RES 5535: Race, Class, and Gender in Literacy Research (summer 2010)

I like how you put that you don't scorn your students for talking in their native language, unless it is to exclude others or cuss. I often find myself with my kindergarteners asking their peers to communicate things I need them to understand in their native language to each other, because sometimes they don't fully understand me. This barrier is sometimes tough to overcome and I too can feel like an outsider lost, but I find a way to lessen that barrier with my resources. It is becoming a challenge for English speaking people in America with the over population of other nationalities, and it may just be me, but I feel as if we are being forced to accommodate for others all the time, without others making an effort to learn the ways of the land. I'm pretty sure if we decided to move to another place, we would have to learn on our own their language, and our language wouldn't be written next to their native language on menus, directions on making things, etc. I think America makes things easy for those who come here, but don't hold them accountable for their relocation choices. What do you think?
Meredith

Rebecca
I would have thought, too that these students would have had an easier time because of the tremendously supportive family. You're right , though that all or most kids this age struggle with who they are and where they fit in.I see that in my own 2 kids every day. Maybe because of the strong family relationship, when these two reach adulthood fitting in with the white world would be easier for them.They have so much going for them. Seems they could easily have the best of both world's and be an active participant in bringing those worlds together.They both seem very intelligent and capable.

You bring an interesting point that I had not thought of. The parents do seem very supportive of their children's education, yet both are students who have only average to slightly below average grades. It may be that, although the parents value education and know it is important, they aren't sure what to do to support and strengthen their children's educational experience. I think this goes back to one of Noll's conclusions that the community/school connection is critical. If the school could provide an opportunity for the parents and Native American leaders in the community to contribute and take part in school activities it could empower the Native American students to be more successful in the classroom. It seems that the school does little to incorporate its Native American population into the school environment. If the students own teachers don't know much about them, I'm sure they know even less about the parents. We can't assume parents know what to do to help their children academically. We have to give them the tools and opportunities to do so.

Meredith,
I find that most of my Hispanic parents are just struggling to get by. Many of my families have one parent that works first shift while the other works second so that someone can be at home with the kids. They live in shared housing and eat rice and beans at every meal. Many have very little schooling and cannot read even in Spanish. Such subsistence living leaves little room for language learning, although we have a parent academy on the weekends that offers ESL to adults. I have read statistics as well that say because of the steady influx of Hispanic immigrants, even as many assimilate, learn the language and become contributing members of society, there is a large population of non-English speakers that take their place, leaving us with the perception that assimilation occuring. I have very much enjoyed working with the Hispanic population. Most of my families value school and are very concerned their children do well, even though they often cannot help at home. We do not have the attendance issues with this population that we do with others. We do not have the behavior problems with the population that we do with others, despite the influence of gangs in the area. Yes, it is much more work to have to find a translator and to accommodate language differences, but I think that we will see these kids become the next leaders in our country. It then becomes our job to make sure to educate them as to their social responsibilities and to instill our shared American values.

-Rebecca Ashby

Rebecca,

I teach in a school that is mostly white. Right now, I have one African-American child, one Hispanic child, and the rest of my students are white. I don't think we should discourage students from speaking their native language either. I think it is important for students to keep practicing their native language because that is such a big part of their culture and who they are. I do think they should speak English in class, but should be given an opportunity to share their language with others in the class a few times a week. I think if we gave our minority students about 5-10 minutes a week to share some sentences in their native tongue with the rest of the class, it would boost their self-esteem tremendously. I also think the majority students would enjoy getting to learn (and practice) saying a few words from another language. I think this would help all students realize the importance of accepting all people for who they are. All students should be given an opportunity to share what is important to their lives.
~Jamie Brackett

Rebecca,

In your blog entry, you said that you had a hard time imagining an environment where the racial slurs Daniel described would occur. You said you teach second grade and I agree that such slurs would probably be more pronounced in the later grades, although I can't say this with 100% certainty.

One thing I would like to comment on is your statement that "Surely that kind of behavior is not acceptable to the staff of Daniel's school and they would intervene if alerted." I am not certain that such a statement is entirely true. I think you would be surprised by things that some teachers let pass as harmless teasing, etc.

From my work with an organization called GSAFE (Gay/Straight Advocates for Education) and my research for a paper last semester, I have found that a large number of incidents that could certainly qualify as bullying are not reported because the victims feel that nothing will be done. In a national school climate survey done by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network in 2007, 60.8% of the students surveyed who said they had been harassed or assaulted at school based on their real or perceived sexual orientation also said that they did not report this to any school staff member because they didn't think anything would be done. While I realize sexual orientation falls in a different category than race, I think it is reasonable to assume that this could also occur with racial slurs, although probably to a lesser degree.

Clyde Rice

It is a shame that they both did come from literacy rich environments but yet they struggled in school. That there tells you that something isn’t right. What it is that isn’t right is that these students were not perceived correctly by their schoolmates and even instructors. They were considered to be low and not high average or high achieving students. It was all just a misunderstanding. These students were so creative they just needed to feel comfortable and confident in a setting to allow their creative muse to take flight. These kids also needed to be allowed to use their creative strengths. They needed to be able to write poems and comic strips to express their knowledge, thoughts, and feelings. You are correct in that Daniel’s parents instilled in him a lot of knowledge about his culture. I think this would make him more socially aware and accepting. This knowledge would help him to have more confidence in who he is and where he is from. It would be awfully hard for someone in an English speaking country to make it without knowing English. It is not that Zonnie’s parents’ teachers were being cruel in forcing them to learn English, they were trying to help them for things to come. It would be hard to work, go to school, and engage in community activities and even errands if you could not speak a place’s native language. It is a shame they lose their own language but I just wonder if knowing English made things a little easier for them?

As I read the research I was also surprised that students coming from such a literate environment would struggle in school. I would also find it interesting for the author to conduct further research and find the reasons the students seem unmotivated to perform in school. I personally feel that it is natural for students of this age to be disinterested in school. They are old enough to carry lots of responsbilities, but still too young to really understand the impact their education will have on their life. I think at this point in their life they are busy trying to fit in, be accepted, and "find themselves". I think we see this in Daniel and Zonnie as they struggle with juggling doing well in school, participating in extracurricular activities, and having a social life. In my opinion, we would find a very similar situation with most middle school students.