Journal #3
In Vinz, chapters 3 and 4 I found myself comparing a lot of what went on in these classrooms with my own experience. I liked the discussion on pages 68 and 69 in the section titled Working with Oppositional Stances. Juliette LaMontagne points out that students use “words as weapons o power, an affirmation of what the speaker is not and likewise a commentary on otherness.”
She goes on to give the example of Jason’s dismissal of the Ibo justice system as a way of declaring his own position as an American and amplifying the “otherness” and therefore the inferiority of the Ibo way.
Having worked in multicultural classrooms, this has been an ongoing struggle. I find myself stopping discussions frequently to make sure the students understand that different is not inherently inferior. What bugs me is that I sometimes catch myself doing it from the position of, “C’mon, you gotta make allowances for some people/cultures/etc. because they don’t have the education/technology/etc. that we do.” While that is undoubtedly true, it smacks of the very attitude of superiority that I am trying to dispel.
As for Vinz, on page 85 she comments on the student discussion from earlier in the chapter. One technique I liked is one she highlights, specifically how Robert challenged Edward. I am not shy about challenging students, especially when they are walking the tightrope between what is acceptable in my room and what is inappropriate or disrespectful of others. The idea of creating “space” by stopping the discussion for a while and having the students write about a character’s motivations is good. I think it helps re-direct their thoughts back to the text and moves them toward an understanding of context without, as Vinz says, “...normalizing the reference group in the interpretation.”
I especially appreciated the distinction she makes in the last part of the chapter between discussions being “events” and “artifacts” of meaning. Building meaning is a continuum, and students should be able to look at their involvement with a book like a timeline, and our discussions are just individual dots on that line. With luck, they will be able to chart their own development through the discoveries they made while reading, writing, and discussing.
About Me
- Joe Deckenbach
- I retired from corporate America six years ago in order to teach real world communication skills. It is the most demanding and rewarding work ever.
2 comments:
I was struck by the comment about working with students to understand different cultures. As a teacher of the Colonial Era in America, I have explored with student Native American societies, and African empires and tried to figure out how history turned out as it did. "Germs, Guns, and Steel" has been a great help in providing me with one explanation.
In class and again in this article you mention the idea of stopping and having students go back to the text and write more. I don't do as much of this and it seems as if it would be a good tool for me to add.
Byron
I, too, struggle mightily with how to deal with cultural values. How can we help students see that their perspective on the world is shaped by their culture, which has a strong influence on their morals, and that we need to be wary of ethnocentrism—without degenerating into cultural relativism? Aren’t there some absolutes of right and wrong in the end? Maybe your phrase of “making allowances” is not quite the right one, but I’m not sure I have a ready replacement.
Finally, I like your point about the continuum of meaning making.
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