Dominant Discourse and a Multicultural Society

The first chapter I read, titled "The Politics of Teaching Literate Discourse," talked about the way teachers should approach the language arts education of students who learned to speak in a discourse other than the dominant one. An example of non-dominant discourse might be ebonics, or the way that many African-Americans may speak. Most of the time, the dominant discourse is that of academia, and it is a very proper way of speaking. The author mainly focused on the fact that students will need to know how to speak in the dominant discourse, but that they shouldn't be discouraged from developing their home way of writing and speaking. One interesting point was that teachers should not encourage students in their home discourse to a point that they don't learn the dominant discourse. This can actually be harmful to the students, because they then are never taught the language arts in a way that they can use it to be successful in the larger (dominant discourse-oriented) society.

The second chapter, titled "Education in a Multicultural Society," was mostly a summary of a lot of good points made throughout the book. I was reminded that teachers must learn to use the students' upbringings and home culture as a way to connect with them. I also was glad that the author again touched on the issues in teacher education programs, such as the 'Eurocentric curriculum' and lack of appreciation for diverse literary discourses. She clarified something for me as well: teachers do not necessarily need to be of the same cultural backgrounds as their students, but rather would do well to understand the diverse backgrounds represented among their students. Formerly, I wrote that I believed the author was in favor of having students always be taught by someone of the same cultural background (to reduce miscommunications).

In the second chapter, it gave me more hope for my future teaching career. After doing some observation in a multicultural school, I felt that I would be unqualified to teach students like this because I am caucasian. When I was there, I was comfortable conversing with and relating to the students, but it seems we are usually taught that students learn best from those who are most like them. Also, one of my student teaching placements for next semester is in a school that has a predominantly African-American student body. I will now be confident that, if I consider their culture and upbringing, I can still relate to my students and help them learn in a way that is best for them.

This book has taught me both general and specific practices to consider while teaching in a multicultural environment. For example, I now know that I need to be more direct in the way I ask students from an African-American background to complete tasks. Some cultures, I learned, are not in favor of sharing opinion publicly or speaking for another person, so I will consider this while planning activities for my students. I also know that I should encourage students to develop both their home discourse and the dominant discourse (rather than emphasizing one as "better"). One last idea, which I found most important, is to be very knowledgeable (yet open to learning) about the cultures and backgrounds of those you teach--at any level and in any type of environment.

I still wonder how I would approach the subject of cultural bias if I saw it in another (more experienced) educator. I would additionally like to put into practice the ideas encountered in the text. I would like to further explore the Native American, Alaskan, and Asian cultures, because I don't feel like I have a good grasp on how to teach students from these backgrounds.

For further professional development, I am choosing to read "You Wouldn't Understand: White Teachers in Multiethnic Classrooms" by Sarah Pearce. It appears to touch on a lot of the same issues as the other books, but I believe that it adds to the discussion by talking about some cultures other than the ones Lisa Delpit touched on.

Diversity in Teacher Education Programs

In the chapters titled "Teachers' Voices" and "Cross-Cultural Confusions", Lisa Delpit talks about the gap between amounts of non-white students and non-white teachers. She argues that students who are taught by a teacher of a different ethnicity have trouble succeeding in the classroom. She gives several examples of discrimination towards Native American, black, and Alaskan students in teacher preparation programs, and argues that the challenges they faced turned them away from a career in teaching. She believes that most white teachers and professors have a certain "white way" of teaching that is not agreeable with the way diverse students are used to being taught. If there were more cultural understanding in teacher preparation programs, she believes that there would be more cultural diversity in today's American teaching force.

In my experience, this does happen, though not in the way that she says it does. It is possible that there is a lot of racial discrimination in the way classes are taught at some colleges, but I believe that the discrimination doesn't stop there. Colleges can discriminate in several aspects of the way they teach education. For example, here at Trinity, there is a lot of emphasis on a Christian Reformed worldview. While I agree that this may be a valid way to look at the world, it has not been any sort of foundation for me in my life before coming here. I grew up in a Christian home, but it is a struggle for me to think from a Reformed perspective, because that is not my home denomination. The process of structuring classes and assignments around creation, fall, redemption, and new creation is a totally new and strange concept to me. For me, this "Reformed" way of teaching has been a struggle while completing assignments, just like the "white way" of teaching is a struggle for students from other cultures. I know that the struggles I encounter may not be as over-arching as cultural struggles, but I feel that I will have some idea of how my students from different cultures feel when encountering my teaching style. I plan to take the cultural differences between me and my students and use them as a reason to know the students on an even deeper level.