In chapter four of The Skin That We Speak, Judith Baker gives the secret on how to be an effective teacher when it comes to Standard English. She says that you must first gain respect of your students by showing them that you, as a teacher, respect their home language. She uses the idea that if teachers teach trilingualism then students will be more inclined to learn Standard English. And she was right. In her language activity she showed interest in the students home language and she gave them credit, which made them more inclined to use Standard English.
I agree with Judith Baker’s approach to teaching Standard English because she is motivating her students to want to learn. We should never be negative with our students, especially when it comes to formal writing because we want our students to enjoy learning, not hate it. She also shows them the power of using different dialects and how important that can be for their futures. I personally have always felt, if you show someone something useful they will remember it always, but if you show them something that is meaningless, then they will forget it.
My only concern with this tactic is how can we as teachers use this without pretending to give our students respect? Is there a list of the do’s and don’ts we need to know or is it just deep within us?
Gloria Ladson-Billings’s chapter titled “I ain’t writin’ nuttin’: Permissions to Fail and Demands to Succeed in Urban Classrooms” discusses the teacher and his/her refusal to allow students “permission to fail”. Ladson-Billings illustrates an instance in which Shannon, a six-year old student, refuses to participate in the class’s daily writing assignment, and the teacher responds to Shannon by saying, “That’s okay. Maybe you’ll feel like writing tomorrow.” The teacher’s previous response is an example of “permission to fail” according to Ladson-Billings, and I agree. It is so much easier for that teacher to allow Shannon to walk around the room and not write, but this path is not the path to a “satisfactory ending”, as Ladson-Billings says, because the teacher is allowing failure. A six-year old girl should not determine what is best for herself because “she is dependent upon adults to act in responsible ways”, which include not giving “permission to fail”.
ReplyDeleteLadson-Billings provides an example of a teacher whom is unwilling to allow “permission to fail” through Carter Forshay. Carter’s students were unwilling to write, and each time he put a writing assignment on the board, his student grimaced, begging for worksheets. Carter, however, refused to fall into this pattern of worksheets so often taken by teachers. It is after all easier for a teacher to grade a worksheet than a writing assignment, but Carter refused and reassessed his teaching style. He decided to adapt a writing assignment for the students by including music and dramatic arts. The students flourished with this writing assignment and were able to write an entire scene modeling a song listened to in class. “Carter decided to demand success”.
Chelsea- I absolutely agree with you that we should never be negative toward our students because if we are negative, it takes away from the students’ learning experience. I think that is what we saw in Ladson-Billings’s article. Shannon’s teacher allowed her to give up probably because the teacher already had negative attitudes toward Shannon’s potential. Carter, on the other hand, did not have negative attitudes toward his students’ potential because he never gave up his demand for success from his students. I love what you say about if you give a student something useful he will remember it always, mostly because I have always felt the same way. However, I also think it’s important to remember how the things that we choose not do affect our students. The students will remember those things, and those things can possibly damage their futures. In Ladson-Billings’s article, when the teacher tells Shannon “maybe you’ll feel like writing tomorrow”, Shannon may not think about it then, but when she looks back on that moment, she will remember that teacher and the teacher’s unwillingness to help her.
In response to your question, I think that if we make an attempt at Baker’s “tactic” we won’t have to pretend to be interested. I think that we naturally will be interested because as Baker says it is a learning experience for us as teachers to learn about the students’ rules of language as well as it is a learning experience for the students.