American Assimilation

 This week what has most jumped out for me is others' feelings toward assimilation to American societal values.

In Richard Rodriguez' s piece Aria, the narration reveals his coming to terms with his bilingual experience, "I would have been happier about my public success had I not sometimes recalled what it had been like earlier, when my family had conveyed its intimacy through a set of conveniently private sounds" (p.38. p.2). He, like I, probably never saw a teacher present a board as I set for my Hispanohablantes in classes he attended to facilitate his learning. And, in all sincerity, all of this studying reminds me of how important it is to help non-Hispanohablantes also feel as welcome in my classroom.

This language that Rodriguez proposed as one's home language being "private" and English being the "public" language is easily understood as English seems to have become the formal language (informally) of many countries, even of the United States where few others are heard without criticism.

 At a young age I had decided to  master the English language because my folks, Mama especially, was intimidated by it, learning it, expressing the English she learned so much that her four children spoke to one another in the new language and -much like Rodriguez' mother - Mama also "grew restless, seemed troubled and anxious at the scarcity of words exchanged [with her] in the house."  However, in my case, although Mama's voice was also the "public voice for the family" and always called Mama, she became bitter from being left out. That's how I feel now knowing how many years she has lived listening and learning English to change so little of her home language use and accent.  Perhaps it's much easier for me to relate to Rodriguez' anecdotes as I also felt as if  "I didn't even pay much attention to my parents' accented and ungrammatical speech," until "I was out in public" with them.  

While I do agree with Rodriguez' claim that English is the public language, I hadn't felt that "I couldn't believe that the English language was mine to use" (p.34. p3) which probably caused the silent phase he describes. I had to use it or feel less than. I think this is what many others who came to this country probably believe and it led them to not teaching their own children their country languages. I have met many Italo-Americans who don't speak Italian although they were raised by their Nonas and many Latin-American people raised by their abuelas who do not speak Spanish.  English represents a political and social power. I wanted it as many others determined to learn it for a "better life."

Telling of his struggles communicating with the nuns who educated him in his youth contrasted much with Xavier Pierce's anecdotes about Aaliyah in the piece I read last week in which Pierce spoke of the strength of not assimilating or being required to. Rodriguez' nun teachers came to his home to reinforce and ask his parents to "encourage your children to practice their English when they are home" (p.35. p4). Pierce wanted to return to educate where he was educated because although there were cultural differences, they were not quite barriers to growing to be secure in one's identity while comfortable in the new culture; and I like Pierce conclusion that educators seem to understand "Building spaces that are inclusive is not one size fits all. It took generations to build these expectations, and my hope is that it does not take as many to shift them in a way that welcomes learners of all walks of life."  This somewhat connects to Delpi's argument that teachers are responsible for students' empowerment in using their cultural assets and understanding the social codes. While there are many teachers today who are "unsentimental about their responsibility" (p. 34. P3).

In the same vein, Rodriguez' reflexive conclusion asserts that multilinguals' languages should be respected as assets, an argument I stand closeby now that I also understand "that there are two ways a person is individualized" (p.39). So, it drove me to reading his original memoir. That aside, Rodriguez conclusion connected to Virginia Collier's piece Teaching Multilingual Children.

Although Virginia Collier posed a distinct counter argument to Rodriguez' Aria about language, they do concur that one's first language serves to better help develop the learning of a second or new language. when she states that "One must teach in two languages, affirm the cultural values of both home and school...respect and affirm the multiple varieties and dialects represented" (Otto led2004. Tongue-tied. p.222. P4). As the video encourages on the use of translanguaging strategies.

References:

Pierce, Xavier. If I Could Rewind That Morning - Rethinking Schools

Rodriguez, Richard. (1982). "Aria: Memory of a bilingual childhood.  Hunger of memory. The education of Richard Rodriguez.  Collins.

2-sided Oppression

 I got into If I Could Rewind That Morning by Xavier Pierce on the Rethinking Schools site.   I wanted more details than "I wanted to save her....I don't know what was said...I failed her." Especially, since the rest of the passages communicates how for the narrator the school he returned to work at  "created spaces where wonder and self-identity are married with rigor and high expectations for learning. I remember coming home in 1st grade to talk to my family about the meaning of metacognition as a result of a well-facilitated discussion about the importance of artist statements. The overall atmosphere of this school brought me back as an adult. I recognized the impact that the school had on me and the ideas I carried throughout my life and I wanted to be a part of that." 

What the narrator sees as bullying is vague, and not thoroughly illustrated and gave me the sense that since he was okay and returned to the school to work knowing he's one of "two specks of color in the field of white"  that Aaliyah would be alright too.

I browsed for two hours during the span of three days but returned to the - Teaching for Black Lives in a Rebellion recorded Zoom from 2021. I hadn’t immediately gone to it because the book discussed, Teaching for Black Lives, is on my to-read list. Given the events and movements that birthed the book, I speculate on much of its content. But, I want to get into the book without others’ ideas.  "Affirm our Black students"- Jesse Hagopian, is the strongest message of the panel's discussion. As an ELA teacher,at a large urban school populated by 82% Latinos and 14% African-American, the time is always right for that. Changing the "African-American" term to represent Black people in this country is also long overdue.

The image conveys what Peirce referenced in his article - the "Normal" schooling. This immage, presented on the Zoom during this chat, resonated with me because it took me to reflect on my positionality, how early in my academics I was a student bestowed a scholarship to attend a choice school out of my neighborhood to one where lawns were mowed and houses spread long not high; and I looked into different shades of green and blue eyes looking back at me while they touch my hair I did not ask if I could touch their hair fluffed with the breeze. We talked about us, our foods, and why I didn't have a pet dog. I learned that not everybody had arroz con pollo for dinner. The time I attended that school expanded my worldview during childhood. It wasn't all fair; but I'm grateful for that time and those other curious kids I met who taught me to think differently and otherly; they learned from me too - which hopefully still lingers.

As Dyan Watson stated during the Zoom, "What a privilege it is to learn alongside our students." Honest reflection teaches us to take note of what is as ugly as the acts of policing Black bodies, even while on Zoom meetings, as the pandemic presented, which the Teaching for Black Lives Rebellion Zoom panel discussed brought me to think about. "Black bodies are under attack...and it is incumbent upon educators to see what the national picture looks like in terms of violence against our Black students," was another great point brought up by Hagopian in his description of the event of an eleven-year-old girl being thrown against a wall by a White SAO for a milk carton it turned out she never even took, led me into a rabbit hole.  First, I remembered the many videos of violent adult-on-children incidents like these I watched on Instagram while in quarantine. Then, scrolling through X, there are numerous posts of students fighting against one another (which is not new). But, now I recognize the side effects of brutality being normalized and how it conditions young people to react with physical action to express emotional upsets, as well as the rolling out of restorative justice practices without appropriate consequences.  Covertly, this to me was another great point brought about in the panel discussion. It feels to me that there is no adequate appropriation of consequences because of the lack of community building between races back during the integration of schools. The lack of conversations, organization, and humane conditioning (of how to trust how to share, and how to love one another) was all bottlenecked and is still fizing as we see in these horrific accounts.

Because I work with a large population of colored students, I feel as a mother hen, always coming from the offensive in my positionality in relation to my White staff.  We do all get along, yet there is a guard I carry because I often hear an off-hand remark to which I have to respond in defense of my students, to check the teacher. I look forward to the day I don't feel the need or desire to wear these shirts.

The Rethinking Schools website is now bookmarked on my account and I subscribed to its magazine. I also scrolled through the book titles and read some synopsis to jot another two titles on my to-read list. I am glad to have Rethinking Schools as a resource for my work as Equity Leader and to spark conversations about racial Justice.

References:

Teaching for Black Lives During the Rebellion (youtube.com)

From Delpit's "Silenced Dialogue"

 

I had to mull around the belief that "Those with power are frequently least aware of its existence" (p.24). Because, especially when it comes to schools and the classrooms, rules set in place are by the administrators and/ or teachers, seldom by students who most probably don't get to have a voice when it comes to the "publishers of textbooks and of the developers of the curriculum to determine the view of the world presented" as Delpit makes clear. If the students' voices are not echoed in these choices and rules, how then can the decision makers not be aware of their power over the children? Too often I have walked by a classroom and overheard the teacher's tone be more than instructional, totally taking advantage of his/her authority before I intervene with a reminder to rationalize and consider another (the youth's) position.

Lisa Delpit's great stance is that "if we are truly to effect societal change, we cannot do it from the bottom up [administration or educational systems to teachers of children and students themselves], but we must push and agitate from the top down" (p. 40).

Delpit's strong argument for thus change is to focus more consideration of other's cultural assets to then consider how to teach effectively. "I suggest that the differing perspectives on the debate over "skills" versus "process" approaches can lead to an understanding of the alienation and miscommunication, and there to an understanding of the "silenced dialogue" (p.24). Not considering the other's culture is a main "Issue of power in the classrooms" of the five aspects that Delpit refers to in what she calls "the culture of power."

When my son was still 4 in kindergarten, I was called to the principal's office. I thought my son had done something severe that he wouldn't tell me about for a request for me to come in to be made.

"He's talking out of turn and easily distracts the others from their work," is what the principal wanted to tell me, deemed important for me to take action of by his classroom teacher.

It had only been a few weeks of school which met half-days (8-11:30). Give me a fuckung break, is what I thought. But I explained to the principal that Gabriel hears everyone in the house talking at the same time while there is music playing loudly and he plays with his cousins, never being asked to be quiet - a cultural thing probably making him feel it's too quiet and still in Miss X's classroom, where none look like him. I tried to make this clear to his teacher after school. In didn't want my son awkwardly silenced. He was going to be 5 in November and knew his shapes, colors, alphabet and numbers. He was writing his first and last name and could tell his house phone and address. He also could share and say "Excuse me" and "Thank you" before asking questions and after receiving a response. He had learned that at home, less for her to have to teach him. I learned to choose my battles.

I grew up being taught by non-colored, I learned about cultural customs and values of the Polish, Irish, English and Canadian-French from them as they didn't "deny me access [of themselves] as a source of knowledge" (p. 32) for me to understand their perspectives. I don't remember being asked about my culture much, although they all seem to respect it. So, they learned little from me and only after I was in early adulthood did I get to name that ache of something missing, which was wanting these teachers I admired to understand that My name is not funny, although I like you calling me Nikki; I don't make those sounds at home; I never knew Cristobal Colon was Christopher and a savior of the new world; and that I go home for a warm lunch and an episode of Chespirito before Math class. But, experiencing this lack makes me keen to exercise patience in trying to learn from others and consider their cultural assets as well as age.

This in itself is a way to continue constructing Interpersonal oppression, where the newcomers (from other countries) "feel diminished" as they are asked to value "the culture of power" Delpit expressed and their own cultural values are not even questioned.

The language becoming familiar to what Delpit explains in Other People's Children is Cultural and Historical Responsiveness. These terms (which are being discussed at professional developments country-wide) connects to Dr. Gholdy Muhammad's literature on the 5 Pursuits of teaching which is just a guide to teaching to students' strengths as people with backgrounds and community understanding so that they can express their natural intelligences while sharpening academic skills. Both authors' literatures support the main point that while teaching, if one uses texts that reflect children's identity and encourages their criticality, one can bring joy to children's learning.

In my own classroom, I try to reciprocate being a source by sharing my experiences and asking about theirs. Often thus happens when there's a reference or an allusion to an event or person far from their time and place (ex. 9/11 or Elvis). Sharing what one knows can better lead them to connect to a familiarity. This puts me in the spectrum of advocacy and self-reflection.

Out of kindheartedness, many teachers do claim "colorblindness." I myself used to think, well that is an awesome outlook or attitude when I heard White peers say "I want the same thing for everyone's children as I want fir mine" (p. 28) because I thought this meant that these teachers would allow students to use their primary language to learn without judgements, and explain the true history of how something became part of an unjust system in America (like Black being a race). Only in my recent academic pursuits am I realizing that "Colorblindness is the New Racism" (Deconstructing Privilege, 2013). In this essay authors Margalynne J. Armstrong and Stephanie M. Wildman make the strong point that "Seeking colorblindness means Whites fail to see how whiteness has privileged them in so many societal interactions. Endorsing colorblind ideology allows White individuals to express egalitarian principles while still enjoying a status quo that advantages them relative to people of color. This white privilege will continue because a colorblind present does not erase the modern-day effects of racism and white privilege" (p. 66).  My new understanding is that White peers do want to build rapport with others without acknowledging that many injustices are still in place by using their colorblindness as a bookmark of the denial White Privilege because "the culture of power is already in place" (Delpit, p.28).

References: 

“colorblindness is the new racism”: Raising awareness about privilege using color insight. (2013). Deconstructing Privilege, 62–79. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203081877-12

Delpit, L. (1995). Other people’s children: Cultural conflict in the classroom. New York: The New Press.

The four “i”s of oppression. (n.d.). https://www.trec.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/The-Four-Is-of-Oppression-v821.pdf

YouTube. (2016, November 19). Peanuts’ teacher calls out Charlie Brown & Linus - “Wah Wa Wa Wah Wa Wa” - 1969. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxC_AjFxS68