9/24

After this week’s readings I found myself really analyzing and critiquing myself as a reader. My big secret...I really do not like to read, at least anymore, or certain types of books.  I know it’s terrible I want to be an English teacher but I don’t like reading. Well it’s this simple, the reason I chose to be an English teacher has nothing to do with my love of books and reading. Another big secret and irony, I'm an aspiring writer. I chose these paths because I believe that literature is very powerful and there is a community of black folk as well as other minorities in this country that could really benefit psychologically and socially from the wealth of knowledge that literature has to offer. My vision is for young African American kids to have access to books that speak to and uplift them and my goal is to be the author behind these texts or the teacher presenting it to them.

Obviously, in order for me to get my students to want to read, and to actually read, I have to set an example. So when did I stop liking to read? I really don’t know, I just find it really hard to read very long pieces for pleasure, unless it’s something for school that I have to read.

My first memories of reading are actually very pleasant. Somehow in kindergarten I managed to read way beyond my level, which was quite interesting because English was my second language and I had just moved to the U.S a couple of months before. Nonetheless, this success made me cling to books as a child, it was like my first little niche.  

As I am writing this I’m starting to realize why I stopped enjoying reading books leisurely and I’m also starting to think that Bomer is a genius. I stopped liking to read around middle school and it was because reading became less of a choice, and for some reason I didn’t have access to books like I did before. The texts I was reading weren’t all that appealing to me and reading became much more like a chore than something you do for pleasure.

But there is hope because I still do love reading books, plays, poems, or film about Afro-American or Carribean history and culture because this is what I’m interested in. I guess to get myself to enjoy reading other books, I have to find more things to be interested in? Or is it okay that I only like reading these types of texts as long as I have some sort of positive relationship with literacy? Right?

 

 

 

9/17

        After this week’s readings, I have discovered that my ideas of literacy were very limited and didn’t travel beyond traditional American conventions of reading and writing. It never dawned on me that “literacy” could encompass so many things and being “literate” could mean so much. It seems that it all comes down to culture, perspective, and value. Our educational system is based upon the ideas and cultures of the white upper class, which from their perspective is what should be valued in American society. This is problematic when we have students that are not white or upper-class attending these schools because everything they know becomes devalued and worthless. Thus, school can become a very alienating and uncomfortable place for students that are not a part of this culture. This in my opinion is only part of the problem, but it is a great place to start.

Bomer’s philosophy as well as the ideas in the other readings supports what we’ve begun to tackle in Dr. Salinas’ class about knowledge. The structure of schools today favors and only work to legitimize the culture and visions of the dominant class. This becomes an issue as evidenced in this week’s readings because it is easy for the students to become disengaged, simply because what is happening in school serves no purpose for them. However, if we incorporate and place value on their cultures, their sense of selves, and interests there can be change. Like the student who had been deemed a failure because never read on his grade level, but when given text on a topic he chose and was interested in was actually able to finally read on his level. Examples like these are really shocking for me because it seems like such a simple solution, and I didn’t think it could be that simple.

Furthermore, it was refreshing to read Bomer’s text and him stressing the importance of appreciating the knowledge students already have; to take Black and Hispanic intelligence seriously. I think it is very important to get students to see themselves as “literate” and as “scholars” because it could change their perception of school and what it has meant for them up to that point. This is something that resonates with me because I can remember my classmates and later my students truly believing that they “had no business in school”, “school was for white people”, and that education wasn’t a strength or realm for “black folks”.  From my experience African-American and Hispanic students are really afraid of reading and writing because they believe they will fail. And of course we can’t be surprised that they have these kinds of ideas about themselves because our culture and society, from the media and day to day micro level interactions are constantly perpetuating and reinforcing them. All in all, I believe the idea that getting students to identify themselves as already literate people from rapping, texting, playing video games, and tagging is a great start and can be a very effective strategy in today’s classrooms.