MY LEARNING EXPERIENCE

Amelia Teresa Correa

ENGL C0855

Professor B. Gleason

May 19, 2015

            I took many courses during my undergraduate years in which I learned the material of the subject matter at hand.  Semester in semester out, I learned a set of information which became part of my knowledge repertoire: the one I am now able to use in conversations to sound as though I am a well-read individual or the one whose vocabulary I can use to perform my job as an interpreter/translator. I could pretty much say the knowledge I learned in college has served me just right.  Nonetheless, while taking Teaching Adult Writers in Different Contexts now in my graduate years, I have come to realize that if knowledge gain in courses does not affect an individual’s thinking or perspective, then chances are it was learned in a vacuum, divorced from the very things it should be affecting.  Taking a course in any subject matter should have the effect not only of teaching something to the individual, but it should also teach him or her its practical usage and it should also transform the person, at least in some type of way.

            Teaching Adult Writers in Different Contexts was a very challenging class from the get-go. First, I was taking it at a time where other responsibilities were pulling me away from it, in that, at first, I could not find the time to study or to complete homework in a timely fashion.  However, there was so much at stake that somehow I was able to pull through.  I was able to learn the teaching and/or learning concepts, such as those Richard Orem elaborates on, associated with teaching English to adults both in regular settings such as college, as well as in settings such as jails or at libraries.  I also read Field Work, perhaps the first text book I have ever read in which one can hear the voice of the writer.  This to me was completely fascinating.  I was able to read how the authors of Field Work teach how to learn about other’s cultures, and subcultures for that matter, in a voice so relax that at times it was just hilarious, like their article about the “Nacirema” people. 

            Now, the research project of this class which carried the most weight with respect to grades, was one whose completion I was not happy with.  I was just wondering why on earth I had to go observe some random teacher and then report on it. However, I did everything the project entailed: I reached out to the site managers to be allowed to observe the class; I went three times to the site, two of which were to just observe and take notes; then I proceeded to write my report. 

            The interesting part about the research was not completing it, but the fact that, as a future English teacher with no teaching experience, I began my research without having any idea whatsoever of what I was going to discover or how what I discover was going to make me change my perspective of teaching, to say the least.  So I embarked into the short, nonetheless arduous journey of learning by observing without even knowing what was there for me.  And I did so resenting the professor for having us do something that, at first glance did not have any meaning.  I was out for a surprise. 

             I learned, during my observations of the site and also in my own classroom, the amount of good energy involved in teaching; that he or she who teaches does it really out of love for the vocation and not for the pay,  for teachers are, in their vast majority, part-time employees with no benefits.  I also learned to give myself time to see the importance and use of completing certain tasks, for there is a lesson to be learned behind every assigned homework. But the one learning experience that really mesmerized me was observing teaching done in a setting different than a college’s.  It is not that I had not seen teaching done in other contexts. In the past, I had the opportunity to learn in settings less formal than college.  However, observing teaching from the other side of the spectrum, and not as a student, is a complete different enterprise.

Indeed, while completing my research project students shared some personal issues with me that could have or were hindering their learning.  And I have to admit that I was completely moved to see how, in spite of the hardships some students were going through, they too were pulling through, not only by attending classes, but also by participating in class and showing a great level of engagement. 

A few things would have happened, had I not completed my research project.  First, I would have not known how teaching Basic English truly entails.  I would have not seen that teaching does not only involve standing in front of a class and transmitting what one knows to his or her students.  That teaching does not only require possessing a set of skills, but it is also about understanding your students’ cultures, quotidian issues in general to be able to help them better with the subject matter.              

FLIER FOR ORAL REPORT

Amelia T. Correa

Professor B. Gleason

ENG C0855

May 12, 2015

ESOL at Bronx Morris Park Library Branch

The Site

The English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Program located at the Morris Park Library Branch in the section that bears its name in the Bronx, is part of the New York Public Library (NYPL) organization.

Why I chose this site

Ø  I am very motivated to learn what teaching English really entails

Ø  I want to learn about learning English as a Second Language from a perspective different than that of the student’s

My Research Approach

After trying to get in touch with someone at the CUNY Language Immersion Program (CLIP) at Bronx Community College to no avail, I proceeded to look for an English as a Second Language class at the NYPL website within or close to my zip code. 

I opted to observe an ESOL class at the Morris Park Library because of its accessibility: The teacher agreed to allow me to observe his class and also this branch is minutes’ drive from my neighborhood. 

Then I proceeded to get in touch with Ms. Dawn Holloway, the Branch Manager, via email.  On this email, I requested to be allowed to observe an ESL class at least twice for an hour and a half each. My email was forwarded to the Hub Manager, Eric Rosenbaum who emailed me (and all parties involved) the following in a timely fashion:

On my first day observing the class I took plenty of notes, for there were lots of activities going on in the classroom. My notes encompassed a comprehensive description of both the classroom’s layout and the interesting heterogeneity of the class –culturally and in terms of age. I also included the oral exchanges of some of the students among each other and with the teacher.

I did a headcount of the students in class: the attendance on my first day was over twenty-one, on the second day, it was over twenty-three. Regardless of the large amount of students and the rather small classroom, Mr. Ivan Obregon made students participate in lesson exercises and in return they showed a high level of engagement.  I was particularly fascinated with the rapidity cohesiveness and rigorousness with which the teacher taught his lesson.

My notes specifically included both the work students were doing in pairs and then as a group, through drills the teacher used.

My conversation with Mr. Obregon happened in a rather informal way and was concomitant to his class lesson. 

Connections of this program to other programs within NYPL and the larger community

Ø  Morris Park Branch Library ESOL program along with the NYPL Center for Reading and Writing –tutoring for English speakers of 16 years and over, the Book Circulation program in 5 NYC correctional facilities, and the Daddy and Me (a program where incarcerated fathers record themselves reading a book to their children and a weekly book club for incarcerated patrons) are all part of the New York City Public Library literacy programs

My learning experience

Ø  I was able to dispel my own misconception that English learning was only effective in certain contexts

Ø  To “not underestimate the power of choral drills” (this happens to be part of Mr. Obregon’s teaching philosophy) when teaching basic ESL

Ø  The ESOL program at Morris Park was implemented October 2014, as opposed to other branches which have been hosting these types of programs for longer periods of time

Ø  Although NYPL website states this program is for people over 50 years of age, the truth of the matter is that there were students in this class as young as 19

Ø  This program is a gateway to other higher levels of ESL for some students, and to college for others

Ø  The Gist of an Ethnographic Research

·       Notes taking with the purpose of producing a cohesive written report

·       Interviewing “reporters” (ELL, teachers and hubs) as explained on Field Working

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Amelia Teresa Correa

Professor B. Gleason

Teaching Adult Writers in Diverse Contexts

March 24^th, 2015

The New York Public Library hosts an array of programs from basic computer to English Literacy and English as a second Language.  And although the Morris Park Library located in the Bronx section bearing the same name, happens to be a very small branch, they proudly host English as a Second Language (ESL) classes for adults over 45 years of age.  So I was very lucky to come across this program for older adults not only for his closeness to home but because its students are the perfect subject to learn about; they are much older than 21. 

The Morris Park Library has a branch Manager with whom I made preliminary contact, Ms. Dawn Holloway.  I contacted her via email and requested to be allowed in the classroom to carry on a research consisting of observing their ESL class at least twice and reporting on my learning experience. Fortunately enough, Ms. Hollow was extremely helpful, for she forwarded my message within a matter of 24 hours to the Hub Manager Mr. Eric Rosenbaum.  He in returned emailed me in less than a day prompting me to call him. I suppose he wanted to have a feeling of the veracity of my request. 

I contacted Mr. Rosenbaum and he asked me to briefly explain my research, which I did.  He stated he did not know how the instructor of the ESL class, Mr. Ivan Obregon, would feel about being observed, as this was the first time he taught ESL classes at  a NYPL. Undoubtedly, the universe was conspiring to help me, for Mr. Rosenbaum, again in a timely fashion, informed me through email that Mr. Obregon had agreed to allow me to observe his class on the 26^th and the 31^st of March respectively. 

The classes are held on the basement of the premises and are taught by Mr. Ivan Obregon, of Hispanic descend, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 pm to 8 pm.  I will be seating at Mr. Obregon’s ESL class this coming Thursday.  And I have already prepared questions directed more towards the teaching theories he uses to engage his students as well as the different learners he has in his class overall. To that end I will interview Mr. Obregon after my first class observation on the 26^th of March.

Furthermore, through my observations of the class and the interview I will conduct of Mr. Obregon I am hoping to see what the most effective ways are to keep students engage and the most adequate way to retain them until the end of the entire teaching cycle.  My aim is to make sure I can teach an ESL class while maintaining the dropout rate at a minimum.

I am very confident that Mr. Obregon will elucidate during our interview those things I might need clarification for.  I will take notes that will serve me as my secondary source.  My primary source will be articles and papers on teaching and learning theories.

Although I have never performed this type of research, I am confident that my experience conducting other types of research will prove to be helpful for this one in particular. 

READING RESPONSE 4

The Body Ritual of the Nacirema by Horace Miner (in FieldWorking)

This article was so "touching" that I almost felt sorry for the Nacirema people. I don't think I have ever been taken for a ride like I was when I read this article.  This article presents in a very satirical way aspects of our society as if seen through the eyes of people from other cultures.

First, the article focuses on how the Nacirema people is obsessed with the way their body looks.  They look down on women who have small breasts, but celebrate those whose breasts protrude from their chests.  Oh my God, what kind of people in the world would be so cruel as to diminish certain women with no large breasts; that's just now okay.

Second, the article shows how this Nacirema people pays so much homage to those special characters as the "witchdoctor" and the "listener". The former takes curses out of the body of the person in anguish and the latter just listens to the person, but he does so without performing any weird ritual to cast demons out; he just listens.  It also explains how the Nacirema people are obsessed with visiting the mouth-doctor every twice every year.

I felt completely silly when I read this article and realized at the end that the so called "Nacirema culture" is no one else but the American culture itself.  So many times we look at other's people culture as though they are weird simply because they happen to be different than our own.  But what we fail to realize is that, if put under the scrutiny of someone from an outside culture, we too can be seen and perceived as weirdos who do things that might make no sense to people from other cultures: like going to a psychologist to have them sort out our problems but listening to us, hence the given satirical name of the "listener" in this article.

It is very interesting to see how our way of thinking, acting and reacting is completely okay when we look at ourselves, at our so normal and common American culture. however, when we are put under the lens of someone from the outside, things can take a 360 degree shift.  We are so accustomed to seeing ourselves as normal, that many times we think only ours is the normal way, basically we Americans are just very ethnocentric.

READING RESPONSE 3

Accommodating Learning Styles in Prison Writing Classes

As soon as I read this article, I began questioning a few things: the fact the so called learning styles used with African Americans are also good for other racial groups;African Americans are not the only minorities who are more global than analytical learner, more cooperative than competitive among other things.  When the research about Learning Styles came about in 1974, it was highly criticized because the assessment tools utilized to perform the study differ from ethnic group to ethnic group.  So the accuracy of the study is questionable.

I don't know how accurate the cultural learning concept is.  For instance, I think that the way Glasgow' students were able to learn had nothing to do with their being African American.  In fact, it might have a lot to do with the fact that their being incarcerated called for certain pedagogical methods.  In other words, when Glasgow mentions that students "needed a lot of reassurance to overcome their insecurities about classroom behavior, that to me has nothing to do with their learning through Direct/explicit teaching because they are African American.  Rather, what it seems to be is that they are not able to display the appropriate classroom behavior because of the fact that they might be disconnected with the mores of the outside world, and a consequence they show insecurity.

Also, although Glasgow is just following the Cultural Learning Style Theory expanded by Castaneda and Ramirez and she makes it clear that the learning style of her African American students at Trumbull Correctional Institution is "presumed, I can't help but wonder if she is using the humanizing approach to help students learn better.  If that was the case, then why is she forbidding them to write about their personal experiences that have to do with their crimes? Why is that off limit to them?

The Trumbull Correctional Institution is a minimum security prison.  That is to say, that their inmates are not considered dangerous or have not committed hideous crimes. So forbidding inmates to write about their experiences to me is not humanizing at all and puts lots of constrains on the students writing creativity.  That's just a thought.

READING RESPONSE 1

 “You Probably Don’t Even Know I Exist”: Notes from a College Prison Program, by Jane Maher

Never did I look into the educational courses hosted in some jails in New York State or elsewhere.  But after reading the informative and eye-opening article of Professor Jane Maher, I realized there is a myriad of information to be learned about adult education in jail.  So what Maher does in this article is elaborate on her volunteering journey as a writing instructor during the 90’s at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for women.  She writes about her experience, or rather, the writing experiences of women at this jail.

What I liked most about the article of the succinct way in which Professor Maher describes her volunteering experience Bedford Hills and the implications of teaching writing to incarcerated women.  At first I thought, “Oh okay, this is an article about teaching college courses in jail.” However, as I started uncovering the many implications of her noble task my interest about the subject increased.  First and foremost, the mere fact of volunteering at a jail located in an affluent neighborhood is a problem for those who volunteer to teach.  And this is so because it is typical of affluent neighborhoods to be far away from public transportation.

So volunteer have to pay for their commute out of their own pocket, whether that commute is done using public transportation or driving.  Either way, the instructor loses money and also what about the fact that Bedford Hills is a maximum security jail?  It takes a long time for someone to enter a correctional facility as a regular person, much worse for an instructor who is coming with working material to teach her class.  The time needed to have access into the jail is very long as explained by Maher.  And that is a real challenge.  Also, Dr. Maher explains that the budget cuts on PELL and TAP grant made in 1995 throughout New York also took a humongous toll on the jail population, for many women relied heavily on being effective writers to be able to communicate with the outside world: follow up on their cases, follow up on their children being cared by other family members or in danger of being lost to the foster care system. 

I particularly love the compelling way Maher talks on her article about the great need women at Bedford Hills Correctional facility had to continue taking writing courses. Actually, the note one of the women wrote to Maher was the very catalyst of the title of her essay.  The beginning of this compelling note reads as follows, “You probably don’t even know I exist […] you are a very busy person and may not have time for me… but do you have college books I can read and memorize to educate myself a little…” Now, that’s what I call eagerness and need to learn.  It was this very paragraph that made me keep on reading until I found the entire gist of the article: teaching writing in jail has many implications than meets the eye.

This article engaged me in a way that no other reading has done in a very long time. It actually made me think about the repercussions that not educating inmates would have in society at large.  First, if a person is in jail, wouldn't it make sense for her to be educated just so she can break out of the chains of poverty, inequality and other social scourges that brought her to jail in the first place?

READING RESPONSE 2

 "An Update on Transformational Learning" by Lisa Baumgartner


February 24, 2015

This article discusses four types of research done on Transformational Learning theory , with Jack Mezirow's being the most recent research of the four.  First and with the purpose of informing myself, I looked at who the author is and then I looked at one the subjects of her article, Jack Mezirow, the very proponent of the theory.

The author of the article, Dr. Lisa Baumgartner is a professor at the Northern Illinois University and she is a laureate of the Cyril O. Houle Award for Outstanding Literature in Adult Education for her Learning in Adulthood: A comprehensive guide book, whereas the late Jack Mezirow, the researcher whose Baumgartner talks about, was the pioneer of this Transformational learning theory.

Dr. Baumgartner briefly elaborates on the difference between Informational and Transformational learning.  The latter refers to the learning that adds to whatever learning repertoire the learner already possesses; while the former refers to learning that occurs either steadily or from a sudden or overwhelming experience.  The author gives a great example of a person who was diagnosed with HIV and how his learning about it made him changed his life goals altogether: he shifted from pursuing an acting career to that of helping others. I have also seen more palpable examples of Transformational.  For instance, when my father passed away, my mother had to relearn how to live without having to care for another person on a regular basis.

I took my mother's journey as being very transformative to the extent that we, her children, comment on it quite often.  whereas before taking care of her household and caring for my sick father were her main duties, now she has reinvented herself.  My mother has learned to allow others to take care of her more often although she is perfectly capable.

I could easily say that looking at the Transformational theory of learning is very easy from a layperson's viewpoint.  I could easily relate to it just by looking at life in general.  However, my issue with this article is finding a way to apply transformative learning in the classroom, as a teacher; not just any classroom but in a ELL's classroom.  Aside from guiding students by providing learning resources, lessons and materials, I see no other way in which I could apply this theory with English language learners.

Perhaps I could learn by example.  That is for instance, during a student-teacher conference.  That session could foster a Transformational learning setting. Nonetheless, who is to tell that when teachers share their own learning experiences with students during conferences, the students will in fact relate to those experiences.  That's just a thought!