My PhotoStory of "Where I am From"

Throughout the past several weeks we have discussed the connection between literacy and language.  I have never thought that the way someone spoke could affect their learning, until now.  It is important that as a future educator, I do not judge a student based on the way they speak. I don’t want to be the teacher who says, “I knew she was ignorant just as soon as she opened her mouth!” (Purcell Gates, 2002).  Unfortunately, not everyone believes this.  It is important, that we teach our children how to present themselves professionally in certain situations. During discussion, I realized that a lot of the time the teachers like to blame problems on the parents not caring.  Problems might arise because the teacher is not putting the amount of effort out that is needed.  My instructor also pointed out that we need to be patient and understanding of parents' work schedules. They might be working two jobs to support his/her family. We need to work around their schedule as best as we can.
 

When schools force a student to learn Standard English they are basically telling him/her that what he or she has been doing all his/her life is wrong.  This is the cultural deficit perspective.  Having this attitude can tear a student’s confidence down and cause him/her to reject learning.  When someone tells me I am bad at something or my way of doing it is wrong, I usually feel stupid and want to give up. Also, when you use the corrective approach students cannot think to the best of their ability, “The reason that this corrective approach has not had greater success lies in the very nature of language itself. Language not only communicates what we are thinking, language also communicates who we are I do not want my students to feel this way”(Rowland & Marrow, 2010).  I will use a cultural difference view in my classroom and try to instill this view with my colleagues. “Once a pattern is identified, the participants compare it to SAE. As teachers and students complete the exercises and gain more knowledge in the history and development of the particular dialects, they will then begin to discover for themselves that other English dialects are also ‘systematic’ and ‘rule governed’” (Rowland & Marrow, 2010).  If we can change attitudes toward language biases we can educate better.
 

Being culturally aware of your students is important.  As Luis Moll suggests “the secret to literacy instruction is for schools to investigate and tap into the ‘hidden’ home and community resources of their students” (Moll, 1992).  When a teacher finds the context of his/her students she can connect her lessons to their life.  The students will find learning meaningful.  In Molls research, he found that the families knew a lot about construction.  In response to this, one of the teachers used a themed unit on construction.  They did writing projects and found meaning.  She found extremely positive results through this.
 

The where I am from project, can help a teacher get to know his/her students.  They can get to know their home life and what he or she thinks about their family.  It also gets the children talking to their parents.  This builds a bridge between home and school.  I know my mom and grandma enjoyed looking through old photo albums and telling me stories.  In fact I believe they enjoyed it more than I did.  Also, I felt the need to watch my classmate’s videos.  I know the hard work and effort it took to do this project and it showed that everyone put forth the same effort.  It also helped me get to know them better.  I’ve had classes with a lot of the students before, but I never knew them outside of class.  It was nice to see them in a different way.
 

I believe that this course has taught me a lot about being culturally responsive.  I will make sure that I have multiple ways of getting a hold of parents and will try my best to work around their schedule.  I will send out letters at the beginning of the year asking them what the best ways to reach them is and times.  If I do not hear back from them I will call.  I want to give my students the best chance to succeed and their parents are a big part of their success.  Also, I will try to do some sort of project where students discuss their home life.  A teacher must know his/her students context to be successful.
 

Resources:

Purcell-Gates, V. (2002). “...As soon as she opened her mouth!” In L. Delpit & J.K. Dowdy (Eds.), The skin that we speak: An anthology of essays on language, culture and power.

Rowland, J. & Marrow, D. (2010).  Dialect Awareness Education: The importance of Watching Our Words. USC Undergraduate Research Journal vol 3.

Gonzalez, N.,  Greenberg, J. & Velez, C. Thanks Funds of Knowledge: A Look at Luis Moll's Research Into Hidden Family Resources. CITYSCHOOLS, 1 (1), 19-21, 1994.