RES 5535: Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Research (summer 2009)

RES5535
Dowdy; Ovuh Dyuh

I find this piece very refreshing in that it is open and honest about how colonizing countries has taken away many things from the people of the land. Not recognizing and demeaning their way of communication is dehumanizing the citizens. I like the way the message was conveyed, in a simple story form.
It is natural for parents to want their children to succeed, but at what cost, giving up their identity to please others. The very ones who took their freedom! If we are honest with ourselves we all want to fit in with our peers as well as please our parents. In this case she lost herself, she wore a “mask of language”, “My role was to survive”. I like how she used her expertise to get to a place where she could help herself as well as others. We need to go along, get along learning all we can until the time presents itself to apply our new skills to enrich our lives through communication in a manner that best represents who we really are. The end was poignant in that it validated her communication skills in her own language, “blossom into the flowers that had been dormant in the arid land of the master discourse”. Her language of intimacy set her free.
This is relevant in today's classrooms because we must take into consideration a child's language background to help them succeed. If they are learning the English language from different areas of the country they will say words differently as well a misspell due to what they are hearing. We must be mindful of cultural “words” and respect the history that brought the child to us. I am guilty of trying to correct mispronounced words because that is how I was corrected when I was young. I will continue to do this but I need to be more patient.

Delpit; No Kinda Sense

I agree with much of this article, we must connect to the child with all of their history. They learned their mother tongue and should be proud of it. However we need to teach our students the language they need to be productive adults in society. Like the brilliant computer tech who could not speak the language well enough to represent herself to the clients, success is not guaranteed. You may be the best at what you do but you must know when to use what “language”. I have learned the hard way, as an older teacher, connect with what the students are interested in. This used to be easy, I have problems with the new value system out there, the way they speak to and about one another. I pick subjects I hear them talking about that I can apply to the concepts that I need to teach. We do need to lead them to identify their positive attributes, therefore earning their trust to take risks along the way learning new things. I found the “code switching” interesting, it makes sense and does take intelligence to accomplish. Less stress in the teaching environment, by choosing the right time to make corrections will make for a happier child and teacher.
Fortunately I am a mover so my students don't sit and do worksheets or read from the boring basal. My students work with their peers so they share their language all of the time, making the work relevant to their world is the trick. They have to come up with problems for each other to solve. We connect when I have to solve their problems and they can share what they are talking about which gives me a more in depth knowledge of who they are. I believe the best statement is on page 46 where she states “those of us who teach must fist make our students recognize their potential brilliance”. We must protect their feelings to earn their trust while we teach the language to move them on to a productive future. “The skin we speak” is to honor their heritage and their identity.
[email protected]