After
reading all four readings this week, I realized that all of them really focus
on culture and its role in literacy. With that being said, in this post, I am
going to focus on one reading in particular, which is Books Like
Clothes: Engaging Young Black Men With Reading by David E. Kirkland.
In the beginning of the reading,
Kirkland says “This line of inquiry either implicitly or explicitly vilifies
Black males for not reading: ‘What was wrong with Derrick? Was he lazy or
barely literate?’ It is not without suspicion that such questions foment in the
shadow of stereotypes” which sets the stereotype that black men can’t read or
just straight up don’t want to read, which is an incorrect assumption. Later in
that same section, Kirkland says “By contrast, more progressive scholars might
argue that Beowulf lacked direct relevance to Derrick’s life; therefore, he did
not read it because it was not relevant to him” which falls out of the whole
idea stereotyping, but still that isn’t a good assumption. Then Kirkland
introduces the idea of ideology and its role in literacy. Kirkland says that
ideology is related to what is called the “ideological self” which is what
motivates and drives us to be the person that we are. If you think about it,
the person we are is directly related to our culture. In
preparation for this blog post, I started thinking, "what is culture?".
There are so many different meanings to the word culture. One in particular
stood out to me. The meaning of culture is "a
particular society that has its own beliefs, ways of life, art, etc". This
one stuck out to me because it focuses on the idea of ones’ own beliefs, which
is exactly what connection I feel like Kirkland is trying to make between
reading and culture.
With that all being said, the role
of culture in literacy has a lot to do with how you view yourself as a person
and your idea of yourself. I agree with that idea, since everyone is different,
we all have different ideas of ourselves, and we all read in different ways. I
know that how we all view ourselves and the way we read seem to be non-related
what-so-ever but in theory, they are.
Reading your post Melissa and reading the article I believe that the author give good examples of how teachers should engage their students to read especially black men. You mention in your post the example that the author give regarding how students don’t read because it’s not related to them. The fact that student feel disconnected as readers from the text creates a problem because teachers think that students don’t want to read but in reality, is the text that is being tough in school that are not related to the students. Also, the fact that students are not being prepare equally in school in order for them to participate and contribute to society because of the political influence in the school system. I agree with the examples that the writer mentions in the article and what Melissa mentions in her post, it is important that teachers understand the relationship between ideology and engagement. Engagement of students into reading by constructing activities that student feel is part of their identity. In regards to the example that the writer gives about black men reading “The Iliad” and “Beowulf” the student where able to feel that the activity was fun and it related to them when they used their own “Self-Expression” As it was mention in the article, a black man can explain the text to another black me with words that are not familiar to other cultures, Now, my question is, do black men are really being prepare equally to participate in society or a new way has being created in order to cover the real problem? This question come into mind because in society, school, work and professional careers I don’t used my own self-expression vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteHello Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog post for this week. All of the readings contained so much relevant information on culture and its role in literacy. I feel that the article you chose to write about in your post brought forth a lot of the information from all the other articles as well. The stereotypes that exist today and drive quotes like the first quote you mentioned in the second paragraph are just sad, in my opinion. This is absolutely incorrect and completely insensitive as well. It is a shame these types of stereotypes exist today in our world. You are absolutely right. The person we are today is exactly related to our culture. When one is asked to define someone's culture, you could get a wide range of answers because it all depends on where the person is from, how they were raised, etc. It means something different to each and every person because it has to do with one's own beliefs. The role of culture in literacy directly relates to the reader's idea of himself. We all read in different ways as well as interpret the meanings much differently than others. We need to first learn about our students and their own cultural backgrounds. This in turn will help us understand where the students are coming from when they interpret readings instead of turning to stereotyping.
I found it really interesting in the Tatum reading how he mentioned tracing "Textual lineages" of texts that an individual found literature. So when one book led someone to another book which led them to another book, he traced that, which is super neat. I don't know, I have never heard of anyone documenting that before this reading. And to connect it back to your post, these textual lineages seem to be really powered by an individual's cultural beliefs and standing which is kind of how you summed up Kirkland (I think). So yeah, pretty interesting. CUBS WON !!!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteMax
While reading this article I could absolutely see where the student Kirkland mentions was coming from-- Beowulf was definitely one of the books that I disliked the most in high school and to this day I couldn't tell you what it was about because I've blocked it out and all of the assignments I had done in relation to it. Perhaps I did see it as irrelevant to my life, but more than anything I think it wasn't accessibly taught to us-- Kirkland brings this point up succinctly when he says that "youths are not failing to engage texts; many of the texts we teach in school are failing to engage youth" (201). While I don't think that every text we encounter in school will necessarily suit our personal reading preferences, I think students need to also be taught open-mindedness to different styles and genres in order to grow, but teachers must also learn techniques and develop curricula that will help students to break down the texts they are expected to read and understand, while integrating activities that will help forge connections from the literature to their own lives to build meaning.
ReplyDeleteHello Melissa,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your thinking and summary of this article. When I read this article, it was interesting to see that the author put a connection between ideology, such an abstract noun, and literary, and discussed the stereotype that black men did not read. We can see the difference when Derrick read "Beowulf" and "The Iliad" due to different literary teaching strategy. The creative construction of shaping the identical thinking in mind is to help Derrick engage with texts. "Reading for some Black males may require bridging ideological distances, creating a conduit capable of offering readers opportunities to find themselves and what they believe among the universe of words". Different people have their own different perspectives on expressing something, but what I think is if the teacher always choose the texts that black students like for the class reading, it seems like unfair to other students in class, even though it can put black males into the shoes. All students should be flexible and open-minded to accept all kinds of the texts so that they can suit every reading literacy and express their thoughts on it.
While reading the articles for this week, I gain an understanding of the importance of ideology and engagement in literacy. Since many students come from various different cultures and backgrounds, it is essential for us as educators to try to understand what experience and expectations our students bring into our classroom. This is due to the fact that if we want our students to be great readers, we must first engage them in the reading process. Thus, we must build bridges to make reading as relevant to our students lives as possible. Although some people might argue that not all students will feel connected to certain readings, I still believe that it is our duty as educators to present the readings in creative ways to try to reach all our students.
ReplyDeleteReading the articles for this week opened up a lot of issues that we as educators face in teaching young people of color--black and Hispanic. I'm always struggling to get my students interested in readings that I select for my history units. For example, my students will have to read a story about Confucius and his idea of creating a perfect society in China. What does a 2500 year-old Chinese philosopher have to do with the culture and issues my students were raised? Therefore, I try to find the one important and meaningful (relevant) idea in all of the readings before presenting them. In this case, how to create a perfect society. I have to "sell" the idea to my students before assigning the reading and find the appropriate hook to get them somewhat interested enough to read the story. Then I would have them work in groups to determine key ideas about how Confucius thinks a perfect society can be created then have them critique it and come up with their own classroom ideas about how to create a perfect society today. Sometimes, it is a matter of finding that one thing in readings that students can relate to in order to cultivate interest.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the culture and the ideologies that my students embrace is constantly changing over the years. We as educators must keep this in mind. What worked even ten years ago may not work today when it comes to selecting readings to use in the classroom. Therefore, we need to be sensitive to the times and keep our fingers on the pulse of the students in selecting materials that are meaningful to them--or get them to see something meaningful when it does not appear immediately so to our students. This may like seem we are salesmen--and maybe we are--but we need to find those important and relevant ideas so that the students will buy into their education.
You did a great job summarizing the message of the article, Melissa. I, too, had a strong response to this reading - partially because I WAS the guy who was naturally interested in medieval literature, and so stand as a sort of antithesis to "Derrick" in my own mind. It seems so obvious, linking stories of epic warriors and mastering one's destiny to the identity of urban youth. Those concepts are ingrained in pop-cultural texts from comics to rap to reality television. But that goes to show how vital it is that teachers don't just select a text because the right "things" are in there somewhere; they have to help students connect with those things.
ReplyDeleteLee's "modeling" contains many of the answers to this problem, I think. Conceiving "horizons of possibility" to which students can travel with the right scaffolding is an important first step. But students will never reach that place without the tools Lee describes for locating hidden meaning, unpacking it, and interpreting it in a way that means something TO THEM. There is that "generative" or "creative" aspect to this process that, when presented well, empowers and stimulates students in a way that can be inherently rewarding, and removes some of the need for extrinsic reward to "jump start" students' interest. Reading and interpreting texts can be, in many ways, "artistic" in the way Kirkland describes it, and afford students a window into their culture.
Hello Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your summary and would agree that ones culture greatly helps some one identify with who they are. That being said i think it is important, as teachers, for us to not only teach our students but also allow them to teach us, especially when they try to share who they are. This may be a given to most of us but sometimes it is difficult for teachers to remember that they are teaching the student, not just about the subject, but also about how others see themselves within the subject. This may make more sense in topics like history and English but i feel like it is important to build the bridge between the student and what they are being taught. By having them see the connections between themselves and their readings students may be more engaged to learn more and maybe even on their own. We need to help make connections and providing them with the readings we help them start to build interest on their own and more importantly about themselves.
Melissa,
ReplyDeleteGreat post! The idea that Beowulf wasn't directly relevant to a student does seem to fall short, in a sense, but it also points to an important issue. While language arts curricula have historically focused on literature from just one part of the world, students would benefit from being exposed to more of a global sample of literature, as opposed to just the Western canon. Engaging with a more culturally diverse collection of literary works only makes sense given that students in the U.S. come from a wide array of cultures. How can we reasonably suggest focusing on just a few?
Hi Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post about the Kirkland reading. Definitely teaching a diverse group of students and relating material to their individual cultures is going to be one of the biggest challenges we all face as we move forward as teachers. Especially if our student's cultures differ from our own. I do think that it is important that student's make connections between content and their own culture but also other cultures as well. Teachers must make sure that they are still exposing their students to different cultures and viewpoints while still be mindful of students individual beliefs.