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Ferry & Hart

ENG 413 Final Paper
Dr. Ellen Cushman
21 April 2014
Culture and Community Within the Classroom
The culminating idea that this past semester has led to is the inclusion
of community and culture as a means to teach content and encourage
student participation. With particular focus on English Language Learners,
exploring the ways in which community and culture impact the learning
process for students has proven to be an insightful and relevant framework
for positioning a curriculum that is tailored to expand beyond the
conventional content and explore real life experiences that will serve as vital
building blocks for literacy skills and practices.
The driving inspiration and knowledge base for insights into how
culture and community create a strong foundation for literacy skills stems
from the pre-college writing level courses that pre-service teachers co-teach
during their senior year in the college of education at Michigan State
University. These courses provide a range of students from all walks of life,
home countries, and educational backgrounds. The projects in these classes
require students to first draw upon
pre existing knowledge and experience while also seeking new information
and incorporating it into their writing in a cohesive and intentional way. While
these projects, with titles such as Cultural Artifact Analysis, Culture Shock

Essay, and a This I Believe essay support students in numerous ways by

allowing them to gain writing skills more naturally because the content isnt
foreign in addition to the applicable processes. Betsy Rymes work follows
pre-service teachers as they teach a similar course to adults in a
predominantly Spanish speaking immigrant community. One of the masters
students speculated that community is more important than English to
many of the families . . . and if I want to create English opportunities I can
never do so at the expense of community members (Rymes 1). While there
is a significant gap between immigrant or international students and their
home cultures, the native students typically dont have as much of a
withdrawal from their home communities. In these courses, it is a noticeable
issue for native speaking students to feel like they have less distinct cultural
experiences from which to write. An interview with a PCW student from
Detroit resulted in the following information: sometimes when I work in
groups I feel like I dont have anything to talk or write about because Im not
from China like everyone else (Student 1). As evidenced in the dynamics of
WRA 1004 courses, some students may not feel as though they have a
distinct culture or easily identifiable community to draw upon for the
designated writing prompts or course content. While incorporating culture
with writing instruction serves an extremely beneficial purpose for most
English language learners or international students, there can be some
distance between students who arent told that their culture is just as valid
as any international culture.

Anis Bawarshis ethnomethodological approach to genre and

community can be beneficial in giving students the tools to identify
influential aspects of their communities in the types of scenarios where
students dont feel that they have a set of cultural practices or values.
Bawarshi demonstrates how genre analysis gives access to the workings of
discourse communities in a way that renders the idea of a discourse
community a more tangible, helpful concept for teachers, students, and
researchers (Devitt et al 550). Much like Bawarshis approach with the
analysis of the Patient Medical History Forms, the artifact project in section
23 of WRA 1004 required students to comprehensively analyze an item
significant to their lives in order to discover and expand upon its significance
in certain social contexts. By doing so, it is easier to recognize the
palpability and complexity of our discourse communities, to reduce their
abstract, symbolic status, thereby making discourse communities more
visible and accessible to ethnographic inquiry (Devitt et al 552). By allowing
student to critically analyze the types of genre that are in their personal
communities and cultures, they are able to generate abundant detail and
insight which is significant to supporting their writing process as well as
exploring the culture that directly impacts their academic and personal lives.
This type of assignment is especially helpful to those students who feel like
they may not have a working knowledge of their culture or community
practices. As evidenced by Student 1 in my interview, this knowledge and
application of community and culture is essential to functioning in this

course. The artifact paper is an excellent example of allowing all students to

explore their community experiences and use them as a base for gaining
writing and communication skills.
When expanding the possibility of culture and community impacting
student learning, it is imperative to consider the types of communities that
are often overlooked in our collegiate discussions on education. Young
focuses on how particular communities have data that supports the impact
on test scores. Perhaps most disturbing, given current reform initiatives
focusing on accountability using standardized testing, is the high correlation
between students living in poverty and low scores on standardized tests
(Young 83). External environment and community influence have an impact
on students individually, but also collectively as they have mutual knowledge
and experience to draw upon, discuss, and change as a classroom
community. Valerie Kinloch identifies employing culturally relevant
methods/resources that encourage students to question multiple lines of
differences in classrooms and communities as one of the challenges that
increasing diversity within schools and surrounding communities raise for
educators (Kinloch 1). Drawing on Kinlochs approach to having students be
active researchers and participants in their community as a way to begin
bridging the gap between community and the classroom, an
ethnomethodological study of genres in student community is one way to get
students engaged with the world around them and use their experience and
research to become aware of the agency they have in their lives which can

then transfer over to their writing. An example of this inquiry can be seen in
this presentation. This type of project or assignment that is rooted in the fact
that students are the meaning makers truly gives them power and
confidence in their abilities and allows them to expand upon them in their
future endeavors.
For international students or ELLs in particular, assignments that
require community action or inquiry can truly be life changing. In the WRA
1004 course, students were required to gather information and advice from
people in their community as well as include their own insight in order to
inform incoming freshmen about the types culture shock they might
encounter and how to combat it. Bawarshi discusses activity systems in
depth and the cyclical nature of students actions once they are immersed in
the type of activity system.

As Russell defines it, an activity system resembles what

Giddens calls structure. Like structure, an activity system
is constituted by a dialectic of agents or subjects, motives
or social needs, and mediational means or tools (what
Giddens refers to as structurational properties). Each
element of the dialectic is constantly engaged in
supporting the other, so that, for instance, agents enact
motives using tools which in turn reproduce the motives

that require agents to use these tools and so on

(Bawarshi, 115).

The structure referenced here in regards to the PCW classroom involved the
dialectic of agents (students) and their motives of research and social drive
to influence their audience by means of mediating their prior experiences
and research in order to create a product. Each component is necessary in
this process and can stand alone as a step to accomplish a piece of writing
or project. An example of a remixed Culture Shock project can be found in
the form of several students Instagram page which offers a glimpse of the
final product which can in turn be used as a research component of another
activity system later on. The main takeaway from this theory is that students
will become immersed in an activity system in order to create change and a
product for future use. The writing skills were a supplementary part of this
project as the paper component was a high percentage of their grade, but
the remix project where they synthesize the processes is evidence of their
routine activity system at work.
There are going to be many different views on whether or not bringing
many cultures into the classroom is going to be beneficial to the students or
if it has drawbacks. Where do we draw the line between allowing students to
be themselves in the classroom and them crossing a line that could
potentially be problematic? Students should be able to express themselves in
ways that helps them become better writers. As future educators it is going

to be our job to make sure that were fostering growth and finding
something that grows organically out of the needs and interests of our
students (Goodson 22). Every student is going to have a different need and
a different interest. Allowing them to bring these interests and needs into the
classroom will help to create a more open environment for students to
demonstrate the types of writers they want to be. What happens when we
come across a student whose interests and needs are particularly unique and
troublesome? Should we allow them to continue what they are doing despite
putting the class in a place that might make it uncomfortable? Every
educator is going to feel differently about this. It might depend on the
student in question to whether or not you grant them the academic freedom
that they want. Some students will be able to dig deeper into something and
come out knowing they are better writers for it. However, there are always
going to be students who feel stronger about one thing or another. And there
are always going to be students who feel as though they need to express
these different feelings to the class.
We want our students to be able to find things that interest them and
be able to be themselves, but students are routinely interested in reading
and writing about things that school communities cannot validate (Goodson
22). What the students are interested in is going to change from community
to community and what you allow in the classroom will too. Knowing whether
you have the support of the school administrators will allow you to be able to
have students do different things in the class on things that are meaningful

to them or if youre going to have to ask students to write on something

more conservative. In the article by Todd Goodson, he mentions a student
that wanted to write about something that was disturbing to him. Despite the
topic being something that he didnt feel comfortable with, he allowed the
student to write about the topic anyway because he could see how
interested she was in the subject. Allowing your students to write about
something theyre fully invested in can make for a really great paper, but if
the subject matter is something that is problematic, then is allowing student
to continue writing about it a good idea? Since we cant stop them from
continuing to research the subject, perhaps allowing them to continue
pursuing the topic would work for academic purposes.
The cultures in a language arts classroom are going to be different
from the cultures in an English as a second language (ESL) classroom as well.
While students are always going to come from diverse backgrounds, an ESL
classroom is going to need to cater to students from many different countries
who speak many different languages. Families from other countries are going
to put different values on the education their children receive and that might
transfer over to their children in an ESL classroom. Its important to make
sure that the classroom itself has a culture or community within it so that
students have a sense of purpose being there. When faced with students
whose cultures put different values on education than those in the United
States, it may be a good idea to emphasize that within the classroom
community you have created, there is a strong emphasis on education and

promoting successful students. This may include sending out general

informational emails to the parents or talking to them one on one so they
understand as well what is expected of their children.
During placement in an eighth grade ESL classroom, I (Rachel) got to
see a lot of different ways to bring culture into the classroom. My mentor
teacher at the time was very welcoming to what her students had to offer to
create a better environment for the different cultures they were bringing with
them. She had a map of the world on the wall where she pointed to where all
of the students came from and underneath their pictures there was a little
excerpt on their background. She also would allow the students to bring in
things for her to hang up around the room if they wanted. I thought this was
a great way for the students to have agency within her classroom and to be
able to be more of who they are outside the classroom, in the classroom. In
my PCW placement I saw a lot of the opposite happening within that
classroom. It felt like some weeks the students were allowed to express their
differences within the classroom and some weeks it was strongly
discouraged. For one of the projects the students were working on a papers
about the different culture shocks they were experiencing when they first
came to the United States. During this time I was having a hard time seeing
how getting organized or making sure youre on time was something that
could help a lot of these students with the real culture shocks theyre
actually facing, but maybe those are also things they think will help with the
transition to MSU life. (Ferry, February 22 Activity Log) I can understand how

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having the students focus on things that theyre experiencing according to

the MSU culture is important, but I also think its important for the students
to be able to talk about the other issues they may be facing.
One way to allow students to express their cultural differences within
the classroom is code-switching. This can be a great way for a language arts
classroom to incorporate different cultures. While this may be something that
seems little on the surface, its important to allow the students to be open
and confident with themselves within the classroom. Its often thought that
English teaches routinely equate standard English with grammar, as if
other language varieties and styles lack grammar, the systematic and rulegoverned backbone of the language (Wheeler and Swords 471). Some
teachers may completely rule out students being able to use their different
dialects within the classroom when there is an academic English that can
be used, and is often more preferred. Being informed on why people speak
different dialects and what they mean to their culture can be helpful when
trying to understand why students arent speaking academic English.
Teachers who make an effort to allow students to use different dialects within
their classroom don't need to be convinced that accommodating diversity in
their instruction is a necessity. They know it, see it, and feel it everyday
(Eldridge). While students may not always be able to use their different
dialects, that doesnt rule out the possibility of them using them when
theyre writing in journals, talking out loud in class, or writing something for a
creative writing unit. Creating opportunities for students to express

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themselves in new ways is going to create for a better classroom

environment.
Overall this past semester has taught us a lot about how culture and
community can be implemented in our classrooms to help teach content and
encourage student participation. Giving students agency within the
classroom will allow for better working environments and potentially better
work from our students. When focusing on English Language learners and
how culture and community impact their learning in comparison to a
language arts classroom, we can begin to see how important creating a good
environment for the students can be in both classrooms.

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References
Artifact Paper Project Prompt (link)
Bawarshi, Anis S. Genre and the Invention of the Writer: Reconsidering the
Place
of Invention in Composition (2003). All USU Press Publications. Book
141.
Devitt, Amy, and Bawarshi, Anis., and Reiff, Mary Jo. Materiality and Genre in
the
Study of Discourse Communities. College English. Vol. 65, No. 5. (May
2003). pp 541-558. Electronic.
Eldridge, Deborah. "Diversity in Language Arts Classrooms." Education
Digest 62.4
(1996): 51.
Goodson, F. Todd. "Culture Wars and the Rules of the English Classroom."The
English Journal 83.5 (1994): Pp. 21-24. Print.
Kinloch, Valerie. Urban Literacies. New York: Teachers College Press, 2011.
Print.
Rymes, Betsy. Language in Development in the United States:
Supervising Adult
ESOL Preservice Teachers in an Immigrant Community. TESOL
Quarterly.

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Vol. 36, No. 3, Language in Development (Autumn, 2002), pp.

431-452. Electronic.
Wheeler, Rebecca S., and Rachel Swords. "Codeswitching: Tools of Language
and
Culture Transform the Dialectally Diverse Classroom." Language Arts
81.6
(2004): 470-80.
Young, Carl. Conversation as Curriculum: Learning to Teach English in
Rural
America. The English Journal. Vol. 93, No. 6, Teaching in Context: Rural
Schools. (Jul, 2004), pp. 82-88. Electronic.