Credo/Vision Statement--Draft Version

​

What are your fundamental beliefs about learning English?

We believe that we must:

• Do it!

• Write! Write! Write!

• Be immersed (as much as possible)

• Be a risk-taker;

• Need courage-- be okay with making mistakes and try things

• Be motivated (need fun and interest)

 

What are your beliefs about teaching English?

We believe that we must:

• Create comfortable class culture

• Achieve greatness

• Show students the relevance -- make it relevant

• Focus on writing because it’s closely related to assigned reading

• Teach critical cultural studies because student bodies are more diverse

  • Dialects were discouraged but now encouraged;

  • Instructors should be aware of dialects but not necessarily “correct”

• Teach Process over product BUT how do you define what the process should be; respect the students individual processes

• Believe that writers who teach writing need to be writers/models

• (peer) feedback as part of the writing process

• Expose students to things they may not have otherwise thought about

• Be Student-centered

• Be an Expressivist

• Be Democratic

• Use Socially relevant content

• Motivate students

 

What should be a teacher’s basic approach to teaching literacy?

We believe that we must:

• See that motivation needs to be a priority

• Remove fear

• Say it’s okay if students are not experts -- message

• Immerse students in as much literacy as possible

• Consider the sociocultural context of their teaching setting (city, rural, technology)

 

How should literacy pedagogy respond to today’s world and to today’s learners?

We believe that we must:

• Keep up with (digital) or

• Develop a more interactive way to integrate pedagogy that is geared to students likes and needs

• Unpack the social and digital trends and how those trends are interacting with the students (attention, friendship, acknowledgement)