Dr. B's Blog!
Saturday, August 18, 2001:
In his post on Fox, Gabe expressed concern with how he might be perceived as a white male educator by Other students. He writes, "The question then becomes, at least for me, how do I make students from backgrounds different from my own aware that I want them to write honestly out of their own experience. Certainly, these students need to be aware of an audience when they’re writing (i.e. me), but they should not censor themselves from exploring areas that are important to them. It’s up to me, as I said before, to make sure that an environment doesn’t exist where this self-censorship may exist." I think this is a concern for all teachers. How do we make students trust us despite our positions as authority figures, age difference, racial difference, gender difference? How do we get them to believe that we really do care about what they think and what they write and get them, in turn, to care about it as well? Gabe makes a good point about gaining trust by getting to know the students as people rather then just educational consumers and making sure that they receive and give the respect that they deserve to their fellow classmates by making sure that all points of view are heard and accepted as valid even if they are not agreed with.
Samantha Blackmon // 8/18/2001 11:42:58 PM
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Courtney's post on Fox reveals that she is inspired by Fox's belief that the educational system needs more African American teachers because they may have a different kind of connection to African American students. She writes, "The idea of attracting African-American writing teachers is encouraging...Equally important, is giving teachers of other backgrounds the information relating to the history of Blacks and literacy. These instructors should be required to learn about the historical and social contexts behind Blacks and literacy; ultimately, challenging themselves to find ways of identifying. Hopefully then, a common ground will begin to develop with students of color and many of the literacy issues for African-Americans will be ready for rudimentary exploration and eventual resolution." Courtney (and Fox) are calling for a more active teacher/educator role for all teachers, regardless of race. There is no generic "black experience" so to say that all African American teachers can do an effective job of teaching African American students is dicy, at best. All teachers need to be aware of literacy history and theory so that they can do an effective job of teaching all students. Teachers must no longer dismiss the language of the Other as wrong, broken, or unacceptable. To do so shows a lack of familiarity with language and literacy history and theory and only serves to reinforce the prejudiced notion that anything not "mainstream" (ie the language of wider communication) is inferior, including the Other student.
Samantha Blackmon // 8/18/2001 10:23:30 PM
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In his Fox post Neal throws out an idea that we can run with. He writes, "As instructors we've got to help our students imagine themselves, as key even to being able to step outside of one's own paradigm for the purpose of critically analyzing a piece of communication." Ahhh...critical thinking, one of the most important things that students will learn to do in our composition courses. Thinking critically can be an uncomfortable thing for students, it asks them to let go of their own biases and look at things from a more global perspective. It asks them to forget about their comfort zones and challenge and question everything, even their own beliefs (and those of their families). Many students will initially be resistent to this idea but it will be our job as instructors to coax them into thinking critically.
Samantha Blackmon // 8/18/2001 10:13:04 PM
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In her post on Fox, Rebecca begins to connect Fox's ideas about the traditional composition classroom to ideas of teaching in the computer classroom. She writes, "As a woman there are points in my everyday life when I feel scared or uncomfortable simply because I am a woman, not because of anything that I have done to deserve to feel this way... As a white person it is very important I think about what I do tacitly… To live in a place where one is made to feel unwelcome directly relates to the classroom...When a student has to write and communicate daily in a language that they do not own is oppressive. And then to have to translate those words onto a machine narrows the scope of freedom even farther…When I sign on to a computer I am entering another environment, the language of which I do not know how to change." This is another of the "details" that we discusssed earlier in the week, if we have not yet dealt with issues of oppression in the traditional classroom how are we going to deal with them in the computer classroom? Is this the time to move towards technologically enhanced education? Should this have been something that was put on the back burner?
We must also remember that difference takes many forms, race, gender, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. and that people can be oppressed because of any of these things. There is no need to feel that you don't have the right to feel oppressed, there is no exclusive club that you must belong to in order to express your feelings. If you can logically feel it, it is justified.
Samantha Blackmon // 8/18/2001 10:05:47 PM
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In his post on Fox's essay Matt writes "I can’t expect my White and Asian students to write one way and then expect something different from my African-American students. People could see it as almost a form of “local color writing.” And by saying that we need to look back at historical African-American texts and traditions to understand why present African-American students write makes absolutely no sense to me." I think that this is an interesting point. While Tom Fox is writing specifically writing about African American students the same holds true for all students who use different varieties of English. Students who speak a different language just don't fit into this equation. If we are teaching in an English department we can expect students to write in some variety of English, not Japanese or Chinese. As far as understanding the voices in many African American texts, we need to be aware of the fact that what is written there is not a language variety but rather a phonetic interpretation of the language and its inflections that is meant to add to the authenticity of the text and not to be a reflection of the language variety and its rules. We talked a bit about the difference between actual language varieties (which bears a kind of universal understanding) and slang (which can be difficult to understand if we are not a part of a certain discourse community). It is important to remember that there is a direct connection between language and social cohesion and if we expect students to maintain social connections we must reinforce the belief that all varieties of the English language are equally valuable.
Samantha Blackmon // 8/18/2001 09:52:12 PM
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In her post on Fox Laura W. writes, "Fox doesn’t want to create a systematically defined grammar for African American literature. Without a system or order of their own, it feels very overwhelming to contemplate separate African American languages. It seems that there ought to be rules and standards that are taught; it is unfortunate that these are so often the white male values that isolate all minorities." I think that what Fox is calling for here is the abolition of one set of grammatical rules. Linguists who have studied different language varieties (and the language used by African Americans specifically) have found that these language varieties possess their own set of grammatical rules and are very logical (sometimes even moreso than the standard english dialect). As the semester progresses we will look at some linguistic studies (but if you want to jump ahead you may want to look at Geneva Smitherman, William Labov, and John Baugh just to name a few).
Samantha Blackmon // 8/18/2001 09:36:06 PM
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In her post on Fox, Laura P. writes, "The solution to acquire equality in universities is to see “literacy—as an idea and as a practice—…defined by the social relations in which is occurs.” By both studying African American texts, and by also engaging in a dialogue that would consider both the experiences and language of African Americans, teachers and students can change the idea that learning to write is learning to be white." Laura makes a good point here, and that is there does need to be a change in the perception of education at the public level, but there also needs to be a change made at the institutional level. What is it about education that causes the public to see it in terms of "whiteness"? Why would people see those educated under this system as becoming white? What can be done (In the general public and in the institution) to confront these issues and make education a more desireable thing for all students?
Samantha Blackmon // 8/18/2001 09:21:44 PM
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Adrienne connects Tom Fox to Toni Morrison in her post. She writes, "I would also be inclined to agree with Toni Morrison that African Americans are present everywhere in literature by their very absence. Could whites defines themselves without having African Americans to define themselves against?" I would agree here and say that all binary groups are traditionally defined by one another. Blackness is often defined in opposition to whiteness, femaleness in opposition to maleness, "straightness" in opposition to queerness, etc. And while the Other is always present in the literature of the majority (even in their absence) this is not enough. There is so much more to the Other than what the are not. There are customs, beliefs, and attitudes that can not be defines and detailed in their absence, they must be dealt with in terms of their presence. There is so much more to being Black than not white, so much more to being female than not male, and so much more to being queer than not straight.
Samantha Blackmon // 8/18/2001 09:13:50 PM
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In response to Tom Fox's essay Catherine says that he "suggests that “teachers who recognize the urgent need to reconceive writing pedagogy” look to literary theory developed by African Americans. He also places emphasis on work pioneered by African American women within feminisms." Using the established theory of a group of Others (with a capital O) to build new theory that address the issues of other Others is a common practice. Does this mean that the struggles of all groups are equal in depth and breadth? No, but what is equal is the idea of oppression. We often use older, more established theories to build new ones. This is one of the reasons that it is so important that we have knowledge of other theories that may seem somewhat unrelated. Can we use pedagogy that is Afro-centric in nature to teach a student population that is predominantly Caucasian? Yes, even when a group seems homogenous there are differences within that group and all things that make a person Other (or a minority) are not physically visible.
Samantha Blackmon // 8/18/2001 08:56:33 PM
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Thursday, August 16, 2001:
Gabe throws out a familar buzz phrase in his blog. Social Justice. He writes, "Our country calls for an equal education for all students, but could that ever be achieved if schools are funded at such disparate levels? This, I believe, is an issue of social justice." If we respond to Selfe's call to action and begin paying attention to the technology that is being used in the schools, how it being used, and even why it is being used, social justice is a phrase that has to make its way into our vocabulary. Is what we do fair to all students involved? If not, is there a way to "make it so" (I feel so Jean-Luc Picard-ish here)? What can we do, as educators, to make sure that we are not privileging majority students over their minority counterparts? She we ignore technology if we can't? Should we abandon it all together? Is there a soultion to this problem?
Samantha Blackmon // 8/16/2001 12:36:26 AM
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WooHoo! Courtney seems to have picked up on the thread in Selfe's essay that can clearly connect it Fox's JAC essay that we are reading. She blogs about the idea, "that with 'technological literacy' comes 'equal opportunity to access high-paying, technology-rich jobs and increased economic prosperity after graduation.' " and states that, "[c]learly, the trueness of this argument is relative." My question (without scooping our upcoming discussion of Fox) is this, Is this the first time that we have seen this happen in the public school system? Is this the first time that we have promised something as the answer to all labor woes? Is this a promise that we as educators have kept? Why not? What keeps us from keeping this promise (if we do actually fail to do so)?
Samantha Blackmon // 8/16/2001 12:26:15 AM
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Rebecca has some concerns about student's areas of interest. She writes, "I fear my students may value pop culture more than have a serious interest in the value of the Blog." Well this is true, initially (and maybe even finally) students may be drawn to the blog as a cool new techno gadget rather than as a serious rhetorical tool. Well, Rebecca, that's okay. One of the cool things about the use of technology in the classroom is that we can "play" with something that already interests, intrigues, heck even frightens students and use it to our advantage. Many times while students think that they are "playing" they are learning, learning about the technology, learning about the writing process, learning how to facilitate this process, and learning to visualize their ideas and arguments in much the same way you claim that using your old Royal typewriter helps you to "witness how my brain is forming the words." I know it sounds pretty sneaky but in this case, "the play" really is the thing.
Samantha Blackmon // 8/16/2001 12:17:23 AM
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Wednesday, August 15, 2001:
Matt takes issue with the financial expenditures made on technology in school districts where there are other more pressing issues, like a comfortable, safe, and habitable learning environment. He writes, "Kids know how to use computers. I taught in Anderson for three years-the district is twenty-five percent African-American. Would they have been exposed to computers if they weren't in the schools? Probably not. Are they better students because they were exposed to computers? Certainly not." Which is a great point! We can't level the educational and technological playing ground by throwing much needed money into the wrong pot! We have to level the basic playing field before we can bring in new, flashy scoreboards. If we don't have an atmosphere that is conducive to learning and properly trained teaching staff in the public schools, computers in the school system will only serve to make poorly written and conceptualized papers and ideas "look a little flashier". So, once again we have a detail that is being ignored. How can we bring the (new) basics up to snuff without causing minority students to continue to fall behind?
Samantha Blackmon // 8/15/2001 11:55:57 PM
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Laura W. makes a good point when she says that "[t]he reason we don’t contemplate the computer enough is that we don’t want to, not that we don’t have to." and that we should one day be "able to utilize technology, such as new software programs or network utilities, in a truly worthwhile manner." There is a thin line between using technology in a "worthwhile manner" and simply throwing technology en masse into the classroom and teaching students how to use it just so that they can have the knowledge of various kinds of technology. This requires some re-education of university administrators as well as faculty members across the university. This adds another element to the belief that all composition teachers teach is grammar and mechanics, now it is expanding to the thought that all computers and composition teachers teach is computer skills. People have to be aware of the fact that we are not here to teach general software skills but to teach students how to use the right software to facilitate the dissemination of knowledge that they create a.k.a. using technology in a "wrothwile manner".
Samantha Blackmon // 8/15/2001 11:47:10 PM
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In her post on Selfe's essay, Laura P. wrote, "I do not think that technology literacy favours more racism and poverty than, for instance, literacy in the first place favoured poverty and discrimination." Which I think is an interesting point. So is technological literacy just as oppressive as "traditional literacy" or does technology just add another layer of oppression to an educational system that was founded upon, maintained by, and perpetuates oppression. I can't wait to see what she has to say about Tom Fox's 1992 JAC article "Repositioning.."
Samantha Blackmon // 8/15/2001 11:36:14 PM
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In Adrienne's entry for today she says that she has "a fear that they [computers] detract from the old school method of reading and interpreting novels." She makes a good point, but does the use of computers in the classroom mean that we can no longer use the old fashioned technology, like pens and paper. Is it possible to use the technology only when it can actually enhance the learning experience and let it go when it does not? Are we being forced (or does it sometimes feel that we are) to use all technology, all the time in order to make the financial expenditure worth it, or to the teach to the "new test" which is the job market?
Samantha Blackmon // 8/15/2001 02:07:16 PM
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In Catherine's post she states that "I do wish that she [Selfe] would have focused upon the fact that women make up the largest portion of those who live in poverty, and therefore make up the largest sector of people who are directly affected by the "techno-future." " This may be another one of those "details" that has been overlooked and that is now demanded the attention of critically minded scholars and educators. If we were to construct some kind of plan that would take all of these details into consideration and would give us the opportunity to form a more equal society, I wonder what the first steps along this path might be. How can we make sure that those minority students who have been historically plagued with a lack of material access, and currently experiencing a lack of immaterial access, catch up to those majority students who have always had access?
Samantha Blackmon // 8/15/2001 02:01:23 PM
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Tuesday, August 14, 2001:
This is the place for discussion of readings, writings, and pedagogy.
Samantha Blackmon // 8/14/2001 05:37:35 PM
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