Candy Kee
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. ~ Michel Foucault
This quote mean to me that one’s perception is also their reality and rarely changes even with deep reflection. A person’s perception seems to be formed by what they think they know about a certain race or gender and then they group all in this category instead of looking at individual traits, talents, character and personalities. They stay tunnel visioned in this and seldom change their perceptions so why should they reflect at all. I feel us as teachers do this with our students all the time. Through my readings in this course I have reflected deeply on how I see and treat my students. They are Black, Hispanic, disabled, poor, middle classed, disabled, non-disabled and come in many sizes. I have been guilty of associating last names with ability level as well instead of actually seeing what the individual can do. I really enjoyed Hicks and especially when she put literacy in perspective for me. She wrote, “This is a myth that children approach literacy practices as autonomous reasoners who then individually construct knowledge about literacy practices.” I had to read this several times to really grasp the meaning. I used to think that students learned how to read by teacher instruction when beginning school. This could not be farther from the truth. I guess I had the same mindset that Hicks enlightened me about through a quote, “The idea that literacies are cultural and material practices shaped by histories, localities, and the persons within them that give form and meaning to children’s lives has been resisted in part because of psychology’s strong hold on educational theory and practice” (Walkerdine, 1988). I have found that literacy is not “school based” but a combination of social and cultural discourse of individuals from birth. We must take these individual experiences and build on them through reading and writing and discussions. Differences in people or children do not reflect disability. We are all created equally; however, we as humans create the tension and assign disability when it comes to diversity. This reminds me of the “Noll” article and the accounts of Zonnie and Daniel. They had so much talent and rich history to bring to the classroom but were shunned perhaps not intentionally but the teacher had already categorized them based on their differences. I don’t mean that it should have been all about them but they should have gotten equal chance to share their interests, talents and culture. These interests and discourses should have been the foundation for building their literacy.
This account and study of Daniel and Zonnie should be read by all teachers and used as a lesson for self and others.
I really never entertained diversity as much as I have during this class. In the past when I thought of diversity, my mind raced down the differences in color path. This is obvious diversity but there again I was seeing a cover and not content. Diversity, I have found during the readings comes in all shapes, colors and sizes and ability level. Diversity is color of course but its also gender, religion, education, background, jobs, grades, health, wealth, hair color, height, sports related, vernacular, location, likes, dislikes, age, ability, talent, skills and the list goes on. We are all different in many ways. All people of a certain group tend to cling together in a clique. They influence each other in many ways to be close minded and tight knit and not accept others. We as teachers must break into this way of thinking through our students. We must be examples and treat each culture or background as precious and rich. We must be not only aware of differences but why and what they are with our students.
I am also reminded about a situation in a small country community I live close to. The plight of Zonnie and Daniel brought this to mind. In this community we have a couple of service stations with a grill inside. For the past 25 years, Jerry's Mini Mart has been the most popular and people meet and eat there everyday. This is a clique and is predominately white. The customers are farmers, builders, retirees, hunters and such. The food is down home and delicious and business booms. Jerry decided suddenly after 25 years that he wanted to sell the place and do something different. To everyone's disgruntled dismay, he sold the place to what is commonly referred to as a "Blue Dot Indian". Oh know!!! Everyone’s little world crashed. They cannot perceive or think outside their little community box. They boycotted this place and it no longer is the place to meet and eat. One could cut the tension in the community with a knife. Many of the regulars no longer speak to Jerry. This man moved his family to this hillbilly country as well. He was brave in doing this and enrolled his children in the nearest school. The other students are children of the families that quit going to Jerry’s. I wonder how the teachers are going to embrace this diversity and how they will provide literacy building blocks for these children.