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

Dowdy, Delpit, and Obama News Article

After reading these three articles I began to reflect back to my own childhood experiences with language. I grew up in a predominately white community and school. I can remember having a Spanish teacher come to my classroom and teach me basic Spanish. I thought this was fun and exciting, getting to learn a different language and culture. As a child I didn’t really notice the difference in the way my African American and Hispanic friends talked. I was taught to treat others the way I wanted to be treated.

However, when I entered college I would have people ask me “Where are you from?” This surprised me because I thought I was no different than they were. I soon realized that my extreme southern drawl made me stand out like a sore thumb even in the south. I quickly became embarrassed of the way I talked and wished that I could speak without sounding so country.

As I entered my 1st year of teaching, I was extremely nervous about teaching 1st grade students how to read. I would spend extra time practicing how to pronounce specific words correctly. However, one day one of my students taught me a very valuable lesson. I was giving my students a spelling test and I called out the word ten. I practiced saying this word all week, so I was excited when I called it out phonetically correct. One of my students raised their hand and said, “Mrs. Rhoney that is not one of our spelling words.” So I called out the word again with my southern drawl and the child said, “Yes, why didn’t you say it that way in the first place?” At that moment, I realized that my students were not looking for a teacher who could pronounce all the words in the English language phonetically correct, but a teacher who could communicate and connect with them. This was a turning point for me. I still focus on teaching my students the correct grammar rules, but I don’t spend time worrying over the way I speak. I am who I am and my students respect me for that.

I think Dowdy summed up these three articles when she said, “The voice in her head does not match the tone in her throat.” (pg 12) In each article the reoccurring theme was that one’s “mother tongue” was inferior to the “Standard English”. It’s amazing how language truly has the power to divide or unite. In Delpit’s article Maya felt a divide between her and her classmates due to their language. However, when she went to a predominately African American school she found a connection with the language the students talked. As a teacher it is important for students to feel like they are accepted and loved no matter their race or language. Each year at the beginning of the school I have my students bring in “Me Bags.” Each student will place items in a bag that tells the class about them. It is amazing what you can learn about your students with this activity. This allows me to see what interests my students and helps me find a way to connect with them.

Another activity I do with my students is called “Language Experience Approach.” This is a research based language approach to helping children read and write. At the beginning of each week my students gather on the carpet for “Shared Reading and Writing Time.” We begin by disusing something of interest to the students (e.g. sports, food, friends, school, animals, etc…). Then I have the children dictate sentences to me about our specific topic. I write down exactly what they say on a chart paper. I do not correct their language but encourage their discussions and thoughts. Then the rest of the week we re-read our story and then focus on a few grammar issues (end marks, capital letters, verbs nouns, etc…). I purposely do not correct all the mistakes, because research shows that students need to feel like their work is accepted and good. I focus on different grammar rules each week and through time the students naturally learn these rules and it is reflected in their dictations and writings. It is truly amazing how much my students love this time. They love the fact that I write down what they tell me to and that we get to work with their words all week long. My students reading and writing skills this year have also improved tremendously. After reading these articles, I realize that “Language Experience Approach” allow students of all backgrounds to speak in their language and feel like it is accepted. This activity allows me to make language a source of unification in my classroom.

I really liked the term “code switching”. I never realized how much people do this on a day to day basis. We truly do speak differently in a work place then we do around our friends. My 1st grade students have their own little code too. When I heard Obama say, “Naw, we straight!, ” I was a little surprised. In my mind I think the president has to speak so eloquently and proper. Then, I began to think that he too was “code switching” to match his environment. Language is a powerful tool, we must be careful how we use it, because it can either divide or unite us.

Emily Rhoney