Valuable Voices

Anne featured in recent stories in USA Today and the Miami Herald

valuablevoices — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:01:44 +0000

Anne spoke recently with USA Today lifestyle reporter Carol Memmott about the meaning, use and acceptability among different age groups of the “b” word in reference to women. The article, “New TV series scratch the B-word itch,” examined the decision by two broadcast networks to uses the “b” word in the title of new shows in their spring schedule.

In the Miami Herald, Anne traced with Audra Burch the roots and changing connotations of various terms such as black, person of color, and African-American through American history.“The larger issue is that over the years, people of the African diaspora lost the right to name themselves,” she shared. “It’s not really about what is right or wrong but how people see and think of themselves, which is a personal choice.’’

Short Video about our Language Variation Professional Development

Dr. Christine L. Mallinson — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 14:54:55 +0000

This short video showcases teachers from one organization who attended our language variation professional development week-long workshop. Listen to what these teachers–from a range of grade levels and content areas–say about the impact of our professional development on their pedagogy!

“Language Workshop Inspires Teachers”

Dr. Christine L. Mallinson — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 14:37:20 +0000

This story in the newsletter from the Middle Grades Partnership reports on how participants in our week-long language variation professional development workshop for Baltimore middle school teachers. One teacher called MGP’s 2011 language variation workshop “an eye-opening” revelation and said she “applied everything immediately.” Another reports that the workshop gave him “a whole new vocabulary with which to talk about language.” You can read the article here.

“It’s Also How You Say It”

Dr. Christine L. Mallinson — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 15:49:03 +0000

This story in the Spring 2012 issue of the College of William & Mary’s Ideation Magazine talks about Anne and Christine’s three-year National Science Foundation research grant, “Assessing the Results of Sociolinguistic Engagement with K-12 STEM Education in Maryland and Virginia Public and Independent Schools,” in which we are working with K-12 educators in the Baltimore and Richmond areas to study how language variations affect learning and assessment in STEM classes.

Spring Appearances!

valuablevoices — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 04:45:20 +0000

The next two months brings lots of travel and workshops. We look forward to seeing you in Baltimore, Williamsburg, or elsewhere some time soon: http://charityhudleymallinson.com/appearances/

Presenting at the New Ways of Analyzing Variation 40 Conference

Dr. Christine L. Mallinson — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 20:15:39 +0000

Anne and Christine are presenting on October 29, 2011 at the New Ways of Analyzing Variation 40 Conference at Georgetown University in a panel entitled, “Sociolinguistics in the Schools: The Next 40 Years of Service in Return.” Co-panelists include Mary Bucholtz and Julie Sweetland. You can download our panel abstracts here.

Review of Our Book in Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries

Dr. Christine L. Mallinson — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:31:46 +0000

Our book, Understanding English Language Variation in U.S. Schools, has just been reviewed in Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries. Here is an excerpt from our review: “The result is an academic study relevant to anyone interested in the way children (and adults) process language, as well as to classroom teachers looking for educational strategies to better serve their students. Summing Up: Recommended. All readership levels.”

Participation in the Virginia Capstone Academy

valuablevoices — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 18:30:33 +0000

Anne & Christine are participating in the Virginia Capstone English Academy: http://education.wm.edu/centers/sli/surn/Capstone/index.php. On August 8-9 2011, 50 high school from across the state and 10 university English educators from the College of William and Mary and James Madison University met at William and Mary to start designing a high school elective course for students to help them further develop the skills needed to succeed in college and in careers. The course will help students to develop their critical reading, thinking, writing, and speaking skills. The educators will return to William and Mary on November 7th, 2011 and March 19th, 2012. At the first Capstone workshop, Anne & Christine presented a general overview of our work and gave insights about how language variation is key to the secondary English classroom. In addition, we also directly modeled exercises from the first book that emphasize the transfer and transition of English skills from the high School English class to collegiate notions of writing across the curriculum. We noted the role that linguistics and research and courses at the intersection of language, literacy, and culture can play in this process.

Presentations and Book Signing at AFT Teach 2011

valuablevoices — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 15:16:55 +0000

July 10-13, 2011 Anne and Christine gave three presentations and did a book signing at the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) TEACH 2011 Conference in Washington, D.C. A book signing will follow. Click here for more schedule information.

Sunday, July 10, 1:00 p.m. -2:30 p.m. : AFT Pre-TEACH Professional Development Network Conference: Using English Language Variation in US Schools

Monday, July 11, 5:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. : Mini-Plenary Session: Understanding English Language Variation in U.S. Schools

Monday, July 11, 6:45 p.m. -7:45 p.m.: Book Signing Click here to see an official AFT picture of us setting up our book exhibit!

Tuesday, July 12, 9:00 a.m.- 10:45 a.m. : Workshop: Using Knowledge About Language Variation to Support Multicultural Literature Instruction: Models from African-American and Southern English

New Grant from the National Science Foundation

Dr. Christine L. Mallinson — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 17:04:55 +0000

We are very pleased to announce that we have received a three-year research grant from the National Science Foundation to study the ways in which language plays a role in the educational challenges that often affect culturally and linguistically diverse students in STEM classrooms. Our goal is to work with teachers to figure out what challenges are being faced in terms of language for their math and science students and what resources teachers and students need to be able to face those challenges. During the grant, “Assessing the Results of Sociolinguistic Engagement with K-12 STEM Education in Maryland and Virginia Public and Independent Schools,” we will work with K-12 STEM educators in the Baltimore and Richmond areas to collect data on how these educators learn from professional development workshops on language variation and integrate pedagogy and assessment techniques into their classroom. Our research also provides immediate practical application to educators’ pedagogy and practice in the form of educator workshops, teacher designed readings, and a website for educators that ensures that the research outcomes of our project are broadly disseminated. Click here to read the UMBC press release about the grant. And, click here to read the William & Mary press release about the grant.