In the selection from our text, Lisa Delpit writes, "[Teachers] should recognize that the linguistic form a student brings to school is intimately connected with loved one’s community, and personal identity. To suggest that this form is 'wrong' or, even worse, ignorant, is to suggest that something is wrong with the student and his or her family." Delpit is a known advocate for breaking the race barrier in schools, so it only makes sense that she mentions this in her writing about "Ebonics," or the language with which many African-Americans communicate. In speaking about the different ways in which students speak, she offers each of her readers an opportunity to reflect on the way in which effective teachers form connections with students.
Many people would accept the sentiment that good, quality educators are able to build good, quality rapports with his or her students. Also, many may agree that this includes understanding a students background, and what sort of conditions they come from. What many people, including myself, fail to realize is that students, regardless of race, subconsciously relate the way they speak to who they are as a person. Delpit asks us then to see language, such as Ebonics, in a new light. Something she writes that struck me was how students who read words out loud in Ebonics still have to understand what it is they are reading. She explains that these students must, in a way, translate the reading into Ebonics to say it.
As an aspiring educator, I can't help but wonder about what my future students will be like. Of course I can't prepare for each and every scenario, but reading things like the Delpit piece offer me some sort of direction. If one day I were to find myself face to face with a language barrier, I would hope to make like Delpit, and break it down.
No comments:
Post a Comment