After reading Elizabeth Noll’s case-study research in Experiencing Literacy: In and Out of School, I felt with supportive role models and positive outlets for their personal expression, minority students like Daniel and Zonnie can find some balance between the multiple cultures in their lives. Each of these students embraced the American Indian culture of their families while trying to find acceptance in their white mainstream school culture. Today’s young adolescents have enough confusion about finding their own identity in their families and school, but when these cultures clash the conflict can often cause negative reactions and consequences.
The encouraging aspect of this study is the support of both Daniel and Zonnie’s family, not only for their education but for their talents in their music and writing as well. Even though Zonnie’s father was absent most of her life, his incarceration did not keep him from being involved in her literacy development. The letters and poems she wrote to her father gave her a purpose for using literacy as a means of communication. This personal and meaningful writing paired with her love of music gives Zonnie an authentic means of expressing herself that cannot be matched in the school setting. Skill-based writing assignments and reading responses do not give students like Zonnie and Daniel the creative freedom to write about their own experiences and feelings. Like Zonnie, Daniel also felt capable when writing stories of personal interest but felt unmotivated to engage in school work that did not connect to his life. His interests were not celebrated in his school culture thus making him feel disconnected.
As a teacher, I am concerned that we are not making strong enough connections with our students’ cultural identity to create a more meaningful school environment. This is the identity they are most proud because it is where they find love and acceptance naturally and unconditionally. To motivate and engage students like Zonnie and Daniel, it is important to bring their family culture into the classroom to avoid the conflicts described in Noll’s research. Although Daniel’s civics teacher allowed students to bring their own articles to class for discussion, it would have been more acceptable for the teacher to take that initiative and show the class that other cultures have relevance in our society as well. We have a large Hispanic population at my school and although we work hard to accommodate their linguistic differences, I think we are more concerned about assimilating them into our culture so that they can be successfully mainstreamed into the “American” classroom. I would like to find more creative ways to bring their culture into the school to not only make their two worlds more connected, but to educate our American students about the values of different cultures in their community.
Michelle Carlson
Comments (7)
You make an interesting point to how we accommodate ELL kids in our schools. So many times, we think just meeting their linguistic needs involves assimilating them to the standard American culture, but really, we should be incorporating different aspects of their own culture so that we create a more inviting environment for all members of our classroom. By doing this, we create a level of expected respect that needs to exist among others as well, whether our students are in school, among family, or involved in community social events. This is us molding them into respectful and responsible citizens and applying real-life with the classroom, allowing students to connect more to their learning. It's disappointing to see a very supportive family but teachers that aren't quite making that connection to that family support either because of ignorance, lack of know-how, or lack of motivation to always strive to make the classroom better.
Melissa Riley
Posted by Melissa Riley | June 9, 2011 8:31 PM
Posted on June 9, 2011 20:31
Incorporating aspects of different cultures into the classroom could make students like Daniel and Zonnie feel more comfortable, but it could also bring cultural awareness to those who need a better understanding of the ethnic groups in their area.
Posted by Carol Holt | June 9, 2011 8:54 PM
Posted on June 9, 2011 20:54
I agree with your statement about the value of, not only bringing two worlds together for the multicultural students, but also introducing our American children to other cultures. I believe it is important for us to embrace differences rather than fear them, and I am concerned that we, as Americans, too often reject other cultures because we do not understand them. We want other cultures to accept our way of doing things, rather than realizing that there is value in their “ways” too – we even get upset about something as simple as services are offered in languages other than English! Are we so egotistical that we don’t realize that educated people all over the world speak more than one language?
Posted by Marlee Wright | June 10, 2011 2:44 PM
Posted on June 10, 2011 14:44
Perhaps we are partly to blame for the conflict. Just as you wrote, "it is important to bring their family culture into the classroom." Too often we fail to be the role models that these children need. If our mainstream students see us taking steps to connect with other cultures, then maybe they will do the same. Instead of ignoring cultural issues, we need to address them directly with an accepting and inviting attitude.
Posted by Holly Lawson | June 10, 2011 5:41 PM
Posted on June 10, 2011 17:41
Michelle,
You make a very important point about the positive benefits of strengthening cultural connections in the classrooms. For students such as Zonnie and Daniel this would have made a profound difference in their lives. Connections also have the added benefit of building awareness of the value of other cultures for all of the students. How often do we see fear and ignorance at the base of prejudice and intolerance for differences in our society? Teachers are in the unique position to break down those barriers and create an atmosphere that reflects our global society.
Posted by Karen Massey-Cerda | June 10, 2011 6:02 PM
Posted on June 10, 2011 18:02
Michelle,
I agree that Daniel's civics teacher missed an opportunity to involve Daniel in the current events assignments. I feel, as you do, that he could have created a connection to Daniel's life and culture and taught his other students that the Native American culture had value and worth simply by bringing in an article from the Native American newspaper himself. We don't always have to plan elaborate lessons to make an impact on a student that could mean the difference between academic success or failure.
Posted by Leslie Rothenberger | June 10, 2011 6:32 PM
Posted on June 10, 2011 18:32
You are right Michelle -- culture encompasses SO many aspects of a person's life! There's family culture, pop culture, religious culture, etc. Your post does a great job of exposing all the various nuances of the cultural "package" that students bring with them to school -- and how meaningful education can become if culture is integrated. Very insightful!
Posted by Dr. Jackson | June 15, 2011 9:07 AM
Posted on June 15, 2011 09:07