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

Dowdy “Ovuh Dyuh”

I enjoyed reading this article and it made me think. It is sad that people have to use the time and energy pretending to be someone they are not so they can fit in. People are way too judgmental of people who are different from them. When I was doing my student teaching I was at a school that was very diverse. If you were white you were in the minority. I must admit that I was nervous and felt out of place at times. Throughout my teaching experience I got to know each of the children in my class as a person and I learned about their cultures and families. I would not trade this experience for anything in the world. It opened my eyes and made me realize that not every child comes from a traditional family. I think it made me a better teacher and it helped me to understand the importance of accepting the children for who they are and where they come from.

I felt bad for Joanne because she was being forced to talk in the Queen’s English. She had so much pressure from her mom and grandma to talk a certain way. I can’t imagine having the constant pressure of making sure I am speaking the “right” way all the time. I believe she would have had a much happier life if she could have been able to just be herself. As teachers we need to accept children for who they are and where they come from. We need to embrace their differences and help them learn from each other.

Delpit “No Kinda Sense”

This article really spoke to me as a teacher. Educators are not getting to know their students and this is having an impact on how students learn, talk and behave. I agree with the article that teachers spend way too much time talking and do not give children a chance to talk in class. Your classroom needs to be an inviting place that allows children to share who they are and be respected for their individual differences. I love the idea of talking an interest in something like hairstyling and incorporating it into the curriculum. This would make the students want to come to class and be involved because this is something that is of value to them. Your classroom and curriculum should include materials that represent different cultures especially the ones who are present in your classroom. I do a Christmas around the world unit with my first graders. I always choose to studying Mexico because I usually have students who are of Mexican descent. The children love to correct me if I do not say words correctly or if I ask them how to say a a word. They get to be the expert and feel that their culture is valued and just as much as my culture. They get to teach the other students how they talk.

I teach in a very rural area. So some of the students I have or have had in the past talk with a very country accent. Their parents talk with a very country accent, does this mean that my students and their parents are not intelligent???? I do not think that it is fair to judge a person solely on the way they talk. Your language is formed by the language that is spoken to you. At school I think teachers should speak correctly and teach children the English language but I do not think that children should be considered unintelligent because of the way they talk. I know it happens every day and it will continue to happen but the way you speak is not the sole indicator of how smart you are.

I also have a real problem with people not being able to keep their heritage and culture. Why should people have to “talk white?” Maya in the article was doing a great job of code switching. She was talking the “correct” way at school in front of teachers but was still being true to her culture when she was with her friends and family. It is sad that children have to code switch to make sure they are considered to be intelligent by their teachers, but this is the world that we live in. In America, we want everyone to act like everyone else and being different scares us. What happen to the melting pot?

ABC News Clip

It was interesting to find out that even the president and the first lady struggle with not sounding too white or too black. Michelle was accused of sounding white. What exactly does it mean to sound white? I think it is interesting that it made news that the president was talking using slang. The president should be able to still be himself and represent his culture without people making a big deal about it.

All three of these pieces have a central theme that you must give up part of your culture, dialect and part of your self to get ahead in this world. It is sad that you have to talk a certain way to be recognized as intelligent.

Ashley Caldwell