Blog #6 Bilingual Education in Classrooms

Bilingual Education Act:  Bilingual Education Act, also known as the Title

VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Amendments of 1967, was the first

United States federal legislation that recognized the needs of limited English speaking

ability students.                                 

                                                            Aria

                                              Written by Richard Rodriguez

Author's Argument:  There are 2 ways a person is individualized.  While one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality.

In this personal autobiography written by Richard Rodriguez, he goes into the painful memories of being forced to speak English in his classroom and also at home when he was a child during 1960's. Rodriguez was denied the right to speak his family's native speaking language, Spanish, in the Catholic school he attended in first grade. Confused by this predicament, Rodriguez states, "Because I wrongly imagined that English was intrinsically a public language and Spanish an intrinsically private one, I easily noted the difference between 'classroom language' and the language of home.  He then remembers his classroom 'silence' due in part because of his inability to speak English. When he did try to speak English, he was teased and belittled by the other children. Because of this, he became silent and afraid to speak in class for fear of being made fun of.  Halfway into the school year, the nuns from his school visit his home. The nuns, who were his teachers, encouraged his parents to practice and to speak only English in their home. They felt this would help Richard become a better English speaker in the classroom. His home life changes drastically after that visit.

After the oppression of their native language at home, the Rodriguez's household changed.  They were no longer this family that spoke to one another in Spanish.  The household demeanor changed from a loving household to one in which no one spoke.  After the 'Americanization' of their children, Spanish words became a thing of the past.  Once outgoing, social, and united, this family changed forever.  They 'lost' themselves as a family unit and lost their heritage. Back when this situation played out, bilingual schooling and classrooms were not a 'thing.'  Not until the seventies did society realize that it was wrong to force children into speaking English; not allow them to speak their native language within the classroom setting. Mr. Rodriguez then goes on in remembering that his 'classroom English' became better and he then felt comfortable participating in the classroom.  He no longer felt like that disadvantaged child with the language barrier separating him from his peers.  This public silence changed his life.  At the age of 7 years old, he realized that he was an American citizen.

Teaching Point #1

This article really made me stop and think of how difficult it must have been for the author Richard Rodriquez and so many others like him who had to live through this type of 'oppression' and discrimination.  I can see this same message/idea in the article The Four I's in Oppression: 

                                        Internalized oppression (socially):

Internalized oppression is a belief that one group is superior over another group.  A 'white dominant' society is what resonates and makes me think of racism and social divides in our society.  This is when another group, collectively or individually feels superior and the 'chosen' one in a particular society.

                                   Bilingual Education, when to start?   Click Here

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Teaching Multilingual Children

by Virginia Collier

Author's Argument:  "One must teach in two languages, affirm the cultural values of both home and school, teach standardized forms of the two languages but respect and affirm the multiple varieties and dialects represented among students in class, be creative and flexible teachers, serve as a catalyst for discovery as students learn to operate effectively in their multiple worlds, be able to mediate and resolve intercultural conflicts, and keep students on task." 

This article was so very different from the first one.  Ms. Collier praises bilingual teachers and the notion of teaching in two languages.  From the YouTube videos we were assigned, some of the inner city schools had several different speaking children in their classrooms.  Wow, as a classroom teacher, I can't even imagine how to manage this and meet everyone's needs.  This article mentions seven guidelines to better understand how teaching English to second language learners can become an 'enriching' experience for everyone in the classroom: 

1. "Be aware that children use first language acquisition strategies for learning a second language (127)."

2. "Do not think of yourself as a remedial teacher expected to correct so-called "deficiencies" of your students."

3. "Don't teach a second language in any way that challenges or seeks to eliminate the first language."

4. "Teach the standard form of English and students' home language together with an appreciation of dialect differences to create an environment of language  recognition in the classroom."

5. "Do not forbid young students from code-switching in the classroom. Understand the functions that code-switching serves."

6. "Provide a literacy development curriculum that is specifically designed for English-language learners."

7. "Provide a balanced and integrated approach to the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing."

Teaching Point #2

This article had so many wonderful ideas and a ton of valuable information. For teachers who are in a setting where there is a  diverse population of students from many different ethnic backgrounds, this article is a MUST read!  The author Virginia Collier really emphasized the importance for Bilingual teachers to appreciate the different linguistic and cultural values of every student in their diverse classrooms.  

An interesting idea which I thought to be insightful was that native language -like conversational proficiency generally takes about 2 to 3 years to master.  “It is not intellectually as demanding as school or academic language (128-129).”   My district offers Spanish as a weekly special for my 2nd grade students.  How important this will be for them moving forward to master Spanish in later years.

Teaching Point # 3

I found it interesting when the article mentioned the social bias students who speak a different language feel when teachers don’t fully accept and give complete credence to the different languages and dialects within the classroom. When these teachers are teaching students a second language they must understand the benefits of having multiple ways of talking in a classroom and how this is so very valuable to everyone in that classroom.

Next, another ‘take away’ I had with this article was the importance of code switching.  The importance of allowing students to do this is very important.  This shows that students are proficient enough in both languages to be able to change when speaking between the two. This was seen on the video of the boy and girl sharing a writing assignment with the class.  The boy was speaking in Spanish and the girl was speaking and reading their paper in English.  That was very powerful to see!  A connection I have to this is my Dutch mother’s ability to do this when having conversations to relatives in Holland.  I would listen as she spoke into the phone, switching languages so that her English speaking children would understand. It was magical to me! 

Finally, the last thing that I found interesting was the ‘dialogue’ journal that the teacher of the older grades used within her classroom on one of the videos.  This journal allowed the non English speaking students to express themselves in their native tongue while also being a tool for the teacher to communicate with the student.  This was very powerful.  What a diverse learning environment for everyone that walked into that classroom. Bilingual education helps foster and develop brains in so many fascinating ways!

Blog # 5 No More "Normal"

                                          'Rethinking Schools'   Vol.36 No.3 Summer 2022

Author's Argument:  'Schools should not be forced to beg for what they deserve.  We need to push National unions, professional organizations, and school communities into transforming our schools and teachers' work lives.'

 

Talking Point # 1:

This week's article was written from the editors of the magazine Rethinking Schools, 2022.  This article gives a glimpse into what it's like to be a teacher in today's ever changing world. For years, teachers have had to make do with the materials, supplies, and textbooks that were available to them.  Often times, there isn't enough money in the budget which leads to a lack of materials.    This means a lot of 'out of pocket' expenses being made by the teachers themselves.  Far too often, many teachers pay for supplies for their classrooms.  In my own situation, I want you to think about a classroom of 20 students and being given 4 packs of pencils to last the whole year from the supply closet.  The general public needs to know this is real and takes place far to often.  Just drive by a local teacher store at the end of the summer to see teachers purchasing items for the start of school.  This is real and shouldn't be happening!  As an educator who switched positions from Special Ed. to a 2nd grade classroom 7 years ago, I've spent thousands of dollars of my own money in purchasing materials to enrich my classroom.

Talking Point #2:

Next the article talks about the pandemic.  "The pandemic has pushed many frayed public schools into a state of barely managed crisis."  Because of this crisis, many schools have limited substitutes, fewer bus drivers, as well as limited central office staff.  As a public school teacher working during this time, the stress and working conditions was something that brings back panic and still make me shiver! 

The district I work in is a regional school district with two towns; Exeter and West Greenwich.  There were so many restrictions placed upon school districts.   We had to limit the number of children in the classroom, cafeteria, and on the bus. My district had one town going to school 'in person' every other day'.  For example, Exeter children went to school on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday of a particular week.  As for the students from the other town; West Greenwich, we as teachers had to make sure they had work to do at home. This would rotate every week.  If students had COVID and couldn't make it to school on their scheduled day, as their teacher I needed to include that child in our daily lesson using a ZOOM call.  If this all sounds CRAZY, it was!  I don't know how we managed it.

Many teachers across the country quit during this time.  I know of four teachers in my district that took an early retirement because they could not handle the technology piece, the parents, administration and just the absurdness of it all.  At times, it did feel like we were a babysitting service, trying to manage so many different issues during this time while still trying to stay safe ourselves.  We were in the 'thick of it all.'  I had 20 students that year, trying to teach, while also looking out for their social emotional needs.  Not to mention the 'crazy' parents!   The workload was overwhelming.  At the time, my own social/emotional well being suffered as did my own family's.  I was putting in 10 hour days and still feeling ineffective.  

The stress during this time was and continues to be real, not just looking back to the pandemic but also day-to-day.  The article quotes some educators and the reasons for leaving the classroom. "We are tasked with teaching students to read, write, think, compute, imagine, and evaluate.  Then we are blamed if our students don't make a benchmark based on some irrelevant, often culturally biased test."    Another teacher who felt the stress stated, "You couldn't pay me enough to add something else to my to-do list.  Besides, no one wants to attend more meetings after school," as she burst into tears.   

The article then goes into another reason teachers are quitting, not only because they feel overworked.  Some feel that as a result of the pandemic, some school districts had complete disregard for teachers' health and safety.  In the news, I remember there were some teachers in other districts who refused to receive the COVID vaccine.  One teacher who refused the vaccine for religious reasons from a school district got fired. While several others who had family members with compromised immune systems refused to go into the classroom.   

Kirkpatrick, a high school teacher during the pandemic spoke about the teaching and learning conditions in her high school:  "I'm a type 1 diabetic, which means I am immunocompromised.  I'm also a probational teacher, which means my job is not promised for next year.  Should I take time off? I don't want to jeopardize my position."

Talking Point #3:

Many teachers have longed for the return to 'normalcy.'  But the true fact of the matter is that the pandemic was not really the true problem.  That problem started WAY before COVID in the way we thought 'normal' was in our educational system.  Teachers are required to do far too many things in any given day.  To say our day starts at 8:20 and goes until 3:00 is truly absurd!  I long for a workday like that.  I typically start my day at 6:40 a.m. planning for my day and ending my workday at 6:00 p.m.  The hours teachers put in are countless.  Another major problem I spoke about in the beginning of the article is lack of funding that goes into our school systems.  The editors of Rethinking Schools feel, "There has been a disinvestment, a corporate ideology that values the voices of business leaders over education, and the broader failure of the political and economic system to adequately provide for working peoples' mental and physical well-being."  

Why are we not spending money to fund education?  In the year 2022, military spending was at $778 billion dollars.  U.S. dollars in that year went towards weapon systems, oil pipelines, football stadiums, tax/ wealth credits, and many more non-educational spendings.  The article asks, "Where are our priorities?"  The money is there but has not been used to support students and families, increasing staff pay, lowering class sizes, renovating/remodeling school buildings, and school budgeting.  

Teachers have and are continuing to leave  this profession.  Who will teach the children? Where are our priorities?  We need to think about changing this feeling of 'hopelessness' into a demand for change!  Government, National unions, professional organizations, school communities, towns, and cities need to make improvements to public education and institutions in order for change to happen.  Teachers must feel supported, valued, and empowered in order for this transformation in education to occur.

               Click here to read what students feel would improve education in the United States.

Bog # 4 Other People's Children; Cultural Conflict in the Classroom

                                                    

                         Other People's Children; Cultural Conflict in the Classroom

                                                                 Written by Lisa Delpit (1995)

Argument Statement:  Students must be taught the codes needed to participate fully in the mainstream of American life, not by being force to attend to hollow, inane, decontextualized sub skills.  Appropriate education for poor children of color can only be devised in consultation with adults who share their culture. Black parents, teachers of color, and members of poor communities must be allowed to participate fully in the discussion of what kind of instruction children receive.

This article, Other People's Children starts off differently than the other articles we've had to read for this class.  It starts off with an interview.  It is with a black graduate student expressing his thoughts and experiences attending a prominently white university.  The article then interviews a black woman teacher as she recalls her personal experience and difficulty when trying to express her ideas and opinions to 'white' educators as to to what the best organize reading program should be.  She wants a reading program that would meet All groups of individuals in a learning environment, especially black students.  Next, the article shifts to a native Alaskan woman in the education department of University of Alaska trying to talk to her professor about the frustration she feels in not being heard by others.  She then speaks of her inability to understanding how to teach in a way that best suites the needs for the children in her classroom.  This 'Silenced Dialogue' is felt when others around you just don't listen to your thoughts and ideas of how something should be done or taught in the classroom.  These three individuals mentioned above were advocating for students within their own race,  not the white, middle class, homogeneous groups that some of our reading programs are developed for. Their frustration could be heard in their arguments that the reading programs they are being made to teach do not match the population of students they are teaching.  What is best practice? I feel that to be a very difficult question after hearing their arguments. 

Lisa Delpit than goes on to mention the 5 aspects of power seen within the education system.  These are:

1. Issues of Power in the Classroom:  This is the power of the teacher over her students, the power of publishers of textbooks over dialect, point of view, curriculum, and how the world is presented.

2.Culture of Power: Those that speak the same language, communicate the same way, write and dress a certain way, are considered to be part of this 'culture of power'.   

3.Following the Rules of a Culture: Those that come from middle to upper-class homes with educated parents typically go to better school, have more supports, do better, get better jobs, and therefore have more comfortable lives.

4.Explicitly Being Taught the Rules of a Culture:  If you are new to a culture, being explicitly taught what to say, how to act, and behavior allows you to learn, be aware, and fit into this culture much easier than leaning by yourself.

5. Having Power vs. Not having Power:  People with power typically don't feel like they have it while people without it, see this clearly and know that they do not have the same rights as individuals with power.

Teaching Point #1

The article switches gears and starts diving into literacy instruction.  The article mentions a literacy program called DISTAR.  The DISTAR Reading program is a very structured, scripted reading program that teaches phonics and comprehension. This reading program is designed for a small group of readers who struggle and are typically in an interventionist group, TIER 3.   Click here to watch a lesson:  DISTAR Reading.   I had not heard of this program but after watching the clip, it reminded me of a systematic, reading approach we used in my school back in the early 2000's called SRA.  The article mentions that soon after it was introduced, the classroom teachers thought it was a terrible program.   After time, many teachers in my district felt this way about the SRA Reading program as well and it was discontinued.  Delpit does not speak in her article of the program and its effectiveness,  what she does mention is that educators didn't like it because they felt it to be "fascist."

"I want the same thing for everyone else's children as I want for mine." With this quote, Delpit goes on to write about the two sides of this argument.  One side is middle-class liberal educators and the other is educators of color. The black community felt this way of teaching would 'doom' black children and instill in them a permanent outsider caste.  I felt this comment from the black community member to be a little 'over the top.' In the video I chose to include on the reading program DISTAR, there are many races seen in the video.  The tone of this comment was one of anger and outrage.  I do not agree that this program emotionally scared children but was only trying to close the gap with struggling learners.   In today's classrooms, there are now tiered intervention systems.  In today's world, a program like DISTAR would only be used with student that needed remedial support.  

Teaching Point #2

"Several black teachers have said to me recently that as much as they'd like to believe otherwise, they cannot help but conclude that many of the 'progressive' educational strategies imposed by liberals upon black and poor children could only be based on a desire to ensure that the liberals' children get sole access to the the dwindling pool of American jobs." (Lisa Delpit pg. 29) This quote made by black teachers made me a little upset.  This article is very different from the ones previously assigned in that it it looking within the educational system.  As an educator, I get very defensive.  My job is to prepare each and every individual in my classroom to succeed and they are each treated as equal.  I want the best for all my students and would never treat one child differently than another.  Every child gets what works best for them, regardless! 

The article mentioned 2 activities that would make a reading program successful:   

1. The teacher is not the only expert.  Let the students have a part in teaching what they know and sharing the different modalities that they learn.  For example, using the words to a rap song to learn more about the patterns of language.  

2. Instead of using direct whole class instruction, break the lesson up into a short mini-lesson where as after, the teacher had conferences with children in order to better their writing.  

Teaching Point #3: 

Towards the later part of the article, Delpit presents the argument of whether or not issues of culture and community context should be taken into account when deciding on what and how to teach children of the minority class.  She states, " Children have the right to their own language, their own culture.  We must fight cultural hegemony and fight the system by insisting that children be allowed to express themselves in their own language style.  It is not they, the children, who must change, but the schools. To push children to do anything else is repressive and reactionary." (Delpit pg. 37).  Personally as an educator for 28 years, I don't know how I feel about this comment.  There are standards in our curriculums put in place that we need follow.  This insures that systematically instructional standards are uniform across the United States, children are learning the same skills across the grade levels. 

'Formal English' was a new term mentioned in this article that I've not thought of before as a teacher.  The realization that not everyone throughout our country has the same grammatical structure or language as I do made me think.  I enjoyed the part of the article with students from a village in Alaska being taught about the different types of language with the exercise of the picnic, with students being able to  speak their native dialect. Then the student were trained in speaking to one another in a more structured  way, like a formal dinner party. 

The conversation  between a black teacher and a southern black high school student was also an 'eye' opener.  The teacher and student are talking about dialect.  At one point, the student questions whether there is a right way and a wrong way to talk, should there be a 'White English' and a 'Black English?'  When questioned by the teacher about who decided what's right or wrong, the student says, "I guess white people did."  Our country was founded by white men, with the Declaration of Independence being created and singed by 56 white males and our countries government being controlled mostly by males. This is a fact and unfortunately set the foundation for our country, whether we like it or not.  This was mentioned in Johnson's article, Privilege, Power and Difference.

In conclusion,  I agree with Lisa Delpit's argument that when deciding on a curriculum, the decision as to what is best for a specific population needs to be agreed upon by all.  This means parents, teachers, school administrations and the community need to take into consideration what is best for that individual population of students.  We need to do what's best for the students!

 

Blog #3 Colorblindness is the New Racism

                                 

                                "Colorblindness is the New Racism"

                                   written by Margalynne Armstrong & Stephanie Wildman

QUOTE:    "Seeking colorblindness means Whites fail to see how whiteness has privileged them in so many societal interactions," (Armstrong & Wildman pg.66).

Argument Statement:   Society needs to utilize "color insight" and racial awareness in order to change one's thoughts and perspectives of others.   We also need to examine social interactions, initiate conversations, and change beliefs.  

TALKING POINT #1 

Armstrong and Wildman start this article with 'white privilege' in relationship to societal norms with certain races, other than one's own to be inferior, especially towards people of color.  A white person does not need to think about being white each and every day.  There is no threat or fear from being white for a person who has white skin.  I thought this to be very interesting and an 'eye opener' for me.  I am a white female and  have never had to think of my race in comparison to someone else who looks differently because of their skin. I do not think of my self in racial terms, nor do any of my family members.  

Armstrong writes that to a white individual he or she may feel that, "Racism is not my problem".  They may feel this way because they are not someone within a race that has been mistreated or thought badly of.  Most whites don't  usually think about race.  As I'm writing this, it brings me back to the other day as I was driving on the highway at night.  On the other side of the highway, I notices four police cards all with flashing lights behind a car that was pulled over.  As the cars around me started to slow down to see what was going on, I too looked closer.  I notices a young, black male being handcuffed with many white officers around him. I started to wonder why so many police cars were there when there was only 1 young male being arrested.  Would this situation, (with 4 police cars), look the same if it were a young, white male being arrested? Would that white male have been handcuffed?

TALKING POINT #2

In this article, Colorblindness is the New Racism, Armstrong and Wildman state, "Efforts to dismantle inequality often beg the question of 'unequal to whom or what?'  Failure to examine the privileged status drives attention from noticing and analyzing the advantages conferred by white privilege and renders any ensuing discussion of racial discrimination incomplete," (pg. 65). This same theme was also discussed in the article  Privilege, Power, and Difference written by Allan Johnson.  In order to change this trend and to stop mistreatment of other races, the first step is identifying the problem, naming it, and then working on changing it.  These steps need to occur in order for the practice of racism to stop.  This article differs though because it goes into public education in the United States.  Though laws have been passed that prohibit segregation in public schools, inequalities in education are still happening to this day. White students receive a better education and therefore better opportunities in society, this is a fact!  This chain of events makes it impossible to recognize discriminate in this 'color blinded and post-racial world'.  We need to start to question this privilege of 'whiteness' in order to stop it! 

A great point in the middle of the article made me stop, reread, and think about how this colorblindness needs to be addressed in schools in order to stop it.  To sum it up; students of all color, race, and gender will never work in an environment that is total homogeneous.  If students are to grapple with understanding these issues of privilege and inequality early on, they need to have insight into it.  It's like they need to be exposed to it, systematically learn skills to deal with it in order to stop and change it from happening.   Again like Johnson wrote, this article refers to the "elephant in the room."  If we do not look it in the face and acknowledge it, racism will never go away.  (Color insight vs. color blindness).

                                                          

TALKING POINT #3

Towards the end of the article, it discusses an exercise/assignment that was given to a class of college aged students.  This activity was for them to perform a racial observation on social justice.  This assignment was like the one we did in class last week were we needed to look at "white privileges' as you recorded our responses on chart paper.  The examples given from this racial observation from these students are listed below:

White woman student:  While being stranded in the airport for 8 hours, Stephanie was able to observe some very interesting things.  For example, all the higher paying or more important positions in the airport  were held by whites.  A sign on the airplane to fasten your seatbelt displayed a pair of white hands, and finally the gym  at home were she worked out at was also mostly whites.  

Asian woman student:  Upon entering a Federal Building, a white male security guard asked her for her ID.  This same security guard proceeded to ask an African American male to place his backpack on the ground then he went through and searched it.

White Latina student:  While getting her nails done at a salon, she started a conversation with the woman doing her nails.  As she looking around, she observerd that all of the white females getting their nails done didn't speak or ever try to start a conversation with the nail techs.  She felt that the Vietnamese service providers probably felt 'inferior' to these white women clients. 

This excellent exercise allowed for the heterogeneous students in this class to get a first hand, close up glimpse of privilege in their own worlds.  My connection to this was that I also felt this way after our exercise in class that looked at privileges based on different norms/ systems of privilege in our own world/society today. 

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                                                   Ted Talk:  Mellody Hobson (2014)

This was one of the most powerful Ted Talk videos I've seen.  Mellody Hobson starts off with retelling a memory from when she was 7 years old , being black, and  attending a white schoolmate's birthday party.  Her mother picks her up from the birthday party and instead of her mom saying, "Did you have fun?", "How was the party?", "What did you do?" her mother asks, "How did they treat you?"  This moved me, saddened me, and my heart went out to that 7 year old little girl.  Mellody had to grow up this way and learn early on about her race and the injustices she would need to face based on the color of her skin.  This factor of skin color would be a part of her ever day life from that day moving forward.  What a very sad lesson to learn for her as a young child.  

Key Points of this clip:

*Do not hide from differences.

*Numbers don't lie; racial disparity does exits within the workforce.

*70% of white men hold the top executive/board positions within the United States.

*Inequality is real; colorblindness does exist and is extremely dangerous.

*Be color brave,  teaching others about this issue and starting these teachings in school early on when children are young and impressionable.

*Real conversations need to happen. We need to start to  deal with the awkwardness & things that make us uncomfortable in order to make it comfortable!