loquacious

As a first year English teacher, I grapple with what texts to use in my class everyday.  Is this text too difficult?  What are my students’ frustration levels?  What vocabulary will they need to know in order to ensure comprehension?  Is this text too easy for the more advanced students?  Is this something that is interesting?

In a recent grad class discussion, my professor posed this question to us for our consideration: How might students of color bring understandings to the text when the text differs from their personal experiences?

In our discussion about what texts to choose for our classrooms and our students, we explored a valid and important discussion that encompasses literacy in low-income schools.  Should we teach the classics or new texts?  Should we choose texts based on a perceived notion of relevancy to the students’ lives or should we choose texts that are the standard at middle- to high-income schools?  Are we teaching text content or are we teaching reading skills and strategies?  Are we to teach students about themselves or about experiences they may never have experienced before?  These are important questions.  The answers are nuanced.  And the questions themselves may be false choices.

Let me start by firmly believing that:
1. Our students must be exposed to a spectrum of texts.
2. Our students are absolutely capable of relating to texts and experiences that may differ from their own.
3. Our students deserve to be prepared for the real world they will enter after high school.
4. Our students deserve to be taught how to read and how to read well.

What I intend to aruge is not that our students are unable to relate to texts and experiences they may have not encountered in their own lives.  My argument is not that our students cannot read Hamlet and Great Gatsby and so we should lower standards to a less classic text.  My argument is not that our students cannot learn an amazing amount from a character that doesn’t look, sound, or talk like them.

My argument is that as teachers it is our job to ensure investment and accessibility to texts for our students.  This is the crux of my argument.  If our students are not invested in reading, then it makes it very difficult to teach.  If our students do not want to read - maybe because they have had bad experiences before and they absolutely don’t want to repeat it again - or maybe because they have difficulty with reading comprehension - or maybe they simply don’t feel like it because last night they had a problem at home - then it makes it very difficult to teach Hamlet or Great Gatsby. INVESTMENT in reading - to want to read - to believe that they can read and be successful - to want to learn new reading strategies - to want to make connections in the text - that INVESTMENT must exist in an English classroom in order for a teacher to be successful.  An automatic investment in reading is not always present in some low-income schools.  My school is one of them.

Second, ACCESSIBILITY is another piece that teachers must think about as they chose a text.  Can students access the book?  If an 11th grade classroom is on an average of a 6th grade reading level, then they are going to have trouble reading Grapes of Wrath.  Teachers must take into account reading comprehension levels and vocabulary levels in the process of choosing a book.  Choosing too hard of a text will create disinvestment from students, difficulty from students, and major behavior and classroom management issues.  As a teacher, it makes sense that you must make the content accessible to your students - otherwise you are not going to be able to teaching anything - let alone the book or the reading strategies in order to understand the book.

Finally, accessibility does have some relevancy to the lives of students.  Again, I’m not saying that our students are incapable of connecting with experiences they have never experienced before.  What I am arguing is that we must make the content and english skills accessible to the students’ lives.  For example all DCPS teachers know that on the DC-BAS and DC-CAS, students across the city, and indeed across the country, have difficulty MAKING THE CORRECT INFERENCE ON A TEST.  This is not to say that our student’s cannot make inferences.  In fact they are masters of inferences on a daily basis and in their own lives.  But the skill of applying inferences to a rigorous text and then making a correct inference about the text has proven to be a difficult challenge for a lot of our students.  The issue of accessibility comes into play when students are asked to make an inference to a text and an experience in a text in which they have no experience.  We wouldn’t expect a person who just moved to the United States to understand the experience of a movie theater or the experience of going to the grocery store if they have never done it before.  So how and why do we think that our students should be able to make inferences in something they have never experienced before?  It is like asking them to do something unseen, and then punishing them for not being able to do it.  Again, this is not saying that they cannot make inferences, only that in order to make the correct inference, prior knowledge, experience, and exposure is necessary.  We as teachers must make the content and the skills ACCESSIBLE to students.

In choosing the “just right” texts for our classrooms and students then, it completely depends on the unique makeup of the classroom.  What works in high income schools will not work in low income schools.  What works in one public school in DC might not work in a charter school.  What works in southeast DC may not work in PG County, Maryland.  It will depend on the reading levels and level of investment that ultimately decides what works in any given classroom, in any given situation.

Valid discussion.  Important questions. Nuanced answers.

As an English teacher, slang finds it’s way into my classroom and into my students’ papers on a regular basis.  In my grad classes, we have often discussed the differences between Standard English (SE) and African American Vernacular English (AAVE) - more commonly known as Ebonics.  Is there a “right” or “correct” English language?  How will students be expected to write after they leave high school, enter college, and the work force?  Does teaching a “correct” version of English language send the message that AAVE is incorrect, wrong, unimportant?  Is the “correct” way of writing simply a reflection of the deep social, economic, and power disparities in our nation?

Fortunately, there is no “correct” English language.  Both SE and AAVE can and must be valued and supported.  Students must be taught and master the ability of codeswitching.  Codeswitching occurs when people use certain words and speak differently in varying situations.  People do this all the time.  We speak differently - and use different words - when we speak at home, with our friends, at church, at school, and at a football game.  Students must be taught and learn to master codeswitching.  They must know to use their home language at the appropriate time and SE at the appropriate time.

The other day, one of my students (who is African American) raised his hand and said, “I don’t mean to be disrespectful or anything, but why are we learning words that white people use?”

I had just taught to vocabulary word “intent” and this student was connecting this word to a different race.  I used this moment to discuss codeswitching - and the class was able to grasp and understand that, in fact, they do speak differently in different situations.  I was able to place value on both languages, without saying that one is more important than other - and that we codeswitch every day.  I also discussed the idea that words do not belong to races or certain groups of people.  Words belong to everyone.

I think that a classroom that allows a place for both SE and AAVE is important - particularly in low-income schools.  Both AAVE and SE is used not only in our discussions, but also texts we read.  I want my students to know that AAVE is a valued language, but that we must codeswitch and use SE when we write formally (because that is what will be expected of them in college, at work, etc).  When I think about it, all students - no matter what their home language is - codeswitch in some form or other.  We all have to take out our every day slang, and write formally instead of colloquially.

Anyways, I thought I would record some of the common, normal, and hilarious slang words or phrases my students use on a regular basis:

“You blowing me.”
Situation:  A student made multiple trips to the school bank, but the bank lady was not there.  When he came back he remarked, “She blowing me.”

“I’m gonna kirk out”
Situation:  A student is mad or upset in class.  She says, “I’m gonna kirk out on you!”

“You getting me guh.”
Situation  A student is annoyed.  He remarks, “You getting me guh.”

- “Aww naww.”  or  “That’s dead.”
Situation:  Teacher says that students will need to take a form home and get it signed by a parent.  Students say, “Aww nawww” and “That’s dead.”

- “I’m gonna steal you!” or “I’m gonna glass you!”
Situation:  Student is mad at someone else and wants to hit him/her.  Student threatens “I’m gonna steal you!”

- “You doing too much.”
Situation:  Any time when a person is perceived to be in a situation where he or she is overwhelmed.

- “You geekin!” or “You pressed!”
Situation:  Any time when a person is flipping out when it seems unnecessary.  Teacher instructs student to take hat off.  Student says, “Why you be geekin?!”

More to come as I think of them…

One of my students made up a missing assignment - the “Where I’m From” poem.  A wonderfully nice and smart student who I have come to know a lot better this semester (he was switched out of my classroom after the first month of school because of schedule changes) and I am so glad he is back in my class.  He inquired about his grade last week, and when I told him that he was missing this poem, he said, “I’m going to go home and write it for homework tonight.”  The next morning, he popped into my room and handed me his poem and said he wasn’t sure if it was very good.  I thanked him and praised him for turning it into me and said that I would take a look at it later in the day.  After he left, I worked on a few other small tasks, then turned and read his poem.

I was blown away.  Not only by the content of this poem, but also by the hidden intricacies - the powerful statements and hidden meanings that he purposefully used.  It is the most advanced poem I have received - from both my 9th and my 11th grade students; and it is noteworthy to share.

Ladies and gentlemen, ER’s amazing “Where I’m From” poem:

Where I’m from a tree doesn’t grow tall
Where I’m from it feels like I’m invisible
Where I’m from it is hard fitting in
I’m from a place where football is played
I’m from a place where people talk about me
I’m from a place where I get treated like a kid
I’m from a place called Hell
I’m from a place where I love the world
I’m from a place where I sit in the dark
I’m from a place where I don’t know whether to laugh or cry
I’m from a place where I don’t know whether to stay or leave
I’m from a place where I don’t know whether to live or die
I’m from a place where I hide my face
I’m from a place where I just want to run away
I’m from a place where this town feels like an apple
I’m from a place where family sticks together
Where I’m from it feels like I’m trapped in a box
Where I’m from it feels like I’m way in the mirror
Where I’m from it’s hard getting in
Where I’m from crime is everywhere
Where I’m from people don’t care about me.

At the end of a Teach For America Corps Member’s two year experience, we will be asked one question:

Based on your experiences, what do you think are the biggest contributors to the achievement gap?

There is no doubt that the reasons for the achievement gap are multifold and complex.  Nonetheless, at the halfway mark of my first year (1/4 of my corps experience), my experiences have shown me that a major contributor to the achievement gap is a lack of competent school leadership.

The start of the school year began with excitement and hopefulness.  My school had struggled in past years, but a new school administration was in place - and everything seemed to start off on the right foot.  The first few weeks were so positive, that many veteran teachers were impressed with the noticeable difference.  Unfortunately, as the weeks and months passed, it became painfully and frighteningly clear that the school leadership was incredibly ineffective.

The problems slowly revealed themselves.  First, students refused to go to class and walked in the hallways all day without going to class.  Then, students started pulling the fire alarms regularly (10 - 20 times per day) and even starting fires in the bathrooms.  Next, it grew to defacing the school and hallways with magic marker, paint, seeds. The problems continued with student harassment and assault towards students and teachers. Students started defecating in the hallways, smoking cigarettes and marijuana openly, and gambling in the staircases.  Doors were kicked in and slammed shut, locks were jimmied, and school property stolen.  Finally, after months and months of deterioration, it all culminated in a gun incident and a school lockdown.

For months, I attempted to teach in a school with absolutely no culture of achievement.  This school environment was shaped, molded, and eventually created by an administration that failed to control the school and set clear expectations of students, faculty, and staff.  Teachers were not supported in classrooms, students were not disciplined, and the school had spiraled into an environment of chaos.  If a school is not led by a strong and effective school administration, teachers cannot teach, students cannot learn, and the achievement gap flourishes.

In an article discussing the “5 Keys to Urban Success,” the Consortium on Chicago School research found that schools must have strong leadership and a learning climate that is safe, welcoming, stimulating, and nurturing to students.  This is a great article that explores the five ingredients for success in urban schools.  It seems like common sense, but surprisingly these key ingredients are not the norm in many inner-city, low income schools.
The anecdotal evidence and research leads me to one conclusion: schools require strong administrative leadership to make significant academic progress that will close the achievement gap.  If this is not in place at a school, it is very difficult to improve in other areas.