Wow, these articles are packed so full of research terms and jargon that after I finally waded through it all I was at a loss for what I had really been trying to focus on for this critique. So I read it again!!!
Finding one’s voice can be difficult even if you are not the minority. Many different circumstances can cause our students to feel that they can be open about their thoughts and feelings. In this article, the girls being black and speaking in their Creole dialects was the thing that seemed to hinder them from finding their voice in the school setting. I think the workshop helped them by providing them a safe place to express themselves in their own way without feeling inferior because they could use their own words without being forced to put it in school-accepted words. While providing this safe place to find their voice is a great thing. How can this be used in class?
Unfortunately in our schools we all, teachers included, have to comply with the State and local standards and if they are going to be successful in the school setting they will have to extend their workshop experiences into ones that can come into the school and allow them to voice their thoughts and feeling so that all can understand them. Even if their views are different, they need to be able to “voice” them. I know some things should not be voiced openly in class for instance, personal experiences or private matters like one of the girls in the article.
The article mentions that teachers “transgress” the boundaries of rote, assembly-line pedagogy, I feel it is my job to provoke my students to think and to respond to our curriculum in a way that makes them relate our learning to the world they live in. The article went on to say about transgressive speech,” It talks back to authority when necessary regardless of consequences.” This I have seen this year in one of the classes at my school, but not concerning the teacher. The student demanded that they be given their way or else they will continue to disrupt the class. It has been my experience that some black girls at my particular school have no trouble at all with finding their voice. Even when it is disruptive and rude, they feel free to express it without thought or concern for the feelings of their peers or their teachers. Therefore, while I see that the girls in this study may have felt this way I do not see that is the norm for all or the majority of black girls. This could have been true about any group of students; I think this is true about all of these articles.
The article by Jeanine Staples was interesting, but not one I ever hope to have to read again. I am still not completely clear on the idea of re-authoring. I guess if watching controversial movies, and then rewriting the parts that seem problematic to you helps you deal with the feelings they cause you to feel about being a black male then great, but I do not see this as a great new educational strategy to end the feelings of any students who deals with marginalization. I could be wrong but this is how I felt about it. Do we not as teachers at some level ask our students to digest what they have read or saw and have them to retell it in their own words or prospective? This is how I check for their individual understanding of the materials we are learning.
Tracy Icenhour