Section three of Rethinking Multicultural Education: Teaching for Racial and Cultural Justice, “Language, Culture, and Power,” is concerned with how language is a tool used to build power, hierarchies and culture within the classroom setting. Each chapter was focused on how the power of the dominant discourse is recreated and reinforced through the classroom. Specific chapters focused on the exclusive nature of schools for English Language Learners, the study of Ebonics, recognizing the culture differences between languages and their styles of communication, as well as how to make both students and educators aware of the benefits, joys and strengths that discourses besides English can bring into the classroom.
As educators, the readings in this section really require educators and readers to take a critical stance on how language is a source of power, culture, and control in the classroom setting. In the article “Putting out the Linguistic Welcome Mat” Linda Christensen (2014) draws attention to the inconsistencies in our own schools. She writes that schools frequently embrace multiculturalism, by decorating appropriately, and including diverse celebrations in their school community. However, Christensen notices that “[i]n the classroom, the job of the teacher often appears to be whitewashing students of colour or students who are linguistically diverse”. Without always knowing it, our idealized (and Westernized) view of how students should communicate is greatly influencing their ability to learn, as well as feel included and empowered. Salvador Gabaldon (2014) writes that “the foundation of a good education is a love of language." This quotation led me to wonder; how are students supposed to have a good education when we are not encouraging and allowing students to express themselves in a way that they are comfortable? Furthermore I wondered how I could create a classroom where both Standard (“proper”) English and the languages my students live with everyday are incorporated into our room as well. While the readings can portray teachers as gatekeepers (whether intentionally or unintentionally), they are also sources of immense hope and encouragement. Patricia Smith (2014) calls us to act “we’ve got to teach that every utterance, every story is legitimate, that they exist to help you process your own life.” Smith also says that “as educators, we have the power to determine whether students feel included or excluded in our schools and classrooms” (Au, 2014). The readings in this section help bring awareness to our own teaching practice, ans well as how we can begin to deconstruct and recreate a learning space in which we are more considerate and thoughtful of how we are using and constructing language usage in our own classrooms.
Students within this section are depicted as individuals who bring diverse and different ways of communicating and using language into the classroom. Many of the readings feel that students are not aware of the power and effect that language can have and that “they wait for you to open a door that leads to their own lives” (Au, 2014). Lisa Delpit furthers this idea by saying that “it appears that they [students] may not have realized which language form they were using until they heard themselves speak on tape” (Au, 2014). Students are using and learning language all the time, but they frequently are unaware of how powerful language is at shaping their own lives, whether positively or negatively. Helping students to understand how and why language is important creates students who are more aware of themselves, their identity, and what they think about the world they live in. Chirstensen writes that “after I started teaching my students about Ebonics, many of them began to understand how assumptions about the supremacy of Standard English had created difficulties in their education” (Au, 2014).
The section on language really encourages us to challenge who we consider literate, as well as why we consider them literate. Examining how language is based in power, and what that power (or lack of power) can mean for students is important when talking about literacy skills in the classroom. Recognizing that students can be proficient in language different from our own, and finding value in those differences expands our ideas of what it means to be a literate individual, and focuses more on the skills and competencies required instead of the language one is literate in.
Ultimately, I found this section of the anthology to be incredibly valuable as it helped me shift my thinking on how language can restructure or reinforce power. Creating a classroom space where students are welcome to be literate through different language, and helping students become more aware of how language structures our world encourages students to notice and be critical of the way we communicate with one another. Allowing this metacognitive learning to take place makes space for our students voices, encourages individuality and helps students to feel more in control of their own personal narratives. I would strongly recommend these chapters to anyone who is finding it difficult to teach ELL students or a multicultural classroom. Finding space to recognize, celebrate and notice the ways in which language helps shape our individuality, our education and our world is important for students, and this section is the perfect balance of critical thought, and attainable practice.
-Tayrn G.
Reference: Au, W. (Ed.). (2014). Rethinking multicultural education: Teaching for racial and cultural justice. Rethinking Schools.
Comments
Post a Comment