# Developmental Theory - Need Polarities
# Reading and Writing Workshop
# Reading and Writing Workshop
# Developmental Theories - Charity James' Need Polarities
Charity James is a British educator, who paid special attention to adolescents’ education and innovated curriculum design, considering the special needs of the adolescents. Such needs are categorized into six pairs of Need Polarities in her book Beyond Customs: An Educator's Journey (1974), which are Need to Be Needed and Need to Need, Need for Separateness and Need for Belonging, Need for Myth and legend and Need for Fact, Need for Stillness and Need for Physical Activity, Need to Move Inward and Need to Affect the Outer World as well as Need for Intensity and Need for Routine.
1)Adolescents are immature and vulnerable, both physically and psychologically, which makes them in great demand of special care and support. This is their Need to Need. While at the same time, young as adolescents are, they are eager to do something, proving their value and meaning of existence in the society. This is what James called Need to Be Needed.
2) Adolescents have a great emphasis of privacy during their development. This is their Need for Separateness. Meanwhile, they wish to be included and welcomed both in the small classroom and in the big society. This is called Need for Belonging.
3) Although myth and legend are mostly fictional, they can render adolescents boundless power and strength to conquer the obstacles occurring in their daily life. Such myth and legend can also pass on valuable cultural wisdom from generation to generation. This is the Need for Myth and Legend. Need for Fact is another indispensable part for adolescents. Only with such knowledge can they distinguish between fact and opinion, as well as explore more of the current world. Myth opens the door for more possibilities, while fact provides the nourishing breeding ground for better evaluation.
4) Adolescents are experiencing a critical period in life, when Need for Stillness and Need for Physical Activities are both required. Kids need to exercise for strength and health. Also, they need to act and show something externally to let the world know what they are thinking. While stillness does not equal to being motionless. Instead, adolescents are in a state of constant activity, both physically and mentally. Such mind activity and inner dialogue could better explain James’ Need for Stillness.
5) Adolescents are educated to develop a critical mind and the ability to put their brilliant ideas into action. This is stressed by James as Need to Affect the Outer World. In contrast to this, adolescents also have a Need to Move Inward. They should always developing themselves through learning and reflection. Such improvement and growth may not show externally, but it is a long-term or even life-life process.
6) Nothing can be accomplished without a set of norms or standards. This is especially true for adolescents, who are lack of self-disciplined ability. The routine cultivation at home and in school will prove necessary and critical later in adolescents' study and life. Apart from the Need for Routine, kids are also expected to take risks and go beyond themselves. This is expressed in James’ Need for Intensity.
In a nutshell, the six pairs of Need Polarities could provide educators with more insight and inspiration in understanding adolescents. With the special needs of adolescents in mind, educators should better revise the current curriculum design.
Example of Charity James Need Polarity Presentation in ECI 550.
Charity James is a British educator, who paid special attention to adolescents’ education and innovated curriculum design, considering the special needs of the adolescents. Such needs are categorized into six pairs of Need Polarities in her book Beyond Customs: An Educator's Journey (1974), which are Need to Be Needed and Need to Need, Need for Separateness and Need for Belonging, Need for Myth and legend and Need for Fact, Need for Stillness and Need for Physical Activity, Need to Move Inward and Need to Affect the Outer World as well as Need for Intensity and Need for Routine.
1)Adolescents are immature and vulnerable, both physically and psychologically, which makes them in great demand of special care and support. This is their Need to Need. While at the same time, young as adolescents are, they are eager to do something, proving their value and meaning of existence in the society. This is what James called Need to Be Needed.
2) Adolescents have a great emphasis of privacy during their development. This is their Need for Separateness. Meanwhile, they wish to be included and welcomed both in the small classroom and in the big society. This is called Need for Belonging.
3) Although myth and legend are mostly fictional, they can render adolescents boundless power and strength to conquer the obstacles occurring in their daily life. Such myth and legend can also pass on valuable cultural wisdom from generation to generation. This is the Need for Myth and Legend. Need for Fact is another indispensable part for adolescents. Only with such knowledge can they distinguish between fact and opinion, as well as explore more of the current world. Myth opens the door for more possibilities, while fact provides the nourishing breeding ground for better evaluation.
4) Adolescents are experiencing a critical period in life, when Need for Stillness and Need for Physical Activities are both required. Kids need to exercise for strength and health. Also, they need to act and show something externally to let the world know what they are thinking. While stillness does not equal to being motionless. Instead, adolescents are in a state of constant activity, both physically and mentally. Such mind activity and inner dialogue could better explain James’ Need for Stillness.
5) Adolescents are educated to develop a critical mind and the ability to put their brilliant ideas into action. This is stressed by James as Need to Affect the Outer World. In contrast to this, adolescents also have a Need to Move Inward. They should always developing themselves through learning and reflection. Such improvement and growth may not show externally, but it is a long-term or even life-life process.
6) Nothing can be accomplished without a set of norms or standards. This is especially true for adolescents, who are lack of self-disciplined ability. The routine cultivation at home and in school will prove necessary and critical later in adolescents' study and life. Apart from the Need for Routine, kids are also expected to take risks and go beyond themselves. This is expressed in James’ Need for Intensity.
In a nutshell, the six pairs of Need Polarities could provide educators with more insight and inspiration in understanding adolescents. With the special needs of adolescents in mind, educators should better revise the current curriculum design.
Example of Charity James Need Polarity Presentation in ECI 550.
# Reading and Writing Workshop
Atwell (1987) write in her book In the Middle the idea of Reading and Writing Workshop. She points out that "it doesn't take long for students to begin to bring knowledge and expertise from one area to the other - to view literacy as both considering and trying what authors do" (p. 227). "In reading workshop the students come to look at texts from the inside, from a writer's point of view" (Newkirk, 1982, p. 113). While, "in writing workshop students come to look at their own texts from the outside, from a reader's point of view" (Atwell, 1987, p. 227). To put it in a simply way, in Reading and Writing Workshop, students are practiced to read as a writer and write as a reader.
Through reading as a writer, students focus on how the writer conveys the message in the writing product, rather than what message the writer conveys. Therefore, the techniques of effective writing are experienced and learned through reading. Bunn (2010) says in "How to Read like a Writer" that "the idea (of reading as a writer) is to carefully examine the things you read, looking at the writerly techniques in the text in order to decide if you might want to adopt similar techniques in your writing” (p.72). In the book Read like a Reader, Read like a Writer, Peha (2003) concludes that one big advantage of reading like a writer, instead of reading like a reader, is that the former gives readers a keen eye in digging out what can be borrowed and used by themselves in their writing practice.
Through writing as a reader, the writer would critically analyze his writing product and techniques from readers' perspective, and frequently relate his writing process to his previous reading experience. "Will my writing make sense to readers?" "Will my selected writing techniques attract their attention?" "Which genre should be used better for this writing purpose?" "Is there any other way that can make my writing more enjoyable for readers?"... There are various questions popping out in writer's mind during the writing process. With such a mind, writer could make good use of the skills and techniques learned from reading others' writings. What's more, Ray (1999) claims that conversation with others about the decisions, from small word choice to big structure techniques, that other authors make as they craft their texts, is a good way to practice and train young student writers.
To sum up, reading and writing should not be two separate skills, and they could provide mutual benefits if they are positively integrated in language acquisition.
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