RES 5530: Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Research (Spring 2009)

and students education of language and literacy is affected by them, and Purcell-Gates argued that "it is the duty of teachers to guide all students to literacy with equal rigor". I felt these chapters were a little more beneficial than the previous chapters because within the chapters there were examples of how to acknowledge the "isms" in a positive atmosphere and how to build instruction based on the background the students bring into the classrooms.

In chapter 3 the author argues that "if schools are to be as successful at teaching Standard English, they must be just as welcoming", she is speaking of the lives of the children and their interests. The chapters we read for the last assignment identified the issues and struggles of several children and how their lives in the school system affected them, and problems with the school system. I always feel that if there are going to be problems identified, there should be suggestions for improvement. In these chapters we have more of an idea of how to improve the instruction our children receive regarding the instruction towards standard English and written expression. In chapter 3 Deplit writes about the struggle her daughter had in the school system. She writes about her daughter feeling more comfortable in the school system where she was surrounded by more students of her race and how she felt embraced by them. If I am correct, I feel Deplit argues because her daughter felt accepted by her peers which made her lower her guard and "embraced the language of her new friends". I wondered if we as teachers provide a welcoming environment with standard English models who welcome conversation, if it would bring a learning environment where students build their understanding of Standard English. Is providing that environment enough? And if so, how do we effectively "correct" the dialogue within conversation without the students feeling attacked. Because it seems the subject is a very fragile topic.

The people who compiled the book are very talented, because I was feeling as if there were too many complaints and too few ideas for improvement. Then I read Trilingualism. In the chapter Judith Baker describes an activity she completes with her diverse high school class. The activity represents her theory that there are at least three forms of English that should be learned. The labels and definitions she proposed, I agree with. I think students have a "home", "formal", and "professional". I think most of the chapters we have read so far, lead to this point.
Everyone has read the activity so I do not want to go into detail, instead I have a question. Like I said I do not have a classroom of my own and I haven't spent much time in the high school setting, but I wondered about specific part of Baker's activity. Within the discussion at the beginning of the assignment, some of the students were commenting that it takes more time to add an s on the end of a word and those who do not enunciate are lazy. I understand this activity addresses the sensitive feelings some students have for their "home" language. I also understand there needs to be a certain amount of maturity for the activity to be successful, but to those of you have classes do you think this would bring up to much emotion and people feel attacked?

I also enjoyed reading Chapter 7 because the author provided another suggestion with an activity that addressed the problems that have been pinpointed. I understand the issue that is present in some classes, the "permission to fail" some students receive from their teachers. The author describes situations where students receive the permission to fail from their teachers, but continues by describing a situation where a teacher appears to be very effective. I admire Carter for approaching the educational system without a undergraduate degree in education, but I think there is a point the authors are trying to make by identifying that his undergraduate degree was not in education. In every field there are going to be those who have a higher success rate with their responsibilities, but sometimes I think our creativity can be weakened by factors that face us in the school system. Carter did not allow those factors to limit his teaching ability, and his unspoken perseverance in an urban school system is "mystical and magical". As the authors say, the "magic is in the teaching". I hope to be as creative as some of these examples, but to also accept the cultural difference that is described in chapter 8 by Purcell-Gates. Because I believe it is a cultural difference, not a cultural deficit, and with early intervention in the young grades students will have more opportunity for success.

Elizabeth Griffin