Changing the Future in Education

Changing the Future in Education

1. If you are preparing to teach, what are you taking away from Delpit’s article regarding language and power that might help you as a teacher, and how could you apply these ideas to your proposed level of teaching?


I am planning to teach elementary school once I get my degree, and I agree with what Delpit said in her article. I think that we need to focus more on the education and teachers to need to have more experience to fulfill the duties of a teacher. Now that I see how she explains how power is enacted in classrooms, I can make a conscience decision to stop some of the issues she mentioned. My thought is to keep everyone at a level playing field, no favorites, and help the ones that struggle. I want to identify with each student and not base their education on looks or race. I want to work in a bilingual classroom in the future, so I understand some of what it takes to lead a diverse classroom. I have had personal experience living in another country, and dealing with a broad range of students that spoke many languages and were from many different countries, but have formed together and become a whole classroom, as one. I agree with what she says about some people not understanding the power that they have acquired in their own work, but after reading this, I think I will be able to make a conscience decision about my actions, and how they can be portrayed.
-Lindsay Horsley

We should all work to recognize issues of language and power outside of the classroom

4. If you are not planning to teach, how do issues of language and power apply in the field you plan to enter? Does Delpit offer relevant insight?

I'm not planning to teach, and I'll admit that this article has me a little frustrated. At first, I had trouble seeing the relevance of it in a course on grammar. I'm here to learn about nouns and verbs, right? This really seemed like something of greater importance to the College of Education. The more I thought about it though, this isn't just an issue that teachers should handle. I was first introduced to this broad conversation on language and power last term, in a class on literacy. Just last term, and I'm two terms away from a college degree. How is it that something that's obviously continued to be so important (Delpit's article is more than a few years old) continued to be ignored in public education? I agree with Delpit in that a dialogue about language and power needs to start earlier for students, but I also think that we should work on that as a society. I plan to go into editing and publishing after I graduate, and I think Delpit's article and the surrounding discussion on language and power will be helpful in the long run. It's something that I hope to be able to keep in mind as I work with the writing and language of the publishing field.
-Samantha Hudson

Teaching acceptance alone is inadequate (response to question 2)

Any try to get “everyone” to accept different forms of language, without them having a full understanding of the disparity of power associated with language, will likely be perceived as a degradation of standards. Speaking proper English is perceived as being educated; speaking improper English is perceived as being uneducated. Saying “proper English is no longer the only acceptable way to speak” will likely be interpreted as “these poor minorities can’t understand how to speak proper English so we have to change how we speak to accommodate them.” This obviously misses the point all together, which is that we (as affluent or semi-affluent, white Americans) have a disproportionate amount of power because the accepted language in our society is one that reflects our culture. Necessarily prior to teaching acceptance on a wide scale (to “everyone”) is teaching everyone the importance and power contained within language. It needs to be shown that controlling the accepted language of a society in effect controls many other aspects of the same society.

Kevin Hockett

Welcome

Welcome to your Grammar Blog. Your assignment is to respond to one of the following questions related to Lisa Delpit’s “The Silenced Dialogue.” Aim for about 100-150 words, and post it to your team blog. Please follow the following guidelines:
1. Identify your entry with a title that suggests the content.
2. Sign your first and last name at the end.
3. Single space.

You may respond to other people’s posts through the comment feature. You may also read the blogs of the other groups by going to:
http://writingcommonsone.blogspot.com
http://writingcommonstwo.blogspot.com
etc. through http://writingcommonsseven.blogspot.com

You can add a comment to other blogs by using the comment feature. You can only post to your own blog.

Questions (choose one):
1. If you are preparing to teach, what are you taking away from Delpit’s article regarding language and power that might help you as a teacher, and how could you apply these ideas to your proposed level of teaching?

2. One student asked, “Why do we have to discuss teaching minority children the language of power? Why not just teach everyone acceptance?” Respond.

3. For one of Delpit’s specific proposals (refer to the article), discuss the challenges of implementation. How could these challenges be addressed?

4. If you are not planning to teach, how do issues of language and power apply in the field you plan to enter? Does Delpit offer relevant insight?