There are times in life when the question of knowing if one can think differently than one thinks, and perceive differently than one sees, is absolutely necessary if one is to go on looking and reflecting at all.
Michael Foucault
From the first article I read in this class, Delpit’s “No Kinda Sense,” I have been questioning the way I look at the world. I had never thought of myself as someone who discriminates on race, class, or gender, but articles we read in this class made me question how I accommodate the diverse population of children in my classroom. I have critiqued Zonnie’s reading teacher who could not even identify the types of literature Zonnie enjoyed and Jake’s first grade teacher who did not allow him to develop at his own pace. While critiquing others, however, I often felt that I must also turn the mirror on myself and examine my own teaching practices. Reflection is essential in order to be an effective teacher, and I am grateful that this course has granted me this opportunity to reflect on the way I perceive and interact with my students and their home communities.
The initial quote that got me thinking about my treatment of diverse discourses in the classroom was from Delpit’s article “No Kinda Sense”: “To speak out against the language that children bring to school means that we are speaking out against their mothers, that their mothers are not good enough to be a part of the school world.” When correcting students’ grammar in the classroom to be Standard English, I have always attempted to be discreet and felt that by correcting their grammar I was helping them to become better students. Reading this line from Delpit’s article, however, made me realize that what I thought of as assistance in speaking “correctly” was probably being interpreted by my students as a criticism of not just their speaking but also the culture in which they grew up. I want my classroom to be a safe haven for my students, so this feeling of rejection is not one I want to foster, and Delpit’s article helped me to see how my words may be being differently from how they were intended.
As I read about Daniel in Noll’s article, I began to question how much of the history and social studies I taught in my classroom was considered to be “white man’s stuff” by my mostly Hispanic classes. I’ve always explored different traditions and cultures from throughout the world when we had “Holidays Around the World” in December or celebrated “Culture Week” in the spring, but now it seems so obvious that this was not enough. Reading children’s literature with culturally diverse characters does not count as helping students to connect to the material. I need to consciously integrate a variety of historical and current events from multiple cultures into my curriculum. By providing students with the true history of their cultures in the academic setting, they will realize that their culture is not only accepted by the classroom, it is embraced as another topic of learning and discovery.
Reading Staples’s article about re-authoring made me think back on how often I have unconsciously labeled a child because he or she did not act or perform the way I expected my students to. For example, how often have I said a child is lazy because he or she does not do the work assigned? Perhaps that child is not doing the work because he does not understand the purpose behind it or he feels disconnected to what is being studied. Instead of labeling that child, I should be attempting to rework the curriculum to better to suit his interests and needs. This article helped to change my perception and made me realize that I want to make my classroom a place where students do not need to re-author themselves, because they are already accepted and supported for who they are. Given the middle-class focus of most curriculums, this is not something that will happen without effort. In addition to making myself more open to the various students I have in my classroom, I hope to follow the examples of critical literacies presented in Hicks’ book (p.31) by looking closely at texts read in class to make sure they raise up the students’ individuality instead of oppressing it.
Finally, in Hicks’ book, Jake’s lack of motivation to do work because it seemed pointless and “stupid” helped to change my perception of how classwork is viewed by students. I realized I so often give students assignments without helping them to build a connection to it or helping them to understand the purpose behind it. Often they complete their work because they have been trained that that is what they are supposed to do at school…work without questioning authority. This lack of connection to what they are doing, however, will lead to frustration with school which may later manifest itself through dropping out or no longer trying. Just like I want my students to feel a connection to what they are learning in the classroom, I also want them to feel a connection with what they are doing in the classroom.
This course has made me reflect on how I interact with my students, the material I teach my students, and the activities I require of my students. This reflection of my own teaching has not left me feeling that I am a poor teacher, unworthy of the profession. Instead, I am taking my own reflections as constructive criticism in an effort to becoming the most effective teacher I can be. Through the readings in this course I have explored how to improve myself as an educator by embracing the home and school lives of my students.
Andrea Schlobohm