Imagine a utopia. A world that exists without problems or conflicts. All creatures, no matter how great or small thrive together in peace and success. All is well in the world. All is quiet and balanced.
Now, imagine this life. Days and nights of stress, usually derived from problems and conflicts. You cannot please each and every person you come into contact with. The world is a bit rocky, teetering on its thin edge. All is noisy and unbalanced.
Which world do you prefer? Which world do you live in? When I think about this class, and what I have taken away from these few short weeks in discussion I have learned that no matter what background you come from, we must all learn to open up to the possibility of change and to appreciate the differences in one another. I felt that the quote by Judith Butler spoke to me personally when summarizing my experience in my career, thus far, in my life and in this RES5535 class. “Critique is understood as an interrogation of the terms by which life is constrained in order to open up the possibility of different modes of living; in other words, not to celebrate difference as such but to establish more inclusive conditions for sheltering and maintaining life that resist models of assimilation.”
Thinking back to the first two articles from Dowdy and Delpit, I recall thinking about how one must be open to change when it comes to dialects and speech. From the dialect shared in “Ovuh Dyuh” and “No Kinda Sense” I began to relate those experiences to my experiences as a 2nd year teacher, teaching at a school with a high African American population. I knew from the start that I would be experiencing some changes within my population of students taking this position, but at the same time, did not know how drastic those changes would be for me. I share the same shocked feeling that Delpit did as she first listened to her preteen daughter say: She be all like, what ch’all talkin’ bout?” like she ain’t had no kinda sense.” I was in a cloud of daze at times listening to some of my students say some of the same things. In time, I learned to decipher what was being said, and to really appreciate the origin of this dialect. I knew to fight this was going to be a burden on myself, so quickly, I realized that these children’s’ backgrounds were what shaped them as young people, and their dialects as well as their patterns of speech were a part of who they were, not for me to judge.
As I read on through our course, I came upon Noll’s work that described another aspect of culture weaved through the reading and writing process: Native Americans. I took a great liking to this article particularly. I shared in my blog posting that I had this preconceived notion of Native Americans. I can recall thinking they were scantily clad, painted for war and ready to fight savagely if provoked. Of course, as an adult, and after a slue of history classes, I came to more appropriate conclusions about this population, but what I had not thought of was their literacy habits. Noll opened my eyes to how Native Americans view reading and writing. Again, I approached this reading with an open mind, because I am always eager to learn more about a culture and to obtain background knowledge about a particular subject. Through the case studies of Daniel and Zonnie, I came to find out that these Native American students did not seem to be much different than American students. Daniel was a husky child that had the traditional long, dark hair with darker skin and dark eyes. He enjoyed history, mostly of his culture and enjoyed hearing stories about his past. I felt that Zonnie was even more “Americanized” than Daniel. She was a “typical” pre-teen that enjoyed being social with friends and worried about having a social life rather than a school life. Again, just like the African American population that I learned about with Dowdy and Delpit, I found another culture that I could learn a bit about and make necessary changes in my views of their upbringing in order to better serve them academically.
I felt that Staples’s article, “Hustle and Flow” spoke volumes to the message that was being conveyed by Judith Butler. After reading about Staples’ group of African American teenage men, and their struggles to get to where they are today, I could not agree more with Staples’ choices to coach her struggling readers. Staples invited her students to become more fluent and overall better readers through a series of approaches. She focused her students on “re-authoring” various types of texts and to allow the students to put themselves in charge of those texts. Her students were asked to become “culture critics” of what they read and understood. I feel that Staples began to share the idea of appreciating and accepting differences in cultures and in backgrounds in order to understand and enjoy various texts.
As I had the opportunity to read through Perry’s piece, “From storytelling to writing: Transforming literacy practices among Sudanese refugees” I focused my post on how the practice of storytelling orally has been lost from generation to generation. I looked at how we as a society really rely on technology to keep us up to date with stories of one another. Telling oral stories have become “outdated” so to speak, and therefore, I felt that I had a great chance to learn a bit about the Sudanese refugees to come to the United States and share their love of storytelling. Again, I feel that this piece of research parallels with Butler’s quote because to understand where the refugees come from, we must appreciate their backgrounds and must be open to their experiences. I feel that we as a nation need to re-connect with our own backgrounds and our own knowledge and become more intone with ourselves in order to really carry on our family names and traditions.
In the final reading assignments, I read from Hicks’ Reading Lives. I learned a good bit about research based writing and how case studies are beneficial for most to diagnose and clarify problems during a child’s intellectual and academic development. I feel that I took the most from the study of Jake. Jake is the child who is the mover and the shaker, usually dubbed the “problem child” in the classroom and has many interests outside of the classroom. When I read about Jake and his love for NASCAR, his love for Sega, his respect for his father and his dialogues with Hicks, I commented about how children are “labeled” so very often today. I feel that Jake has a very important background and he should be appreciated, not labeled for his differences. At the same time, I posted about Jake’s love for video games. I shared stories on how I have a brother who was and still is so very involved in gaming, that his social and to somewhat of a degree, his academic identity was shaped by technology. Again, I try to think about children that I have come into contact with and imagine what home life might be like. Referring to the idea of being open to different possibilities of living allows oneself to be free of a stereotype and to appreciate differences in each and every person one meets.
Now imagine that utopian world again. Would everything be serene and peaceful? Would you have no worries, no problems, and no conflicts? Would you choose to be surrounded by friends? By family? I don’t think I would personally choose this “perfect’ world. I like the chaos. I like the confusion. I like the idea of an ever-changing society built on a rocky cliff. It’s the chances that one takes that shapes one’s experiences. It’s the ability to be open to a new world, and to take on the role of a different person. It’s the “I’ll walk a mile in his shoes to understand where he is coming from.” It’s not easy, but I do it 180 days out of the year. Its life, it’s the experiences I have taken from RES5535, and its teaching.
Renee Hennings July 1 2010