Amendments
To My First Four Blog Posts:
I am constantly making connections with the pieces we
read but I have noticed I never actually mention them in my post-ever! Of
course I’m able to relate each piece to one or more other pieces we’ve read. I’m
not sure I am not writing about the similarities. I know I have noted them occasionally
in my comments! Anyway, the only article I cannot find something to relate to
is the Kohn piece of Five Reasons to Stop
Saying Good Job! I tried really hard! Could anyone else?
Anyhow, here are some quick amendments to my first block
of blogs:
# 1 – Flesh Coloured
Human Beings on McIntosh’s White Privilege:
I already relate this piece to Johnson’s Privilege,
Power, and Difference but the rules of a connection piece state that you
must connect two. So I also would like to connect to Delpit’s Other People’s Children. In Delpit’s
five rules for the culture of power, # 5 stands out in relation to McIntosh.
Here she says “Those with power are frequently least aware of-or least willing
to acknowledge its existence. Those with less power are often most aware of its
existence.” (pg. 24) As McIntosh points out, white people are not aware of the privileged
life they lead. Once they are shown the truth, they still have trouble giving up
their unearned privilege. The people who notice this the most are those on the
outside looking in. Those minorities don’t have the same privileges and they
recognize that. Delpit’s fifth rule clearly defines McIntosh’s own
observations.
# 2 – Affirming Various
Cultural Values on Collier’s Teaching
Multilingual Children: I relate this piece to Kohl’s I Won’t Learn From You article. If a
teacher isn’t taking the time to get to the root of the students difficulty
with English, the student is going to participate in “not-learning”. This is
why, as Collier points out, it is key to notice the inflections and dialects of
our student’s first language. If the teacher just gives up and chalks up the
student’s lack of understanding and learning to not wanting to learn, they are
not trying hard enough to get to the root of the issue. Both articles show us
that there must be compromise and understanding between the student and
teacher. Rodriquez’s Aria where he
shows the complete loss of this home culture by trading it in for the English
language so that he could be understood and learn. By convincing Rodriquez’s
parents to only speak English in their home, they are taking the easy way out
not for Rodriquez but for themselves.
# 3 – Bending Status
Quo Attitudes on August, Vaccaro & Kennedy’s Safe Spaces: This piece reminds me of Johnson’s
Privilege, Power, and Difference. In
his piece he mentioned a whole list of ways the heterosexuals hold privilege
over the homosexuals. Among them are not running the risk of being reduced to a
single aspect of their life, having their sexuality used against them as a
weapon, the fear of being attacked because of who they love, being rejected by neighbours,
being denied jobs and openly talking about their relationships. (pg’s. 32-33) In
Safe Spaces we are reminded of many
of them when it is pointed out that they homosexuals and transgender students
are not being represented or accepted in the curriculum or the classroom (for
the most part). The difference in Safe
Spaces is that they are showing us teachers with privilege and some power
who are taking the curriculum and their jobs into their own hands in order to
change student’s views and make a difference.
# 4 – The System’s
Problem Becomes the Victim’s Problem on Kohl’s I Won’t Learn From You!: This
piece too reminds me of Rodriquez’s Aria.
Not because Rodriquez puts up a fight in learning English but because of what
he loses by doing so. He recognizes that your culture can be lost when you
replace your home language with that of the dominant cultures. Aria proves Wilfredo’s worry in I Won’t Learn From You! In that through
assimilation, you lose the connection to your family roots.
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