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

I agree with Henry when she talks about how "black students or students of color are often denied the right to learn about their own cultures from critical or their own informed perspectives". She also stated that "teachers who ignore issues in the lives of minority students leave them 'voiceless'". While teaching at an inner-city middle school I do see this. As teachers we try to find ways to incorporate teaching about the different cultures in our society. For instance, in my inclusion class we taught a unit on the Montgomery Bus Boycott where Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white person. However, I think that we are limited to what we can and cannot teach in the classroom when race is involved. What fustrates me the most is that students come to school and are not fully educated about their culture, but they are quick to pull out the race card. I don't know how many times I have been called "racist" and what is frustrating about it is that you cannot be racist and teach students. That is just not possible in my opinion. Students come to school with this attitude about people being racist, which they know little about, and then they accuse their teachers of being racist. But not only is it the black students who say things like this. It is the hispanics too, and their parents! I think that these students are hearing these things from their parents, which is really sad. But maybe if we could teach more about the different cultures then students and their parents would come to the realization that teachers are far from racist and maybe teachers and parents would have a better rapport.

In Henry's article, she also talked about how students are frequently reprimanded for using their first languages and dialect. I know that many teachers do correct their students if they do not use the "correct" form of English. I know that I have been guilty of that. However, after starting the Reading Program I have been taught that kids should never be corrected because that is part of their culture and heritage and how they have been brought up. By correcting them we are saying that their culture is incorrect and their parents are incorrect, which is how they formed the language they speak. Teachers do assume that because the students do not speak like them that they are uneducated and we stigmatize them by placing them in the lower ability groups. I think that if teachers are able to educate students the different cultures and undertand them then the parents would be more willing to learn and this would make the students more willing to learn and appreciate their education. So often, students come to school with a negative attitude about school because their parents have placed these views in their head. Students will already have formed a negative attitude towards their teachers, regardless of the teacher.

The biggest point I learned from reading these two articles is that in order for students to acheive they must be taught something that is interesting to them. The students must be able to relate to what they are learning or they will take no interest in it. I like how Henry talks about how students should be able to freely read and write without the fear of being judged because of their lack of proper grammar, etc. They will feel like they can write about anything and they will not be reprimanded for what they write about. I try to do this in my Language Arts class and I try to give them topics to write about that would interest them. Journal writing should also be private unless the students would like to share. By doing this students would feel comfortable with their teacher and they would also form that trust of knowing their teacher would keep the information they share private.

Another important part I gathered from Henry's article is that she talked about how African American girls naturally do well in school. I can relate to this because since I am EC teacher and working at an inner city school, I see students from all different ethnic groups. For the past two years that I have been teaching, there have not been that many if any African American girls in the EC program. Most of them are average students. They do their work, but at the same time there are also not many African American students in the AIG program. If school systems would provide more opportunities for students of all ethnic groups to learn, even African American girls, then maybe kids would come to school eager to learn. I almost feel like the most drama at our school is with African American girls. I believe this after reading this article because they do not "know" their place in society. They want to learn and do well, but at the same time they are trying to protect themselves against what society thinks about them. Instead they are evaluated by their physical characteristics such as their hair and skin color.

During this study, which is talked about in Henry's article, many thought-provoking questions were asked during the reading and writing workshop. The girls involved in this study felt comfortable after a while knowing there was not one right answer and so they spoke out. As teachers, we should make sure every student feels comfortable in the class and able to speak out and be an individual. Girls especially, regardless of color, are more eager to think critically and think about things more so than boys.

I also thought it was interesting when she was talking about how students often come into class and automatically say "I don't have a pen" or "do we have to do this?". Many of my students do this and to me I would just assume they are lazy, but really they are uninterested and they want to learn something that fascinates them and something they can relate to.

As with both articles, I have learned that their are many ways to introduce literacy to kids without them even knowing. We can do skits, listen to music and anaylze lyrics, watch films/videos, read articles, read magazines, brochures, etc. There are so many ways to help kids become literate and a lot of the time teachers struggle with using these in their classroom.

In the article by Staples, I really like the fact that an after-school program was implemented. It was obvious that this was a success because a unity was formed from all different kinds of kids that participated in this program. Many topics were discussed that help students "get it off their chest" of just simply express themselves without being judged. The rules that were set aside from the beginning were very good such as: positive reinforcement, community respect, individual freedom, acceptance of language variations, text value, and cooperative authority. I think that I will apply these guidelines for my students next year, because too often are students afraid to speak out because they are worried about being judged or criticized by others. This is a very big deal in the middle school classroom because students are going through changes and at the same time trying to figure out who they are and where they fit in. However, my only argument with this program is that there seemed to be many topics discussed that would not be allowed in school settings. Not only that, but students seemed to view this program differently than school because it was after-school hours and they did not come into it with an attitude of not wanting to be there. In my opinion this is because no one had discussed it beforehand and put a negative attitude in their head. I wish there were more things like this around here because it would help students academically and it would also keep them out of trouble.

Overall I learned a lot from these two articles that I had not otherwise ever thought about before!

Katy Dellinger