I found each of today's reading chapters to be very relevant to my sistuation in the classroom. The component of making our teaching culturally connected to students seemed to be a common thread through all three readings.If we want our students to learn anything from us, not just language, we must make students feel invited and valued in our classroom and school. Of course we want the students to respect adults in the classroom, and we say that we respect the students, but Delpit brings up the idea, do we, as teachers, really respect our students? Many of us say we do, and I honestly believe most teachers mean well, but Delpit makes it clear. If we reject anything about our students, ie language, culture, dress, we are in a sense rejecting them as a self and a person. Not only then do we reject the student, we reject their families, neighborhood and what they know to be their own. Are we as Delpit says, "ignoring our students existence"?
We struggle with this battle at our middle school. We have a very affluent Kernersville population paired with a population from east Winston Salem which comes from a much lower income level. Our school is located in Kernersville, which means our diverse population is bused out of what they know to be part of their identity and their neighborhood. It is much of the scenario in which Krashen talks of the "affective filter". I often feel as if these students feel that the school as a whole identifies with the Kernersville population. Therefore teachers must work extremely hard to make the content of their classes culturally relevant. I would hate for my students to feel what Delpit says, "When instruction is stripped of children's cultural legacies, then they are forced to believe that the world and all the good things in it were created by others." We also must make their families and culture feel invited into school. By middle school often parents expect to hear negative things from the school about their child, so any time the school contacts them, they have the feeling that we are blaming them as parents. Many of these parents were as students the ones who felt rejected. It is just as important to get the parents of our students to trust us and feel respected as it is for our students. I often feel middle school is our last time to 'save' kids before its too late. We must find a way for students to connect to us and win them over. If a child knows you care, and feels "brilliant" as Delpit says, they will do anything for you.
I worry that some teachers at my school, "ignore students' existence", and then allow students "permission to fail" as Ladson-Billings terms it. I too have been guilty of what Ladson-Billing says, of thinking that the reason people are unsuccessful in school is that they do not try hard enough. In my brief three years of teaching, I have learned that it is not necessarily the case. At the end of chapter 7, Ladson-Billings states, that Shannon's resistance to writing "is a challenge for her teachers, but it is their challenge". This seems to say that if a child fails, it is a teacher's responsibility. We can demand success, but does that always guarantee no child will fail? Also, at what point does, or does it ever become in part the student's responsibility to determine their "own demise" as Ladson-Billings states?
I loved the examples of how teachers connected with their students to help overcome the barrier to making students feel "brilliant". Mr. Forshay used a totally different language to connect with his students, the language of music, where there is no "standard form". Often times it seems teachers have success with this language. I also enjoyed Judith Baker's approach of teaching language as well as teaching cultural competence by teaching of trilingualism. Not only were students learning a lot about their own language and other languages, but Baker says she is able to be taught about her student's languages, which enable her to anticipate difficulties the students might have with language. Thus, she is better prepared as as teacher. By teaching triligualism, students do not feel threatened by standard english.This once again builds a classroom climate of trust. I also liked where Baker says students have control over the choice they make to learn or not learn languages associate with the cultures in which they may decide to participate. I think then it is the teacher's role to show the value of knowing the different languages, for which Baker does an excellent job.
Sarah McMillan
Comments (6)
I think many of the situations can be applied to a few classrooms at all of our schools. More and more children are coming to us without much background knowledge or experience in dealing with what we are teaching. Most do not feel like certain topics apply to their lives so it does make it easier to tune it out. I agree that we have to find a way to connect with these students. I think that is what the three chapters are referring to as well. If children do not feel valued or as if they are part of the classroom environment then it will be difficult to connect with them. I know some teachers may feel it takes too much extra effort to plan culturally responsive lessons, but it is well worth it. In addition, the children will feel you are truly interested in them and what they care about. I agree that teachers may not respect students even though they feel they may. I do not think the things we do as teachers are always intentional, but that does not mean we do not do them. Many teachers demand respect, but the children feel they do not receive respect. I have heard this many times from children and teachers. I think teachers and students have different definitions of what that mean to them and that’s why both feel they are not receiving the respect that they deserve.
You said in the second section of your response that many parents felt rejected as children and that is true. I had one parent a couple of years ago who had a very bad disposition towards the school and it did not help that I was calling her in for a meeting to look at placing her daughter in special ed. When she came to the school, she had the worst attitude. In my 8 years of teaching, I do not think I had ever been that nervous. Once I began talking to her and she saw I was not trying to talk down to her, her disposition changed. She was then able to share her school experience and how she is defensive when anyone calls her about school issues. I can understand where she was coming from, but it still will take her sometime to get over how she was treated and her feeling of being rejected when she was in school. The sad thing about it is her children have picked up her same disposition. We as teachers do not realize what we do to children and how it affects them for years to come.
I think as teachers we are responsible for what happens to students, but I do think there are some things beyond our control and it will take more than a school year to change. All we can do is truly give it 100% and make sure that we have sincerely tried to help the child. We do not allow them to fail, but we make every attempt for them to succeed. For a child to succeed it takes the parent/guardian, teacher, and the child. Each person plays a part in the child failing or succeeding. That’s just my thought.
Posted by Danielle Griffin | May 29, 2007 9:13 PM
Posted on May 29, 2007 21:13
One of the things that stood out most to me in your observations of these chapters was your question about when a student takes some responsibility for their success. I believe as an elementary teacher that it is important to construct this as a choice during the primary grades. In the early years of school students often do not recognize what it means to succeed or fail but they can understand when they have choices if you construct the idea for them through situations that happen in the classroom. This means that as a teacher you have to be attuned to these opportunities and take avantage of those teachable moments. This paves the way for future decisions that have an impact on any area of their life. As they enter the intermediate years this can be channeled into choices about their success or failure academically. I am a firm believer that they should have some accountability and that we as educators need to help them understand this as well as the SCOS we teach.
Posted by Sara Joyce | May 31, 2007 10:05 AM
Posted on May 31, 2007 10:05
“This once again builds a classroom climate of trust.” A classroom climate of trust, wow, what is that? How can we define something that too many teachers ignore? That would make a great class, How to create your classroom climate of trust 101. It is something so difficult, but something so simple at the same time. I can only hope that this is the climate that I create with my students. Trust, if broken or tarnished, is something very hard to rebuild. In order to create this, you must break down barriers, you must cross paths you could never dream of crossing, and you must teach the students and not the test. That is one of my soap boxes. Teaching the test is not teaching and it does not create a climate of trust. I realize that we have to teach the things students will be tested on but to do it with worksheets and majority favored learning styles is not the way to do it. Teach poetry by allowing each child to write about their own ethnicity, or even about a partner’s ethnicity so they are learning about their friends too. How hard is it to teach the student and the test?
Posted by Kristen Billings | May 31, 2007 10:33 AM
Posted on May 31, 2007 10:33
Shirley,
I teach in a school much like yours in the population make up. Many live in affluent neighborhoods on Lake Norman and some live in rural areas nearby. Your post reminded me of NCLB legislation. No matter what we do as educators, no matter the time put in, the encouragement, are all students destined to succeed? How much control do we really have? We are not in control of their first five years or their homelife. What can we do? Just something I have thought about year after year. I feel that we must do more than acknowledge individual differences but with pressures from standardized tests and pressure to increase student achievement, is it simply OK just to have realistic expectations of students- not necesarily expecting failure-just using professional judgment. I mean the most well-trained doctors cannot heal every single patient.
Renee Pagoota
Posted by Renee Pagoota | May 31, 2007 9:00 PM
Posted on May 31, 2007 21:00
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