Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Research (Summer 2011)

What struck me most while reading these case studies was that both Daniel and Zonnie could have really enjoyed school if effort was made by the teachers to help them make connections to what was being done in class. For example, we know that Daniel enjoys reading the newspaper Indian Country Today in his free time, but when current events are discussed in his class only current events of the mainstream newspaper are used. This leads to Daniel not participating in class discussions because he feels the events being discussed do not pertain to him. The civics teacher stated that Daniel could bring in an article from Indian Country Today to share, but it’s very likely that Daniel fears teasing and bullying if he is the one to bring his culture’s current events up for class discussion. If the teacher was to provide articles from this paper a couple of times, perhaps Daniel would feel more willing to bring in articles he finds interesting. Similarly, Zonnie enjoys reading magazines and horror books, but she is under the impression that these texts are not “appropriate stuff” for school. If her reading teacher would take some time to talk with Zonnie about what she likes to read, Zonnie may feel more comfortable about reading her preferred texts in school. These simple tasks: bringing in a relevant news article and discussing the acceptance of all types of texts, would make a huge difference in Daniel and Zonnie’s class participation.

In terms of completing class assignments, I believe the teachers need to make an effort to engage students like Daniel and Zonnie in a way that is meaningful to them. Both of them have grown up in a culture rich with history in which they’ve learned to sing, dance, and play music. Why can’t Daniel create a musical presentation to share his book instead of writing a book report? As he stated, he does read more than the teachers probably realize, but he just does not complete the book reports. Since storytelling through music is part of Daniel’s background, music would be a perfect way for him to share what he has read with the class. If the teacher was willing to expand assignments beyond written reports, other students may also benefit from the ability to express themselves more fully. Enthusiasm on the part of the teacher would also hopefully minimize any bullying backlash of these new assignments. For Zonnie, she has stated that she does not like making up stories. She has grown up writing poetry that expresses the feelings and actions of herself and those around her. In the case study it is unclear if the language arts teacher ever even reads the work Zonnie presents in her journal. I feel that this teacher is missing the opportunity to turn a “mediocre” writer into a great writer. All it would take is showing a little appreciation for the writing she creates and enjoys.

Finally, I couldn’t help but make a connection between Daniel’s case study and the Delpit article from earlier this week. In her article, Delpit mentioned that students feel further alienated in schools when their cultural contributions are left out of history lessons. Daniel brings up the very same issue when he states that his history courses only study “white man’s stuff.” I had never really heard this point-of-view expressed by a student before, although I had read about it in multiple books and articles. It was another reminder for me that I need to keep this issue in mind when teaching history in my own classroom.

Andrea Schlobohm