support for disadvantaged school children/ mediational means;

Judy Diamondstone (diamonju who-is-at rci.rutgers.edu)
17 Nov 1998 14:14:08 -0000

Rambling follows:

One choice supposedly in interest of "egalitarian" education is not
to assess at all, as if there were no norms that mattered. I assume
this to be as effective as 'filling in the gaps' -- i.e., assuming
a single cultural norm for every child, every purpose under heaven.

Somewhat on the 'filling in the gaps' model, there is the
Australian genre pedagogy, which does however differentiate
norms by purpose. Still, it is designed to enable 'disadvantaged'
students to realize the dominant genres of school-based writing.

There has been much dismay expressed in North American about
the Australian genre pedagogy, because it is 'prescriptive,'
'rigid' etcetera. I've thought quite a bit about this, since
I've seen and read examples of the pedagogy that fit more
the whole language model of immersion in literacy activities
with some attention to language thrown in. So I have wondered
what merit there is to the critique that the pedagogy LENDS
ITSELF to prescriptive, rigid instruction. Is the problem
in the product-focus of the curriculum? or the product-focus
of the teacher? Is the problem in the way the model is
demonstrated and used or in the model itself?

On the 'building on what students know' model, there are all
the versions of progressive pedagogy, and all the various
versions of constructivism in different disciplines. All
the attempts to build zopeds into activities complex enough
to offer entry points for every student, etceteras. The rub
is that the world outside the classroom works rather differently.
Don't our efforts to build on what students already know lean
towards activity-based, not individual-based assessment - i.e.,
not assessing individual students? Which harks back to the
fantasy that there are no [individual] norms that matter.
In any case, I am always disturbed by the grading I am
required to do, when I can see that a lesson has worked
for all the students.

Then there are all the points between the fantasy that each
person be celebrated for their unique contribution to the
fold and the fantasy that every child can achieve the "same"
normative performance, as if the differences among us were
not integral to our individual & collective excellence...

Ramblin Jude

At 06:25 AM 11/17/98 -0500, you wrote:
>At the risk of sounding facile, the U.S. public school system is such an
>attempt. And sometimes it even succeeds.
>
>A number of people claim to have methods for making the school system more
>likely to work along the lines requested by Angel and Steve. E.D. Hirsch,
>for instance, offers a curriculum based on knowledge of Western culture (or
>at least his version of it) as the great equilizer. Linda Darling-Hammond
>and colleagues offer what they call "authentic assessment." Hirsch's model
>is deficit-oriented, claiming that what's needed is to fill gaps in
>students' knowledge so that they will have building blocks for new
>knowledge; Darling-Hammond's is predicated on the belief that all students
>already have knowledge that schools can productively help them build on.
>
>There's much in between, but these two extremes illustrate how difficult
>the question is to answer.
>
>Peter
>
>At 11:47 AM 11/17/98 +0800, you wrote:
>>Dear xmca-ers,
>>
>>A colleague of mine passed this request of refs. to me. Could you suggest
>>something? Thanks.
>>
>>Angel
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>Do you know of any sources that describe attempts in egalitarian
>>societies/institutions to create systems through which academically able
>>children can excel regardless of their social class/home situation?
>>
>>Steve
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>At 12:25 PM 11/16/98 -0300, you wrote:
>>>Thanks for reply
>>>
>>>Ken Goodman wrote:
>>>>
>>>> My experience throught Latin American is that dogs act intimidated when
>>>> a human passaes and get out of the way fast. But then I only see them on
>>>> the streets. Maybe house dogs are different.
>>>> Ken Goodman
>>>> --
>>>> Kenneth S. Goodman, Professor, Language, Reading & Culture
>>>> 504 College of Education, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
>>>> fax 520 7456895 phone 520 6217868
>>>>
>>>> These are mean times- and in the mean time
>>>> We need to Learn to Live Under Water
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>

Judith Diamondstone (732) 932-7496 Ext. 352
Graduate School of Education
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey
10 Seminary Place
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1183

Eternity is in love with the productions of time - Wm Blake