Spring 19-E535 Literacy

“There are literally young black boys who have never seen a black man reading.” Alvin Irby by Jay Imagine entering your literacy class and dreading every second of the time you are in this prison of a classroom.  Classrooms that are not culturally sustaining assimilate into these prisons for many African American males, because of internal and external factors.  The following list form Tatum shows  “several factors that serve as barriers to achievement for African American males” (Tatum, 2006, P. 44)   Internal Factors:                                   External factors self-concept                              ...

When I hear the term "Book Club"... ...I think of getting together with a group of friends after reading a fictional, escape-from-every-day-life, easy-reader book, casually throwing out why we liked/disliked a character...and drinking some adult beverages.  Perhaps the conversation could spur a more serious debate or cause deeper thinking about the plot, but the purpose of our meetings would not be social action or critically responding to the text. I have seen book clubs in action at elementary schools. Obviously, wine was absent. But curiously enough, so was student-led discussion/activities and critical thinking. I didn't see students " inter preting,  debating, and constructing meaning from complex texts "...I saw students answering predetermined questions, participating in teacher-led discussions (or Q & A about factual parts of the book), and filling out worksheets after reading simple texts (Jocius & Shealy, p. 691). Yes, they split i...

Coming into this week’s reading, I was familiar with the concept code switching because I have studied it in sociology courses. It is also the name of a podcast I listen to regularly. I linked to an episode below in which the hosts discuss what it means to speak ‘standard american english’ through a sociopolitical lens. Before reading the article, Nah We Straight by Vershawn Ashanti Young, I had really only considered code switching as a useful tool for one’s cultural knapsack. Afterall, we are expected to use different registers in response to our social setting. We don’t speak to our friends the way we speak to our co-workers. We adjust our language and tone to be perceived as professional at work. I had only considered that people of color have a greater degree of modification because of the cultural value placed on sounding white. Whiteness is perceived as normal and a standard of correctness. W.E.B. Du Bois’s concept of double consciousness in which one has to present different ...

The article by Wheeler & Swords says "To code switch is to choose the pattern of language appropriate to the context. This is what I want my students to be able to do—choose the language form appropriate to the time, place, audience, and communicative purpose (Ezarik, 2002)." (2004, pg. 475)  In today's world, we have to acknowledge the different language patterns in each of our students, like SAE & AAE, and be aware of the sociolinguistic problem in the classroom.  I would love to imagine that all the educators and businesses around the world are aware of our cultural difference in language and don't hold it against us.  It's not realistic to think that these differences in our language patterns won't prevent in any opportunities form arising in the future.  We have to make sure our students are educated on code switching and know why we do it.  We also need to make them aware of different languages, besides standard english and AAE, and know how...

In Vershawn Ashanti Young's Nah We Straight , he states that,“ the fact that he had to code switch is the problem; the fact that AAE is still subject to racism is the issue to correct, not the people who speak it" (2009, p. 65). I agree that African-American English should be valued in the same way that Standard American English is. However, I think it's naive to believe that we live in a world where we can expect our students to do as well if they're not also familiar with SAE. Every day we're inundated with stories of people mistreating black people based solely on their appearance and speech.  This is unfortunately the world we live in. In an ideal world, code meshing would be welcomed by all however, that is not our reality. On the other hand, integrating code switching in schools is an achievable goal.  Why devalue code switching when its results have proven to be effective in the classroom setting?  Since I am no expert on code...

Put Your Critical Lenses On by Lauren Creek “Critical educators hope that students will come to critique not only the texts they read but also the subjects they study, the media messages they watch and hear, the things that happen in the classroom and the world (Bomer & Bomer 51-52).”                                   “To involve children in critical conversations about the books they read or about the world they live, the teacher has to be a critical observer of the word and the world as well (Bomer & Bomer 45).”    I believe that Bomer & Bomer have laid out quite a few incredibly useful tools and practices for students to use to become critical observers of the texts they encounter in the classroom.    This is a great start to get our students practicing and growing their critical analysis.    As a future teacher I also want my studen...

culturally relevant, responsive, sustaining, proactive pedagogy There are so many different methods of how to have a culturally *blank* pedagogical approach to teaching. With all the different ideas and evolving words, how do we know which word to use -- or are they really any different? Culturally proactive pedagogy:  "by using the word 'proactive,' we mean to build respectfully on the work that has gone before us and to acknowledge its impact on our own teaching practices..." (Garcia & O'Donnel-Allen, pg. 19) How is culturally proactive pedagogy   different? The chapter mentions that by instilling culturally proactive pedagogy in one's classroom, it is not about finding an end goal, or reaching a point of accomplishment. However, the chapter mentions that this type of pedagogy is an ongoing learning journey for both the educator and the students. The authors also mention the importance of joining with others to creat...