Understanding African American Vernacular English (AAVE): Definition, History, and Examples

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First and foremost, when a child walks into the classroom, he/she comes with his language as it is, whether AAVE (African American vernacular, which is what Ebonics is) or Spanish. More than just African Americans speak Ebonics. 

Everyone uses it at one time or another, and within popular culture, it's everywhere, from rap music lyrics to the sounds of hip/hop, expressions for some, which are a right of passage. 

Its evolution from African languages to the current nonstandard English goes as far back as the time when slaves were brought to North America. First and foremost, any well-educated person knows this dialect is contained in classic literature, from books like "To Kill a Mockingbird " to Richard Wright's writings. 

Put your hands together for a warm welcome to Ebonics in the classroom, as many programs teach it through literature within the context of its relationship to standard language. 

"So go 'head, knock some sense into dem head of urs. You be better off accepting everyone and da language dey speak." 

Translate that into standard language, and you'll know how ebonics is taught. I taught from a publication entitled "Toothy Ruthie," a book to help all kids (including African Americans) learn to pronounce the "th" sound. 

Yo, Big Daddy upstairs,
You be chillin'
So be yo hood
You be sayin' it, I be doin' it
In this ere hood and yo's
Gimme some eats
And cut me some slack, Blood
So's I be doin' it to dem dat diss me
Don' be pushin' me into no jive
And keep dem crips away
'Cause you always be da man, 
Straight up!

10 Metacognitive Learning Strategies for Students and Beyond: Boost Your Learning Skills in Any Setting

Photo by Matthew Bamberg

 

Generally, adults can figure out how to talk to themselves internally for optimum communication with others.

The challenge of self-talk is remembering to use the strategy, even in the most stressful conversations.

To increase the chances that I use self-talk and self-reflection to monitor my social and cognitive awareness, I intermittently teach myself learning methods for maintaining my responsibility to recognize that there are other people in the world besides myself.

Those same learning strategies I use with my students for them to learn to think about their own thinking or metacognition.

As a professor of education, my favorite course to teach was about the explicit teaching of learning strategies.

When it comes down to it, many adults, myself included, believe that there are a few ideas on self-improvement that need to be learned…and relearned.

My thoughts about learning to be a rational person lie in necessity.

Without re-educating myself that thinking about my own thought process, I lean toward such behaviors as:

• compulsive disclosure
• exaggeration
• self-centeredness
• interrupting
• impatience
• cognitive distortion

One set of learning strategies is related to metacognition, or thinking about your own thinking.

I have updated Boghian's (2016) learning strategies for students to be instructed in, which were developed by Ana Chamot (1990) in order for others and myself to increase the time we are present in the current moment.

The learning strategies I teach myself are:

1) Setting goals: developing/ planning personal objectives such as listening effectively and identifying the purpose of tasks that are necessary, important, and, yes, enjoyable.

2) Directing attention: deciding in advance to focus on listening more than speaking and engaging in tasks by removing myself from distractions.

3) Activating background knowledge: thinking about and using what I already know to learn what I don’t.

4) Predicting: anticipating information to prepare and give me direction for tasks.

5) Brainstorming and prioritizing, creating lists, marking calendars.

6) Self-management: arranging for conditions that help me proceed to future steps to complete a project.

7) Asking myself if my thoughts are based on reality and updating them if they’re not.

8) Selective attention: focusing on keywords, phrases, and ideas to increase engagement in conversations.

9) Deduction/ induction: consciously applying learned or self-developed rules; using/making rules that I am consistently willing to follow.

10) Awareness of what I say in terms of truth, necessity, and kindness.

These strategies help me make life less stressful, from limiting the number of personality conflicts that come my way to creating a mindful serenity…and better mental and physical health.

Boghian, I. (2016). Metacognitive learning strategies in teaching English as a foreign language. Journal of Innovation in Psychology, Education and Didactics, 20(1), 53–62.

I love coffee!

Heterogeneously Mixed Student Groups: Benefits, Strategies, and Best Practices for Effective Learning

Photo: Vanessa Loring Photo: Vanessa Loring pexels.com

 

Remember when you learned to read in school? The teacher placed you in a group by your reading level. That was it for working in a group for the day.

Some lower-level students stagnated because they weren’t challenged in the same way as those in higher-level groups.

Consider that there are two types of groups, heterogeneous and homogeneous. Arguments exist that the former is better than the latter.

The former consists of students of varying genders, English language proficiency levels, academic levels, and social skills.

The latter includes students who are at the same academic level in a subject such as leveled groups which would be used for reading instruction in the elementary grades.

In order for students to acquire language and learn academic vocabulary in useful contexts, they need to do a great deal of work in groups that expose them to peers of varying academic levels not just with peers who are at the same level.

Peer interaction is a way students can communicate with less anxiety. Research findings suggest that “mixed or heterogeneous ability or achievement groups” offer several advantages:

1) Less able pupils are at reduced risk of being stigmatized and exposed to a “dumbed-down” curriculum.

2) Teachers’ expectations for all pupils are maintained at higher levels.

3) Opportunities for more able students to assist less able peers in learning can be realized” (Glass, n.d.).

In order to determine homogeneous groups, Glass discusses tracking, saying, “Tracking, then, is about the rationing of opportunities. From the perspective of the low-track student, it’s about deciding that this student should not be exposed to curriculum and instruction that would prepare him or her for subsequent serious learning. Tracking happens when the teacher tests students and then places them in leveled groups.

Factors such as age, personality, academic level, gender, and language proficiency levels are required when placing students into groups so that communicative interactions play a dynamic role in language learning and acquisition.

Frequently rouping students heterogeneously in the classroom benefits them because they can authentically learn from peers who express a wide variety of views, emotions, and academic knowledge.

Homogeneous grouping leaves students in rote learning modes — peer interaction at the same level is the communication that is shared, oftentimes leading to less student motivation or to a feeling of self-fulfilling prophecy. They become keenly aware that expectations are low compared to students in higher-level groups.

Glass, G.V. (n.d.) Grouping students for instruction. https://nepc.colorado.edu/sites/default/files/Chapter05-Glass-Final.pdf