Bernice Reagon: People “know that nobody can survive in a minority position with only one point of view -- we have always had to understand the majority view as well. In the effort to understand the story of America
Thank you, all for your online conversations, reflections and collegial dialogue tonight. Let's do it again sometime soon!
I have made our dinner reservations at Three Rivers Pizzaria for 4:45-5:45pm. I have asked Carolyn Martinez from ENLACE to join us at dinner since she will also be going to the Forum.
I have made our dinner reservations at Three Rivers Pizzaria for 4:45-5:45pm. I have asked Carolyn Martinez from ENLACE to join us at dinner since she will also be going to the Forum.
I am open to many different points of view as a teacher because I teach many different students. If I stand on "the way I was taught" I lose ground. I have to shift and reach out, over, down or across to teach all my students. I came to school knowing how to read and write. So I that experience helps me teach those of my students who also know how to read and write. But I can't focus on just those students.
ReplyDeleteI think it is especially important as educators to be aware of as many viewpoints as possible! I teach my students to respect each other every day, and to respect our differences, but if I'm not setting that example by respecting viewpoints then it's awfully hard to instill that in them. I definitely try to see the different viewpoints, but sometimes I think I don't even realize that I'm not, and then I end up instead teaching from my own viewpoint. However, my question is this: How do I familiarize myself with as many different viewpoints as possible? I know I can read to learn. I know I can have discussions with people who have different beliefs/backgrounds than myself. But especially when I'm reading, I'm not always convinced they're a reliable source...and I have very little exposure to diversity within different cultures here in Durango. I love learning about others' experiences and backgrounds though, I'm just not always sure how to access them. I want to learn more!!!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I definitely see the advantage of knowing the different viewpoints/positions. Connecting with others and building community as a result is so valuable. I think people sincerely appreciate it when you know something about them. Especially if it means you took the time to talk with them to learn about them or searched for answers because you were invested in them.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jeni. You found us on the other post, too!
ReplyDeleteThat is a really good question, Jeni, about how do you find reliable sources. Beginning with the names of those who are references in Oakes & Lipton is a start in Digging Deeper (pp. 115-117).
Perusing Teaching Tolerance and IRIS Modules and looking under diversity studies in publisher catalogs. Also reading literature by anyone non American can give you inishgt into another's story. I truly believe we can never really know all different beliefs, however, the beauty is in recognizing that ours is not the only one. When we can suspend our values and beliefs and try to understand other perspectives and to mediate it along with helping others to to appreciate multiperspectival, we ware accomplishing great things with our students. If we can begin to teach with the awareness that ours is not the only view, this will significant implications to our teaching and for our students. It is comparable to a different paradigm! If we invite students to question things, concepts, passages, images they read about and/or hear, we are inviting them to join us in this kind of talk/inquiry and it helps hone our own skills and ability for each new discussion.
Isn't it interesting how difficult this is to talk about and for this very reason we need to struggle through it so it does not feel uncomfortable.
Thank you, Jeni. I will meet up with you on the other Sept. 27 blog post.
Frances
Thank you, Sherry! Your awareness that you bring your own experiences of being able to read and write influences the way you interact with kindergarteners who come into your classroom knowing that already. However, as a professional you know the methods and strategies to help those who don't know. And quite frankly, do kindergarteners REALLY need to know how to read and write as much as they need to build their speaking and listening vocabularies so they will have some foundation in which to build their reading and writing skills.
ReplyDeleteI was just mentioning today with students in our teaching diverse class that our school system is biased-'literally.' That is, we assess children ad naseum on their reading and writing abilities and care little for their speaking and writing.
As teachers we need to recognize this bias and encourage, nurture, support and balance the Language Arts of speaking and listening and thinking in a more balanced way. How many students come to school with strengths in listening and speaking (oral literacy or oracy) and how often do we know to teach through these strengths to build their reading and writing skills. Yes, we as a nation, are literally-biased.
Thank you, Sherry. Meet up with you on the other Sept. 27 post!-).....Frances