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

When I first started reading this chapter, I had no idea what race the speaker was. I was trying really hard to figure out who would be speaking about this topic. I didn’t know that Trinidadian people imitated British English.

I asked myself while reading this chapter, what things does my culture push on to its youth. I came up with a couple of things. I see a lot of parents forcing their children to go to the colleges and universities that “they” favor. Like Dowdy’s mom pushing the British English onto her, because “she” wanted Dowdy to speak it to better herself and future. I think these parents that push certain schools onto their children also think that they are benefiting or helping their children’s futures. Another connection I had to that was that parents choose certain toys, books, shows, hobbies for their children hoping that they will encourage a bright and prosperous future. This type of parental control is very similar to what Dowdy’s mother was trying to do. She wanted her daughter to have a bright and successful future too. But she thought the way she spoke and presented herself would contribute to this. Thus she wanted her to speak British English.

It was apparent that the author was hurt by this imitation of the British English dialect. She seemed angry at how she was an outcast as a child in certain social situations. She also seemed aggravated that her mom and grandmother encouraged her to speak this way. But I was wondering if she lost more than she gained? Was she more successful because of her upbringing and social class that included this dialect or not? Would she have had a better future without knowing this dialect? I don’t know but I was wondering this. What do you guys think?

Maria Blevins

In the Delpit chapter, there was a quote that talked about Krashen, it says “ Krashan distinguishes the processes of conscious learning (rule based instruction) from unconscious acquisition (“picking up” a language in social setting). Krashen found unconscious acquisition to be much more affective.” He goes on to talk about how if a person is less stressed and having fun, the more easily acquisition is accomplished.

I cannot agree with this statement more. I teach at a school that is highly populated with African Americans and Hispanics. In my classroom, because I teach such a young age, I have an English only policy, when they are on the playground they can speak English or Spanish, but in the classroom they are only allowed to speak English. I do this for 2 reasons, I want my Spanish-speaking students to learn English and I do not want my English-speaking students to feel left out. I find that my students acquire more about the language from talking to each other. I find that my Spanish students, in the beginning of the year, will either not speak at all, or only speak to those who speak their language because they are not very confident, as they are not very confident with their English. My English speakers do not want to speak with my Spanish students because they do not know how to teach them. Within a few weeks it is very interesting because my students would start slowly starting to communicate with each other my Spanish students would be speaking more “Spanglish” and by the end of the year my Spanish students are teaching my English students Spanish. Now please understand I still think that in order to learn English you do need proper teaching, but the majority of it does come from social interaction.

Does anyone else feel the same way about this? Do you think that you get more language acquisition from direct teaching or social interaction?

Natalie Enns

Ebonics has always interested me. I have wondered how it came to be and why it is so controversial. I wonder if people do not consider it to be “educated” sounding because it uses the mispronunciation of so many words?

I understand how Maya’s self-esteem was hurt when she felt like an outcast at her old school. I made a connection with her. When I was in middle school my southern dialect was so “southern” that I was picked on and it got to the point that I didn’t want to even talk anymore. I knew that if I didn’t talk no one could pick on me and the way I spoke. So I clammed up for several years.

I understand the author’s frustration at people being judged by the way they talk. Just like people who speak Ebonics are judged as inadequate and unintelligent so too are those with a strong southern dialect. I do feel torn between the author’s view and my own though. I understand where she is coming from and that people shouldn’t have their intellect judged by their dialect. I have been in that situation many times because of my southern drawl people look at me as if I am a peon. It has been to the point that I sometimes imitate my own father’s New Jersey accent. For some reasons he can say the same thing I say but with his northern accent and it just sounds better. But on the other hand aren’t people judged by their dialect because of the way they mispronounce words? I mean, if you are using double negatives and leaving off syllables and letters to words as you write or say them that looks very uneducated. So I believe that may be why these dialects are viewed as “uneducated.” I think what so many of us consider to be a mispronunciation of the English language is why southern and Ebonics speakers are considered uneducated. I understand why this is. But to judge someone’s voice over someone’s “ability” is inaccurate and wrong. I can understand both sides to this debate and am not really sure where I fit in.

Southern dialect is my mother tongue. I use is it all the time when I am with my friends and family, because it just feels right. It is also easier for us to communicate that way with one another. But when I am in front of my 3rd grade students I use my standard, proper English, simply because I don’t want to get fired. Life is just easier that way.

Maria Blevins

Since the dialect of Standard English is what is accepted in the corporate world, it is important for students to learn how to code-switch. In the article, No Kinda Sense, Maya had figured out how to code-switch on her own.

My question is should code-switching be taught explicitly? Will there be an outcry, because the teacher is not being politically correct by teaching this? As seen from the past with the Oakland Policy, there came the “Ebonics Debate.” This was supposed to be something good, but figure heads had to give their opinions when they didn’t have all the facts. Sometimes I think people make a big deal out of everything because it helps fund their cause.

There are some students who will probably have a harder time code- switching than Maya did. It may not come as natural to them, just as learning to read does not come as natural to many students. Maya was exposed to both types of dialect, so it was much easier for her. She also wanted to fit in. There may be some students who are not exposed to the dialect of Standard English, so it may be harder to code-switch. They may also not feel the need, because of their culture at home. They may not want to fit in like Maya did and may not realize how code-switching will affect their success in the future.

Trish Edwards

After reading the Delpit article, I began to think about one student in particular in my classroom. Lisa’s daughter, Maya, reminded me of her. She was the only student in our grade that was African American. Her grandmother had told me how hard it was for this student to fit in. She weighs about 100 pounds more than the regular student and spoke in a slang manner. In order to overcome her self confidence issues she became boisterous and somewhat of a bully. I found I was always correcting her. This year I looped with my fourth graders, so I have taught the child again in fifth grade. However, our school went through a transition period when a new school opened. Now there are four African American students alone in my homeroom. Her vocabulary has changed. How she perceives herself and others has also changed. I find that I was constantly having to correct her and trying to get her to conform to my standards. This was not because I was picking on her, but because this is what I thought was expected of all students. After reading this article I began to question what I was doing and why. I have let slang be spoken by this child to her same race peers and other students that I would have corrected before. I can see that she feels more confident this year being with people similar to her. I have heard this student code talk often when it comes to dealing with other teachers, who are not so willing to let her be her.

As far as the article, I am not sure that even I, a college educated adult speaks standard English. I was taught that standard English is the language that is written in books, and not spoken. If this is true then what are we to consider normal? Isn’t Ebonics just another dialect spoken in America?

I did like her theory about relating student interests to classroom assignments and topics, but is this possible if you have 6-7 ethnicities in the same class. Also girls are totally different. Do you alternate interest topics or assign different choices?

I found that the news article about Michele Obama was sad to me. When she stated that people accused her of sounding white- I felt a little offended. What does sounding white mean? There are so many dialects that Americans speak- which one is white. I have never heard of one. I do believe that there is an accepted dialect that a society accepts, but I don’t think that race should play a part in that. I think that she sounds like an educated woman. I admire her for the hard work she put forth to get where she is. I respect her for her determination and her belief system that education is critical.

In the Ovuh Dyuh article, Joanne harbored deep resentment for being made to speak “The Queen’s English”. I can see the pressure she was under from both sets of people- her grandmother and mother to become proper, and her peers and self to speak Trinidadian. I believe that through the acting company she was allowed to appease the inner self and parental pressure. My question though was that she stated her brother and sister did not succumb to the pressure to speak “the Queen’s English”- then why did she? According to her they both have permanent jobs and are somewhat successful speaking Trinidadian. I feel that when looking back on her life she wished that she would have done things differently. I feel that her mother was trying to get her to speak properly in order to help her social standards around the globe, not just in Trinidad. Often younger people cannot see the world as a global market that others see. I think the mother just wanted the best in life for her children. Speaking properly was not a punishment in her eyes, unlike her daughter’s.

Amy Reep

"Ovuh Dyuh"

In this article we see a young black girl who was facing a battle with her inner self. Growing up she was taught how to speak perfect British English by her mother and grandmother. This young girl was from Trinidad and had to face expressing her inner thoughts and feelings in the "right" way. By doing this she was socially isolated from her peers who did not grow up in such an environment that forced them to change their dialect in order to be thought of as accepted by society. By taking on the role of trying to "be something she was not", she was made fun of by her Trinidadian peers. The narrator discusses her many experiences in life, both trying to please her mother but also trying to determine her Afrocentric identity. Once she got older she decided to embrace her Trinidadian heritage and live by who she really was. She became an actor and because she could speak different dialects she won many acting roles and played the part of many different characters.

I couldn't imagine how she must have felt growing up facing the battle of trying to be herself but at the same time being forced to learn to be someone else. I guess the point here is that it is okay to learn how to speak properly and formally, but at the same time you must always remember who you are and where you came from. If I were to move up north I am sure my southern drawl would be looked down upon based on the fact that I have met many people who are from up north and will assume I am from a certain part of the country based on where I speak. I would probably think that I would need to change to not speak so southern so I would not "stand out in the crowd".

"No Kinda Sense"

"We cannot constantly correct children and expect them to continue to want to talk like us." I really thought about this quote from this article by Lisa Delpit and it makes so much sense to me. Growing up I have always been taught to speak a certain way and that is the only way to speak, but that is not exactly true. I do agree that there is a formal English that people should be aware of and learn, but it cannot be crammed down their throat by constantly correcting the way they speak informally. The way someone speaks tells about their heritage and their family and where they came from. If they are constantly being corrected then they will think that there is something wrong with their heritage, family, and where they came from. People should not feel that way. People should not have to change their ways to feel adequate. Just as Maya in this article, she was exposed to both kinds of English - the proper one and the ebonics one. She was not exactly taught these languages, but just picked them up by being around people who spoke them. She naturally learned that there is a time to speak a certain way and a time to speak another at a very young age.

I found it very interesting that Delpit talks about her experience of how she showed teachers how to teach young girls about hairstyles. The students made a connection with what they were being taught and were learning without even realizing it. That is what we should do more often as teachers. We should step our game up a little bit and teach kids based on their interest levels and experiences. Teachers should encourage students to speak out in their classrooms and they should feel confortable with this and know that they are not being judged on how they say something, but instead on what they are saying. Just because a person speaks a certain way does not have anything to do with their intelligence level. As teachers, we deal with very diverse populations. Regardless of skin color, "we must embrace the children, their interests, their mothers, and their language."

Michelle Obama "talks like a white girl"...

I found this article very interesting because Michelle Obama grew up in a Chicago neighborhood where she was surrounded by people who accused her of "talking like a white girl". This reminds of the recent article about Maya and how she knew how to speak proper English because of her mother's experience and how she was raised, but she could also figure out how to speak to her group of friends in a different way. Just like Maya, the President and his wife know the "code-switch" depending on the people they are speaking with and the setting they are in. People should be judged on their moral character, not by the way they speak, but this is definitely not the case. We are in a society now where people are judged on everything but their morals. It is pretty sad. Regardless of the color of their skin, people still have stereotypical views on the way people speak. Just like people associate African Americans with speaking "ebonics", Michelle Obama was accused of talking like a white girl. Everyone is guilty of judging others based on their dialect and tone, even though we try not to be. This is even more reason why teachers should embrace the children's heritage that they teach because we may have several different ethnic groups of children sitting in one classroom!

As I was reading the articles on Ebonics and dialect, I couldn’t help but equate them to how my students today talk and write in text messages. I don’t mean their actual texts with friends, but when they write schoolwork, and turn it in for a grade, their writing is in text message format. All year long I have tried to correct this form of writing, trying to teach them the difference in formal and informal. But it has yet to sink in.
Am I like Maya’s mother? Perhaps, but as a school teacher I firmly believe that my students need to know the difference between casual conversation and effective communication for the “real world.” If an adult cannot communicate effectively, then I do label them as less intelligent than someone who presents themselves well. Is it necessarily true? Probably not, but the image you portray affects how others look at you.
Many of my students come from lower income homes and do not have the best grammar role models at home. I feel if they want to grow up to be successful, then they must learn to communicate effectively. I can model effective communication for them in class and in the way I treat them with respect.
We speak differently depending on the situation we are in. We all know there are many different forms of communication, many different dialects and styles. Yet we all must know when to use which form of communication. I would never think about writing in text message format on a job application, or speaking “redneck” or Ebonics when on an interview or speaking with colleagues. However, my speech does take a more informal tone when talking with friends and family, or sending a quick text or casual email.
So where does this leave us? I firmly believe that as educated adults we must be role models for our youth. They are the ones that will be the workforce in a few short years. There still should be a code of formality and informality that we all are obligated to learn and use properly.
Jennifer Wagoner

These three articles are connected in that they all focus on various forms of language and how language should really be spoken. Dowdy was forced to speak “the right English” instead of the way she was brought up speaking. The kids at her school all made fun of her when she said “ovuh dyuh” for “over there.” Dowdy believes that people should not be forced into speaking a different way just to fit in with the crowd. This article reminded me of my deep, southern accent and how I should speak. When I became a teacher, I told myself I basically needed to “code switch” to speak the language a teacher should speak. I was so used to saying “ain’t, ya’ll, what’cha doin, etc.” I told myself if I was going to be a teacher, I couldn’t talk like that anymore. For about a week, I tried saying you all, you guys, what are you doing, etc. Talking this way actually felt like a foreign language to me (much like the authors in the article felt). I agree with the authors in that I couldn’t just change who I was to fit the “right” teacher lingo. I quickly realized that I was southern, talked with a strong southern accent, and just couldn’t stop what I had always known to “fit in.” Once I went back to “ya’ll” things started flowing more smoothly in my classroom.

I don’t think people should be forced into being something they’re not. If you speak with an accent, you should use it and be proud of it, not ashamed of it. I was so glad when Maya got to speak Ebonics in her new school and felt much better about herself doing it. I believe as long as a person’s language is understood and he or she can effectively communicate with others, it shouldn’t matter how they speak. For example, I have a boy in my class this year who can’t talk. The doctors and speech teachers don’t know why he can’t talk, but he just mumbles sounds. When I first got this child at the beginning of the year, I must admit, I was guilty of assuming he wasn’t going to be very smart because he couldn’t talk. After spending a year with this student, I found out that even though he couldn’t talk back to me, he could still comprehend what I was saying. He did fairly well at math, could read small words, and had normal reading comprehension skills. I quickly figured out that just because this child couldn’t communicate with me like the others in my class, he still was capable of learning. I agree with Delpit, when she wrote that we shouldn’t assume cognitive deficiency just because a person’s communication skills may be different than our own.

The Obamas really should not have to “code switch” their language depending on what race they’re around. I believe people should be allowed to be who they are, and not be forced to communicate in a way that is unnatural for them.

These articles were interesting to me because I deal with these issues on a daily basis. In my own classroom, I have fought the battle all year against “mines’” and ‘”gots”. My classroom is comprised of African American and Hispanics who struggle with the same language issues. What puzzles me is that while I expect a student learning a second language to struggle with verb tense agreement and overgeneralization of rules like adding -ed and -s, my African American students should not. They have had exposure and opportunities to learn the language that my Hispanic students have not. While Delpit suggests that the issue is teachers don’t care enough and thus students are not interested in learning new speech patterns, I have a hard time believing that is true of the whole nation. I would argue that learning formal speech patterns is more difficult than learning informal ones and that my student’s speech is governed by less rules than what Delpit refers to as Queen’s English. I do hear some patterns but I doubt it would qualify as Ebonics. It’s more a hodgepodge of all of the different language influences here in the South.

It was interesting to me to here Michelle Obama speak of being labeled white for her manner of speech. I have always thought the notion that the Queen’s English, what most would consider proper English, was a part of white culture as very detrimental to minorities. Right or wrong it is the accepted language of the professional world and perceived as a sign of education and intelligence.

What also struck me is what the newscaster said in this same newscast. It is tricky to walk that line between valuing kids, who they are and where they come from and educating them to face the word beyond their own culture. We all have to code switch. We all have formal and informal registers. Dowdy talks about the tension between home language and work language. Code switching is not unique to minorities, but perhaps the greater the divide between the two languages the greater the tension to reconcile the two.

Although I am not familiar with the history of Trinidad, I know that there are many variations on the English language and that while some are considered legitimate, others are not. Nor am I familiar enough with what rules determine a language’s acceptance to judge whether Ebonics is a language of its own. Regardless of what the linguists, say I doubt that the professional world will be accepting of someone who speaks it.

I do have to point out that Delpit’s comments on page 41 that “…Children are taught through worksheets or text books that make no reference to their lived experience. Teachers seldom know much about the children’s lives and either don’t know how or aren’t willing to connect instruction to issues that matter to students, their families, and their community. Nowhere is the student’s very personhood acknowledged or celebrated.” And then again on 43, “Almost no one in the school ever listens to them…” are sweeping generalizations that I do not believe characterize myself or my school. It is all well and good to look from the outside in and tell teachers what they are doing wrong, but clearly she has never been in a classroom with the full weight of a teacher’s responsibilities, nor does she comprehend that curriculum is not a teacher’s choice but dictated by the state’s standards, and that our time is severely limited by other responsibilities.

-Rebecca Ashby

Delpit and Dowdy and Obama Blog Post 1

The three articles that we read remind me of how each person’s dialect is part of their personality and heritage. Like it said in the introduction to Ovuh Dyuh when a person loses their language they pay the price for it in one way or another. In a previous reading class we talked a little about dialect and how society perceives dialects. I learned that society determines what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. Everyone speaks a dialect and a person’s dialect is unique to his/her heritage. Each dialect has a set of rules governing the language. I believe that there is a code switching in which we speak the way that we think others want us to speak. We have learned to speak so called “proper English” when we are trying to make an impression. The way we speak around our friends and family may be different than the way we would speak if we were giving a presentation to an important group of people. Our way of speaking depends on who we are with and what circumstances we speak under. I like the quote from the book that says that the war will be won when we speak in our own language and people accept the communication as valid and representative. This is so true, but so hard to overcome. There is a constant battle between what society determines is acceptable and unacceptable.
As a child raised in a Caucasian home I never really considered how dialects impacted the way we perceive each other. I did notice the differences, but I did not consider any one particular dialect better than anyone else. As I became an adult I have found myself judging a person’s intelligence by the way they speak. For example when athletes speak on TV I have caught myself thinking that they may not be very intelligent because of the way they speak. So I do think that we judge others based on their dialect and we stereotype their intelligence by it. Do I think this is wrong? Yes, I do, but the bias is there whether we want to believe it or not. This is evident in the Michelle Obama article as well. She felt the need to “speak white” so she could be a successful. The No Kinda Sense chapter talked about how students who speak a so called substandard dialect do not see their language being modeled in society and during school. The language they are presented with is standard english. So I think that they believe that they need to change the way they speak in order to be successful.

Michelle Moffitt

Wow! I was amazed to hear that our own President used the terms, “Naw, we straight,” at Ben’s Chili Bowl. Why did this amaze me? I guess it is the idea that has been instilled in me that “educated people don’t use slang.” But that is not always the case apparently. I am starting to think that the most educated people are the best code switchers. It does seem like code switching would be more difficult than staying in one dialect. I see my friends and even self using slang all the time. I think what really matters is where you use the slang. I wouldn’t ever use it while giving a presentation in a graduate course. I wouldn’t ever use it while teaching my third graders. But I would probably expect my friends to pick on me if I used the term, “delightful” instead of just saying “yea, that sounds cool.” I guess what it really boils down to is who we are with when we use our slang. Slang to me is like walking up to someone you know real well and giving them a hug. While proper dialect is like walking up to someone you know just a little or you even just met and you shake their hand. It is all in how we present ourselves and who we present ourselves to. Some people may take offense to a hug from me. For example, I wouldn’t jump up off of an examination table and hug my doctor when she comes in to examine me. I also wouldn’t use words like, “your trippin” or “yeahh rrright” when speaking to me doctor. It is alright to use slang and proper dialect. It just matters where you use it. Also slang is more humble and welcoming. It lets those you know feel more comfortable talking with you when you use it. Like giving a hug makes people feel more at ease than a hand shake, when it is used in the right place.

Maria Blevins

When I was listening to the video about President Obama and I heard him say “Naw we straight” I was caught off guard! I thought wait a minute I did not think that the President of the United States would talk like that but I guess I was wrong!!! At first I thought that it was so unprofessional of him, but then I got thinking more about it. I felt like he was just relating to those who he grew up with. I was born in Canada and when I go home I find myself saying “eh” a lot more than I do here. I think the reason that I do this is because when I am in Canada I feel here it and it becomes natural again like it once was. I think that Obama was feeling the same way. He was with those that that he could relate with and he was comfortable and it felt “right”. I think that Obama does know how to Code Switch because when he is speaking to the public he doesn’t say “Naw we straight”. He knows when to code switch and I think that he does it quite well!

Natalie Enns

The Way We Talk- Tracy Icenhour

As I read the articles by Dowdy and Delpit I could see the connection very clearly. I find it interesting how these two authors have shown the intense struggle within people to fit in and at the same time show all they have to sacrifice to do so. In both of these articles having to comply or change who you are to be part of the crowd made them all miserable. Maya was able to be herself and feel confident once she changed to a school were she was accepted and could speak her way. In the Dowdy article it seems she too was miserable trying to “curse in white” to please her mother and to be a “good girl.”
These articles have brought up so many points that I have been learning in Dr. Gill’s class about the English language and the way we all communicate. He has said that we should not correct our students when they are speaking their own dialect. He has pointed out that all dialects are correct that no one is better than another, just different. I agree with him completely. I have struggled all my life and even more so since I entered the teaching world with having to “code switch” when I am at school. In the beginning, I was very stressed about speaking good Standard English that I was miserable. I teach most effectively when I am myself. Very Southern!
I have found that my students code switch even in third grade. They carry on conversations with each other and in the next breath ask me a question using correct English and grammar without having to think about it.
Nobody speaks book language; I feel it is important to know how to write correctly and how to communicate effectively, but speaking alone should never be used to decide ones cognitive ability. We all have our own way of speaking with our friends and family, just as we have a way of speaking when we are teaching. I do my best to model for my students the proper use of English and grammar. I must admit this has been a real struggle for me. My southern is strong “ya’ll”. I believe those of you who have been in class with me can agree with that. However, I know my students must be able to speak and write using proper English and grammar. It is required in the professional world I believe because the job market is so competitive.
The main thing I feel from this article is that we are not helping students be all they can be when we force them to abandon their mother tongue and take on Standard English. We are telling them from the beginning that they are inferior to or “beneath” us. This can then have a domino effect on their lives causing them many complexes about their identity and their value in the world. I believe they should be able to have their own identity and that they would be more successful learning and reaching out to share their experiences to enrich each class with a variety of experiences when they are able to express themselves in their own natural way without having to translate each word or thought into the “proper words.” There is a time for this, but this does not mean that I should not be modeling and teaching, requiring them to learn to speak and write in proper English and using correct grammar.
Embrace the individual, oh yes! Teach the child. That is my job.

Tracy Icenhour

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

As I was reading Dowdy’s article about her struggle with her dialect as a child and Delpi’s article describing the issues with language and ebonics in the African American community, what kept coming to mind was how these same issues are comparable to that of local southern culture and language. Not to in any way to lessen the challenges faced by slaves or a people oppressed, but the similarities with the language issue is similar. People who are a minority or grow up in a culture where dialect is a part of their “home” language face this challenge as they attempt to communicate with others in the mainstream of society. I live in a community that has a rural population with a large group of “good ol’ boys.” What is true in their cultural history and is still true today for some, is that if they strive to become more educated than their parents or family and as a result begin to speak differently, they are accused of “puttin’ on airs”. This seems similar to Mrs. Obama’s comment about “sounding white.”
The people who begin to use a more formal language or the language of the majority of the population sound differently than their friends and family. This is awkward and challenging for everyone. Often this is when they are scorned and told not to “rise above their raisin.” This issue seems to be common in many cultures with many languages and people.
Something that we as educators need to be cautious of is assuming that a student has lower cognitive abilities based on the pattern of their language, especially if it is representative of their culture. We need to rid ourselves of preconceived notions. We also need to also be aware of the challenge and responsibility we face to incorporate students’ cultural heritage in our instruction. This not only builds relationships with our students, it boosts their interest in learning as well as opens the door for tolerance and learning about each other. School needs to be a place of acceptance. Students need to be able to feel free to express themselves so that they are valued and not feel they need to hide who they are or where they come from.
At the same time, schools have a responsibility to teach students how to survive and work in the society where they live. They need to have the skills to acquire employment. Along with embracing the heritage that different students bring, we need to teach the language (written and spoken) of the mainstream population. I have recently witnessed a bias based on a person’s manner of speaking. I was present when a person, who was new to a group of people, was sharing ideas about education and teaching. Her misuse of “proper” grammar reduced the other’s opinion of her.
I loved the idea that Baker outlined in “Triangualism” of studying students’ home languages and comparing them to “formal” English. This gives the students the notion that we have different languages and they can choose which one to use. They don’t have to feel that their way of speaking is wrong, just different.

Susan Hines

When I was reading the Delpit and Dowdy articles, as well as reading the news article about the Obamas, a few things struck me. As an adult, I didn't think about differences in dialect and how much they are a part of who we are until I began my coursework for my masters degree. Even though I am a teacher, and each year I have children with different ethnic backgrounds in my class, I don't spend a lot of time thinking about how they speak. I think, or hope, that for the most part I accept them as they are, and I don't correct the way they speak. I don't know if that is right or wrong, but I don't feel that it is my job to make them speak the way that I do.

I do, however, make sure that when I speak to my students, I do so properly because I think I should be a model for them, and have had the same difficulty someone else mentioned in their post where the children haven't understood what I am saying to them. This usually occurs when using the short e and short i sounds like "pin" and "pen." I try hard to pronounce words correctly, and have had to explain to my children that those short vowels do not make the same sound. It is hard for them to understand because they are pronounced with the same sound for them at home a lot of times. This year I have had a child move into my class from Wisconsin, and he often has me repeat things because he doesn't quite get what I am saying the first time due to the differences in our accents!

At home or with friends I do speak a little differently than I would with my students or their parents. This also made me think about my extended family who live in Erwin, NC and the way that they talk. They use phrases like "over yonder" in their speech and I grew up hearing that. I don't know why I didn't internalize those types of phrases and why I don't use them, but when I hear them do so, I feel like I am home. It makes me think about when I was little, just spending time with my family, and it brings back those memories.

I think that as educators it is our job to model what is considered to be the "norm" for our students, but it is also important to teach them to value their backgrounds. In my class I have several ELL students, and at times, they would rather talk to each other in their native language. I do not speak Spanish, and would love to know what they are saying, but feel it is important for them to feel comfortable enough in my room to be themselves.

The way that both articles referred to language and dialect as being a part of one's soul really makes sense to me. I think that it is a huge part of who you are and who you want to be. I also found the discussion about "code switching" to be eye opening too. A lot of time you do have to "cater" to your audience not just in speech, but in mannerisms too, and I think that all of us do this in some form or another every day. There are those times where I have to be professional and speak and act in a certain way, and then there are times when I am with my friends or family where I may use the word "ain't" or I might say someone "got no sense." Both of these personas are a part of who I am and I don't think that I could let go of either.

-Elizabeth

In reading the articles for this week, I made many connections between the Delpit article and the Dowdy article. Although both articles discuss many different aspects of language, they are common due to the struggle that both authors faced in order to better themselves. I feel very fortunate about my up-bringing. I was always at the top of my class but I could still relate to my peers at multiple levels. The only time that my language or the way that I spoke became of interest to others was when I went up north with a friend to visit their family. People where she was from did not make fun of me, instead they were curious about the way that I pronounced particular words and would just listen to me talk.

In the Dowdy article, I found it interesting when she spoke at the beginning of wanting to blame her mother for the way that she spoke and her need to find a balance between proper English and her native tongue. The first thought that came to my mind was of my former school and the students that I had in my classroom. Most of my students were from other countires where English was not their native language. Although most of my students were born in America, their "home" language was typically spanish or hmong. Many of these children struggled with the issue of balance between their "home" language and the more formal English language used at school. I found that the hispanic students struggled more with balancing their native language and English. The more that they were emersed in English, the less they used spanish. Some students even spoke a mixture of English and Spanish. I think as educators, we must encourage our students to learn English while maintaining their native language. One professor I had in my undergraduate experience discussed the importance of distinguishing between formal language and informal language in the classroom. In one class he spoke of teaching his kindergarten students when they needed to use formal language. He would tell the students that it was time for market talk (meaning it was time to use formal language) and also give his students time to use informal language during the school day. I believe that this is a wonderful way to help students learn to use proper English while still embracing their native language or more informal speech.

In the Delpit article, I also believe that people are stereotyped due to the way they speak. Living in the south my entire life, I have seen many examples of this as well. Several years ago, I worked part time as a waitress in a bar. Many of the customers were from upper middle class lifestyles. The assumption was that I was under-educated. People would speak to me as if I were slime. I was not one that would allow people to speak to me or treat me as if I were ignorant, so I was quick to inform many that I was a college graduate with another job. You would not believe the difference in treatment once they knew I was educated. I have always hated the stereotype placed on certain people based on the job they work, the place they grew up or the way that they speak. What a wonderful world we would live in if people were judged on their character. For me, this article addresses this. I think that it was a wonderful idea to learn about the way language was used in the students home so that the teacher and students could understand and appreciate each other more. I can also see how understanding each others language, provided the students with the confidence and ease to want to learn and use proper English in the classroom.

The link that I found with the Obama's is how they could appear segregated from other African Americans because of the way they use language. I am still amazed today at how people stereotype African Americans as being uneducated. There have been many African Americans across history that have excelled at various careers. I think that the attempt of Obama to reach out and encourage African American students to rise about the stereotypes is amazing!

The first article speaks to a truth that we as teachers try so very hard to ignore: to get what we want out of children, we are often asking them to publicly poop themselves a little.
In the “Ovuh Dyuh” article, the costs of social affirmation, of this young girl, through learning the language of the colonizer was isolation from her people, but it helped her in school and in the society as a whole. This lead to a successful career with many other fringe benefits along the way, yet was as destructive socially as pooping yourself in the middle of class.
This is something I see every day in my classes. For example, I have two students from Guatemala, whom speak with great fluency, Standard Written English (SWE), yet find themselves isolated because, as one of my other social gang members informed me when I asked him to let the two, Leo and Jordan, join his group, “Na. They ain’t real Spanish. I can’t understand them; sides man, they ain’t Mexican enough,” coming from a Puerto Rican. Just like when Dowdy was made fun of for her “over there” comment and felt as if “two nations have been developed within her,” these boys represented two nations: the white and the Mexican, even though nationality never played a role in the conversation, just language.

And again, I continue to contend that we, as teachers, strive to force social pooping from children because we validate this kind of social discord because we try to kill “the Spanish or hick” out of our children by not allowing them to speak or write in anything other than the formal, that we, ourselves, do not do, when we are in our own homes. In my classes, I allow a mixture of languages and language styles and incorporate code switching lessons with great results, mostly because of Geny. Geny, was one of my students, and is considered to be the worst student at the school. She is constantly in trouble and will fight at the drop of a hat. So when I found out that she was being transferred to my class, I nearly had a heart attack. At first, there was no change in this associated behavior and we warred daily, until suddenly she stopped being an issue and started being the leader of discussions over literature and writing principals, and the girl that I thought would kill my class and writing test scores, turned out to be the girl with the highest grade average in the class. At the end of the year, I asked her what had changed in her and her response was, “You know those poems I wrote, that you let me write in Spanish, ya know…about the cockroaches biting my feet when we was sleepin’ in the run down house at the border when we first got over here and how my brother died trying to get to NC because we were afraid to go to the doctor cause we ain’t legal.. Well that’s why, because you let me be real. It was real.” She still fights and has a lot of issues, but in English class, she has me and is as different as a Martian child might be.
In Trinidad, the teachers try to kill student’s authentic language, which forces the children to make a choice between their heritage and the language of success, gaining global and monetary triumphs, but losing social abilities from ostrification. Yet in, “No Kind Sense,” we see Mrs. Delpit’ daughter in a world where both her first language SWE and the language she develops from her charter school and uses in social situations, African American Vernacular English (AAVE), are jointly accepted by the dominant leaders of her life, the teachers and her mother, and she develops into excellence as both a learner and a social being through code switching.

Delpit’s fear of the new language, when it first appears is understandable, but her acceptance of it as a part of her child’s identity is admirable and represents the true way that students/children should learn language skills from both parents and teachers. We, as teachers, spend far too much time obsessing over speaking proper English and it destroys our children’s willingness and love for SWE because it is associated with punishments, and to learn children need to want to be like us and not forced into something that they are not use to. For example, a coach can spend hours telling his players that they need to be responsible citizens and help out in the community, with little result, but put in one video clip of Michael Jordan planting a tree for Arbor Day, and every child will be asking for a shovel. We, as humans, only learn from people we respect. I can think of at least three courses in my college career, that I didn’t learn a thing from, just fulfilled the requirements for an “A” and moved on because I had no respect for the professors as they lectured the entire class on things that an armature should know, whilst constantly yelling at us, the students, for grammar mistakes and for thinking outside of the box about their precious literature. Yet, I can’t count the amount of things I have learned in the last year at ASU from professors who could care less about those issues, and loved every moment of out of the box thinking because they were learning too. A teacher at my school, we will call her Carol to save face, taught Biology and had the worst test scores in the school, probably in the country. No one could figure out why she had such awful test scores and why the students hated her so much. One day I noticed that she had 13 rules, with one in giant black letters, NO LANGUAGE OTHER THAN ENGLISH SPOKEN IN CLASS. I asked her about it and she said that she had already written up thirteen children for breaking that rule and could not figure out why the administration kept sending them back to class. I was speechless. Again, because she was forcing SWE on them and because she was mean to them because she did not respect their home language, the children learned nothing from her because, as they often said under their breath, she was a “Punta” in their minds. This shows the only real results of asking children to kill their heritage.

However, within the work, another important facet of this conversation must be taken into consideration with the example of the smart computer technician who could not be taken seriously because of her dialect. This example shows the extreme prejudice our society has on language use and validates our need to teach children SWE for success. Also, the Obamas clip epitomizes this necessity as well because many people would not have voted for someone who spoke Ebonics, even though they lost some creditability with their base voters because they did not seem black enough. When I was a hiring manager at McDonalds, I use to judge my hires based off of their ability to correctly use the language because, at that time, as ashamed as I am to admit it, I too thought that the ability to speak well represented the ability to think well. While that is not my current belief, it is obvious that children need the core values of SWE to be successful. Yet, they do not have to kill their native language and heritage to do so. The Trilinualism article discusses the use of code switching instruction that allows us as teachers to allow our children to have their cake and eat it too, without the embarrassment of pooping themselves in public.

The following example video is one that I often think of when discussing Ebonics, as one of my professors showed it to my class before his lecture on Ebonics. It does have a few cuss words in it, but it is funny, so only watch it if you need a laugh.
Steve Harvey-“Ebonics Dictionary” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klxGFAnY4nI

Post by William Byland

When I first read the readings for this post, I felt sad. I had never really thought about how expecting others with certain dialects to speak white or at least “proper white” affected them. I’m white myself so I guess my thought was “why wouldn’t everyone else want to learn to speak correctly? Isn’t that the only way to get a good job, fit in, in certain social situations etc.? Reading about how these people were affected by having to speak differently than their mother tongue to be accepted and the pain they went through from both sides hit me hard. I didn’t realize until now how devastating that is to some, like having to give up who they are, their very soul.

The more times I read the articles and talked to co workers and friends about this the more I realized that most of us are required to speak another “language” at certain times, to climb that ladder of success.One friend who was raised in “ a poor white trash trailer park in the country” (her words) and who speaks with perfect diction and proper English in the professional setting where I know her explained that when at home with family and certain friends she speaks very differently, speaking the country, rural dialect. She spoke to me that way and I was amazed those words were coming from her mouth. I realized that I do the very same thing, not to that extent but still I do it. At work I’m very careful, though unaware to speak properly with perfect diction with my students and co workers but when at home I slip deep into my Southern dialect saying things such as d’morra for tomorrow.

I have tried and tried over the years to take the southern country out of my students of course to no avail, when I should be helping to see when they need to speak correct English and when it doesn’t really matter. I was, as one article mentioned, telling them inadvertently that their parents were wrong which ,of course, was hard for them to accept.

It just makes sense to me now to teach the “proper way to speak but to allow the kids to embrace who they are and the dialect that is a part of each family. I will definitely approach this very differently now.

Linda Bohland

Dowdy, Delpit, and News Article

Is you goin’ to read all these passages we was assigned? I am a true southerner by birth; in fact, I am a native North Carolinian. Everyone based on where they are from has a different dialect, and it is accepted differently depending upon where they are and who they are talking to. Historically, people have been treated differently based on their speech/dialect. Until recently, this has been predominately “white folks”. The dialect of those who are thought to hold positions in power are more socially accepted. This is the “listeners’ acceptance.” Based on knowledge and understanding, not all listeners will understand the same things.
In different positions people talk differently. The articles referred to this as “code switching” or being a “channeler of languages”. We all talk differently to our family and friends than when we talk with our co-workers in a professional setting. There are differences in spoken language, written language, and book language. Depending on the setting, I do not feel that it is acceptable for the teacher to give in to the relaxed speech of our students. For example, if I am teaching a lesson about literature, the student should be expected to use the language taught to talk about literature (idiom, simile, metaphor, etc.). This is an academic language that has to be taught, and used for students to become comfortable knowing what they are. Students have to have this book language understanding. Books are not written in the languages that we speak; therefore students have to be able to switch between their “comfortable” dialect and that of “standard English”. Even the President knows when he has to “code switch” and when to talk in this “standard English”.

Standard and nonstandard dialects are accepted differently. These dialects are not “wrong”; however, depending on the social situation determines which should be used in communicating. If your dialect is to read dog as “dawg”; then they will read hog as “hawg”. This does not make this dialect any more inferior, the teacher just has to become more aware and not make those subtle corrections. Not that the teacher has to become “fluent” in this dialect, but just accept it. Asking a teacher to change the way they speak is not a reality.
One article references that worksheets or textbooks are not relevant to students’ “life experiences”; I feel that this is the teacher’s job to make learning relevant to this. Teaching should not become an enabler for students. Not everything can be seen as “fun”; in the “real adult” world you have to learn to deal with things that you “want” to do and things that you are “expected” to do.

I almost feel that these articles are biased to this enabling quality to students. Yes, we want students to be accepted for who they are, but they also have to learn about those other “languages” that we have to use in our everyday communication.

Angela Steele

After reading through “Ovah Dyuh”, “No Kinda Sense” and the Michelle Obama articles, I found myself perplexed with the struggle of language “barriers” that are set in our society today.

As a first year teacher, I worked in a school with a high population of Spanish-speaking students. I was fortunate to have come from an elementary, high school and college career that was full of Spanish classes. I found myself able to communicate with some of my Hispanic parents and students better than other teachers at my school. I personally never though twice about the ethnicity and the pattern of speech from my Spanish speaking students until after reading the Dowdy and Delpit articles.

I knew that my ESL kids had difficulty with idioms and sometimes understanding written directions or oral directions, but I found myself using Spanish and English with these students to help them get around the classroom and to communicate information home to their parents. I noticed other teachers in my school who were offended by those students who used Spanish in the classroom.

I would hear teachers comment on what they thought students were saying (usually negative comments, of course) and that their families were not welcome in our area. This spat of racism reflected not only the students’ backgrounds but their speech as well. It irked me so to think that some of those teachers had biased opinions about their own students because they did not like “the Mexicans that are taking our jobs”. I feel like this instance parallels how Dowdy felt as a young child who needed to “play to a white audience” or “one had to sound the part”.

I can recall some of my students who would speak Spanish to each other and then turn back on their English when they spoke where adults or other teachers were around might hear. I speculate that those students felt the negative feelings from some of the classroom teachers and my school and felt that they were a bit alienated as opposed to the some of the other white students in the classroom. It seems to be that those students were taking on two roles. In one role, (usually at home) they are Mexican, and practice the use of Spanish and Mexican cultural habits and ideas. In another role, (usually at school) they are still “Mexican” but now are viewed as a minority and not as smart of proficient as the white students at school. Dowdy describes her experience as a young Trinidad woman growing up to a survival technique called “double realities”. She notes that in order to be successful in her situation, one must hold both roles and maintain that balance to please all people involved. I wonder today if my students at the young age of 10 and 11 were able to and continue to play both roles in their lives. It’s a shame to me that students have been conditioned to play certain parts in order to survive the social norms day after day.

To go back to the Obama article, I thought about the comment, “To Obamas are adept at using language to send a quiet message: that black America, excluded for so many years, now has a seat at the table.” I wonder when America, the “melting pot” will find a seat at the table for its Mexican population?

June 6, 2010 Renee Hennings

The Delphit and Dowdy article made me reminiscent of the students I teach. My class and school is majorly Hispanic, mostly of Guatemalan descent. There are several different dialects spoken by our students yet English seems to be the chosen language for our instruction. We have one ELL teacher who speaks fluent Spanish and one parent educator who assist the teachers when working with our 225 students and their families. Often when in a bind our custodian will have to step in and act as interpreter.
Most of my students were able to take advantage of the opportunity for them to attend PreK which they frequently enter with no prior knowledge of the English language through their early education or with the guidance and knowledge of another sibling. As I have worked exclusively with these students in Kindergarten and first grade, they are able to become very bilingual speakers using English in the classroom and Spanish as their social language. I am so amazed by their intellectuality and am to an extent jealous of their ability to speak a second language. I am so eager to learn how to speak Spanish having very minimal knowledge, only basic words that students have taught me over the years. However in many situations the child begins to disassociate themselves from the Spanish language and even in instances of refusing to speak it in the home which can be very hurtful to the parents. Often when I have tried to have a fluently bilingual student assist me in communicating with a non-speaker, the fluent student will repeat the phrase in English similar to the way I have said it. As an educator accepting and being open-minded about communication is imperative when working with our students. The goal is to have the student become comfortable enough in an academic situation so that learning can occur. With constant corrections from instructors the child will resent the classroom instead of it as the safe haven that it can truly be. Culture, language, and dialect are all key aspects in defining the self-concepts of our students.

Nikki Leggins

I was amazed and fascinated by the three readings. Me being, a white American and growing up in a predominately white schools and church setting I had not thought about the perspectives that Dowdy and Deplit took in Ovuh Dyuh and No Kinda Sense.

I find it very distressing that Dowdy felt that she had to play a part to fit into society that she could not be herself through speech. She states “ One not only had to look the part, light skinned, chemical curls for a coiffure, but one had to sound the part, perfect British diction” This notion of not being able to be yourself and having to play roles to fit in to society is very difficult. When a child has to play that role they never really find who they are. Always having to pretend and be something that they are not because society says that is who they should be. I understand that in certain situations proper English should be used. There is also a time that students and children should be allowed to be free with their speech and let their guard down. When playing with friends or having causal conversations with parents and even teachers children should be allowed to express themselves though informal language. Why always so prim and proper?

In the article No Kinda Sense Deplit talks about “Code Switching” a strategy that her daughter has learned at a young age by listening and communicating with others. I believe in today’s society some students have a difficult time with the concept of code switching. They have difficult time learning when they should switch the way they speak according to their circumstances. I may only see this in my kindergarten classroom. I have observed my students and I can see that they speak differently according to where they are and who they are with. Fox example I have higher economic students in my class that will speak in code or slang on the playground with friends but in a classroom their use of language is very formal. I also have students that speak with informal language and slang in any given situation. I have noticed that most of those students are from lower economic backgrounds and their speech is not based on their ethnicity. It is based on what they learned from parents and what they lacked from their parents. I am sure that a teacher in a different school may see something very different from what I have observed. But when you work in a high economic school speech patterns are not really divided by ethnicity they are divided by economic status.

The article on Mrs. Obama sounding like a white girl is very true. I do think society elects people and puts people in high powered positions based on their poise and speech patterns. I don’t think that just because someone sounds proper they should be classified as sounding like a white person. There are plenty of people in society of all ethnic backgrounds that understand how to use proper English and know when they should “act formal versus informal”. Just because someone uses proper English does not mean that they talk like a white person. I believe people in the public eye should be able to use proper English. Who wants a person representing Americans whether they are white or African American that can not speak clear and with intelligences? Also think that people in the public eye play to the audience that they are speaking to. That is the way that people relate to and reach others by making connections.

Angie Somers

In the summer of 2002, after I learned I been hired to teach pre-kindergarten for the upcoming school year, I called the school to which I would be moving and a lady answered the phone. From the way she spoke, I wasn’t sure if she was African-American or Caucasian. She was well-spoken, from which I made the assumption that she was Caucasian, but there was a particular cadence to her voice that suggested she might be African-American. When she found out who I was, she told me that she thought she was going to be my assistant. This caused me to really wonder about her race because I had never really worked closely with someone of another race.

As it turns out, we have worked together for eight years now and we are good friends. Over the years, we have discussed those initial impressions from that phone call and she has told me that I am not the only person who has had a hard time telling her race over the phone. Like Michelle Obama, she said she has been told that she knows how to speak like a white person. She has told me that she learned that it was important to learn how to speak with standard English by her mother, like Dowdy was instructed by her mom.

As we have worked together over the years, we have become more comfortable with one another and we talk like friends, meaning that our language when speaking to one another is not as formal as it once was. In front of the students, she will use standard English, but when they are not around, she will sometimes slip into the language she uses around her family, such as saying, “You trippin’!” or “He ain’t got no sense!” As for me, when talking with my assistant, I will sometimes use words common to gay culture such as “Fabulous!” or I will say something with a lisp, which is stereotypically gay. When we see someone from our respective cultures behaving or talking in a stereotypical way, we look at each other and simply say, “My people, my people” with a shake of the head. We automatically know what the other means.

I strongly identified with what Dowdy was saying when she spoke of “assuming the best mask ever fabricated: the mask of language” (p. 9). Like Dowdy, I invented a character, the good student, and did all I could by excelling in school. Even though I did not like speaking in front of groups, I learned to do it well when it was required and I learned to read and write well. I controlled my behavior so as not to tarnish my image. As Dowdy states, I was trying to survive. I did not want to let others know of my alternative identity as a gay person, for fear that it would be my undoing. If I could keep up this character I had developed, I thought things would be fine.

As a kindergarten teacher from 1992 - 2001, I warmly welcomed students from other countries for whom English was not their mother tongue. It did not bother me that these students were not able to express themselves in standard English because I knew that they had not had the opportunities to speak this new language. For my African-American students, however, I must admit that I had a hard time understanding their use of non-standard English. This is not to say that I expected kindergartners to speak perfect English, but I was puzzled by the use of verb tenses, lack of verbs, and other “quirks” that I thought they should know better than to use when speaking. Unlike those coming from other countries, these students had grown up in English-speaking households. What I failed to realize was that these students were “echoing” the language being spoken in their homes and neighborhoods, the language spoken by family, friends, and neighbors. With this language, as Delpit states, the students were able to “revel in the rhythms and cadences of connection” (p. 37). And, at the age of five, these students were not really concerned about what others thought because they had, in most instances, always been in an environment in which they were surrounded by others using this same type of language. At this age, I don't think they were really concerned about "code-switching" either, because it had not really been an issue for them.

When I started teaching pre-kindergarten, my student population increasingly consisted of African-American students and I began to see how the students were “echoing” the language of their parents because I had increased exposure to these parents due to the fact that the parents had to bring their children to school and sign them in. Since I saw the parents much more often, I had more conversations with them and saw how their children’s speech patterns and language were often a reflection of their own.

In my first year of pre-kindergarten, I had to take some workshops dealing with literacy for young children and one thing I remember balking at was when the instructor said we should use the words the children say when they dictated stories to me. I cringed at the thought of writing something like, “Me and him is going to the store,” and then hanging it on the wall of my classroom for others to see. (In fact, just seeing the green squiggly line under the word “is” in the previous sentence, indicating there is a grammar error, is about to drive me crazy!) It is still hard for me to do this, but I at least make an effort to say the sentence in standard English for the child to hear, sometimes in a questioning format, such as “So, you’re saying that you and Bryce are going to the store?” I see this as an attempt to honor the child’s spoken language while exposing him/her to standard English.

Over the years, I have taken some classes to learn Spanish. While I am not able to say I am fluent in speaking the language, I can at least make an attempt at doing so and I can usually make sense of something that is written in Spanish. I will often try to convey a bit of information in Spanish to my Hispanic parents and students. I believe showing this respect for their home language and showing that I struggle with their language opens up these individuals to being more willing to attempt to communicate with me in English, a point made by Baker in her article.

Clyde Rice

Dowdy, Delpit, & ABC News Articles
Dowdy
In all three of the pieces I read there was a common theme of finding a balance between speaking “properly” and being able to speak freely among peers. The coeditor, Joanne Kilgour Dowdy, found herself trapped between two worlds. She tried her best to live up to her mother’s expectations for her life by attempting to master British English. She was told that this was what “good” & “proper” girls are supposed to speak. This made her feel proud while pleasing her mother, yet alienated her from her peers and herself. She found it extremely difficult to live in both worlds until she became an actress. This was a very “freeing” experience because it allowed her the freedom to switch back and forth between speaking British English and Trinidadian. One of my dearest friends whom I met in college is Trinidadian. I saw many times where she felt alienated by colleagues and how difficult it was for her to live in these two worlds. She always spoke proper English, but had a strong accent. Many students who were from other countries stuck together because they were going through similar situations and hardships. I learned a lot from my friend over the years, most of all, she showed me her inner strength determination, when she graduated in May of this year.
I too have had to find a way to co-exist between two worlds. I am from the North and moved here about six years ago. At first, I didn’t understand all of the “Southern terminology” like “hosepipes,” and “Bless their heart,” but I soon learned what these things meant. I also didn’t understand some of the things my colleagues said to me because I wasn’t used to the accents yet. I just didn’t fit in and it seemed everywhere I went everyone knew I wasn’t from around here. But with time, that all changed. I developed an accent and have learned how to “switch it off” if need be. I also lose my accent when I go home to Pennsylvania. It returns after a few days of being around my students again.
I think it’s important for your own well-being to find a balance and a way to live successfully between two worlds. This will help you stay true to who you are as a person.

Delpit
The chapter, “No Kinda Sense,” by Delpit made me think back to my student teaching experience. I come from a working middle-class family and attended elementary, middle, and high schools that were taught primarily by white teachers. I wanted to teach in an inner city school to gain experience in a different school setting than what I was accustomed to. The school I taught at had a student population that was about 90% African American. The other 10% included Hispanic, White, and Asian students. I taught second grade while there and found it difficult at first to gain their respect and interest. I had to get to know my students and their interests before I could earn their trust. I feel that it is extremely important to get to know my students before we delve deeper into instruction. During the first two weeks of school, this is my primary objective. I know that I’m more apt to listen to someone that I’ve gotten to know better and I’m more likely to trust them. All students should feel valued, safe, and comfortable to be themselves and express their ideas without fear of criticism at school. I see nothing wrong with students “code switching” between two dialects or languages as long as they know which to use when.

ABC News
No matter whom the president is their life is under a microscope. Everything that they say and do is carefully and constantly scrutinized. I believe that Barack Obama’s life is under an even more intense type of scrutiny because he is our first biracial president. I think that he carefully plans what he’s going to say and shouldn’t be scrutinized for not speaking “proper” English when in certain situations. I like to see that we have someone in a position of power that can relate to the everyday American and feels comfortable enough to do so.
By: Reshawna Greene

If you’re going to talk the talk, you’ve got to walk the walk
So we've all heard the phrase "you can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?"
This has typically referred to someone who preaches a certain way of life or method of doing something and is being challenged to whether or not the person actually follows that preaching. But what if we were to look at this same phrase from a different angle? How about, "Does the way you talk, determine how you walk?" In this way, we think about the question of whether or not the way someone preaches determines how they act in life. If we were to take the question even one step further, we could ask: Does the way in which someone speaks, such as their dialect, determine how they are perceived or treated by other people.
In these stories, I routinely found myself debating whether the way the subject was talking, such as in a "slang way", was altering, (whether for better or worse, or maybe both) their creditability to those they were addressing. Should Mr. and Mrs. Obama talk in a "slang way" to African American's in order to gain approval ratings? Does her talking "white" make under-educated African Americans feel belittled or unappreciated?
When students come to school to learn, they will generally speak in their "mother-tongue", a dialect that is used in their household as they were raised. So here in lies an ethical question: Do we as teachers try to correct their dialect? Certainly we still want them to speak English, but English comes in many forms. If we do try to correct them, are we making the decision that their parent’s dialect is wrong and should not be used? Will that cause emotional problems or conflicts for the child at home? If they speak differently than the other kids in their neighborhood, will they be treated different? If we do not correct them, will they then be treated differently by their peers at school?
Unfortunately, there is no clear right answer, and perhaps nor should there be. If we as teachers correct them, are we no different than the parents (or teachers before) that taught them a different way.
Let’s talk about the “talk”. Is it speaking your own dialect? Do you speak as Dowdy mentioned, “the right English”? Does the person and place in which you are speaking determine the “talk” and “walk” that you are doing? Are you “code switching”, or modifying your talk to lead a conversation in a particular direction, such as a successful job interview? I believe the struggle of true identity and acceptance is one that we all face daily, no matter the skin color, or language. Your language is a part of the walk that you walk; it is a part of who you are. So often, some people “code switch”, to match the audience. We often observe those in the public eye “code switching”, as Mr. Obama did at Ben’s Chili Bowl in Washington, D.C.
We teach young children morals of “being yourself”. Trying to “fit in” is a constant battle that people of races and languages face in the workplace, religious environments, community, etc. In the reading, The Skin That We Speak, Maya faces the battle of trying to fit it. “It doesn’t matter what other people think about you, you have to be who you are. It’s their problem if they can’t appreciate how wonderful you are (pg. 38). This is a valid point that Maya’s mother tries to make. It is apparent that Maya is asked by her mother to “talk the talk”, using Standard English, but being her true self, is the desire to speak Ebonics. It was fascinating to read and learn that Maya was happier after moving schools in fifth grade. She was happier and successful; she felt accepted for being herself. However, like Maya’s mother, was taken off guard when Maya replied, “Mom, you don’t have to worry about me, because I know how to code switch” (pg. 39). Being her true self, she learned to “code switch”, learning to adapt to the language environment around her.
As teachers, we understand that we are role models for children and that we should speak Standard English. I do not believe that we should constantly correct children who do not speak Standard English. I do believe that we should teach children to be respectful towards others, using their manners, “Yes, Mam’ and No, Sir”. I do have a role in helping the child become a respectful person; therefore I do correct students, when they do not use their manners. However, when a child speaks a certain way, we must accept the talk that they talk. This year, I have a student who comes from a low-income home. He is one of the smartest students in my classroom, but is also a behavior problem, which is reflected upon his home-life. When speaking, he uses a southern dialect, that he has been raised to speak, and will leave out words. For example, “I be riding on the bus today.” We must allow children to be themselves. We can not force them to speak or write a certain way.
Award-winning authors incorporate a character’s dialect as part of who the character is. I believe that it is important to share with our students, books written from different cultures and dialects. When doing some research on Ebonics, I found that the term roots from a part of African American history in our country, but has since been changed by recent culture. It is important to continue to use the text to teach the history of African Americans. Goin’ Some Place Special, is just one piece of adolescent literature that portrays the language of some of today’s African Americans.
I appreciate and have reflected upon the quote from Delpit in her article, “There is a reason our first language is called our mother tongue. To speak out against the language that children bring to school means that we are speaking out against their mothers, that their mothers are not good enough to be a part of the school world” (pg. 47). I plan to use this quote as a reminder to allow my students to “talk their talk, and walk their walk”.
Dowdy reiterates the importance of being one’s self, and speaking one’s own language as she describes her own struggle to survive in the battle of proper dialects and speaking. I applaud Dowdy in her determination to share who she was, and “wear her “own hair natural, so that we resembled Masai women. We brought our Afrocentric identity to the attention of the school, and by so doing, encouraged other students to feel free to express their Trinidadian attitude toward their education” (pg. 10).
Reflecting over the past few years of my teaching career, I believe that I have been in Maya’s shoes, trying to fit into the culture of “teachers”; often times, afraid to speak in my own language and code switching, like Maya, Dowdy, and Michelle Obama did in the articles. We have all sat in professional workshops, listening to the language that only teachers understand. We have our own language and abbreviations. For example, with the RTI phase, there is a new language of speaking about: tiers, Dibbles, and progress monitoring. As hard as it may seem, it is vital that teachers accept the new languages in education. We must accept the new “lingo”, while not losing who we are, and our true selves as teachers. As role models, if we want to encourage our children to be “themselves”, then we too need to be “ourselves”. I commend those teachers who have posted that they continue to speak in the dialect in which they were raised, not necessarily code switching just to be someone that they are not.

Katie Johnson

The range of emotions I felt while reading these articles was everything from compassion to rage. My heart broke for the girls in both articles as they expressed the hurt self esteem they felt from wanting to express who they really were. I felt guilt. My first years of teaching were in an inner city area where the majority of my students were African American, and I can hear myself correcting specific students on the “correct” way to pronounce something. Through the last few years I have become aware of how “white” I have tried to make all of my students. This was not planned nor done intentionally, but my quick responses to my students were to correct their behavior or academic performance to fit me as a white male and the expectations I would have for myself or people whom I surround myself with. On the other hand, I am always quick to say in an interview or any discussion with people about education that the key to student success is building relationships with students and making them feel connected to their learning and learning environment. Those two thoughts contradict each other. Delpit’s examples on using the hair care products as “hooks” to grab your student’s attentions were brilliant and something I would could see me using in a classroom. “You have to engage them, or they will self engage,” is something I think while planning for a lesson. Maybe I only recognize the value of cultural diversity when it is convenient for me, rather than allowing that to be the basis for all lessons. How interesting and saddening to understand the thoughts of those former students all these years later. My eyes were opened wide at Dowdy’s description of how “white language” felt leaving her mouth; “Instead there were cold, metal sounds bouncing off her teeth…” Wow! As an educator I couldn’t believe that is how she was being made to feel about language! When do I ever experience such a forced language that almost hurts me to express? And yet, there are numerous students who feel this on a daily basis; this is counterproductive the goals of a school. We know children’s oral language abilities surpass their decoding abilities. If those students who are bilingual continue to experience roadblocks when trying to express themselves orally, what impact will this have on their reading abilities? “Death is silent; learning is noisy” My college supervisor would tell me that during student teaching. Realizing that students needed to verbalize A LOT while learning, I began to find a comfortable way to structure this in a classroom. However, reflecting after reading that many of these students feel silenced by the expectation of only communicating in class with their non- native language, I can’t help but wonder how much their classroom has missed out on. Yes the student themselves have missed out, but also the entire classroom of students has missed out on the ideas that particular student wanted to express. How much more rich and diverse could classroom be if only the idea of various languages being spoke at times in rooms was fostered? I felt rage as both articles described the idea of “code switching & mask wearing” to blend in and conform to the demands of their environment. How can we as educators want or demand, even though we may not realize it, for our students to create an entire different persona to appease us at school? I realize there are certain ways to act at certain times and certain locations. Seems to me we could present language in such a manner to students that values their everyday life and situations, and respects their ethnicity, but prepares them for the diverse world we live in to be a respected member of society.

Michael Lemke

When I heard the President of the United States use the slang phrase, “Naw, we straight,” I was shocked. Why? I suppose it is because I thought, as a highly educated professional, he should speak as such. But then I began thinking that, I too, am educated. I don’t always speak using proper grammar and I certainly don’t speak the way I write. Why is that? Because we all speak and write differently (code switching) according to the environment we are in. When texting my children or friends, I don’t spell and write grammatically correct. Should the President be any different? No, and we shouldn’t expect that he be anything other than human, just like us. Perhaps if I were President, I might be more conscientious of that fact that I could be recorded at any moment while in public and always try to use proper grammer. I do think that using slang should be left to informal situations and gatherings. I can’t ever imagine using slang in my classroom or in graduate school. My students use slang while speaking in class and in their writing; however, we do have a classroom moto: no text or instant message language or writing on school assignments.

I have mixed feelings about Dowdy's experience. While I understand where her mother was coming from, I also know how it feels to have a perfectionist for a mother. I am sure that her mother wanted the best in life for her. If speaking "white" was the best choice for her daughter's future in that region of the world, is that any different than what you or I would do if placed in the same situation?
Karen

After reading the two articles I was surprised to think about language in such a new way. In the first article, Ovuh Dyuh, I was surprised by how she was judged by her peers because of the way she spoke. I grew up and live in a community where everyone talked the same. The schools I attended were predominantly white and African Americans were the minority. All of my friends talked the way I did. We all had mothers and fathers that drilled correct English in us from a very early age. I can even remember my mother the English teacher taking the phone away from me and hanging it up when a friend would call and ask for me, if I responded, “this is her”, my mother would take the phone away from me and in her sweetest voice say, “I’m sorry Katie has yet to learn how to speak, could you please call her back and let her try again.” My friends would then call me back and say, “is Katie there” and I would say, “this is she”. I honestly don’t remember how many times my friends had to call me back but I do know that to this day I know how to correctly answer a phone. The same was true for my teachers. If anyone in class asked, “can I go to the bathroom” there response was always, “I don’t know can you” we would then correctly say, “may I go to the bathroom”. This type of correction of our grammar was just part of our education. I can’t imagine feeling like I had to talk a different way among my peers that I did around everyone else. As a classroom teacher I channel my English teacher mother, by correcting my kindergarteners when they don’t use correct grammar. After reading the article I wonder if I am doing them a disservice by making them leave their “mother language” to learn how to speak the way I see fit. This was something that really bothered me and I began to wonder in my school where there is a large diversity in race and socio-economic backgrounds, if my students had to change from “Can I come to your house this afternoon” with their friends back to “may I use the restroom” in my classroom. If they do are they aware of this or are they just naturally “code switching” as Lisa Delpit’s daughter did in the article “No kinda Sense”. I have to say that the second article actually pertained more to me and my life than the first. When I first began reading about Delpit’s daughter switching to the predominantly African American school and picking up the type of language that they used I began to think about how as an adult my language and enunciation varies based on where I am and who I am around. I never thought of myself as code switching but it is something that is much more common than I ever thought about. I consider myself to be a relatively intelligent person and growing up with a middle school English teacher I feel that I have very good grammar skills when it comes to speaking. Yet I recently went on a trip to New York city and while I was there I found myself enunciating my words more clearly and never using phrases such as, “hey y’all” or how are Y’all doin”. These are things that I say in my everyday vocabulary but I knew that as soon as one of those phrases came out of my mouth I would be viewed as someone who was lower class and less intelligent. I think that this is the case everywhere, not only with Ebonics or even in school. Our language and dialect is who we are and tells the story of where we come from, therefore students should be allowed to speak to each other in whatever way they feel comfortable. At the same time it is our jobs as teachers to show them the correct way to speak so that when they are out in the real world they do not run into the same problems as the African American woman did who was from the South. I have thought a lot about my teaching and how it affects my students and makes them feel. I have come to the conclusion that for me I will continue to teach my students proper English when they are addressing me or other adults in school but continue to let them speak to each other in whatever way they choose. This for me is the best compromise I can come up with in order to allow them to keep their mother language and still progress in a way that lets others see them in a positive light.
Watching the video about Michelle Obama I was once again shocked that people judge the Obama’s simply because the way they talk. I took a moment to think about how I judge people in terms of their language and I think I can honestly say that I don’t judge them necessarily on the cadence of their words but more so on the grammar that they use when talking to me, an adult. I wouldn’t expect a fourteen year old adolescent to speak to his/her friends in the same way they spoke to me, but I would expect that when addressing an adult that they did use correct English. I think that people should look at Michelle Obama who is an influential African American woman in a positive light, not because she talks “white or black” but because she is a well educated and powerful black woman. Young girl’s especially African American girls should look to her to see how one should speak when talking to adults and other influential people and then code switch when talking with their friends.

B. Dowdy, Delpit and M. Obama

Let’s face it growing up in the south we can all relate to how our speech patterns and dialect predetermine a person, you speak slowly therefore you are slow. My daughter recently took a trip to visit family in Indianapolis, Indian. She was excited spend time with her cousin that is the same age, 16. While she was there she was introduced to lots of other teenagers at parties and other events. They liked her southern drawl and she was asked repeatedly to say certain phrases. She was asked if she knew Paula Dean and Andy Griffith. They wanted to know if she rode a tractor to school or if she had to walk. At first it was funny to Emma and a way into a new group of friends, but soon enough she was being mimicked in a way that did not flatter the south. In Emma’s words, “They certainly made southerners sound stupid.”
Now what makes this story so ironic is that Emma was telling me this story using an accent from Indiana and for several weeks after returning from this trip you would have thought that Indiana was the end all be all. So it took one week of “living” there for her to feel that where she was from wasn’t quite good enough. She had bought into what they were selling that they were more intelligent than she was because of an accent. One other funny note is that when Lauren comes to visit us she leaves with a very pronounced southern fried accent.
I enjoyed each of the articles in a different way. I started by watching the video and reading the article about the First Lady, Michelle Obama. She is so elegant and refined to compare her to the average speaker is insulting. Although the population at large may enjoy this I can see how group of young peers may call into question whether she thinks she is above the crowd. So does Michelle have the ability to “code switch” like the students’ in Delpit’s article? Is what we hear her true language of the home?
I was intrigued by what Delpit’s shared about Ebonics and the way it was intended to be a tool to help classroom teachers. I had heard lots about the push early on in my teaching career but never what I read in this article. It made complete sense and it’s ashamed that this push was so misdirected. I loved her idea of adjusting the presentation of curriculum to meet the interests of the students. I had to go and visit the websites she mentioned and they were very interesting. I think an interest inventory at the beginning of the year would be a wonderful way to make sure that what you are teaching in the classroom can be linked to something of interest in the real world.
Dowdy was faced with the same issue that young people face all around the world. Do I fit in with my peers or do what my parents tell me to do for upward mobility? For some it is language for other’s it is how we dress, style our hair, or who we associate with. It is ultimately hiding a part of who we are so that we can be accepted by the masses. Dowdy’s statement on page 9 of the article sums it all up, “I think that I survived my high school years by assuming the best mask ever fabricated: the mask of language. I invented a character who wanted to please her teachers and her dead mother”

Candy Mooney

Growing up I remember having a language among my fellow social group members we spoke, that only we knew how to do in order to communicate our thoughts and ideas to each other without anyone knowing what we were saying. In today’s society children and adults have their own language too, and it may seem foreign to many people. After reading these articles and listening to Michelle Obama’s speech about the “White People’s Way” of talking I was actually pretty mad. I know I grew up in a household just like many others where we were raised to speak proper and when we chose to bring home “crazy talk” and use it, we were corrected and reminded of the correct way to speak to sound professional and “smart.”
After reading the articles and thinking a few days on what I read, I confided in different people’s thoughts on what I read, and finally decided that we cannot change or judge someone by the way they speak, but we do have to conform to their way of speaking to get across to them. In Mrs. Obama’s case, she is educated and even though she chooses to use fist pumps and “slang” in her daily speech, doesn’t mean she is uneducated, it only shows that she is in the modern wave and she can relate to today’s children. The article The Skin That We Speak, No Kinda Sense the author’s spoke of code switching and I totally agree with that comment. I as a teacher code switch throughout the day as I speak with my students, teachers, and other aged children in the school. Using the “in” slang and wordings catches the attention of students and brings them into conversations with me. I understand and can relate to Maya and the way she felt about herself in the all white school, because some teachers frown down upon me, because I choose to use some “slang” when I’m teaching, especially when I am trying to get a point across. It’s not wrong that I’m using that language; it’s just not what the older teachers like to hear. As I speak the language of the students, I feel as if sometimes the students feel more in tune with me and trust and respect me more. Both articles played on the role of the white way of doing things, and to a point I understand what they are saying, but is the white way the right way always. Sometimes I feel as if people think that the WHITE people owe them something, but do they? In the article, Ovuh Dyuh they talked about playing to the white audience, by looking, dressing and sounding the part, but isn’t that true for everything we do? We dress the part as an adult, teacher, church member, etc,…not because we necessarily think it’s the right thing to do, but we do it because we are expected to do so. I know that I would be content going to work each day in sweats; I’d be more comfortable and able to “play” on the floor with the children without thinking about ruining my Ann Taylor pants, but that’s not what is correct, instead I have to act the “professional way” in order to be respected by other teachers and parents. People go to a Country Club and dress one way and people go to a rodeo and dress another way. The way of dress depends on the occasion and their choice to act one way verses another. This “white way” of doing things bothered me about these articles; because it’s not the “white way” it’s the chosen society’s way instead. No one should be judged by the way they dress, look, or talk, but it is inevitable and it will continue to happen as long as people think for themselves.
I know I do not always speak the way I was raised to speak. I don’t always use correct grammar when talking to friends or texting. I don’t spell out all the words in emails, use correct capitalization or punctuation, but I don’t blame anyone but myself for these actions, because I know when to “act, dress, talk” a certain way to conform to the occasion or clientele make up.
Doing what it takes to get your point across is the only way to truly teach. We as teachers know that we dress up like a big dinosaur to teach our students about dinosaurs, we wear our most prestigious suits when discussing proper table etiquette, we do whatever it takes to get to our students and if it means talking in Ebonics to teach, then we need to do what it takes. We cannot dwell on the past ways as right, because those ways have changed, we as a society has changed, and we must educated the future the best way we can.

Meredith

After reading these three articles my first thought was African Americans are not the only individuals who are concerned with how they speak. What about people who live in the South. I have spent my whole life trying to overcome my Southern drawl. I grew up in a small, rural community. The words ain’t, ya’ll, and do you reckon are implanted in your mind at birth. Even as a child I didn’t use these words. I did my best to speak correctly. Somehow it didn’t matter. When we traveled north to visit family someone always made fun of my accent. I’ll be honest I felt dumb and self-conscious. Even as an adult I still encounter such instances. My husband’s family is from St. Louis. My brother-in-law always speaks to me using a fake southern drawl. My sister-in-law always jokes wanting to know how many syllables I add to words. I know they are joking but it still makes me feel self-conscious. I find myself rehearsing what I am going to say before speaking to my in-laws. When I return home though I can be myself and speak with ease.
Just like the children in the articles I have learned to code switch. I imagine at some point all adults code switch. We are more careful with our choice of words when interviewing or when speaking with an authority figure than we are when speaking with friends.
I don’t believe the mom in the Ovuh Dyuh article was wrong for wanting her daughter to be grammatically correct when speaking. She only wanted what she believed was best for her daughter. She didn’t want her daughter to be judged. What I don’t understand is why she wanted her to sound “white.” That implies that all white people speak correctly and African Americans do not. Michelle Obama made the comment in her article that she was told as a child, “You talk like a white girl.” She replied, “I don’t even know what that means but I am still getting my A.” I do believe teaching children to speak grammatically correct is necessary in our society. However, using correct grammar should not be considered a black or white quality.
Pam Aubuchon

I find these phrases, “You talk like a white girl” and “To curse in white” compelling. I find it interesting that both articles are assuming “white” people speak correct English. I grew up in Indiana where most people that live there do not speak with an accent. When we moved to North Carolina our family got a kick out of making fun of the way we spoke because we not only gained a southern accent, but we also picked up southern slang from our friends. For example, “What’cha ya doin’ over yonder?” and, “I ain’t over yonder”. I remember my dad sitting me down and explaining that people will assume that I am not very intellectual if I speak with such a southern accent. He pointed out that when I went to interview for a teaching position that the principal will want to hire someone that will be a good role model for my students and that would include the way I speak.

I see the point of the author in that African-American’s are being forced by society to code-switch in order to be intellectually accepted, but I think we find these same issues in white people that are not speaking Standard English. We even find this in our students who are English Language Learners. I have an English Language Leaner student who might get placed in the Academically Gifted Program, but he continues to struggle with placing his verbs in the correct place, which has been identified by his peers. I think we are trying to teach our students the “right” way, not the “white” way. Dictionary.com defines Standard English. Check out the web page: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/standard+english . Shouldn’t we want our students to be considered the “educated people” by using the correct form of English. Even more important, shouldn’t we want our students to be understood by the people/community around them. I definitely believe students should be allowed to use their slang language informally, but should be expected to code-switch during class time because that is the reality of our society and I’m not sure that it is such a bad thing.

I definitely understand the relevance of making connections with our students and their interests in order to get their attention in school, but I think this is true when you teach any skill or objective in school. In the article, “No Kinda Sense”, the author makes reference to creating a unit on hair for the African-American girls that are so interested in becoming hairstylists. I definitely understand making connections to the real world while teaching the skills and objectives needed. I think students become more personally invested and remember the material for a longer period of time when they feel connected personally to the material at hand. I liked that Michelle Obama said that she didn’t know what it meant to talk like a white girl, but she was still making A’s in school. Hopefully students will make the connection between speaking and writing well to making something of yourself in life. I’m not sure I completely agree with deciding if a black person acts too white or not. They seem to make this decision on the way they speak. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is research out there that proves that there are just as many whites as there are any other ethnic group that DO NOT speak Standard English. I can think of several “white” adults right now! I think this issue has a wider spectrum of people involved than the articles and broadcast acknowledged. This is an issue occuring in all types of schools that lots of teachers are struggling with each day.

Angie Sigmon

While reading these articles, I asked myself if I have used this "code switching" concept before. I didn't have to think long before I realized that it took me at least two years before I understood the "southern dialect." As most people know, it is easy to spot a person from another part of the country, let alone from another country. Language has been a huge part of my life because I have had to almost like a child listen to others in order to understand and speak the language. It is not a big deal to me anymore, but I used to call my parents in Wisconsin after moving here and tell them the dumb thing I did that day at school because I had no idea what my students were telling me. It wasn't that I couldn't understand them, although I did have to ask them to repeat themselves several time at first, but it was the vocabulary and the way they stated things that I didn't get. One day after school I saw one of my third graders who was a bus rider still hanging around. I asked her what happened and if she missed the bus? She told me she remembered last minute she had an appointment and that she was supposed to be a car rider. Being the honest student she was, I said ok, but it's now 4:00? I asked her if she called her mom to make sure she was coming and her response was, "Yah, Mz. Boughton I did, but my mama couldn't get her car crunk." I said ok and that I'd see her tomorrow, and walked back to my room and remember just sitting there going, what the heck did she say? Using what I have experienced made me become more aware of what many kids go through that I didn't really understand. Children speak their language and I am so quick to correct them to the "white" language. I try not to judge people who speak with horrible grammar and vocabulary, but it seems first nature to do that. I have become a teacher who wants all my children no matter what color their skin, to speak the best "educated" language and I never realized that it's ok to let them just talk. But, where do we draw the line? I can't go home at the end of the day and feel like I've done my job well if I allow discussions and speaking to be full of incorrect grammar.

Abby Boughton

There were so many things running through my mind as I read these articles. I "flashed back" to my childhood when I would say something and my older brother would say, "Don't say it like that or others will think you're a 'Country Bump!' " He was not being mean, he just didn't want people to say negative things to me or think negatively about me.
My mother grew up in the NC mountains (Bakersville) and the dialect from people who live there is different than from where we live. I grew up with family members saying words like "yuns" and "y-hear." This was normal to me and I didn't think anything about it...these people are family- ones I dearly love. As I was reading the Delpit article, I thought about these words and about how I "unconsciously acquired" (Krashen) some of the vocabulary from my mama's family. These words seemed even more foreign when you added them to my very-pronounced-Southern-drawl.
Growing up, I really didn't have to worry about "being different" because of my speech because a lot of kids, in the younger grades especially, accept others as they are. This is probably also because my older brother called my attention to my speech quite often. I think I started really paying attention to the way I talk when I started taking a public speaking course in college. I started to try really hard to not talk with such a pronounced Southern drawl.
I still am very conscious of my accent when talking in front of people, including my students. When I am around my friends, I relax and my accent becomes more pronounced. After reading Delpit's article, I now know this is "code-switching." I do not want people to stereotype me just because of my accent and so I change it depending on whom I'm talking to.
I wrote about all of this to make the point that biases come about not only from race...I think we all are stereotyped at one time or another for one reason or another. I do, however, think it's extremely sad that some people feel they need to change "physically" in order to be accepted. My heart went out to both of the girls in the articles we read because they felt they needed to change physically, among other ways, to be accepted by peers.
Marsha Warren

I think we all find ourselves speaking differently depending on our audiences. I talk to my husband differently than I talk to parents of students. I talk to my friends much different than I talk to my students or my pastor of my parents. Why? It is almost like I am an actress and In the Delpit article, I can almost hear her daughter talking to her friends. Why does there have to be such pressure to be "white and right"? The Obama article sent the message to me that sounding white=sounding intelligent. I have a hard time with that. Speaking in a certain way should not be a sign that you are smarter than others. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Obviously from the articles, children are encouraged to keep the stereotypes alive. I am afraid that if we encourage children to conform to a certain way of speaking, we will destroy cultural diversity and individuality. At the same time, I do feel that t is extremely important that all people should be able to communicate effectively. There are times when my boys talk to me and I think I might need a translator. It is my hope for my children and my students that they can communicate in a clear, concise manner.
Carol Sherrill

Michelle Obama

I think it is very obvious that the Obamas know very well how to use language to their advantage—and I mean that in a positive way. Language is a powerful tool. It is a tool that can be used to hurt or heal, build or tear down. I think we all adapt our words to our audience. If we don’t keep our audience in mind we may not be listened to with as much credibility as we could. I don’t think Michelle Obama or anyone else should have to speak a certain way to earn respect. The fact is, however, people are often judged more by how they say something than by what they say. I think this is especially true with first impressions.

One other point I wanted to make about the video clip is, I am glad that when President Obama told the man in the shop, “Naw, we straight”, that it was seen as a “tip of the hat”. I think it could easily have been seen as an insult, although it was not meant that way. Again, choice of language depended on the audience. It is something almost all of us do, some just much better than others.

Over Yonder

Growing up on a farm in rural Surry County was a wonderful thing. I can, however, relate in a small way to the issues Dowdy experienced growing up. As a young child, I was pretty much unaware of my country accent. As I grew older I was exposed to more people (people outside Surry County), I started to be teased a little about my accent. When I was a teenager I went to a church summer camp in Greensboro. Many of the people I met wanted to know if I was from Texas! These were kids from Greensboro—an hour and a half away from where I lived. I started to become very conscious of the way I spoke, as well as the way other people back home spoke. I was proud of where I was from, but became very aware of the stigma associated with being a “hick”. This was not how I wanted to portray myself. Like Dowdy I soon came to realize that I was able to speak two different languages, the one of over there and the one of over yonder. The language of over yonder is still in me, but reserved for special occasions, such as when I am helping my husband or my brother work on the fence around our house, on the farm that has been in my family for generations. Those are the times that I would point to something over yonder in the pasture. Those are the times when I, too, am connecting with my past and feeling my roots.

Marcia Smith

The Skin That We Speak

The whole time I was reading this article I was thinking about my ELL kids and how what Delpit was saying about African American language as a second language applied to my Spanish speaking students. I loved that her 11 year old daughter acknowledged that she knew the difference between her new found language and Standard English, and when to use each of them. I also appreciated the fact that Delpit could see the opportunity to relate to and teach students through their interests, such as the “Luster’s Pink Oil Lotion Moisturizer”. I think she hits a key point of effective instruction—the kids have to be able to relate and see purpose in what they are learning.
I have to say though, I was a little offended by some of her statements. She stated that students rarely get to talk in class. Teaching 1st grade as well as 30% Hispanic population, I know the importance of oral language development and giving students plenty of opportunities to talk to each other, if for nothing else than just the practice of using the language. She also said that when students do get the opportunity to speak and use “what the teacher considers to be bad English,” the students are told they are wrong and must “fix” their mistakes. She implies that the students are embarrassed by their teacher, made to correct their grammar, and feel bad about. She says this like it is common practice. I understand her point, but I think she needs to keep in mind that there are lots of teachers out there who welcome and embrace cultural differences in our students, including their native language.

Marcia Smith

I have mixed feelings about the article “Ovuh Dyuh”. On the one hand I see the relevance of being able to speak in a formal register. For example, if I were about to be operated on I would not want my surgeon to explain the procedure to me in a grammatically incorrect swirl of jargon and slang. This would make me feel very nervous and doubtful of his skills. Therefore, I think this is more about formal and conversational registers and doesn’t really have a lot to do with culture. I know this is a loaded statement, but I’m willing to put it out there. I understand that Dowdy was coming from a very unique situation. She was faced with accepting and practicing a language of a group of people that had enslaved her own. This would be very difficult for any of us to accept. For most people, our acceptance of “the Queen’s English” is not so drastic. It’s more about accepting the idea that people judge us based on how we present ourselves and our ideas. When I used to teach at the community college, I had a young woman share a story with the class concerning this very topic. She was an African-American woman who was from New York and she spoke with a heavy New York accent and used lots of street slang in her speech. She told the class that, although she was proud of her background, she realized that her dialect was a hindrance when looking for a job. She had interviewed for several positions as a bank teller but kept getting rejected. Her mother finally suggested she “speak more professionally” at the next interview. The changed worked, and she was hired. She stated that she realized there was a time and place for her formal and her conversational register. When I was in college, all teaching academy students had to pass an oral language assessment. If the assessors thought your accents were to “thick”, you were enrolled in a speech class to try and alleviate the problem. Again, I understand the purpose of this. Ultimately, I don’t think it’s about giving up your culture or who you are; it’s more about finding your place in society. Communication is a very important part of how we interact with each other and the world and it’s crucial that we understand how to adjust and do this appropriately; no matter what the situation. - Sally Elliott

By Christy Findley
When I first started reading the articles and listening to M. Obama, I was sort of offended. I am southern and not african american, but the articles made it seem as if the two are synonomous. I speak southern and I am not african american. I understood what was being said about the mother and grandmother trying to get her to speak properly. I also understood how that made her feel. However, I think in the long run, it was a benefit for her life. She is a published author. I feel the same way about what Michelle Obama went through. I think it is a shame that her friends made fun of her, but I think for any person to make it in a professional arena (white, black, yellow), he or she has to be able to speak proper English when it is appropriate.
When I was in high school, I had a teacher who always told us "you are what other people think you are." It offended a lot of people, but he explained it well. He said you can wear long hair, leather, have tatoos, whatever you want. You can be whatever you want. But in life, your job, livelihood, spouse, and treatment in public will be based on how others view you. So you can look like an outcast or hoodlum, but don't get offended when people treat you like you are. I think this also applies to how we speak. When we are with our friends, we can talk like they talk, but when we are at church or on the job, we must speak how it is expected. Or don't be upset by the consequences.
I don't remember ever thinking that I sounded strange or ignorant. I always did well in school and could write well with good grammar and syntax. The year I graduated from high school, I took a trip with a friend to San Diego. We visited the sister of a friend and her family laughed and laughed at the way we talked. I asked for "ice" in a restuarant and her husband cracked up because he said I asked for "ass". It was an eye opening experience. It was the first time I began to worry about sounding ignorant. It was the beginning of my OCDness with language. I will listen to my principle on the intercom or the student teacher in my classroom and hear every grammatical mistake they make or every mispronunciation. It makes me cringe because I think it makes them sound unintelligent even though I know they are not.
In my first grade classroom, we do phonics of course. We often discuss how we say things and how they are supposed to sound by their spellings. We say "fawn" and it is "phone" with a long o sound. We say "hin" and it is "hen" with a short e sound. My kids find these discussions interesting, funny, and it often helps them learn the spellings that we, as southerners, find hard to "sound out". We do the same thing with noun-verb usage. For instance, in the south, we say "I seen it" but we should say "I saw it". We just discuss those kinds of things so they know the correct way, but we don't say negative things about how our parents or grandparents talk.
In my school, there are almost no ELL children, so my frame of reference for that area is limited. However, I learned about code switching long ago. I think it is very easy for children to learn which "language" to use when. I think it is easy for the same reasons it is easier for children to learn a second or third language than it is for adults. My own children talk differently with their friends than they do with me or their teachers. Even as an adult, I do not speak with my professors or boss, the same way that I speak with my family or friends.
I think I would be able to relate more to these articles if I taught high school or middle school. First graders just don't struggle much with these issues. I am just beginning to touch on these issues with my own children. My oldest son has begun to use phrases that I don't understand or don't like. Some I let slide, others I do not. He and his friends say "that is so gay" and I have told him he is not allowed to say that. They also say "what the?!" which I don't like but I let it slide. I want to let him express himself within reason and without prejudice.
Christy Findley

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

"In such time, mothers will not longer have to force their children to act like strangers among their elders. They will hold hands with generations and celebrate the community experience that makes language sensible to all those who are members of the group. Their children will join them in their quest to preserve the ancestral tones and images that represent centuries of love, hope, and success. This is when we will all be able to speak "clearly," not just enunciate, and put our soul's reality out in the open (Dowdy pg 12)." It's amazing to hear of this persons growth through such trying times of humiliation from peers and family. She definitely persevered and took a great stand for what is right.

Through reading Dowdy and Delpit my eyes have been opened to the reality that many African Americans have faced their entire lives. Once completing the reading I began to think of the wonderful African American women that I work with. I asked my self some questions throughout the reading: Do African Americans (my fellow co-workers) really feel so belittled by white people they see themselves as worthless? Do they change they way they talk among certain people (code switching)? Will the African American population ever feel as if they can overcome this language barrier that has been "placed" on them? Next I decided to seek answers to my questions by discussing them with a wonderful coworker of mine. I began by reading the quote from above. Her response: "Those are the most beautiful words I have heard in a very long time regarding how "we" speak." Next she went on to tell me that yes she does code switch depending on who she is talking too and that she felt there is a time a place to do so. Then she went on to tell that she did feel lesser at times compared to the white man when growing up, but is thankful her son won't have to experience that. Lastly, I have observed my coworker and the was she talks among friends, family, and workers and indeed she does use a different "language" along with jesters. Just from working with this lady I can tell you she is brilliant at the job she does!

Second, in focusing on Delpit's reading I was completely astonished to hear that her daughter wanted plastic surgery because she wasn't white and pretty. But just the other when speaking to another coworker of mine, who is also African American, she shared with me how her 5 year old son refuses to believe that he is black. She went on to say that he is the only African American boy in a preschool class of 12 white children. This instantly broke my heart that a child so young can be affected. The mother in response to her son was "Honey, it is great for you to have goals that you want to accomplish in life." In the end she said if she had to do it over she would try to find a preschool more diverse. In the reading I completely agree that teachers need to know about their students and the background that they come from. To truly grasp who a person is you must know about all aspects of their lives including: family, friends, school, community, etc. I like the thought of in creating a curriculum for student that I should reflect the community that they live in. Also, we must find their interests so that we can connect on a deeper level. That should common-sense for all, but yet as teachers we can lack in that area. As quoted in the reading, "Greatness only comes when our students know that we have complete faith in them succeeding!" I have never understood those teachers who demand respect but don't give it. If teachers want to build a community of learners then respect is key. Children and teenagers need that sense of connectedness with not only their teacher but also their peers. This is necessary so that all children can feel "part of the club." When watching the short video on the President and his wife I was able to see a new side of the two. I think their "language" should be encourage more because that is what makes them who they are.

Lastly, this reading made me question my own students and how this would apply to them. All are white but are viewed as "redneck/country/or stupid." Most of my students say things like: "Heres he comes." "We's about done I reckon." I's ready to go!" They are very bright but are perceived differently because of how they talk.

Candace Barnes

The article, “No Kinda Sense”, has brought forth many thoughts and connections. I can’t help but think that this idea of racial and cultural bias in the schools has been around for quite awhile. I remember participating in a workshop when I first began teaching entitled, “African-American Infusion”. The workshop was meant to help us incorporate African-American cultural topics into our standard curriculum. This was a county-wide initiative that produced little, if any results. At the time I was working in an inner-city school in Winston-Salem and the differences between me and my students was readily apparent. I remember how the language my students used was very different then how I spoke and how I was told they should be taught to speak. I also remember an African-American colleague used to, as she called it, take them to the ghetto, when they acted inappropriately. She would chastise them in a language they were all too familiar with and with a presence they could relate to. Needless to say she had great success. If I attempted to engage in this same technique, the students looked at me as if I were crazy. I suppose this was my first real experience with “a second language”. I never considered that attempting to get students (no matter what the dialect) to speak standard English as “an insult to their mothers”, as Delpit describes it. I simply thought I was teaching them to speak and write in such a way as to be successful in the world. Another aspect of the article that made me stop and think was when the author discusses the need to teach African-Americans about the brilliance and accomplishments of ALL their ancestors, and not focus so much on slavery. This year, our school hosted a traveling theater company that presented a play about the civil rights movement. Although the actors were quite entertaining, the African-American students (and most of the other students) seemed bored and uninterested. I teach in a rural setting with a very low minority population so I thought my African-American students would be pleased to see a play based on their heritage. When I asked a few of them what they thought of the play their responses were eye-opening. They informed me that they were tired of hearing about Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement. “I already know all this stuff”, was one comment. I began to realize that, indeed, as educators we have flogged that horse to death. It is time that we present new and exciting aspects of the African-American culture to our students so that they can understand the rich and brilliant roots from which they come. I completely agree that, as educators, we have to respect where our students come from if we want them to respect where we are trying to lead them.

Sally Elliott

The whole idea of “talking white” is somewhat perplexing to me. I think of it more as speaking intelligently. To me, there is a difference between speaking proper English with a slight accent and speaking with a dialect. For example, there is a difference in getting a call from a person that speaks perfect English, but has a noticeably Southern accent, and getting a call from someone who speaks with a pronounced Southern dialect that may or may not follow the rules of standard English. In either case, the person on the other end could very well be white. Therefore, I think that sounding “white” should be referred to as sounding intelligent. It’s as silly to say that all white people speak proper English as it is to say that all black people don’t. I remembered, during the course of watching the Michele Obama interview, that Bill Cosby had some strong opinions when it came to Ebonics and speaking standard English. As I was looking for a clip that referenced his views, I came across this interview with Randi Rhodes concerning Oprah Winfrey and the speeches she gave during the Obama campaign. During the interview, she is being accused of “talking black” to an all black congregation during a campaign speech. I am beginning to understand the conflict that African-American people must be faced with when trying to assimilate with corporate or “white” America. After watching both videos it seems there is no way to win. If you choose to “talk like a white girl” (as Mrs. Obama said) then you aren’t considered black enough, but if you “talk black” you aren’t considered appropriate for corporate/white America.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiMpaD6qTKY

Sally Elliott

I am an African American female and I could identify with the basis of the articles. Coming from a small town I experienced a lot of what Michelle Obama addressed. I came from a community where there were only 6 black students in my elementary school. I never thought about how I sounded until I was a teenager and began to meet new people outside of my town. That is when I started to hear “you sound like a white girl.” I would always ask what does that mean and of course they had no answer. At the time it made me self conscious when I would meet another black person, because I didn’t know what they would think of me. Eventually, I became used to it and it rolled off my back like water.

As Delpit’s daughter mentioned in “No Kinda Sense” I have often code switched. I think I talk differently with certain groups of friends. One particular instance that comes to mind is changing how southern I speak. When I would come from college in the summers and hang out with some of my high school friends I noticed I would begin to talk on a deep southern drawl to sound more like them. I agree that there is so much pressure to fit in no matter where you go. Even if that means changing your clothes, hair or the way you speak. Society has created the illusion that we have to stay in a bubble and you are seen almost as an outcast if you aren’t in it.

One of the quotes from this article that stuck in my head was, “We cannot constantly correct children and expect them to continue to want to talk like us.” I now teach at the elementary school where I went, so I constantly thinking should I correct them for not speaking correctly. I don’t want them to sound like “country bumpkins” as some people may say. So, when I read that it spoke volumes to me. Are we hindering our students when we constantly correct on speaking properly? I know I have let “ain’t” slip a time or two, which I always think is so awful, but I am only human. That is how I want my students to feel as well. This is who you are and where you come from, embrace it!

Odessa Scales

While I was reading Ovuh Dyuh my heart broke for Dowdy. I felt so sad for her that her mother corrected her speaking all the time. Her mother felt that “one not only had to look the part, light-skinned, chemical curls for a coiffure, but one had to sound the park, perfect British dictation”. I think that is something that a mother should not make their child do. I do not think that it is right for a mother to make her child speak perfectly. She makes her daughter correct her self all the time whether she is with her friends or not and in the end the child ends up getting made fun of. I’m sure it hurt her self-esteem big time! I think that a mother should let her child speak how they want and they will, in the end, learn to speak correctly. A mother could try to correct her, but saying “you should speak like this” but not do it excessively. I find that in my classroom I do not correct my children, I expect them to say it correctly but I do not expect them to have perfect language acquisition. I have decided that they are kids and as they get older they will learn how to speak correctly if they are with people who speak correctly. I have found that students speak better by hearing how to speak correctly, and by being given the opportunity to speak correctly with their friends. Do you think that this is true?

Natalie Enns

The articles from Dowdy, Delpit, and ABC News were interesting and informative. I found the Delpit article the most thought-provoking in reference to code-swtiching and standard American English.

I first reflected on my language background. I was taught standard American English growing up in school, and I spoke it at home as well. I minimally used code-switching between school and home, between formal and slang language, but even those deviations were minimal. Standard American English was not unusually difficult or insulting to me. However, I have come to realize that it can be the source of problems for others.

In the four years I’ve been teaching, I've discovered how difficult standard American English can be, especially when it is not spoken and/or valued in the home. Most of my students have been English language learners, thus standard American English is difficult for them. The majority of my students are proficient conversational speakers of English, but they lack formal academic English. Like Dowdy, I think my students also have trouble expressing themselves adequately in English.

After reading Delpit’s article, I’ve become aware that some find standard American English insulting. I think this is because standard American English is considered the “right” form and that other forms of English are considered wrong, incorrect, or bad. The implication being that if one uses Standard American English, he or she may look down on those that don’t.

Based on the readings and my own experience I have come to the conclusion that standards are important. I believe they are important because they are needed for understanding. So that d-o-g is an animal that barks and not something completely different. I also believe that one form of English is not better than another form. It is not important which form of English is chosen as the standard, so much that there is a standard chosen for academic and professional uses. Other forms of English can be used in informal settings, not as devalued or less important but preserved and appreciated. I believe that effective code-switching between different forms of English, based on formal and informal settings, is the key to being a comfortable, confident, and successful English speaker.
Laura Corbello

As I read the articles, “Ovuh Dyuh” and “No Kinda Sense”, found myself wondering how the Mexican-American and Hispanic population feels in reguards to language.
How many times have you heard someone say “If you want to live in America, learn to speak English!”
In the rural area I live in, I hear this almost daily. In our school system, ELL students make up about 40 % of each classroom. That is a huge number that has soared in the past fifteen years.
So how do these children and families feel about being made to learn our language in order to communicate in our country? They did not come here to live and work just so that they could learn English and be somewhat forced to leave their own culture behind.
As Americans, how would we feel if we had to move to a non-English speaking country in order to better our lives and were expected to leave behind our native language and learn something new? Would we not feel discriminated against? We certainly would feel like we were “less” than those around us. How difficult would that be to not understand the people around you and not to understand signs and other types of information crucial to daily living?
I think that the assumption that all Hispanic people need to learn English is very right. Most of the older generations and some of the younger ones feel like their culture and family histories are being lost in the land of the “white” person. But, it is easy to see that it can be merely a way to survive. The problem is finding a balance between forming a second language and keeping your cultural self intact.

Sarah Hutson

DOWDY---I conducted a Google search to gather more information before posting this blog. “Dr”. Joanne Kilgour Dowdy has an impressive education. She is currently a professor and teaches in the Literacy Studies Program of Teaching at Kent State University, Ohio. She may have “sold her soul” to please her mother but she also graduated from New York’s Juilliard School in theatre and received her PH.D from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill! Even after her mother passed and she found her voice in theatre she continued to pursue an extensive education. Would this education have been possible with out the language training?
OBAMAH---“I remember there were kids around my [Chicago] neighborhood who would say, 'Ooh, you talk funny. You talk like a white girl.' I heard that growing up my whole life. I was like, 'I don't even know what that means but I am still getting my A.'“I love this quote! Michelle had a goal and was working toward that goal, no matter what the neighborhood kids said. I can relate to this because I have worked hard to break away from the stereotypical “white trash now, white trash forever” comments of my youth. We are viewed as traitors when we choose to be different from our roots. I know where my roots are, I just choose to grow toward the sun!
DELPIT---Yes, I agree that we need to be able to “Code switch.” The entire world is a stage and the audience demands to be represented. We all gravitate toward people with qualities that we find desirable, so why not treat teaching “English” like finding a new friend. I love it when my husband opens the door for me and lets me order first at a dinner outing. It makes me feel special and in return I am willing to watch football. This example may help explain how being able to switch our speech can open doors for our students. When we take the time to respect their cultural differences we gain their respect. We can then use this opportunity to teach the difference between casual and formal speech patterns. We also need to provide different social settings for our students to practice these newly acquired skills. Field trips are an invaluable resource and we should consider taking our students to more formal places.
Elizabeth Achor

I am like Lisa Delpit because I tell my fourteen-year-old son to speak correctly. My famous line is “Keep the street in the street.” I normally receive rolled eyes as a response. Yet, he speaks correctly in the appropriate situation. Am I causing him to feel inadequate in his skin? Have I caused my English Language Learners students to feel inadequate in their skin when I suggest speaking English in a group mixed with English only speakers? Have I caused other students to feel inadequate?

I remember being outraged with California and the Ebonics debate. Why would you want to support the Ebonics curriculum? I remember someone asking me what I thought of the Oakland Policy and I said it was the dumbest thing I have ever heard. I did not research or listen to the reasons for teaching Ebonics. Teachers take conversational Spanish classes in order to understand Spanish students. I believe it could be looked upon as the same.

Language is a reflection of the person speaking. I am guilty of being annoyed with particular dialects and probably questioned the person intellect. I have to think about from an educator’s point of view. I want to encourage and support all my students. If connecting with my students means accepting some ‘street talk’, I will accept the street talk. I wonder if students will become more accepting of Standard English if they are not made to feel insignificant. I think classrooms are changing from traditional teaching to more student centered teaching. If this is the case, student centered teaching will have to be accepting of the cultural background of students.

I have lived in the world of Michelle Obama and Joanne Dowdy. I have been told I talk white. I have had my physical appearance questioned. I live in both worlds and flip between the two. In all honesty, I believe we all code switch—a language for play a language for work.

Zandra Hunt

As I read, I wanted to be shocked by what I read, but I wasn't. I grew up in a poor, white family in the South. While I will not compare myelf or what I experienced entirely to the articles due to the differences related to race, I do see some comparison to Hillbilly-ese. (I am not sure what to call it exactly.) My mother warned me about how people perceived those that did not speak the way "they" thought people shoul speak. I learned to code switch very early. I didn't know what to call it, but I knew how to do it. Was it entirely out of fear of what people would think? No. It had much more to do with (like it stated in the articles) what I felt it could gain from speaking "properly". Just as the girls in the articles identified with the people whose "language" they spoke, speaking "country" was who I was.

I do think that it is important that we teach students code switching very early, but it should not be a punishment or in a way that tells the kid "lose who you are". I had a teacher in 7th grade who made me stay in during break on a regular basis for saying "ain't." So what did I do? Did I learn to not say it? No. I learned to say it as often as possible, because I knew she hated it. I had little respect for her, because she treated me poorly based on my oral language. I had proven that I was a good student.

The same issue of code switching becomes prevalent when you look at texting, email, and speaking. If our students (and us for that matter) do not learn that there is a difference between text messages and more formal writing, then they will encounter many of the same issues as those who speak non-standard dialects.

Imperialism and colonization has allowed many societal prejudices to become commonplace and ingrained as part of life. For Dowdy growing up in Trinidad being middle class and black, she was caught between English literacy and her own native literacy. “To ‘curse in white’ was the epitome of embracing the creed of colonization,” however; “as a product of her mother’s ambitions,” Dowdy was torn between expectation and being true to herself.
The biases that were automatically imposed upon Dowdy disallowed her to become comfortable with her own voice and culture as she was taught to be “a good girl.” She dressed had to dress the part to suite her mother’s desires. In the school systems the expectation to imitate the British way of speaking was an integral aspect of her educational experience as she says, “it is viewed by our esteem educators, to be a ‘dialect’ not fitted to the expression of higher thoughts.” How horrific to be judged by you voice, your dialect, your “youness.” And to feel as that “youness” must be striped from your being, erased from your core, has to be confusing and painful. Being left out of experiences unique to your culture limits literacy experiences.
But this is the epitome of all racism to have a mother shroud her daughter in the colonial racism that prevailed as society’s status quo. So she couldn’t be “ovuh dyuh” she had to be “over there.” Instead Dowdy felt as if she lived in a “mask” and didn’t question authority. But for her to question is to think and once she assumed the role of the “good girl” she chose to cherish her culture and be true to herself. She became rather empowered b her mother language and shared that with others leading the appreciation of her native culture in her school rather than disowning it. She had indeed lived life through two languages-one of her innerself, the other from the voice of the colonizer. This as she calls it “linguistic tension” made her feel as if she must speak the “white” language for survival and was divided. What we learn from this is to devalue a child’s own mother language is to devalue the child. As a teacher, it creates for me the relevancy of acknowledging the whole child native language and new language. As a teacher of ESL students, I try to encourage them to speak in their native language as well as learn English. For students only be allowed to speak English at a school creates that linguistic tension and to appreciate their own literacy and pull from that to create new literacy experiences learning English provides support and can empower students to learn.
I love the final paragraph Dowdy writes because it speaks volumes about what I think we all wish would happen to have the freedom to speak as we are and not be judged. As a southern girl, I know that there are times with I have been judged as a result of ungrammatical dialectal choices. Dating a man from Canada and having friends from various places of the country, I recognize the linguistic variations and find it fascinating. Often it is said though when I repeat how they say something or ask about a word they use, the first response is that I’m making fun of them; however, my intentions are usually just to hear it again or learn. That is what society does though is to poke fun at those who speak differently. As she says “we shall speak ‘clearly’ not just enunciate and put our soul’s reality out in the open.” That is what I wish for us all.
Delpit’s message is similar. I found it extremely fascinating to find out the real story behind the Ebonics controversy. This came about when I was young and I never really understood the real deal behind mainly the jokes I would hear. The media definitely spun the message from the sounds of it. It connects with Dowdy’s feelings of having to speak one way publicly, but on the inside having a different voice. How terrible for blacks to feel as if they have to prove themselves to be worthy to the ignorant people who don’t recognize or value individuals for their own voice. We should celebrate the person. Self-esteem is essential for language acquisition so how can we as teachers do all the talking without giving students their own voice. That personal connection of allowing student the opportunity to share and discuss in their own voice creates connections to their lives and personal interests. For instance it was amazing how Delpit’s daughter’s self-esteem improved dramatically when surrounded by other black students in a school that allowed her to give in to her culture. However, even when Delpit heard her daughter’s Ebonics she was concerned about her future and her well-being knowing that society’s notion of who people are is how they speak. While all along, the language of Ebonics was derived from “historic basis from West Africa languages.” It isn’t merely just a way of talking, but a link to their black heritage and cultures. So we must “invite the children into the language of school, we must make school inviting to them,” according to Delpit. We must listen to the children and give them the opportunity to be heard. Instead of expecting children to speak the way their teacher’s speak and regurgitate words and phrases we must hope that our society can move beyond the claims that even Michelle Obama made. I understand why she said what she said and unfortunately in our world we must play the game to gain success or use a filter when speaking publicly. However it is unfortunate, that was essential so she “still get her A.”
All in all, these pieces resonate with me and make me appreciate my own dialect more without feeling guilty. They also invite me to ponder more about how my children feel about their own language. In particular I had one student that allowed me to consider this more this past year than ever. When we talked and when he wrote his dialect was there, did I correct his words when we sat down together. I felt as if I should so he would understand the correct sentence structures and appropriate tenses. I also noticed a lot of his problems when spelling came as a result of his dialect and speaking Ebonics at home. The most linguistic freedom he felt was in journals, conversations, class discussions, and writing poetry. It is interesting to think about “listening beyond language form” because there is so much to be heard. I don’t want my students to be the story of the lady who is judged by the way she talks, but I’m pretty sure the world won’t change. So how do we have them distinguish that balance of using a filter without having them sacrifice their voices?

Amy Hardister

I couldn't imagine having to double think every aspect of my being just to be accepted, but I guess that is exactly how minority groups feel. To feel like you had to change who your are just to be "adequate". Language is a part of our soul and part of what makes us who we are. I think it is very important for teachers to gain knowledge about the home language of children. The example in the article about the employee that was brillant in computer technology, but her speech pattern was an issue. None of the companies could move past her language to appreciate her expertise. So, do we as a society negatively assess someone's intelligents and potential based on what we can only see and hear? I understand that in the professional world the issue is professionalism, but who sets the standards for what is professional? If I hold an administration position I have to ask myself, do I want the person that will do the best job, or do I want the person that will reflect my standards and what I consider professional? Who says that what I say is professional isn't wrong? If someone can't be themselves and be comfortable being who they are...that's sad. We all have students everyday trying to please us. Do we really want teacher pleasers, or would we rather have students that feel comfortable with who they are and have the freedom to be who they are? This goes back to the article when students' interests are addressed in school, they are more likely to connect with the school, with teachers, and with their work. Is that not what we want for our students? I think we must look at the BIG picture...are they learning what they need to be successful in life and are we creating life-long learners. Language is part of who we are and we must strive to understand the differences...it's a multicultural world and the teachers more so than the students need to understand the differences we have within our own classrooms. With that being said, I do strongly feel that students should be taught proper English and grammar and be encouraged to speak it. BUT, we must embrace who they are and the dialect that is part of their family without doing more harm than good. As teachers we sometimes listen to the way our students speak rather than what they are saying. We need to listen beyond the words and hear what is being said.

Karin Scott