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

There are times in life when the question of knowing if one can
think differently than one thinks,
perceive differently than one sees,
is absolutely necessary if one is to go on looking and reflecting at all.
-Michael Foucault

After reading the literature required for this course, it has really opened my eyes to the conflicts that many children face because of their race, class, or gender. As a student, I did not observe any ridicule based on these three components. When I was a child, the ridicule that a child was most likely to receive was because he wore glasses or braces, that child may be overweight, or because the other children realized that he was always in the lowest reading group (this didn’t start happening until approximately third grade on). As a teacher, I have witnessed racial discrimination, but never class or gender discrimination. As I have mentioned before, I have been very fortunate to work at a very diverse, low-income school where the majority of the population are Hispanics, and the number of African-American and White students are about equal. I have occasionally witnessed two students not allowing a student of another race to play with them on the playground or participate it their group in the classroom. Usually it is because one of the students has done something to make the others mad, and they are not actually alienating them because of their race. As an adult, this is what I know and observe, but I am sure that that child who is being alienated feels ‘like an outsider in their own classroom.’ (Reading Lives, p. 135)

Other than discussing and modeling appropriate behaviors and interactions with others, we can not control how students treat their peers. Hopefully, with the help of parents, we can teach students to have good morals and ethics and teach them to not notice the differences of others, but to look for similarities. As Daniel’s father said, “There is only one race, the human race. There’s good and bad [in all of us].” (Noll) Yes, each student in our classroom is different from their peers, just as all of us taking this course are very different. Although we are all different, it doesn’t make any of us ‘better’ than the others. We all think and perceive differently, but that is what makes us unique. I am reminded of a banner that hangs above the entrance of the aforementioned school I worked at. It reads, ‘Celebremos... We all smile in the same language.’ Every time I enter those doors I glance at that banner, and it reminds me that even though we are all different on the outside, we are the same on the inside. We each have a heart which fills us with emotion, a desire to be accepted, motivation to be ‘good’ and successful, and we would all like to be noticed (hopefully in a positive way). This is a concept that we need to help our students understand and express.

When our students enter our classrooms, they are bringing their history with them, along with secrets and stories from their past. In order to help students connect and engage with literacy, we need to connect with our students. We need to get to know them- their culture, values, beliefs, and traditions. We must encourage our students to use their voice to express themselves. For students who seem somewhat reluctant to exercising their voice, I really like the idea of having students write in a journal, and then I can respond to their writing. Students could use this journal as a way “to remember, instill cultural knowledge, grapple with a problem, rethink the status quo, soothe, empathize, inspire, speculate, justify a position, dispute, tattle, evaluate one’s and others’ identities, shame, tease, laud, entertain, among other ends.” (p. 321) Through reading and responding to their journal entries, the teacher is able to learn secrets and other important information about their history that could be useful in the classroom. Showing students that we are welcoming of their culture, language, and identity, they will be more receptive to the English culture and language.

Although we really have no power in determining how children treat others, we can control how we treat our students and how they feel when they are in our presence. We have to create a welcoming environment for all students regardless of race, class, or gender. All students wish for acceptance from others, and they especially need that acceptance from their teachers. Students need to feel that their teacher loves them and that we value the person that they are. Once students feel that they have pleased the teacher, they are usually motivated to continue to be ‘good’ and to try hard to be successful academically.

Through our reading I have noticed that often times when there is a disconnection or disengagement from a student; we automatically think the problem arises because of the student. Daniel, Lonnie, Jake, and Laurie are all excellent examples of how the problem is not always a direct result of the student. Sometimes, we need to step back and reflect about how we would feel, act, say, or think if we were in their situation. They were all caught between two conflicting discourses, home life and school. If their teacher would have stepped back, took a moment to reflect and see things out of their eyes, maybe school would have been a more positive experience for each of them.

Being a graduate of Lees-McRae College, I feel that self-reflection is necessary to improve and develop as a teacher. During their program, I was taught to reflect daily, on each lesson, and decide what works and what doesn’t, and adjust accordingly. It is our responsibility to reach our students, connect with them, and engage them in literacy whether it requires us to do a unit on American Indian Heroes to interest Daniel, encourage poetry writing in the classroom to meet Zonnie’s interests, do a math lesson with miniature NASCAR cars to engage Jake, or to teach a thematic unit based on the fantasy genre to grab Laurie’s attention. According to the quote, an effective teacher must be open-minded to other ways of learning and thinking and are able to view things in a different perspective. If we can not think or see differently than we do, then we can not change.

Race, class, and gender are real issues that we will face in our classrooms. Eventually we will be placed in an uncomfortable position, maybe in a lower-class school or at a school where white may be the minority, and it is at that point that we especially must be able to think differently and see things in another light, so that we may be able to reach and connect with our students. We must be able to see their perspective of things and know their culture, values, and beliefs in order to help them be successful. This quote reminds me of the old saying about not making judgments or assumptions about people before you walk in their shoes, and that sums up what I have learned in this course. Before I make judgments or decisions about others, I am going to take the time to step back, reflect, view things through their eyes, and ‘take a walk’ in their shoes. This will not only help me to be a more effective teacher, but a better person in general.

Lisa Beach

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 inspires me to examine the racist attitudes that I grew up hearing about and reminds me to keep myself in check about those ideas. I know that being raised in an environment where other cultures are not accepted does not mean that one can’t break away from those influences and form opinions about people that differ from what was learned. I attended elementary school beginning in the mid-60s. Desegregation was fairly new, but I really knew nothing about that until I studied it in high school. I felt tension around me sometimes but have always had the mindset that people were people. The older I became the more I learned of racism and bias. The moment I became aware of such was an incident where I was riding on the back of a truck and waved hello to a black boy that I went to school with as we passed through his neighborhood. When I got home my father was very angry with me and told me not to do that again. I now understand that came from his attitudes and that I did nothing wrong.

This class and the readings we used reminded me constantly of the need for me personally and as an educator to always be conscious of all people and the need to be sensitive to all regardless of race, gender and/or class. All the readings involving Daniel, Lonnie, Laurie and Jake were real examples of issues that students face every day in the classroom. One specific issue that I deal with is the labeling of students. As a result of No Child Left Behind every student in every public school is labeled and put into categories as a subgroup. I am a Title I teacher and I fight the battle of labeling every day with students, parents and fellow staff members. My attitude about hat is that the government may require us to label students on paper but we certainly have the power as educators not to carry that over to the classroom.

This class has opened my eyes to the implications that students are different because of social, political and cultural backgrounds but for each individual to be successful I need to educate myself about their differences especially when they are different from my own. I need to be understanding of their nature, ability to learn, and learning style and make accommodations that support them and their families. To me, if this means I may feel uncomfortable at times then I will be fine. The more I understand students, their families and my community the more they can understand me and accept that I want their children to be successful.

I have a friend, Ron Harrill that participates in our school Raising Achievement and Closing the Gap Committee. I hear his words frequently, “I have never met a parent that does not want their child to be successful.” I often hear adults say things like, “their parents just don’t care,” and I must admit that before hearing Ron talk about that I used to think and sometimes say that myself. At times when reading the stories and articles in this class I would think do the parents care and do they understand what is happening (Jake in particular). But in reflection I think that they too were parents that want the best for their child and for him to be successful. I want to believe that I am objective and accepting when it comes to race, class and gender but I also know that there is room for improvement. I will continue to educate myself to help my students become successful.
Karen S. Gold

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

It is very sad that we cannot embrace and accept diversity in gender, class and color as the spice of life. Differences in people do not reflect disability. We are all created equal, however, we as humans create the tension and assign disability when it comes to diversity.

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. Now that I have started to think about it even more it also includes marital status and sex orientation. 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. A good example would be in our county we have the Country Club people and then the others. I am one of the others. One can feel immediate tension when grouped with people of another clique. It is hard to break into the circle.

I am reminded about a situation in a small country community I live close to. 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!!! Everyones 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. He betrayed them. The community has discontinued thriving. This is unfortunate.

Diversity is a key driver to development, growth and making the world a better place for everyone. Societies with little diversity are rarely economically and educationally developed.
Little do these people know about what the knew owners diversity can bring to the table. They see a cover and not content. I appreciate my eyes being opened more to our diverse world in taking this class. I shall try to be more cognizant of diversity in our world and more embracing. Oh yea, one more thing, I still go to Jerry's Mini Mart. My hope is that I can become a better person by perceiving and thinking of what I cannot.

“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 is representative of my feelings about what I have learned from this course. It is often necessary to question, reflect, and change our attitudes and perspectives if we are to become better educators. The readings for this course have caused me to do just this. I have questioned my instructional practices, reflected on my views of literacy, and hopefully have made changes in my thinking that will make me a better educator and advocate for children.

The readings have helped me to perceive literacy in a way that is different from my previous views. While I knew that it was important for children to be exposed to literature and to be read to before they came to school, I still viewed literacy as the ability to read and write and something that occurred mainly at school for most children. As I read Deborah Hicks’ book Reading Lives, I came to realize that this was not the case. As Hicks points out, literacy is not a school-based, individualized activity. Rather, literacy is a social and cultural activity, much more than just reading and writing. Children do not, as Hicks observes, “approach literacy practices as autonomous reasoners who then individually construct knowledge about literacy practices” (p. 15). This view of literacy learning is important for me as an educator, as I am faced with meeting the needs of all my students. I must remember that there are many factors at work when students are struggling to make meaning of my literacy instruction.

One of the most important factors that influence a child’s literacy learning is his or her home discourse or language practices. Several of our readings have stressed the importance of a child’s home discourse. In Dowdy’s article, she relates the hardship of wearing what she terms “the mask of language” when she was forced to speak the “Queen’s English” instead of her native Trinidadian. She felt she was in two places, “ovuh dyuh” and “over there,” being forced to experience life in two languages. The underlying concern for Dowdy was the issue of being able to “go back and forth between her home language and the public language without feeling a sense of inferiority” (p. 13). Lisa Delpit also refers to the ability to go back and forth between discourses or ‘code switching.” Most students we encounter in our classrooms participate in code switching on a daily basis. This is necessary for them to participate in our Standard English, middle-class school discourses. Delpit also asserts that students who sound different, that is students who do not speak Standard English, are often viewed as having cognitive deficiencies. This is an attitude that educators need to constantly question, reflect on, and change.

Another important factor that influences a child’s literacy learning is the cultural practices he or she engages in outside of school. Oftentimes educators fail to consider a child’s cultural practices as relevant to his or her literacy learning. In fact as Noll states, “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 is also a practice that educators need to question, reflect on, and change. Children like Daniel and Zonnie who have rich, culturally saturated home lives, sometimes experience difficulty in the school setting because of their inability to connect with the school discourses and culture. Educators must find a way to bridge these home and school discourses and cultures in order to ensure that these students feel a sense of belonging in school and to create opportunities for academic success. To do this, we must get to know our students and their cultures. We must “come to know children with the kind of depth that engenders successful change” (Hicks, p. 96).

A child’s identity also influences his literacy learning. According to Hicks, children “come to be and know with others as they engage in discourses fully saturated with cultural meanings” (p. 23). When they enter the school setting, the must learn to navigate a new discourse, thus causing a shift in their identity. Children must practice this new school discourse and act in new ways. Hicks refers to this as “hybrid” ways of acting, talking, and knowing. As I stated in an earlier post, for me, this idea of “hybridity” is the sum of all of our readings. Whether we call it code switching (Delpit), finding their “voice” (Henry), reauthorization (Staples), or building a bridge between home and school (Noll), we must create “classroom spaces where students [can] begin to move between cultural discourses without giving up the richness of their community experiences and language practices” (Hicks, p. 25).

While this is no easy task, it is necessary if educators are to meet the literacy needs of all students. We must continually question, reflect on, and change our instructional practices. In the words of Deborah Hicks, teachers need to “confront their own racisms and classisms before they [can] see the richness of children’s culturally saturated lives” (p. 26). We must think differently than we think and perceive differently than we see if we want to truly understand our students. By doing this, we can begin to value, appreciate, celebrate, and integrate the many different cultures and discourses present in our classrooms.

Leslie Rothenberger

“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

Now that I have completed the ASU Graduate program in Reading Education, I appreciate what I have learned in this course along with all the others, and reflect on how social relationships with my students and their families help shape literacy learning. In reading Hick’s book, Reading Lives, Working Class Children and Literacy Learning, I not only have a richer understanding of the importance of the experiences that students bring with them to school, but also a better understanding of social relations with my extended family members. During this course, it occurred to me why these relatives value cleaning and parenting as acceptable female roles. I realize that importance was placed upon the role of mothering and domestic activities when they were growing up. As a result, compliments are ample for cooking a good meal, baking cakes, and parenting in the manner in which they value. On the other hand, mowing the yard and tilling the garden are seen as a man’s job, and a husband and wife who share in parenting, cleaning and cooking is seen as foreign in their eyes. This course has given me knowledge of these family members and a deeper understanding of my relationship with them.

While taking this course, I have thought about the teachers whom I admire, and those teachers all have a way of developing positive relationships with their students. These teachers connect with and respect their students and, as a result, the students show respect to their teacher. I believe that these powerful relationships pave the way to literacy learning.

When it comes to teaching reading, I know more than ever before, that becoming familiar with students’ histories is crucial to uncovering student interest and how they learn best. Meeting the needs of students may require that I adopt new approaches to instruction, which may take me out of my pedagogical comfort zone. The key is to engage students with school literacy practices. My method of teaching and learning should be varied to meet the needs of all students. Engagement must allow students access to school literacies if they are to be successful readers and writers. Access to school literacies should allow for some choice on independent reading as well as small group guided reading instruction. I believe giving students the opportunity to choose their own books to read is empowering and encouraging. Allowing for choice within the classroom can not only come in the form of self-selected reading material, but also in centers or anchor activities, and tic tac toe homework sheets where students pick three assignments (out of nine) to complete by the end of the week.

In a guided reading lesson, I find discussions of texts a learning experience for everyone in the group. Students not only learn from the teacher but also from each other, because they can all bring something valuable into the discussion. This course has given new light on these social interactions after reading about various students’ unique lived experiences. Using their voice, each student has a special contribution they can make. I find a positive aspect of teaching in small groups is that it is easier to create a warm, inviting atmosphere that feels comfortable for everyone in the group. If students are at ease they will be more receptive to instruction. I believe it will be important to continue to use journals so that students have an opportunity to use their voice in a non-threatening manner. This seems to help my ESL students participate in discussions without being put on the spot to have to speak.

This next school year I look forward to delving into my students’ histories, coming to know and engage with them, attempting to uncover their interests, their preference of reading topics, what they value, and the way they maneuver through life within their world. Building positive, personal relationships with my students and their families seems more important than ever before. By using a variety of teaching methods and allowing for choice, I hope reading will be engaging and interesting for all of my students. My plan is to be thoughtful, supportive, and flexible and open to new pedagogical practices as I continue to try to meet the needs of my students in literacy education.

Carol Holt

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.

Central to the issues of race, class and gender in literacy has been the need for shifts in perspectives by the teachers charged to bring meaningful literacy experiences to students’ lives. Foucault’s quote represents the importance of perceiving differently. Every time we encounter new thoughts, observations or philosophies can we reflect and truly see in order to continue to see and reflect at all? As a teacher, these shifts in perspective are considerable if I am to understand and see my students’ situated histories. There is a need to not just celebrate diversity but to see further and deeper, layer-by-layer: to see the ‘whole child’s’ hybrid identity.

The readings challenged me to think and perceive differently about my current literacy practices. As Noll notes, meaningful literacy opportunities that link home and school “ Can serve to make visible students cultural knowledge and perspectives” and reveal the literacy strengths of students”. Whilst I recognize the importance of this in my teaching, Hicks discussion of literacy has produced a significant shift in my thinking. Literacy is not just reading and writing, but a cultural and social activity. The children that I teach are not approaching “literacy practices as autonomous reasoners who then individually construct knowledge about literacy practices” (p.15). Daniel and Zonnie were wonderful at “re-authoring” themselves outside of school. They were dancers, poets, and musicians. In these roles they displayed an identity that made sense to them. If their teachers had been more aware of literacy as a social activity and had valued this home discourse then Daniel and Zonnie would not have experienced such conflict and separation. Staples in particular seemed to find a way to help her students bridge the gap. By using relevant movies and books, she was able to engage students in purposeful literacy that encompassed cultural and social practices.

Henry’s discussions about the roadblocks students encountered in ‘coming to voice’ further reinforced the need for a shift in my perceptions. Voice is identity and part of the whole child. I need to think beyond the notion of ‘one right answer’ in the classroom. As I discussed in recent posts, too often we experience teachers who expect the ‘right answer’. These are classrooms where the teacher does all of the thinking; discussion and imposing of a correct ‘view’ or ‘voice’ and students sit silently without giving voice to their ideas. Planning for discussion, without the teacher always being at the center of it with defined roles for student ‘voice’ is essential. Delpit’s article reinforced the necessity of ‘code switching’ in all of our lives. Henry summed up the needs that our students have: ‘they are anxious for spaces” and we must strive to provide them because ‘voice is identity, voice is power and a sense of purpose’. Continuous reflection will help me to attempt to ‘read the lives’ of children as they negotiate their hybrid discourses of home and school.

Recognizing the power of narratives in students’ histories also necessitates reflection on my current practices. Storytelling is a necessary and powerful tool that I am in a unique position to give to student ‘voice’. It can succeed in developing a strong sense of self. Perry’s discussion of the lost boys of Sudan spoke volumes about transformative storytelling in the lives of students. This type of storytelling maintained their cultural identities but also motivated them to push for change and engage in print literacies.

This class highlighted how competing identities shape literacy and how important it is to truly teach what matters to my students. To try to perceive deeper, to see my students, I could encourage them to write their own literacy histories, specifically as we did and continue the power of narratives in my Writer’s workshop. Students like Laurie that Hicks discussed would have benefitted from discussing and writing about media texts and social events that would have helped her to move between her two worlds. I can also strive to teach critical literacy that addresses the varying diversities that I will encounter: “those involving relations of ethnicity, race, gender and class”. (Hicks). There is a need to offer a curriculum that “embraces listening, watching, feeling and understanding” (p.13). This serves to create those spaces in an otherwise full day and recognize the hybrid languages of inquiry that my students have (Hicks, p. 157).

It is evident that these shifts in perspective need to not just take place within my instruction and knowledge about my students’ communities and cultures. There is a need for what Hicks terms “a moral shift”- “a willingness to open oneself up to the possibilities of seeing those who differ from us”. (p. 152). This means truly ‘listening beyond’ language form and how we think certain types of people will behave. We cannot ignore the impact of the middle class values of schools that we work in. This is uncomfortable but vital. I am not just turning the lens on my teaching but on the very beliefs and values that I shared when writing my own literacy history for this class.

Hicks explores these necessary shifts in teaching and in self. She defines the struggles of Jake and Laurie as “one of confronting the hegemony of an educational system still deeply informed by the myths and metaphors of mainstream psychology”. These myths construct a politics of learning and achievement that can be devastating for students. “They distance the field from the histories and practices that could be the starting point of social action”. (p. 158). Through the work of Williams (1977) Hicks argues for “confronting a hegemony in the fibers of self”. As teachers we struggle with our own histories and the hybrid discourses we shift between. We also have to recognize that just as we struggle so do our students. We have to be patient and attentive within our self otherwise students will distance themselves from us and learning and children will be reduced to mere labels. We have to be moved by what we see in the whole child, their situated histories and hybrid discourses: a necessary ‘sense of oughtness’ (Hicks). The critical struggle is then to teach without assimilation or social criteria and value the uniqueness of each child. This class brings hope for renewal and that “In the midst of struggle lie the seeds of poetic transformation”. (Hicks, p.159).

Karen Massey-Cerda

Text of pleasure: the text that contents, fills, grants euphoria; the text that comes from culture and does not break with it, is linked to a comfortable practice of reading.
Text of bliss: the text that imposes a state of loss, the text that discomforts, unsettles the reader’s historical cultural, psychological assumptions, the consistency of his [sic] tastes, values, memories, brings to a crisis his [sic] relation with language.
Roland Barthes

This quote by Roland Barthes, reflects the relationship a reader develops with literacy and the feelings generated by that relationship. After reading the quote several times, it seems to me that Barthes is trying to distinguish the level of comfort a reader feels when engaged with literacy practices. A text of pleasure is the kind of literature we choose to read, write, or communicate because it is familiar and when consumed it fulfills a desire or need from within thus creating a sense of contentment. These are the texts that meet our cultural history and personal identities. A text of bliss, on the other hand, refers to text that is foreign and creates uneasiness to the reader or writer. These forms of literacy are difficult to comprehend and make connections because they do not mirror the participant’s cultural discourse. As an educator, these different relationships or reactions to text a reader creates are important as our students develop language skills that will shape their future attitudes towards literacy in the classroom.

As I read the various assigned articles concerning gender, race, and class. as well as the chapters from Reading Lives about Laurie and Jake, the relationships that were made between reader and text became more outward when thinking about this quote. The study and research of Elizabeth Noll involving two Native American students clearly illustrates the relationship Daniel and Zonnie experienced with the literature they engaged in both at home and at school. Their cultural history of Native American life included music, dance, and art to express and convey meaning. Daniel’s texts of pleasure included stories about Native American heroes and life including, the local paper, Indian Country Today, and horror stories. When engaged with these forms of literacy, he felt pleasure as they met his cultural history and the identity that he valued most. The content of these forms of language gave Daniel the feeling of belonging that the racial discrimination he encountered at school did not. The information in text found at school concerned “White man stuff” which was inconsistent to his taste and values. These would be considered texts of bliss and because of his discontent and lack of participation, earned him low grades. When Zonnie wrote letters to her father in prison and poetry to express her feelings, she engaged in texts of pleasure. Connecting with her father and expressing herself in poetry and music, Zonnie felt connected and joyful. The words flowed easily and became an important part of her identity at home as well as school. When given writing assignments in school, she felt disconnected when trying to make up stories that had no personal meaning. She had already learned that writing should be purposeful to be gratifying. When engaged with text, Daniel and Zonnie struggled to construct personal understanding of their identities through literacy practices, while some brought pleasure and others brought resentment.

The article written by Annette Henry, outlines her research with adolescent Caribbean girls finding “their voice” or identity through literacy activities. By providing students with issues relevant to their own lives, these girls were able to think, reflect, understand, and even extend the text through writing to their own personal experiences. The students showed passion when asserting their voice about current events that connected to their own cultural discourse. When two of the girls wrote a play about their home discourse, they found the text pleasing and meaningful because it was about their cultural history; females cooking a dish from their home country. These afterschool literacy experiences, unlike those in class, would be considered texts of pleasure because they integrated the participants’ cultural identity to the experience. The results of this study of students who rarely see themselves reflected in the curriculum, confirms that when text is irrelevant to a reader or writer, it is difficult to accomplish and creates a disengaged student who loses interest in the task.

This was also apparent when learning about Jake’s literacy experiences in first grade as described by Deborah Hicks in Reading Lives. Unlike his center structured kindergarten writing and storytelling, his choice and expressiveness was confined to what his first grade teacher deemed relevant to the curriculum. His personal identity was not recognized and the shift between his home discourse and school became difficult. We learned a student’s home discourse will prevail in this conflict because that is where the identity is strongest and most influenced.

When I read the various postings of our class blog, I found the critiques and comments insightful and meaningful because we connected with our own experiences as educators and early learners to understand these new ideas of race, culture, gender, and class in literacy. Although I have often thought about how race and culture affects a student’s literacy history, I had not considered how class can emotionally impact these experiences. The relationships with text can be positive or negative, depending on the text and the reader or writer. I plan to create more positive experiences with texts of pleasure by getting to know my students and integrating their other discourses into the classroom where identity and voice can be nurtured.

Michelle Carlson

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

To me this quote means that if a person wants to acquire new knowledge, they must be open minded. There would be no point in hearing others’ perspectives if you are not attempting to understand their perspective. I feel as if this quote relates well to higher education. Seeking out higher education is a choice. It is doubtful that any one applied to graduate school without a desire to learn more. The knowledge that is gained must be gathered, evaluated, and determined how it should be implemented in one’s own life. Taking the time to digest another person’s opinion can be difficult, but it is absolutely necessary for true learning to take to place. This quote also ties in nicely with my thoughts about this course. We all viewed the same video clips, read the same articles, case studies, etc. but each person had a different view. This was because everyone brought various background knowledge and life experiences to the table, or blog I should say.

There were a few times when I began to read another person’s post and I found myself disagreeing with their opinions. However, after I read their post all the way through, I found myself questioning my own stances. This was a result of being open and taking the time to reflect on the reasoning behind their thinking. In almost every person’s post, I related to at least a piece of their reasoning. If I did not relate to their reasoning or opinion, it was still beneficial. I learned a lot from the diversity of the responses and comments. One comment that I particularly benefited from came after I had posted my response to Reading Lives, chapters 5 & 6. My understanding was that Jake’s father was holding him back from any possibility of a college education because he wanted Jake to take over the family business. Marlee pointed out the fact that Jake’s father’s comment did the opposite, it showed how much confidence he had in his son. This comment forced me to reevaluate my thoughts on Jake’s father. After doing so, I began to see that because of his own discourse, Jake’s father thought that taking over the family business equaled success. He was not being selfish at all.

The two articles that helped me to dig deeper into my own thoughts and piece together my own understanding was, Delpit’s “No Kinda Sense” and Dowdy’s “Ovuh Dyuh”. Each of these articles brought up an issue that I had questioned but never understood. While writing my reflection, I had to use my prior knowledge and form a well thought explanation. This process alone helped me to focus on my own thoughts and feelings about this subject. I found this to be a challenging task because I’ve never felt as if I had an answer to this question. The article did not offer a clear cut answer to this question. In some aspects, I was glad that there was not an “answer”. The fact that so many people have such a hard time explaining why this is so important should be food for thought. It definitely was for me. I reflected on times when I have made a judgment about a person’s intelligence based on the sound of their voice. This is an unfair assessment. The articles did shed light onto how language plays a large part in one’s social discourse. Throughout our posts, comments, and Dr. Jackson’s podcasts, I have a much stronger understanding of the weight our discourses hold. Also, I had never thought so in depth about the hybrids we all have. Of course I have practiced (and still do) carrying out various hybrids to match my situation. However, these hybrids came so natural, I had never stepped back to really think about what I was doing and why.

My favorite article from this semester was the Noll article. I found myself really living out the ideals from Michel Foucault’s quote. As an educator, I am used to providing questions and answers. This was something that I realized needs to be changed and already has been to some degree. As I was reading, my thinking began changing. It started out, “how help them understand?” while teaching students of diverse cultures. Then I began to realize that this should not be the first question I ask myself. It should be more along the lines of, “how can I understand my student?” When I began thinking differently and perceiving my role differently, I benefited from this understanding but more importantly, my students benefited from this change.

This whole process of changing and/or expanding my own thinking happened each time I read others’ posts and comments. It was truly a thought provoking and beneficial experience. I believe the link we all had as educators helped us to make relevant connections, which expanded our thinking. Connections were a huge part of this course. We found connections within each other’s posts and comments on a regular basis. Many of us also found that helping our students make connections to the material we teach, can make a world of difference. In several articles of the articles it was evident that when students were able to make a connection to something that had meaning to them, they were much more engaged. At the beginning of each school year from now on, I am going to give my students an interest inventory. If I am able to begin the school year armed with any insight into my students’ discourses, I will be more likely to promote interest and engage my students. I believe that this will happen and it will be a result of thinking and perceiving differently.

Stacy Durham

"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)

When I first started this course I had no idea that I would learn so much from an on-line class. I have learned so much about what I don't know about my students. I didn't realize what a sheltered life I have lived. I guess I have never really seen my students through the lenses of different cultures, races and gender. I didn't know how important it is to acknowledge and accept the differences of my students and what a tremendous impact those differences have on their literacy learning. The one thing that caught me by surprise through the reading materials was that I really got involved in the articles and with the children in the articles. It became a very intense and personal process, but it was very helpful in understanding the main concepts in this class. These major concepts brought out through the reading material influenced me not only as a professional, but within my personal life also. I am ashamed, but I'll have to admit that the only thoughts I have ever had about diversity have been about color. I see now that my students have different discourses that they bring to my classroom everyday. I don't want them to feel that they live in different cultures or feel seperated within their own lives. My greatest desire for my students is that can feel comfortable with who they are and where they come from. I don't want them to feel like they have to sound a certain way, look a certain way, or act a certain way to be a part of my classroom or our school. I don't want them to put on a "mask" everyday to come to school. I think my new quote is going to be, "It doesn't matter what other people think about you, you have to be who you are." (Delpit) I have learned how powerful literature and writing can be to my students. To help me understand the personal and social issues that are important to them. Through them I can have a better understanding of how others in thier lives interpret literacy and types of experiences they bring with them when they walk through my door. So many times I have dismissed my students when they were wanting to share a story but now I understand that, "literacy learning should be built on meaningful social engagements with reading and writing (Noll)." When students are engaged in literacy activities that stem from their worlds they are more meaningful. Supporting students and adapting new ways to engage and question them are important in literacy learning. Allowing them to tell thier stories and have a voice within the culture of the classroom is what I want for my classroom. I want all my students to feel like they have the "power" to success and literacy gives them that power.
I will do a better job of knowing who my students are and where they come from. This will involve knowing their parents, finding out about their belief system, what's important to their culture, their family and especially to them. The next time I have a Jake or Laurie I will do my best to understand why he/she reacts a certain way or why he/she feels a certain way about something. I hope I can make a difference in a child's life in that I can understand and try to advocate for him/her why he/she is the way he/she is. They need a voice, they don't have on,e and it is important for the child that we try to ensure their needs/stories are heard.
So in a final reflection of the famous quote, I can say that I do think differently about my students. I have a deeper understanding that they bring many discourses with them when they come through my door. I do see my students beyond color or the ethnic group to which they belong. There is a deeper culture and history to which I must learn in order to understand and successfully teach my students. My thoughts and my perceptions will no longer stop at the door when I meet my students. They will continue throughout the year as I learn who my students are and I will strive to help them become lifelong learners. I must change in order to improve my classroom and give all my students the feeling that they truly belong in my classroom and in our school.

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

“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

I think that this quotation from Michel Foucault sums up the lesson I will take from Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Research. I think Foucault is telling us that, if I am going to reflect on my practices, in my case, my teaching, then I need to try to see those practices from the point of view, or perspective, of discourses other than my own. It is only when I am able to reflect on my teaching from the perspectives of my students and their parents that I will be able to build the relationships which will allow for the most advantageous learning environment for my students.

This lesson was brought home time and time again as I read for this course. Beginning with Noll’s case study of two American Indian youths, Daniel and Zonnie, I realized the importance of learning about the perspectives of the students. Daniel and Zonnie were clearly intelligent young people. They were also clearly uninterested and uninspired by their schooling, feeling disconnected and unappreciated, both by their teachers and by their classmates. They seemed to feel comfortable with themselves only when they were functioning in their own tribal discourse, which they did regularly and successfully. Even with parents who were supportive of their educational endeavors, Daniel and Zonnie were not the strong students they could have been, had the teachers taken the time and made the effort to understand and appreciate their cultural background. Learning about their cultural was only the beginning, though, as Noll made it clear. She wanted us to “capture the meaning that they confer on what they (do) and on the way other people react to what they (do).” She reported on THEIR perception of what they did and the reactions of others, rather than on her own perceptions, which might have been totally different from theirs. As I noted in my blog, I think that, too often, we become so caught up in what we THINK our students are saying that we miss what they are really communicating to us...in other words, we superimpose the ideologies of our own discourses on our understandings of what our students are communicating to us.

Allowing our students to express themselves through the many different kinds of literacy is significant too, as it was to the African Caribbean girls, researched in Henry’s article Speaking Out, and Staples research article Hustle and Flow. Their research affirmed the importance of making connections with our students which go beyond our school relationships. Staples and Henry both found that it is vital for us to, not only understand the various discourses from which our students come, but to also use that knowledge to help us support our students learning with texts which are relevant within their discourses and allow them to use their different learning styles, cultural expressions, or intelligences to express themselves. We must respect their native languages or dialects, accepting their communications as legitimate methods of expression, even as we work to teach our students how to communicate in Standard English. I agree fully with Delpit’s statement that “To speak out against the language that children bring to school means that we are speaking out against their mother, that their mother are not good enough to be a part of the school world.” Although the use of Standard English is important as we prepare our children for future successes in the working world, we need to support and encourage their efforts with literacy in whatever language, rather than disparaging those efforts as inadequate. It seems that it is only when we develop these supportive, trusting relationships with our students that they are able to “buy into” the relevance and importance of the literacies we are sharing with them.

Previous to these readings, I had not thought of all of us – teachers and students alike – as storytellers. Now, as I reflect on the Hicks text and the articles we read, I realize that all of the students who participated in the research had stories of their own to tell. Indeed, some have stories of persecution, such as the Lost Boys of the Sudan. Some have stories that help them pass along traditional stories of their cultures and preserve their heritage, such as those of the American Indians, or the African Caribbean girls. Yet others have more commonplace stories of events and experiences in their own communities, like Laurie and Jake. Through their stories, we, as teachers, develop a better understanding of our students and “where they come from.”

Understanding the discourses from which our students come to us is vital if we are to plan appropriate learning experiences for them. For example, understanding Jake’s and Laurie’s home life and their experiences with literacy at home would help a resourceful teacher know better how to approach them in a school situation. Perhaps connecting to current events from the American Indian community would have promoted the interest necessary to engage Daniel and Zonnie in their class work. If relevant materials were used with the students involved in Staples’ and Henry’s research – song lyrics, or plays, or even current events that directly affected these students’ lives, for example - maybe they would have felt more empowered in their connection with their own education.

I think that, although providing a rich library of multicultural literature is a good beginning point for creating understanding of different cultures, Michel Foucault would have us dig a little deeper than just reading about them. He would ask us to examine and try to understand our students’ perceptions of their experiences from their own points of view. He would ask us to try to keep our understandings from being colored by our own discourses, and to be open to the feelings, experiences, and cultures of the children in our classes. By doing so, we enrich our own lives as well as the lives of our students, and we create the bonds and connections which enable us to provide rich instructional environments in our classrooms. We, as educators, must open our eyes to the lives of our students, and, as the saying goes, “Walk a mile in their shoes.” Only then can we be the effective, “highly qualified” teachers we aspire to be.

Marlee Wright

Written by Karin Scott

“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 certainly reflects my feelings about what I have learned during this course. The world of education is constantly changing and if we, as teachers, cannot adapt and change our thinking with it, we will not be as effective as we can be. Being able to take on other points of view to see the view from the other side is crucial for teachers, since we have so many different different views in each of our classrooms each year. If we continue to only see our own way of thinking as the right way of thinking and hold on to our biases and preconceived notions of race, class and gender, we will never achieve our goal of reaching every child.

One of the most important concepts that I took away from this course has to deal with the concept that our students don’t come to us as blank slates ready to be filled with information, as discussed in the Reading Lives chapters. Since the day they entered the world, every experience and interaction they’ve had has begun the process of shaping them as learners and it is crucial for me as a teacher to figure out how to use that to my advantage when teaching them instead of viewing it as a hinderance. Just as Laurie and Jake’s home lives influenced their outlooks on and the outcomes of learning, so will my future students. From this course, I now realize the high priority I must give to getting to know my students and their families both inside the classroom as well as out.

The concept of children having “hybrid” identities also opened my eyes to a lot of new ideas and notions about the two different lives that children lead both in and out of school. Delpit discusses the concept of “code switching” which I was aware of in the past, but had never been able to give a formal name. It made me think a lot deeper about how much children do switch “codes” between friends and adults, school and home, etc. Hicks spoke about “hybrid identities” that children develop to exist both inside the classroom and inside their homes. We saw how sometimes these identities need assistance from the teacher to help develop channels between the two, especially with Jake. If one of his first or second grade teachers had picked up on his love of NASCAR or his interest in construction/heating and air conditioning repair because of his father’s interest in it, and how much more he was engaged in learning when information was presented in those formats, he may have been much more attentive and successful in school. Once again, getting to know the whole student can make a huge difference in how we teach and the outcomes we achieve for them.
hybrid identity, code switching

I also learned a lot about what it’s like to grow up as a girl in the south. From reading about Hicks’ experiences as a young girl as well as others’ discussions in their posts, I gathered a lot of new information about southern culture that I didn’t possess before now. Growing up in upstate New York in a nonreligious family, I did not have nearly the experiences and I think learning this new information is helpful because although I’m sure things have changed some, the basic concepts are still the same and to understand that is just one step to further understand where my future students are coming from.

Giving work that has a purpose, for a real audience, is another concept that I took away from this class. Not that I didn’t know that was important before, but during this course I was really able to think deeper about exactly why it is that kids need to understand the purpose for what they are doing. Also, it’s not good enough to just tell them “you’ll need this later on in life.” A lot of students have to actually see the use for it or they will become disengaged. This was seen in Perry’s study, when Chol wanted to publish his autobiography in a magazine. If we as teachers can pick up on those kinds of things and find authentic, real, live audiences for our students’ work, we can give them a real purpose for doing the work, instead of just for a grade.

Though I have not had my own classroom yet, and cannot use the knowledge I’ve gained to reflect on past experiences outside of tutoring, I can certainly use it for my future classrooms. The tools I have gained from this class helped me to understand how truly important it is to get to know your students-the whole student, not just what you see in the classroom, but their families, values, cultures, pasts, presents and futures as well. As we can clearly see through the readings for this course, learning this information will help us greatly in the work to reach each and every student and help them succeed in school and in life.

Kim Strzelecki

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

I believe that Foucault is speaking to the fact that reflection cannot take place without the possibility of change- whether it be in thought or action. Otherwise, reflection would serve no purpose; you would simply keep moving in the same direction.

In “reflection” of this class, I can honestly say that I have begun to really give the outside world a lot of thought. Until now, I thought I understood what it meant to support diverse learners. However, I now realize there is really no way of delivering sufficient instruction without adequate and thoughtful research of the whole student. Generalizations of a single culture will not provide the information necessary in meeting an individual student’s needs.

In hindsight, I believe cultural invitations are not only important but necessary to academic development. By this, I mean that mere acceptance is not enough. We as teachers need to welcome cultures into the classroom and foster an environment of cultural exploration. When we provide a safe place in which to share all cultures, students will develop a willingness to share. It is crucial that all students value literacy. When students are able to make personal connections with literacy, they will value its purpose in their world. The Sudanese refugees valued storytelling. It was their way of preserving their heritage. From the older generations, the Sudanese learned their history and the art of storytelling. When they came to America, writing provided an avenue through which they could inform the world about their mother country. They not only wanted to raise awareness, but they wanted to “call others to act.” Literacy for the Sudanese had a clear purpose. In the future, I plan to invite different cultures to share their life stories with us through storytelling and writing. After all, we are always encouraging students to use their own voices.

Through further reflection, I have decided that I need to give all students opportunities to use their dialects in the classroom. Writing would provide a great avenue for self expression. By allowing students to use their own dialects in writing, I believe it would free up their minds and allow them to write more fluidly. So often, the thought process is interrupted by grammar rules. All children need to be given a safe atmosphere in which to write. By incorporating this attitude into my classroom, I will open up a door for educating ourselves about other cultures. As I stated in an earlier post regarding the African Carribean girls, “messages may be altered or even lost when they are ‘avoiding their mother tongues and dialects.’ Til now, I believe we as Americans have just expected everyone to immediately conform to our language and literacy practices. Let us not forget what it is like to learn something for the first time; we all must take baby steps at first.
An area in which I feel that I did improve this year was independent reading. During self-selected reading time, I encouraged all students to read on their own levels. To ensure that students were following this guideline, I periodically checked their book levels and compared it to my recorded levels. Students showed improvement in fluency this year. In addition, I think they actually enjoyed reading more because they did not become frustrated, and they were more attentive to the text. No matter the grade level, it is absolutely necessary that students read text that is appropriate for their individual needs. Students like Laurie and Jake need text on their level in order to grow. When students already feel inferior for reasons other than school, they especially need to be given opportunities in which they can feel successful.

Along with making greater efforts in preserving native languages, providing opportunities for independent reading, and welcoming cultural education, I also need to meet with parents more often. I need to stay abreast of any home life changes which may impact my students’ performance. It’s difficult to know how to help someone if you cannot identify the problem. Hicks seemed to have a good relationship with Laurie’s family. This relationship provided an additional window into her life. Anytime a child’s behavior changes drastically, there is a reason for it. With continuous parent communication, I can identify the cause much more quickly and perhaps resolve it much more quickly.

Laurie’s story will certainly inspire me to pay close attention to those “good” students. While many students exhibit good behavior on a regular basis, I need to make sure that they are not using good behavior as a means of masking deficits. Although I do need to acknowledge “good” behavior and encourage it, I do not want to overlook academic challenges because of it. Looking the other way will not benefit Laurie and students like her in the long run. In fact, allowing her to slide by because of her “good” behavior would be a huge disservice to her. I owe it to my students to be more attentive to their student needs.

Since I began teaching, I have heard about the importance of making learning real for the students. In other words, how does education pertain to their lives? Jake’s story really hit home for me. So many struggling students give up very early in their school career because they have determined that they are not performing as their peers. Their parents usually seem surprised. Because of their positive reading experiences at home, parents naturally assume that their children are performing on the same level in the classroom. In reflecting on my own experiences, I realize that I need to make a greater effort to gather books of interest for the child and plan projects which will interest and motivate the child. While this practice may be difficult to incorporate every day, I can certainly take steps toward making it more common. I would much rather they read and write about topics of choice than not at all. They will still learn and maybe they will gain some confidence along the way which is crucial for success.

Words cannot express the effect this class has had on me as an educator. It has shed some new light on the term “diverse”. Within each classroom, there is an entire class of diverse learners. Whether it be language, dialect, socioeconomic background, or unique family situations, each child is bringing their own discourse into the classroom. They are bringing us the best they have; therefore, we must give them the best we can to ensure that they learn.

Holly Lawson

“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 all.” Michel Foucault

I teach in a school located in the middle of the public housing projects and one of the hardest things to do is to see beyond the circumstances and not make excuses for where they come from. In the reflection of my school and students the expectations for the students have always been high. Being consistent and firm, but at the same time I still perceive the circumstances of the students’ lives to be somewhat the same as my own growing up in small rural Midwest. Finding that my own values, beliefs and ideals were different from my students, this class helped to shed light into different approaches and views for my own classroom. Over the years I have had to change and learn how to relate to the families and children I serve without, but I will definitely be able to take knowledge from this course and apply many strategies to build even stronger relationships with my students and families.

Hick’s book “Reading Lives Working-Class Children and Literacy Learning” spoke to me as an educator. I now have a richer understanding of the importance of building relationships with the family and bringing experience to life for children in order to better grow in their literacy journey. In chapter two Hicks states “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 strong hold on educational theory and practice.” (p. 16) This has helped to me see as a teacher that children come with a literacy base already, but the base may not be what is need for school but rather home. Before reading Hicks book and the article about code switching, I thought that it was something that should come natural for children. Learning that code switching wasn’t natural put things into perspective and how I view my children.

An area I feel that I can definitely build upon and do better with is independent reading. I have always provided basket of books for children to read independently and on their level, but now after this course I find how important it is to search a little deeper and find books of interest. Reading can be boring for many of my students who struggle and they often become inattentive during the self-selected reading block, but providing students with books that incorporates all of their interest will increase their time on task and interest in books. Through a grant this year I was able to purchase graphic novels which were a hit among my boys, but I need to purchase more books to target my boys like Jake.

This course will has given me the knowledge to look at my students through a different lens. I will do a better job of getting to know my families and relating to my students. We may come from different sides of the track, but we do have a common interest already and that is their child. Looking at the beliefs and values of the families will help me to understand where they are coming from when it comes to their child.

One thing that really reached to me was the story of Laurie. Over the study it was stated that she had learned to be the “good child”. Reading about her struggles will help me to pay closer to my students in my class who are using the same defense. I will now be on “watch” to look for those students and spend some extra time in my remediation block attending to their needs. I don’t want any child to go unnoticed.

In closing I will approach this new school year differently. I will bring a new look an approach to my education practices which I hope will inspire my children to be lifelong readers and learners. Before beginning this class I was apprehensive about what I would learn or gain from an online course. I thought there was no way I would gain the knowledge I have, with not having a professor present. I now have an understanding about the different discourses that they bring to my classroom and how I can help to change the way I previously looked at my students.

Kara S

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

Just last week I turned to my husband and said, “All I could think about during dinner was how different their discourse was growing up than mine.” He looked at me oddly and I explained myself…
Let me explain to you… My husband is a Rabbi. I grew up Jewish but in a very secular home, which means we did not highly emphasize religious practices on a daily basis. It was a quite a surprise when I brought a Rabbi home to introduce my latest crush to my parents. Now, for obvious reasons, our family is involved in a lot of religious activities. I often find myself asking my husband “what does that mean?” Or “what am I supposed to do now?” Having been in this new world for about 3 years, I am continually learning new things and expanding my personal discourse to adjust to my life as a Rabbi’s wife. We were at dinner with a group of 4 different Jewish leaders that had all had religious lifestyles growing up and it seemed as though they were speaking a different language as they were referring to things I had never heard of before. As I sat there dumbfounded, I thought about how much I need to learn to be a part of this world, and understand it. Michael Foucault’s quote resonates with me because of where I come from, what I have learned, and what I plan to do with it.

Where do I come from?
This semester I gave great thought to who I am and how my personal experience has prepared me for what I’m doing now. It also taught me how to interpret people. I have thought about the people in my life who have influenced me and helped me understand the students that I teach. I have reflected on past students that have demonstrated similar qualities to those we have read about and how I wish I had taken this course before meeting those students as I might have interpreted their actions differently! I am aware now of how it is necessary to understand where someone else is coming from to best understand who they are and how they learn best.
I am fortunate to be able to say that I have not had to change who I am, or learn to act a certain way to be able to succeed in life, much like Delpit and Dowdy described in their articles. I understand now that for some, it is a necessary means to earn the respect of people around them. Yet I am somewhat a hybrid of two discourses in that my parents came from two different worlds. My father came from upper class society whereas my mother’s family was working class. I know how to communicate and situate myself appropriately with both classes, which has proven helpful in both my teaching and situational aspects of my husband’s line of work as well.
I am a storyteller like Francis, Ezra, and Chol. I have had many worldly experiences in my life from student teaching in Australia to traveling Europe and working with Serbian and Kosovo refugees, to teaching in the inner city of Chicago. Just like Perry encouraged with her students, I will share these stories from my life so others can learn from them. In the same respect, I will invite my students to share their stories, because it is important to have a voice and be heard.

What have I learned?
As shown in my story above, our readings have provided me with a frame of mind where I make note of new things now that I wasn’t aware of previously. For example, I was talking to my principal on the last day of school when some other co-workers joined in the conversation. They were all black and I’m white. As soon as they joined the conversation, my principal began to code-switch and speak differently than she had with just me. The readings gave me this insight and honestly it made me feel valued that my principal felt comfortable to speak like that with me involved. As Foucault points out, I find myself looking and reflecting at the happenings around me with a closer eye.
In our readings, one repeated issue I had was the assumption that students have literacy deficiencies (ex. Daniel and Zonnie) when in fact, the teachers and students often have difficulty understanding each other. The teachers, because of their hierarchical role, judge the students to be lacking in ability when really miscommunication is the primary concern. Looking at it from an outsider’s perspective rather than being the teacher involved, I realize the importance 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.
Miscommunication is not the only problem we focused on. Lack of getting to KNOW your students kept coming up in the readings (ex. Laurie and Jake). There are many positives to paying attention to who your students are. First, the students will be grateful that you want to learn about them and will probably be willing to work harder for a teacher they know cares. Second, if you seek out what interests them, they will be more motivated to learn because you choose subjects they take an active interest in. A good teacher makes things relevant to what is happening in their students’ lives. As Iris Murdoch states, “I can only choose within the world I can see…” (p. 151). As I am stressing the point that I need to see beyond my own world to grasp my students’ perspective, I cannot yet expect them to do that yet. As Hicks stated, “like other things in his family life, reading had to make good sense to be something of value to Jake” (p. 120). I need to find what my students value, and then I will likely make a stronger connection with them and provide them opportunities to be more successful. Third, you will have a better idea of what obstacles the student really has, and how best to work around those obstacles. Finally, when you get to KNOW your students, you form relationships with them that involve trust, as Henry and Staples alluded to in their articles. For some students, they don’t find that trust in their home life, and you become someone they depend on and look to for guidance and support.

What do I plan to do with it?
Looking forward, I am about to step out of my comfort zone and expand my discourse yet another notch. I am accustomed to teaching little kids. Next year, I have just taken a challenge to teach 5th grade. I also am going to work in a mostly white school when I’m used to teaching in the inner city. This is going to be a culture shock yet I chose this because I am looking forward to working with a unique team that I can collaborate with and learn from, an experience I was not getting at my former school. As I am challenging myself, I will also challenge my students. Since I am teaching predominately white students from rural North Carolina, they will need me to tell stories, and share about different cultures. Hopefully they will share a piece of themselves with me I will offer them a curriculum that “embraces listening, watching, feeling, and understanding” (p.13) as Hicks encourages. Most importantly, I will continue to look and reflect with an open eye, to what my students needs are and try to meet their needs on a level playing field.

-- Carrie Brown

“Critique is understood as an interrogation of the terms by which life is constrained
in order to open up the possibility of different modes of living;
in other words, not to celebrate differences as such
but to establish more inclusive conditions
for sheltering and maintaining life that resist models of assimilation.”
Judith Butler

I feel the quote by Judith Butler best describes how I now feel about ways the issues of race, class, and gender should be approached and addressed in the classroom. Throughout this course I have found myself evaluating and analyzing not only the situations in the research we have read but also those of my classroom as well as the bigger scheme of society in general. I agree with Butler, we should not just simply “celebrate” each others and our students’ differences but develop stronger habits to help preserve and incorporate those things that make us the individuals we are into daily life as well as our classrooms. However, I do feel some amount and degree of “assimilation” is necessary both for life in and out of the classroom. These adjustments should take place in order to make connections, form bonds, and build the avenues necessary to be able to work together and move forward with learning and life. There is a delicate balance of the exact level of integration of new ideas into someone’s thinking that should take place. This should ever merely be done or presented by asking them to forget the old and strictly conform to the new.

The way by which individuals seem to automatically adjust to different situations and yet still maintain the connection with their own personal practices was first clearly evident to me by the research of Dowdy and Delpit. Michelle Obama also quite plainly wrapped it all up by speaking frankly with students about her childhood struggles of blurring the lines between “sounding white,” becoming successful in school and life, as well as being accepted socially in her discourse. Delpit used “code switching” to name and describe the ability to easily change how we communicate within different groups. Dowdy told her story and struggle to find the balance of successfully maintaining her roots in Trinidad while being pushed to conform and use “Queen’s English.” All three of these examples opened my eyes to the realities that minority girls face within the classroom and also in their social community. I found myself reflecting and analyzing not only my students’ use but my own as well as of “code switching.” Although I had seen it happening in my classroom automatically for some children, others needed more practice or examples in order to successfully “switch” or change between home and school communication patterns. I hope now with my new awareness and understanding of the importance and relevance of not only “code switching” but preserving and maintaining a variety of communication patterns/literacies for my students, I can do a better job of affirming and encouraging them. I am also excited about the ways in which I can utilize this knowledge in instruction, to make adjustments to instruction, and hopefully make my entire class feel included.

I found Elisabeth Noll’s research to be especially interesting. The American Indian culture has not had a great presence in my classroom. I have had one student who I can recall that was American Indian. His mother volunteered and spent one afternoon visiting each of our five kindergarten classrooms sharing stories, songs, music, instruments, and dances from her tribe. It was wonderful to see all the students, from various backgrounds, participate and discover some of the practices of a new culture for them. It also helped Arron’s peers to better understand where he was coming from and how they were different and alike at the same time. Is there a better time or age to learn to accept others? If only it continued to be as easy not to judge as it seems to be for my kindergarteners? In Noll’s study, Daniel and Zonnie both had the support of their families and early experiences with traditional literacy. It’s too bad that neither of them seemed to really receive the same support in the school setting. Their teachers did not show much interest and lacked the understanding of their complex “multiple literacies.” It is my hope that I can do a better job of getting to know my students, their families, and gain a true understanding of their culture in order to enrich their overall learning experience while they are in my class. From the research I have read, this could potentially have a lasting positive effect on them and remain with them throughout their time in school. Who doesn’t want to be accepted and validated?

Jeanine M. Staples and Annette Henry both used writing to empower black males and females find and even “re-author” their own “voice.” Again I began to recall situations in my own life and reflect on many students that have in my classroom. I found myself scrutinizing over particular situations and individual students, asking myself did I handle that the right way or what could I have done differently. In kindergarten writing is such a challenge for most of the children that I do try to make it as fun and unintimidating as possible. I had never before thought of it as an opportunity to aid students in acquiring their own voices. But I am a firm believer in the earlier the better, at this age kids are like sponges and can obtain more than we would ever think possible. However, because it is the first experience with formal writing for many students there is the need to provide a large amount of examples, especially in the beginning of the year. This is not to say that we don’t learn by dong and that goes for our students as well. So I plan to incorporate and provide a more varied range of examples with writings, journals, literature, and poetry for my students and draw particular attention to the author’s background/culture. I think this will present my students to opportunity to make better connections with authors and see themselves and their own potential as writers.

Lamont Carey’s poem put into words the blame game that I think happens all too often. Not only should we be celebrating and identifying the different backgrounds and styles of learners we have in our classrooms, we need to also be developing and implementing more efficient ways to help them be successful. I’m not suggesting that they give up everything they have already learned at home to learn the way things are done in school, but there has to be a balance and open communication that goes both ways. Everyone needs to be able to read because like Carey asked without that ability, “what are my options?” It is our job as teachers to strive to do what is right for every student. This starts by getting to know each one as a real and whole person, then devising a plan to help move them towards the goals.

In Deborah Hicks’ research, this process of really getting to know your students is brought to the forefront as a vital component for ensuring their success in school. The boys and girls situations she describes really challenged me to critically look at my own practices. I know like the teachers in her book, I too have made mistakes by assuming that I have all the information needed when making major decisions concerning my students. However, now that I have had this course, read her book, and other research regarding the issues of race, class, and gender influence I have a great appreciation and understanding for what I need to be doing differently. At the very beginning of next school year I would like to get more information from parents beside the basic/standard medical history. I plan to create a form that they can complete to include family and cultural background (not just boxes to check) as well as other information they would be willing to offer specifically related to their child. I would then like to meet with each family and discuss more in depth the information they provided as a means of beginning the open communication between home and school. This would also serve as an opportunity for me to review initial assessments and present goals. Then ideally I would include them and welcome their suggestions as we generate ideas for working together to help their child reach their potential during the year. I realize what a great undertaking this will be but recognize the potential benefits it could have of helping to break stereotypes and/or being to mend the fences of previously bad experiences. It is my ultimate goal to help students and their parents feel accepted, confident, and accomplished when they leave my class and I feel the understanding I now have of the impact of race, class, and gender on students’ experiences in school will help make that goal a reality!

Ruth Ann Timmons

Critique is understood as an interrogation of the terms by which life is constrained in order to open up the possibility of different modes of living; in other words, not to celebrate difference as such but to establish more inclusive conditions for sheltering and maintaining life that resist models of assimilation. ~Judith Butler

I believe Judith Butler meant that in order for a person to think differently and understand that differences occur among people and situations, one has to first question himself. This interrogating act is not done to celebrate the differences and cultures between people, but to realize how to better include these individuals instead of expecting them to assimilate to what is accepted as the standard. Instead, both perspectives need to be open and willing to transform a little in order to proactively move toward a society that understands the cause-and-effect relationship between a person’s hybrid identity (Hicks, 2002) and education.

There’s no question that educators are aware of the diversity of their students. We understand that they are each different in their own right, but we often fail to question how they are different in order to understand how their differences affect their learning. Hicks’ (2002) own self-reflections and studies of Laurie and Jake’s interactions with school provides clarity in my own understanding of how class and gender affect a child’s literacy learning, especially when these identities conflict with the models found among education. The role of males and females are seen differently among classes, causing frustration for some students who are trying to balance the literacies between home and school. Hicks’ studies demonstrates that the early grades can be the hardest for many students because they are adjusting differences from home literacies to school literacies. They are realizing that things are not like those at home, and thus begins their journey of molding in hybrid identities that involves some difficulties along the way.

In regards to race, this course has allowed me to see that though different races may not always be accepted among standard English that is taught within a white middle class educational system, these races face struggles within their own groups when they begin to assimilate to the standards of this system. In a sense, Delpit and Dowdy shared how they or their loved ones faced ostracism because they were taking the avenue of what society deemed as the only road to success. In my opinion, teachers should strive to make their students reach success and forcing them to assimilate to a perceived standard by imposing our own cultural identities and backgrounds is not the way. What kind of message is this sending to our students? – Society isn’t going to accept you like you are and neither are we?! This is not the approach education should take. Is it not the role of education to inform society and culture them into upstanding citizens? If so, why can’t we inform them that cultural backgrounds help form literacies and expecting a person to assume the standard brings conflict and frustration that inhibits intellectual growth as students try to form their identity? By teaching that standard English is the only way to success, we are forcing our children to either conform and forget what has molded them into who they are or continue to taste failure and rejection among those who say they know best. Instead, we should be encouraging them to use their cultural identities to empower them among literacy learning so they are able to reflect and decide the directions they desire. By doing this, we are still molding them into upstanding citizens who become proactive in challenging the accepted standards as the only means of achieving success. Proposing that there is only one way to reaching the standard is denying our students from exploring who they are and how this can be used to help them achieve success.

As Noll suggested, teachers to need step up in their influential roles and discover what interests and backgrounds their students have. By appealing to their interests and home identities, we are able to help them as they establish their hybrid selves. This also portrays to our students that they ways of thinking are not wrong, and we are beginning to model to them that you have to reflect upon different perspectives in order to gain a deeper understanding of the world around us. Using literacy – reading and writing – is a way of enabling our students to reflect and see similar perspectives so they can express themselves without feeling different. This is what Henry and Staples enabled me to understand when they referred to giving our students a voice within the classroom. They need to be able to share and an inviting environment. The Carey video only confirmed that such school literacies gives our students a means of gaining power and equality within the classroom and communities. Education plays an important role in the lives of our students. It is crucial for teachers to know their students, welcome who they are, be sensitive to their needs, and help them find ways to develop within the confines of school without forcing just one model. By doing this speaks volumes, students are able to hear loud and clear that they are accepted and cared for within the classroom.

Melissa Riley

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.