Conversation About Standard Writing Between Kiki And Mr. Lehrer

By Author: Adela
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Kiki wrote about her physical appearance:
Normally you see me wearing jeans, button-ups, skirts, and a lot of t-shirts. My hair is like a silky black with a tint of brown.

Mr. Lehrer's feedback did not embody scaffolding toward Standard English, indicating Kiki's awareness of writing standard conventions for a standard context. In contrast with her poem, no AAVE features are detected in this sample. Comments indicated spelling clarification and including more detail in another paragraph. Kiki appropriated standard conventions in her writing under the directive to employ them. Her acceptance of Standard English is significant because she Tag Heuer Replica resisted Mr. Lehrer's feedback earlier in the study. To illustrate, one month prior, Kiki was confrontational about preserving her nonstandard conventions in a formal essay paying tribute to her mother, similar to resistant students cited by Fecho et al. (2006). During that time, she was extremely vocal upon questioning Mr. Lehrer about his written feedback. According to integrated field ...
... notes, he suggested she write "My mother has taken care of me" instead of "My mother have taken care of me." Her use of "have" corresponds with what Rickford and Rickford (2000) suggested is a grammatical feature of AAVE. She reasoned that her voice would be compromised if she changed the wording. According to field note jottings, she bellowed,

Mr. Lehrer, this is bold! You put down the way you wanted me to write, not the way I want to write it, in my own words!

Because Mr. Lehrer was conferring with another student, I intervened and informed her that she was writing in a standard context unlike her aforementioned poem. We discussed the importance of distinguishing between standard and nonstandard writing contexts, and that there are contexts where we give up a part of ourselves when we write for school. She seemed to understand more fully when I expressed that I give up a part of myself when I write for academic purposes. Hence, Kiki's letter illustrates that she used standard conventions on her own, which suggests her awareness of distinguishing between appropriate contexts for writing.

To express hopes and dreams for the future, Monet wrote the following:
My hopes and dreams for the future are to be a famous singer, and if that doesn't work I want to be a pediatrician. When I finish college, I want to make good money and be a very rich person.
Mr. Lehrer noted spelling errors and Tag Heuer Replica Watches punctuation to help Monet prepare for her final draft. In contrast with her poem and reading response, Monet's draft does not indicate evidence of AAVE features. This illustrates her awareness of writing standard conventions for a standard context.
Upon completing Dmgonwings (Yep, 1981), Monei wrote a final essay about prejudice in her book. The following illustrates her standard use of was and wen:

The Chinese automatically thought that the white people were mean and that's racist. The white people were also racist to the Chinese people because the} were mean to them....
Monet's writing reflects her response to Mr. Lehrer's feedback, in which he scaffolded the appropriate conventions for, was and was. Her final draft does not indicate evidence of AAVE features. It was intended to be written in Standard English and presents a transition from her informal jottings one month prior.