“It suggests . .
. that children who experience other people in their lives reading and writing
for many different reasons in the years before they begin school are better
equipped conceptually to make sense of – to learn from – the beginning reading
and writing instruction in their schools.”
I chose this
quote because it represents a larger concept than it addresses. Parental
involvement and a positive learning environment corresponding to better
understanding and achievement in school is something that would seem obvious,
but is often disregarded across the spectrum of subjects. Often times, parents
don’t take the time to read to their kids, or draw with them, or teach them
simple math and geometry. While I want to say that a dedicated parent can
always make time to teach their children, some situations are unique and require
exceptions. For example, a child may not get an abundance of reading done to
them if their father isn’t in the picture, and their mom works multiple jobs to
support them. Regardless of the reason behind a child lacking in “literacy
knowledge” a teacher must try to keep them up to speed with the class. A teacher’s
concern when dealing with children lacking in literacy knowledge shouldn’t be
to see them reach the finish line, but to see them reach the starting line. The
task of undoing years of wasted potential learning is not an easy one, but it
is one I want to know how to address, for the sake of my students.
Literacy
knowledge refers to the concepts children acquire during their pre-school
years, during the years preceding the beginning of formal literacy instruction.
Literacy knowledge is what a child “brings to the table” before the game even
begins. An example of non-print literacy knowledge
would be a child associating someone staring intently at a holding a book in
their hands, with their parents reading aloud to them from a book, and
establishing a connection that both people are reading. An example of print
literacy knowledge would be a child making markings on paper and knowing that
markings correspond to meanings or words which can be read.
Stereotypes
often interfere with literary instruction, most predominantly on the basis of
cultural backgrounds. Assume a child understands how to read and write and
speak English, but computers, cell phones, and tablets are not a part of his or
her home life or culture. When that child experiences difficulty working with
computers, this difficulty is often (incorrectly) attributed to his or her intelligence
or reading comprehension, and the child suffers as a result. Computer jargon
isn’t something a child would pick up on if it weren’t in their daily lives.
Instead of chalking this up to illiteracy or a lack of reading skills, one must
examine the child’s cultural experiences that affect the content. One must
determine if the cause is deficit, or difference.
This
inability to distinguish between difference and deficit has a critical impact
on a child’s learning experience. Often times, difference is identified but treated
like a deficit, which falsely classifies the culture of the institution as superior
to that of the individual. For an instructor, it is much easier to determine
this difficulty as a deficit, and place a child in remedial classes which teach
the same material at a slower pace, but still miss the real problem. By
incorrectly identifying the cause of the difficulty, the cultural disconnect
still exists, and the child is left to interpret and learn this new material
with which they have no cultural or social connection. It is easy to find a
link between stereotypes and poor literacy instruction.
When children are from impoverished minority homes
or from homes in which neither parent can read, often times the institution
views them in a very specific way. Unfortunately, these children and their
parents are presumed to be illiterate, slow, or incapable of learning because
of the negative stereotypes. These stereotypes even affect the extent to which
the school is willing to listen to and cooperate with the parents of the
struggling child. When a child is denied help as asked for by their parents,
solely on the premise of their culture or background, they are being denied
educational opportunity and are not given the chance to succeed.
There are some
serious misconceptions about the relationship between language and literacy.
Certain dialects or inflections in a person’s voice can mark them for judgment
before anything they have actually said has been registered. Appalachian
dialects are a prime example of how speech that deviates from this idea of “normalized
speech”, can lead to mistaken perceptions like ignorance, illiteracy, or worse.
The
most important thing that instructors can do to combat these stereotypes and
ensure that they provide all of their students with an equal opportunity to
learn, is to see each individual as a learner. They have to believe that each student in their
class has the potential to learn and achieve, and they have to believe that
nothing – not even their home life, financial situation, or prior education can
deny them of their capacity to learn. They can’t blanket them with
misconceptions linking their speech to a lessened capacity to understand. All
children can learn, and teachers have to see them all in this light to help
them realize their true potential.
The
term “Proper English” person is from or how they were raised. For example, the
notion that a southern draw could hinder a person’s ability to eloquently
convey their thoughts and feelings is absolutely ridiculous. Unique dialect variants
enrich our culture by adding seems very vague. One might think that it only means
being grammatically correct, but more often than that it is extrapolated to
refer to this archetypal, mechanical speech that in no way shows any hint of
where a variety to our language, and these should never be thought to indicate ignorance
or illiteracy.
______________________________________
“If a television network proposed
a ''real life'' show treating poor African-Americans, Latinos, American
Indians, Asians or Jews as curiosities, they, and all Americans of good will,
would be justifiably outraged.”
I
find this quote particularly interesting because it makes the reader empathize
with the victimized. Would you stand by and watch your culture get belittled
and exploited? West Virginians are unsung victims of years of over exaggeration
and exploitation. Instead of rioting in the streets, residents of West Virginia
have silently dealt with this stigma. They have heaped it up on their shoulders
and trudged on amidst the constant insult. Where others may have cried out for
justice, “hillbillies” hung their heads and continued to live independent and
self-sufficient lives. In a way, their independence–a value that makes
mountaineers so unique - may also be what has allowed this negative stereotyping
to go on unchecked. The author’s primary concern in the article is that these
stereotypes are permeating West Virginians and affecting them in deeply
personal ways that are not simple to overcome. West Virginians, from birth,
face a challenge to prove their worth and potential, and yet they quietly persevere.
The article in the link talks about new project called “Hollow: An Interactive Documentary,” in McDowell County, W.Va. will begin to gather data, solicit local input, and facilitate community involvement in an effort to present a more accurate portrayal of the region’s true identity. Spoiler alert: It's not "Deliverance."
_____________________________________
Sources:
Purcell-Gates, V. (2002). As soon as she opened her mouth.. In L. Delpit & J. Dowdy (Eds.), The skin that we speak: An anthology of essays on language culture and power. (pp. 123-140).
O'Brien, J. (2003, May 10). Tall tales of appalachia. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/10/opinion/tall-tales-of-appalachia.html
King, L. (2012, May 2). Appalachia stereotypes: The "hollow" goes past the clichés to the real people. Retrieved from http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/appalachian-chronicles/2012/may/2/appalachia-stereotypes-hollow-goes-past-cliches-re/
No comments:
Post a Comment