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

Literacy is a way that all students can express themselves. Reading allows students to go to different places and assume different identities. I believe that reading is very appealing to minority students because they can go to a place where they can be their self and don’t have to hide who they are. Literacy is a great resource when it comes to getting to know your students. By paying attention to the books they grab during Library or SSR time, you will learn your student’s interests. For example, the article mentioned that Daniel enjoyed reading books about American Indian heroes. A teacher should use these specific interests to help get students interested in the other content areas. The teacher could do an integrated unit about American Indian heroes. Not only will this interest Daniel, but it will also give the other students an opportunity to learn about Daniel’s culture.

Writing allows students to share their talents, feelings, and to tell you what is important to them without actually speaking to you. Daniel used his writings to talk about issues he was experiencing. One writing that particularly touched me was “Daniel’s Time at School.” It talked about his desire to be white (so that he could be popular and attractive), and about his need to be accepted for who he is. It is very sad that Daniel thought that the only way to be accepted by others was to be a ‘white boy.’ Daniel’s parents had taught him to be proud of his heritage and to accept everybody, so I assume that these thoughts and feelings were caused by ridicule from peers.

Zonnie’s language arts teacher required that they write in a journal, so she used poetry and her journal entries to express herself. Like Daniel, Zonnie used these journal entries to talk about issues that were affecting her such as racial discrimination and acceptance. What a great way to get to know your students! I don’t mean get to know their favorite color or how many siblings they have, but get to know their feelings, thoughts, and their values. When I get my own classroom, I hope to include time for students to write in journals as part of my daily schedule. If we expect them to tell us about their ‘secrets,’ then we should take the time to write a response. We don’t have to respond to every entry, but at least once a week would be ideal for me. For a student like Daniel or Zonnie, my response would include words of encouragement and praise just for being the person that they are. I don’t know if any of their teachers ever took the time to let them know how wonderful and brilliant they are, just as they are, but I bet it would have made a world of difference. Maybe they would have felt more accepted (at least by their teacher), more confident in who they are, and proud of their heritage. All of our students need to know that we love them, just as they are.

I mentioned that literacy is a great way for students to express themselves, but it is also a great way to teach acceptance of others. I believe that some children don’t realize they are being mean and not accepting others- they need to be taught how to treat others, love others, and accept others. The best way to teach this is by example. We need to be fair, accepting, and loving to others. In reality, are we going to like everybody that we meet? No, but we still need to accept and love them just as they are. Like Daniel’s father said, “There is only one race, the human race. There’s good and bad [in all of us].”

Lisa Beach

Indian students balance their lives between two worlds, Indian and White. This struggle is very difficult at times. Daniel and Zonnie felt like they had to civilize themselves into the mainstream of the white culture. They both struggled with fitting in and felt isolated. I wonder how many children we serve of different cultures/backgrounds that may feel this same way in our schools today? They both were at an age when acceptance by peers is so important, but they were becoming aware of the differences between their native culture and the mainstream white culture. Because of these differences the result was that Indian students' experiencing racism, discrimination, and prejudice in school related to their lack of academic success. So my question is, was the result of low academic performance coming from dealing with racism or was it a true literacy issue? I think both. I think the racism was a result of the lack of self-esteem and how they saw themselves as students. I also think that they were not exposed to literature that interest them and therefore they had no desire to learn.
They both had talents that enabled them to express themselves through a form of literacy. Both students were able to connect to their native worlds through the arts. We need to bridge the gap between cultures and in doing so, we (teachers and communities) need to take the time to understand one another. As teachers we need to go beyond our "world" and find ways to give everyone a voice. We need to know our students, parents, and cultures that we serve in order to make connections that we can use to build stronger relationships and to ensure that all of our students are learning. We need to get away from expecting students to learn what we think they should know and allow them opportunities to learn what is important to them. Students should not be forced to the "white" world, but to the worlds that make them who they are and that they will be a part of as they grow. Teachers need to be aware of what they are teaching and who they are teaching to. We need to ensure that we are teaching a cultural responsive curriculum.

After reading this article, one of the things that struck me the most was when Zonnie’s English teacher said “Zonnie is just kind of there.” This just seemed to me like it should be something of a warning sign to a teacher. If you ever realize that a student is “just there,” there’s something going wrong somewhere and it’s your job to figure out what it is and how to fix it so that student is more than “just there.” A student who is “just there” isn’t getting the full benefit of the classroom experience, nor are his/her peers getting to learn from him/her. No wonder Zonnie wasn’t exactly enthusiastic about doing her schoolwork. It’s not as if Zonnie hated reading or writing, in fact she liked reading horror stories and spent most of her free time writing poetry. So why was she so reluctant/unable to become an active participant in her Language Arts class? She commented that she thought the work was easy, and the topics boring, yet she only averaged B’s and C’s. The reading teacher Zonnie claimed to have connected with the most didn’t even know she liked to read, let alone what she liked to read. Zonnie said the teacher knew she was intelligent, while the teacher said she was mediocre. This saddened me because Zonnie stayed after to school to talk to this teacher, but was she even listening? As a reading teacher, how do you not know what your students enjoy reading? The only two explanations I can think of are either she never asked or she did ask and didn’t bother to listen to the answer. I’m not sure which is worse.

In both the cases of Daniel and Zonnie, literacy was a way for them to express themselves. I was amazed at how well they were able to do this, despite the fact that no one really seemed to respond to their work or encourage it, especially in Zonnie’s case. By paying attention to what students choose to write or read, it can really help a teacher get to know his/her students. It is really unfortunate that the teachers of these two students did not take advantage of these opportunities because it is especially helpful with trying to understand the feelings of minority students. Even the simplest things, like an encouraging response to a journal entry, can make a big difference.

Kim Strzelecki

Literacy plays a primary role in all of our lives, but it’s also one of the easiest ways to reach out and connect to children. Children are consumed in books every day and all day at school, then they go home and we hope it continues. Literacy can build children’s interest into their future. I teach second grade and through the day students are amerced in literature all day long from whole group reading, guided reading, SSR, science, social studies, and read alouds. This is how we help to build students curiosity in their literacy journey.

As we saw in the study the two children had very different interest, but that is the beauty of literacy it has an interest point for everyone. Students can then write and reflect upon what interest them. The key to this is making a connection. As stated with Zonnie “she preferred writing about her own real experience.” So for her connecting to her life and what was happening was the key to keeping her connected and interested in the literacy process. If we choose to ignore student’s interest we lose them in their literacy journey. Also there were some signs that the teacher need to adhere to. Zonnie was performing average as they used the term “just there” and only liked to write about her own life experiences. The teachers made little effort to help make connections to make the literacy experience more meaningful. Zonnie’s journey in school could have been so different if the teach would have helped to build those connections.

Both Daniel and Zonnie experienced hard times in school because they were at the most impressionable age and wanted expectance from their peers. I think one problem the pre-teens had is that they did not have high self-esteems of themselves due to low academic performance. When students perform low in this creates low self-esteem. I think the teachers could have done a better job making connections for the two with literature and writing to help build their interest. Once students are hooked with a good entry point they will begin to become successful and feel better about themselves.

Kara Scott

Zonnie and Daniel both young and journeying into the world to live and learn with excitement for the future. They both are so innocent and unaware of the slurs, disapproval and jokes that will invade their lives as they journey through. Whites are supreme as far as numbers. We think so shallowly as well that we are superior. We think our culture is the best. We resist people of color and cultural differences. We keep our distance and do not want to share or let those people in. Zonnie and Daniel both have hearts, souls, brains, awesome talent and cultural art to share. We are the close minded and the unappreciative ones. Our curriculum is designed more for white history and culture. Our reign as the superior race may be a fleeting one now. Many cultures and races have moved into the United States and are marrying into white families. Whites are marrying into diverse culture and race families. The cycle of kick ass meaness from our past and current generations will dissapate over time. Will we understand the ramifications of what we do then?
I have much apathy for Zonnie and Daniel that feel their culture is not important and their history and heritage is not valuable. The kind of treatment they endured as school students is repulsive to me. We must learn to celebrate and read about all cultures in our world and especially if we have these students in our classes. All children regardless of race, color, culture, religion have a right to an education. They have a right to receive respect from others. They are the courageous ones and the ones that will hopefully excel in life and not let the history of racial injustice torture their hearts and souls through their lives.
As years go by I have become more aware of the importance of multicultural studies and celebrations within the classroom. I fear that much of the racial injustice we see today stems from older generations. They seem to love to pass on negative history. We must work harder than ever in the classroom to change this narrow way of thinking and open doors for all of God's children to enter equally in order to learn and prepare for generation's ahead.
This account and study of Daniel and Zonnie should be read by all teachers and used as a lesson for others.
Candy Kee

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

“How help them understand?” was usually the first question that came to my mind while teaching students of diverse cultures. This reading helped me realize this should not be the first question I ask myself. It should be more along the lines of, “how can I understand my student?”
Developing strong background knowledge about each student individually is key. This knowledge can provide information needed to better meet the needs of students. It may also allow teachers to develop more sensitivity to students’ cultures and backgrounds. Knowing where your students are coming from and what they deal with outside of the classroom can also build trust in the teacher-student-parent relationship. If students know that their teacher is truly invested in their live in and out of school this can only be positive. I have done this in the past but I need to be more in depth. Every year about mid-way through the year I find out something significant about one of my students that I could have found out earlier if I would have dug a little deeper.

While reading, I found it interesting that Zonnie did not describe herself as a good reader. This was because she did not read books about real people like her mother did. Instead, said that she read things like, Vanity Fair, Entertainment Weekly, and Rolling Stone, things that she believed did not teach her anything. She was down playing her choice of literature. She could have easily pointed out that she enjoyed reading a variety of genres for fun. It makes me wonder, did Zonnie’s family instill this thought in her? Is their view of literacy one that only consists of nonfiction genres? Although neither Zonnie nor Daniel were the most high achieving students, they both planned on using literacy in their future. I think this proves that some form of literacy can serve as an outlet for many people, even if they do not consider it literacy.

Zonnie and Daniel were lucky to have such supportive parents. They both had parents who read to them at home and had open lines of communication. This reading pointed out that all youth have some sort of struggle growing up and trying to find their identity. This struggle is even more challenging if you are of a diverse background and you’re your heritage questioned or made fun of. I believe that their parents’ support of their “school world”, embracement of their culture, and communication along the way, made this process a little less daunting. As we all know, not all children are lucky enough to have parents as supportive as Zonnie and Daniel’s parents. This is where their teacher can provide support and understanding (if they dig deep enough to understand their student’s culture and heritage).

Stacy Durham

After reading the Noll article, I can’t help but feel a little disappointment in the role of the teachers of Daniel and Zonnie. Though the article refers that the teachers, in their own perspectives and opinions, provided opportunities for all of their students to express their own identity through the various assigned readings (especially in regards to Daniel’s civics teacher who allowed students to choose articles that involved current events), I can’t help but feel that they must not have provided enough for their students. By this, maybe the teachers weren’t as inviting to the different cultures within their classrooms – something that the Delpit and Dowdy articles noted was crucial when building literacy in students of different races and cultures. The fact that many of the student artifacts gave insight into Daniel and Zonnie’s feelings, experiences, and perspectives suggests that their teachers were totally oblivious to all of their literacy capabilities. What was even more astonishing was how Zonnie’s language arts teacher felt she was just there even though she felt quite the opposite and mentioned that this teacher was perhaps one of her favorites because he understood and listened to her.

This article only affirms that as a teacher, my goal in trying to best meet the needs of my students is to get to know them – their interests, backgrounds, families, cultures, etc. By being aware of their cultural interests and traditions, I would be taking the first step to creating a multi-cultural classroom where all students are accepted and respected by me and their peers. It is no wonder that the educational apathy felt by Daniel and Zonnie was a direct result that most of the discrimination and rejections they experienced actually occurred at school by their peers.

Also, the article demonstrates how powerful literacy is to each individual. Daniel and Zonnie used it as a way of helping them to define their identity and think through the challenges they faced. In my opinion, I see that the music, art, writing, and dance was a coping mechanism to make sense of the prejudices so they could discover where they fit within their predominantly white community. Even though all adolescents find it difficult in establishing their own identity, it is more internally complex for the Native American adolescents mentioned in the article because they have to learn how to operate in a world that rejects or downgrades their native cultures. However, at home, these participants were experiencing the extreme opposite where parents placed emphasis on the history and traditions of their Native American cultures, focusing that this is who they are and it need not be forgotten. Therefore, these students, along with many others, are left wondering, “Who am I, really, and how am I important?”

Relating this to my classroom, it’s important to realize that no matter what culture, race, or gender, literacy is a method of forming a student’s identity and this literacy is achieved in several methods. Therefore, it’s crucial to know my students, welcome who they are, be sensitive to their needs, and help them find ways to develop within the confines of school. This means that classroom writing may not just be letters, narratives, and reports typically addressed in the curriculum but poems, songs, forms of art and dance, and personal stories that allow students to express themselves. My writing (literacy) program need to transform to the interests and needs of the students so that a complacency regarding school won’t be expressed, and I need to let students know that I will accept them the way they are developing. My expectations for my students’ behaviors need to be set so that all classroom members will regard each other with respect, regardless of physical differences. Though this is something that I strive to achieve each day, I need to make myself more sensitive and aware that just because a student won’t express himself or herself in the way I would doesn’t make his or her way wrong and mine right. I need to make sure I am giving students an ample opportunity to select what is important to them (topics, method of expression, etc.) and make sure that they are aware that their choices will be respected no matter what, which goes beyond what the teachers in the articles did.

Melissa Riley

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

As I read the Noll article, highlighting the literacy experiences of Daniel and Zonnie I was struck by the fact that these children, who grew up in the United States, were having these strong feelings of “disconnect”. We typically tend to think of ELL students or African American students when we think of students with dual-languages and cultural differences – I had not thought of American Indians having the same kind of experiences, particularly to the extent expressed by Daniel and Zonnie. I felt like their schools failed to support their efforts to learn. I was particularly struck by the fact that the teachers didn’t really seem to feel any connection with the two students, that they didn’t seem to know them well at all. It has been my experience that the more connected students feel with their teachers, the harder they will work and the more they learn. I was amazed that these teachers didn’t seem concerned that there was such a lack of connection.

As I read I was struck by the extent to which Noll took pains to express the perspectives of the American Indian people. She, very painstakingly, communicated their point of view. Noll was careful not to report her own perception of what they thought and believe, but, rather, to “capture the meaning that they confer on what they (do) and on the way other people react to what they (do.)” I believe that, too often, we become caught up in what we think our students are feeling and saying, and we forget to ask them...such a simple thing, really, but not something we do very often.

It was really evident that both students took great pride in their heritage. They both participated actively in music, dance, poetry, and art, and were able to express themselves fluently in those mediums. They were clearly intelligent students, but they both felt themselves to be on the outside of their school experiences. They seemed to feel so different from their classmates – and their classmates seemed to echo their feelings. I cannot help but think that if some teacher had taken the time to establish bonds with these students, they would have excelled. They had the home support we all want our students to have, and they had innate intelligence – I think a connection might have been the link that was missing.

The more I read, the more responsibility I feel to plan for and to provide rich multicultural literature and experiences for my students. This article reiterates the necessity to connect with my students on a personal way, to see them as people with interests and connections to abundant cultures of their own. We need to give them opportunities to share their own cultures and to help them learn to appreciate cultures of others. We have a lot of work to do in our classrooms, but I think the results will make it worthwhile.

Marlee Wright

Daniel and Zonnie’s teachers really “missed the boat”, didn’t they? First of all, where’s the teacher-student connection? Being bullied caused Daniel to become alienated at school. If a connection had been made, perhaps the teacher would have become aware of the bullying. Just speaking with the students doing the bullying could have made such a difference. The school counselor could have had lessons focused on bullying that includes racist comments. If the school personnel had had an impact on the reduction of bullying, Daniel and Zonnie would not have had to continue experiencing the mistreatment from others. They would not have had to struggle with issues of racism concerning their Indian identity. This change could have totally transformed their outlook on school. It seems to me that the school needed to embrace their culture in some way, like sponsoring a Cultural Awareness Week.

These teachers totally missed out on engaging Daniel and Zonnie in reading and writing. I found it surprising that Zonnie’s reading teacher had no idea what she liked to read. Something as simple as having students complete an Interest Inventory gives the teacher an idea of what the students’ interests are in reading and writing. Daniel’s teacher could have discovered that he enjoyed reading the comics in the weekly Indian newspaper as well as the wide range of genres that were mentioned, and expanded on those interests. Daniel needed to be as engaged in school as he was in powwows. Zonnie’s teacher could have recommended additional horror books for her to read. Matching readers with a book they might enjoy is a strategy to get them “hooked” on reading. Allowing student choice in reading material is also motivating. If their teachers had known that they had an interest in art, music, writing and dancing, they could have used a multisensory approach in their lessons for visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners.

Thank goodness Daniel and Zonnie had strong cultural ties and a strong family unit encouraging them to do their best. It’s good that Daniel and Zonnie had writing as an outlet for their feelings. Every kid wants to feel like they belong, especially in the teen years.

Carol Holt

Noll’s qualitative case study discussed an obvious and necessary truth for us as teachers: know your students and build your curriculum on this knowledge. Being aware of the surrounding community in which you teach and the cultural dynamics of your students is crucial if they are to feel valued as individuals.

Noll’s article made this necessary truth all the more vital at the middle and high school level when adolescents of all backgrounds are searching for a sense of identity. However, the study was conducted in 1998. I would like to think that we have taken much greater strides in the types of literacies we offer our students and the value we place upon their cultural background in order for them to express their thoughts, culture and emotions.

It was surprising to read the parents reactions to Noll’s ‘literacy club’. The association they had with the term literacy as a “euphemism for illiteracy” made me think about our Spanish partners in print ‘literacy’ nights that we offer at our school. Are we sending that message, despite us implementing a program with the intentions of simply helping children to read and develop literacy experiences?

The study challenged me to think about my current literacy practices. I work in a school with an extremely diverse population. For many of the students in my classroom, irrespective of their cultural background, I know that specialty areas such as music, art and drama are often cited as a favorite part of the elementary school day. For some of our challenging students, it is what keeps them connected to their learning. The arts provide multiple opportunities for literacy expression and a means to make sense of the world. As Noll explains, “the ways in which the adolescents “read the word and the world” in a variety of contexts”.

Food, books, literature and the use of discussion and media are predominantly the means by which I try to meaningfully integrate students’ cultural backgrounds. Our reading program offers many diverse texts from multiple countries that my students enjoy discussing and can empathize with. The Hmong and Hispanic students in my room have enjoyed bringing in traditional clothing centered around festivals, discussed foods and stories from their own culture along with sharing their language with others. Many of my students have discussed the reasons why their parents chose to leave their native countries and they often discuss the role bilingualism plays in their lives.

I also offer multiple literacies in my room including poetry, technology, art and reading and genre writing. My students are engaged writers in their daily journals in our writer’s workshop. They often have free choice to write about their own experiences and often do write about Hmong and Hispanic family celebrations.However, these activities are not always purely from a cultural base. I need to bridge the gap further by planning more cultural based topic choices. For example, students often create their own poetry however, the models are often chosen by me and the content is not centered primarily on cultural background and experiences. I offer students experiences in multiple genres so why not multiple cultural topics? I realize that I am a work in progress and need to do as Noll suggested, “to adopt a wider lens” for deeper understanding of my students views of the world.

Zonnie certainly appeared to have more of these types of opportunities than Daniel who “seemed to lack a sense of belonging”. (Noll). Her teacher took the time to plan a poetry unit with discussion about racism and prejudice. However, it was evident that there was a great deal of wasted opportunity and potential for both of these students. They clearly loved literary expression, which shone through in their writing artifacts and career hopes. As Noll notes, meaningful literacy opportunities that link home and school “ Can serve to make visible their cultural knowledge and perspectives” and reveal the literacy strengths of students.

Karen Massey-Cerda

There were parts of this article describing our educational system that I found tremendously frustrating. One issue I had was the assumption that students have literacy deficiencies when in fact, the teachers and students often have difficulty understanding each other. Therefore, the teachers, because of their hierarchical role, judge the students to be lacking in ability when really miscommunication is the primary concern. It’s important for a teacher to look at her students and reflect about what the real problem is. If I have a whole class that does poorly on an assignment, was it the students, or was it my teaching and clarity as to the expectations of the assignment? I think many teachers blame the students for their lack of achievement when oftentimes the teacher needs to reflect on changes they could make themselves.

As seen in the remainder of this article, Daniel and Zonnie are considered average to below average students yet they have some incredible literary talents that their teachers do not recognize because they have not bothered to learn about them or their culture. If the teachers aligned their curriculum to meet the students’ interests they might see some real imagination and engagement in language arts. Daniel shared that things that he studies in school do not relate to him because they are mostly about “white man’s stuff.” Since the teachers don’t appear to show an interest in him, I believe Daniel responds by not showing an interest in school and doesn’t complete assignments that he is very capable of doing. It’s not important to him. This reminds me of one of my favorite students from 4 years ago. He left my class in 2nd grade where he was thriving and went to a 3rd grade teacher who was pretty mean to her students. I would surprisingly see Brandon in the office on numerous occasions. When I would question him he would honestly say, “Mrs. Brown, she doesn’t show me respect so why should I respect her?” I didn’t know how to respond to his insight because my heart ached for this young man who had loved to learn the year before. I learned later that he started coping by excusing himself to go to the bathroom and go and sit in my friend’s 4th grade class in the back and listen to her teach! This demonstrates that children have the innate desire to learn. Like Brandon, Daniel and Zonnie wanted to learn but turned to cultural opportunities to learn because they were not inspired by school.

Things that do inspire them, such as singing, drumming, and poetry, are activities that they engage in wholeheartedly. Is there a reason that those things can’t be incorporated into school? I found the commonality between Zonnie and Daniel, as well as most other students I’ve worked with, to be the arts. There is a reason that the Multiple Intelligence Theory is known world wide…students learn in different ways. Yet when funding is cut, what is the first to go? The Arts. Therefore, this article is another reminder that teachers need to incorporate the arts into their program. Fortunately, Zonnie and Daniel have families that promote their children’s interests and strengths. Yet there are many students whose families are not culturally involved so their children are not aware of that outlet and the only source of their education is school. That is why it is our job as teachers to involve both the arts and cultural opportunities (hopefully ones that students can make a connection with) into our teaching.

-- Carrie Brown

Noll brings up a good point when she discusses the low test performance of American Indian students. The information presented on these tests most likely did not relate to topics or subjects of which these students possessed prior knowledge. It seems that these tests could easily have been considered biased. How well would white children perform if they were given a test designed by a different culture? It is simply not fair to view or define children “by sets of numbers rather than by the experiences and activities of their daily lives.” (Goodman 1992) It is easy to understand why students’ test scores would improve when using “locally developed materials.” (Begay 1995)

After reading about the case studies of Daniel and Zonnie, I have found a new respect for our Native American cultures. What a great literacy support system these two children had! It was evident that both students had parents who helped build a rich literacy foundation. They understood the importance of self-expression. After all, isn’t expression the very reason for language? Daniel and Zonnie were able to utilize literacy to convey their thoughts, not simply read about the ideas and thoughts of others.

In facilitating a child’s growth in literacy, we must consider their personal needs and interests. Isn’t that what we do as parents? We encourage children to write notes and letters to friends, read and reread favorite fairy tales and nursery rhymes, and sing favorite songs over and over. These earliest literacy experiences are pertinent to children and enable them to begin building background knowledge. Daniel and Zonnie had the optimum foundational experiences with regards to reading and the arts. Their parents and siblings facilitated their learning. With a culture rich in family values, music, art, and literacy, both students were successful in expressing themselves. This expression is the whole purpose of language- to convey meaning.

I found it interesting that both students were quite private when it came to sharing their innermost feelings. For this reason, they both expressed their disappointment with white students through their writing. Daniel would write about his experiences with racism and discrimination in stories while Zonnie would record her thoughts in a journal entry or poem.

In reflection, it must be very difficult for students of minority races to become better readers while having little background knowledge and reading about topics which are of little interest. It is a shame that Zonnie did not consider herself to be a good reader because she did not “really read appropriate stuff” although she did enjoy reading poetry by Langston Hughes. (Noll) Zonnie could relate to Hughes’ position as a minority. Daniel choice for reading was a weekly newspaper and the comics. In both accounts, reading was meaningful for them when it related to their worlds.

I believe a key theme of this reading is to celebrate cultural differences. Different cultures cultivate and convey meaning in various ways. Literacy comes in many forms. Ultimately, it is not for us to determine that one race or culture is superior over another. Rather we should recognize the differences and provide opportunities for expression.

Holly Lawson

In reading the research by Noll, I was interested in a couple of things. The first was the scenarios of literacy in the home at an early age by both Daniel and Zonnie. Another concern of mine was the teacher responses or no responses to each student in regard to their academics.
Daniel was raised in a literature rich environment where his family valued reading. This was evident by reading to him, taking him to the public library, storytelling and the emphasis put on keeping with tradition. Daniel had to deal with racial issues from white students at his school and I wonder if he had been in a more accepted environment would he have excelled academically? His parental support was very solid but no mention of a real “home-school” connection which I think is important for student success. It’s not that his parents didn’t care but perhaps did not feel comfortable at school, especially after Daniel’s being called names and taunted by others.
Zonnie also had positive parental support and also holds strong family ties. She was exposed to books and reading, was read to as a small child and also frequented the public library. She values family traditions, music, dance and especially poetry. Poetry is her outlet to express herself. The sad truth for Zonnie is that she seems to have a talent for writing poetry but her family is the only ones that know this. I was saddened by the lack of response to her poetry by her teacher. Aren’t we as educators commanded to recognize talents such as writing? This seems to be a passion for her and how disappointing to feel so strongly about something but not be recognized for it.
I think this study proves our need for being culturally responsive teachers. We need to make it our goal to understand diverse cultures and find ways to make the students and parents in our communities feel welcome in school if we ever hope to bridge that home-school connection.
Karen S. Gold

“Historically, schools have served to promote mainstream cultural values and expectations and have disregarded the experiences, languages, and cultural understandings of American Indians and other underrepresented groups” (p. 206). This was certainly the case with both Daniel’s and Zonnie’s school experience. The Native American culture that Daniel and Zonnie both belonged to was not represented or embraced by their predominantly white school. As a result, both students felt disconnected from the curriculum and were viewed as poor students. Daniel’s teachers felt that his poor performance in school was due to disorganization and a busy life outside of school. They did not take into consideration his inability to relate to the curriculum, particularly in his civics class. Zonnie did not enjoy doing school work and felt as though her time could be better spent writing poetry.

I feel that this happens quite frequently in classrooms today. We teach in schools that are filled with students from diverse backgrounds and cultures. Instead of incorporating these cultures into our curriculums, we teach mainstream values and expectations and, as Noll points out, the cultural and linguistic differences that students possess are often viewed as deficiencies. This was obviously the case for the parents in the study as well, since they wondered if the literacy club was going to be remediation for their children’s supposed deficiencies. Often, we do not take the time to get to know our students like we should. We do not delve into their interests or seek to engage them in academics by creating lessons that revolve around these interests.

As educators we have an obligation and a responsibility to understand and respect the cultures of our students. We must use this knowledge to make connections, identify student interests, and create a “culturally relevant curriculum” for our students. As I read about Daniel and Zonnie’s literacy experiences in school, I began to question my own classroom practices. While I do recognize and respect the many cultures present in my classroom, am I truly integrating these cultures into my literacy curriculum?

I have begun to use more multicultural literature in my classroom. However, I do not feel as though I have adequately integrated these cultures into my curriculum. I have not utilized the cultural knowledge of my students or my community to the extent that I should. I realize that I must do a better job of building the bridge between school and home in order to foster greater feelings of self-worth and belonging in my students. This can be accomplished by creating a “culturally relevant curriculum” and validating the “expression of cultural knowledge, perspectives, and personal experiences” (p. 230) through the use of multiple literacy activities.

Leslie Rothenberger

Noll’s research of the two American Indian teenagers, Zonnie and Daniel was insightful and eye opening. As a teenager I remember wrestling and being consumed with many of the same issues and interests: friend/peer relationships, boys, self-esteem, career/future planning, music, dance, social gatherings. However I did not experience the added burden shared by Zonnie and Daniel of discrimination. Unfortunately the situations described seemed to not only include students but teachers too. I’m assuming, maybe wrongfully so, that instead of getting to know Daniel and Zonnie they made false judgments based on their race and/or previous experiences with other American Indians.

Not trying to get to know your students personally (background, culture, and interests) is an injustice to the continuum of education. Putting forth that extra effort and attempting to engage all your students is vital and even the smallest act of reaching out could make a world of difference. Daniel probably would have found civics more relevant if his teacher had led by example, not just mentioned, using the Indian Country Today. I know even my kindergarten students have more attentive and productive days when I ask about their weekend game or another personal event they mentioned earlier. Daniel could have also really used the boost of positive reinforcement by hearing his Halloween story read aloud, seeing as how this was one of the few assignments manage to submit.

Literacy is influenced, supported, and accomplished by a variety of factors. Noll’s research clearly depicted the influence of “American Indian culture, mainstream popular culture, and school culture” on Zonnie and Daniel. These teenagers connected with poetry and music, choosing these avenues as a means of working through and expressing feelings too tough to simple talk about. I think we all have our outlets and ways of coping with the pressures of life. This research has reminded me of the importance of being a good example, sharing ways I use reading and writing in and out of school with my students. Making a point to show and talk through examples of lists or notes I’ve made at home could spark my student’s interests. Starting at a young age is important but as this research has shown, continuing to support and show interest in each child’s culture can only improve on their literacy development.

Ruth Ann Timmons