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 ~ Michel Foucault
At the beginning of the semester when I read this quote I did not connect to it. It did not have meaning for me as a teacher or a student. I am the type of person that does! I don’t often sit back and reflect. I am the type A personality that looks at others and says let me do that! Either I can do it faster or better. I am like this in my home life and teaching life. This course as made me stop and read and think and reflect on what I do and how I do it. After reading the articles and thinking about the way that someone’s race, gender or class affects their learning discourse this quote by Michel Foucault takes on meaning for me. I am now that teacher and student that needs to step back and reflect to see if I need to think differently. I am now that teacher that understands that not all children have the same background and discourse for education. In my heart I know that all children are not the same and do not come from the same family discourse therefore their educational goals may look different. In my mind I was not doing my best to reflect on what that means for the children in my classroom. As a teacher I believe that it is absolutely necessary to take time to reflect and change ideas and perceptions to benefit your students. Sometimes I think teachers get caught in the trap of doing things like they have always done. As a teacher if I do not take the time to reflect on my teaching practices, my students and their families then I am not providing my students with the best education that they can receive. The readings this semester gave me reason to reflect on how my students enter school. What do they know, what is their family discourse, how have experiences in their life effected their learning to now?
The Dowdy and Deplit pieces made me reflect on students of different ethnic cultures and backgrounds in our school systems. During my teaching career I have taught many students with different ethnic backgrounds. In my classroom I have had students from India, Korea, Israel, Mexico as well as African American and Caucasian students. Dowdy discusses that she had to play a part to fit into society that she could not be herself through speech. She always had to speak using proper English. This notion of not being able to be yourself and having to play roles to fit in to society is very difficult. When a child has to play that role they never really find who they are. Reflecting back on some of my students in my class of different ethnic cultures I can see that they had trouble with this same idea. Several years ago I had a little girl from Korea. This child had a difficult time expressing her self through speech. She understood the English language fully but seemed very unsure when speaking it. She often avoided eye contact in class when questions were asked. I knew that she was able to answer the questions she was just very unsure of how the phrase the answers in English. Instead of answering out loud she would write her answers. After reading Dowdy article I immediately thought of this student. It was obvious to me that this child did not want to speak out loud because she did not sound like the other students in class. So instead of “playing the part” with English she chose not to talk.
Deborah Hicks research with working class boys and girls affected me in a profound way this semester. In Foucault quote he states that perceptions of individuals have to change in order for people to move forward and reflect again. After reading Hick research with Laurie and Jake my perceptions and ideas about working class children have changed in a great way. Prior to reading Hicks research I had not thought about how a child’s family discourse effects their perception of literacy and literacy learning. The students in my classroom are of higher economic status and their family discourses are very different from a working class family. As a teacher I have always made a point to know about my students and their families. I had never thought about how their family history and discourse may affect their school discourse. Most of the time my students home discourse matches with the formal school discourse. Jakes family discourse did not match his school discourse. His family was very involved with him and valued literacy. They valued reading for a purpose. Jake was not able to find his purpose for reading in the classroom. I have had times when the home discourse exceeds the expectations of the school discourse. I have had parents that pressure and teach their children to be the very best. In some cases the parents think their child is doing better in literacy then they actually are. There is this pressure to exceed school expectations in everything that they do. In reflecting on Hicks research I see that parents that go to the extreme with exceeding school expectations are not providing the literacy model that their children need at home. Everything is a competition to be the best. They have taken the pleasure and fun out of literacy. Reading then becomes a job for the children instead of gaining from the literacy and learning they look at learning as a job. In reflecting on Hicks research and my classroom practices with literacy I understand that their needs to be a balance between home and school discourses.
This semester has opened my eyes and given me the tools to reflect on my teaching and the perceptions that I have about my students and literacy. In my past teaching I thought that I did a good job knowing my students and providing appropriate instruction in literacy from what they know and understand. I now know that I need to take into consideration their family discourse on literacy and learning. This strongly effects how students interact with literacy and learning. This next school year I am going to put into practice my reflection from this semester. I am also going to take the time to listen more carefully to students’ stories because that gives me and understanding of their family discourse. To reflect and change perceptions is to become a better teacher and student. We can also learn something new but to do that sometimes as teachers we have to think differently and perceive differently. This self-reflection will allow me to grow and become a better teacher.
Angie Somers