seems more than confident and more or less carefree in her internet activities.

Here is another example of A’s growth in excerpt 2 in comparison to excerpt 1.  A stated:

um, one time we were in a chat room, chatting, well my friend and I were like, oh lets go with that guy's sceen name, and then, he was like do you have a picture, we sent a picture, we found out it was our pastor's son who was like 20, and we're like eeuew he's like an older brother, and then when he saw our picture he's like why are you doing that, why were you sending pictures to strangers, and kind of got mad at us.”

Here we see a similar situation like in excerpt; however A’s language seems to be completely different. Why was A not scared this time around and how were actions different? In this situation with the pastor’s son, A has gained the online authority to do things with assurance. She picked the guy she wanted to chat with and knew how to send pictures to him. Although this could still be a dangerous situation, A felt a little disgusted and embarrassed because it was with someone she knew from the neighborhood. If we take a look at the language, A says “eeuew” and did not seem to care that the pastor’s son was mad that they were sending pictures in the chat rooms. So why was A not scared this time around? Was it because the person they were talking to was some she knew? If we analyze the situation at this point, A had gained enough online authority to upload pictures so we can assume she would know how to delete them if need be. She also knew that the pastor’s son was someone who would not harm her, and figured he was in chat rooms just to have fun just like her.

From the transcript we can assume that A growth and experiences helped her to gain the authority she needed to be confident on the internet. In excerpt 1, A was quite scared and not in control of the situation, because she lacked the authority needed in order for her to be confident of the internet. However, as she got a older and became a little more familiar with the “online world,” A was strict on her siblings and was now gaining authority be know what aspects of the internet were dangerous for her sister. Then in excerpt 2, A seemed to have grown a lot since her first chat room experience. She now had the authority to be in control of her online actions which lead A to have confidence in the places and people she came across while being in the “online world.”

Blog 16

Ideas/topics for Research Paper:

• So for my research paper I am thinking about researching effective strategies teachers use to teach kindergartners to write the letters of the alphabet.
• I am thinking for the methods to use I would pick ethnography and interviewing.

      1.) Things I would observe and take notes on:
       -> The classroom environment
      -> What specific tools do teachers use to help students learn to write. (for example,    pencils, notebooks, tracing utensils, ect.  
      -> How does the teacher interact with the student to help them he or she practice writing the letters.
      -> these are just a few ideas I came up with so far.... still thinking and brainstorming........

       2.) The second method I would use is interviewing.
         -> I would interview a teacher who teaches kindergaten students.
         -> Questions I would ask:
                      -what are some techniques you use to help students with their letters?
                      - what activities to you do in the classroom to give students practice? (ie. worksheets, games, group work ect.)
                      - Do you find that students have a easy or difficult time with ths concept?
                      - How do you get parents involved in helping their children write thie letters?
Again these are just a few things I came up with...............
                  

Blog 15

Notes for Revision for my discourse paper


So after receiving feedback from Dr. Chandler about my discourse paper, I feel a bit confused and think that I might have missed the point of discourse analysis. My paper consisted of my main focus and evidence from the chat room transcript to back up my the purpose I stated in my introduction. I have set up a conference with Dr. Chandler so hopefully that will help me get a better understanding as to where I need to go with the paper.


Feedback notes:
1. My paper did not dig deep into the language and cultural aspects of discourse.
2. Not enough evidence to go along with my focus.


I guess I have a lot of work to do!!!

Blog 14

What I did well in my discourse analysis paper:
1.) I think I had a very good introduction because I stated the focus and explained the main purpose of the paper.
2.) I think I presented a few good points to back up my main focus.

What I need to work on in my paper:
1.) I think I need more evidence to support my claim.
2.) I am not sure if I've done everything needed to make this paper regarding discourse.

From Feedback
From the feedback I receive from Dr. Chandler I hope I can get a better understanding as to if I am on the right track with my paper. As well as how I can go into more detail with the language and uncover some of the aspects that are not so obvious in the chat room transcript

Blog 12

DISCOURSE Analysis Essay notes:

Topic: So I have narrowed my topic ideas and believe that I have come up with a reasonable and hopefully on the right track of what Dr. Chandler is looking for.

• A"s unawareness of the dangers of the internet put her at risk with the unsafe parts of chat rooms.
• It is important that young children have someone who is knowledgeable about the "online world" such as a parent of friend to monitor and teach them the dangers of the internet.

Points from transcript that I will focus on:

• A's chat room experience with the pedophile.
• A's parents not knowing much about the internet.
• A's experience made her very cautious and made her monitor her sister use when they were older.
• A's chat room experience with the pastor's son.
• The pastor's son acting like a parent figure, questioning the girls online safety.

This is what I've come up with so far......I will begin to write my introduction and see where I get with my paper.