Talking Point #2: Teaching Multilingual Children

Teaching Multilingual Children
By: Virgina Collier


Author’s Argument:
In this article the author discusses the different approaches and aspects of being a teacher with bilingual students. The article talks about the “romanticized” view of teaching, and the reality of it being much harder then that ideal.

Quotes:

1. “Teaching is complicated, but it is also rewarding in ways that many other jobs can never be. You have the chance to interact daily with live, growing, thinking, maturing human beings, and that time is special despite the complication of managing bureaucratized, overcrowded classroom of over tested, underchalleged students.”

• This is probably my favorite quote out of this entire piece. To me this quote sums the entire article up and I cant think of a better way to define teaching. When I’m at my elementary school doing the reading buddies program, as stressful as it becomes sometimes, this quote is something I try to always be thinking of. Teaching IS complicated, there are a lot of different events that occur every day that need to be dealt with, and the children are at all different education and learning levels then the others. But the way you choose to teach will have an effect on each child. You make an impact on their life every day. It’s a special thing to be able to mold the minds of children that are “growing, thinking, and maturing” every day. Who knows what you may influence to do, and become in their future.

2.”Caregivers repeat themselves using the same syntactic patterns, not through exact repetition, but through rephrasing.”

• This quote really stood out to me because it’s actually something I took a note of today at the elementary school I’m at. As I’m working with the students I have for reading buddies, I also try to pay attention to and take things from the way the teacher in my classroom teaches. Today, one thing I happened to make a note of was her use of repetition with the other students. They were discussing the calendar and how they had days off coming up, and two birthdays in the classroom occurring this month. The teacher repeated the things she was saying, but rephrased them each time, as a way of expressing the information was important, and to put it a few ways so as to stick in the mind of the children.

3. “Instead, whether in English, Korean, Spanish, Greek, or Portuguese, you are working to develop the child’s language as an effective instrument of intellectual growth.”

• To me, this quote is saying that no matter what language you are teaching or working with you should view it as a tool you’re teaching a child that will help them learn and grow forever. Language is the base of everything. You need language in order to continue learning and developing your mind. So a teacher should view teaching a student another language as a catalyst to bigger things.

Questions/ Comments:

I enjoyed reading this piece. It was a little tough to get thorough some of it, but being able to pick out certain parts of it that I could really relate to the classroom work I’m doing felt great. It’s one thing to notice things in the classroom that you feel may important knowledge to hang on to for the future, but it’s nice to be able to relate it or see it in a piece of writing that is gauged towards teaching and teaching methods.

Black Monopoly

I found this bumper sticker on facebook. I felt it pertained to our class discussion about race and ties in with the Muwakkil article about the rates that blacks vs. whites are sent to jail. I know the picture is a little hard to make out but its of a monopoly board called "Black Monopoly" and all the spaces where the houses and railroads should be (except the jail space) are all turned into go to jail spaces.

Talking Point #1: McIntosh and Muwakkil

White Privileges: Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack
By: Peggy McIntosh


Author's Argument:
In this article McIntosh argues that privileged people are taught not to recognize their privilege. Also, that white privilege comes in the form of an "invisible knapsack" full of "unearned assets" or "special provisions" for only those white people to use.

Quotes:

1. "Whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, and average, and also ideal, so that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work that will allow "them" to be more like "us".

• This quote is saying that white people are brought up to think they are "normal" and "average"and when they participate in charity or do work to help others it is seen as them trying to bring people up to their level, or the "ideal" way to be. This quote stood out for me because I can agree with it, most of us in the white culture are brought up to see ourselves as average and nothing more, unless we are either taught that we are 1. a better race or 2. equal and we can't bring anyone up to our level because they're already at it.

2. " I can choose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color that more or less matches my skin".

• Things are made in "flesh" color, which is a white tone. When the word flesh is used it is reflective of or saying that that is the normal, average, or right skin color.

3. "I was taught to recognize racism only in individual acts of meanness by members of my group, never in invisible systems conferring unsought racial dominance on my group from birth".

• Most people are brought up to view racism as individual acts of hate by "racists", they aren't taught to see racism and hate through bigger institutions looking for dominance over other races, not just to hurt individual people.

Questions/Comments:

I really enjoyed reading this piece by Peggy McIntosh. I honestly hadn't considered race and privilege in the light that she brought to it in this text. One point that really stood out for me in this piece was the third paragraph on the first page. I feel this paragraph/quote highlights the theme of the whole piece "The Invisible Knapsack". In the third paragraph McIntosh talks about unpacking said knapsack and says "I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that i can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was "meant" to remain oblivious. White privilege is an invisible, weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, code books, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks". This quote was incredible to me. Who ever thought of white privilege as an invisible set of tools that gets carried around and used to our advantage?



Data Shows Racial Bias Persists In America
By: Salim Muwakkil


Author's Argument:
In this article Muwakkil argues that although the conservative opinion is that racism is over, it is far from over in America. Muwakkil also includes a lot of studies done and statistics showing that racial bias and profiling still happens in our country.

Quotes:

1. "The researchers sent fictitious resumes in response to help wanted ads; each was randomly assigned either a white-sounding name (Emily Walsh, Brendan Baker) or a black-sounding name (Lakisha Washington, Jamal Jones). The study found that applicants with white-sounding names were 50% more likely to get called for an initial interview than applicants with black-sounding ones. What's more, higher-quality resumes provided little advantage for black applicants".

• This quote was only somewhat surprising to me. It was just a study for further solidify how racist our country really is. These companies hiring only saw names, and they couldn't even see past the names to see the importance of better qualifications in the African American applicants.
  

2. "Not surprisingly whites without drug busts on their applications did best; blacks with drug busts did worst. However, white applicants with prison records were still more likely to be hired then black men without them".

• This quote shocked me. How is this even possible? A white man with a prison record could get a job before a man without one just because the other man is black? That makes me sick. I think sometimes you don't want to think our country and the people in it are that low, but this makes it really hard to ignore.
  

3. "The study found the greatest disparity in Illinois, where blacks were jailed for selling or using drugs at 57 times the rate of whites. The report also found that blacks comprise 90% of the inmates imprisoned for drugs".

• This quote to me says racial profiling all over it. Blacks are jailed 57 times more then whites are? Are the police not even seeing the white people? Are they invisible? This is insane. And blacks comprise 90% of the inmates imprisoned for drugs, are you telling me that they're the only ones using drugs? Or the only ones getting caught? No. They're being targeted.
  

Questions/Comments:

This piece by Salim Muwakkil was an interesting read. Racial profiling is a well known practice in America but some of the statistics in this piece still surprised me. The parts about the fictitious resumes wasn't very surprising because whites being chosen over African Americans even when the African Americans are sometimes more qualified is a huge part of racial profiling. But the statistics stating that whites with prison records were morel likely to get hired then African Americans was shocking. How is that even possible? Also the two quotes "Blacks constitute about 13% of Americas drug users but make up 58% of those sent to prison for drug possession" and " "The study found the greatest disparity in Illinois, where blacks were jailed for selling or using drugs at 57 times the rate of whites. The report also found that blacks comprise 90% of the inmates imprisoned for drugs" totally astounded me. If those studies don't scream racial bias then what does? But what can be done?

Hey everybody! What's up? I'm Kandace. I'm an Elementary Education major with a concentration in English. My semester is going pretty well so far, just a little hectic. It seems like it's crunch time now, try to get everything in, do a ton of stuff for your portfolio, balance classes, working in a classroom and a job. I get a little overwhelmed sometimes. When I'm not in class....well I'll still be in class starting next week, since we'll all be in our elementary/middle school classes by then. I also work A LOT, and try to spend the rest of my time with my boyfriend, and my girlfriends, my family and doing homework :P Always busy. I've come to think I like it that way though. I love to travel, and to read and I'm always looking to do something new everyday :)