http://www.youtube.com/swf/l.swf?video_id=X_KKLkmIrDk&rel=1&eurl=http%3A//video.search.yahoo.com/video/play%3Fp%3DBlack%2BEnglish%26n%3D21%26ei%3Dutf-8%26js%3D1%26fr%3Dyfp-t-356%26fr2%3Dtab-web&iurl=http%3A//i.ytimg.com/vi/X_KKLkmIrDk/default.jpg&t=OEgsToPDskInpzbnpdo6BDzdkIerGFzq
I found that this news story dealt with many of the issues that we have covered throughout this semester. From this story I find myself seeing Standard English as important in society but I do also see how keeping individual cultures and dialect is important as well. Mr. Mcclendon showed a major focus on the students’ future and how their speech will affect job options. Both teachers interviewed showed a real importance for job readiness and the speech that is needed in the professional world. I do agree that speech is a factor in getting a job. I don’t agree with limiting students in their speech and not teaching them to translate. I find that Mr. Mcclendon’s teaching style tends to be very limiting and oppressive.
I definitely did not see Mr. Mcclendon show the student’s own dialect in a positive manner. This style of teaching is very different from the video we watched a few weeks ago. I find that Mr. Mcclendon did take into consideration their families and the roles that they have in the student’s lives. It seems that he is blaming everyone for the students not know Standard English. How much of the student’s own culture and dialect is lost when using this teaching style? Is this style of teaching really efficient and effective for the student’s learning? Should professional teachers correct grammar in this manner?
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Thanks for this, Scott. The link seems to be broken, but here's another one that seems to be working: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_KKLkmIrDk
ReplyDeleteYou ask some really interesting questions. I'll be interested to hear what other people think--let's dig into this story!
This was such an interesting segment! I really enjoyed it!
ReplyDeleteMcClendon addresses the issue we have been struggling with all semester. "How can a person call him or herself a professional educator if you're not willing to correct a person's grammar?" He seems to believe this is terribly important in educating students - particularly African Americans, since he feels they receive the most criticism for their speech. I agree with him that students need to know the proper way to speak, and who else is going to teach them besides an English teacher? So, that will definitely be one of our roles in the future - and that is where I think implementing code switching will come into play.
I think a good exercise for students learning to code switch would be to have students complete a job application and follow through by conducting a mock interview - with proper attire and all. This would show the students the appropriate way to present themselves in a professional setting. Applying speech and writing to real-life situations would also help high schoolers realize that they will actually use skills in the near future.
This activity could later be contrasted with a more expressive assignment where the students would be able to choose a poem or song lyrics that are meaningful to them (or, they could even write their own). Then, they would be required to analyze the text and identify symbols and literary elements. Grammar would not be graded, and creativity would be encouraged. They would present their project to the class and explain how it relates to their lives. I think students would enjoy this because they have more control over this assignment and not as much pressure to conform to any specific standard.
I would hope that by noticing the differences in these two activities, students would see that it is okay to code switch - as long as they know when and how. Culture is something that should always be preserved, even if it is only for the sole purpose of giving every individual a unique identity and personality.
Interesting idea, Kelsey! What I think is particularly powerful about it is that it communicates not a "proper" versus an "improper" speech, but instead allows students to see that they need to strategically choose their "code" to fit the situation. AAVE isn't wrong: it wouldn't get you far in a job interview but it works perfectly in an expressive assignment. By the same token, the kind of English we speak in job interviews (super-formal) would be pretty out of place in most song lyrics.
ReplyDeleteGreat idea! What else do people think about the usefulness and the limits of McClendon's view?
Good for this man!!!! I thorougly enjoyed this video. I found it extremely interesting when one of the students was asked why he thought no one had corrected his English. His response was, "because nobody knows it themselves." What an interesting thought! Some teachers and professionals think that they are helping the students by not correcting them, but here is a student with an opinion that no one else knows proper English enough to correct him.
ReplyDeleteI think that people in America try too hard to be politically correct. No one wants to offend anybody. No one wants to tell the African Americans that, in todays time, they are speaking incorrectly. No one wants to offend them. When some of their own such as this teacher and Bill Cosby step up, other African Americans turn on them and call them "white". If students today learn Standard English, then so will the generations that follow allowing African Americans to break free from the common idea that they are uneducated because of the way they speak.
I do not see why speaking in a proper way is loosing ones culture. I am Italian, I do not speak Italian. I keep my culture by cooking family recipes, and hearing stories about my ancestors. Why does speaking properly cause a person to lose their culture?
I think that the teaching style of this man is effective and should be used around the country.
I love this man and I love this video! I agree completely with Katelin.
ReplyDeleteIt's just like the student said, "Ain't nobody never told me the right word to say." If we don't correct these students and teach them the importance of learning Standard English, we are not doing them justice. Like Bill Cosby said, "we can stay in the ghetto but they can't." It is the duty of every educator (like McClendon said) to teach these kids Standard English. Maybe we were wrong all semester? Maybe some of these students are not aware of the problems with AAVE in the US. We often said they are aware of what is right and what is wrong, but maybe they truly aren't.
I found it interesting that these students were so interested and receptive of McClendon's somewhat blunt approach. I think they may have been more accepting because it was an African American male teaching them the problems with African American Vernacular English. I don't feel like McClendon was limiting his feelings of AAVE being confined to the work field. I think he believes the language is all together wrong. I like how he approached the language as improper/incorrect with no consideration really of code switching.
I really love Kelsey's idea. Very cool. Different types of classes should do the same thing. For example, a government/civics/history class could have students give an inaugural speech or perhaps the State of the Union address as if they were the President of the United States. Something I’ve always been an advocate for is proficient rhetoric skills for American students. Public speaking is one of Americans’ worst fears. Yet oral communication is one of the most common practices of daily life. I think if learning to speak properly had more of an emphasis than that of a class like Home-Economics, students would be better prepared for success in the business world. Rhetoric used to be an art. Where has it gone?
ReplyDeleteSecondly, why don’t young children, when learning to read, pronounce a word like “ask” as “ask”? I don’t understand how a child can see a word as it is spelled and not pronounce it correctly. It’s kind of like a weird form of dyslexia. And why is it only “ask”? I’ve never heard African Americans say “Maks”,(mask) “taks”,(task) or “caks”(cask).
I totally agree with what this man is doing. Perhaps no one has ever told these students how to correctly pronounce certain words. Hard to believe but nevertheless, I think that many English teachers believe that they would be stepping on the toes of a culture that they don’t totally understand. Also, hypercorrection will annoy students into silence. But someone needs to be telling students how important speaking properly is. I like how this guy remains positive and doesn’t necessarily put AAVE down, but just seems to enlighten these students who didn’t know any better.
I really liked watching this video. First of all, I thought that Katelin had a great point. When she said that speaking proper should not imply that a person loses their cultural identity, I understood what she meant. There are in fact other ways of keeping your culture. In the video, McClendon expresses to the students that using words like "aks" and "quitted" will not get you the job at a job interview. I agree when he says that it is a professional educator's job to correct a person's grammar.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that a person should not be criticized for speaking in their home language, but they should know the difference between that and proper English. I think that Kelsey's ideas for code-switching activities are great, and can be proven very effective in the high school classes that I have observed throughout this semester. Also, I agree with her about the free-writing, such as poetry, in order for students to have a chance to use their home dialect in a classroom environment. This way, the students would know how to use proper English for formal essays, but be able to distinguish their home language from it when they are writing in an expressive manner.
Interesting question about reading the word "ask" and appearing not to notice the difference from "aks," Rachael. That is, why don't students notice that the sound doesn't match the spelling?
ReplyDeleteHmm...given that it is English we're talking about--the language in which "dumb" has no "b" sound at all and "Natchitoches" is pronounced "Nakitesh" and you pronounce the "g" in "signature" but not in "sign"--asking students to expect the spelling to match the sound might not be so simple.
:)