Delpit shares her frustration regarding the "writing process approach"
versus "skills" approach to literacy. She notes that white students perform
well in the writing
process approach because most already have home-derived [White English]
skills, defined as "useful and usable knowledge which contributes to a
student's ability
to communicate effectively in standard, generally acceptable literary
forms." Prior to entering school, black students know what she calls "Black
English. " Black
students and educators express frustration, believing that in order
to be successful in America, students must "appropriate the oral and written
forms demanded by
the mainstream [white culture]; they must learn these skills at school
as well as "writing process."
Delpit presents five aspects of power in the classroom. To summarize:
those in power create rules of the culture and if participants are informed
explicitly about
those rules, it makes acquiring power easier. Ms. Delpit believes these
rules are not explicitly clear to black children who, at home, are accustomed
to directives.
When they reach a white culture classroom, requests are veiled as "implied
commands," consequently black children do not respond and are labeled negatively.
Delpit reiterates that ignoring existing "power" only perpetuates the
status quo, and that teachers are in an ideal position to encourage open
dialogue between
different cultures. She suggests three ways to do this: (1) seek out
those with differing perspectives, (2) give their words complete attention,
and (3) understand
your own power. This all speaks to developing proficient basic communication
skills.
The chapter on Language Diversity and Learning further addresses communication
with linguistically diverse students. Unfortunately, appreciation for English
other
than Standard English is often minimal which may further invalidate
the importance of heritage, creates a divide between community and school
and angers
"minority" students. Delpit suggests that the study of language diversity
should be a curriculum for all students. We now require students to learn
a foreign
language, but what about recognizing the language varieties within
our own "English?" As educators, we can prepare children for living in
an increasingly diverse
national community by recognizing and celebrating diversity in thought,
language and worldview.
In conclusion, she states that "teaching is preaching." Teaching styles
should reflect the cultural styles of constituents. This includes the rhythm,
intonation,
gestures, emotions, humor, metaphor use and 'audience participation
standard' of the culture. Teachers should attempt to "see the world as
others see it."
Delpit believes that schools should work to develop a multicultural
staff.Secondly, students from diverse cultures should be seen as resources,
not problems.
Thirdly, that the Eurocentric curriculum provided for teaches needs
to broaden. She states "To successfully educate all of our children, we
must work to remove the
blinders built of stereotypes, monocultural instructional methodologies,
ignorance, social distance, biased research and racism."
Questions I would ask Ms. Delpit:
1. To support the idea of top down changes, what assistance can schools
(versus teachers) provide for the process of promoting "dialogue" between
community
cultures?
2. Gathering knowledge is one thing, doing something with it is another.
Once the dialogue is occurring and issues are on the table, what is the
most effective
process for proceeding through the issues and reaching a consensus
to make effective changes?
3. Who does she think should be responsible for monitoring this process?
4. What training or skills do teachers need to see past surface behaviors and understand student's actions?
5. How can teachers make colleagues more comfortable with seeking out perspectives different than their own?
6. What changes would she make in teacher education to improve communication skills?
7. Does she believe that a "happy school environment" can make up for an "unhappy home environment"?
8. Does she believe black students should be taught to respond to "veiled
commands" or should teachers make explicit commands? How does she see this
issue
relating to students of color who eventually work in a "mainstream"
[white] culture?
Submitted by Maggie Jackson
My questions:
· For the author-Why
didn’t you address social class,
which has as
much influence if not more in the way
a student responds
to a teacher?
· Why don’t schools
in Inuit villages in Alaska,
acknowledge
the culture of their people as well as
expose them
to the ways of the "outside" world?
· How is a teacher
supposed to learn each history of
each culture
and understand the unspoken rules of
each student
who enters their classroom?
· Why are teachers
who make prejudiced statements about
students not
stopped or alerted to their prejudice?
· How should a teacher
address stereotypes of groups
to avoid believing
an individual from one culture
possesses different
skills than those from another
(solely based on culture)?
Submitted by Laura Gray.
I chose this book because the title "Other People’s Children" captured my imagination. Having my own children I hoped that I might learn how to better understand and teach "others".
My questions for Ms. Delpit would be as follows:
1. How might a white woman, such as myself, who, by the way, seems to
be the majority teaching staff, truly be able to identify if learning difficulties
in my classroom are culture related?
2. What steps have been done to successfully integrate all the differing
cultures in a classroom? I might expect at least three different ethnic
heritages in a class.
3. I have acquaintances that have gone to the far northern reaches
of Alaska to teach because of the high salaries and subsidized living.
Is this practice creating more problems for the native students? Should
there be only native teachers?
4. What evaluation techniques do you see as useful for administrators
to use to monitor individual teacher’s teaching styles in terms of multicultural
education?
5. Have you seen positive progress in the last several years, i.e.
are we doing what needs to be done?
Submitted by Denise Buck
Other Peoples Children discusses Americas classrooms and
shows how
to be aware of various cultures within the classroom setting.
The
majority of teachers in our society our white females and have been
raised
to believe all other cultures should conform to ours. This book
illustrates how to respect other cultures within the classroom
setting and how to make each child feel comfortable with their culture
within the classroom.
I choose this book because
I do have little experience with those
outside of my culture. I found this book to be very educational.
It
taught me a lot about ethnic diversity, including the need to respect
and
include every culture within the classroom setting.
The questions I would ask are:
1) If black students need to be directed differently than white students,
how can a teacher do this without coming across as treating the children
unequally.
2) When having parents of various cultures participating in discussions,
how do you get them to agree on a specific way of doing things?
3) When differing between dialect intervention and reading instruction,
how is a teacher to know when language diversity is appropriate and
when
it is not?
4) Belonging to a society where school is mandatory, how does one respect
the idea of the Native Alaskan communities (where the parents let it
be
the childs choice whether or not to attend school) and accept their
view
into ones classroom.
5) What is the most effective way to decrease the difference between
the
students culture and the schools culture?
Submitted by Krista Brown