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

This course has defiantly been intriguing and inspiring. It has truly made me grow as a student, educator, and person. As we teach and live our lives there are so many things that we lose sight of. Not only have I learned to be more reflective, I have learned to be open minded, proactive in our schools and an active listener, not only to my colleagues but with my students, families and even my friends.

As I read over the quotes I couldn’t decide which one to pick. All three were so closely related to all that I have learned this semester. I ended up choosing two to reflect further upon.
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
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

At the start of the semester I thought I was prepared for this class to be different than any course I had taken in format and content. I thought that I reflected often on my classes, students, families and life so this class would support that. However, as I began to read the works in The Skin That We Speak, as well as the articles and Reading Lives I realized that I only reflect on what I choose to and that I don’t usually push myself to consider things outside of my comfort zone or to read text of bliss. My reflections were hindered by my closed mindedness and I didn’t even know it. As I read this semester I couldn’t help but wonder why is it that teachers go through the education program in so many universities, planning to be prepared to teach but yet not one course prepares us to understand the importance of our tone, presentation, implication, attitude or the acceptance and importance of children’s language. It was not until this class, which is an elective that I really thought through all of these issues. It is no wonder that new teachers, and even older teachers, go into classrooms and fail.

As I first started reading The Skin That We Speak I realized I had several biased and wasn’t as open-minded as I thought. My idea that every child needed to learn ‘standard English’ and that Ebonics was not a real language is something that I know now was a misconception and understanding that I had. Before I posted that first post I felt uneasy and wondered how others felt about the issue. I also wondered was I going to like this course and the views that it may present. I was very defensive because what the author was saying put me out of my comfort zone. However I realized as I read that by denying kids there native language in school I am denying them there family values and culture. As I read several of our readings and even a children’s book, Elijah of Buxton, this semester I felt what I feel many of these kids feel as they try and make sense and connect to what we are teaching. In Elijah of Buxton, Elijah spoke a dialect that is different from my own. I found myself reading slower and having a harder time getting into the story. It really made me think about how kids feel when reading a book outside of their native language/dialect. The book was no longer a text of pleasure. Many times we assume that kids should be reading for enjoyment however when the task of reading is a difficult one or the text does not flow with what they already know then they are no longer able to read for pleasure.

One thing I knew prior to this class but have truly realized this semester through our readings is that the path to reaching certain students and teaching them may not be easy, but with encouragement, dedication, and the right teaching it can happen. Kohl’s comment about how “New teachers (I think even veteran teachers, also), if they do not come from communities that are similar to those they teach in, are particularly vulnerable to miscommunication.”. This hit home for me especially as I read about Donny and his family. So many times we have had parents that we wish we could reach and talk to but can never get in touch with. This mother was so dedicated to making sure her son had a future that she was even willing to admit that she was illiterate to everyone at the school. She made sure they knew she could not read their notes but for them to call anytime they needed her to know something. It is scary to think that situations like these occur all the time and may have even occurred in my classroom and I didn’t even recognize it. Every year we come in contact with kids from a wide range of backgrounds and lifestyles. Instead of blaming the student and families for the difficulties we are facing in class we need to reflect on the situation and why the method(s) we are using at school are not working.

On another note, Judith Baker has the right idea. Her theory of trilingualism truly categorizes language. As students get older they need to be taught and be aware of the different types of language and situations you would use them in. I loved how Baker worked to make the kids aware of their similarities and differences, as well as made them the judge of when certain types of language are appropriate versus not. She not only helped the students understand each other but gave them a better understanding of society. It really made me think about the fact that as teachers we stray away from topics and books that might be controversial or topics that may lead to a conversation that might take us out of our comfort zone or in other words text of bliss. So often we only encourage children to read for pleasure, because that is what we do. We fear what others might think and especially what parents might say. But we forget about whose needs we should really be thinking about, the children. Even as parents we try to “protect” our children from the real world. The truth is that so often they already know about the things we are “protecting” them from. Inevitably we are only hurting them by not giving them the opportunity to share their feelings and interpretations. As parents and educators we need to remember how important literature that discusses social issues and discussions about them is in helping our children grow and have a deeper understanding of the world. As Moller and Allen stated, “ If we pretend that we live in a world where these things do not happen, we not only reveal ourselves as dishonest to children, who often know more than we give them credit for , but we also fail to prepare them for the world that we and they must work together to change.” We need to work towards being proactive in helping our children understand the situations they face daily and the world around them.

Not only do we need to push kids to read text of bliss but as adults and educators we need to push ourselves to read text of bliss. Prior to this class I would never have picked up a novel that was solely written around research. It is out of my comfort zone and therefore I avoided it. I didn’t realize how truly valuable these types of literature truly are, especially in education. The articles we read and the book Reading Lives made me realize how more qualitative research and less quantitative is needed to truly understand what is going on in education and that as teachers how we need to read, reflect upon and be proactive for qualitative research. I would have to agree with Hinchman in that if we want to really focus on why kids aren’t performing they way that we would like then we need to do more qualitative research to pinpoint the problem.

The idea of teaching is so complex and one that takes deep thought and open mindedness. Thanks to this course I feel that I am more capable of being open minded and willing to think differently than I normally would.
Amy Spade