Blogs 1-8, Using Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue"

The Traditional Remedial Teacher

• Pre-Reading, Active Reading, and/or Post-Reading Activities: This teacher would probably not provide any pre- or active reading activities or assignments. Rather, Tan's text would be a piece of assigned reading students were to do outside of class along with their grammar homework.
• Possible Writing Assignments: Perhaps the teacher would use Tan's article to discuss grammar form, such as the frequent use of adjective clauses (i.e. "...the English I spoke to my mother, which for lack of a better term might be described as 'simple'; the English she used with me, which for lack of a better term might be described as 'broken'; my translation of her Chinese, which could certainly be described as 'watered down'..." Or, the teacher might even discuss Tan's proper punctuation when using hyphens. I think it highly unlikely that this text would be a source for student writing since it does not fall neatly into his narrative, descriptive, definition, comparison/contrast genres of paragraphs and essays. If it was used, it may be in conjunction with the comparison/contrast essay.
• Structure of the Writing Process: "1. Here's the topic/prompt 2. It's due ____"
• Evaluating the Writing: Evaluation of student writing would focus on students' grammar and whether they correctly formatted the paper. The teacher would also judge the organization of ideas, clarity of topic sentences, overall cohesion of the paper, and whether the ideas discussed were "correct."

SFSU IRW Teacher

• Pre-Reading, Active Reading, and/or Post-Reading Activities: In class, the teacher might introduce the article through an introductory activity that asks students to brainstorm and/or share all the "Englishes" they use in varying contexts: home, school, and social interactions. The teacher might then provide some active reading strategies: requiring students to take notes or write down any questions they have while reading. The teacher may then assign post-reading questions or a journal/blog response where the students can further think about the article through writing about it, and then sharing it with their classmates (their academic discourse community). 
• Possible Writing Assignments: Besides the journal/blog response, the teacher might assign a similar writing response on the topic of how students' different "Englishes" impact their experiences in school (a narrative essay). 
• Structure of the Writing Process: Time would be given to students to turn in multiple drafts and receive peer and teacher feedback, as a way to include them in the formation of the classroom's academic discourse community. 
• Evaluating the Writing: Attention would be given to the extent of students' drafting, synthesizing of ideas, stating purposes, along with students' clarity, complexity, and sophistication in attempted communication. 

Discovery of Competence Teacher

• Pre-Reading, Active Reading, and/or Post-Reading Activities: A teacher might begin by asking students to share their socio-culturally influenced language experiences both inside and outside of the classroom. Students would be introduced to active reading strategies. After reading, students would compose their own questions and concerns about the reading to discuss in class, and perhaps research later.
• Possible Writing Assignments: This teacher might ask students to observe themselves or other people to see how language changes depending on different situations and contexts. Then, students would have time to draft and report their findings into a formal essay that uses Tan's article to frame their ideas (purposeful communication of listening to language and writing about it). 
• Structure of the Writing Process: Students would be asked to spend time researching and observing their chosen subjects and contextual situations. After reporting their findings to the class in small groups, the students would use feedback from peers (the discourse community) to aid their drafting process. Through communication about their writing from teachers responding as readers (asking questions about the students' research) and from peer dialogue, students would revise their papers. 
• Evaluating the Writing: The teacher would try to respond to students drafts in a meaningful manner, so that the final evaluation would stem from an extended dialogue with the student about their writing. The essay, with all its drafts and responses, would be included in the final portfolio students create in this course. 

Facts, Artifacts and Counterfacts Teacher

• Pre-Reading, Active Reading, and/or Post-Reading Activities: Students would read the article outside of class, marking interesting or challenging sections with a small check as they read. After reading, students would spend 20 minutes continuously writing a journal response. In the next class, they would have a worksheet to complete that would aid their small-group discussions. 
• Possible Writing Assignments: The two teachers would assign a narrative essay about students' adolescent experiences with various "Englishes," asking students to identify how different dialects have informed their personal identity and perhaps create new terms to describe or discuss these dialects/Englishes.
• Structure of the Writing Process: The students would turn in a first draft and share it with peers, so the class could provide feedback. Also, one of the teachers would read and respond to the students draft, asking questions that prompt further critical thinking and revising of the paper. 
• Evaluating the Writing: After reading drafts and the "final" papers of students, teachers would respond with further helpful remarks, so that the students can edit this paper up to the point that it is turned into a class anthology of all the students' work that becomes a classroom text. 

Cognitivist Teacher

• Pre-Reading, Active Reading, and/or Post-Reading Activities: The teacher might provide background information about Amy Tan, discussing her novels and literary career. Also, there may be in-class activities that encourage students to access the proper schema for reading her article. 
• Possible Writing Assignments: Students might be asked reading comprehension questions that demonstrate they have accurately understood Tan's meanings. A more progressivist, culturally-influenced teacher might include assignments that ask students to consider the cultural influences and ideologies that impacted Tan's understanding of language, then turning to analyze their own use of "Englishes"
• Structure of the Writing Process: Brainstorming (based on proper schema), drafting, editing, and turning in a final paper. 
• Evaluating the Writing: Students would be judged on their proper comprehension of what Tan is communicating in this article. Or, a progressive teacher would grade based on how students analyze Tan's experience  and relate it to how they understand their own lives and languages. 

Expressivist Teacher

• Pre-Reading, Active Reading, and/or Post-Reading Activities: Asking students about their previous experiences with language/dialects. Active reading focused on how the reader does or does not relate on a personal level to Tan's article.
• Possible Writing Assignments: A personal response to or criticism of Tan's article, saying wether the student did or did not like it and why. Also, perhaps the teacher would assign a personal literacy narrative focused on the types of language the student encounters (but one that does not necessarily have to refer to Tan's article).
• Structure of the Writing Process: Personal choice in using different types of brainstorming, outlining, structure, etc. All students are capable of language, so not much focus is paid to exposing students to formal writing strategies.
• Evaluating the Writing: Whether the student is personally responding, how the students shows their agency through a close-reading of Tan's article, or how students use the article to explore their own understanding of language.

Socio-cultural Teacher

• Pre-Reading, Active Reading, and/or Post-Reading Activities: Pre-reading activities and information about historical and social factors that influenced Amy Tan's writings. Actively reading to discover the different ideologies and institutions that inform Tan's perspective. Post-reading questioning of these ideologies and whether she has accurately (from the student's contextual perspectives) identified the influences of them on her understanding of language.
• Possible Writing Assignments: Asking students to further develop Tan's ideas about the difference between home and school "Englishes" through historical, cultural, and sociological lenses. 
• Structure of the Writing Process: Brainstorming through class discussions (within their discourse community) that incorporate students' outside experiences with language. Bringing drafts in to class, where classmates will read, respond, and perhaps challenge or further the ideas of peers. 
• Evaluating the Writing: Good writing is seen as furthering personal understanding, constructing knowledge, and incorporating analysis of social, cultural, and historical influences (both in Tan's writing and from the students' own educational experiences). 

McCormick-Influenced Teacher

• Pre-Reading, Active Reading, and/or Post-Reading Activities: Pre-reading discussions activate various schematic categories students might consider as they read Tan's article, including socio-cultural, historical, and institutional influences. Students would actively read for personal understanding, a connection to their own literacies, and to recognize the ideological influences on and within Tan's article. Post-reading discussions might inquire how students have interpreted her text, how the text can be "in-use" in their writing about their own literacies, and how different perspectives of reading may change the interpretation of this text.
• Possible Writing Assignments: Analyzing Tan's understanding of literacy and language through a socio-historical, culturally-influenced ideological lens as a means of discussing their own experiences within the education system. 
• Structure of the Writing Process: Brainstorming through discussions about the influences on texts and our readings of them, drafting that incorporates metacognitive awareness of oneself as a contextualized reader.
• Evaluating the Writing: Focus on how students analyze socio-cultural factors within the text and their writing to aid metacognition of ideologies.