Education

On Becoming an Academic

I guess I never told this story before, but I just finished grades, so why  not?

I went to a small liberal arts college in northern Indiana called Anderson University. It was the flagship school of the Church of God-Anderson denomination, and it housed the denomination’s School of Theology. I was very interested in the intellectual traditions of Christianity, so I took a religion or philosophy course every year. Biblical Interpretation (Hermeneutics), Archeological History of the Ancient Near East, Intro to the Bible, Practicing Philosophy. One day, I was walking in the Valley on campus and ran into two of my religion professors, Dr. Merle Strege (Hermeneutics) and my Intro to the Bible professor whose name escapes me. I forget much of that conversation–might even be misremembering the whole context–but we were talking about careers and plans and I remember Strege saying, “Hey, you could become a professor.”

The thought had literally never occurred to me.

I didn’t know how this worked. I didn’t know what you had to do or who was qualified. Sure, it sounded like the perfect life. Strege used to say that he had gamed the system, because he used to pay them so that he could read books and talk about them, and now they paid him to read books and talk about them.

I never understood that part of academia. I wanted to know stuff, sure, but I also wanted to solve problems, and I always thought it a little strange the way my professor described academia–reading books and talking about them. Surely there was some material good academics should produce beyond reading books and talking about them? And that line of thought has continued to spark many conversations with colleagues to this day.

But anyway, I learned at that point that you had to do graduate school–again, they might as well said I had to gazorpazorp because I had no idea what that entailed. I didn’t pursue it either. I had a different career trajectory in mind, and I didn’t want to mess it up with trying something I didn’t even know much about and that seemed like such a long, long shot. I mean, c’mon, you have to be a genius to be a professor, right?

Pretty sure I’m living proof that isn’t true.

Long-story short, I got to a point in my life where that long, long shot seemed to make sense for me–not just to me, but to my girlfriend-now-wife and my family. So I took the leap and applied to a graduate program, got in, and the rest is history. But I’ll never forget that professor who planted that seed, lit that spark. I haven’t written him, but I plan to over the break just to say thanks.

I ran into Strege at Homecoming one year. He didn’t remember me, but he was still gracious, if a tad in a hurry. It’s funny that someone who made such an impact probably doesn’t remember that moment at all.

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#CWCon from Afar: Gee’s Affinity Spaces & Situated Learning Interrogated

I have been following Computers & Writing Conference this week on Twitter at the #cwcon hashtag. Among the most livetweeted talks was James Paul Gee’s keynote, “Writing in the Age of the Maker Movement.” Gee, famous for research on gaming and literacy, spoke broadly about teaching writing from a situated learning perspective. In his talk, he emphasized the need for “goal-based action” in learning to write, where students see writing as a way of “doing” something. He advocated learning situated in “affinity spaces,” where a group coalesces over a “common endeavor” (Gee, 2003, p. 192). I have Storified the livetweeting of the talk here.

Before I respond to the talk, I want state a caveat: I wasn’t there. I am relying on livetweeting, and therefore my comprehension and interpretation of Gee’s talk is limited by the points that were livetweeted. I could have missed points in his argument, which would then skew my interpretation in an erroneous direction. I apologize in advance if I misinterpreted Gee.

I want to respond to a few key claims livetweeted, so I’ve selected the first tweets I could find in the #cwcon stream that documented each of these claims. I have embedded them below. (more…)

Traditional Academic Feuds in Literacy Studies: The Reading Wars as Evidence of Horizontal Knowledge Structure

This post is a consolidated form of the 8-part series I posted from April 16-May 30, 2013 as part of a class seminar on literacy. I have done a rough edit to attempt to make the posts more cohesive; if some issues are unclear, please refer to the original posts. Thanks again to all who commented and encouraged me during this endeavor. A special thanks to Dr. Carol Hopkins, who supported me in this project.

The Reading Wars of the 1990s were documented by the exchanges between Edelsky and McKenna, Robinson, & Miller in Educational Researcher. This theoretical conflict between Whole Language and Traditional Literacy represents what I call a “traditional academic feud.” A traditional academic feud is a social phenomenon in an academic field of study where two or more groups theorize about or describe a single phenomenon in categorically different ways. That a traditional academic feud eventually achieved “war” status is a curious phenomenon–but perhaps no more curious than the fact that academic feuds occur in the first place. In this series, I plan to explain 1) why the academic feud of the Reading Wars occurred, 2) why the feud escalated to a war, and 3) why a similar feud developed recently in the reading comprehension field (this element of the thesis was abandoned due to time/space constraints), and (if I am brave enough) 4) how we might avoid wars and have more productive feuds in Literacy Studies. (more…)

Traditional Academic Feuds in Literacy Studies Part 8: Knower Code and Conclusions

Note: This is the eighth and final part of an eight-part series which satisfies a term paper requirement for a class seminar on literacy. Note that all citations in quotations can be found in the bibliographies of the linked items.

In this last post, I will demonstrate how Literacy Studies satisfies the final feature of horizontal knowledge structures–that of having a “knower code.” I will also show how this feature contributed to the Reading Wars. In a revision of my thesis, which originally contained a second analysis of the debate I highlighted in post six, I will conclude by reviewing the main features of horizontal knowledge structures and argue that they are the primary mechanisms that facilitated the Reading Wars. I will then offer suggestions based on this analysis on how we might avoid wars and have more productive feuds in Literacy Studies. For the sake of clarity, I refer to McKenna’s first article as “McKenna et al., 1990a” and their rejoinder “McKenna et al., 1990b.” Citations from quotes in the M-E discourse are not linked. They can be found at McKenna et al., 1990a; Edelsky, and McKenna et al, 1990b.

9. “Choices between competing claims to insight are based more on a ‘knower code’, that is to say, on who is making knowledge claims rather than on what is being claimed and how.”

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Traditional Academic Feuds in Literacy Studies Part 7: Empiricism

Note: This is the seventh and part of a multi-part series which (eventually) will become a term paper for a class seminar on literacy. Note that all citations in quotations can be found in the bibliographies of the linked items.

Previously on My Neverending Blog…

In my last post, I suggested that Whole Language and Skills-Based Literacy–the two opposing viewpoints in the Reading Wars–were languages constructed with weak conceptual grammar, where the fundamental phenomenon–that is, reading–was defined differently by each language. Whole Language, represented by Edelsky (1990) , defined reading as a “sociopsycholinguistic process” (p. 8), whereas Skills-Based Literacy, represented by McKenna et al., 1990a and McKenna et al, 1990b , defined it as constellation of skills working in concert (p. 3). These differing definitions, symptomatic of weak grammar, and the feuding relationship between the theories, also a feature of weak grammar, account for the next two features of horizontal knowledge structures, which deal with empirical research within disciplines.

Aside: In retrospect, I should have collapsed these features into a single feature, making the final total of horizontal knowledge features eight. Maton & Muller (2007) seem to suggest two main features for knowledge structures: grammaticality and verticality. It may be that the features I have abstracted here are corollaries of these two larger features, which are represented as features six and five respectively in my list.
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Traditional Academic Feuds in Literacy Studies Part 6: Power and Weak Grammar

Note: This is the sixth part of a multi-part series which (eventually) will become a term paper for a class seminar on literacy.

After my last post, I started discussing the issue of Integration with some colleagues in linguistics via Twitter (in case you haven’t heard, we’re trying to start #lingchat). There are three Tweets I would like to respond to because they raise problems and objections to my analysis that are productive. Thankfully, Purdue’s OWL has already provided a resource on how to cite Tweets. Unfortunately, they’ve only done it for MLA, so I’m extrapolating an APA citation below.

Aside: I want to personally thank my Twitter colleagues @grvsmth, @NemaVeze, and @wgi_pr31ea for raising questions on this matter. Our discussions have been both productive and instructive for me. And while I argue against some of their claims here, I have great respect for their views and scholarship.

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Traditional Academic Feuds in Literacy Studies Part I: Knowledge Structures

Note: This is the first part of a multi-part series which (eventually) will become a term paper for a class seminar on literacy.

The Reading Wars of the 1990s were documented by the exchanges between Edelsky and McKenna, Robinson, & Miller in Educational Researcher.  This theoretical conflict between Whole Language and Traditional Literacy represents what I call a “traditional academic feud.” A traditional academic feud is a social phenomenon in an academic field of study where two or more groups theorize about or describe a single phenomenon in categorically different ways. That a traditional academic feud eventually achieved “war” status is a curious phenomenon–but perhaps no more curious than the fact that academic feuds occur in the first place. In this series, I plan to explain 1) why the academic feud of the Reading Wars occurred, 2) why the feud escalated to a war, and 3) why a similar feud developed recently in the reading comprehension field, and  (if I am brave enough) 4) how we might avoid wars and have more productive feuds in Literacy Studies. (more…)

The Linguistics of Formative Assessment

We know from research how important formative assessment is to instruction and student learning. But sometimes questions and statements we make as teachers fail to elicit a verbal response from students. When this happens, we can try to use non-verbal cues to gauge student understanding for a response. We might also consider how the kinds of language choices we make may not function in ways we intend. Perhaps one of the most notorious phrases that fails to adequately assess students’ formative knowledge is:

(1) Does that make sense?

 
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4C13 from afar: Be Careful What You Start

Anson: “In higher ed, we often think that if students are disconnected and unmotivated in class, it’s their fault.” Poignant call. #4c13 -@chris_friend via Twitter retweeted over 20 times

Chris Anson’s speech, live-tweeted by… well just about everybody at 4C13 with a Twitter account, was an inspiring speech that set a good direction for the field of Rhet Comp. I was, however, concerned by the above statement when considered in the context of similar sentiments expressed within K-12 education.

A Cautionary Tale

When No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was passed in 2001, we began an age of accountability for students and teachers in K-12 education. Students were accountable to educational standards in all states via standardized tests and, barring “flexibility” (will get to that in a minute), schools and teachers were accountable for student performance. If students did not make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for a given number of years, state intervention could force the school to close and reopen under new leadership and faculty. Anson’s remark implied that FYC instructors were on some level accountable for students being “disconnected” or “unmotivated.” This seems in line with the move toward accountability in K-12. Since we know from research that teacher effectiveness is a predictor of student success, this is not unreasonable. The next step is, perhaps, more uncomfortable.
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Literacy Education: Mobile Eye-Tracking Software and Reading Rate

Recently a few stories have been discussing the Samsung Galaxy S IV’s eye-tracking function that allows users to scroll through pages using their eyes. There was some concern raised about the privacy implications of this technology if it did, indeed, track eye movement. However, it appears that such concerns are somewhat unwarranted. Mashable reports that the eye-scrolling feature relies more on “facial recognition and tilt” and can pause video when your head turns away. Eye-tracking this is not–or at least, a very primitive form of eye-tracking.

Eye-Tracking and Reading Research

So it’s a false alarm. But the idea of eye-tracking software is not too far-fetched, as it appears Swedish Tobii may be developing other forms of the technology. The issue of eye tracking could have multiple uses, and at some point someone is going to suggest it can cure reading problems. Eye movement studies in reading date at least back to Huey, almost a hundred years, although thankfully we’ve moved on from the “dark ages” form of reading research. Huey tracked eye movement by placing a “cup” made of plaster of Paris on the cornea (numbing the eye with cocaine to alleviate discomfort) and attaching a thin aluminum “pointer” to the cup, which then transferred the movements to paper. Samsung’s limited eye movement technology just takes your picture.
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