The Silenced Dialogue

I would be interested to know the race of the author of this article. As a white person, it caused me to think differently about the way students of color are treated in the classroom by white teachers. Although Delpit acknowledges that these teachers are well meaning, they may not realize that their ways of teaching are enforcing a white standard of education. As described in the conversation between the teacher and student about a book that is written in a southern dialect, the student starts out saying that the way the characters in the book were speaking is a wrong way to speak. The teacher then asked the student “Who says it is the wrong way to speak?” the student replied “I guess the white people do.”

I liked the example in this article about teaching a group of Native Alaskan children the difference between “Village English” and “Formal English”. Neither term has a negative connotation to it. The teacher explained that neither form of english was wrong, they were just different and were more commonly used in different situation. She then celebrated the fact that the Native children had two ways to speak English, and made them feel special about it. This approach didn’t undermine the children’s culture while teaching them to speak English in a way that will make them successful in their professional lives.

As Delpit quotes, "Their language and cultural style is unique and wonderful but that there is a political power game that is also being played, and if they want to be in on that game there are certain games that they too must play." I think this positive outlook on culture and race should be adopted by all teachers to install a celebratory approach to multiculturalism, instead of pushing one idea of what being an American is.

Another important method of teaching that was touched upon in this article was the teachers’ use of authority in the classroom. Choosing “Put the scissors away” over “Is that where the scissors belong?” can make a huge difference. By posing what you would like your students to do as a question, it gives them the option to do the alternative. Authority also lets the students know who is in charge and what you expect of them so that there is no unclear guidelines that a student may unknowingly disobey. In school I have always felt that a teacher who has control over the classroom is much better at grasping my interest. I think a key component in doing this is consistency. You must stick to the rules you set, or the students won’t take them seriously.

In this article I have learned a lot of valuable advice on what it means to be a good teacher. It isn’t just about being nice and treating everyone equally. It is about understanding the backgrounds of your students and how it may affect how they learn. It is also very important that you gain control of the classroom and make sure that each and every one of them is learning and gaining knowledge.