Thank You and Goodnight For Now

This blog post is my final one with direct contribution to my course “Literacy for Diverse Learners”. Any future blog posts will come from my future studies as a student of education. As you will see from this blog, each post is not independent but dependent on the concepts that proceeded. These concepts included:

• Assessment
  
• Colorblindness
  
• Culture of Power
  
• Neoliberalism
  
• Accountability
  
• Literacy Packages
  
• Epistemology
  
• Critical Literacy
  
• Language
  
• Trilingualism 
  
• Out-of-School literacy
  

The significance of each of these concepts varies. Of late many of my posts have focused on neoliberalism. This is because everything can be explained in terms of neoliberalism. Also many issues that deal with students of color can be looked at in terms of the culture of power. As a last note on the culture of power: one of the goals of education should be that all have access to the rules to the culture of power. In addition everyone should have equal access and therefore everyone has the ability to change the rules, therefore making the culture of power irrelevant. If the culture of power is irrelevant then equality will be achieved. In addition, if the culture of power did not exist than many of the other concepts listed would also not be an issue such as trilingualism, colorblindness, assessment and neoliberalism.

As I and other future teachers move into their professional careers these issues cannot be forgotten. Rather they need to be addressed and acted in a productive way. Children walking through a park of mixed races may not act to the issues of racism. As they get older they learn of the issues that separate us. As educators we need to remember that these issues never go away. This is way we need to teach in a way that does not affirm societies predisposition of certain groups of people. Teachers need to teach students how to deal with feelings about racism with the goal of bring students together. The other day I heard someone say, “Genetically we are 99.99% similar but it is the .01% that be obsess about”. We need to focus of how to not make this .01% an issue. As we need to know how to not create walls and barriers that prevent us from communicating. Rather how to find an effective means to create spaces were issues are discussed.

I hope for all those who have followed this blog they have found it effective and meaningful. I would appreciate any comments on any of the posts and I am willing to discuss any of the issues that have surfaced.

Listen and learn is the best tool for effective teaching.

Education: What are we really testing for?

On April 24th I posted a blog titled “Teacher or Instructor”. In the blog I mentioned Lynn Astarita Gatto’s essay, “Success Guaranteed Literacy Programs” and discussed how Gatto taught beyond the standards of the state. In this blog I want to elaborate on assessment and what it means in terms of literacy standards and success.

Gatto does not see literacy as something that is learned and then used at a later time. Rather, she sees literacy as a practice (78). In a way it is a tool that is used for understanding. Even math and science would not be possible without literacy. In order for Gatto to teach these higher standards she would not just give students a book, have them read it, then test it. Rather she would have students employ skills from all subjects for the understanding of a subject. In addition, she interconnects the concepts together so that students can make connections instead of just being discrete items.

To show this in practice Gatto used the example of a unit on butterflies. To introduce the unit students read the book, James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. In this book there is the connection that all the characters were insects and belonged to the phylum of insects as butterflies do (79). Then they purchased butterfly supplies. Students were the ones that had to do the research on what to purchase. Some students went on the internet, others looked through science company catalogs and another group used the phonebook. The anticipation of the butterflies arrival rose many new questions, “‘How long it would take until the butterflies would emerge?’, ‘What do they eat?’” (80). I personally think this is a fantastic idea because it teaches students real life skills that they not otherwise get in the home. Each student would then receive a container with a larvae with a black journal book. As a scientist they would write in it their findings. 
In Gatto’s district they had purchased a reading series from a private company. In this series they want teachers to tests students once a week on spelling with a weekly word test. Gatto feels that students do not have to know specific words to be considered good spellers. Rather if they are spelling correctly in their journals then they are considered good spellers. From this journal literacy skills develop as a need to communicate their research. The district’s goal is to have students learn words that are not relevant to the student’s lives. Then they have a way to assess all the students, and an incorrect response is considered lack of knowledge or literacy.

On May 5th I posted a video from Sir Ken Robinson from the website TED.com. From the video Robinson talks about how the purpose of public education is to produce university professors. As a result all creativity from those who use their bodies, such as dancers and artists, are not taken seriously. They are not thought to be as distinguished as professors. Robinson goes on to say that schools kill the creative nature of students. If they are creative they are outside the norm and they are punished for it. The reason for this is because this is the way schools are set up. The teacher assumes the higher roles as an elite and if a student challenges that they are lowered. In an essay by Lil Brannon and C.H. Knoblauch titled “On Students’ Rights to Their Own Texts: A Model of Teacher Response” the issue of hierarchy is seen in regards to youth writing:

The teacher-reader assumes, often correctly, that student writers have not yet earned the authority that ordinarily compels readers to listen seriously to what writers have to say. Indeed, teachers view themselves as the authorities, intellectually maturer, rhetorically more experienced, technically more expert than their apprentice writers (158).

Therefore the teacher-student relationship is compromised. Rather the teacher looks down on students as distinguished intellectuals. This idea ties into my blog “Ignorant Teachers: It’s not your fault, it’s the system” because teachers do not culturally assess their students. Rather they assess students based on standardized tests that are often culturally bias.

What is the purpose of education?

Is the purpose of education to assess students on a national scale? This would the neo-liberalism goal and the central idea of E.D. Hirsch Jr. essay, “Literacy and Cultural Literacy”. In his essay he calls for a “high universal literacy” that is “key to all other fundamental improvements in American education” (2). From Hirsch’s work we learn that his assessment of literacy is based on SAT verbal scores. Also in Hirsch’s list titled, “What Every Literate American Should Know” we learn of the 5,000 items that people need to know to be literate. Therefore we can quantitatively assess literacy. We are creating a mold for the perfectly literate person. The goal of education should not be to create the ideal person but the ideal society. This is one of the points made in the following video by Malcolm Gladwell:



He introduces us to the idea of how the food industry makes decisions in bringing us the new products. Back in the 1970’s the food industry thought that their was one perfect way to make spaghetti sauce. They were obsessed with the idea of universal that is their is one way to treat all of us. When they experimented with different types of spaghetti sauce they discovered that people started to like different types, such as chunky, spicy and garlic. At the end of the presentation Gladwell makes the point that embracing diversity is the way to true happiness. Rather than thinking in terms of universals we think in terms of diversifying. This is like education, currently we are thinking in terms of universals. This is evident with the No Child Left Behind Act; one education system that is suitable for all states and for all students. In addition these universals are seen in literacy packages introduced by Gatto. Gatto embraces the diversity of her students by creating lessons that are relevant to her students. Lisa Delpit also brings us ideas on how diversity is the key to literacy instruction.

In Delpit’s essay, “The Silenced Dialogue” we learn how education should be more culturally accepting. More importantly, how this universal education is a way to divert the issues of racism. This only benefits students within the “culture of power”. She says,

The dilemma is not really in the debate over instructional methodology, but rather in communicating across cultures and in addressing the more fundamental issue of power, or whose voice gets to be heard in determining what is best for poor children and children of color (46).

If universal education goes through then poor children and children of color won’t be heard. Rather there voices will be silenced by the ideas of standards that do not fit them culturally. In addition with the No Child Left Behind Act this inability to perform on standardized tests result in less funding, only making the poor and underprivileged worse off. Delpit does not talk about the way it should be, she talks about the way it is. Assessment and teachers that are culturally in tune with their students to create meaningful instruction. This instruction will only help students to be successful. The universal thinkers forgot what it means to make connections through prior knowledge. Students are not clean slates, they bring with them prior knowledge, often this is the knowledge of their family life, which is their culture. Therefore if education is made culturally relevant then connections can be made and the process of learning can begin.

As a future teacher I have to understand how to implement this into my classroom. My concentration is math and math is all about universal explanation. My ability to make math culturally relevant would come from making connections to other subjects as in the case with Gatto. If collaboration is done correctly then students could be working on a project that incorporates all the subjects. Math would be the tool to accomplish a task. This should be the same with all the subjects. English should to the tool to communicate ideas in English. Therefore literacy will develop as a need to accomplish a task. This way we are teaching students to be life learners. Therefore they can learn how to accomplish tasks on their own. Independent discovery and respect should be the goals of any framework of any educational system.

Beyond Neoliberalism

On April 22nd I posted a blog called “Neoliberalism and Education, Bad Combination”. In this blog I explored the negative effects of neoliberalism on education, in particular the move to privatize education as a solution to the public sectors short fallings.  If neoliberalism looks at solutions to crises through the market model, what other solutions are possible?

Lets look at this through an example. After Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, thousands were left stranded to rely on their own sources to help them out of the devastation, rather than rely on the government for support. If such a disaster happened in mid-town Manhattan, the response may be quite different. According to Pauline Lipman in her essay, “Education Policy, Race, and Neoliberal Urbanism”, the reason there was such a weak response on part of the U.S. Government was due to the “callous disregard for African American lives and the absence of a social welfare infrastructure for low-income and working-class people” (45). This absence of government allowed private infrastructure to come in and take the place of once public areas. Parks, roads and other public spaces were purchased and now corporations can do anything they want with this space. They can segregate groups of people and enforce their own biases. Since the government did not step in to public crises corporations did. Lets explore other solutions.

The American Red Cross (ARC) also stepped in during Katrina. They provided medical and humanitarian needs during the crises. Therefore it is the good nature of those in the ARC to provided relief. The issue with this is that nothing is free. Therefore ARC relies on contributions by others to provide their services. Katrina left thousands of homes destroyed. For those who were lucky they may have had insurance or personal wealth that allowed them to re-build. With 80% of the New Orleans population “below the poverty line before the hurricane” it is likely they were not so lucky. The only resource some had was to take out a second mortgage with the help of companies such as USDA Rural Development.

Instead of not-for-profit or humanitarian groups there is also the idea of community awareness for humanity. By living in America we become very individualistic. All solutions come from the individual to receive help from the government or private corporations. What if a community was destroyed and the survival of everyone depended on that community to be rebuilt. Then everyone would have to step in and build structures. The sense of community is present in indigenous communities. The individual is not the focus, they are part of a unit. If this unit does not survive the individual will also perish.

The following video from YouTube looks at how we view ourselves in the world and how we are manipulated by the media.  He also says do you want the "puppet on the left or the puppet on the right" as if there are only two options.  

These two solutions of non-neoliberalism are what I consider non-binary solutions. In a neoliberalism perspective all solutions are either one or another. In computer science this would be considered either 0 or 1. Our 0 or 1 would be public or private. What I am calling for are solutions that are not binary. They are not 0 or 1, rather they are solutions that are not even conceived. These are the solutions that may develop to a given situation. Regardless the solution will be innovative and more importantly, morally sound. This is where education has the ability to motivate. If we are constantly teaching students to be individualistic and fall prey to the capitalistic model, then we face stagnation and ultimately social failure. Education needs to teach students how to be moral and respectful adults. This way in times of crises they do not turn their back on their fellow man, rather they learn what they can do to help each other. This idea goes against the constraints of capitalism and looks at solutions that are much greater than capitalism. These are non-neoliberalism solutions and they are the future.

As a future teacher I need to focus on how I can make my students conscious of other students. It may not have to be in the form of a project. Rather it may come from my respect for them. Ideas of moral are transferrable through example, therefore if respect is shown, respect will be received.

Ignorant Teachers: It's not your fault, it's the system.

Very often people believe children do not care about school. Therefore they have a negative view of school. What if they have this negative view because they were told they can not achieve anything great? In this post I want to explore the space in which teachers have a negative view of students expectations and abilities.

In Joanne Larson’s book, Literacy as Snake Oil, there is a chapter by Patricia Irvine and Joanne Larson titled, “Literacy Packaged in Practice” that looks at the effects of negative stereotypes. Quoting a first grade teacher who says in regards to students not being ready for kindergarten: “They do not come to kindergarten ready for kindergarten. So I’m always looking at children who aren’t ready to learn yet.” (56). I feel that this understanding is rather negative. It can be true that students entering kindergarten do not have the proper skills needed because they were not read to or went to pre-school. If students are labeled as unable to teach then that child will think they cannot rise to higher standards. Therefore students are thought to have a learning deficit. This deficit is also thought to occur as a result of a students inability to speak correct Standard English (56). Therefore it can be concluded that students of color, who language often conflicts that of Standard English can have a greater deficit.

From this we can see that teachers have negatively constructed their students academic performance.without giving them a chance. I begin to question whether teachers are consciously constructing these images of students or are society’s rules situated in such a way to form negative images of students of color. This idea is emphasized by Lisa Delpit in her essay, “The Silenced Dialogue”. In regards to job applicants she states:

“A white applicant who exhibits problems is an individual with problems. A person of color who exhibits problems immediately becomes a representative of her cultural group.” (38).

This state emphasizes the overarching theme of racism and why students of color are at greater risk of being viewed a deficit. Now I’m not stating that teachers who don’t give colored students a chance are racist. Simply, I’m suggesting that students of color can be easily marginalized to have lower academic abilities.

The issue of teachers automatically viewing students as having a deficit may also be a teachers lack of confidence in their abilities. In addition to the lack of culture awareness of students in a given community. This idea comes in the form of literacy packages that schools purchase by corporations. According to Irvine and Larson:

“Packaged literacy materials have long been criticized for the limited view of literacy they promote and because they attempt to script teachers’ behaviors, deskilling them in the process.” (50)

Therefore if teachers do not feel skilled or are called upon to use their skills towards students they cannot produce culturally relevant materials. In addition for Kindergarten students, if a teacher does not know the cultural of the community that the students live they will not understand where the students are coming from. Therefore they will have a stereotypical view of students.

Is there hope for the future? There is certainly hope, but it is not going to come without conscious revision of the current laws that are in place. The No Child Left Behind law standardized education but in the process created an education system that was void of meaning and character. Also the neoliberalism epistemology is one that would prefer to have a federal system of education, because that is one that could support the culture of power as it currently exist. Delpit states in the same essay listed above: “I further believe that to act as if power does not exist is to ensure that the power status quo remains the same” (39). Therefore we do not do anything and ensure that education becomes grass roots we are only continuing the neoliberalism objective. As the No Child Left Behind law comes up again to be re-evaluated have a standing voice. Call congressmen and legislators and voice concern. Teachers should be the first place where lawmakers look for their advice on future policies. Know where and when to speak up and your voice will be heard.

To see the effects of negative influences of education see Sir Ken Robinson's video: "Do schools kill creativity":