Assignment A #3

Literacy with an Attitude by Flinn

Argument Statement
The inequity of literacy in the U.S. supports and maintains the economic and social classes that have existed for decades. 

Talking Point #1
"We don't worry about a literate working class because the kind of literacy they get doesn't make them dangerous."  This line hit me like a ton of bricks.  Not only are students of color so disadvantaged accross the US but they are taught literacy at such basics levels that it is often not to advocate for themselves, but to simply survive.  "The literacy they acquired would not be literacy to become better citizens, workers, and Christians as the rich defined those roles for them; it would be literacy to engage in the struggle for justice. This was dangerous literacy"

Talking Point #2
"But, in fact I was schooling these children, not to take charge of their lives, but to take orders. I taught them to read and write a little better, and I taught them some facts about United States history, but control was uppermost in my mind."  I really had to reflect after I read this and think about what I do in my own classroom.  I used to think that having a quiet classroom showed what a good teacher I was -- this past year, I have thought so differently about this and the opportunities I have given my students.

Talking Point #3
"In the affluent professional school, work was not repetitious and mechanical, as it was in the working-class school; it was not knowing the correct answers, as it was in the middle-class school; it was being able to manipulate what Anyon tenned symbolic capital." Symbolic capital is huge in life. It underlies all of what we do but requires we know how to use it.  If we are not teaching students this in school, how can we expect them to progress in the real world?

Assignment B #2 -- The Problem We All Live With

The Problem We All Live With transcript by Ira Glass, struck a chord with me; the conversation that evolves throughout the transcript deeply connects the reader with the students of Missouri and supports the severity of their marginalization with striking information and facts.  This transcript enlightened me to the lengths entire communities of people will go through in order to keep education segregated and that other than desegregation, we still have not found alternative means to turn a failing school district around.  Yet, even equipped with this information, desegregation is a solution that is rarely if ever implemented; this is rooted in politics, power, and overt racism.

There are many days when I go to work that I feel my students are not just getting the bare minimum but that they are being entirely disadvantaged when compared to nearby private schools and school districts.  Similar to how Elisa Crouch describes the school she shadowed a student at, “We went into AP English, and it's held in a science lab. The classroom across the hall, where it should be held, smells like mildew and the ventilation system doesn't work,” my school has leaking ceilings, mold in almost every light fixture, and humanities classes being held in science labs. What this creates is a space that is unsafe, not conducive to success, and somewhere students, never mind adults, do not want to be! 

Additionally, as Ira Glass writes, “The US Department of Education put out data in 2014 showing that black and Latino kids in segregated schools have the least qualified teachers, the least experienced teachers. They also get the worst course offerings.”  I have been a part of this, and it was not in the best interest of students; during my first year at Evolutions, nearly 70% of our faculty were teaching for the first time!  Students, as if participants in a laboratory experiment, partook in all of us trying new pedagogy and tools that we had never tested and that often failed.  Our effort was there, our expertise however, was not – and students learning was dramatically, negatively affected. 

After reading this transcript, for the first time I began to contemplate a point I had never before considered: what happened to all of the white students in Providence Public Schools?  Nearly all of the students I teach are Latino or African American.  I know however, going back to the 60’s and 70’s, that PPSD was a very successful and abundant with white students;  I also know, that there are still many white families that live within the city.  So where are their students going to school?  These families are able to use their privilege, power, and money to send their students to private schools such as La Salle Academy, Moses Brown, and the Wheeler School that provide some of the best educations not only found in Providence but the entire state of Rhode Island.  This leaves Providence Public Schools to service mostly minority students, be underfunded, and produce far below par students outcomes.

Link to Tal

Assignment A #2

Argument Statement
Power in the hands of white educators has silenced many students of color. Lack of power in the hands of educators of color has harmed their ability to educate students of color.  In both cases students of color are harmed. 

Talking Point #1
Delpit discusses how educators from different backgrounds go about teaching students of color in different ways.  Delpit believes that the communication block that exists between these two groups of educators  "can be solved by "ethnographic analysis, that is, in identifying and giving voice to alternative world views." Essentially, these educators could better understand each other by seeing that the other sees the world differently than them -- yes!  This screams intersectionality!  She also stresses that people of color have been silenced when it comes to how they think their own should be educated. 

Talking Point #2
"The teacher can not be the only expert in the classroom." Yes!  It is so important to connect our students to their learning and make them have buy in.  With students of color this is particularly important because many historical figures, scientists, and writers we talk about in schools are old, white dudes.  We as educators need to expand the curriculum to incorporate the background of our students and let them be the experts and tell us what they already know!

Talking Point #3
When Delpit talks about skills she is referring to: "helping students gain a useful knowledge of the conventions of print while engaging in real and useful communicative activities."  Is this not what we want all of our students to do?  As a biology teacher I know that the majority of my students will not remember what the function of a mitochondria is in 4 years.  What I hope they remember is how to use the skills they have developed to work as a team, find and cite evidence, and look at data for patters.  Delpit stresses the importance of skills throughout this text, and I could not agree more!

Assignment B #1

The High School I work in is an inner city school right here in Providence.  Our population of students is very diverse, and many proudly support the black lives matter movement. 

We have one faculty member however, that is notorious for screaming back at students “all lives matter” whenever they hear them talking about BLM.  I, myself, have heard this individual do this but I have become part of the problem because I haven’t named what they are doing as a problem.  In thinking about this, I never spoke with them about what they were saying because I didn’t know how to explain what was wrong with it; while I knew how to pull this individual aside and have a difficult conversation, I did not know how to explain that what they were saying was wrong in a way they would understand.  Now that I have read this article, the next time I hear them say “all lives matter” to one of our students, I will start by pulling them aside and having them quickly read this.  This article does a great job at associating the BLM saying with something that is applicable and relatable to almost anyone. Specifically, using food to tell the story is powerful because it is a necessity to everyone; we all understand what is meant by a "fair share" and most of us have said "I should get my fair share, too." I will be sure to keep you all posted in this coming week if this comes up and I am able to better equip this individual with a more complete understanding of the movement. 

Until I was in 9^th grade, I went to really white schools.  Race, and all of the implications it has, did not have any meaning in my life or in the lives of anyone that I went to school with or that taught me.  When I was around people of color, if someone were to ask me if I was “colorblind” I would absolutely have said yes; in fact, I likely would have said yes until I graduated from high school. 

Now, this was not because I was trying to be offensive or rude or inconsiderate – no!  At that time, I thought by saying I was colorblind meant that I wasn’t racist.  Essentially, that I was not looking at people of color and treating them negatively because of their skin color.  After lots of DEI training in college and through Teach for America, I learned just how awful saying that you are “colorblind” is.  What it boils down to is that you are telling people of color that you don’t see them or what they have gone through or the struggle they endure every single day.  I really like how this article talks about “color insight – an antidote to colorblindness.”  Every white person needs to confront what they think about race, what their understanding of privilege is, and have an open mind to gain a better appreciation for what people of color go through on the daily.  This article does a great job at explaining what the initial steps are individuals can take to start doing this, and is something that should be used in DEI trainings.

Assignment A #1

Argument Statement
We need to step into the uncomfortable in order to start to see how we can all get along.

Talking Point One
"It is about how we think. But always the purpose is to change how we think so that we can change how we act, and by changing how we participate in the world, become part of the complex dynamic through which the world itself will change."

I LOVE this quote!  I can't help to think how we need to relay this to our students, however.  THEY are going to be the change.  How can we tailor this message so they better understand this?

Talking Point Two
There is a point on page five where he starts to talk about the dog and how they don't think much else about being a dog an in many ways are "pure." I couldn't help but think of young children that are very similar.  When they interact with each other they don't think of race, social class, or other factors.  They just see each other as humans.  When does this stop happening? What makes this stop happening?

Talking Point Three
I think it is so important to name racism and the other terms the author mentions.  I like the point he makes about if we don't name it, how can we address it.  I also appreciate how he goes into depth and talks about why other people might feel uncomfortable but how we still need to name it.