RE_5539

As reading Chapter 3 “No Kinda Sense” by Lisa Delpit, I began to wonder how we are like chameleons. There are often situations and circumstances that we will transform momentarily. What is so amazing to me, is that Maya, at an early age, recognized that she had the ability to code switch as she reassured her mother not to worry about her nonstandard English. She knew when to change that allowed her to fit in.

There’s another section in Chapter 3 where Lisa talks about the changes school’s can make. She mentioned the behavior teachers encountered in the classroom and how teachers would belittle the students instead of using the grooming of hair as a form of interest. Lisa states, instead of teaching language, as educators, we must address our students through their interest so they can “connect” with the school, teacher, academic knowledge, and the school’s language form. There were several suggested Websites and useful ideas for the middle and high school teachers they could incorporate in their teachings that would go along with the curriculum.

What an interesting revelation on page 47! I never thought or made the connection, that when we speak against someone’s language, we are speaking against his or her family AND that we should never speak against the child’s “home” language. In order for our students to feel connected, we must do as Aretha Franklin sings this song, “R-E-S-P-E-C-T”. We must give them respect.

In reading chapter 4, when I read the bullets, I thought about some of my students in taking a spelling test. One of them was “failure to enunciate certain letters or sounds”. Although they had all week to study for the test and regardless of my pronunciation of a word, the student would spell the word as they sounded it out in their head and not what they hear. When I conference with their parents, I use their spelling test as an example in showing their child’s spelling, writing, and enunciation of a word is used and how they are related, never thinking about the skin that we speak. A child cannot spell the word correctly, if he or she is not pronouncing it correctly. I must applaud Judith Baker. She did a wonderful job in connecting with her students in assigning the project of the three forms of the English Language. It kind of reminded me of the movie,“Freedom Writers.” In this movie, the teacher found commonalties in each of her students that allow them to be receptive to her teaching and language. Judith Baker was successful in showing her students that their commonality was their various languages they spoke, which encompasses “home”, “formal”, and “professional” language. She invited the “whole” child into her classroom and not parts of them.

Chapter 7 was very interesting. When I taught at another school, we were encouraged by the principal to use easy listening music without words as the children worked in class. Using music to inspire writing seems quite impressive. The music was tranquil and relaxing as I can recall. The students were quiet and they seem to be at peace. Within every song, there are beats and rhythms. When a jazz musician, such as Wynton Marsalis, the music brings thoughts and emotions to any audience that is listening to him. These thoughts would trigger any students’ ability to compose their feeling they received from the song.

By having the students write out their story to the song, they found a way to connect to the music. In my classroom, I have found that when a student are able to make a connection, it is much easier for them to write. Earlier this school year, we were working on shape poems and they seemed to find a true connection with these poems. Therefore, this Spring, I encouraged my students to choose something they like about Spring and make it into a shape poem. Some of the students chose flowers, or kites and others chose places they would go. Each of the poems turned out quite well, therefore, I took the poems the students created and made a class poetry book for each student. By doing this, it gave them a hard copy of what they worked on, as well as, what the others in class wrote.

It is interesting how language is embedded in our souls and can be released by the sound of music.

Shirley Mathis