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Chapter two of COW explained how collaboration is a key aspect on drawing on students individual strengths and identities. In collaborative projects, students often have different roles for different pieces of the project; by allowing students to choose these roles, they are able to highlight their own individual strengths, and celebrate each others (such as in the museum exhibits project mentioned in the chapter). In addition, by including projects that include community engagement, you are drawing on students’ funds of identity by encouraging them to interact and engage with their immediate communities and homes.

One particular story really stood out to me from chapter to of WTMI. The first story in the chapter, about Ms.Hill’s class and their cancer awareness papers, struck a very personal chord for me as someone who had a very close family member pass away from lung cancer. It was inspiring to read about how the students became motivated over time to improve their writing, weaving personal connections and technical skills into one draft at a time. The community involvement and excitement of possibly being featured in a large publication were huge motivators for students, allowing them to engage and get excited about the project. Reading hunter’s essay was also incredible, as an example of a student who had very strong funds of identity tied to this project- I also have participated in relay for life, and love that Hunter was able to use her paper to bring awareness to an important topic and encourage people to participate in awareness events.

Dark funds of knowledge, deep funds of pedagogy, and funds of identity are all part of a culturally rich and inclusive classroom setting which values students as whole, diverse, and individual human beings. The findings in these articles can be applied to secondary English education by recognizing and incorporating students’ diverse cultural backgrounds and personal experiences into the curriculum and into our teaching. We can do this in many ways and forms, including by creating assignments that connect academic content to lived experiences in order to encourage critical thinking, deep reflection, and higher rates of engagement. These ideas can also be incorporated into our teaching by including diverse literature and texts, embracing differentiation and flexibility, including collaborative projects, and always valuing students’ individual backgrounds, strengths, and identities.

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In Chapter 2 of COW, the students are drawing on the Funds of Identity and the Funds of Knowlege in many ways through collaboration. Chapter 2 of COW showed us many ways to create collaboration within the classroom work. This chapter also presented us with the benefits of using collaborative work in the classroom.

In Chapter 2 of WTMI we are given many different examples of ways to draw on knowledge and identity while teaching the students' academic skills. The first example that stood out to me was “Helping Writers Connect with Context”. It was interesting reading about how students had a connection with cancer, even if they were not positive connections. This connection helped some of Hill’s students write involve themselves in their writing more deeply. The second example that stood out to me was “Having Something to Say”. I think this example of an exercise helps the students find enjoyment in writing and they learn that writing can be personal. Writing to learn academic skills does not always need to be so serious, and this exercise can help the students add a little fun to their writing. Everyone has memories, and being able to share those through writing can be fun. Both examples are important to writing academically and they show us ways that the students can connect with the assignments they are given.

The findings in the research can be applied to secondary English education in the U.S. in a few ways. The first article gave us some information about finding out what students love and what they are knowledgeable about. Teachers within the U.S. could also work on understanding their students better and learning what their skills and interests include. I feel like this practice would benefit the students and the teachers in many ways throughout the students’ learning journeys.

The second article explained that every student comes from a different background and how it is important to teach based on all the students, not just a certain few. The article explained that it is important to guide students through difficult life experiences, not just avoid them. I found this article fascinating to read, and it was interesting to see these topics brought up in learning about education.

Overall, I thought that Chapter 2 of both books and the articles held great information. I enjoyed reading the different strategies on drawing on the students’ knowledge and identity while teaching academic skills.

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COW- Through collaboration students can bring many things to the table as well as gain knowledge from others. Depending on what they are collaborating on, students still bring their thoughts and feelings to the discussion. Students are also expressing their identity when sharing with others. This could be drawing on previous knowledge, sharing cultural practices, past experiences, or things important or liked by them.

WTMI- I liked the story about the small town in Mississippi, where most students don't go far out of town. She created an assignment that meant something to the students, touching on the roots of their identity while helping them learn valuable skills. For example, she led them through the backstory and history of their own town, letting students draw on their own knowledge. The teacher's goal was to have students make the world a better place. However, many students didn't know much about the struggles of others or global issues. So, to start them off, she had them look at issues in their own town and find solutions to help make their town a better place, positively impacting the community.

Research articles- From what I understood from these two articles, they suggested making learning about the students and who they are. Make sure the assignments are focused on the students and their identities and fund of knowledge so they can succeed and create meaning with the material. Furthermore, the assignments, discussions, and assessments should mean something and go far deeper than surface-level topics. I think it's important that students connect with the content and bring their personal perspectives and identities into the classroom to share.

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Using funds of knowledge to promote Mojo and Collaboration-Crystal

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Using funds of knowledge to promote Mojo and Collaboration-Crystal

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The idea of collaboration is probably the most difficult to tackle in the classroom. The distance learning that followed Covid broke something within our students and within our society. Through the restrictions of distance, we created protective barriers that we still carry even when our 6 feet became 6 inches. If you consider the damage of covid, the environmental factors outside of the school, and the myriad of social pressures from peers, it is not surprising that students resist the idea of collaboration. The whole premise of collaboration is exposing of yourself because you must own your ideas, defend your ideas, and be accepting of the ideas of others. If you can allow students to embrace what they know (their community, school, culture) and their strengths (art, music, writing, etc) then the vulnerability of collaboration becomes less overwhelming. Even if Covid had never happened, all students got along, and there were not outside forces children carried onto the school grounds everyday, collaboration is still a taught skill. We should not expect students to just understand the nuances of working together. During the process of collaboration, educators need to remember that the anxiety felt by the students is real and valid. Last week I watched grown adults, educators, jokingly threaten violence because they were not going to be allowed to sit next to their friend during a professional development. Yet we look at students and think, “why can’t they just work with their neighbor?” The idea of collaboration can be buoyed by giving the students a voice, choice, and ownership in the decision making. The more invested they are in the idea, the more they see themselves or their community in the project, the more apt they will be to work together because they can also see their classmates, friends, and neighbors. The effort becomes collaboration because the collaboration becomes community.

This is also directly related to “finding your mojo.” The more freedom that students have to put their experience, their history, and their identity into their writing, the better that they will become at expressing important information. This was clearly displayed in chapter two of Writing to Make an Impact when the students looked to their community with fresh eyes. We don’t all experience the same moment in the same way and sometimes we can get so used to something being there that we don’t actually see it anymore. The kids that wanted to create a little lending library found that the world of politics and government does not work at the pace of google. They had to communicate with community members in a manner that was professional and informed and invested. Honestly, the emails of the children sounded just as poised and professional as those written by the clerk. The important part of the interactions between the students and the community is that the students were learning how to express themselves in a way that would help them gain their goal. They learned different forms of communication along with how the writer changes tone depending on the intended audience. Both collaboration and communication are vital to their future education careers and workplaces.

Your identity is the entirety of you. This includes everything about you. Do I understand Skibbidi Toilet, Fortnite, or the constant need to post? No. But that doesn’t make it less valid for my students. As goofy as I think it all sounds, it is important to them. Or at least significant enough to them, for them to share that with me. The least I can do is validate them with active listening. I also remind myself (daily) that humans are complex and this is not their everything. In regards to dark funds, if we halt a topic when the journey becomes out of our zone of comfort, then there is the potential that we are denying a human part of their identity. Most of us carry some weight. It is part of what created us and what shapes us. If you tried to silence my weight, and only looked to my light, then you are silencing me. Obviously we don’t seek out the dark but when it knocks, you don’t stand there clutching your pearls, you open the door.

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Weeks 2-3:  Exploring Cultural Wealth and Funds of Knowledge

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Weeks 2-3:  Exploring Cultural Wealth and Funds of Knowledge

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We began this module by learning stratagies to identify and overcome deficit based educational approaches in English Language Arts. We then focused on the concepts of Funds of Knowledge/Identity, Dark Funds of Knowledge and Deep Funds of Pedagogy. We explored these schools of thought by reading assigned research articles as well as continued chapter readings in our assigned texts: Composing Our World, and Writing to Make an Impact, and other various assigned readings and resources. We were then tasked to consider and answer these questions as follows.

1. Chapter 2 in "Compose our World", features several vignettes of teachers who helped students through collaboration. In what ways are these students drawing on Funds of Knowledge/Identity?

"Funds of Knowledge", according to the research article "Dark funds of knowledge, deep funds of pedagogy: exploring boundaries between lifeworlds and schools" are historically accumulated and culturally developed bodies of knowledge and skills meaningfully put to use as household and other community resources. This is similar to the definition stated in the research article "Finding and using students' funds of knowledge and identity in superdiverse primary schools: a collaborative action research project" which describes the term as the assumption that students are competent and have valuable knowledge and skills, developed through their life experiences outside school. This article provides a conclusion of their study differentiating the concepts in this way: FoI concerns knowledge that students experienced as meaningful and as part of who they are and FoK includes that knowledge which students acquire in their families and community such as knowledge of language, religion, or food.

Applying this understanding of these concepts to Chapter 2 of Compose our World, we can see students drawing on FoK and FoI in collaboration assignments in a few different ways. First of all, students will have to feel comfortable enough to contribute and share unique ideas and opinions with each other. These ideas and opinions, if drawn from the students authentic self, will be assets shared from the wells of FoK and FoI. A second example requiring students to draw from personal FoK and FoI is encountered as students must take some risk and share their own ideas, even if they aren't in line with other students. This process sounds almost magical and I am excited to carefully plan some guidelines and projects. It seems like a great way to learn a variety of vital and relevant skills!

2. Chapter 2 in "Writing to Make an Impact", highlights teachers who help their students draw on knowledge/identity AND learn academic skills tied to standards. What are some examples that really stood out to you and why?

In Chapter 2 of, "Writing to Make an Impact, teachers who help their students draw on knowledge and identity as well as teach the academic skills tied to standards are highlighted. The first one that resonated with me personally is the story about a middle school teacher in the small community of Purvis, Mississippi. After observing students' lack of investment in their small town, she decided to address it with a community improvement project that would allow her to implement lesson plans in less studied genre forms of writing while also introducing the concept of civic pride and making a positive change in the community. I could picture the entire scene taking place in our small White Earth communities. I absolutely love the idea and will be exploring the possiblity for it or something similar in my classroom.

The second example that stood out to me in this chapter was the idea of "Analyzing Photos as a Way to Talk About Writing". Hashtag 3 minute essays. I love the idea! The creator invented it to bolster her students' confidence as well as help them to identify the methods and devices of effective writing. This example, along with the exercise called "Having Something to Say", are both excellent writing ideas where students have opportunities to share their authentic selves in the purposefully created safe environment.

3. The research articles discuss some problems with early Funds of Knowledge concepts and broadens concepts to Funds of Identity and Dark Funds of Knowledge. How might some of the findings in the research be applied to secondary English Ed in the US?

The findings in the research contained in the article, "Dark funds of knowledge, deep funds of pedagogy: exploring boundaries between lifeworlds and schools" can be applied and used as reference when teaching secondary English Ed in the US. In my opinion the information is valid and insightful. I am left feeling that the issue of integrating funds of knowledge into the classroom can be very risky buisness if all aspects are not carefully considered and I feel delighted that science continues to probe deeper into the disconnect. I further feel that the risk of bringing to light and attention the "dark funds of knowledge may have the opposite outcome that is desired. There is a potential to reinforce or perpetuate negative stereotypes. This is where I feel it is iperative that more teacher of color are in our schools. Inherent knowledge is unobtainable from textbooks and studies and most teachers are already pressed for time, so the ideal solution to me seems to be having many teachers of many cultures teaching from the same ideological perspectives that all culture and funds of knowledge are valuable but context, empathy, and understanding are paramount. No easy task for teachers of any color but the outcomes sound utopian. I world where everyone matters and feels valued for their authentic self.

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In COW, students are ultimately tasked with drawing on all FoK and FoI in group collaborations. They are tasked with bringing their own personal thoughts and ideas to a group of their peers and gaining valuable feedback. Although group settings can be frightening for some students, it is a great tool to use in the writing process as well as the PBL process.

Andee Robertson engaged a wider audience with her project for a Little Free Library for her town's park. This stood out to me because her teacher, McWilliams, "envisioned that students would find value in their small community" (Murphy and Smith, 2020, pg21). This draws on the student's identity within her community and the information she learned about her town by seeing firsthand what was lacking or what was needed in the park, through the eyes of the youth.

After reading, I see the importance of group collaborations and how they can aid in student's brainstorming but more importantly their bonding. I will always think it is important for students to build bonds with peers so that they have a sense of belonging and build a support system. One thing I do have a question, or more so a concern about, is how do we successfully get through to the students who would rather not work in groups? This is something I know will arise in any classroom we as teachers will experience.

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Miranda's Blogging on funds of knowledge 

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Miranda's Blogging on funds of knowledge 

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In Compose Our World many students are able to use the knowledge and skills from their communities or family practices, whether it was related to food or art, or their cultural specific practices.

In Chapter 2 WTMI what stood out to me were the teachers that show projects to real world issues because it shows the bridge gap between personal and academic learning.

Both Dark funds of knowledge and Funds of identity it is important that teachers create writing prompts that invite students to reflect on their personal histories or stories of their communities creating safe spaces.