The first thing I thought about when reading this
book was a student I had in my second grade classroom this last year. Jessica, an eight year old student,
reminds me very much of Rodriguez.
Jessica’s family is from Mexico and is Spanish speaking, and although
Jessica is bilingual, she struggles in school due to English being her second
language. She is a quiet, shy student
who is not confident sharing her ideas. Throughout this past year I kept
thinking to myself that Jessica would be so much further along if her parents
would speak English at home. I
worked very hard with her and gave her extra attention, she received literacy
interventions, and received one-on-one support from an English as a Second
Language teacher, but without having anyone to help her practice sight words or
read books with at home due to her parents solely speaking Spanish, Jessica
struggled to close the gap this year. During informal times of the day I would
ask Jessica about her family and ask her to speak in Spanish to me. Jessica was somewhat shy, but become
especially shy when I asked her to do this. Not once during the year would she speak Spanish to me. I did not understand why, but now
wonder if she was in some way embarrassed by being different from the “gringos”
in the classroom as Rodriguez was.
I am a bit more perplexed by the predicament that Jessica was in
throughout the school year and will continue to face throughout all of her
schooling. Her situation is a
double-edged sword like Rodriguez.
If you solely focus on academics, then culture is lost. If you focus on maintaining your
culture, then academics might be more difficult. When the nuns
asked Rodriguez’ parents to speak English at home, this was a turning point in
the loss of culture Rodriguez came to know. “In an instant, they agreed to give up the language (the
sounds) that have revealed and accentuated our family’s closeness. The moment after the visitors left, the
change was observed” (Rodriguez 21).
This was the point in Rodriguez’ journey where education became more
important than family culture. I am left wondering where he would be today had
this conversation with the nuns never occurred? He might not have found as much academic success, but the
relationship with his mother and father would probably not have been strained
and the culture of his family would probably not have been lost. Is there a way to maintain culture and
be successful? Had the nuns not
asked the Rodriguez family to stop speaking their native language at home and
instead looking for better instructional strategies could Richard still have
been a successful learner? In the
district I teach, elementary teachers are slowly getting trained in Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol or SIOP. According to the cal.org website, “SIOP is a research-based
instructional model that has been proven effective in addressing the academic
need of English learned throughout the United States." Although I have not been trained yet I think it is really
wonderful that more attention is being given to English Language Learners and
effective ways to teach them.
Lisa,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your thoughts here. I thought writing on Jessica was really interesting, and it was fascinating to think about how Rodriguez’s 1950s experiences and struggles can be carried throughout the years (and still applicable) to present day. Then again, this speaks loudly to a later point of yours about the pedagogical approaches to ESL/ELL students. You mentioned SIOP which I too am not overly familiar with, but I do know we have had so many different programs “proven effective”, and yet we still find the education world struggling with how to educate these students. I certainly hope this is a program with longevity!
I thought it was really interesting that you wrote that, when the nuns asked Rodriguez’s family to start speaking English at home, that “[t]his was the point in Rodriguez’ journey where education became more important than family culture.” The writing as a whole embodies the message that education comes with powerful latent effects. As educators, I think we forget that importance of the literacies of our students that are not measured in school, and so many of those are wrapped up in the culture they live in. We often think about students’ home lives as something we need to use to help reach them (and we certainly do), but even that speaks to the fact that their culture is just a tool for us to use.
I find myself often thinking about the curriculum we present to our students and, in turn, considering the message that it sends. For example, we can go back to our intro post that focused on the students in The Wire where we see the teacher go to the book room and find brand new textbooks and an unopened computer; these items clearly are not deemed appropriate for the use of his students. There is, without a doubt, a clear message being sent about how the school views these kids which, in turn, impacts how the kids view school. And so, when I think about this and view Rodriguez’s education, what messages were being sent about his culture? Surely, his culture was not one the school valued. Is there a responsibility for us, as educators, to value this? And, the more difficult question, how is it actually done?
There are certainly curriculums students are taught in school, but I would also argue that there are curriculums at home, and those lessons are also learned in a variety of ways. The question then becomes whether or not these two curriculums--and let’s be honest, there are many more “curriculums” and types of literacy outside of school and outside of family--have to be independent of one another.
Again, thanks for your thoughts on this!
JP
Hi Lisa,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post! I enjoyed reading it!!
I loved your reflections on Jessica. You do really seem to be on to something here. One is that she was hesitant to appear different than her peers. I suppose another one that Richard suggests is that she views Spanish as a "private" language of intimacy and family, and she wasn't ready to include you in that circle yet. She doesn't yet understand that Spanish can be a public language.
Which is really interesting. If that is the case, then getting her to read academic material to you and her parents in Spanish could be really important. Not only would that involve her parents in her education, but it would help develop some attitudes toward language that would hopefully help her as she learns English.
Culture and academics can certainly seem like they are at odds. I think the goal for us as teachers--despite all the warnings and doubts Richard raises--is to find away to make both viable. To encourage flexible identities, that can be "academic" here and "home" there. To even switch things up, on occasion, and how Jessica and the class that Spanish can be a classroom language too!
Great post that really gets at some key issues!
Kyle