RE_5539

“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.” Where is it that we can learn how to think and perceive differently? I believe in classes as the one in which we just completed. The above quote is by philosopher Michel Foucault. It captures the process and result of what was taught this semester in our class, “Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Learning”, as well as what I have learned and how I have changed over this short period.

In the beginning of this class, I had a difficult time seeing how everything we read and did tied into understanding race, class, and gender and its effects on literacy. However, shortly thereafter, I could see how we were learning how to change our perception so we can have a more loving perception for all the children we teach especially those from working-class families. I learned that the education system in the United States is set up based on white, middle class ideology and most teachers fit into this as well, but not most children. Working class and impoverished children come from different background and experiences then most teachers. Although I am African-American, coming from a middle class family, I to am a part of the way in which the educational system works. I have learned in the course that I have to change my perception in order to reach all children. I have to think outside of myself. I have realized that it is not about what I perceive to be reality, but what the child thinks to be reality. I have to go into the classroom thinking as my children think and connect with them so I can gain their trust. If they do not trust me, I cannot teach them. I have read that home cultures and native languages sometimes get in the way of student learning not because of the nature of the home cultures or native language themselves but rather because they do not conform to the way that schools define learning. Until this change, I have to change the way I define learning in my classroom.

The literature in which we read was used to teach us about language and literacy. Delpit says just as our skin provides us with a means to negotiate our interactions with the world-both in how we perceive our surroundings and in how those around us perceive us-our language plays an equally pivotal role in determining who we are: it is The Skin That We Speak (p. xvii). It is sad that this day and age people are still classified and judged by how they speak. It use to be thought that what African American children my speak or hear is the reason for their underachievement. I have learned that this is not the cause. Yes, we want children to learn what is called Standard English, but to effectively reach all children who may not speak this way, we need to understand children’s home language and the different dialects children have and how it affects their learning. Standard English may be the language of the classroom, but it is not the language of most children. From The Skin That We Speak I learned that we might need to do as Judith Baker and valid children’s first language then respectfully teach them Standard English. We have to be careful of what we say and how children perceive what we are saying when we speak about Standard English and “home English as Judith Baker calls it (I dislike the word Black English). If not children may feel threatened or demeaned then no matter what you try and teach them they will not learn. What I learned from this book is best summed up in a statement Delpit said, “Teachers must acknowledge and validate students’ home language without using it to limit students’ potential.”

This leads to Hicks’ book Reading Lives: Working-Class Children and Literacy Learning. This book was deeper and more intricate, but the points she made transformed my thinking of children from working class families. I learned that children’s home environment plays a pivotal role in early literacy learning. I learned that real teaching is teaching the child not the curriculum. What I mean is we have to know our children and their families to have an impact on their education. I learned that as a teacher I need to cross boundaries, as Deborah Hicks did, in order to reach my students, and build caring relationships with them and their family.

I will be able to apply what I have learned through the literature to my own life and my teaching as I open my eyes to see children through a lens that is now reshaped and redefined.
This semester, I have gained more self-awareness and have learned to be more aware of the children I work with by having a more loving perception. The only way I can gain a loving perception for the children I teach is to gain more understanding of their home language and culture.

Foucault was correct in saying 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. This quote solidifies what this class is about and all we have learned and we will be better educators because of it.

“Education can change culture but only in so far as educators are transformed.”