Literacy with an Attitude

     From the start of reading "Literacy with an Attitude", Patrick Finn had me thinking about Lisa Delpit's ideas.  In the preface Finn explains the ability for things to change stating "People can become conscious of injustice and inequality, and through disciplined, focused, strategic action, they can bring about change".  (p. xi)    Delpit's similarly felt "Those with power are frequently least aware of- or least willing to acknowledge it's existence.  Those with less power are often most aware of its existence".  Both authors also agree on the fact that those with power are the one's who need to make change happen, which is the bigger problem.  As Finn states "The status quo is the status quo because people who have the power to make changes are comfortable with the way things are".  Allan Johnson echos this idea with his statement "The fact that it's so easy for me and other people in dominate groups not to do this is the single most powerful barrier to change.  After reading and pondering all that these authors shared, it's frustrating to know that everyone knows we need to fix the inequities in education, but yet policies, procedures, and complacency to the same failing system remain.  Whether  it's referred to as white  privilege or those in power, we need to stop discussing it and actually do things to even the playing field for all.

     As I read through the section on the "working class schools", as referred to by Finn, I got a sense of overwhelming anxiety.  It was so many of the things I see in the school I work in.  Mostly new, inexperienced teachers, using low level materials, "dumb-ing things down", skipping lessons due to difficulty, lazy students, parents that don't care, and students don't want to learn.... these things I had heard in my school.  I had teachers actually explain that they just skip the confusing or difficult concepts in math in order to keep with the pacing guide and I would need to do the same if I didn't want to fall way behind.  I was told "You don't have to teach social studies there is no curriculum anyway so don't bother, it's just more work for you".  When I went to other teacher's rooms to borrow things or look for ideas I was often disappointed to find very low level, easy and below grade level items they were using.  When I explained to one colleague I previously taught third grade in Smithfield, she stated that's about the same level as your students now, just do the same thing.  Next, in Finn's discussion of "middle class schools" and the teachers teaching knowledge from text books or curriculum, students just gaining knowledge or understanding, providing little excitement over schoolwork, not offering ways to use creativity, voice, and choice for students, and the anxiety about test scores were his main points.  Again, the anxiety strikes, that's the rest of them.  From what I've experienced we have both of these situations going on and our test scores, performance, and student success are all suffering.  It was very eye-opening!

      Over the past two years, I've decided to change my teaching practice to Blended Learning.  (Check out this video if you want to learn more.)   In Blended Learning students have much more voice and choice.  It is demanding to plan for but produces amazing results.  Blended Learning really mirrors what Finn described as going on in "affluent professional schools"  The focus here was on creativity and personal development, discovery and experiences, "higher concepts" taught, current events incorporated, independence and creativity fostered...all the stuff we want for EVERY student.  I believe in setting high standards and then encouraging students to exceed these standards.  I have seen students who struggle, achieve their goal just because someone else believed in them.  There are so many great ways to incorporate such amazing technology and student choice in the classroom that I believe we can get all students motivated to learn.  In a Blended Classroom there are many different ways a student can chose to show mastery of a skill.  For example, the students had a science report to complete but they decided the topic and how to present it.  I had google slide shows, posters, books, models build by students, a game board, and a magazine created by a student to show mastery.  After sharing, everyone learned even more content and also learned new strategies, ideas, and new technology to use going forward.  

Desegregation because Integration Shows Proven Results

 

Nikole Hannh Jones

     The statistics that Ira Glass and Nikole Hannah Jones discuss at the start of their segment "The Problem We All Live With" are staggering.  At the "start of real desegregation the achievement gap between black and white students was about 40 points,"according to Jones.  Glass points out "on standardized reading tests in 1971, black 13 year olds tested 39 points worse than white kids.  That dropped to just 18 points by 1988 at the height of desegregation.  The improvement in math scores was close to that, though not quite as good".  This is proof that integration works.  Combining lots of different cultures can bring lots of sharing of ideas, customs, cultures, and explanations of beliefs, all of which provide learning experiences.  Students learn in a variety of ways, but one of the best for many students is working with a partner or small group.  Having a common goal leads to communication and cooperation.  Having different experiences will lead students to think about things in a way that makes sense to them.  Sharing their thoughts and ideas leads to learning and discovery a teacher cannot plan for.  

     The Separate but Equal was just an idea, it was never a reality although the newspaper is date 1954!  Even "the United States Department of Education has put out data in 2014  showing that black and Latina kids in segregated schools have the least qualified teachers, the least experienced teachers."  The data is filled with more outrageous statistics in every category.  Some examples: "Black children represent 19% of preschool enrollment, but 47% of preschool children receiving one or more out-of-school suspensions; in comparison, white children represent 41% of preschool enrollment, but 28% of preschool children receiving one or more out-of-school suspensions".  Another part showed "Racial disparities in suspensions are also apparent in K-12 schools: While 6% of all K-12 students received one or more out-of-school suspensions, the percentage is 18% for black boys; 10% for black girls; 5% for white boys; and 2% for white girls".  The school buildings, supplies, and availability of equipment and technology is also extremely unequal.  These poor segregated schools had no way to improve.  They could barely keep themselves running never mind fine ways to get better.  As Nikole Hannah Jones said, "In most of the thousands of poor, segregated school in America, that would be it.  Your zip code is the anchor that traps you".  Normandy is an example of how bad schools don't get better.  They were put on "provisional accreditation" which was to be a warning, yet they remained with this label for fifteen years, proving poverty ridden, segregated schools don't get any better. 
      I found the Normandy school district's failure and ultimate bankruptcy extremely upsetting and very sad.  Especially with how long the schools continually failed which inevitably means those children who passed through are they educated?  Will they be able to become productive members of society?  When they are finally forced by law to give student choice, they try to sabotage students ability to leave by providing transportation to a "white" school 30 miles away.  At that school, Francis Howell, the reaction was even more negative.  Accusations of violent behavior, implications that the "different areas" shouldn't be mixing and they shouldn't allow people "coming across on our side of the bridge".  Parents go as far to ask for metal detectors, suggest changing start times, and blamed the kids from Normandy for things that haven't even happened.  So although this was never a desegregation program it proved how successful desegregation could be.  Hannah Jones explains " In the schools where white families chose to stay, test scores for black transfer students rose.  They were more likely to graduate and to go to college.  After years of resistance, St. Louis had created the largest and most successful metro-wide desegregation program in the country".
     In the last part of the segment, when they discuss how Normandy continues to suffer and Elisa Crouch follows a Normandy senior honor student through his day.  Middle school level assignments in an AP class, four music classes but only three academic classes, and classes being taught by substitutes who are not certified were just some of her observations.  The statement "It's hard to imagine a bar lower than that".  I feel that Central Falls as a district is falling into a similar situation.  Our schools are struggling because of our transient population who live in poverty and our society continues to make it a struggle for them to survive.  In my daughters first year at U.R.I., she was matched up with a Central Falls graduate as a roommate who truly believed she was ready for college.  However, at the end of the first semester my daughter had earned 15 credits plus the 6 from taking AP classes in high school, so 21 credits.  Her roommate ended the semester with 3 college credits and could not understand why, when she had as many classes as my daughter.  Nobody at the high school and nobody at the college explained that all the 100 level classes were just preparing her for the classes that give credits.  She has four free years of college, but at this rate she won't be close to graduating, but she also won't be able to continue financially.  I feel that Central Falls set her up to fail.  We need to hold our students to high academic standards and do our best to provide the support to get them there.  We can't continue to lower the bar and cheat the standards, because it is having negative affects.  We are sending more students off to college in Central Falls but are they graduating and becoming successful adults?   

Use the link to check out my discussion questions!

More than "Culture Conflict" in Delpit

     
     In "Other People's Children Cultural Conflict in the Classroom" Lisa Delpit's strong opinions toward white people are very strong.  I felt she was blaming us for the fact that white privilege exists and that we had no right to teach black children.  The blame is on the majority not listening, but I feel it also has something to do with the way both sides react.  She really had me feeling bad about trying to educate all the non-white students I interact with everyday although I know I love doing what I do.  Luckily, by the end of "The Silenced Dialogue: Power of Pedagogy in Educating Other People's Children" I felt like she was just asking us, the white teachers, for help in making all students successful.  She generalizes to every white teacher, but not all of us ignore the hard conversations.  I agree with her point that we need to teach "the codes needed to participate fully in the mainstream of American life...".  Our students need to understand both societal rules and language rules to be successful in college or a career.  I encourage my Spanish speaking students to continue their home language and learn to not only speak, but read and write it so you can have a skill that is needed in many jobs.  

    I also connected Delpit's idea to how I taught writing.  I feel the most important step is when I conference with the student and read it aloud and talk about it.  Not only can I discuss grammatical errors and sentence structure, but I get them to add details and description.  If they don't identify errors I might explain "that might be how you say it but when we write in English its more formal and has to follow certain rules".  I'm going to start using a line from the Alaskan teacher asking whether "they've said enough to sound like a book".  (p. 42)  These mistakes, or teaching points, turn into small group mini lessons which have proven to improve my students writing.  As mentioned above I understand the need to teach the codes but also encourage them to keep their own code through culture and language.  Her quote "To deny students their own expert knowledge is to disempower them".  (p. 32-33)  I think this is true and could turn students off to learning from certain teachers.  With my seventh and eighth grade students a discussion of the negative opinion of Central Falls ensued because I mentioned the town I live in.  They talked about the litter, violence, and illegal behaviors.  I showed them video I took of the trash I saw each day walking a few blocks to school over the next week.  I did this to show how much of the litter came from the free food provided at school each day like milk and juice cartons, styrofoam trays, plastic containers, etc.  I asked them to be the change.  There are trash barrels outside school so encourage your friends, family, and neighbors to use them and start a change in the city.

     I enjoyed the section about Martha Demientieff who taught "Village English" and "Standard English".  She explained the prejudice to them in simple terms.  While doing this she made it positive, "We're going to learn two ways to say things. Isn't that better?"  Next, she explains why the two languages and where they will need the "Standard English".  Explaining the hard truth that people are judged by how they speak is difficult but important.  The part that really impressed me was her also encouraging them to be the difference.  "Maybe after we get the jobs we can help them to learn how it feels to have another language, like ours that feels so good".

     These articles have really made me think about the preparation of teachers.  The colleges require a Special Education class even if you don't take Special Education just as is true for all the content subjects and even the itinerant subjects.  The classes required never address some of the most important aspects of being a teacher, like classroom management and social, emotional support.  I did not take any class that even discussed such issues so deeply.  If I hadn't come to Central Falls, which lead me to get my ESL certification and now a Master's degree, I might not have had this course and might still be oblivious to certain aspects of privilege.  I think it is important to get the conversations started and keep them going.  How many of these white teachers are Colorblind and just need support in changing to Color Insight?  Is it being done in a positive way like the Alaskan teacher did?

     

My reaction to "Colorblindness is the New Racism"

 

     In "Colorblindness is the New Racism," Margalynne J. Armstrong and Stephanie M. Wildman argue that color insight rather than colorblindness needs to be our approach to thinking about race. They strongly agree with Allan G. Johnson about the elephant in the room regarding discussing race and that we need to use the vocabulary even if it is difficult and uncomfortable.  For too long whites have ignored the fact that they are white and their whiteness gives them privilege.  Even white who describe themselves as not prejudice can't show an understanding of privilege if they don't or won't see the oppression of blacks.  The authors state "The emphasis of discrimination alone, as if existed in a vacuum, obscures the operation of privilege, thus aiding in its perpetuation.  In order to change the societies perspective and the continuance of these discriminatory ways we need to encourage others to think and talk about the realities of privilege and oppression.




     According to Armstrong and Wildman "Color Insight does not provide a magic wand that dispenses with racism, but it does offer a vocabulary and some significant points of entry for deeper conversations". (p.76)  Color insight is the exact opposite of colorblindness.  Believing colorblindness would promote equality, many whites felt this showed they were not prejudice but it just showed the failure to recognize their own white privilege.  This colorblindness continues the "centuries of racism and white privilege". (p.66)  The authors go on to explain "Society cannot battle a phantom that in cannot recognize and name."  (p. 67)  As Johnson discussed, as hard as it is to use the words and talk about racism or any other of the -isms for that matter, it must be done if we want it to change.  He explained "So instead of talking about racism and sexism that plague people's lives, people talk about "diversity" and "tolerance" and "appreciating difference".  (Johnson p.12)  These  are positive words and trying to put a different spin on the problems at hand.  We need to get people talking about these problems using the uncomfortable language needed to change it.  Color insight needs to replace colorblindness to move things forward.  "Color insight requires practitioners to observe, discuss, and analyze the operation of race and privilege in contemporary society".  In order to participate, one must recognize privilege and oppression and have and understanding of societies ideas regarding privilege.

     The classroom is an important place to discuss racial inequality and privilege versus oppression.  Providing instances to observe racialization in the "real world".  In one assignment the authors suggest having students "notice the racial composition" of their environment for twenty-four hours.  "Through reading and discussing the observations,students learn a bit more about privilege".  I found it most interesting that after doing the previous exercise "students report that they notice more in the weeks following the exercise".  Their eyes were opened to something that previously went unnoticed.  Another powerful activity "inspired by the work of Kendall and Ansley, asks each student to consider themselves in relation to a power line that separates privileged and non-privileged categories".  Students looked at each different category and whether it fell above or below the line.  With each above the live some sort of privilege was attached.  In contrast, for each "below the line" attribute some privilege was removed or oppressed.  Both activities are provide impactful ways of getting students to examine a difficult subject and get the conversation started.  Awareness can be the first step in creating change.

"Black Lives Matter"

     As a white woman, who does not consider herself prejudice, I didn't understand why "All Lives Matter" was not a better alternative to not offend anybody.  In my mind, this was fair to Asians, Hispanics, Indians, Muslims, and any other non-white who may not be treated fairly based an their race or skin color.  Our society does send messages of "all lives matter" but the "black lives matter" really means black lives should matter as much as white lives or any other lives.  Black people continue to be oppressed in many ways and are not treated equally.  So instead of assuming the slogan meant "only black lives matter" people need to understand that without acknowledging "black lives matter" we are continuing to ignore the problem. (Roose)

     In Joey Salad's social experiment in the video clip he goes to a "white neighborhood" he's holding a "Black Lives Matter" sign.  Many of the white people who answer him do say they support it but they don't want blacks segregated into a group because "all lives matter".  The people do not really take offense or get angry with him even if they don't agree with him.  They don't care because they aren't affected.  They know their lives matter, because they live with white privilege every day.  However, when he goes to a "black neighborhood" with his "All Lives Matter" sign he is met with very hostile, negative results.  The black people take offense and take the message to mean white lives matter more.  They see it as negative because it isn't showing the injustice and inequality of "black lives" in this white privilege culture.  One man gets extremely upset to the point of using violence toward Joey.  The black people are more enraged because the "All Lives Matter" sign seems to negate their cause.  I wonder if the results would be any different if Joey was a black man standing in each neighborhood with the same signs? 

Privilege Changes Everything

Privilege Changes Everything

As I read Allan Johnson's work "Privilege, Power, and Difference", I was struck by the idea that you need power and privilege to make a difference yet it's those without privilege and power that need the changes to happen in order to make a difference.  Many who live with privilege don't often see themselves as privileged and don't feel like they need to be part of the solution to break these barriers that others face.

Johnson states "Problems of and defensiveness apply not only to the language of race, but to an entire set of social differences that have become the basis for a great deal of trouble in the world."  (p. 2)  This statement really made me think about the issues surrounding race and racial inequality and how it can stir up deeply rooted emotions.  These emotions lead to defensiveness and can invoke physical violence or other negative situations such as rioting.  Our country has experienced so many non-peaceful events and tragedies due to the racial divide.  These violent racial situations have often led to more attacks and rioting.  The Rodney King case was mentioned in Johnson's article but similar incidents have occurred around the United States.  Trayvon Martin, a young black man was shot and killed by a white man who was part of a neighborhood watch group in Sanford, Florida setting off racial tension throughout the area.  In Missouri, a Ferguson a white police officer shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black man and set off a series of violent protests.  Three months later, when the officer was found "not guilty" more protests erupted.  Even the elections of our two most recent presidents, Barrack Obama and Donald Trump, both stirred up the racial divides within our country.  This problem is epidemic and the social inequality continues to divide our country.

Another important point that Johnson addresses is that privileged groups need to be part of the solution.  The problem is that these people with privilege often don't see themselves as needing to be part of the solution.  They see racism as the black man's problem, feminism as a woman's problem, etc. but don't want to put themselves at risk for others.  People's perceptions and quick reaction of defensiveness over privilege is also part of the problem.  Treating others with decency and respect, and be accepting of our differences seems like it should be easily attainable, yet we know this is not the case.  Another part of this issue is that everyone's experience with privilege is based on someone else's lack of privilege. All of our lives are shaped by these privileges although we had little control over it.  A change in environment can change one's privilege.  This all reverts back to Johnson's reference to Rodney King's question "Can't we all just get along?"

Diversity is not the problem, it is how we use it that is the problem.  "The trouble is produced by a world organized in ways that encourage people to use difference to include or exclude, reward or punish, credit or discredit, elevate or oppress, value or devalue, leave alone or harass." (Johnson p.19)  This diversity is supposed to be a good thing along with "tolerance" and "appreciating differences" but it actually the avoidance of negativity and words like 'privilege","racism", "sexism", "classism', among others in discussing the causes of privilege and oppression.  The ability to gain privilege happens when you can prove yourself to belong to a certain category just as you can loose privilege if people think you don't belong to a certain category according to Johnson.  He also points out that people are labeled when it lowers their status such as "She's part Jewish", "woman doctor", or "black writer". (p. 34)  A final quote, which resonated with me was on page 40, "Just as privilege tends to open doors of opportunity, oppression tends to slam them shut."

via GIPHY

In his work "Privilege, Power, and Difference", Allan G. Johnson argues that privilege is something instilled in us based on what we learn from society.  Based on which categories you fit into based on other's perception can give or take away privilege. 

A Bit About Me

My name is Shena Tremblay. I am currently the school librarian at Calcutt Middle School in Central Falls, Rhode Island.  I am currently in the TESL Masters program at Rhode Island College, where I recently became ESL certified.  I am hopping to return to an elementary classroom next year.  I have been married to my husband Mark for 21 years.  We have two daughters that attend the University of R.I.  In my free time I enjoy bike riding, rollerblading, swimming, and skiing.  I am really looking forward to summer vacation and heading to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for the first time.  My next vacation is going to be a cruise....so recommendations are welcome!