EDUC2029: Week 10

The Construction of Students in the Classroom

Anticipatory SetWepins by Gregory Ther are mny kds uv wepins ther are had grnad shotrs

bazuks flame thrs an mines if you rnt carefull they can kil the gy that has thm if you pull a pen on the grana you hav to thrw it quk or it will blooenup in yr had

[There are many kinds of weapons there are hand grenade shooters bazookers flame throwers and mines if you aren’t careful they can kill the guy that has them if you pull a pin on the grenade you have to throw it quick or it will blow up in your hand]

Activity: What advice would you give to this student?

Aims

• Review content from Week 9• Practise analysing classroom discourse• Examine how ‘being a student’ is constructed in classrooms• Consider the complexities of making decisions about ‘good’

and ‘bad’ teaching

Outline of Lecture

• Review Week 9• Construction of the ‘good’ student• Conclusion

Review of Week 9

A functional model of language

The Construction of Students in the Classroom

From Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, pp72-73

Professor Sprout was standing behind a trestle bench in the centre of the greenhouse. About twenty pairs of different coloured earmuffs were lying on the bench. When Harry had taken his place between Ron and Hermione, she said, ‘We’ll be re-potting Mandrakes today. Now, who can tell me the properties of the Mandrake?’

To nobody’s surprise, Hermione’s hand was first in the air.‘Mandrake, or Mandragora, is a powerful restorative,’ said Hermione,

sounding as usual as though she had swallowed the textbook. ‘It is used to return people who have been transfigured or cursed to their original state.’

‘Excellent. Ten points to Gryffindor,’ said Professor Sprout. ‘The Mandrake forms an essential part of most antidotes. It is also, however, dangerous. Who can tell me why?’

Hermione’s hand narrowly missed Harry’s glasses as it shot up again.‘The cry of the Mandrake is fatal to anyone who hears it,’ she said promptly.“Precisely. Take another ten points,’ said Professor Sprout. ‘Now, the

Mandrakes we have here are still very young.’

Being a student

• Messages for Hermione?• Messages for other students?• What does it mean to ‘be a good student’ in this classroom?

Wepins by Gregory

Ther are mny kds uv wepins ther are had grnad shotrs bazuks flame thrs an mines if you rnt carefull they can kil the gy that has thm if you pull a pen on the grana you hav to thrw it quk or it will blooenup in yr had

[There are many kinds of weapons there are hand grenade shooters bazookers flame throwers and mines if you aren’t careful they can kill the guy that has them if you pull a pin on the grenade you have to throw it quick or it will blow up in your hand]

What did the teacher say?

Conference 1 (40 seconds)Teacher:How is it going Greg?Greg: Good.Teacher:Tell me about it.Greg: Well, these weapons will kill you if you

don’t look out. Some guys forget when they pull the pin and stand there like dopes. It just blows

their heads off. What a mess! Other guys get killed too.

Teacher: I see. You do have to watch out for that don’t you? And what will you be doing with this piece next?

Greg:Well, they used these to kill Germans and I want to put that in.

Teacher:Fine, go to it.

Conference 1 (40 seconds)Teacher: How is it going Greg?Greg: Good.Teacher: Tell me about it.Greg: Well, these weapons will

kill you if you don’t look out. Some guys forget when they pull the pin and stand there like dopes. It just blows their heads off. What a mess! Other guys get killed too.

Teacher: I see. You do have to watch out for that don’t

you? And what will you be doing with this piece next?

Greg: Well, they used these to kill Germans and I want to

put that in.Teacher: Fine, go to it.

• Genre and purpose?• Field: What are they

talking about?• Tenor: Who is talking to

whom? Power, distance, affect?

• Mode/s: What type of language is being used – verbal, spoken, visual, audio, gestural, spatial?

• Ideology: What is being valued – about literacy, subject matter?

Conference 1 (40 seconds)Teacher: How is it going Greg?Greg: Good.Teacher: Tell me about it.Greg: Well, these weapons will

kill you if you don’t look out. Some guys forget when they pull the pin and stand there like dopes. It just blows their heads off. What a mess! Other guys get killed too.

Teacher: I see. You do have to watch out for that don’t

you? And what will you be doing with this piece next?

Greg: Well, they used these to kill Germans and I want to

put that in.Teacher: Fine, go to it.

• Who is the primary knower? The secondary knower?

• Who has control?• What evaluation would

you make of this interaction?

What are the strengths and limitations of these questions?

Girls into concrete by John, Year 3 (in Kamler, 1997)

This potion will turn girls into concreateIngredience1 kg of concreate2 girls1 eye from a batMethod1) tip 1 kg of concreate into tub2) drop eye into concreate in tub3) put girls into concreate. make sure that girls are sitting up

rightNoteThis potion will not work if add to much concreate

Girls into concrete by John, Year 3 (in Kamler, 1997)

(Female) Teacher’s comment: While I would classify text 2 as a complete instructional

procedural genre, it would have been even better with a concluding step after step 3 of the method – e.g., (4) When concrete girls have set can be used as ornaments in home or garden.

What counts as ‘being a good student’ in this classroom? (Think about the overt and covert messages!)

Girls into concrete by John, Year 3 (in Kamler, 1997)

This potion will turn girls into concreate

Ingredience1 kg of concreate2 girls1 eye from a batMethod1) tip 1 kg of concreate into tub2) drop eye into concreate in

tub3) put girls into concreate.

make sure that girls are sitting up right

Note: This potion will not work if add to much concreate

In what ways does this text (and the teacher’s response) reflect the ‘many intersecting and simultaneous functions’ of schooling:

• Pastoral• Skilling• Regulative• Human-capital• Individual expression• Cultural-heritage• Democratic

Austen et. al. (2003)Each function of schooling has implications for what

constitutes the special knowledge that relates to schooling – for teachers, teacher educators and parents (Keogh 1999) – and each embodies a particular Child of the Curriculum: the supported Child, the Child skilled and regulated for vocational life, the Child performing up to standards, the self-expressing Child, the democratic-citizen Child and so on […] Contests over priorities have never been resolved in any final sense, each cyclically invoking its opponents, simply because all these functions reflect what communities have come to expect of schooling.

Wepins by Gregory

Ther are mny kds uv wepins ther are had grnad shotrs bazuks flame thrs an mines if you rnt carefull they can kil the gy that has thm if you pull a pen on the grana you hav to thrw it quk or it will blooenup in yr had

[There are many kinds of weapons there are hand grenade shooters bazookers flame throwers and mines if you aren’t careful they can kill the guy that has them if you pull a pin on the grenade you have to throw it quick or it will blow up in your hand]

Competing positions re the purposes of schooling

• Traditionalism: the transmission of the culture’s heritage

• Progessivism: education is about personal growth

• Transformationalism: educational experiences are arenas through which to transform students and society

What is evident in the teacher’s talk around this text?

Conference 1 (40 seconds)Teacher: How is it going Greg?Greg: Good.Teacher: Tell me about it.Greg: Well, these weapons will

kill you if you don’t look out. Some guys forget when they pull the pin and stand there like dopes. It just blows their heads off. What a mess! Other guys get killed too.

Teacher: I see. You do have to watch out for that don’t

you? And what will you be doing with this piece next?

Greg: Well, they used these to kill Germans and I want to

put that in.Teacher: Fine, go to it.

Competing positions re the purposes of schooling

• Traditionalism: the transmission of the culture’s heritage

• Progessivism: education is about personal growth

• Transformationalism: educational experiences are arenas through which to transform students and society

What is evident in the teacher’s talk around this text?

A return to traditionalism?

The shape of things to come?

P (prepare)I (identify)E (elaborate)

Students ‘become’ the teacher expectations

See the Austen, Dwyer, Freebody reading for the detail.

Story: Peter Freebody and Jill Freiberg working with teachers in a ‘Disadvantaged’ school – the ‘dumbest’ kid in the school

Vygotsky (see Dufficy 2005)

• Zone of Proximal Development• Role of emotion in learning and development

(Damasio’s description of the man with steel through his frontal lobe) – bringing together ‘heart’ and ‘head’

‘…if we intend to challenge children and young people productively, then trust, honesty and authenticity must be the bedrock of our interactions.’ (p66)

From Dufficy, 2005, p72

Chau:But Sir, how about if people are angry inside but in the outside they can’t really say it out?

T: Yes, and so they…Do you think it’s good to hold in your anger?

Hassan: No.Ss: No.T: No, you reckon you should express your anger.Hassan: Because otherwise you get a headache.T: You get headaches if you hold it in. Have you ever

been in situations where you’ve had to hold in your anger?

Ss: Yeah.T: When, Hai?Hai: Last year.T: What happened?Hai: Like Phuong, Salam and George…T: What…?Hai: I had a fight down there.T: And you had to hold in your anger.Mark: Yeah, I was there too. I was watching.T: Sometimes…what’s]Chau: [(…)

T: Sorry, Chau, I interrupted you.Chau: You go.T: No, you go.Chau: No you.T: I forgot what I was going to say. Doesn’t

matter (…)

How does this combine elements of ‘head’ and ‘heart’ teaching?

Who are the primary and secondary ‘knowers’ here?

Compare…Anstey 2004

Mary (reading from her written piece): When we heard about my pa died, my mum started to cry and we all did too. It was really sad and we couldn’t cheer my mum up. We tried but we just couldn’t cheer my mum up, and he was really good to us. He gave us lollies.

Anstey: Your pa died?Mary: Yeah.Anstey (pointing to unfinished word in writing): Are

you going to finish the word ‘lollies’?

Mary: He ate some too, but in hospital he didn’t eat any food, that’s why he was…(pause)…he died.

Anstey: He was very sick was he? Are you going to put that into your story?

Mary (shakes head): No, not very much room.Anstey: You can use another piece of paper if

you want to?Mary: No.

Questions: (a) What are the message/s here about being a ‘good’ student?(b)What could the teacher have done differently?

So…Dufficy 2005

‘it could be said that the story of a classroom is told through its talk. While restricted patterns of communication afford little opportunity to develop both linguistically and cognitively, they also frame for the child the kind of learner she is considered to be. This learner is one that doesn’t initiate topics for consideration by others […] is restricted in the opportunity to question and disagree; and is contrained to the extent that she must pursue the answer demanded by others. At least initially, children are learning values of compliance, cognitive passivity, and uncritical acceptance of the views of others.

‘…teachers must continue to take children and young people, as active partners, on excursions into the world. The quality of the excursions might well be judged by the nature of the interactions that take place and these, in turn, should be judged on the values and dispositions that children are assisted to learn.’

Conclusion

Today’s Tutorial

• Questions • Where do you stand – traditionalism, progressivism,

transformationalism?• Analysing classroom discourse

ReferencesAnstey, M. and Bull, G. (2004). The literacy labyrinth second

edition. Pearson Prentice Hall: Frenchs Forest NSW.Austin, H., Dwyer, B., Freebody, P. (2003). Schooling the child:

The making of students in classrooms. Routledge Falmer: London.

Dufficy, P. (2005). ‘Becoming’ in classroom talk. Prospect. 20:1. pp59-81.

Graves, D. (1983). Writing: Teachers and children at work. Heinemann: London.

Kamler, Barbara (1997). Towards a critical writing pedagogy in English. Muspratt, S, Luke, A. and Freebody, P. Constructing critical literacies. Allen & Unwin: Australia.