Please consider the following two quotes that I believe capture
Delpit’s main points from the two essays in this reading segment:
The Vilis Tokples
Schools of Papua New Guinea - “…when
the policy reflects the goals of the people it is to affect…and when it reaffirms
rather than negates a people’s knowledge of its culture and heritage, then
there is no better prospect for its success.”
“Hello, Grandfather”
– “…successful teachers of Native Alaskan children found ways to contextualize
the literate endeavors and to celebrate, rather than limit, the sense of
connectedness which the children brought to school.”
Reading between the lines of feedback I got from some
parents last year, I would suggest there is a contingent of the community that
believes we do more to “negate” than we do to “reaffirm” the culture and heritage
of the students we serve. And, it was
often implied that some of our practices limit “the sense of connectedness”
students have with their community.
As you respond, please attempt to do one of the following by July 8th –
1) Reflect on our school’s practices through the lens of the
students/families we serve and support the claims above – that we do more to negate
than we do to reaffirm and that we limit the sense of connectedness students
have with their community.
2) Defend our
practices by providing examples of how we reaffirm the culture and heritage of
the students we serve and/or celebrate the sense of connectedness students have
with their community.
Hugh, I would love to comment on the two questions but I am afraid I do not know enough about your past practice to make a comment to this. So I will answer more like with an MSD WArren in general.
ReplyDelete1. I think our educational system is playing catch up when it comes to cultural connectedness. As you look at our schools we do not many times reflect the culture that we are serving this gives us sometimes a stumbling block and it is something that we can overcome but that comes with significant community outreach and going to the community.
2. Teachers, administrators, and educators get in this business because they have a passion to teach students. To better the world that each student lives in by helping them be successful. The passion I see, the time, etc is my greatest defense of practices. Each and every educator I know wants, "what is best for their students". Sometimes our practices do not meld sometimes they do. The idea is to continually communicate and to change to facilitate the positive cultural heritage that we may not be familiar enough with to facilitate the celebration of it.
I concur! I think one step to "facilitating the positive cultural heritage" is to become aware of the biases that are somewhat inherent (and often subconscious) between a dominant culture and one that has been historically marginalized. how can we do that as a school? Also, the more one has authentic experiences and exposure to another culture, the more one is bound to understand and appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteI have found in my years as an educator that the gap is growing quickly and creating a disconnect between the school and families. I am not sure what is truly causing this....and I am not sure what the secret is to solve it. What I do know is...from my personal observations with families....going above and beyond for my students and showing families how much I care is my best defense in closing this disconnect. When the students are with me I care for them as they are my own.....I think about whether or not I am the type of teacher I would want my own children to have. Some days are harder than others.....just as some students and families are harder to reach than others. Creating a community in the classroom has to happen first. When the kids are with me each day I want them to be proud of what they represent.
ReplyDeleteI would like to think that we tend not to negate the culture of the students we teach but to separate "home culture" from "school culture." It is becoming more obvious to me that I, and I assume some others, need to rethink that practice.
ReplyDelete