The article that I chose for one of my bibliographies was the Lisa Delpit article posted on the website for suggested reading. In her article, Delpit described five main points in her article about multicultural education and how not to stereotype children of different backgrouds. First off, she stated that a teacher should know how to recognize when there is a problem with for a particular student and how to seek its cause in the most broadly conceived fashion. A student of another race should not be automatically labeled as an "at-risk" student or put into special classes. The teacher should know her students' backgrounds and what their aptitude is before making an decisions about their educational future.
Delpit's five main points of the article were: the cultural clash between students and school, stereotyping, child deficit assumptions that lead to teaching less instead of mor, ignorance of community norms and the "messiah complex" and invisibility. Under each topic, Delpit stressed the idea more of teachers whoe underestimate and stereotype children of different ethnicities. She also gave some examples and a few solutions to these problems in education today.
I think this article is very helpful for my research paper. Delpit highlights some key points of what is wrong when teaching in a multicultural classroom and gives some great offerings to help teachers work through the problem of stereotyping.
Delpit, Lisa. Education in an Multicultural Society: Our Future's Greatest Challenge. Copyright 1992. Accessed 25 March 2007
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Monday, March 12, 2007
Personal Narrative
Being a high school history teacher in a suburban setting, I am faced with many racial and social backgrounds in my classes. I have a pretty good group of students this year and most of them work hard for their grades while there are always the “slackers.” However, one student stands out to me the most when it comes to working hard, yet slacking.
Michelle is a junior in my U.S. History class. She is Latino and comes from a middle class, hard working family. She is extremely smart and always behaving. However, what I find weird is that she hands in all her homework, completes it correctly, but strangely has the wrong answers in her work. I fear that Michelle is purposely putting the wrong answers so she will not be teased by her friends. Occasionally, Michelle will put the correct answers on her homework or on a test. When this happens, she gets an A+ because of her hard work and study skills. I praise her and tell her all her tests could be ‘A’s’ if she allowed herself to succeed. Whenever I praise her, I notice that her friends and other classmates make fun of her and call her a brown-noser.
WeI believe this is the reason why Michelle won’t allow herself great achievement. Most of her friends are Latinos and come from poorer backgrounds. Because of her cultural competence, she is aware of the social factors that surround her. She realizes that she would rather get bad grades than to be made fun of. I have talked to Michelle and we have worked out a system where I will not praise her for her hard work and she will put in all her effort and work for the correct answers. If this is what it takes for Michelle to achieve the grades she deserves, this is what I have to do to help her succeed.
Michelle is a junior in my U.S. History class. She is Latino and comes from a middle class, hard working family. She is extremely smart and always behaving. However, what I find weird is that she hands in all her homework, completes it correctly, but strangely has the wrong answers in her work. I fear that Michelle is purposely putting the wrong answers so she will not be teased by her friends. Occasionally, Michelle will put the correct answers on her homework or on a test. When this happens, she gets an A+ because of her hard work and study skills. I praise her and tell her all her tests could be ‘A’s’ if she allowed herself to succeed. Whenever I praise her, I notice that her friends and other classmates make fun of her and call her a brown-noser.
WeI believe this is the reason why Michelle won’t allow herself great achievement. Most of her friends are Latinos and come from poorer backgrounds. Because of her cultural competence, she is aware of the social factors that surround her. She realizes that she would rather get bad grades than to be made fun of. I have talked to Michelle and we have worked out a system where I will not praise her for her hard work and she will put in all her effort and work for the correct answers. If this is what it takes for Michelle to achieve the grades she deserves, this is what I have to do to help her succeed.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Ladson-Billings Discussion
Ch. 1- With teacher shortage, is the high turnover rate to blame?
In chapter 1, Ladson-Billings describes the shortage of teachers who are capable of teaching successfully in diverse classrooms. I believe this is so because of the high turn over rate that happens within the first few years of teaching. A teacher lands a job in a diverse community that may not have all the resources he or she was hoping for. Along with lack of resources, the students could care less about learning. As the school year progresses, this new teacher becomes more and more frustrated because he or she is not making an impact on these students as hoped. After giving the school a try for one or two, unfortunately, the new teacher gives up hope and decides another profession might be better. This is a prime example of why the turnover rate is so high and why it is to blame for teacher shortages.
Ch. 2- In the beginning of Chapter 2, the teacher decides to teach Spanish, which made the Spanish speaking students in her class the experts. Do you think this was a wise decision and would you do something like this in your own classroom?
I think that this is a great idea. In a classroom, the teacher is always the expert and sometimes, that scares students into not speaking their own thoughts on a subject. Since the teacher was not an expert with speaking Spanish, her Spanish students were able to take the reigns (somewhat) of the classroom and use their expertise to help the class. This act, I’m sure, made the Spanish speaking students feel powerful and important because they were helping their fellow classmates understand part of their culture.
I would definitely do something like this in my classroom. If my history lesson dealt with how to enlist and become apart of the army, I only know how to teach that from what I’ve read about enlisting. Now, if I have a student in my class who has enlisted in the army and will be joining after high school, I would have him explain his personal experience and the decisions he had to make when enlisting. This gives my class a real perspective of what enlisting is like and it makes the student teaching feel empowered to share his story.
In chapter 1, Ladson-Billings describes the shortage of teachers who are capable of teaching successfully in diverse classrooms. I believe this is so because of the high turn over rate that happens within the first few years of teaching. A teacher lands a job in a diverse community that may not have all the resources he or she was hoping for. Along with lack of resources, the students could care less about learning. As the school year progresses, this new teacher becomes more and more frustrated because he or she is not making an impact on these students as hoped. After giving the school a try for one or two, unfortunately, the new teacher gives up hope and decides another profession might be better. This is a prime example of why the turnover rate is so high and why it is to blame for teacher shortages.
Ch. 2- In the beginning of Chapter 2, the teacher decides to teach Spanish, which made the Spanish speaking students in her class the experts. Do you think this was a wise decision and would you do something like this in your own classroom?
I think that this is a great idea. In a classroom, the teacher is always the expert and sometimes, that scares students into not speaking their own thoughts on a subject. Since the teacher was not an expert with speaking Spanish, her Spanish students were able to take the reigns (somewhat) of the classroom and use their expertise to help the class. This act, I’m sure, made the Spanish speaking students feel powerful and important because they were helping their fellow classmates understand part of their culture.
I would definitely do something like this in my classroom. If my history lesson dealt with how to enlist and become apart of the army, I only know how to teach that from what I’ve read about enlisting. Now, if I have a student in my class who has enlisted in the army and will be joining after high school, I would have him explain his personal experience and the decisions he had to make when enlisting. This gives my class a real perspective of what enlisting is like and it makes the student teaching feel empowered to share his story.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
African Americans & Education
Question: Do you think that if White Americans allowed slaves to read and have an education from the beginning, would history be different and how so?
If African American slaves were given the right to an education when they came to the United States their lives could have been much different. “Plantation owners were in constant fear of slave revolts and, consequently, denied their workers any form of education. There was a general fear that literacy would expose the slaves to abolition literature” (p.42). Yes, there probably would have been revolts once slaves began reading abolition articles. There probably would have been even more slaves trying to escape to the North.
However, I believe that if African Americans were given the right to an education and literacy, they would have felt somewhat more civilized. Now, I’m not trying to say that getting an education would make slaves feel equal to whites. I’m just trying to say that having an education would decrease the equality gap of slaves and whites.
African American slaves thought horribly about their white owners. They lived in horrible conditions and were denied everything. By receiving an education, I think the hatred African Americans had for their owners would not be as great. I really believe that African American education could have been the key for some peace between the two cultures.
If African American slaves were given the right to an education when they came to the United States their lives could have been much different. “Plantation owners were in constant fear of slave revolts and, consequently, denied their workers any form of education. There was a general fear that literacy would expose the slaves to abolition literature” (p.42). Yes, there probably would have been revolts once slaves began reading abolition articles. There probably would have been even more slaves trying to escape to the North.
However, I believe that if African Americans were given the right to an education and literacy, they would have felt somewhat more civilized. Now, I’m not trying to say that getting an education would make slaves feel equal to whites. I’m just trying to say that having an education would decrease the equality gap of slaves and whites.
African American slaves thought horribly about their white owners. They lived in horrible conditions and were denied everything. By receiving an education, I think the hatred African Americans had for their owners would not be as great. I really believe that African American education could have been the key for some peace between the two cultures.
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Zinn vs. We Have A Story to Tell
I thought that the curriculum guide would be a helpful tool when teaching students about Native Americans. The lesson introduced students to the Chesapeake region Indians and what their life was like before 1600 as well as during the colonial period and after the United States was founded. I do believe that it is important to teach students about Native Americans from the English perspective and the Indian perspective.
The English perspective is that of a happier one. Columbus landed and colonized while remaining friendly with the Indians. However, as we all know now, he captured and took Indians back to England to show off what he had done. It is a teacher’s job to explain both sides to students, not just the “nicer” version.
In relation to Howard Zinn’s article, he focused more on the bad of what happened with the Native Americans. Zinn was more concerned about the historiography of how the story is told. From the beginning, Zinn did not want to tell the “nicer” story of what happened to the Indians when the English began to colonize in the new world. I think that Zinn sympathizes with the Native Americans not only because of what the English had put them through, but also because their story is usually told only from an English perspective.
Both articles gave different perspectives of the Native Americans during colonial times, but I think that Zinn’s article tells it more like it was.
The English perspective is that of a happier one. Columbus landed and colonized while remaining friendly with the Indians. However, as we all know now, he captured and took Indians back to England to show off what he had done. It is a teacher’s job to explain both sides to students, not just the “nicer” version.
In relation to Howard Zinn’s article, he focused more on the bad of what happened with the Native Americans. Zinn was more concerned about the historiography of how the story is told. From the beginning, Zinn did not want to tell the “nicer” story of what happened to the Indians when the English began to colonize in the new world. I think that Zinn sympathizes with the Native Americans not only because of what the English had put them through, but also because their story is usually told only from an English perspective.
Both articles gave different perspectives of the Native Americans during colonial times, but I think that Zinn’s article tells it more like it was.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Indian Removal
Dear Katie,
It's not easy being a Native American in the United States right now. Native Americans have been living on these lands longer than your ancestors, yet we are considered "domestic foreigners" (p.21). There has even been recent talk that a man named Thomas McKenney is trying to remove us from our lands now and force us to move west of the Mississippi River for our "civilization" (p.23). My Tribe is very angry with the United States government right now because we all feel like we should not have to move. We have been on this land the longest and have made our homes here.
The Anglo-Saxon culture wants all Native Americans to become literate. Most tribes are accepting of this. However, we do not care to learn about religious conversion because our tribe does not plan on converting (p. 25). The government is trying to push religious conversion on us. I can't sleep that well anymore because I am in constant fear of being forced to leave tomorrow. I have grown up here, my family and tribe has made their living here. We have cultivated the earth, grown our food and I've done a lot of cooking for the tribe. I'm accustomed to living here and I don't want to start over. I don't want to travel across the Mississippi and risk having members of the tribe die. Tribes that have caved in and made the journey had cases of cholera, contaminated foods and more (p.28).
I just pray that our Tribe will be able to stay where we are.
Your Friend,
Pocahantas
It's not easy being a Native American in the United States right now. Native Americans have been living on these lands longer than your ancestors, yet we are considered "domestic foreigners" (p.21). There has even been recent talk that a man named Thomas McKenney is trying to remove us from our lands now and force us to move west of the Mississippi River for our "civilization" (p.23). My Tribe is very angry with the United States government right now because we all feel like we should not have to move. We have been on this land the longest and have made our homes here.
The Anglo-Saxon culture wants all Native Americans to become literate. Most tribes are accepting of this. However, we do not care to learn about religious conversion because our tribe does not plan on converting (p. 25). The government is trying to push religious conversion on us. I can't sleep that well anymore because I am in constant fear of being forced to leave tomorrow. I have grown up here, my family and tribe has made their living here. We have cultivated the earth, grown our food and I've done a lot of cooking for the tribe. I'm accustomed to living here and I don't want to start over. I don't want to travel across the Mississippi and risk having members of the tribe die. Tribes that have caved in and made the journey had cases of cholera, contaminated foods and more (p.28).
I just pray that our Tribe will be able to stay where we are.
Your Friend,
Pocahantas
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Nieto's Article
In Nieto's article: Solidarity, courage and heart: what teacher educators can learn from a new generation of teachers, I thought she made many good points.
I agreed with Nieto when she stated that an effective teacher has a deep knowledge of subject matter, strong communication skills and effective organizational skills. However, these skills are insufficient because they do not take into account diversity of the students. Whether it be a student's language, ethnicity, social class or race.
I agreed with Nieto when she stated that an effective teacher has a deep knowledge of subject matter, strong communication skills and effective organizational skills. However, these skills are insufficient because they do not take into account diversity of the students. Whether it be a student's language, ethnicity, social class or race.
I want to know how it is determined that someone is prepared to be a teacher. Anyone can take the college courses and student teach, but I don't think that that means a young teacher is going to be able to handle twenty to thirty diverse students. I don't think that a new teacher is ever ready to handle a diverse class in a poverty district. No one can be fully prepared for that.
In the article, Nieto put in pieces from her book 'Why We Teach.' She gave reasons for teaching such as: a sense of mission, solidarity and empathy for students and a passion for social justice. All of these reasons are good, but a great reason for teaching, I believe, is because you have the passion and want to help children learn and become better learners, no matter their race, ethnicity or language.
I thought that Nieto gave great reasons for why future teachers need to have more experience teaching in urban settings with a diverse group of students. Someday, we'll all have our own classrooms and there will always be diversity. We need to start experiencing that now.
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