Tuesday, May 30, 2023

Literacy with an Attitude

 1. At the start of Finn's article, Literacy with an Attitude, it is explained that there are two different types of literacy. the first being powerful literacy (literacy that empowers students to become valuable members of society and leaders). and the second being domesticating literacy ( that makes for productive members of society).  Finn believes that those of whom have powerful literacy are responsible for making the status quo. A quote from Finn says "The status quo is the status quo because people who have the power to make change are comfortable with the way things are". Meaning those who have powerful literacy, literacy that teaches how to make change, don't use their powerful literacy because they don't want change as they already benefits with the way things are.

2. Before Finn started to talk about his own teaching experience, he mentions Freire who teaches literacy to adults in low income areas. Instead of just sitting down the these adults and teaching them their "ABC's", he brings up justice. "He ask his students what they might do to secure justice and suggested that literacy would make them far better able to engage in the struggle they would certainly face if they tried to get a better deal".  Finn bring this up as a way to engage with the idea that literacy is power. Freire brings up something that can be helped by being literate and this prepare those who are in front of him to learn.

3. The second half of the article is describing the learning environment of four schools in New Jersey. Finn brings up Anyon who did research on a low class school, working class school, affluent school, and an executive elite school. he describes what science and history and other subjects looks like, he also describes the relationship between the teacher and the student, how authoritarian a classroom is and how students explain what knowledge is. Anyon gives each school a theme. the theme for the first (lower class) school was "resistance". the second school (woking class) was "possibility". the third school (affluent) had a theme of "individualism" and "humanitarianism". and finally the fourth school (executive elite) had a theme of "excellence". each of these themes gives and overarching idea of what each of these school values.

Argumentative Statement: The author. Patrick J. Finn, argues that we should be teaching middle class students powerful literacy. He believes that powerful literacy is the catalyst to change and by explicitly teaching working class/ middle class students powerful literacy we can work toward change.

Wednesday, May 24, 2023

Colorblindness and "All Live Matter"

 "Colorblindness is the New Racism" by Margalynne J. Armstrong and Stephanie M. Wildman

"Why You Should Stop Saying "All Lives Matter" explained in 9 different ways" by German Lopez




    In the article "Colorblindness is the new racism", the authors, Armstrong and Wildman, argue that colorblindness is racism and to not see race is to perpetuate white privilege. It could also be said that these authors believe that colorblindness can be combated with color insight and color insight is something we can start teaching people when they are still students. In this article, Armstrong and Wildman introduce several classroom activities that can be used to create color insight. 

    The way that I have interpreted the authors' argument is as such: to not address race is to give power to white privilege. In this world each and everyone one of us has a race. Our race has an affect of the way we are treated in this world, the way we view ourselves, and the way we view others. We simply cannot pretend that race doesn't exist. The authors explain that it is mainly white people who do not want to admit race. This is because they are advantaged and have the privilege in our society so they need to admit race. This connects back to a quote on the first page of the read; "White privilege includes the assumption that White people define a societal norm and that people of color are 'other' often considered inferior or dangerous". I use this quote to support the authors' argument that only white people don't see race. Due to their privilege, it is assumed that no on should see race but this puts those who are not white at a bigger disadvantage.

    In the section titled "colorblindness is a radicalized world" it is spoken about how racial neutrality and colorblindness is often used in the courts. a quote saying "U.S jurisprudence and politics currently valise colorblindness and race neutrality." This supports the authors argument that colorblindness is a mechanism for white privilege. Here is an article that examples that disproportionate amount of white people the hold office. Often times in government, colorblindness is sited because our government is predominately white people.

The authors argue that color insight is a way to breakaway from colorblindness so I decided to do one of the exercises that were example in the reading. This exercise was that of color insight for a 24 hour period. You would make observations and submit an entry. Here is the entry I would submit.

    As I was reading this article on my prep period at work, I decided to observe the hallways at my school. As I walk down the hallway the first person that stopped to talk to me was a fellow first grade teacher who is white. I mentioned to her my assignment and we reflected on the amount of white teachers that taught at our Providence school. Myself, her, and two other teachers of the 6 first grade teachers. As we talk to members or the lunch crew and one janitor walk by: all people of color. This conversation happened as our students were eating lunch where 94% of first grade is students of color. 


In the "All Lives Matter article" the author, German Lopez, is using a somewhat light-hearted way to address the misconceptions of the Black Lives Matter movement. It uses several examples that address the "invisible only" that many white people put in front of the statement "black lives matter". This article and the Black Lives Matter movement reminded me of the first article we read in class: Power, Privilege and Difference by Johnson. One of Johnson's main points, and something that was reiterated in class, is "say the words" and the Black Lives Matter movement is just that, saying the words. It is exposing the fact that black people are treated different in this country. They are saying that the words that the black community will not rest until black lives are valued the same as white lives. They are "tapping on the glass", (as said in class) to show that there is a problem with the discrimination, violence, and hate that black people face everyday in America. Not only this but at many protest across America they were saying the names of those who have been murdered by the police. The names that came and left the news faster than their crime scene could be cleaned up. The names that police and "All Lives Matter" delivers would rather bush under the carpet. Their names were chanted so that the ugly truth of their murders would be known to all. We talked about "tapping the glass" in class and the Black Lives Matter movement has not stopped tapping on it since 2014.



Sunday, May 21, 2023

The Silenced Dialouge

 1.  Towards the beginning of Delpit's article, she states that there are five aspects to the "culture of power". The fifth aspect really stuck out to me. Delpit describes the fifth aspect of the culture of power as "Those with power are frequently least aware of it- or least willing to acknowledge- its existence. Those with less power are often more aware of its existence." This really stuck out to me and it made me think of the analogy used in class about tapping on the glass. Those who have power would rather not tap on the glass and just leave things they way that they are because they are working out great for them but those who have less power are ready to tap on that glass and tell those around them that they do not hold the power.

2. On page 34, I did a lot of self reflecting. Delpit mentions the difference between how a white parent/educator and a black parent/educator might give a direction. She brought up the example of a white teacher saying something like "is that where the scissors go?" and a black teacher stating this as a direct command of "put those scissors on that self". Both of these are direct commands to place the scissors where they are meant to go but the white teacher would frame this as a question but still expects the same response as the black teachers direct instructions. Delpit goes on to talk about how these are codes that middle class white students are learning at home but that black student are most likely misinterpreting the instruction because those are code they are not aware of and I thought of myself as an educator. I have said things and said instruction in the form of a question like the example given and this article has made me look at this in a different way. 

3. There is a section of this reading where Delpit is writing about a class she observed and how they had this board that the teacher split in half. One half was titled "our heritage language" while the other was tiled "formal English" this is something that made me think about the area in which I grew up and the idea that there was a "right" and "wrong' way to speak. In the first article, we read that example of the word "ask". it is common that the word be said in a different way such as "axe". This article talks about the idea that there are times where the heritage language is fast but I think of this word ask and how it really doesn't make a difference. if someone were to say "can I axe you a question" we would all know what the person was trying to say yet there is this belief that saying "axe" is "wrong".

Argument Statement: The author, Lisa Delpit, argues that there is a code to being successful in education and in American life and that this code should be explicitly taught to all so that everyone can be successful in American life.

Tuesday, May 16, 2023

Privilege, Power, and Difference Talking Points

 1. In the introduction of Privilege, Power, and Difference, Johnson states that "the social advantage of being white will tend to be more significant for lower and working class whites than it will for whites in the middle and upper classes". This statement is interesting because it shows that white privilege can be more or less helpful depending on someone's social status. A lower class white person has an advantage over a lower class person of color. Most people consider privilege in terms of social class and this highlights the fact that not everyone in a particular social class is playing with the same hand of cards. 

2. On page 23, Johnson writes "he discovers [is] the significance of being considered white and the privileges that go along with it". This is a very interesting concept: "being considered white" and I wonder if there is research or studies in the privilege of lighter skinned people of color vs. darker skinned people of color. Johnson suggests that someone does not necessarily have to be completely white, only considered white and associated with that social group to take advantage of the privilege. 

3. On page 27, Johnson writes "the reason provided by cultural assumption of white racial dominance that can override any class advantage a person of color might have". This connects back to the earlier quote about white privilege being more significant for lower and working class whites than upper class. The absence of white privilege means that any person of color can experience racism, regardless of their social class. It reminds me of the stories you hear of celebrities, politicians, or off-duty police officers of color experiencing racism despite their inherent protections their social class or profession usually awards them. 

This author, Johnson, argues that privilege is a complex and multi-faceted concept that affects people of different racial groups, gender groups, and sexuality groups rather than simply being a reference to social class and wealth. 

Teach Out/Reflection

  Hannah Laurianno  June 19th, 2023 Teach Out For this, the two things I was keeping top of mind were patience and thoughtfulness. I decided...