june 21- comprehension

Comprehension is a vital component of reading, and one that is very important for teachers to understand so they can accomplish teaching it to students successfully. Comprehension is a complex process that has been understood and explained in a number of ways, the RAND Reading Study Group said that comprehension is “the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language”. However, a more common definition is a process in which readers construct meaning by interacting with a text through the combination of prior knowledge and previous experience, information in the text, and the stance the reader takes in relationship to the text. Comprehension happens in the transaction between the reader and the text, which seems like an obvious statement, but it is important to consider. It is also important to understand that the more background knowledge a reader has that connects with the text being read, the more likely the reader will be able to make sense of what is being read. This background knowledge is called the schema, and simply means what you already know. Schema theory involves the storage of various kinds of information in long-term memory. When a student reads, the information needed goes to the short term memory, which shifts information, by keeping what is immediately pertinent and allowing less pertinent information to slip back into the long term memory. There are so many factors that effect a readers ability to comprehend a text, including the readers skills, knowledge, cognitive development, culture, and purpose. While it is hard for a teacher to control these things, teachers can control the motivation, which can influence the interest, purpose, emotion, or persistence with which a reader engages with the text.
     In order to become a successful comprehension teacher, there are several things to focus on. As a teacher you must teach decoding skills, providing students with phonemic awareness instruction at all times, help students build fluency by engaging in repeated readings, read out loud daily, build and activate prior knowledge before reading so that information connected with concepts in the text are more easily accessible, teach vocabulary words, that are necessary for making meaning with the text, engage students in personal responses to text through writing and during student-led discussions. Teachers have to provide the framework for the text, including the genre, vocabulary, language, and even the specific word choices are all important to students comprehension success. Teachers must also understand that readers interact with a text in ways that are unique to the place, situation, and purpose for reading. Because all of the information for teaching student comprehension is very complex, the Comprehension Matrix, can help teachers to apply their knowledge of the various factors that effect comprehension to design pre-reading, during-reading, and post-reading activities to help students comprehend and learn to use a variety of comprehension strategies. There are some theories that are important for a teacher to understand, including the transactional theory that says because each reader brings different experiences to a reading, each reader will take away a different meaning. A constructivist theory of learning suggests that learners actively construct their own knowledge. It suggests that readers construct meaning by making connections between the text and their prior knowledge.
    All of this information is significant to teachers understanding of how to teach comprehension, but it is also important to have an understanding of how to relate to children what they are being taught. The Velcro Theory is a way to explain to young elementary school children the process of making connections. As a teacher you would say, it is easier to remember something if we can stick it onto something else that is already in our heads; making this connection helps us to understand what we are reading. Another suggestion to explaining and relating visualization is “mind movies” where you encourage students to explain, draw, and think about what is in their heads when they are read something. This is an important strategy for students as they move from picture books to chapter books, and encourages imagination and a realization of that. The “I wonders” is also great, it allows students to participate by asking questions, before, during and after. Expert readers ask questions at all three stages, and this helps students to develop this skill. Many teachers right down the questions as they come, to display them to the children. Then at the end they go back and answer them, if they cannot answer them based of the knowledge of the text, they must use inference skills. This activity is great because it works on two parts of comprehension at once. Comprehension is such a vital part of reading, and developing good readers in the classroom. It is a complex topic, and one that can be very overwhelming to teachers, these articles provide a breakdown of the topic, and the Comprehension Matrix allows you, as the teacher, to take the process step by step, just as you will have your students do.

june 21- comprehension

            Comprehension is a vital component of reading, and one that is very important for teachers to understand so they can accomplish teaching it to students successfully. Comprehension is a complex process that has been understood and explained in a number of ways, the RAND Reading Study Group said that comprehension is “the process of simultaneously extracting and constructing meaning through interaction and involvement with written language”. However, a more common definition is a process in which readers construct meaning by interacting with a text through the combination of prior knowledge and previous experience, information in the text, and the stance the reader takes in relationship to the text. Comprehension happens in the transaction between the reader and the text, which seems like an obvious statement, but it is important to consider. It is also important to understand that the more background knowledge a reader has that connects with the text being read, the more likely the reader will be able to make sense of what is being read. This background knowledge is called the schema, and simply means what you already know. Schema theory involves the storage of various kinds of information in long-term memory. When a student reads, the information needed goes to the short term memory, which shifts information, by keeping what is immediately pertinent and allowing less pertinent information to slip back into the long term memory. There are so many factors that effect a readers ability to comprehend a text, including the readers skills, knowledge, cognitive development, culture, and purpose. While it is hard for a teacher to control these things, teachers can control the motivation, which can influence the interest, purpose, emotion, or persistence with which a reader engages with the text.
       In order to become a successful comprehension teacher, there are several things to focus on. As a teacher you must teach decoding skills, providing students with phonemic awareness instruction at all times, help students build fluency by engaging in repeated readings, read out loud daily, build and activate prior knowledge before reading so that information connected with concepts in the text are more easily accessible, teach vocabulary words, that are necessary for making meaning with the text, engage students in personal responses to text through writing and during student-led discussions. Teachers have to provide the framework for the text, including the genre, vocabulary, language, and even the specific word choices are all important to students comprehension success. Teachers must also understand that readers interact with a text in ways that are unique to the place, situation, and purpose for reading. Because all of the information for teaching student comprehension is very complex, the Comprehension Matrix, can help teachers to apply their knowledge of the various factors that effect comprehension to design pre-reading, during-reading, and post-reading activities to help students comprehend and learn to use a variety of comprehension strategies. There are some theories that are important for a teacher to understand, including the transactional theory that says because each reader brings different experiences to a reading, each reader will take away a different meaning. A constructivist theory of learning suggests that learners actively construct their own knowledge. It suggests that readers construct meaning by making connections between the text and their prior knowledge.
      All of this information is significant to teachers understanding of how to teach comprehension, but it is also important to have an understanding of how to relate to children what they are being taught. The Velcro Theory is a way to explain to young elementary school children the process of making connections. As a teacher you would say, it is easier to remember something if we can stick it onto something else that is already in our heads; making this connection helps us to understand what we are reading. Another suggestion to explaining and relating visualization is “mind movies” where you encourage students to explain, draw, and think about what is in their heads when they are read something. This is an important strategy for students as they move from picture books to chapter books, and encourages imagination and a realization of that. The “I wonders” is also great, it allows students to participate by asking questions, before, during and after. Expert readers ask questions at all three stages, and this helps students to develop this skill. Many teachers right down the questions as they come, to display them to the children. Then at the end they go back and answer them, if they cannot answer them based of the knowledge of the text, they must use inference skills. This activity is great because it works on two parts of comprehension at once. Comprehension is such a vital part of reading, and developing good readers in the classroom. It is a complex topic, and one that can be very overwhelming to teachers, these articles provide a breakdown of the topic, and the Comprehension Matrix allows you, as the teacher, to take the process step by step, just as you will have your students do.

Week 12- Our Brand is Crisis

The film Our Brand is Crisis follows members of the political consulting company GCS who travel to Bolivia. They have been hired by the presidential candidate Gonzalo “Goni” Sanchez de Lozada. Throughout the film, these consultants employ a series of manipulating tactics in an attempt to get Goni reelected to the presidency. When the consultants come in Goni is significantly behind, and the process to try to bring his numbers up is expressed. Through focus groups and polls they test slogans, responses to policies Goni supports, and general responses to his campaign. The business of campaigning is depicted as a cut-throat meticulous dance to connivence the public that Goni is a better candidate than the others. The backdrop of this election takes place in Bolivia, a country at an extreme crossroads in its history. The political and economic instability there has caused people to be pushed to the edge, and they are desperately trying to cling to any representation of hope. The political consultants, including James Carville, Tad Devine and Stanley Greenberg use this to their advantage and portray Goni as someone they can put their trust in. On election day, Goni wins the presidency with only 21 percent of the popular vote. Once in office, Goni is informed his honeymoon stage will be extremely brief, and the people begin demanding change immediately. In Bolivia’s history, they have been a poor country and have become increasingly more so. “Increasing poverty, stagnant or falling real wages, and a further and steady widening of the distribution of income in virtually every nation has also become the omnipresent and largely ignored social context of the neoliberal era.” (Cypher 47). The major problems facing Bolivia have brought it to a crucial place where change is necessary. One of the main complaints by the people expressed in the film is lack of jobs, and is something they are not willing to let go. During the beginning of Goni’s second term as president, it became clear that the necessary changes were not happening. People started to take to the streets and riots became a normal occurrence. In October 2003 Goni resigned, and Carlos Mesa took his place. The film depicts the manipulating ways of the consultants, as they attempt to get a very unpopular man elected to the Presidency for the second time, and once he was elected nothing positive was done. The political instability continued after Goni, Carlos Mesa remained president until 2005, followed by Eduardo Rodriguez who was president for a year, and finally Evo Morales was elected in 2006. Evo Morales was the force behind many of the revolts and riots, and it was obvious the support the people had for him. 

In Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins he describes his job and duties working for a company called MAIN. “ I was to justify huge international loans that would funnel money back to MAIN and other U.S. companies (Such as Bechtel, Halliburton, Stone & Webster, and Brown & Root) through massive engineering and construction projects. Second I would work to bankrupt the countries that received those loans (after they had paid MAIN and the other U.S. contractors, of course) so that they would be forever beholden to their creditors, and so they would present easy targets when we needed favors, including military bases, UN votes, or access to oil and other natural resources” (Perkins 18). This shows the problems that exist with South American countries from an external view. The problems that face countries like Bolivia exist somewhat outside their control. Companies like MAIN keep these South American companies in debt and therefore they stay poor, and the cycle continues. The film Our Band is Crisis and the reading definitely show themes that represent the poverty and problems facing these South American countries. 

Week 11- La viren de los sicaro

The film La Virgen de los Sicaro tells the story of Fernando a Colombian author who comes back to Medellin after a long absence. He is a very unhappy person, he feels he has lived all the life he can stand. However, he meets a young gay named Alexis whom he develops a relationship with. The context of this relationship is the violent atmosphere caused by the drug cartel warfare occurring in Colombia. Colombian society seems to be in shambles and Fernando provides memories from a different time. Colombia had a rich history in the drug trafficking, and it has caused major societal problems throughout the twentieth century. From 1946-1957 there was a time period called La Violencia. This was a time of civil conflict in the Colombian countryside between supporters of the Colombian Liberal party and the Colombian Conservative Party. The conflict led to guerrilla units being formed, and a period of intense violence in Columbia. La Violencia was a mix of “official terror, partisan sectarianism, an scorched earth policy that resulted from the crisis of the coffee republic, the weakness of the central state, and the contest over property rights”, according to Forrest Hylton’s Evil hour in Colombia (Hylton 39). 

This period of time resembled the one expressed in the film in terms of violence. According to Ricardo Vargas, author of State, Esprit Mafioso, and Armed Conflict in Colombia, the worst part of this Violencia was the polarization of the entire countryside, where civilians were considered on one side or the other. There was no in between, and therefore everyone was a target. In the film, Alexis is eager to kill anyone who crosses his path, and everyone is a target as well.(Vargas 125) This characteristic of an energetic target-seeking youth is also represented by Wilmar later in the film. The drug trafficking is not explicitly seen in the film, however the repercussions of it are. The “hit-men” involved in the industry have constant enemies, and therefore the business is a part of everyone’s lives. 

While the film seems to deal with those inside the industry, there is another side of the issue. The opinion of the Colombian people is not explicitly covered by the film, however Ricardo Vargas provides an explanation of the values Colombia people have. Most Colombians condemn the drug traffic. However, he says that when a trafficker tries to legitimize himself, he is accepted as long as he attempts to show support to those appearing to promote “order”. This public appearance is purely for economic gain. As long as the traffickers keep the local government on their side they will not face repercussions. “The large profits generated by the global trade in drugs have contributed to a new regional economic dynamic, creating employment and income without the need for government-directed development” (Vargas 126). The film, La Virgen de los Sicaro is a testimony to the effects the drug cartel has on the youth of Colombian society, and indirectly on the older generation, even through unconventional methods. 

cocaine cowboys

week 10 blog

The cocaine industry in the United States began in the 1970s, and was a result of the drug trafficking that had begun involving marijuana. In the beginning cocaine was not brought into the United States in large quantity, however it quickly gained popularity and the trafficking of cocaine grew to extreme rates. The cocaine came from Latin America, and specifically Columbia. There was a specific path that the cocaine followed after being produced in these Columbian farms. For those producing the cocaine, it was just a way to make a living and represented a very different value than it did for those selling and buying it. The cocaine was transported to Cuba after production, and Cuba seemed to be the intermediate between Columbia and the United States. From there the cocaine was smuggled into the United States around Miami. People in this industry soon realized the increased monetary value from cutting out Cuba, and getting involved in the transportation aspect of cocaine. During this time the restrictions on drug smuggling were extremely relaxed, and it took years before the government and police force were able to become an actual threat to the drug trade. The film, Cocaine Cowboys, depicts the transformation the cocaine industry had during the 1970s and 1980s. In the early years of cocaine importation into their was little violence, and money was flowing everywhere in Miami. Miami banks had excess cash of up to 600 million dollars, and it became increasingly obvious this was due to the drug trade. Jon Roberts makes the comment in the film, “everyone had their price, with few exceptions”. Throughout the latter part of the 1970s the United States saw an increase in violence in Miami directly revolved to the drug industry. It has corrupted and further weakened local governments, judiciaries, and police forces and rends the social fabric” (Coletta 126). The role that Griselda Blanco played in the drug business significantly increased the violence in Miami. She was nicknamed the “Miami Godmother” and was a significant power figure and violent homicidal maniac for this industry, and was feared by many in the industry. When she was arrested, estimates were that she had killed around two hundred people. The drug industry in Miami was  major part of the economy and activity that occurred in Miami throughout later part of this century. There were more people involved than could have been imagined. It was an international business that involved many Latin American countries especially Columbia and Cuba. However this business was not limited to these countries. the Panamanian leader manuel Noriega collaborated with Columbian drug traffickers. In an article published in the New York Times, reporter Seymore Hersh said of Noriega, “is extensively involved in illicit money laundering and drug activities”. This was an international business, however when the U.S. government began to really crack down on the traffic within its borders. As the cocaine business began to be shut down, the economy was hit extremely hard and banks, night clubs, jewelry shops, and many other merchandise stores were forced to close. While the drug traffic had repercussions on the economy, it also put Miami on the map in many ways, which allowed its economy to be revitalized after the cocaine industry was shut down. 

Bus 174- Week 9

          The film, Bus 174 focuses on the issue of street kids and particularly one street kid that involved himself in a hostage situation on Bus 174. The issue of street kids in Latin American cities is a social problem that has significant effects on future generations of children. There are many reasons these children revert to living on the street. Either they have no one to care for them, something happens to their family caregivers, or they do not get along with their families. For these children the only viable option is to turn to the streets to live and beg for money and food. The children have no other options, and become a liability to the future of the cities they occupy. The treatment of these children is obscure, instead of trying to reform these street kids to better the future of these countries like Brazil, the government and policy beat and kill these children. The children represent a meek existence that further prevents them from being rehabilitated into society. They are desperate for a social existence and their invisibility is what hinders them. This invisibility is thrust upon them from the social stigma society places on their existence. It is a harsh reality to be faced with, and one that children shouldn’t have to embrace. The invisibility they feel is unbearable and leads to behaviors that are an attempt to cope with the desperation they feel. These children revert to drug use, through the film we see street kids mention the use of marijuana and cocaine especially. They also use glue sniffing as a means to get high, this proves to be a inexpensive means to escape from the realities they face. The repercussion of the lives street children have not only effects them, but the rest of society as well. The street children must beg and steal in order to survive, and this has negative effects for surrounding people. It creates a very dangerous type of city, where there is a constant threat of robbery that must invoke fear amongst civilians. The “Drive-By Victim” in Citizens of Fear: Urban Violence in Latin America is an example of the kind of fear that occurs in these Latin American cities and the types of violence that occur. The man is simply trying to take a taxi home, however the driver turns out to be part of the hold-up along with two other men. They take the code to his savings account, and make him give his address to invoke further fear that if he talks to police they will come hurt his family. The  interesting part of the story is the reaction the man has after being let go. He says, “And I thought that we were so screwed in this country that the only option left to us in the end is thanking the thieves” (Ramos 4). This statement shows that the crime and violence that takes place occurs and is so bad that the only thing the victims can do is thank the thieves for not taking their lives. The way Latin American cities are viewed today has not always been the way the operated historically. “Latin Americans have historically imagined the city in positive ways, that is, they have recognized it as a locus of a particular type of civilization that endows its members with a more comprehensive existence” (Szuchman 24). Through the existence that street kids have in society, it is evident that Latin American cities do not hold the same type of positivism that they previously had. “The weight and power of municipal authorities have been weakened significantly in cities where crime and overcrowding have made human life a cheap-and disposable- commodity” (Szuchman 24). 

Che Part 1: The Argentine

         Che, Part 1: The Argentine follows the Cuban Revolution from the beginning of fighting market by Castro and Guevara’s presence in Cuba through the guerrilla warfare that led the revolutionary forces of the July 26th movement to prevail through winning Santa Clara and ultimately taking down Fulgencio Batista. The film focuses on the actions the July 26th movement took, and gives an extra emphasis on the roles Fidel Castro and Che Guevara played in bringing victory to that movement. Through their actions they were able to bring the different revolutionary forces together and unite them under a common cause. The film is important for the way it follows the events, using an overall timeline of the events that occurred during the Cuban Revolution with intersected moments of Fidel Castro’s involvement against American imperialism. 

The beginning of the film find the leaders and important figures of the revolution together in Mexico City. This is where Guevara meets Fidel Castro and agrees to join him in the fight. The film does not included the impact that the beginning of this movement starting in Mexico had on many Mexican people. However the reading demonstrates that there was a definite effect on the Mexican people. “For Mexican youth, in contrast, pride in the fact that Mexico had served as a final staging ground for the Cuban Revolutionary movement and was the place where the mythic due of ‘Fidel and Che’ joined forces helped forge a special connection with Guevara as a revolutionary icon, one whose feats seemed equal to heroic- if not more so- and held greater resonance than the feats of Mexico’s earlier, long-buried revolutionary heroes” (Zolov 247). Before the fighting had even begun Che was already becoming the an important icon for people as a revolutionary symbol, and especially for Mexican people during this time. Once the plan was solidified Fidel, Che, and the other revolutionary characters moved to Cuba in the Sierra Maestra Mountains where the engaged the enemy and gained soldiers. The film specifically focuses on this segment of the fighting, and gives detailed accounts of the events that occurred for the guerrilla forces during this time. Finally, they decided to bring their cause down from the mountains and the fighting was brought to Las Villas. They won this battle, and then moved on to the most significant battle included in the film. The Battle of Santa clara shows the fighting that took place as the revolutionaries tried to take the town of Santa Clara. Through street-to-street fighting they were able to secure the town and received information that Batista had fled the country. As Che is walking into the town center, one of the soldiers approaches him and asks if he can go home since they have won, Che responds by saying, “we have won the war, the Revolution starts now”. This statement marks a pivotal moment in the Cuban Revolution, where they have gained the high ground and will now move on the keep that ground secure.  

            The Cuban Revolution was significant for the way people across the world understood Revolutions in the 20th century. “We consider that the Cuban Revolution made three fundamental contributions to the laws of the revolutionary movement in the current situation in America. First, people’s forces can win a war against an enemy. Second, it is not always necessary to wait for all conditions favorable for a revolution to be present; the insurrection itself can create them. Third, in the underdeveloped parts of America, the battle ground for armed struggle should be in the main be the countryside” (Che Guevara 1).