Where I am From

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4-wN7yJbhA&feature=youtu.be

YouTube Video

Culturally responsive teaching should be second nature, but for most teachers it is not. It’s not fair for the students to not get all that teachers, schools, communities, and families have to offer. Closed mindedness of teachers is hurting students and their learning. We as a society make the connecting between power and literacy. If you speak in perfect English, then you can hold a position of power because you sound smart. In turn, that makes people who speak differently “stupid” or stupid sounding. But they are not a cultural deficit; it is a deficit in the way we think should be proper. As an Appalachian teacher, you have to be aware of the different dialects and embrace them. Let your students know that it is okay to talk and sound like this. Just because they don’t speak in perfect English, do not dismiss them and judge them. “But I also know that whether we interpret differences among children-or adults- as deficit or difference depends primarily on our preconception, attitudes toward, and stereotypes we hold toward the individual children’s communities and cultures” (Purcell Gates, 2002, p. 130). Teachers need to ignore their bias’ and stereotypes and use a culturally difference strategy.

“Most teachers believe students need to learn SAE so that they will have the communication skills which will enable them more opportunities in the future, and there are numerous studies that support this position (e.g. Carlson and McHenry (2006) who found that speakers with a heavy, non-standard English were less likely to be hired (80)). It is from this belief that many teachers have developed a negative attitude toward minority dialects as forms of incorrect English” (Rowland and Marrow, 2010).

 

Teachers can overcome their culturally deficit perspectives, by understanding that all children can learn no matter what their background or culture. There are vast amounts of knowledge out there just waiting for students if someone would take the time to ask and go get it. “Once this knowledge is uncovered and mobilized for learning, they can become a social and intellectual resource for the school”, (Moll, 1992). It is powerful for students to make real connections with the outside world, and these connections will be engrained with them the rest of their lives.

 “Children come to school with different experiences. The experiences they have as young children are culturally driven. Within this, I see literacy use as cultural practice. It is cultural practice because reading and writing are woven into everyday experiences of people, and these everyday activities, attitudes, and beliefs help define and distinguish among cultural groups” (Purcell Gates, 2002, p. 128).

Teachers need to honor students and their differences. They should be proud of their cultures. Stop correcting them every time they talk, this will give them a fear to speak and write. If always corrected for what they say, they will stop talking in the classroom altogether. That fear will follow them their whole lives. Students will always feel and even go as far as saying that the way they talk is wrong. “When we encounter linguistic prejudice, some of us dismiss it while others adopt the stereotypes attached to our dialect. Those speakers will even go as far as to call their own speech patterns 'bad' or 'incorrect,' particularly when speaking to someone they perceive as well-educated" (Epstien and Herring-Harris, 2011). Based on funds of knowledge, this strategy of honoring their cultures and backgrounds works well with incorporating their communities and getting students connected to the outside world. The cultural capital in the schools, communities, and states are abundant. Teachers just need to facilitate these in the classroom.

Where I am from project supported culturally responsive teaching because I got to see other students in this class’ backgrounds with their digital stories. With all the readings I got to get a feel of what culturally diverse students go through. The Funds of Knowledge reading built a bridge of meaningfulness between home and school experiences because of the learning the students got from their families and communities. The teacher was not afraid to teach a unit on a subject she didn’t have much background in but what the students were interested in learning. I feel with the digital stories we got to know and listen to each other. Although we physically didn’t ask each other questions, we got to know each other by watching the stories. I really enjoyed the where I am from project.

I believe that teaching non-standard English speakers to be very important. I don’t want to correct them every five minutes because they aren’t speaking perfect English. I also want to make it personal to the students. Have them give their historical background to each other. Have the students pair up and do an interview type of question answer session. Then have their partners introduce each other and their histories. This will also help with getting to know each other and team building. I would also like to do heirloom geometry activity; this activity allows students to bring in an artifact from home with both cultural and geometric significance, discuss the significance of their artifacts with the class, and potentially work with the patterns on the artifacts.

References:

Epstein, P., & Herring- Harris, L. (2011). Honoring dialect and increasing student performance in standard english. Retrieved from http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/3655

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

Moll, L. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to

connect homes and classrooms. (1992). Theory into Practice, 31(2), 132-

41.

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