Blog 6
Reflection
I have always been taught to be mindful not to offend people who may speak differently than me, therefore, I have never corrected someone's dialect because I would not want to be considered “disrespectful”. But Delpit’s point really hit me: if I'm so worried about being polite that I never actually teach culturally diverse students how to write or speak in the “standard” way, I’m basically leaving them unprepared for the real world. Would their dialect be interpreted as unprofessional and as a result, would they not get hired? It’s a strange feeling because I thought I would be being supportive by not correcting them, but I actually would be holding them back.
We are often taught to be sensitive when speaking to students. You don't want to come across harsh, so teachers often have a softer approach when teaching or given instruction. By saying something polite like “would you like to sit down now?” to a student from a culture that values direct authority, you might just sound confusing or weak. Delpit would argue that you must learn to be explicit so that my students don't have to guess what you want from them.
There is this whole set of unwritten rules for how we’re expected to speak and write in professional spaces. Delpit calls these the “codes of power”. For a lot of middle-class students, these codes are basically invisible because they learned them at home, it’s just how they’ve always talked. But for students outside that circle, the code feels like a secret language they weren't invited to learn. Delpit explains that teaching students the standard way of writing and speaking is a way of giving them a key to crack this code. It isn’t about changing who they are; it’s about giving them the power to navigate a world that, unfortunately, still judges people based on those codes.
As an aspiring teacher, I need to be mindful that not all my students know this code, so I have to learn to celebrate who they are while teaching them the tools they need to be successful. Delpit's example of Martha Demientieff, a native Alaskan teacher, actually shows what that could look like. She didn't make her students feel like their way of speaking was wrong; instead she called it “Our Heritage Language” and put it right next to “Formal English” on the board, treating both as real and valid. She compared it to the difference between a picnic and a formal dinner where it’s the same people but different settings and different rules. I want to work on having this balance. I want to teach my students that they do not have to give up who they are, but different spaces have different expectations.
Attached is an interesting video regarding “code switching ”. It explains how you must change your demeanor to fit the situation at hand. It helps you fit in without changing who you are. It helped me understand what Delpit was trying to teach us regarding her code.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sncGGjaYJ5I&pp=ygUYQ29kZSBzd2l0Y2hpbmcgZWR1Y2F0aW9u
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