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Media ResourceStep Up to Writing- Middle School and High SchoolStep up writing is for middle and high school students to break down the writing process. It increases their sentence structure and word choices. The variety of hands-on and visual  instruction make learning more effective and efficient.The media resource teaches the writing process step by step. The writing lesson lasts over a course of 3 days. Middle school and high school students will have the same foundation of writing after reviewing the media lesson. 

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Media ResourceStep Up to Writing- Middle School and High SchoolStep up writing is for middle and high school students to break down the writing process. It increases their sentence structure and word choices. The variety of hands-on and visual  instruction make learning more effective and efficient.The media resource teaches the writing process step by step. The writing lesson lasts over a course of 3 days. Middle school and high school students will have the same foundation of writing after reviewing the media lesson. 

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Why Is Writing more difficult Than Speaking ?                           

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Why Is Writing more difficult Than Speaking ?                           

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I would say writing is more difficult than speaking writing requires good grammar, spelling, sentence structure etc. When one is writing you have to make sure it is a complete thought. For years I struggled with fragment sentences and run on. Writing is a language skill that can only be developed through understanding sentence structure . Writing can be difficult because it can take too long in trying to communicate . I think speaking can be challenging as well endeavoring to hold an audience attention can be hard work , maintaining eye contact , vocal emphasis are just some of the skills that are required when speaking. At the end of the day I think I would rather speak than write. As I write this I recall when I was a kid writing was associated with punishment I had to write 500 times "I will not chew gum in class" . Writing can be therapeutic for some people it can be a rewarding experience.

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by Cheryl Moore

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How did I learn to write - Bridgit Floyd (1)

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How I learned to write(Correction of classmate) (1)

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DeAnna McDuffie, how I learned to write when I was about 2 years old, when I seen my mom and sibling write i thought i can write to, that's when i decided to get a pen and write on the coach, then my mom got mad and started to give me p (1)

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by Cheryl Moore

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By Cheryl Moore

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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This if from Cheryl

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Tanya Conner
Erica Little
Bridgit Floyd

The Three Little Pigs

A long time ago back N da daz there was this wolf that   was thryna wolf

up his granny or nana a cake.  He was feelin a little sick dat day.   He realized he aint got no sugar so he thought he  would get some from the homie next door.  He knocked on the door of  little dude house made of straw.  Hey bro he said in the midst of him tryna ask lil dude for some sugar,  He huffed and puffed a big sneeze came out and blew lil dude house down.  Lil bro fell dead so Wolf ate him.   Then Wolf  man went over  to the other brother house that was made of sticks to ask for some sugar from that brother.  Wolf man ranged the bell and called out  ¨ hey bro, hey bro¨.  Dat brother said ¨get go on and get wolf I am pulling the hairs out of my chinny chin chin.¨  Wolf felt a sneeze coming.  He huffed and puffed that house fell down too.  So the wolf ate that pig too.  The wolf still needed sugar for his cake he wanted to bake for his granny.  He decided to go to the other brother on the block or in the hood.  Wolf  knocked on the door called out Hey brother can you help a brother out on some sugar.   First that piggie was tryna ignore the wolf then he said get out of here your granny can go sit on a pin.  Then the wolf got mad

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How did I learn to write? I really don't know because it was so long ago. But I do remember I used to get into trouble a lot for talking too much in class. Thinking about my youth, coloring was one of my favorite things to do. But as far as my writing goes, my mind goes blank.

Head start I was so excited to start school. The name of the school at the time was 20th street school. I lived on 22nd street and the school was within walking distance from my house. The school building looked so huge to me but I wasn't scared to enter the building. My grandma dropped me off the first day of school. As I looked around the classroom, everything seemed so interesting. There were some crying children and I went over to comfort them by saying their mommy would come back to pick them up. I remember coloring on paper that day for some kind of picture.

As I got older I enjoyed watching my grandma Floyd sign her name on checks, etc. I would watch her carefully move the pen across the paper. One day I asked her to sign. I pretended that I was her and traced over her signature. The second memory I have was having to write a book report in elementary school. The paper required information like title, author, illustrator and information about the book. I thought this was a lot of information and hard work but in reality it wasn't.

In middle school and high school I found myself taking a lot of notes in all subjects. At that time I had different classrooms for each subject. Those notes came in handy when studying for tests. In my mind I was a good note taker but as an adult I’m not sure if there is a such thing as “good notes”. Now I write down everything I do from grocery lists, bills, gift lists and anything else. Writing helps me to remember and reflect on things that have happened in my life.

I love to write. Being a teacher in the Milwaukee Public School System I have seen teachers help their students develop great writing skills. We need more teachers willing to set a priority on writing and grammar skills. Currently our students are struggling in this area and could use our help.

Martin Luther King Elementary was the first school I worked at. Ms. Quinn was a first grade teacher that had an amazing style for teaching writing skills. She taught them everything from how to hold the pencil correctly, putting together simple sentences, capitalization and punctuation. She even taught them how to write neatly on lined paper. I was so impressed by what she did for those students. I also liked watching Mr. Fry. Mr. Fry was working with students on how to write in cursive. He felt it was important for our students to know how to sign legal documents even though technology has introduced different ways to write a signature.

In the current age of technology, people often communicate through text messages, or direct messages from their tablet, phone or computer. You aren't really required to know or understand abbreviations or proper spelling because the technology corrects everything for you.

I try to incorporate the things I learned from Mr. Fry and Ms. Quinn by having my students complete a writing prompt everyday. In the beginning they hated it, but now they understand that it was to help them improve their writing skills.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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The podcast was #164 the “Elegance of the gray area” by Jennifer Gonzales.

The summary is that teaching humans is not an exact science. Providing students with facts doesn’t mean they will be smart. Intelligence is not defined by facts but how much you are willing to learn.

My analysis is that we as teachers need to be flexible and encourage our students to embrace not having the perfect answer. Because everyone is an individual, we have to be able to work with the students according to their learning style. We must also understand that factual information can be layered with many different things and not just one acceptable answer.

https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/gray-area/

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Scaffolding Instructions for Struggling Writers

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Scaffolding Instructions for Struggling Writers

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1. Begin by gathering data

2. Build confidence

3. Write together as a class

I will begin with gathering data from my students to see a sample of their writing.  I will ask them about anything they would like to write about.  That will allow me to learn their writing style and where they are at in their writing skills.  Building up confidence is very important.  I can also give them small tasks to write about to help build their confidence about writing as they become better at writing.  We will write together as a class.  I will explain to them about an Essay I would like them to write and will start with the first paragraph together.  I will explain what all should be in that first paragraph.

https://www.teachwriting.org/612th/2017/6/10/strategies-to-support-struggling-writers-build-confidence-increase-success

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I believe writing is harder than speaking sometimes depending on who you are writing to or for what reason.  I know for myself when it comes to writing I sometimes use too many words to say what I want to say especially for an essay or something.  When I´m writing to someone I try to sound  as polite, and respectful as I can.  When writing you really need to know English really well to know what word could be in a sentence next to another.  When to use commas and when they are not necessary.  So a lot of times writing can be difficult especially for knowing proper grammar.

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Back in the day there was a mother hog who had baby oinks that she wanted moved out of the pin because she was tired of all of their squealing and they ate up everything. When they were old enough, she said get out, and went to secure the bag!!! The first little oink oink  was a lazy something who made his house out of newspaper that he stole from the paperboy. The second oink oink was far sighted; he couldn’t see well, so he made his house out of plastic bottles. They thought they had it going on, so they decided to chill. But the third oink oink had other plans. He invested in Tyler Perry Studios and moved into a brick mansion on the studio lot. Then this big ugly wolfie wolf passed by where the oink oink lived. He rapped let me in, let me in and the oink oink said you cray cray, you not getting in here. He began to rap again and said well, have it your way, I’m coming in anyways. The little oink ran for dear life and his house failed from the wolfie’s blow to it. The wolfie wolf approached the second oink oink with the same nonsense. Hey you, he said, let me in, let me in, no way, go away replied oink oink number two. So the wolfie wolf said ok, have it your way, he blew his house down as well but oink oink number two was able to secretly escape this madness. Then wolfie wolf approached the third oink oink but his house was made of brick in fact, it was a mansion. The third oink oink was not worried at all because he knew that his house would stand. So he went on and enjoyed his day. Regardless of what the wolfie wolf was saying or doing, he could not get this house to fall. So wolfie wolf gave up and left that house exhausted and defeated because he tried all day to blow this house down and he failed.

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www.readingrockets     Reading Rockets:  How do I write…… Scaffolding Preschoolers’ Early writing skills                             Summary: It is believed that providing young children with rich writing experiences can lay a foundation for literacy learning.The teacher in this article had students at all levels, some new letters and some did not and she wanted information on how to help all her students when they are at different levels. Emergent writing and everything it encompasses was mentioned to help with preschool writers. My Analysis:Writing is one of the best predictors of children’s later reading success.With younger children, focus on the general conventions.Children will have to learn to integrate their knowledge of print and sound to understand how writing works. 

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www.readingrockets     Reading Rockets:  How do I write…… Scaffolding Preschoolers’ Early writing skills                             Summary: It is believed that providing young children with rich writing experiences can lay a foundation for literacy learning.The teacher in this article had students at all levels, some new letters and some did not and she wanted information on how to help all her students when they are at different levels. Emergent writing and everything it encompasses was mentioned to help with preschool writers. My Analysis:Writing is one of the best predictors of children’s later reading success.With younger children, focus on the general conventions.Children will have to learn to integrate their knowledge of print and sound to understand how writing works. 

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The Three Lil Shawties

Retold The Three Little Pigs

Written by: Alma, Larry, and Rebecca

Back in the day there lived this Moms that had three Lil shawties, Ace, Double D, and Tre they lived with her off the woods in a shack. It came at a time when she didn’t have enough crumbs to feed the shawties. Since they were hogs now she told the Lil shawties that it was time to bounce, and to be on their own. However, before she said peace out to her shawties, she gave them a noggin full of info about that, “Big Dirty Dog.”  Now Big Dirty Dog, who loved catching and gobbling hogs up as grub lived deep in the woods. Moms warned them to keep their eyes open, and to be on point at all times. When she finished rapping to them she said deuces!

Now the first Lil shawty Ace, decided to chill over yonder way not far from mom's pad, he found some straw and used it to build his crib. After he finished his crib he sat in his yard chillin near the door of his straw house. As he daydreamed, he heard a noise behind his crib, quickly standing he peeped, Big Dirty Dog, creeping around the crib. Lil Shawty Ace, skipped inside, and locked his door, piecing together his next move. That's when Big Dirty Dog kicked on the door, yapping Lil shawty, Lil shawty let a brotha in. Lil Shawty Ace, hollered back, moved around Big Dirty Dog! So Big Dirty Dog said if you won’t let a brotha in Lil Shawty, I will Snap, crackle and pop on you and bring this crib down. Lil Shawty Ace, said move around Big Dirty, but before he could finish he heard Big Dirty Dog, snapping crackling and popping and the crib came down. Now Lil shawty Ace, was faster than Big Dirty Dog, he skipped out the back window before Big Dirty Dog had popped and hit-it to his Bro’s crib, Lil shawty Double D.

The second Lil Shawty was Double D.  Double D was sure he had built a house of sticks that the Big Dirty Dog couldn’t snap, crackle and pop.  After he finished building his house he was ready to turn up and cut a rug.  He had his drink in his red cup and his music blasting and he was ready.  When all of a sudden he heard a knock at the door that sounded like the popos. He turns the music down in a jiffy and hears the voice of a scary his bro Lil shawty Ace.  Lil Double D with a snap of his finger he swung the door open with no time to lose.  Lil shawty Ace, ran in the door gasping for air and couldn't talk. Lil Shawty Double D, offered him a drink, but by that time there was another knock at the door.  Lil shawty Double D changed his voice saying “Who that,” to trick Big Dirty Dog. Well Big Dirty Dog replies with, “It's me your homie from around the way.”  Lil shawty Double D replies, “I don't have a homie around the way, and flee like a Bee because no grub for you will we be. That Big Dirty Dog said I’m not going anywhere not until I get my grub on.  He told them If you don't open this door I'm going to snap, crackle, and pop on this crib and bring it down. Lil Shawty Double D was snapping saying “I’d like to see you do it”.  So Big Dirty Dog snapped, crackled, and popped his crib down.  Before Big Dirty Dog could pop Lil shawty Ace and Lil shawty Double D, ran like bats out of hell to Lil shawty Tre’s crib for safety.

The Third Lil Shawty Tre, took time to build his crib on a firm foundation with bricks. Lil shawty Tre, was preparing stew for dinner he only had veggies no meat. So he started a big stew pot filled with water and placed it on the fire.  That’s when he heard some commotion outside, he peeped through the curtains of his front window and saw his two Bros being chased by Big Dirty Dog. That musty hound was running down the road on his Bros heels to his crib. Lil Shawty Tre hurried and opened the door for his Bros, and slammed the door in the nick of time. That’s when Big Dirty Dog yelled out, I will snap, crackle and pop on you Shawties, if you don’t open this door. However, the three Lil Shawties, who were on the other side of the door, snapped back.

The three Shawties said check this out Dirty Dog, yo eyes may shine, and your grill may glitter, but these Lil Shawtie you ain’t gonna get. Then the Big Dirty Dog, yelled out saying a brotha stomach is hitting his back, and my choppers are ready to smack. So he started to snap, crackle and pop, but nothing happened, and did it again, and again but nothing happened. The three shawty were inside with no fear at all, for they knew their bro crib was strong and wouldn’t fall. So Double D, knowing old Dirty Dog, wouldn’t give up and would try the only opening to the crib which was the chimney. As he thought more about it he started putting the veggies in the stew pot, now the water was boiling over the fire hotter than hot.

That Big Dirty dog realized he couldn’t snap, crackle and pop the house down. He decided to go up on the roof top and come down the chimney like the Grinch. Big Dirty Dog, did as he thought he started down okay, but he lost a crip coming down the chimney not able to stop, and fell into the boiling pot of water with the veggies. The three Lil Shawties slammed the Lid on tight, and gave thanks to God for the meat that landed in the pot. After the three Lil shawties gave thanks, and each other dap; they set back chillin watching the playoffs games on tube, slippin on kool-aid, and eating beef dog veggie stew.

The End.

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The Three Lil Shawties

Retold The Three Little Pigs

Written by: Alma, Larry, and Rebecca

Back in the day there lived this Moms that had three Lil shawties, Ace, Double D, and Tre they lived with her off the woods in a shack. It came at a time when she didn’t have enough crumbs to feed the shawties. Since they were hogs now she told the Lil shawties that it was time to bounce, and to be on their own. However, before she said peace out to her shawties, she gave them a noggin full of info about that, “Big Dirty Dog.”  Now Big Dirty Dog, who loved catching and gobbling hogs up as grub lived deep in the woods. Moms warned them to keep their eyes open, and to be on point at all times. When she finished rapping to them she said deuces!

Now the first Lil shawty Ace, decided to chill over yonder way not far from mom's pad, he found some straw and used it to build his crib. After he finished his crib he sat in his yard chillin near the door of his straw house. As he daydreamed, he heard a noise behind his crib, quickly standing he peeped, Big Dirty Dog, creeping around the crib. Lil Shawty Ace, skipped inside, and locked his door, piecing together his next move. That's when Big Dirty Dog kicked on the door, yapping Lil shawty, Lil shawty let a brotha in. Lil Shawty Ace, hollered back, moved around Big Dirty Dog! So Big Dirty Dog said if you won’t let a brotha in Lil Shawty, I will Snap, crackle and pop on you and bring this crib down. Lil Shawty Ace, said move around Big Dirty, but before he could finish he heard Big Dirty Dog, snapping crackling and popping and the crib came down. Now Lil shawty Ace, was faster than Big Dirty Dog, he skipped out the back window before Big Dirty Dog had popped and hit-it to his Bro’s crib, Lil shawty Double D.

The second Lil Shawty was Double D.  Double D was sure he had built a house of sticks that the Big Dirty Dog couldn’t snap, crackle and pop.  After he finished building his house he was ready to turn up and cut a rug.  He had his drink in his red cup and his music blasting and he was ready.  When all of a sudden he heard a knock at the door that sounded like the popos. He turns the music down in a jiffy and hears the voice of a scary his bro Lil shawty Ace.  Lil Double D with a snap of his finger he swung the door open with no time to lose.  Lil shawty Ace, ran in the door gasping for air and couldn't talk. Lil Shawty Double D, offered him a drink, but by that time there was another knock at the door.  Lil shawty Double D changed his voice saying “Who that,” to trick Big Dirty Dog. Well Big Dirty Dog replies with, “It's me your homie from around the way.”  Lil shawty Double D replies, “I don't have a homie around the way, and flee like a Bee because no grub for you will we be. That Big Dirty Dog said I’m not going anywhere not until I get my grub on.  He told them If you don't open this door I'm going to snap, crackle, and pop on this crib and bring it down. Lil Shawty Double D was snapping saying “I’d like to see you do it”.  So Big Dirty Dog snapped, crackled, and popped his crib down.  Before Big Dirty Dog could pop Lil shawty Ace and Lil shawty Double D, ran like bats out of hell to Lil shawty Tre’s crib for safety.

The Third Lil Shawty Tre, took time to build his crib on a firm foundation with bricks. Lil shawty Tre, was preparing stew for dinner he only had veggies no meat. So he started a big stew pot filled with water and placed it on the fire.  That’s when he heard some commotion outside, he peeped through the curtains of his front window and saw his two Bros being chased by Big Dirty Dog. That musty hound was running down the road on his Bros heels to his crib. Lil Shawty Tre hurried and opened the door for his Bros, and slammed the door in the nick of time. That’s when Big Dirty Dog yelled out, I will snap, crackle and pop on you Shawties, if you don’t open this door. However, the three Lil Shawties, who were on the other side of the door, snapped back.

The three Shawties said check this out Dirty Dog, yo eyes may shine, and your grill may glitter, but these Lil Shawtie you ain’t gonna get. Then the Big Dirty Dog, yelled out saying a brotha stomach is hitting his back, and my choppers are ready to smack. So he started to snap, crackle and pop, but nothing happened, and did it again, and again but nothing happened. The three shawty were inside with no fear at all, for they knew their bro crib was strong and wouldn’t fall. So Double D, knowing old Dirty Dog, wouldn’t give up and would try the only opening to the crib which was the chimney. As he thought more about it he started putting the veggies in the stew pot, now the water was boiling over the fire hotter than hot.

That Big Dirty dog realized he couldn’t snap, crackle and pop the house down. He decided to go up on the roof top and come down the chimney like the Grinch. Big Dirty Dog, did as he thought he started down okay, but he lost a crip coming down the chimney not able to stop, and fell into the boiling pot of water with the veggies. The three Lil Shawties slammed the Lid on tight, and gave thanks to God for the meat that landed in the pot. After the three Lil shawties gave thanks, and each other dap; they set back chillin watching the playoffs games on tube, slippin on kool-aid, and eating beef dog veggie stew.

The End.

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The three media resources I plan to work with and have used are;

Print Media ~the term print media is used to describe the traditional or old fashioned print based media that todays parents grew up with including newspapers, magazines, and books.

Television ~ T.V has been entertaining people for so many years. There are some great sources of information through some programs, such as National Geographic, PBS: Public Broadcasting Station, and many more.

Movies~ movies are popular as well they carry penty of information in them, from the areas of history, fashion, and geopolitical information.

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I believe it’s harder writing than speaking it’s much easier to speak your thoughts. When you are speaking your thoughts with emotions it clearly states how, and what you are feeling. However when you are writing you have to give the individual that meaning of your emotions, in writing. At times it can come off a little difficult, if it’s not worded correctly. Also many people have trouble communicating because of a number of reasons; it could be speech, speaking, writing their throught, spelling, or even a language barrier. Another reason could be that technology has taken over, it’s not like in the olden days where you had to write to get a message to someone. Nowadays there is less writing and more typing, texting, or voice typing. Writing has become very outdated now. So this time and era have and have become a vocally speaking World.

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Hamilton High School
High School (9th-12th)
Hiking and Online Trading

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https://www.peardeck.com/googleslides

I would come up with some writing activities for students in grades 1-3.
Having students use examples I have chosen based on their learning.

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How I learned to write  By Keelin Brooks 

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How I learned to write  By Keelin Brooks 

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As I started my writing experience. I found out that writing is one of my better suits. As a child I love riding I think it was my fourth grade teacher that saw I had a thing for writing. I started off just making small short stories about events they might’ve happened but put spins on them to make them more interesting. I even had my own little comic book in elementary. Even though I couldn’t draw I felt better about my writing skills more than anything.

Small projects in elementary such as a project on dinosaurs and their extinction. Was one of my first times really enjoying researching and writing down the things that I learned. And as my ride in progress when we had things where we had to put in our own words and not plagiarize when I really found that I had a talent for expressing myself to literature.

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Congress
Love to learn new things either school or independent.

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Anthony Cullen

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I remember when I was a kid going to Hopkins Street Elementary School.  I must  have been in kindergarten.  My mom taught me how to write my name in cursive and I had to write it over and over again.  Then I remember getting that lined paper that the school will send home with you that had the cursive abcs you had to practice writing.  I had to show my mom that paper all the time, she used to make me do extra writing.  That is something I never forgot.  But  my daughters are not good with cursive writing but I did teach them how to write their names because of my experience with my mom.  I felt like  it must be very important to know how to write your name in cursive, because that  was the first thing I learned how to do was write my name in cursive before I learned how to read well and do math.

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I chose the Joyfully Podcast teaching writing to students. It talks about how writing is an important skill to have. How to improve writing, the podcaster explained that it is important to show many examples of writing. The reason is there are many ways to learn how to write. There are small moments in writing, savoring a moment, starting small and then gradually going big. Giving opportunities to writers to write simple lessons. Allow students to write short pieces not as an assignment but as a short exercise. These are called quick writing, using wordless books can help as well she suggested. She also suggested an exercise to develop student writing is giving students to write a 16 word story about something that happened, it can be what happened at a party or an event. I found the podcast to be very informative as well as practical .

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly90ZWFjaGpveWZ1bGx5LmxpYnN5bi5jb20vcnNz/episode/YmQ1NzA2YjYtODM1YS00OTBhLTgxMjYtYmMwNjViNjUyMDEz?hl=en&ved=2ahUKEwjCrKLimObwAhUaVc0KHeU-DTEQieUEegQIAxAI&ep=6

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Larry Burnett
Viterbo College University
EDU-426 INST .
Terisa  Folaron
May 25, 2021                                       I would say quite frankly I am not sure how I learn I do know I had the desire to learn how to write. I heard a teacher once say, one of the purposes of reading is it teaches one how to read. So I simply began incorporating words and phrases that I read into my writing.Over the course of time I began to notice my writing began to improve. I am still not a hundred percent there. I do know with continued practice with anything you become better . It is said "There is something delicious about writing the first words of a story. You never quite know where they'll take you." "You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences and the creation of different words on a page. Writing comes from reading, and reading is the best teacher of how to write." When I think of prolific writers for some strange reason I think of Thomas Jefferson ¨he  does not write in traditionally conceived literary genres, i.e., fiction, poetry, etc., but his best writing is in the form of public addresses, letters, and a political and scientific account of his home state¨. He actually wrote the sacred document that every American should cherish, that is the Constitution of the United States. As well as drafting the Declaration of Independence. I do recall one teacher in particular I had years ago who explained writing is like an umbrella, your thesis statement is the top of the umbrella and everything underneath it should support it. I still remember that to this day. I will teach students literacy has twin towers: reading and writing going hand and  hand. You can not have one without the other.

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How I learn to Write

Rebecca Campbell-Stanford

Viterbo College University

Educ. 426

Inst. Terisa Folaron

May 25,2021

I learned how to write when I was age two-three years old at home and in elementary school. I was about five when I actually started writing letters. My teacher would have us write from books, and other materials she would have, using other things also in class like paper letters for tracer making the letters correctly. What I found hard for me to write was cursive, and making the words correct and to connect the letters together. I can remember my oldest sister making us write from the Newspaper, when we would get her upset, lol. Now to be truthful I am not the best writer, and I'm still working on this area.

I used to ask my teacher in school, “why do I have to learn writing?” One of my teachers would say just write Rebecca;  however when I went to fifth grade my teacher told me why writing was so important. He stated the writing is a very crucial part of the learning process, because when you write we consolidate our understanding by going deep into thought. Well that was than and still now I still struggle with writing. I have gotten better at writing, but not one of my strong areas.

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AAL-Writing

Rebecca Campbell-Stanford

Viterbo College University

EDU-426

Inst. Terisa Folaron

May 25,2021

AAL- African American Language (AAL) shows variation and differences from other varieties of American English along two main dimensions, the sound (phonological) system and the grammar (morphosyntactic) system. These differences are systematic and are a result of the origin and continued development of AAL. All language varieties throughout the world exhibit a range of features, some related to sound, while others being related to the structure of a variety. AAL has many features that are shared with other American English varieties, while also containing features that are unique to AAL. Kendall, Tyler, Jason McLarty, and Brooke Josler. 2018. Retrieved 05/25/21.

This World is full of different cultures and languages. The American- American cultural has gone through a transition of what it means to be “Black,” in America and the language is no acception. This AAL begin with our African ancestors, who didn’t understand English, but over time many blacks learned the form of a socially acceptable form of language. Even though blacks willing learned the English, The AA communities has always been distinitive that only many black can embrace and understand it than and now.

The Black American English now is know as Ebonics, because know to many other cultures in 1990’s. When africans were brought from Africa they weren’t taught to speak English, so they came up with their own language which was Creole English; also known to many as pidgin. Pidgin is a simplified language made between two or more groups of people, who have language in common. Their are many people who believe Ebonics is gutter language or slang, but it’s not, it’s a group of African Americans culture language. This is the language were Rap, Rappers uae in their music.

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BrainPOP is one of my favorite resources for any subject. This specific video shows students how to organize their information and create an outline. I think this is a great resource for my 8th grade students that struggle to put all of their information together and appropriately so that their paper makes sense and flows well.

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Tim and Moby show you how to research and organize your thoughts on a topic before you write!

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Share Writing Support Media Resource: Summarize in three sentences and provide a three sentence analysis. 

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Share Writing Support Media Resource: Summarize in three sentences and provide a three sentence analysis. 

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Instructional Strategies for Teaching Writing to Elementary Students

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Instructional Strategies for Teaching Writing to Elementary Students

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stbQMM4ie5k
I liked the video. It gave me a nice review on how to teach writing and what the teacher need to do to help the students. The teacher need to let the students see them writing, making mistakes, corrections and they should model writing.

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Types of Writing, Writing Genres, Circuitous Writing, Writing for Audiences, Active voice vs Passive Voice, Bias in writing, Writing mediums, Purposes of writing
Connotation vs denotation. AEE,

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DeAnna McDuffie, how I learned to write when I was about 2 years old, when I seen my mom and sibling write i thought i can write to, that's when i decided to get a pen and write on the coach, then my mom got mad and started to give me pape

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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

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6th  grade teaching science
cooking, site seeing, walking

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6th-7th Sped ,

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1. First Name, Last Name
2. School Name
3. Grades you teach
4. Hobby/Interest

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Reading Assignment 2: AAL Facts: Take notes as a means to prepare for class discussion. 

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Reading Assignment 2: AAL Facts: Take notes as a means to prepare for class discussion. 

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African American Language (AAL) is a language variety spoken by many African American speakers in the United States. Over the past half century, AAL has been the subject of a great deal of research by linguists and other scholars. From this research we have learned about the systematicity of AAL, including its levels of variation, origins and ongoing development,and speakers' ability to shift their language style. On this page, we present a summary of what we know about AAL.

The language of African Americans has been given many labels over the past fifty years, including Black English, Ebonics, African American English (AAE), African American Vernacular English (AAVE), and, most recently, African American Language (AAL). These labels don't necessarily refer to the same groups of speakers, but all focus on language use within the African American community. Scholars have defined this in many, ways, including (but not limited to):

"The language and discourse patterns of African slave descendants in the United States, which reflect the survival of African languages in the English used by these descendants" (Smitherman 2015: 547).

AAL "refers to a variety of English spoken by many African Americans in the United States" (Van Hofwegen 2015: 454).

"To all forms of English employed by African Americans" (Winford 2015: 85).

"Any kind of speech that can be audibly distinguished as African American, including both middle-class and working-class varieties" (Thomas & Bailey 2015: 403).

Many of these definitions have connections to the origins of AAL, its cultural links, and perceptions of the speakers of the variety. Although the definitions may vary, scholars agree that AAL is systematic and rule governed. This fact can be seen through the speakers' knowledge of their language variety:

"So, when speakers know AAL, they know a system of sounds, word and sentence structure, meaning and structural organization of vocabulary items, and other linguistic and metalinguistic information about their language, such as pragmatic rules and the social function of AAL" (Lanehart and Malik 2015: 4).

In the video below, produced by the Language and Life Project at North Carolina State University, Hip-hop producer 9th Wonder, rapper Phonte and other members of the North Carolina African American community discuss what their language means to them, and how they navigate the way they use language in American society:
AAL Style Shifting
Before getting into the description of AAL, we start by discussing one of the widely talked about topics in AAL speaking communities: style shifting. Sociolinguists Walt Wolfram and Natalie Schilling define style shifting as variation within the speech of a single speaker, included in the linguistic repertoire of an individual speaker (Wolfram and Schilling 2016). Style shifting is often discussed in popular culture as code switching, but linguists often reserve code switching for switching between different languages rather than sets of features. In fact, several videos in our Resources for Educators section allude to code switching in AAL. For example, AAL speakers might speak one style at home with family and friends, and a different style with co-workers in the workplace.

Many researchers have attempted to answer the question of why people style-shift, though the first major account of speakers' ability to modify their speech styles or style-shift was proposed by William Labov (1966) as the Attention to Speech Model. A key finding from this work was that in a more formal situation, such as an interview, speakers use fewer vernacular features. This is presumably because speakers pay closer attention to their speech in this context than in more informal conversations with friends.

Another explanation of style shifting was proposed by Bell (1984) which built upon Street and Giles' (1982) notion that speakers adjust their speech to win the approval of other members of the conversation. One contradiction to this by Alim and Smitherman (2012) is that while many youth can style-shift to White Mainstream English grammar, "they resist the constant and unrelenting imposition of White linguistic norms by their teachers." (p. 175). All together, these explanations highlight that reasons for style-shifting vary in terms of age, linguistic environment, and other sociocultural factors.

Style shifting is a skill that all children develop as they navigate the linguistic demands of home, school, and peer groups. This is especially true for speakers who come to school speaking a stigmatized variety of English. Despite extensive research displaying equally complex system of AAL, the language of African American speakers, and children in particular, has consistently been viewed as problematic. (For more information, see the AAL in Society - Education page).

In Alim and Smitherman (2012), the authors note that some teachers comment on the fact that their African American students cannot style shift, but were "unaware of the stylistic sensitivity" in the use of some grammatical features. One teacher said she was constantly "correcting" her students on the "acceptable" way to use was and were, for example. The authors assert that sociolinguistic research in the same school demonstrates that African American youth do possess a wide range of linguistic styles and the ability to shift between them.

These perceptions teachers have about their students' linguistic abilities can have a profoundly negative effect on students who are constantly being told their linguistic capabilities are inferior to others who speak White Mainstream English or another mainstream dialect. Furthermore, teachers are more likely to assume or agree that students who speak WME are capable of style shifting while students speaking a marginalized variety are not.

A grammar is the way words are used, classified, and structured together to form coherent written or spoken sentences, such as the internal structure of noun, adjective, and prepositional phrases, and their presence in the order/structure of sentences. Something thought to be grammatical by a native speaker of White Mainstream English (WME) could be 'He goes to the store'. Something ungrammatical does not adhere to the overall structure of a language. An example in WME could be *'He the store go to'. (Linguists use * to note ungrammatical examples.) Descriptive grammar is built up by analyzing how speakers use a language, and deducing the rules that follow. Prescriptive grammar is a set of explicit rules for using language that are taught, or enforced, so that people will use the language in some particular way, often taught in schools and typically is a result of teaching writing, rather than being about spoken language. When linguists discuss grammar, they are adhering to a descriptive grammar paradigm, with a focus on how speakers use the rules of any given language variety, underscoring the fact that all languages and language varieties are systematic and rule governed. Languages and language varieties demonstrate variation in probabilistic ways, and no one language or language variety is more "correct" than another.

The grammatical system, or grammar of AAL is comprised of morphosyntactic features and patterns. The grammar of AAL has been the focus of many researchers since the sociolinguistic study of AAL began in the 1960s. The study of the grammatical system of AAL is growing as ongoing research is identifying more regional differences across the United States. These grammatical features put into perspective the of language use and give us a better idea of the constant change in AAL and language in general. One distinctive difference between WME and AAL is the complexity of the tense and aspect system. That being said, it is the richness of the tense and aspect system that really sets AAL apart from other varieties of English which have less aspectual and modal markers and a more simplistic system. Linguist Charles Debose (2015) presents a systematic account of and markers in AAL as well as many other grammatical features that are similar to and different from WME. Using many of the features described in DeBose (2015), Rickford (1999), Wolfram (1969), Fasold (1972), Craig and Washington (2006), and many others in the field of sociolinguistics, the list of features to follow is made up of some of the most analyzed grammatical features of AAL across the 20 th and 21 st centuries. Not all of these features are unique to AAL, in fact, many overlap with other varieties of English such as WME, white Southern American English (SAE), and Chicano English (ChE). Many of the differences between AAL and other varieties arise from the combination of features and the way in which those features are used by speakers.

Arguably the most unique component of AAL is the tense and aspect system . Tense refers to time (past, present and future) with respect to an event, whereas aspect typically refers to the duration or type of activity through time, both of which are expressed through verbal forms. While across the languages of the world these categories can be complex, especially aspect, White Mainstream English (MAE) expresses aspect in a few fairly straightforward ways. Maybe the most recognizable aspectual category is the progressive, e.g. He is writing, which indicates that an event is in progress. Another MAE aspectual category is the perfective, which indicates an event is a complete whole that will unfold (or has unfolded); basically, the focus of the construction is the totality of the event denoted by the verb, e.g. He will help him or He helped him. Another MAE aspectual category is the imperfective, which marks continuous or repetitive activity, such as I used to help him. AAL contains all the aspectual categories that MAE does, but also has aspectual categories that are not a part of the MAE inventory.

The two most prominent and well commented upon aspectual markers in AAL, are invariant be and remote time been. AAL can mark habitualilty , or an action that occurs continuously or intermittently over time, with the verbal marker of be, e.g. He be writing, which in other varieties of American English would generally require some sort of adverbial marker , such as always, to indicate habituality or intermittent action, such as He is always writing. Remote time been is an aspectual category that indicates that an event "took place in the distant past", but that event is still relevant today, with the been being stressed acoustically, e.g. She been married (Wolfram and Schilling 2016: 379). Though there isn't really a direct translation, MAE may say something like, She's been married for a long time, or possibly even She's been married for a long time and still is today. The point is that for both of these aspectual categories, MAE requires an adverbial marker or phrase to denote the same type or duration of activity, where AAL can denote these types of activities through a singular word or marker, which happens in many other languages throughout the world, but differentiates AAL from many other English varieties.

Aside from the uniqueness of the tense and aspect system of AAL, there are a number of other features that contribute to the vitality of AAL. Again though this list isn't exhaustive, the following features are meant to help illustrate features of AAL, that when combined, lend to its distinctiveness from other language varieties in the United States.

Double modals are found in constructions that where two modal verbs ( can, may, will, could, might, would, ought to, used to, should) occur alongside one another and indicate mood(s), such as obligation, possibility, certainty, or permission. When modal verbs are combined, i.e. I might could go to the party or I might oughta take the dinner out of the oven, the force of the mood being conveyed is lessened or slightly altered. For example, I might could go to the party is less forceful than I might go to the party or I could go to the party. The same could be said for I might oughta take the dinner out of the oven. Double Modals are a feature of AAL that is shared alongside other Southern varieties of American English.

DCA_se_1_age3_f_02/ Washington, DC area female, 37 years old, recorded in 1969 (Link to example in CORAAL Explorer)

A common pattern in AAL is the omission of -s on third person singular verbs, i.e. He walk to school. This pattern is common throughout Caribbean languages and highlights the shared history between AAL and these languages, and the linguistic features that they also share (see How did AAL Develop? for more in-depth discussion on the origins of AAL and the relationship between these two language varieties). Additionally, this realization for AAL is fairly complex, as we don't see the unmarking of verbs in first or second person contexts, which is evidence of the rule-governed nature of AAL as well as its complexity.

" She run over to her bag, open it up"

DCA_se2_ag3_m_01/ Washington, DC area male, 32 years old, recorded in 1969 (Link to example in CORAAL Explorer)

A feature of AAL that differs from other varieties of American English is that of possession. Though other American English varieties exhibit variation with respect to possessive nouns and pronouns, AAL demonstrates variation patterns in ways that these varieties do not. The first main difference is the absence of the possessive suffix on nouns and pronouns, e.g. That boy__ dog is outside, where AAL can exhibit absence of the -s marker on the noun/pronoun that is doing the possessing. Context matters with this feature, such that the way word order functions in English, a listener can easily understand what the speaker expresses as possessed. In fact, this is a common feature in many languages throughout the world, especially in the Caribbean. The second main difference involves a process of regularization by , where forms or patterns are changed to match up to the more common pattern. In this case, we can see regularization of possessive pronouns in AAL, such as That's mines, rather than That's mine, which comes about based on other forms such as yours, his, hers.

PRV_se0_ag1_f_01_1/ Princeville, NC female, 19 years old, recorded in 2004 (link to example in CORAAL Explorer)

Another common feature of AAL is the use of it or they for there in constructions that show the existence of something. For example, most varieties of MAE mark existential constructions with there, e.g. There are some people inside, whereas AAL can mark this kind of construction with it or they, i.e. It's a lot of snow outside or They's a good show on TV. While it for there is geographically widespread in AAL, and found in other varieties of American English as well as in creole languages throughout the Caribbean, t hey for there is found most in Southern-based varieties.

Copula Absence in AAL may be one the most commented on features of this language, but also has a fairly complex set of rules. In English, copulas are the inflected forms of to be ( is, am and are), while auxiliary refers to forms of have, can, must, will, could, should, be, etc. that can convey , , , or . First, AAL does not omit or delete the am form of be, such that no speaker of AAL would ever say I coming over for I am coming over, therefore this feature doesn't occur in the first person. Where this feature does occur is in cases were the copula would be conjugated as is or are. A good rule of thumb for understanding this process, is that it occurs in places where other varieties contract the copula, i.e. You're going to want to get your coat could be realized in AAL as You going to want to get your coat. So, in cases where you find is or are in other varieties that cannot be contracted, i.e. That's where they are cannot be That's where they're, therefore you wouldn't find AAL speakers saying That's where they for That's where they are. Another interesting point about AAL and copula absence is that though other varieties of American English, especially Southern English, exhibit copula absence in cases where are would be used, AAL is unique in its use copula absence in cases of is (Wolfram and Schilling 2016). Though many linguists think that this feature is a result of a substrate influence from West African and West Caribbean languages, another interesting point about this feature is that it has influenced Southern American English, as copula absence in this variety has increased over the last half century (Wolfram 1974; Feagin 1979).

Negative concord is a fairly common feature for many varieties of American English, but AAL uses this feature in some different ways. While most varieties of MAE participate in multiple forms of multiple negation, e.g. The boy didn't say nothing important; Nothing can't stop him from breaking the bank; Didn't nobody want to help clean up, etc., AAL (and Southern English), can highlight multiple negation over the course of multiple clauses. For example, in AAL one may say There wasn't much I couldn't do to help, or I wasn't sure that nothing wasn't going to come up. One thing to keep in mind about multiple negation is that it adheres to what linguists often call the transparency principle , which is "the tendency for languages to mark meaning distinctions as clearly as possible, to avoid obscurity in meaning." (Wolfram and Schilling 2016: 412). So in the case of negation, when a language such as AAL uses multiple negation, those languages are ensuring that the topics/concepts being negated are crystal clear for the listener. This happens in many other languages, such as German and French. Moreover, prescriptive norms in American English are often arbitrary, and as such these norms add negative valuation to multiple negation, and thus "prevent" this feature from being more widespread or considered socially acceptable.

Along the same lines as Multiple Negation, ain't in AAL is a feature that marks negation, but in ways that other varieties of American English do not. Many varieties in the US can replace have not or be not with ain't in constructions, such as He ain't home right now, which AAL can also do, but what makes AAL different from other varieties is the fact that it can replace didn't with ain't, as in He ain't go to work on Monday, which has only been found in AAL (Wolfram and Schilling 2016).

A point to be made about ain't is the common misconception that this marker is an example of "bad" or "incorrect" English. But, in fact, English throughout history used to have a first person negative maker, amt, which over the course of time became ain't. As is often the case with language and society, that form became disfavored by people in power, and thus received the connotation of "improper" English, not based on the language system, but based on the social evaluation of the speakers of that system. Further, the function ain't as a marker in constructions is common throughout the world, and is a rather common process in terms of marking negation.

The The brackets around symbols represent approximated realizations of sounds rather than ideal notions of the way things phonological system of a language includes an inventory of sounds and their features, and rules which specify how sounds interact with each other. In this section we employ the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which is a system linguists use to describe sounds for all languages in a universal way. should sound.

To learn more about the IPA please visit the Dialect Blog and Tutorial(s) on the IPA

The phonology, or sound system, of AAL has increasingly become the focus of researchers in recent years because of technological advances in analyses. While in the past, researchers have assumed that the unique grammatical variables of AAL provide the best venue for understanding the systematicity of the variety and its uniqueness, there are in fact many sound patterns that further illustrate the intricacies of AAL.

The body of work on phonological features of AAL is large, although not as vast as the study of the grammatical system, or syntactic features, of AAL. Thomas and Bailey (2015) and Thomas (2015) provide overviews of these sound patterns in AAL. Thomas and Bailey focus on the features of AAL, focusing on some well studied variables, but also addressing aspects of AAL that warrant further study. Thomas (2015) focuses on suprasegmental variation in AAL, or variation above the level of the segment, such as variation in syllables, intonation or stress.

A more exhaustive list is available on the AAL Examples page on the UO LingTools website.

The following are a list of a few of the most well studied segmental sound patterns that occur in AAL:

Simplification of word-final consonant clusters, which typically involves the loss of the final stop consonant ("stop" refers to the airflow that is stopped in production) [d, t] in a cluster of two consonants and the second to last consonant in a cluster of three consonants. All varieties of American English, participate in some form of consonant cluster reduction. And cluster reduction is a result of natural speech processes (e.g. how fast or slow someone speaks, etc.). For example, Mainstream American English (MAE), as well as AAL, generally exhibits consonant cluster reduction when the word following the cluster begins with a consonant as well.

Where AAL differs from MAE is that there is higher rate of consonant cluster reduction in cases where the following word begins with a vowel than in MAE.

Deletion of the [r] sound usually dropped following a vowel or between two vowels. This is not unique to AAL and can be heard in other varieties of English, e.g. Southern English, though it seems to be falling out of use other than places like New York City and Boston.

An interdental fricative is a consonant pronounced with the tip of the tongue against the teeth and come in pairs, one voiced [ð] (like the th sound in that), one voiceless [θ] (like the th sound in bath). A stop [t, d] is a sound made by completely blocking the flow of air and then releasing it. Realization of [θ] as [t] or [ð] as [d] is common throughout world languages, and in fact, English is one of the few languages that has the [ð] and [θ] sounds word initially or finally.

In studying sound patterns of AAL, suprasegmental features have been much more rare than studies of segments. The following are a list of suprasegmental sound patterns that occur in African American Language:

AAL varieties, much like Southern White English, has a tendency to place stress on the first syllable of a word with more than one syllable.

(e.g. Intonation and ) is very much like the music of language, where speakers use rhythm, pitch melodies, speed, and loudness to direct listeners' attention to certain elements in what they are saying. Understanding prosody requires us to consider units larger than consonants and vowels, such as syllables, phrases, or utterance-level phenomena, like the kinds of melodies that signal questions, or that mark contrastive information. Using prosody, speakers are conductors of language, orienting listeners to attend to important information in the stream of words. While studies of prosody are not as advanced as studies of consonants and vowels (nor of vocabulary and grammar), we know some of the dimensions of variability (Thomas 2015). Among the things we know is that people interacting with speakers of unfamiliar dialects may interpret prosody incorrectly, and so may misinterpret the information intended by a speaker.

As mentioned above, the study of prosody in AAL has been sporadic in the past, but is increasing more recently. Thomas and Carter (2006) found differences between AAL and other varieties of American English in the past in terms of rhythm, but those differences have lessened over time. Rhythm is often defined by linguists in terms of timing. Certain languages, such as French, Spanish, etc. show syllable timing , where the length of each syllable in terms of time are roughly the same. Other languages, like English and German, exhibit stress timing , where the length of each syllable is different; so, stressed syllables are longer in length than unstressed. In the past AAL showed more syllable timing, much like Caribbean languages, but over time has become more stressed timed. For intonation, or tones, AAL is different from other varieties of American English, both in the past and today. The main difference lies in the fact that AAL has "more intonation", or uses more tones, as well as favoring the use of complex tones compared to other American English varieties (McLarty 2018). Further, Holliday (2016) demonstrated in a nuanced way that the higher rates of use for complex tones may be indicative of a pattern of usage that is unique to AAL speakers and is tied to African American identity.

Many of these features above are found in other dialects of English across the United States and beyond. The most important distinction between the uses of these features is the rates with which they occur and/or the constraints (rules) on how they are used systematically. In Southern American English (SAE) for example, realization of /ŋ/ as /n/ (e.g. talking as talkin') occurs frequently and is often a phonological feature associated with rurality. While for AAL speakers this feature is used much more frequently and is dependent on grammatical and phonological environments. On the other hand, devoicing of final consonants is a feature present in AAL and that is not regularly seen in Southern American English in the location that AAL uses this feature (example: He is bad → He is bat).

These pronunciation features appear to be consistent in that listeners tend to accurately identify African American voices from European American voices. This is not so much the grammatical features that a speaker uses, but the vowel differences and other sound features one distinguishes as "sounding African American" that are difficult to describe. Purnell, Idsardi, and Baugh (1999) examined the results from a previous experiment by linguist John Baugh. In this experiment, Baugh called different housing agencies asking about housing availability and setting up meetings to see the apartments. Using three different linguistic guises, AAL, Chicano English (ChE), and MAE, each call began with the phrase, "Hello, I'm calling about the apartment you have advertised in the paper." The results from this study showed that people can and do discriminate based on sound system or particular phonological features of a group of people (i.e. Chicano Americans, African Americans, and assumed European Americans). A further experiment took the same data but narrowed the sound to just the two syllable word 'hello.' This allowed external factors to be held at a minimum to see how accurate the hypothesis was that listeners can accurately identify European American voices (or sound features) from African American voices and Chicano American voices. The results show that, overall, participants are able to successfully identify tokens among the dialects when only hearing a word "hello".

Sociolinguist Erik Thomas and colleagues (2010) reviewed Purnell, Idsardi, and Baugh's (1999) study, as well as other studies that looked at (1) whether listeners can identify voices as African American or European American, (2) whether demographic differences among speakers and/or listeners affect identification rates, and (3) what features listeners can access for identification. A number of studies affirmatively answered (1) and (2), yet as (3) has previously been investigated in a "piecemeal" fashion, the authors sought to identify a more systematic approach to find an answer. The results from Thomas et al. (2010) indicated that no single cue serves as a "silver bullet" for listeners. Listeners rely on several cues from segmental features, prosody, and voice quality. Another finding stipulated that different groups of listeners have different repertoires of cue that they are capable of accessing.

The study of phonological features of AAL continues to grow. The implications that the above-mentioned studies have on the study of AAL are substantial, and bring about more resources and questions for linguists and the general public alike. While many of these features might overlap in other varieties of English across the United States, it is important to remember these are not random occurrences and their use is part of a complex linguistic system.

While for some varieties of language, there are ample historical documents that help in reconstructing the history of the variety, the origin of African American Language (AAL) is less well known and has been debated for quite some time, at least in part due to a lack of historical records. The origin and development of AAL can be summarized through three main historical arguments or "hypotheses": the Creole Hypothesis, the English Origins Hypothesis, and the Substrate Hypothesis. These three theories have developed out of the research of scholars over the last 50 years. These three main theories each have their merits, as well as their drawbacks.

The Creole Hypothesis is the view that AAL "developed historically from an ancestral creole language" (Wolfram and Schilling 2016: 396). Creole languages are contact-based languages where the vocabulary of one language is superimposed on adapted grammatical structures, a common process in language contact situations (Wolfram & Schilling 2015). This hypothesis argues that AAL developed from a creole language that arose out of early contact between Africans and Europeans, with this creole variety being widespread in the antebellum South . One supporting fact is that this creole variety wasn't just specific to the mainland American South, showing similarities to other well-known English-based creoles, such and creoles found in Jamaica and Barbados. In fact, Gullah remains an important case, as Gullah may have traces of the creole that gave rise to AAL even today. Another interesting piece of supporting evidence is that these creoles also show similarities to , a creole spoken today in Sierra Leone (where it is the de facto national language) and other parts on the west coast of Africa (Wolfram and Schilling 2016). Over time, contacts with neighboring varieties led this creole to become more like other English varieties through a process called decreolization, where the creole-specific structures become lost and replaced by features that are non-creole. In the case of AAL, those features are English specific. It's important to note that this process is gradual and incremental, as some of the remnants can be seen in modern AAL. Features such as copula absence (He is here --> He here), third person singular and possessive -s absence (Michael runs --> Michael run; The boy's dog --> The boy dog), and the tense and aspect system, all lend credence to the Creole Hypothesis (Wolfram and Schilling 2016).

The video below, produced by the Language and Life Project and is an excerpt from the 2017 documentary Talking Black in America, Dr. Emory Campbell discusses being a Gullah native and the relationship between Gullah and Sierra Leone.

Sociolinguists studying AAL have become increasingly interested in examining the regional diversity of the variety. Much of the early work on AAL by William Labov, Walt Wolfram, Ralph Fasold, and others (e.g. Labov et al. 1968; Wolfram 1969; Fasold 1972; Labov 1972) focused on describing the linguistic system of AAL and found that there were many shared features in AAL across communities throughout the United States. The fact that there were so many shared features in AAL across the United States led many researchers to characterize AAL as a "supra-regional" variety, exhibiting little variation across communities. While it is true that there are prototypical dialect traits/features that are shared across regions, this is in large part a result of sociohistorical conditions for AAL speakers, such as "the de facto segregation that persists in US society, and considerations of cultural and individual identity" (Wolfram and Schilling 2016: 233). There has also been increasing research showing differentiation of AAL across regions. For example, AAL on the eastern seaboard exhibits features, such as the labialization of interdental fricatives (e.g., bof for both)that occur at higher rates than in other varieties further inland.Additionally, there are differences within regions, especially in the American South. As in most regional varieties throughout the United States, there is what is often called the rural/urban split, where speakers from rural locations often use linguistic forms that are either wholly different from what researchers find in urban locations, or use similar forms but at different rates, and AAL is no different in this respect. Even within the same region (e.g. the American South), AAL speakers in urban settings use language differently than AAL speakers in urban settings.

Wolfram and Thomas (2002) examined AAL use in a small rural community in Hyde County, in eastern North Carolina. This work explicitly examines the development and change of AAL in a small enclave coastal community, which informs some of the debate of the continuing development of AAL. This marshland community was historically isolated to the point that access to the community was only possible by boat until the middle of the twentieth century. Historically, African Americans and European Americans lived in the community alongside one another. Elderly African Americans in the study shared many of the same regional features as the European American members of the community, while also maintaining some features that seem to be a result of a substrate influence of the initial African-English language contact situation (Wolfram and Thomas 2002; Wolfram and Schilling 2015).

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Online Resources for African American Language

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African American Language (AAL) is a language variety spoken by many African American speakers in the United States. Over the past half century, AAL has been the subject of a great deal of research by linguists and other scholars.

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(MULTI-MEDIA RESOURCES)HOW TO USE MULTI MEDIA RESOURCES

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Cheryl Moore, Clarke 1st grade, listening to jazz, reading and camping

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Cheryl Moore, Clarke 1st grade, listening to jazz, reading and camping

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Reading Assignment 2: Why is Writing More Difficult Than Speaking? Take notes as a means to prepare for class discussion.

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Reading Assignment 2: Why is Writing More Difficult Than Speaking? Take notes as a means to prepare for class discussion.

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For many English learners learning to write fluently in English is much more challenging than learning to speak fluently. Even for advanced level learners, written communications can come much more slowly in English than spoken communications. There are a number of reasons for this:

Writing in English needs to follow rules of grammar much more closely than in spoken English. For example, if someone says 'Please borrow me your pen' in conversation, it's clear from the context that the speaker intended to say 'Please lend me your pen'. In written communication, words are even more important because they lack visual context. Especially if you are working in a business setting, making mistakes can cause miscommunication which might lead to problems. In conversation, you can smile and make a good impression. With writing, all you have are your words.

Imagine if you're at a party. You might have a conversation with someone and only understand a few words. However, because you're in the context of a party, you can make all the mistakes you want. It doesn't matter. Everyone is having fun. When it comes to writing, there's not so much room for error.

Spoken English is much more spontaneous than written English. It's looser and mistakes don't necessarily impact your ability to communicate clearly. In writing, it's important to think about how to write to the intended audience. You need to understand who will be reading your writing. It takes time to figure these things out.

We expect more of what we read. We expect it to be true, entertaining or informative. When there's an expectation, there's pressure to perform well. With speaking, with the possible exception of giving a presentation, there's not nearly so much pressure-unless you're closing a business deal.

It is important when teaching written English skills - especially for business English - to be aware of the challenges that learners will face when learning to function in a written English environment.

The following points can be helpful when considering how to teach English writing skills:

Acquiring speech is an unconscious act, whereas learning to write takes a conscious effort on the part of the learner. One reason many individuals find it difficult to write is because of the necessity of learning a mapping skill in order to use written language.

Written language must be filtered through some sort of system, this system can be phonemic, structural or representative, etc. The individual must not only learn to recognize the meaning of words orally but also go through a process of transcribing these sounds.

The process of transcribing sounds requires the learning of other rules and structures, thereby cognizing a previously unconscious process.

Another reason some individuals might find it difficult to write is that written language takes on many different registers depending on the function of the written word. Often, these functions are unrelated to spoken language and can thus be considered 'artificial' to the speaker. These functions are often only used in written speech and are therefore even more abstract to some individuals than the already difficult transcription of simple spoken language into an alphabet.

These layers of abstraction, beginning with the transcription of oral sounds into a written alphabet and advancing to solely abstracted functions of written language, are daunting to many individuals who then understandably become frightened of the process. In the worst cases, where individuals do not possess or do not have the opportunity to learn certain cognitive skills, an individual might become fully or functionally illiterate.

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Why Do You Think It's Easer to Speak Than Write in English?

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For many English learners learning to write fluently in English is much more challenging than learning to speak fluently. Even for advanced level learners, written communications can come much more slowly in English than spoken communications. There are a number of reasons for this: Writing in English needs to follow rules of grammar much more closely than in spoken English.