“Working-class mothers use more directives to their children than do middle and upper class parents.”
(Lisa Delpit Pg. 34)
In my first and second grade classroom there is a large variety of different ethnicities. Out of the 25 plus students there are three students that are either Caucasian or Asian, the rest of the class is either Black or African American or Hispanic. After reading Lisa Delpit’s article I started to notice and more closely observe how the teacher gave directions and spoke to her students. The teacher being middle aged Caucasian women had an excellent approach when giving directions to her class. Due to the fact that this classroom is made up of such a wide range of ethnicities and cultures the teacher is unable to give direction in just one form. Like Lisa Delpit has said;
“Black Children expect an authority figure to act with authority.
When the teacher instead acts as a ‘chum’ the message sent is that this adult has no authority, and the
children react accordingly.” (Lisa Delpit. Pg. 35)
This means that both Caucasian and Black or African American students understand directions differently. Caucasian middle class students may have been raised in a household where directions were given through the form of a question, where as Black or African American students may have grown up in a household where there parents gave directions in the form of a demand. When these students come together into a classroom and a teacher provides direction in only one of these forms, it can be difficult for some of the students to understand what is being asked of them.
My service learning teacher fins a happy medium in giving directions to her class. She typically will provide her directions in the form of a question. Some of the students will do what is asked. She then will provide her instruction in an indirect form and the rest of the students will do what she is instructing. I personally do not know if my service learning teacher has read the Lisa Delpit article or if she understands how well of a job she is doing incorporating both indirect and direct instructional statements. Overall it is so interesting to watch Delpit moments like this one take place in the classroom and be able to recognize these moments.
“Black Children expect an authority figure to act with authority.
When the teacher instead acts as a ‘chum’ the message sent is that this adult has no authority, and the
children react accordingly.” (Lisa Delpit. Pg. 35)
This means that both Caucasian and Black or African American students understand directions differently. Caucasian middle class students may have been raised in a household where directions were given through the form of a question, where as Black or African American students may have grown up in a household where there parents gave directions in the form of a demand. When these students come together into a classroom and a teacher provides direction in only one of these forms, it can be difficult for some of the students to understand what is being asked of them.
My service learning teacher fins a happy medium in giving directions to her class. She typically will provide her directions in the form of a question. Some of the students will do what is asked. She then will provide her instruction in an indirect form and the rest of the students will do what she is instructing. I personally do not know if my service learning teacher has read the Lisa Delpit article or if she understands how well of a job she is doing incorporating both indirect and direct instructional statements. Overall it is so interesting to watch Delpit moments like this one take place in the classroom and be able to recognize these moments.
“Until we learn to distinguish not-learning from failure and respect the truth behind this massive rejection of schooling by students from poor and oppressed communities, it will not be possible to solve the major problems of education in the United States today”. (Herbert Kohl, Pg. 5)
During my service learning I first noticed that all of the students had their own desk and they were set up in groups of four or five students. As my time at the school continued I began to notice that the same three children were not included in the groups and set on the edges of the room alone at their desks. When I started working one-on-one with students, one of the students I worked with was one of the children who was not part of a group and sat on the outskirts of the room. On the first day I worked with this particular student the teacher informed me that “I needed to work on her alphabet and letter sounds because this student did not know them”. This made me believe that this student doesn't know much of anything when it came to the alphabet.
“In such situations, there are forced choices and no apparent middle ground. To agree to learn from a stranger who does not respect your integrity causes a major loss of self. The only alternative is to not-learn and reject their world.” (Herbert Kohl. Pg. 2)
When I sat down to work with this student I decided to have a conversation with the student so the student could get to know me. Once the student seemed comfortable we began to work on our alphabet and letter sounds. The student was doing better than I expected. This particular student was able to name all the letters and almost all the sounds. By the end of the time I got to work with this student I informed the teacher that this student did a really good job working on her alphabet and sounding out the letters. The teacher was surprised because this student doesn't participate in class often, particularly when the alphabet and sounding out letters is happening.
After reading Herbet Kohl’s article I began to think about the situation with this particular student differently. I began to realize that maybe this student wasn't participating in class because the student was excluded from being a member of the groups of desks. This student probably feels left out so their way with dealing with it is to not participate and act like they don’t know anything.
“In such situations, there are forced choices and no apparent middle ground. To agree to learn from a stranger who does not respect your integrity causes a major loss of self. The only alternative is to not-learn and reject their world.” (Herbert Kohl. Pg. 2)
When I sat down to work with this student I decided to have a conversation with the student so the student could get to know me. Once the student seemed comfortable we began to work on our alphabet and letter sounds. The student was doing better than I expected. This particular student was able to name all the letters and almost all the sounds. By the end of the time I got to work with this student I informed the teacher that this student did a really good job working on her alphabet and sounding out the letters. The teacher was surprised because this student doesn't participate in class often, particularly when the alphabet and sounding out letters is happening.
After reading Herbet Kohl’s article I began to think about the situation with this particular student differently. I began to realize that maybe this student wasn't participating in class because the student was excluded from being a member of the groups of desks. This student probably feels left out so their way with dealing with it is to not participate and act like they don’t know anything.