Where I am From Poem

http://youtu.be/RL1NVXeZF-I

One of the biggest things that I learned of the relationship between Language, Literacy, and Power is that they all are very closely related, especially when dealing with the Appalachian region. Besides a select few the majority of the students around West Virginia are not going to understand the proper Standard English. So as an educator you are taught to adapt and shape your lesson plans around your students. Shaping how you may talk to the students is a vital part of your lesson plan. A teacher must be able to talk to the students in a way the children understand you, because if not the students will not get the information needed and will be labeled as illiterate. Without the right language the students will not get the information, and the teacher will not have the power to reach out to their students because they simply will not understand.

 Some children bring "literacy knowledge" to school with them. Does this mean that they already know how to read? How to write? No such literacy knowledge refers to the concepts children acquire during their preschool years, during the years preceding the beginning of formal literacy instruction, in kindergarten, and first grade, in reading, writing, and printed language.
(Purcell Gates, 2002)


Schools can be accepting to how children may speak, even if it is not the Standard English. For example, I know first hand of teachers in the southern part of the state, being more accepting to their students using Appalachian English because that is how the students are brought up. The teachers and schools must take a look at where they are and how the community is and accept what may be the norm in that society. Instead of fighting with the way a student may talk and look at it as a cultural deficit and punish them. A teacher needs to understand that it is just a cultural difference and while accepting the way they may talk, try to teach them the Standard English of what they may have just said. Go ahead and start teaching off what they already know and understand, rather than trying to teach them what they know is wrong and you will get a lot farther with them.
               
 Linguists have been arguing for years that all languages and dialects are equal. Hamilton (2005) summarizes the views of several linguists working to end language discrimination in the U.S. as arguing that language discrimination is the result of Americans’ negative attitudes toward non-standard dialects of English. (Rowland & Marrow, 2010)


As stated in the previous paragraph to overcome Cultural Deficits a teacher must be accepting in how the students may talk. Do not downgrade a student for how they may talk, but rather take into consideration how a child knows how to speak and build off of that. It is a must for teachers to accept the students as they are and what the children are into. After you know what the children are into then you can shape how you teach things they are interested in. This teaching approach will overcome any type of cultural deficit that may be out there, because you are speaking in their "lingo".

Use activities that "involve students as thoughtful learners in socially meaningful tasks."
(Moll, 1992)

To help students who are non-Standard English to get information is to use "Funds of Knowledge". The students are non-Standard English, so speaking in Standard English would get you absolutely no where. Getting to know the students and what community they live in will help you get understand what they are around everyday. Bringing people into the classroom from the community teaching them different jobs and using the language they are used to, will increase the student's chances of grasping the knowledge. Your strategies in teaching the children must be solely focused on how they speak or how they understand information. By doing this, then a teacher can put their own twist on it to insert information of Standard English that they will pick up on.

The teaching of writing should assume students will begin with the sort of language with which they are most at home and most fluent in their speech. The language may be dialect of English or even a different language all together. (NCTE, 2008)


 The Where I Am From Poem was allowing the students to express themselves and show their peers what their backgrounds are. This strategy gives the students the opportunity to bond with another child they may have not known if it weren't for the video, because they could possibly connect on a familiar hobby or interest. So these videos encouraged the students to know and listen to their fellow classmates, to get to know each other more. It also teaches students to learn and appreciate other students heritages because they expect the students to respect their own heritage they present to the class.


I plan on teaching students in the language they understand and what they are into. I feel you must treat the children as human beings and not as just a student. Give the kids respect and more than likely the students will give you respect. Yelling your head off at the kids won't get you anywhere. My strategy is on the first day start to learn from the students what they are into and what they would like to learn. Take that information and then shape your teachings around subjects that are relevant. Also just like in the Funds of Knowledge article, bring people in from the community and have them talk about what they do. Personally I learned a lot from being hands on and from field trips so I would try to do as many hands on/field trips as I possibly could.