Bingo. Today I was able to verify my findings about the Language Through Arts Students with the third and final group. To be sure that they were not simply including all the material for the sake of my approval, I tweaked the arrangement of the lesson a little.
Yesterday, the pairs of students reported on their jigsaw reading to the entire group and myself. Today, I split the pairs so that there would be two groups, each with a reporter on each section. And… Bingo! Even when I was not present, students still did not distinguish between main and supporting ideas or omit incidental details. They even included complete explanations and examples I had given to them personally when they had asked for illumination, even if I was not within visible earshot during their reporting.
I discussed this with other teachers, and their findings are similar to my own. We seem to have identified the phenomenon- but what is the reason for it?
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2 comments:
Spoke to my Emirati boss about it - he can recite the full names of his whole family tree back about 7 generations. I notice in their social interaction too - they always want ALL the details. Hulle kan skinner!
- Phil
Yesss, once again you verify my suspicions: we simply are dealing here with a very verbal cultural background. Add to this the rather recent arrival of general literacy and things start to make sense. When the college-educated technician recently came to install my ADSL internet connection, he was gobsmacked at my (rather modest) collection of books. His words were, and I quote: "What this for?" Perhaps I would ask the same question if I had such a capacious memory! For education, though, the ultimate question is: how do we direct students to be proficient in BOTH ways of thinking, since the "Western" nutshell method is required in tertiary eucation..?
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