What idea does W.D Valgardson develop about Independence in &Saturday Climbing?& - Research Paper - Riker
Get the free mobile app
What idea does W.D Valgardson develop about Independence in &Saturday Climbing?&
Apr 28, 2008
Saturday Climbing dives into the world of the complex relationships that take place between teenagers and their parents. In this particular situation, Moira is the teenager who is trying to explore the uncertainties in life while dealing with her father who is very cautious of her experiments. As the story evolves, there are many ideas that she accepts and rejects. There are also things that she hopes for throughout the story as well as fears that she thinks about. Valgardson demonstrates that parents need to exhibit faith their children in order for them to have a smooth transition into an independent life.
There are many ideas in Saturday Climbing that Moira accepts and incorporates into her thinking. The main idea is that she learns and starts to value the way her father thinks of life and how he wants the best for her. He was grateful for her confidence. Moira showing confidence in her father while he is climbing a hill is quite symbolic for this feat. She is showing confidence in her father and he is grateful for it and that confidence is what eventually evolves their relationship. Confidence represents faith in many ways, thus Valgardson indirectly uses this to demonstrate how independence is key in building a strong relationships between teenagers and parents.
From every corner of the room came cries of bitter disappointment and resentment. This shows that Moira clearly rejected the idea of rock climbing initially. She decided to give it a try and the activity eventually grew on her. The cause for the initial rejection of the activity was to be independent from her father but once she saw other kids climbing with their parents, she started to enjoy herself. In this situation, Valgardson states that healthy relationships lead to a life filled with more independence and happiness.
Valgardson uses symbolism throughout this story to touch on various aspects of the relationship between Barry and Moira. The rope symbolizes the strength of the...
Related Documents
...outline assignment English 30 Topic C: What idea does the author...
2&Pages 422 Views
...“Saturday Climbing”
By: W.D. Valgardson
Nov. 13th...
3&Pages 30 Views
...than them to experience. In the story “Saturday Climbing” by...
1&Pages 326 Views
Share this Document
Let your classmates know about this document and more
Share this Document
Please enter an email address:
Have a great research document you think will help inspire other StudyMode members?
Share your document
Get full access to more research and tools for only 39&/day
Upgrade your Membership
More great study tools:名师论文---Why&Don’t&We&Develop&Student&Learning&Independence?（陈春华）
Why Don’t
We Develop Student Learning Independence?
While studying in the University
of Brighton, I am so delighted to have a deeper understanding about
developing learner independence form the teachers, the Internet and
the books. In this article I would like to reflect my own
recognition about the problem and introduce some possible practical
ways to develop students’ learning independence.
Key words:
teacher& student&
motivation&
strategy&&&
independence&
As a result of the fact that
most classes in China have more than 50 students, quite naturally
the teacher-centered teaching methodology dominates the Chinese
English class, which does not promote optimal learning. Many
teachers always try to explain the stuffs as detailed as possible,
leaving almost no queries among students and some teachers even
feel kind of gratified because they’ve finished their teaching
contents. Eventually teachers just feed everything detailed to the
students, ignoring the purpose of teaching. Then teaching, the
original colorful, complex, creative and challengeable job, has now
become dull and simplified: preparing lessons --- teacher
talking/explaining --- lots of exercises or examinations ---
teacher talking. Worse still, we teachers are getting tired of
teaching because of doing the same t we feel
breathless and stressed and burnt out sometimes, as there are too
many demands from students, parents, and the school leaders as
well. On the other hand, students only care about getting results
good enough to go to a university, and gradually become examination
less and less students care about acquiring knowledge.
Besides, it is more and more common that our students are not
motivated and independent. Recently I interviewed ten of the
Chinese English teachers studying in the University of Brighton,
asking them what they think of being a teacher and how they develop
student learning independence, eight out of them responded the same
as what has been described above, and as to the development of
student learning independence, enough attention has not been paid
to it yet, and they mostly owe this to the school principal, who
seems interested only in scores!
Honestly, I used to be puzzled
over the same issue. Like the other teachers, I once agreed that
the school principals should answer for all this, because they seem
to have overemphasized the scores, but you can not deny, on the
other hand, the percentage of entering college or university
defines the future of the school, isn’t it? It is the same with the
schools even here in the U.K. However, having taken part in many
further study programs esp. studying in the University of Brighton
for three months, I began to reflect my teaching work and seem to
have a new understanding of teaching and learning, especially while
I was preparing the essay, I read the book Learning Teaching by Jim
Scrivener. His example about a parabola made me confirmed that we
teachers have to admit that we ourselves are actually more or less
misunderstanding Learning and Teaching.
&&&&&&&&&&
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
& &We are required to get
students to get high marks in the exam, but we are not required to
spoon-feed the students. Most of us have ignored the parabola
approach, which can be the shortest way and help students make much
better progress and get better results, because it is to follow a
balanced syllabus that includes a lot of speaking, listening and
other skills work of all kinds, as well as grammar and vocabulary.
Instead, we are now mostly adopting the straight line approach,
spending all the class time doing grammar, reading and writing
work, involving students doing all kinds of examination papers and
believing that ‘Practice makes perfect’. This ubiquitous way of
teaching among us apparently neglects the differentiation and the
contribution of the learners in the learning process. That’s why we
feel so much stress and even burnt out.&
& &Then what should we do
to get out of the ‘pool’?
&Why don’t we risk
developing our student learning independence?
&To risk doing this, we
need to solve two problems. Firstly, the answer lies in the
teachers’ side. We must survey the role of the teacher in education
anew, because our understanding of learning and teaching
determines our approaches and strategies to teach. Jim Scrivener
states that
‘Teaching’ does not equal ‘learning’.
Teaching does not necessarily lead to learning. … Learning -- of
anything, anywhere & demands energy and attention from the learner.
One person cannot learn anything for anyone else. It has to be done
by your own personal effort. Nobody else can transmit understanding
or skills into your head.
Obviously the teacher is only one factor in what
is learned or rather in a way teaching is actually rather less
important than one might suppose, because learners are intelligent,
fully functioning humans, not just receptacles from pass-on
knowledge. Thus we should always remind ourselves that learning is
not a one-dimensional intellectual activity, but involves the whole
person and given the opportunities, they will be able to make
important decisions for themselves, to take responsibility for
their learning and to move forward.
So I say it is high time that we
teachers stopped exercising our power to direct the whole learning
proc high time we stopped taking full
responsibility and high time we stopped making the major decision?
In other words, we teachers should risk allowing the students real
choices about as many aspects of the learning
letting go our control of the class as much as possible ,
trying to be a facilitator not merely a spoon-feeder
with the idea in mind to develop our students into independent
learners. I use the word ‘risk’ very gravely and gingerly here
because most of us have got used to our traditional and experienced
teaching mode, and you can be a lonely explorer around, but we do
not seem to have a better choice, do we?&
Secondly, on the students’ side, besides
teaching students knowledge, we teachers should focus the education
of the students more on their future development instead of only on
the marks or scores.& For students,
confidence and independence,
knowledge and understanding, skills and strategies, use of prior
and emerging experience, and critical reflection compose the five
important factors of sustaining learning. The five of them are
woven into together and can’t be treated individually. If we are
able to manage the five factors well, in a way, we are equipping
our students with “magic keys” or endless fuel”, because these
factors will then contribute to the students’ motivation. Jim
Scrivener points out in Learning Teaching that… the
strength of learners’ motivation will be a factor in determining
how seriously they approach the work, how much time they set aside
for it, how hard they push themselves. Further more, the experience
of success will then make students produce autonomy in
learning or learner independence, thus enabling students to
take more control over their learning in classrooms and outside
them and take more control over the purposes for which they learn
languages and the ways in which they learn them.”
&How can we develop
student learning independence?
* Understanding Learner autonomy and learner
independence
In spite of the fact that there
are different voices over the terms of learner autonomy and learner
independence, I would view them as synonymous because both of them
emphasize learner-centered approaches, andindicate learners free from
dependence on the teacher and:
take responsibility for
their own learnin
develop key transferable
skills (e.g. study, time-management, IT, interpersonal skills
actively manage their
seeking out learning opportunities and using appropriate
involve themselves in an
iterative process in which they set short and long term learning
objectives, reflect on and evaluate progress.
*& Distinguishing
independent learning tasks and activities.
Independent learning tasks encourage reflection and encourage
the learner to plan or manage their learning in some
&Integrating
the development of learning independence firmly into the language
curriculum because it has to be acquired over time and with
*& Suggestions to
develop learner learning independence:
1) &Make it clear from the
very first moment you meet your students that the purpose they come
to school is to learn to learn besides getting high marks. Tell
them about your plan and activities of teaching them and how you
understand teaching and learning. Now and then tell them convinced
stories or watch video programs about successful language learners
and anatomize them by discussion with the students, highlight their
learning strategies and learning independence so as to make them
know about what characteristics can create a successful
2) &Do needs analysis of
your students as early as possible.
If we compare our classroom as a
dancing pool, then both teachers and students are dancers. And to
dance best, we need to know each other well, don’t we? Needs
analysis of your students will lead you to this purpose. By needs
analysis, the teachers will know where the students are starting
from, what the students would like to learn, where their trouble is
and how they want to learn it, so that the teacher know well
whether his or her perceptions are in line with the students’. A
questionnaire, a gap-fill, a feedback, a note making, talking with
your student individually, planning activities to focus your
students on specific problems will surly enable you to design your
lesson more efficiently, and give your students timely and helpful
learning advice and guidance.
For example, making a perceptual
learning styles preference questionnaire to know about your
students learning styles. Then arrange the students into different
groups according to their learning styles, needs, levels, and
interest and encourage them to try some independent study. For
those students with analytical learning style, and high level,
flatter them and assign them tasks applying to their taste. For
those with authority learning style, and low level, in the
beginning give them more concern and encouragement and praise as
then gradually let them go, supplying them with
easier and tougher tasks to choose from so that they can challenge
themselves, eventually become less and less dependent on you.
Meanwhile never forget to praise them for even the slightest
3)& Weave different kinds
of teaching methodologies into your class.
It’s hard to say which
methodology is the best, as your students have different
background, learning styles and learning strategies, etc. but
weaving different methodologies into your teaching activities can
be magic. This can constantly keep your students excited, curious
and motivated. For the development of learner independence, once in
a while adopting the silent way can be very helpful. For instance,
when teaching grammar, instead of explaining in details about the
use of the grammar directly, let’s say the subjunctive mood, you
can try weaving its structure into a contextual situation, and have
the students explore it out first individually, then in group, and
finally do class work to draw out what you expect to from your
students: the structures of the subjunctive mood.
Constant inductive activities
can be very fruitful. It helps students comment on their
self-confidence and self-reliance in their process of learning.
What’s more, it can enable students to recognize and assess their
own needs, and eventually lead to the effective management of
learning, thus becoming more independent.
4) Encourage students to write Learning
Learning Log can help not only teachers see what their students are
learning but also urge students themselves to reflect their own
process of learning because in a learning log, students write on
the knowledge they have gained from studying and from their own
thinking. Generally you need not grade learning logs, but you can
assess how much your students have gained from the language
5) &Encourage students to
keep dialogue journals
The dialogue journals are in
fact written conversations between teacher and student on whatever
topics that are of special interest to them and in which students
may write about their ideas, thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Its
goal is to communicate in writing, and to exchange ideas and
information free of the concern for form and correctness. Teacher
can give advice covering any aspects based on what your student is
writing about. It helps to lead to trust between learners and
teacher. The greatest advantage of keeping dialogue journal is that
‘ it helps to make students independent and eventually able to read
and respond to the teacher’s entries (Peyton and Staton,
1991)’& and
thus& helps
to stimulate student’s motivation.
6) Encourage self-response.
Take the assessment for the
students’ writing as an example. Instead of teachers’ correcting
all errors, “bleeding” students’ paper to death (Andrea H.
Penaflorida ), you can allow them to be responsible for their own
work and practice self-feedback by telling them how to do the
self-assessment. For instance, “What am I writing about? Is the
main idea of my work clear? Do I have details like examples and
explanations to back my main idea? Do I make any spelling, grammar
mistakes?” The process of this is actually one that the teacher is
encouraging students to be self-sufficient and independent. What’s
more, it can cultivate and protect students’
motivation
Give learners a share of responsibility for planning and
conducting teaching-learning activities
This can cause the students to
be actively involved and led to better learning. It can also
increase their capacity to evaluate the learning process. In this
way a virtuous circle is created: awareness of how to learn
facilitates and influences what is being learnt and gives an
improved insight into how to learn.& ( Leni Dam 1995:2
We can allow the students
choices about as many aspects of the learning process as possible,
for example, about activities, teaching materials, topic,
assignment, due time the format and the pace of their learning, the
peer they want to work with.
Duty report is an efficient way
to improve the students’ ability of speaking English and to develop
learner independence. You can allow the student to choose their own
peer or peers, their own topic, and their favorite form of
presentation. When learning the text about the United States, you
can design a task asking the students to act as an American guide,
or a host of a travel program, or a history introducing more
information about the United States in different
8) Encourage project work.
Doing project work is a very
practical way to develop learner independence. The teacher at this
stage is mainly a monitor. The students are required to organize
themselves, to decide the name of their project, the most effective
way to reach the goal, and to design the best way they report their
findings back to the class. Do remember awarding your students is
absolutely necessary. To award the students for their effort, you
can prepare some small presents such as bookmark, chocolate,
candies, etc. However, I would strongly recommend a presentation ,
as this will provide your students a chance of experiencing success
also this will arouse their greater responsibility, for who don’t
want to present their best to others? &
9) Use assessment and feedback as a tool to
improve learner autonomy or independence
Instead of using a red pen, crossing the wrong answers and write
down a score on the exercise book or examination paper, your
assessment with opportunities for advice and guidance will
certainly benefit the students. As OFSTED (1998) states “Students are proud of their
achievements and are enthusiastic about their work. They respond
well in lessons, work productively with one another and in the main
sustain a satisfactory rate of independent work. They give close
attention to the direction and advice of their teachers. ”It
can be a tough job, costing you lot of time, but meanwhile bridge
you and your students. It offered the possibility of a more
democratic relationship between you and your students, where you
are able to point your students in the right direction and
encourage independence in learning.
In conclusion,
I don’t deny that the raising of
learner independence is tough and risky, as I mentioned above,
because it is not always happy and interesting and it generally
needs long time. Some conflicts among students or you and students
or even you and your colleagues and school principal will develop
inescapably, especially when the result of the exam is not good
enough, when the wonderful opportunity the students have been
offered is not understood and valued. You may panic, feel angry and
frustrated. But never give up. Anyhow, developing
student independence and teaching the students learn to learn is
the destination of education. So these conflicts are
only a natural part of the independent learning procedures. Keep
calm, keep constantly reflecting you teaching strategies, mediate
and negotiate the students through the conflicts, which will lead
them to a real maturity. What’s more, it can help you out of your
puzzles and relax your teaching once you have built your own way of
building your students learning independence.
References:
Scrivener&
Learning Teaching&
C. Richards Willy A. Renandya. 2002.& Methodology In Language Teaching
&Cambridge
University
C. Richards , Charles Lockhart& 1996& Reflective Teaching in Second
Language Classrooms &Cambridge Language
Betty Lou Leaver, Madeline Eerman, And Boris Shekhtman, 2004
Achieving success in Second Language
Acquisition Cambridge University Press
D&rnyei 2002 Motivation Strategies in the Language
Classroom& Cambridge
University Press
Potts 2003&
Living out My
7 Ciel Language Support Network
Integrating independent
learning with the curriculum, & CIEL Project,
已投稿到：
以上网友发言只代表其个人观点，不代表新浪网的观点或立场。}