Quotes for Presentation

“Too many black men fail to enact the more “productive” aspects of the male sex role. Instead, “being a man , for many Black males who internalize the mixed messages, becomes simply enacting sexual aggression, violence, sexism, and the like-all of which promote Black male-Black female conflict (Franklin 146).”

 Racism, in particular, has been emphasized as having particular psychological consequences for the masculine identity of African American men (e.g., Cazenave,1984; Clatterbaugh, 1990; Majors & Billson, 1992;Segal, 1990; Staples, 1978). One hypothesis is that because norms set for White masculinity are also held out as gender ideals for African American men, a double bind is created for some African American men who, due to poverty and racism, are blocked from achieving certain aspects of the mainstream culture's masculine ideal. Overall, several theorists have attempted to describe masculinity in African American culture, and how the traditional male role norms of American society can cause strain or conflict for African American men. 

“one must consider the social contradiction and hoax inflicted on Black men, which originates in the very definitions of self-worth and manhood in our society. It has come to be a cruel joke that in a culture driven by media fantasies of sex, violence, and power; a culture where material wealth is the highest measure of self worth; a culture that defines “manhood” by the ability to provide economic survival for one’s self and family, that the very means of achieving “manhood” are systematically and institutionally kept out of the grasp of all too many black men (Guerrero 397).”

10/29

Before these readings I wasn’t really sure what a multigenre project was, now that I know I am completely in love! I love writing so these ideas are amazing to me. I also think this type of writing would be much more exciting for me to read as a teacher and also very exciting for the students to do.

It seems that there was an emphasis on the instruction being student centered, and allowing the students to write about their interests. I think this is great idea because it moves students away from extremely unoriginal and formulaic writing and allows them to find a unique voice. This is also a great way to get to know your students and their communities. Instead of forcing them to write about what you or the school finds important, they can explore important issues that affect them in their intimate worlds.

I definitely plan on using these types of projects in my own teaching, simply because they force students to think on their own, creatively and analytically. In the conclusion of her article Gillepsie writes: “no one was threatened or intimidated; rather, they felt empowered because they chose how to respond to what they read and motivated because they had classmates for an audience”. I think this type of feeling is ideal. Writers need confidence above anything and the freedom to express themselves through their writing. This is important to me because when students do struggle with writing I truly feel that it’s fear of failing that holds them back.

I was really impressed with the young women in the Guzetti and Gamboa article for taking time outside of school on such a political project. It was also interesting to read about students from a different socioeconomic background just to get a different perspective. But I am having a hard time figuring out what this alternate perspective means to me in relation to what we have been studying in class. I think the point that the authors want to make is that students from upper socioeconomic backgrounds are also expressing their literacy out of school and in creative ways. This sort of reminded me of the article about tagging and I’m trying to figure out what it all means. If these students are similar in that they engage in alternative literacies outside of school despite their economical and cultural backgrounds, what does this imply? I’m really finding it hard to answer that question and if you guys have an idea, I’d love for you to share. 

10/22

This weeks readings seemed to center around one important thing…language. I was thoroughly pleased after reading Bomer’s chapter because I think he is a very progressive thinker and I am sometimes shocked that what I’m reading is actually coming from him. It makes me feel like I am definitely at the right school and in the right program. On page 267 Bomer writes,

Students need to learn ways of thinking about language variation that will allow them to respect other citizens across differences. They need to learn to think about language variation in order to understand the intelligence and value of linguistic patterns different from their own. For students from linguistic minority communities, that might involve learning about the patterns of their community, learning to value those patterns, and also learning to see the difference between those patterns and ones in a different community. That might even provide them with control of which language patterns they employ in different contexts. (Bomer 267-268)

I think Bomer is absolutely right in that teachers need to help students who speak other languages (including AAVE) value those various languages. And this might definitely give them a sense of agency and give them a critical outlook of their language, other minority languages, and the dominant language of the U.S.

I have only just begun thinking differently about my own language background, and what I’ve learned has given me a lot more confidence and power in regards to the languages I speak that I did not have before. Being Haitian, most people assume that you speak French, granted it’s the official language of the country and a lot of Haitians do speak it as their primary language, I am not fluent in French. Nonetheless, as a child I knew there was some prestige abut “French” and I would tell everyone that it was the primary language in my household in lieu of what we really spoke which was Haitian-Creole. I was almost embarrassed of that language because I knew the more educated and wealthy Haitians rarely spoke creole, and I was afraid that my family would be viewed in a negative way (even though my parents and their families were very poor and as a result could not afford even what we would call a middle school education). On the other hand, people looked at me differently when I told them I spoke French. It was almost because I was Black and spoke French, I had to be something special. Furthermore, my experience with aave was much different. Because I went to schools with mostly African American students who spoke aave it was the dominant language for me. In second grade I moved to Miami from a much more affluent area in a city called Ft. Lauderdale where the kids I went to school with were mostly white and spoke standard English. When I got to the school in Miami I was teased incessantly for speaking “proper” or “acting white” so I made it a priority to learn aave just to fit in. Over the years aave has become my primary language, speaking it (in addition to creole) makes me feel so much more at home and like myself. So because I have had these experiences with minority vs. the dominant language, I think it makes me really appreciate Bomer’s ideas in this chapter. I applaud him for urging teachers to get students who speak other languages to value and be empowered by those languages rather than see them as a problem that might hinder their success.

            Bomer goes on to write that; “it is also important that students from dominant groups learn respect for diverse forms. It’s not enough just to sit comfortably with one’s privilege (268)”. He couldn’t have said it better; students from dominant groups need to respect other languages because they will represent the next generation of thinkers so it is imperative that they are exposed to these ideas early on. It also helps if those who speak the dominant language value other languages because they have the most power in helping to legitimize these languages.

            The other readings supported the value of language in our classrooms as all of them pointed to the importance of teaching or learning about various languages. I really enjoyed reading “Do you Speak Texan” because when I moved to Texas just a couple of months ago I expected to hear the Texas accents that are depicted in movies in t.v shows but to my surprise I have not heard even a slight accent from anyone. The dilemma is that the accent and dialect is becoming less popular for the same reasons I hid my language growing up and this a great example of why we should teach children to value all languages and to question the superiority of popular languages. The rest of the articles focused on English language learners and types of instruction that would be better suited for them in the English classroom. All in all, I liked that these articles forced me to think about how I would approach these students in my classroom, and how my experience as an English language learner would affect these approaches. 

10/15

This week I finished Tyrell and it was a great book that I thoroughly enjoyed. I found myself wanting to read more as I fell in love with Tyrell, Troy, and all the other kids in this book. I think Coe Booth does a great job at exposing some effects of growing up poor, growing up poor and Black, or growing up poor, Black, and female. She does it in a way that allows adolescents to recognize similarities and/or differences in their own lives and maybe spur some great conversation about social problems in their classrooms or intimate groups. I can see why this book is appealing to young Black males because it tells the story of what a lot of them experience as a result of the dynamics in this country. Even if they can only relate to a quarter of what Tyrell experiences and believes, the fact that this story is told from a black male’s perspective, let alone a poor Black male, is profound in itself. We don’t get a lot of stories that speak to Black teens and I definitely appreciate Booth for writing a book like this, its exactly what I want to do.

The Beer’s reading is very practical and helpful and I like it for that. It’s not as interesting as Bomer’s text but it still beneficial as it can serve as a great guide for English and Reading teachers. I feel like it’s a book I will always turn to and use for guidance throughout my career. When I got to chapter 11 and she began outlining some real technical aspects of reading, it became sort of scary for me. Although, I was already that some kids in high school are extremely dependent readers and can’t decode words, I am still terrified at failing these students if I end up not being able to help them. In addition, the section on word recognition with the tables about sounds, blends, and dipgraphs was very overwhelming for me. I felt like it was the first I’d ever seen these things (even though I know it’s not) and it just made me worry about my effectiveness as a teacher, having to basically teach reading all the way down to word recognition if I’m unfamiliar with these terms and concepts. It also made me worry a lot about time. At what point during class time do I work with the student who can’t decode if the other students are past that? How do you work on something like this in an hour and a half when there are other areas to cover? How do you not take away from the kids who are reading on level, while still showing significant attention to students who are extremely dependent when it comes to reading? Last week, I felt like there were solutions to these questions and I was okay, this week for some reason or another I’m back to being worried. What do you guys think?

As for fieldwork and working with my CT in her classes, it’s really not what I expected. Although, I’m beginning to fall in love with the students and can’t wait to teach again, I don’t feel like I’m learning much from my CT. Teaching was great because I was able to get some great advice from Anni after the fact. I learned that I need to slow down when I’m teaching (story of my life) because I sometimes go at a pace that suggests everyone knows as much as I do on the topic I’m going over. I also learned that building rapport with the students is much easier than I thought because they were extremely receptive. However, the classroom experience here is still extremely redundant and boring (which my CT agrees with) and I can’t say that I’m gaining much from this experience other than some “what not to do’s”. For example, I have learned that I hate PowerPoint lectures and I want to stay away from them as much as possible. The great thing is my CT does give me a lot of flexibility with the lesson plans, so I’m free to alter most of it to my liking. This is good because I get to do a lot of practice with ideas I may have or come up with and have Anni guide me through those ideas and practices, which is great. Nonetheless, I feel like everyone else is having such awesome field experiences and I’m extremely jealous because I was hoping for those types of experiences as well.