Liners Video Script
Introduction
In a high school English classroom, it often feels like there’s just one way we learn. We read, and we read a lot. Sometimes we read out loud, sometimes we read for fun, when we’re going crazy we even write about what we read. But, my goal as a high school English teacher is to make sure that even as we’re doing aaaaalllllllllllll that reading, our brains are working and learning in a lot of different ways. Here, I’ll recap how just two ways of learning are represented in 9th grade English.
Theory 1: Situative Learning with Night
The first full-class novel we read in 9th grade is Night, Elie Wiesel’s powerful memoir of his experience as a teenager in concentration camps during World War II. Every year, kids say the same thing: that was way different from learning about the Holocaust in history class. The personal dimension of history makes it come alive. Wiesel’s powerful writing, recounting chilling specifics of his childhood mindset, gives a visceral account of one of history’s greatest horrors.
My learners are situated very differently than Wiesel was at age 15. But, his skilled writing makes his story come alive and gives his readers a chance at being what Lave and Wenger call “legitimate peripheral participants.” Lave and Wenger’s situative perspective argues that learning happens when novices on the peripheries of a community of practice move from observers, to beginners, to eventually become experts on whatever skills and knowledge are central to that community’s functioning. Massive amounts of learning happen as we observe from the peripheries, starting to internalize the knowledge that we see enacted.
Powerfully written books give us the opportunities to feel like we have joined the writer’s community. When I was first told that I had to teach Night, I will admit that I was nervous. Who would want to be a participant in what Wiesel describes? But, I have watched class after class get completely engrossed in his horrific story. Fortunately, even the best writing cannot make us true participants in what Wiesel experienced. But, Night draws us in just close enough to meaningfully learn from the peripheries, peering into a situation beyond our imaginations.
Theory 2: Sociocultural Theory
I teach a class called “English 9-in-4,” an intervention class meant to provide bonus literacy support to learners who start high school reading and/or writing below grade level. Teaching intervention is tricky: we need to meet 9th grade English/Language Arts standards, but we also need to be realistic about who our learners are, what they know, and what they need.
Here, Vygotsky’s “Zone of Proximal Development” becomes critical. The ZPD is the land between the “comfort zone” of what students already know and the “danger zone” that is impossibly difficult. This is the area of knowledge that is available for learners to access with appropriate guidance and scaffolding.
For many of my learners, the standard 9th grade English curriculum is beyond the Zone of Proximal Development. There are essential foundational literacy skills that students need to master in order to access that curriculum. As intervention teachers, it is critical that we work to identify the skills that fit those specific students’ ZPD to bridge those gaps. As the saying goes, we meet them where they are and take them where they want to go together.
Introduction
In a high school English classroom, it often feels like there’s just one way we learn. We read, and we read a lot. Sometimes we read out loud, sometimes we read for fun, when we’re going crazy we even write about what we read. But, my goal as a high school English teacher is to make sure that even as we’re doing aaaaalllllllllllll that reading, our brains are working and learning in a lot of different ways. Here, I’ll recap how just two ways of learning are represented in 9th grade English.
Theory 1: Situative Learning with Night
The first full-class novel we read in 9th grade is Night, Elie Wiesel’s powerful memoir of his experience as a teenager in concentration camps during World War II. Every year, kids say the same thing: that was way different from learning about the Holocaust in history class. The personal dimension of history makes it come alive. Wiesel’s powerful writing, recounting chilling specifics of his childhood mindset, gives a visceral account of one of history’s greatest horrors.
My learners are situated very differently than Wiesel was at age 15. But, his skilled writing makes his story come alive and gives his readers a chance at being what Lave and Wenger call “legitimate peripheral participants.” Lave and Wenger’s situative perspective argues that learning happens when novices on the peripheries of a community of practice move from observers, to beginners, to eventually become experts on whatever skills and knowledge are central to that community’s functioning. Massive amounts of learning happen as we observe from the peripheries, starting to internalize the knowledge that we see enacted.
Powerfully written books give us the opportunities to feel like we have joined the writer’s community. When I was first told that I had to teach Night, I will admit that I was nervous. Who would want to be a participant in what Wiesel describes? But, I have watched class after class get completely engrossed in his horrific story. Fortunately, even the best writing cannot make us true participants in what Wiesel experienced. But, Night draws us in just close enough to meaningfully learn from the peripheries, peering into a situation beyond our imaginations.
Theory 2: Sociocultural Theory
I teach a class called “English 9-in-4,” an intervention class meant to provide bonus literacy support to learners who start high school reading and/or writing below grade level. Teaching intervention is tricky: we need to meet 9th grade English/Language Arts standards, but we also need to be realistic about who our learners are, what they know, and what they need.
Here, Vygotsky’s “Zone of Proximal Development” becomes critical. The ZPD is the land between the “comfort zone” of what students already know and the “danger zone” that is impossibly difficult. This is the area of knowledge that is available for learners to access with appropriate guidance and scaffolding.
For many of my learners, the standard 9th grade English curriculum is beyond the Zone of Proximal Development. There are essential foundational literacy skills that students need to master in order to access that curriculum. As intervention teachers, it is critical that we work to identify the skills that fit those specific students’ ZPD to bridge those gaps. As the saying goes, we meet them where they are and take them where they want to go together
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