Week 5: Behind Before They Are Born
For most of my life I lived in
Gary, Indiana. All the children I went to school with were in low income
families and got free or reduced lunch. Since I can remember, Almost every black
boy I went to school with was behind. No African American boys liked to read
aloud, most didn’t like school, and some would even act out. Almost all the
time teachers would label these students as troubled boys, class clowns or bad
eggs. Within the first week of school, teachers would give up on them, isolate
them, get them out of the classrooms, or suspended. I can’t recall a time when
a teacher said, “okay so you don’t know this… but you do know this so let’s
work from there.” Teachers from my hometown seemed to label these boys as “behind”
and just leave them there.
In Chapter 2 the authors quote
Graue “The hidden curriculum is one that consistently places the blame and
burden on minoritized children and their families for their lack of readiness”.
They also talk about how student’s literacy practices are belittled and
silenced, something I’ve seen firsthand in the public-school system. It’s a
shame that children aren’t getting the educational help and support they need
from schools because they weren’t ready. With teachers pushing them to the
side, minoritized children fail to get a chance to catch up.
In chapter 2 of Rethinking Early
Literacies, the authors talk about how from birth children start reading
worlds. Children use cries, noises, and coos to try and communicate in this new
world. They point out that when adults fail to understand these actions, they
start to see children “in terms of what they cannot do”. The article tells us
“young children who are speakers of African American Language (AAL) are likely
to experience communicative disconnects with their mostly white teachers”. This
made me think about when Dr. Taylor read “Crown an Ode to the Fresh Cut” to the
class. Someone had mistaken the boy’s language as sassy. This points out that a
lack of language and cultural understanding can have teachers and students
misunderstanding each other and in turn have students falling behind. That’s
why it’s very important for us as future educators to understand and learn
about our students.
There’s a section in Rethinking Early
Literacies called “Positioning African American Language as a Situated
Representation of a Phenomenon”. In this section the authors discuss how
allowing AAL (African American Language) can help create children that are bilingual/bidialectal.
I remember in middle school when we were forced to talk “proper” and certain
words me and my classmates used were off limits. It felt very restrictive to
not be able to talk how I usually talked. School made it feel like if I didn’t conform
to this white professional mold then I wouldn’t be successful in communicating
and reading. As if I wasn’t a “style shifter” or a “multilingual composer”. I
agree that allowing AAL and other languages in the classroom can be beneficial
to all students. This would allow students to learn communicative flexibility, learn
how to interact in diverse social situations, learn to exercise agency over
language choice and help them be comfortable in the literacy classroom.
Another way
to help minoritized children excel in school is to use culturally relevant
teaching. In its simplest form culturally relevant teaching means what people read
is as significant as the fact that they can read. Ladson-Billings states the
primary goal of this type of teaching is, “to empower students to examine
critically the society in which they live and to work for social change.” I believe
this to be true because when I was younger, and we learned about culturally
relevant things I tended to learn and remember them faster. Having them read books
that contains social problems or having students read books such as “Crown an
Ode to the Fresh Cut” can help students achieve literary success.
As future
educators, we should always be looking for ways to make sure every child is comfortable
in the classroom. I found the following article that talks about how black
children are refusing to stop using AAL as it is “part of a value system that
prizes cultural distinction.”. https://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/05/nyregion/lingering-conflict-in-the-schools-black-dialect-vs-standard-speech.html
. The readings for this week enhanced my thinking and understanding about culturally
relevant teaching. I believe now that it is necessary and sufficient for the effective
teaching of students especially those who are minoritized. Lastly and most
importantly never think of what your students cannot do, think of what they can.
Tips from this chapter:
·
Get to know your students’ cultures and
languages
·
Create lessons that have connections to students
lives and cultures
·
Be aware how society views your students and how
your students view themselves
Questions:
1.
What are some ways we can help minoritized children
excel in literary?
2.
What do you think are the benefits of culturally
relevant learning?
3.
Why is it important to recognize that children
are literate beings that go from worlds to words?
4. Black students matched to black teachers have
been shown to have higher test scores. Do you believe that may be due to dialect barriers between students and teachers? How can we as teachers avoid dialect barriers/
language barriers?
5.
How can stereotypes like black boys being
problems that need to be controlled rather than children who need to play
effect their learning?
Jasmine, I can relate to your first paragraph because I'm from Gary, Indiana myself. You are definitely right about how teachers would see the African American boys as trouble makers, bad eggs, and class-clowns. In chapter 2 it is stated, "Ladson-Billings (2011) has documented how African American boys are often seen as men, enduring harsher consequences for their actions." I agree with this statement because often when those African American boys got in trouble in class for acting out they were often only given one warning, and most of the time the teacher didn't bother to see what the problem was arising from. Like you said African American boys didn't like school, or reading out loud which resulted in outing out in class. Most of the time that was more than likely a cry for help because they wanted someone to notice them. If teachers took the time out to actually pay attention or notice when the acting out would start in the classroom they would've been able to find a better solution rather than sending them to the office and suspending them. The suspending also didn't stop anything because as I remember in high school those same African American boys would come back and do the same thing that got them suspended in the first place. This would only cause a repeated cycle, which could've been solved with talking to that boy and figuring out a better way to get him more active in the classroom. As future teachers we have to try to help our students become better, and not send them off to the next person/place because they are interrupting our classroom lessons. We have to try every possible way to reach them in a way no one else could have because that's all they are looking for, someone to notice them struggling.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you. When teachers see minority students 'acting out' they just send them somewhere else to have someone else deal with them just because they don't know how to 'handle' them. I agree with you that as future teachers we need to try and help our students. I think we need to be those teachers for them that sets them aside so you can have a talk with them and ask them what is going on at home or at school that is causing them 'acting out'. We need to stop the stereotype that minority students will never like school and will never be good at it because if we believe that then the students aren't going to believe in themselves either
DeleteI agree! I think as future educators we need to take a close look at what schools are suspending students for, especially minority students. I remember in a previous blog, someone mentioned getting suspended for their shirt, which is ridiculous. I think as educators we need to start think about where we draw the line and send students home for several days, causing them to miss their education. Do we draw the line at a un-tucked shirt, a student blurting out? I think missing educational instruction leads to students falling behind and should be avoided unless necessary.
DeleteTeachers need to get to know students background and culture because that is who the student is. They are their culture, they are what they eat, how they dress, and how they talk. If you decide to ignore that or tell them to stop you are rejecting who they are and basically telling them that who they are is not good enough. If the only way your minority students are been seen is by what the media shows them as, which is criminals, in gangs, etc. That is what they think they are suppose to end up like, but if teachers read books and show movies and clips of them being the 'good' guys in the story or going to college, getting a job, traveling and doing what ever they want then they will know that they can do anything if they put their mind to it. As Chapter 2 in Rethinking Early Literacies states "What people are taught to read is as significant as the fact that they read" Teachers need to start giving students more credit for what they can do and not what they can't do. Teachers automatically think negatively about a student if they can't read, but they know their letters right? then work with them so they can get to the point to where they can read.
ReplyDelete“Black students matched to black teachers have been shown to have higher test scores. Do you believe that may be due to dialect barriers between students and teachers? How can we as teachers avoid dialect barriers/ language barriers?” I believe this is definitely one of the biggest issues or disconnects there is in a classroom where students are easily labeled and, in a way, hindered from excelling. This also goes for students who use translanguaging or code switching in the classroom to better understand the material, but the teachers don’t allow them to. The book mentions linguistic hierarchies which sometimes intersects with the student-teacher disconnects, "The further one's communicative practices and repertoires are viewed from the normative language and privileged way of communicating, the less value they are attributed"(Souto-Mannining, p. 37). Simply allowing students to use whatever tools they already “carry” with them will be more beneficial for them and you as a teacher. It’s how they process information, and we should be all about it. Just as you mentioned AAL and communicative flexibility, the book talks about how we should recognize the importance that diverse languages has on individuals and communities.
ReplyDelete"Simply allowing students to use whatever tools they already “carry” with them will be more beneficial for them and you as a teacher".
DeleteDora I agree completely. I think many teachers say no to these trans-language tools because they don't understand them. I think it would be more valuable for the teacher to make an effort to understand, than simply banning this language tool from being used.
Jasmine, I completely agree with you that many times teachers see minorities as the problem students and just give up on them. This kind of mentality affects the students by making them feel less, thinking they are the problem, and ruining their motivation. Teachers should never under any circumstances give up on any student but unfortunately many do because they are not culturally educated. I really liked your question, "Black students matched to black teachers have been shown to have higher test scores. Do you believe that this may be due to dialect barriers between students and teachers? How can we as teachers avoid dialect barriers/ language barriers?". Personally, I believe when students have teachers or coaches that are similar to them such as race, ethnicity, language, etc they are able to connect better resulting in higher achievements. I believe this to be true because a special connection is made when a person is able to make similar connections to someone else. I think as teachers we can avoid dialect and language barriers by becoming more culturally aware and getting to know our students. We have to find out who are students are so we are able to help them grow.
ReplyDeleteYour response is really interesting Mia. Specifically, your comment "I believe this to be true because a special connection is made when a person is able to make similar connections to someone else.". It made me wonder if you believe that is true do you believe that children may be able to achieve more if they relate to the books they are reading or learning about people they relate to? Does having someone you can relate to teach you, have the same effect as learning about something that relates to you? (I hope you understand my question)
DeleteTo answer question number 5, I think that stereotyping students at a young age can really effect how much they enjoy school, and how much they want to try in school. If a child knows they are getting attention in a negative way then that can cause them to act out more, if they are labeled as a problem student they will start to believe that, and will not try as hard as they should be. Being treated a certain way because of your race is something that we as future educators need to bring to an end. We should not be teaching or treating our students differently because of their race.
ReplyDelete-Taylor Hall
In regards to your fifth question, "How can stereotypes like black boys being problems that need to be controlled rather than children who need to play effect their learning?", I think that the first step is to realize that no kid no mater their race should be defined as a "problem". Maybe a way to help out those students is to change the way school is taught, to make it more interactive for those students. Labeling a black boy as a problem, and getting him in trouble, is only limiting how much he will be able to learn in that day. I have seen this happen, where students who are more active, are sent to the hallway. This only hurts them in the long run, because they are missing out on learning.
ReplyDeleteI agree! Taking a child away from the classroom and isolating them, does punish them but not in the way many people think. It won't negatively affect them physically; However, it will negatively affect them educationally, and this benefits no one.
DeleteI enjoyed reading your experience because when I was in middle school we had the same problem were they would say the boys were the trouble maker and would be sent to the office. I don't believe that all students are like this due to lack of understanding of the classroom lesson. I believe these students struggle because they can't find something that they can relate to in their classroom settings. To answer your second question "what do you think are the benefits of culturally relevant learning?" last week my reading was about how culturally relevant learning can helps students be engage into the lesson by just simply adding something our students can reflect on like their community, neighborhoods, and identity. As a future educator, we need to be engaged in all our students lives and learn a little about them at a personal level. This can bring positives relationships and opportunity for the students to feel welcome and a level of trust between the teacher and student.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in middle school I went to Perry Meridian. I remember the black males and females being sent to the office the most. They had the worst behavior. They would get in fights in the hallways almost everyday. I remember specifically walking down the hall and there was weave that had been ripped out of a girl head. Back then I was afraid that I would do something to upset the students that kept being involved in this behavior. I now see that it is because they were being neglected from learning. The teachers had already blocked them from their mind. They had become blind to them. Any child will act out if they are being ignored. Since I have been in this literacy course and our cultural course, I can put reasoning behind why those students behaved that way. Why would anyone want to spend time on something if they know that they aren't being cared for or guided on? I believe that they felt school was a waste of time because they weren't being pushed to do better like other students. I remember all of my teachers were white with the exception of one black female teacher. Our art teacher was an older white man who had absolutely no tolerance for any kind of shenanigans from the black and hispanic students. It was obvious that he was targeting them and not others. I hope to be better than all of the teachers that I have had in the past that have mistreated students by their culture.
ReplyDeleteI think the answer to your question "what are some ways we can help minoritized children excel in literacy" ties in with your comment when you said, teachers wouldn't look at a student and say "you don't know this, but you do know this, so let's start from there." I think as teachers, in order to ensure every student is successful, we have to base what success is on an individual level. In order to help our students excel in literacy, we have to look at where they are and what they know and work from there, not expect them to just jump to whatever level we are teaching at. The other question I would like to address is the question about how we can avoid dialect/language barriers with our students. I think a major way to avoid this issue, is to make sure your students know they are allowed to speak any language/dialect within the classroom, as long as the words are appropriate (curse words, etc.) I also think it would be helpful for teachers to engage in learning and environments where they can learn some of the students' languages or dialects, so they understand better and don't have a negative attitude towards the way their students speak.
ReplyDeleteIt is very important to be culturally relevant because the students will feel like they belong. If you bring in books that include their culture, it will have the students so much more engaged in their learning because they can relate to it. Regarding your question four, I feel like in various situations dialect and language barriers could be the issue. As teachers we can avoid dialect barriers and language barriers from just paying attention to our students and being aware of their culture.
ReplyDelete"Black students matched to black teachers have been shown to have higher test scores. Do you believe that may be due to dialect barriers between students and teachers? How can we as teachers avoid dialect barriers/ language barriers?"
ReplyDeleteYes, I do believe that when teachers understand and differentiate students learning according to their background and dialect, it will help them to make that child's education work for them and not against them. I also believe that children learn more from people who look like them and from people they respect. If all they see in their daily lives is white privilege and black people being systematically oppressed, I find it hard to believe that they will truly enjoy and respect their learning and who's teaching them. I believe that as an educator to avoid dialect/language barriers I need to educate myself. I can't be ignorant to my students background and culture, if I want to truly reach them I believe learning about them is the best way to do it.
I think ways we can help minority children excel in literacy by introducing culturally relevant books which is important because they can have stories to relate to. For most cases I do not feel like it is the dialect but it is how comfortable the students feel with their teachers. Stereotypes like black boys are problems can be changed by teachers getting to know their students instead of generalizing them because every student is different if the time is taken to get to know them then the stereotypes will be proven false.
ReplyDeleteJasmine,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you, I believe there are benefits to being culturally relevant within the classrooms. When I was in elementary school I never remembered being taught in a way I can relate to, or reading anything I can relate to. Being culturally relevant helps a child become more aware of what’s going on, it gives them a sense of what they are going through or went through to be able to make it in a society where not everyone is equal. I do believe change does start in a classroom but what children do and think outside of a classroom due to what they listen to and see in two different places; school and outside of school, creates a big difference in learning. I would expand how and what I teach them not by what I know but what I wish for them to know more about. In elementary schools I believe they lack in informing their students more about different cultures that made an impact back in the day. It expands cultural awareness of students from different backgrounds; builds sensitivity toward classmates.
Jasmine, thank you for sharing your personal point of view as well as your view as a future educator. I have always thought that you make good points and you always help me view things in a different and better understanding way.
ReplyDeleteI think the last tip you listed is very crucial and important. To be aware of how society views your students and how your student(s) view themselves as well. Thats why I think the book and activity we did in literature was very important. It was also done well. My school experiences, the black kids who were not in accelerated classes or on sports teams, were the ones who got into trouble. Or usually the ones I saw go to the office/sent to the office. Which after so many times, they will begin to view themselves as troubled or as a person who no one wants to deal with.
I would like to comment on the question, "How can stereotypes like black boys being problems that need to be controlled rather than children who need to play effect their learning?" Labeling a student as being a problem is the worst thing to possibly do. Once a student feels like they are labeled as a problem they will see school as a terrible place to be because of how they are being viewed. This effects the students learning because they are being suppressed and told to be something they are not. There are many supplies and activities out there that allow for teachers to get students energy out in the classroom. Giving those students who need brain breaks that time to get all the energy out is crucial to helping them focus and not be labeled as a "problem".
ReplyDelete- Deja Shelton
DeleteIts is so important to know our students and what's going on in their lives. We need to learn about them, learn from them. Our students can teach us so much about culture, background, and their home lives. We also need to recognize that students learn different than one another and some students need the extra push to get them to their fullest potential. It seems that teachers get so worked up on students being bad, instead of seeing the problem and helping it. An example, I have a friend and her brother has been having a tough time adjusting to his new classroom this year. When this happens, he tends to act out and not listen to the teacher. He goes to an IPS school and his mom says that they are doing very well with him. They are trying to figure out why he's acting out and they want to know why he talks during class, instead of just kicking him out. He's is so smart and is such a sweet kid and they just have to take the time to get to know him and figure him out.
ReplyDeleteI want to answer one of your questions, What do you think are the benefits of culturally relevant learning? The best way for a teacher to become culturally relevant is researching and having the willingness and an open mind to understanding the students background and culture. The benefits of doing this is building a community in your classroom and having students well comfortable enough to share things about themselves with you. Also letting other students be able to also understand other students backgrounds and cultures and let them be more aware and learn what's right and wrong. Teachers need to put aside their own view points and beliefs and learn to have a more open mind, only then you can truly understand help your student.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree! I think that it takes a lot of research, but also could be simple by asking parents to come in and teach us some new things or have the students talk about it in class more, not shut it out. I also believe that it has many benefits and totally agree that it can build a great community in your classroom. It could also bring down bullying and make students more aware of cultures just inside their class.
DeleteThis reminds me a another blog someone has posted previously an it was about how she didn’t feel comfortable in the classroom because it felt like her culture was shut out of it. I feel that this is a very common act that plays apart in African American and Hispanic students lives. When I was in elementary school, I started going to a private school & I was 1 of 2 of the AA students in my class. I can relate to you because I was also forced to be proper in school and cross my legs. I couldn’t wear barrettes or bobble balls in my hair either. It was like they were taking away my identity and that’s probably how those kids feel as well. It’s our job as future educators to make students comfortable in their own skin and clothes so they don’t have to worry about being an outkast to the rest of the class. I agree with you Jasmine, 100%.
ReplyDeleteI would like to address your question, "Black students matched to black teachers have been shown to have higher test scores. Do you believe that may be due to dialect barriers between students and teachers? How can we as teachers avoid dialect barriers/ language barriers?" I think that me as a teacher and maybe others could avoid dialect barriers by not trying to drill into the students brains that there's only one way to talk. That might be what the school wants, but in your classroom they should be able to talk the way that makes them most comfortable. That is appropriate of course. I also believe that there are many teachers that don't allow this, thus making it harder for the students to want to learn and have fun in their class. A black teacher with black students might work better because that teacher might understand it better and not be so hard on the students about learning something else.
ReplyDeleteObviously, I've had experiences with a teacher doing this to black students, as I've detailed my blog post. I think I've even brought it up in class a few times. One of the things that really resounded with me was "“okay so you don’t know this… but you do know this so let’s work from there.” Teachers from my hometown seemed to label these boys as “behind” and just leave them there.". I have firsthand experience with this (not from a racial standpoint). When I was a freshman, I took French. My teacher was retiring that next year, and she pretty much would just conjugate a verb in front of the class, and then give us a coloring sheet that matched words. In general, it was a slack off class because all we did was color and gossip. The next year, our new French teacher was astounded by what we didn't know. Instead of saying "you should know this", she said "let's see what you do know". We didn't learn level 2 French in my level 2 French class, we learned level 1. It really was a privilege to have a teacher that was so understanding of what wasn't our fault. It must be so incredibly difficult to have to deal with that all the time.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement that "the readings from this week enhanced my thinking and understanding about culturally relevant teaching." I understood what culturally relevant teaching was and why it should be incorporated into classrooms but I didn't really grasp the importance of it. I understood why students would want to see (more) characters or stories about them but I didn't connect that this may have been the cause of isolation within the classroom for the students. I knew it was important to share with them and they with us about their culture and where their origins may have derived from. Including students dialects in the classroom seems like a simple but overlooked inclusion method that could help tear down barriers between student and teacher. growing up I was also told to speak proper english. If I pronounced words wrong our mixed up tenses I was immediately corrected, both at home and school. Slang and "street talk" weren't allowed. I couldn't even use country term s that I had picked up from family who lived in Mississippi. If i uttered the word ain't my mom word recite "Ain't ain't a word and I ain't going to say it. So , I guess this is why it was so hard for me to grasp the importance of dialects and African American language.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your experiences I could relate to it and saw the same problem as I was growing up. Too many times minority students were the ones that got in trouble for something that involved more students. For example, I remember in middle school a white boy was messing with a black boy and as soon as the black boy retaliated to what the white boy was doing, he was the one that got sent to the office. Some teachers come into the teaching profession with a generalized idea that minorities are trouble makers, careless about their education and loud. Minorities already feel like the education system was not meant for them so if they have a teacher that labels them as “bad” or doesn’t try to get to know them, they lose interest in school. To answer #5, teachers who already believe that stereotype will have 0 patience when a problem arises. They will be quick to judge and will send them out of their classroom so they won’t deal with them. If a teacher was more understanding and realized that her goal as a teacher is to engage all learners, the last thing she would do is kick the child out of her class. Instead, she would find ways to engage the students' attention and get to know their interests. Sometimes a kid who is causing trouble in a classroom is bored with the material and needs to be challenged in order to stay engaged.
ReplyDeleteI think the benefits of culturally relevant learning is that students will become more engaged in the material they are learning. If they are able to connect to what they are being taught then they will be more likely to remember the material. Black students matched to black teachers having higher test scores is due to dialect barriers. But I also think that it is due to having someone who looks like them teaching them. We do not see many African American teachers in school. I think students who have someone teaching them who looks like them are more likely to pay more attention to the content being taught.
ReplyDelete