Outside-In / Inside-Out Bridging the gap in literacy education in Singapore classrooms

The great waste in school… ‘From the standpoint of the child, the great waste in school comes from the inability to utilize the experiences he gets outside of the school in any complete and free way within the school itself; while on the other hand, he is unable to apply in daily life what he is learning at school’. That is the isolation of the school - its isolation from life (Dewey,1998: 76-77).

AIMS Outline the dimension of ‘Connected Learnings’ within broader framework of research study Illustrate how teachers attempt to connect lesson to –students’ outside knowledge or experience –value beyond the classroom Discuss some pedagogical implications

BACKGROUND ‘Expanding Textual Repertoires’ research project (Kramer-Dahl, A., Teo, P., Chia, A., and Churchill, K., 2005) Collaboration with 17 teachers in 3 subject areas – English Language, Science and Social Studies – in 3 secondary schools in Singapore Aims to delineate the nature of textual practices that Singaporean students are currently engaged in, and to work collaboratively with their teachers to help them extend their knowledge about the literacy demands of their respective curriculum areas and effective ways of making these more explicit, meaningful and intellectually challenging to their students

BACKGROUND: Coding Dimensions IntellectualQuality Explicit Instruction Connected Learnings

3 kinds of c lassroom instruction ‘ The least desirable treats each lesson as an independent whole. It does not put upon the student the responsibility of finding points of contact between it and other lessons in the same subject, or other subjects of study. [In the second kind] Wiser teachers see to it that the student is systematically led to utilize his earlier lessons to help understand the present one…. Results are better, but school subject matter is still isolated. Save by accident, out-of-school experience is left in its crude and comparatively irreflective state. It is not … motivated and impregnated with a sense of reality by being intermingled with the realities of everyday life. The best type of teaching bears in mind the desirability of affecting this interconnection. It puts the student in the habitual attitude of finding points of contact and mutual bearings.’ (Dewey, 1916: ,cited in Kwek, 2005, my emphasis)

Connected Learnings 1.Connections made to students’ background knowledge and experiences as they are being introduced to new knowledge – The degree to which activities, talk and texts in a lesson regularly build on students’ previous knowledge in the subject, previous knowledge in other subject areas and everyday knowledge and experiences 2.Connections/value of lesson activity or task to competencies/concerns beyond the classroom – The extent to which activities, talk and tasks show links to get students to recognize their value and meaning beyond the instructional context, i.e. to see their present and future significance and utility 3.Coherence – The extent to which the lesson comes across as a coherent unit, i.e. linkages found across different activities/tasks/text within a lesson as well as across lessons within a unit

Outside-In/Inside-Out* 1.Connections to the students’ prior knowledge and experiences as they are being introduced to new knowledge. This can be seen as bringing the students’ outside knowledge and experiences into the classroom.  Outside-In 2.Connections between what is taught in class and the value or applicability it has beyond classroom walls and examinations halls. This can be construed as bringing what is inside the school textbooks/classroom out to the real world.  Inside-Out Both can be construed as a conduit that facilitates the exchange and interplay of ideas and experiences that lead to the construction of meaningful knowledge and practical learning for students. * From Wallace, C. (2004)

Pedagogical Implications Shift from using texts as linguistic objects of study (TALO) to texts as vehicles for information (TAVI) (Johns and Davies, 1983) –Using texts to express purpose (healthy food brochures) Learning to write versus writing (in order) to learn (Doecke & Parr, 2006) Connections not only to increase motivation and engagement levels but also to deepen cognitive understanding and intellectual quality: metaphor of ‘shuttling’ versus ‘weaving’ (Cazden, 2006) –Helping students understand the notion of suspense (onion analogy)

Conclusion ‘From the standpoint of the child, the great waste in the school comes from the inability to utilize the experiences he gets outside of the school in any complete and free way within the school itself; while on the other hand, he is unable to apply in daily life what he is learning at school’. That is the isolation of the school - its isolation from life (Dewey, 1899/1998, p ).