Using Literacy to Empower Minority and Working-Class

Students

“ I don’t talk proper!”

Challenge #1: My language vs. “proper English”

How different is the way you speak at school to the way you speak at home?

How differently do you act at school than you do at home?

Do most of the other faculty members look, speak, and act like you?

Consider this…

You were being asked to speak in a way very different to what you speak at home?

You were told that speaking the way you do at home is “incorrect”?

The people telling you this often didn’t look, dress, or act like the people you know?

What if…

Academia operates within white, middle-class language and values

Any divergence frowned upon, considered inferior

Uncomfortable and soul-crushing for minorities and working-class◦ Everything about me is wrong, destined to make me

unsuccessful Teachers largely white, middle-class

◦ People like me don’t belong◦ If I do graduate, I should never come back (Sefa Dei,

Mazzuca and McIsaac 169-170)

On the inside, looking in…

With one foot in the working class, the other in the middle class, people like me are Straddlers, at home in neither world, living a limbo life. It’s part of the American Dream you may have never heard about: the costs of social mobility. People pay with their anxiety about their place in life. It’s a discomfort many never overcome. (Lubrano 8)

A quotation

Which ethnic groups do well in school? Proof that America is a land of opportunities

for those willing to work hard enough?

Let’s stereotype for a minute

John Ogbu’s theory of voluntary immigrants vs. involuntary minorities

Voluntary immigrants – here by choice, can return home, willing to “play the game”

Involuntary minorities – brought by slavery or conquest, culture rooted in discrimination, cannot “return home”

One group strives for success, the other bitter and disillusioned early (Finn, Literacy with an Attitude 41)

A theory

Can “play the game” the way academic would like Yielding to “the enemy” by “acting white”

◦ Own culture rejects a “traitor”◦ Dominant culture (white) never fully accepts (double

consciousness)◦ Must choose between alienation with possible success or

“failure” with acceptance (Ladson-Billings 11) “…generations of Blacks who have ‘acted white’

have not been fully accepted into mainstream society, and have found themselves alienated from their own communities as well” (Finn, Literacy with an Attitude 45)

One option

“Oppositional Identity” – resistance to the dominant culture in preservation on one’s own

Perry Gilmore’s study

The result

For some, a matter of survival In some neighborhoods, “normal”, “polite”

behaviors can get one in trouble◦ Making too much eye contact◦ Getting too involved in other’s business◦ Seeming to back down (Anderson 82, Ainsworth-

Darnell and Downey 550; Goldblatt 149)

Furthermore

In many schools, white teachers have adversarial relationships with black students◦ Miscommunications misconstrued◦ Philosophies of “colorblindness” cause many to back down from

issues of race that still exist◦ Black struggle reduced to slavery only◦ “Get over it, already”, many think◦ Bad behavior ascribed to being characteristic of the race◦ Discomfort, fear, contempt◦ Expectations of failure all around (Ladson-Billings 31-32,

McIntosh 5-7, Irvine 26-27) Black students receive 23% of total school suspensions

and 22% of total expulsions –highest of any ethnic group (Stevenson 356)

And then…

Though making up just 8.6% of the population of American public school students in 2001, Black males accounted for a shocking 41% of students enrolled in special education (Smith 26-28).

Blacks and Latinos in college report higher instances of credentials being questioned◦ “You’re only here because of a) Affirmative Action

b) government grants” (Langston 68)

Low expectations

“I don’t belong here.” The belief system, the few words that summed up in a neat phrase the wisdom of my conquered self…Just an overwhelming feeling of having a huge array of forces stacked against me…Universities are established to keep people like me out, and to keep middle- and upper-class people in. If working-class people suddenly began earning university degrees in large numbers, who would work the lines, scrub the toilets, descend into the mines? Would we have remained in the places others have prepared for us? (Kadi 92-93)

Another quotation

Academia◦ Hostile◦ Degrading◦ Adversarial◦ In opposition to own culture

In short…

Just let students speak and write however they like in class

But wait!◦ Academia endorses white, middle-class language

and values◦ Workforce does, too◦ Not teaching this a disservice

The solution?

Make clear to students the difference between academia’s language/culture and their own

Don’t couch in terms of right and wrong so much as having a time and a place

Allow personal language use during discussion and informal presentations

Require “academese” for formal presentations◦ Enables students to see when to “turn it on” and

“turn it off”

Not so much what you teach as how you teach it

“What do you mean explain more? How much more can I say?!”

Challenge #2: Getting the Ideas Out!

Read the following excerpt from To Kill a Mockingbird, and consider the answer to this question:

Why didn’t Miss Caroline understand what Scout was saying?

Harper Lee paints the picture…

Language with implicit value Makes sense within community Lost on others

Lost ideas

Middle-class and upper-class children involved in many social circles◦ Dance lessons◦ Sports teams◦ Travel

Used to conversing with “strangers”◦ Used to making ideas clear to those outside of

community (Finn and Finn 20)

A possible explanation…

Working-class and minority students often raised in homogenous communities

Adopt manner of communication heavily dependent upon shared experiences and terminologies◦ Those within community easily understand◦ outsiders find it hard to grasp subtle, understood nuances

meaningful only within the individual’s immediate circle (Charlesworth 139-140).

◦ communicating with someone who does not share certain basic experiences unfathomable

◦ Need to make strangers might never have been needed before

On the other hand

Schoolwork rarely produced for friends and family

“Implicit” and “condensed” language difficult for readers to understand (Bernstein, qtd. in Macaulay 64).

students cannot see where meaning could be obscured by encoded, community-specific language (Levinson 203-204)

Unfortunately…

“…the language of school is explicit, a mode of discourse that fits nicely with the middle-class families’ habits of language use” (Finn and Finn 201)

working-class child has difficulty making self clear in an academic setting (Linkon 98-99)

The impact…

Want their students to give more detail or explain further

Student might not see where this can happen

Teacher might make erroneous assumptions◦ Lazy◦ Unintelligent◦ Not “college material”

Teachers…

Must be as explicit as we want them to be◦ Directions must be detailed◦ Provide examples of what sort of

information/details we want◦ Better yet, ask leading questions◦ Make students aware of audience◦ Create awareness of difference between writing

and speaking ideas◦ Challenge them to “insult your intelligence”

What to do…

Working-class students full of intelligent, thought-provoking ideas

May struggle to express these to new audiences

Empower students to unleash ideas

Unlocking the steel trap…

“You tore my paper to shreds!”

Challenge #3: Me vs. the red pen of tyranny

What is student’s mind frame after 18 years of this?◦ Wait for teacher and/or others to tell me what to

write◦ My ideas mean nothing◦ Answer is more important than process◦ Only others have the right answer

Jean Anyon’s study

Can’t ask students to jump out of frying pan and into fire

Support them through process◦ Having an INFORMED opinion is good◦ You have the right to agree or disagree with

others – even if they’re published◦ Imagination is good if used effectively◦ Here is how to use opinion and imagination

effectively in academia◦ Never let someone else have the last word!

Scaffolding a must!

Must divorce students from idea answers/end products are all that count◦ Provide assignments that grade process over

answer◦ Give extra credit for explanations of why test

answers were wrong◦ Portfolios◦ Peer review

Process over product a must!

Effective Feedback a must!

Commas and grammar are just as important as coherence, flow, argument, structure.

Commas and grammar are much easier to fix because they’re already done for me.

If commas and grammar are just as important as the other stuff, and the other stuff looks hard to fix, why bother?

Doing half of the corrections is better than none, right?

My teacher is the only one who can fix my essay.

What a student sees

What is the top priority the student needs to review? (Sommers 150-151)◦ Make this the clearest, most prominent issue we

highlight◦ It’s ok to let some grammatical, mechanical, or

other errors go unmarked for the time being◦ Overwhelming◦ Confusing◦ Unproductive

Need to consider…

Summative comments most important◦ Students largely skip over our precious marginal

comments ◦ Go straight to summative ones (Soles 123-125)

Clearly outline what you want◦ Do not assume they know what you mean◦ Remember how frustrating it is when they do this to

you (Straub 248) Clearly state the essay’s strengths (find some!)

◦ Important for growth to know what works/doesn’t (Soles 123-124)

Also…

“…children of the working-class are rewarded for docility and obedience and punished for initiative and assertiveness. Remember the teacher who said, ‘Do it this way or it’s wrong’”(Finn 20).

Is it any wonder some of them find it so difficult to engage with subjects on a critical/independent level?

Fixing only what they KNOW the teacher will think is right (i.e. copying exactly what we wrote) is safer.

In sum…

Ask questions, but do not give answers◦ e.g. “And how does this relate to what Johnson said?”

Underline mechanical errors, but have student identify and correct them for themselves◦ i.e. rather than write a comma in, underline where a

comma is missing and tell student it is his/her responsibility to figure out what’s missing there

◦ Probably only appropriate for students whose structure/organization is strong enough to take additional skills onboard

Place emphasis on supporting ideas explicitly◦ e.g. “And what is the significance of this quotation?”

When Giving Feedback

Telling students◦ We want to hear your ideas◦ Your ideas are “the right answer” as long as you

explain and support them clearly◦ I’ll give you suggestions, but you’ve got to take

charge◦ The “hows” are just as important as the “whats”◦ You are a valuable member of the academic

community

All about empowerment

Ainsworth-Darnell, James W. and Douglas B. Downey. "Assessing the Oppositional Culture Explanation for Racial/Ethnic Differences in School Performance." American Sociological Review (1998): 536-553.

Anderson, Elijah. "Power Play." The Atlantic Monthly (1994): 80-94. Charlesworth, Simon J. A Phenomolgy of Working-Class Experience.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Finn, Patrick J. Literacy with an Attitude. Albany: State University of New York

Press, 1999. Finn, Patrick J. and Mary E. Finn. Teacher Education With an Attitude: Preparing

Teachers to Educate Working-Class Students in Their Collective Self-Interest. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2007

Goldblatt, Eli C. 'Round My Way. Pittsburgh : University of Pittsburgh Press, 1995. Irvine, Jacqueline Jordan. Black Students and School Failure: Policies, Practices,

and Prescriptions. Westport: Praeger Paperback, 1991. Kadi, Joanna. "A Question of Belonging." Tokarczyk, Michelle M. and Elizabeth A.

Fay. Working-Class Women in the Academy: Laborers in the Knowledge Factory. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1993. 87-96.

Ladson-Billings, Gloria. The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American Children. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1994.

Works Cited

Langston, Donna. "Who Am I Now? The Politics of Class Identity." Tokarczyk, Michelle M. and Elizabeth A. Fay. Working-Class Women in the Academy: Laborers in the Knowledge Factory. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1993. 60-72.

Levinson, Kenneth. "At the Crossroads of Language Variation: Urban College Students Lean about Sociolinguistics." Teaching English in the Two-Year College (2005): 199-210.

Lubrano, Alfred. Limbo: Blue-Collar Roots, White-Collar Dreams. Hoboken: Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2004.

Macaulay, Ronald S. Talk That Counts: Age, Gender, and Social Class Differences in Discourse. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

McIntosh, Peggy. "White Priviledge: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack." Independent School (1990): 1-7.

Sefa Dei, George J., et al. Reconstructing 'Dropout': A Critical Ehtnography of the Dynamics of Black Students' Disengagement From School. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997.

Smith, Rosa A. "Building a Positive Future for Black Boys." American School Board Journal (2005): 26-28.

Works Cited, Cont.

Soles, Derek. "Grading as a Teaching Strategy." Teaching English in the Two-Year College (2001): 122-134. Print.

Sommers, Nancy. "Responding to Student Writing." College Composition and Communication (1982): 148-156. Print.

Stevenson, Howard C. "Fluttering Around the Racial Tension of Trust: Proximal Approaches to Suspended Black Student-Teacher Relationships." School Psychology Review (2008): 354-358.

Straub, Richard. "The Concept of Constrol in Teacher Response: Defining the Varieties of "Directive" and "Facilitative" Commentary." College Composition and Communication (1996): 223-251. Web.

Works Cited, Cont.