Five Dimensions of Learning

1. Confidence and independence
2. Knowledge and Understanding
3. Skills and strategies
4. Use of prior and emerging experience
5. Reflection

LLSS 315 Midterm

Summary

Our class began with an experiential Red Apple bus ride around town. Not that I was giving any of you the run around about this course. Just the opposite. The purpose was to gain insight of another vantage point from which to view familiar city landscapes. The vehicle was the message, so to speak. The simulation Barnga Game was another experience to see from different perspectives and provide an insider’s view of negotiating within different cultures. The Reconceptualist perspective invitation was a way of questioning the content of what we teach (and some of the myths that we may perpetuate in the name of education and ignorance, cultural insensitivity, dominant society privilege).

Since language is not a neutral territory, the content of this course examines language from different perspectives and levels. Language is not English as a UNM student once reminded us.

Working with Charlotte Bradshaw’s fourth graders at Apache school is the highlight of this course. Meant to be authentic, in the classroom learning, this is the best way to experience working with children of linguistically diverse backgrounds. Their completed collection of individual family oral stories will be the final product and during the process we will gain practical experience using Six Traits and writing workshops. In addition, learning strategies from your previous courses and those recommended in our text may be directly applicable in engaging your students. It is a pleasure to watch you engage with your student(s) and it is obvious why you have chosen this profession.

I will be reading your weekly reflections on your websites with more regularity now that you are more comfortable with editing your pages.

I try to create a relaxed classroom setting where it is comfortable with less stress.

It is important for me to model and set high achievement goals for myself. It is my hope that as teachers, you own your own learning and are motivated to learn in self-directed ways.

Course Invitations were designed with you in mind:

• Creating individual websites to house our own intellectual property generated (inspired) during our course (fvitali.tripod.com/315)
• Course Blog at unm-farmington.tripod.com/315/ means of shared communication
• Weekly highlights – capturing our learning journey as a recorded history from week to week.
• Weekly Email – maintaining correspondence in between sessions for updates, clarification and reminders.
• Family Story/ I AM FROM…
• Reflections from working with Apache students
• Ethnographic Reflection
• Selected Articles 

NEXT STEPS:

Literature Circles with our Book Clubs & Textbook Chapters

Ethnographic Reflection

Guest Visitors:

• Vicki Bruno, Sign Language and Communication Specialist
• Ricky Lee Allen
• New Mexico Endowment of the Humanities Chautauqua Program 

EVALUATION:

I enjoy learning beside students and creating real life learning opportunities. I hope the content, learning opportunities, and Apache oral history project are valuable experiences from which to discover, be challenged, and grow professionally and personally.