Helping Students Communicate Effectively
in Both Nonstandard and Standard English
About this Project
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The one week writing project available on this website was designed to incorporate culturally relevant writing lessons in an elementary school setting. This project was implemented in a Yup’ik village inviting elders to share their local knowledge and stories in the classroom for retelling in a digital format. Specifically this project teaches past tense in Standard American English, which is a grammatical structure with which Yup’ik students commonly struggle.
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Why this Project? |
The reoccurring question for me throughout my teaching career has been, "How can I be an effective teacher in my rural Alaskan setting?" As I began my master's the question has focused in on, “How can I be an effective language arts teacher in my rural Alaskan setting?”
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How it Got Personal |
After marrying into the local culture this became a personal issue for me since my children are a product of two cultures with varying values and expectations. My youngest daughter learned to talk in rural Alaska. She speaks Village English (VE). The fact that she uses VE is endearing to me as I see it as a connection to our family and who she is.
One summer while visiting family in the Lower 48, a couple of family members began correcting my daughter's speech. One was genuinely concerned because she dearly loves my children and does not want other people to think that me daughter is uneducated or look down on her because of the way she speaks as she gets older. This awareness of how others perceive VE negatively, motivated me as a parent and an educator to communicate with students and teachers about the value of VE and SAE by validating VE and teaching SAE in school. |
My Goal |
As a parent and a teacher I dearly love the children in my life that speak VE and I want others to know how sweet and bright they are. As a teacher I have the power to influence my students' learning and comfort level with who they are, and offer them the tools to speak and write Standard American English (SAE) too. My project goal was that students would be comfortable communicating effectively in both VE and SAE and be able to switch between the two when necessary. Since my students speak VE as their first language it made sense to start with VE and translate into SAE. I wanted to give my students the tools to speak and write effectively in a way that they will be received with respect and valued for who they are and what they have to contribute to others in various cultural settings.
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Taking Action |
This is the reoccurring question that has followed me every year throughout my teaching experience in Alaska. I have come to realize that a teacher’s ability to give every student a chance to be successful each year depends on understanding the culture and learning styles of our students. I found through experience and learning best teaching practices, that I could teach in a way that meets my student’s needs, the desires of the local community, and the Alaska state standards.
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Added Support |
I was excited to discover the ANE CALL grant program provided by the University of Alaska Fairbanks. This program focused on my greatest need as a teacher: how to best teach students Standard American English while respecting the home language and culture.
Through this program, I have been able to collaborate with dedicated teachers in similar rural Alaskan settings with similar challenges in their classrooms. We learned to make learning more meaningful for our students by applying research about how language and learning are influenced by culture and conversely, how language is an integral part of a culture. |
Helping Teachers |
I am sharing this guide as a requirement for my Master’s in Applied Linguistics in hopes of providing an example of one way I worked through meeting the needs of my students through the process of reconciling expectations of converging cultures.
My hope is that other teachers who strive to find a way to address the needs of their students in the context of a unique culture, will benefit from one or more parts of my project. These parts include: the storytelling process, research, and my personal reflections. This project reflects where I am after eleven years of trying to find a way to be a culturally relevant teacher. May this website serve as a tool for other teachers on their journeys to meeting the needs of their unique communities and students. |