- I'm curious to get responses to the letter from a Native American mother that Ayers reprints on pages 39-40. What was your initial reaction after reading it? What can we learn from it? How do you think this letter is relevant, if at all, to our study of city schools?
- We talked a lot in class about Ayers' notion of "seeing the student." In the excerpt you read from Push, a novel by Sapphire, you were introduced to 16-year-old Precious Jones. How do you think Precious's former teachers (before she came to the alternative school) saw her? What do you think they didn't see, and why?
- In the excerpt from Our America, LeAlan Jones writes about growing up poor on Chicago's south side. What in his account stood out to you or surprised you? How does LeAlan's portrayal of his own experiences differ from Hollywood or meainstream media portrayals of the lives of city kids?
If none of these questions interest you, check out some of your classmates' recent posts and give us your take on the issues they raise or the questions they pose.
2 comments:
Response to letter from Native American Mother: This portion of the reading was my most favorite, and I was a bit put off when we didn't get to it in class. My initial response was a feeling of pride. At first I thought it was odd- why would I feel proud of this letter, this woman, this situation? But as I sat there thinking about it- these are the words (and the beliefs behind the words which matter the most) that I looked for often in my experience in schools. I felt left out a lot because my cultural background is unique to where I live; there aren't any half-Greek, half-Assyrians where I come from. I went to school in Suburbia, and EVERY teacher that I had was not only clueless to me and my background, but to any child who didn't fit into the WASP category. My pride was for voices to speak up and initiate growth, knowledge, respect, understanding and that the voices do not always have to come from the teachers mouth. Students attend schools in large groups so that they can learn from eachother (as much as maybe) than from the teachers or books.
I think that this letter can show that we can think that we are doing our best as educators and still be completely clueless to some things. Accepting that I do not know everything has been my greatest victory; it has allowed me to learn some very important things from parents (like the Native American mother and my own), from siblings (younger as well as older), and from students who I have taught.
Also, As teachers we say that we think equally of each student, that we hold them at the same level as any other student- but it's impossible. We are humans- we are not perfect.Sometimes (as may be the case with this particular NA student) we were not even AWARE we were doing it. BUT- this can show that becoming aware of these moments when we stumble is vital- and changing them to be an effective teacher is mandatory. We do not know the whole story just because we're teachers...sometimes we just have to shut up and listen too.
As for relevance- of course it is. Keeping communication open in schools where there is a diverse population, or a population of a culture different from your own is important. This mother was clearly opening communication between the student, mother and teacher. I wish every student came with a letter like this one (I wish I had this letter when I went to school). It's about being different, its about understanding something that is often overlooked.
I'm out. Trish
Well, for the second question, I suppose what teachers weren't seeing, is their students as people with multiple dimensions to them.
For example, for the longest time in school I didn't necessairly regard my teachers are being three dimensional well rounded people. They were simply our teachers. We knew little of their lives and little of what they were like outside of the presentation they gave us as our teacher.
Of course, some teachers did show more of themselves and you got to see a more indepth portrait of the kind of person they were (and often times those were the teachers I admired most).
At the same time, I suppose its very possible to apply that same sort of thinking to one's students if you aren't careful.
It's really difficult to get to know thirty to fourty people well on a pretty good level. Teachers than handle a bunch of different classes to teach can have more than 100 people they have to try and establish a relationship with.
So, part of the problem could be that Precious was overlooked by her teachers. They never bothered to fill out the rest of the portrait (and if they had, they would have learned about a lot of personal and family issues that otherwise went untreated).
This isn't to say that you should know everything about your students and their personal lives (as there are a lot of things that really arn't your business and you're better off not getting involved in) But, if the teachers had invested a little bit more of themselves in to getting to know Precious, they probably would have gotten to know a lot more than what they thought they percieved.
IN regards to Question #1- I think getting a letter like that would be a little intimidating at first.
I'm very conscious and sometimes a little worried about the whole parent interaction side of education. They're supposed to serve as an advocate, but in some cases by doing so they can simply assume that you as the teacher are "the bad guy".
But, in all honesty, I would love to have these sorts of letters from parents. Like Ayers says, nobody knows their kids better than parents do. Any insight a teacher can get, and advice you can get on how to better educate any student is worth taking advantage of.
A question for anybody reading this, would it be a good idea or perhaps even practical to ask your students to have their parents write a letter of this sort? I mean, Parent Teacher conferences are a good forum for this, but why wait?
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