Prompt 4: Delpit

Most of the students in my classroom come from poverty and are either Hispanic or African American. Due to the difference in personal backgrounds I have found myself caught off guard on more than one occasion.I grew up in a white, middle class, education oriented household. I attended catholic school until the eighth grade and understood the rules before they were spoken. My father was in the Navy and my mother was a stay at home mom. They “protected” me from life as long as they could. I left college a couple years in and began working full time. The restaurant business quickly opened my eyes to the melting pot of America. My life thus far has taught me that learning never ceases, all people have something to say, and all people want to be heard. Thus, when my students try to throw me for a loop I listen, ask questions, and question them (still waiting on a rebuttal).
I have learned a lot of educational theories this semester. Lisa Delpit has helped me out immensely in the classroom, considering I entered this new environment without the knowledge of its particular rules or traditions. Without her article, I could totally see myself being the white liberal teacher she is so weary of. I feel extremely ignorant admitting this, but I never would have thought to treat kids differently based on cultural backgrounds. Though through my observations I can clearly see that there has to be an individual assessment of where each child is coming from before you are able to address them and have them understand. Delpit said that explaining the rules makes it easier for those who are unfamiliar to understand and thus gain power. Her theory has given me a new way to approach situations such as the fight that had broken out over a game of go fish. The teacher was in the opposite corner of the room testing a student so I asked the kids to tell me what they thought the rules were to the game. They each explained their case and when I finished listening I told them I understood the problem to be that they all had different opinions on what the rules actually were. The biggest problem they were running into was with a little girl named Joy who they believed to be cheating. They told her to “go away because we don’t like playing with you” and she sat there confused, on the brink of tears. Empowered by Delpits article I stood up and dictated new rules to the game and ensured that everyone understood them before getting back to my tutoring. This put everyone back on the same playing field and enabled the students to continue playing together. Joy payed particular attention to what I had said and became the authority on the rules as she refereed each round.
My only true misconception going into the class was that all cultural groups should be approached with the same regard. There are certain phrases, stories, and words that were part of my life growing up, but when brought up to contextualize something for them were lost on them. I needed to stop making assumptions and start listening to how they contextualized their lessons and readings.Empowering students can be as simple as understanding where it is they are coming from and helping them to understand what is valued in the environment. While trying to help them, they helped me. They shared the rules of their classroom and put me at ease in the weeks to come.