Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective

I thought that Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective had a very interesting view on language. The fact that so many groups of people in a small area spoke about seven different languages made words themselves less important than the ideas behind them. They just wanted to get across their stories and the lessons behind them, and this comes through in her writing. Her simple sentences and repetitions do a thorough job in proving her points and sending her messages. I think that the Pueblo's perspective is quite different than other US citizens, where there is a greater emphasis on style and how things are said than the message itself.

Response to "Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective"

Overall, I think this essay was very insightful and interesting. It gives a different perspective to language, the way the Pueblos see it. The most interesting quote that stuck out to me was "a great deal of the story is believed to be inside the listener, and the storyteller's role is to draw the story out of the listeners" (127). This view on communicating stories and information is different from anything I've ever thought of, the fact that the story is actually in the listener. This perspective suggests more of a sharing experience and bond between the speaker and the listener. It also suggests that the listener has a large capacity for stories and information and the speaker just has to bring that out of the listener and show that the story exists. This view along with the many other beliefs of language and stories of the Pueblo people has shown me a greater depth of language, a different understanding of language. After reading this, it has definitely given me an appreciation for a different side of language that I would have never known before.

"Language and Literature from a Pueblo Indian Perspective"

Language and writing is America is, not surprisingly, different than that in the Pueblo culture. I knew that older cultures are based much more on stories and their history was passed on through more oral traditions but it is surprising to me that basically all of their literature is old stories an family stories. I feel that since America is a much more individualized society people do not feel connected through stories as the Pueblo people do. Language here is analyzed much more and the focus is completely different. We edit papers and books over and over again; none of our stories "come from the heart," as Silko says, which is important for the Pueblos. Storytelling truly brings people together there and it is unfortunate that Americans do not really have that connection with language and the community. The closest we get to that is gossiping. Here, gossiping is not a polite or nice way to connect with people. It is more of a rude, behind-the-back way of talking about people. I was surprised to see that in the Pueblo culture it does not matter if a story is gossip, true, or fake-it is a story that people tell. Such a difference in language is obviously going to exist, but such a different perspective on how language should be passed on and told is quite interesting.

Numbers

How can Universities be realistically compared numerically? If so what do these imaginary numbers really mean?

I have always though numerically ranking of Universities is a ridiculous practice, yet I do admit that I studied the Princeton Review and questioned the New York Times’ “Best Colleges”. Universities appear so similar, especially after visiting several. There are dorms, cafeterias, libraries, unions, and classrooms. They really are not that different, academically at least. Maybe studies should be done on Universities outside to the classroom, where real differences appear.

My parents told me that college is what you make it. Numbers should be considered, but realistically, a college experience is unique to each individual. No stereotypically path awaits freshman. Everyone is different, and I think this is okay.

So than, in regards to students, what is the purpose of the numbers? I think that their intent is to comfort parents and students alike. Confirming decisions made by students, while assuring parents of their commitment.

When I decided upon attending the University of Wisconsin- Madison, it was not because it was ranking, but rather because of its reputation. Graduates of the University of Wisconsin-Madison are allotted a great deal of respect within the academic world prior to attaining success, due largely because of name recognition.

Speaking in a Critical Voice Discussion Reflection

Marilyn Page brings up some very good points her reading, but she was a little harsh when she said that Stan and John should not be teachers. In an ideal world I would say a good percentage of teachers in our system should not be teachers. This just shows the need for reform of our current teachers.

Her points about critically thinking are the way we should go about this reform. Most teachers are afraid to go against administrative requirements. Does this mean that it is their fault? Maybe our focus should not be on teacher reform but on the administrative requirements themselves. Is is so wrong to choose your job over choosing to give a better education? Some would say yes, but what if those teachers have families that rely on those job's wages?

My worst teaching experiences have been at both extremes. One extreme is a teacher who strictly follows administrative education. Some teachers can get away with this by making the information fun, but some teachers lose sight of what learning really is. The latter usually just lecture and not much is retained. The other extreme are the older teachers who don't care anymore. Not all older teachers are like this, but some go off on tangents about this and that and because they've been there so long the administration can't really do anything about it.

Critically thinking can be effective in many ways. It can be used like my example of the teacher who made the administrative requirements fun. This might have been what Jenni from the reading tried. Also, critically thinking teachers could try to challenge administration and get the requirements changed. I've heard of this working in some cases. Some teachers don't even try.

This goes back to the idea in our floating foundations reading. Without critical thinking, education can not evolve with our changing environment. There are critically thinking teachers out there, but I believe Marilyn was right in her writing to ask for more. I say we could take it a step further and ask for administration to start critically thinking about their own curriculum requirements more often in our changing education system.

"Speaking in a Critical Voice" blog assessment

It doesn't surprise me that there are teachers that have beening teaching for years and individuals with doctorates in education that don't know how to think or assess critically. In fact, I think most individuals have come across a teacher just like in the piece "Speaking in a Critical Voice" explains. They follow what's expected of them and handed down to them from their supperiors with little regard to if certain methods of teaching work for a particular class or not.

I can recall, one of the worst teachers I have come across, trying to get our class to discuss Julius Caesar. The class repeatedly was silent for, not just days, but weeks at a time. No one wanted to answer her questions, not only because the experience was almost dehumanizing, but because no matter an individual's answer or import on the story, it was never a correct answer in her mind. She refused to look at the story from different perspectives, granted not every perspective of the story is justifiable. She wanted our answers in specific words, the problem was she wanted the answers in HER words.

It's the teachers that use critical thinking and teaching methods in their classrooms that get students to learn and REMEMBER important information. They can view education from a student, teacher, principle, or even parents' perspective. They are flexible as well as knowledgable, which makes for better learning for any kind of student. Although flexible, they must also have a strong basis of what they believe education should be and how and what knowledge should be taught. This makes critical thinking crucial to education.

Speaking in a Critical Voice

I'm amazed that some people have no idea how to think critically. I guess I've always just assumed that thinking critically is just something that comes naturally but after reading this article, I'm starting to see that it's not. I think it's horrible that some teachers don't teach critical thinking and it's ridiculous that some teachers don't even know what it is. How are students supposed to go out in the world and take what they've learned in school to succeed when all they're learning is facts.
Towards the end of my high school, the board decided to enforce a new teaching plan to enhance student's critical thinking. Whether it was in english or history or math, it applied. In english, for example, we would read a piece of literature and then take a few minutes to write about how that work related to our life, another book that we've read, and the world. This new activity was able to push students to think outside the classroom and in turn, learn how to critically think.