Wednesday, September 3, 2008

9.3.08 Warm Up

The patterns I saw were largely memories of trips; memories of certain family members at a specific time in life; or special things that individual people said. Sometimes it was simply one word that envoked a certain emotion among a small child, or silly names that families place on certain buildings or animals.

language patterns among family are important. If certain language patterns can be recognized at a small age, memories can more easily be retrieved. Language and remembering as a young person helps to reassure a member of a family or society that there is a place for them; that other people would remember the contributions to the associated language, and that everyone can feel connected.

Being an "insider" in terms of language relates to the power of a discourse community. An insider is someone who is equal according to the language restrictions of the discourse community they wish to be a part of. Anyone that falls outside that community is because they do not meet the standards, or are not educated in the same way or sufficiently to keep up/remain in the group. We grow up having to understand how to weave in and out of different discourse communities, but also utilizing the different language demands of each.

As a teacher it is important for us to also teach students ways of moving betweent the discourse communties that we grow up in, so that students can learn and be privy on the "academic" standards of American society and standard English.

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