Blair, Alex, Tyler, G., Ryan
This page is for your group to summarize the major takeaways from our class reading, writing and discussion from the Delpit book, Other People's Children. The intent is to list and summarize key points you do not want to forget as we move forward to student teaching and beyond.
Be specific to the text and general to the major points that stick with you. Put your group's responses here.

TakeAways...

· Appreciate linguistic diversities and know how to handle them in an appropriate manner.
o Not every student that you teach was taught correct grammar and there are going to be differences in the way your students communicate. Do not assume that every child knows Standard English. Delpit suggest using role-play to get the students to speak without feeling like they are the ones being criticized. If you criticize the “character” and not the student, the student will still learn, but without hurt feelings.
· The Culture of Power
o The culture of power is the dominant culture in a school area. Many times, people in the culture of power do not know they are in it because living in such a way has become the norm. In southeastern North Carolina, many times the culture of power is the white, middle-class American. They are usually the ones to set the standards (whether knowingly or unknowingly) and comprise the majority of the teachers in the school system in this area.
· Understanding your student on a personal level and being aware of their lifestyles is very important as a teacher.
o As teachers we cannot assume anything about our students. If we know our students personally, not only will it benefit us because there will actually be a positive relationship formed, but it will also give us the incentive to make sure our methods are meeting each students need.
· Do NOT stereotype!
o Even though stereotyping is not appropriate from anyone, it is especially inappropriate for teachers. In one part of Delpit’s book she mentions how a teacher stereotyped a little girl in her class to be the “smart kid” because she was Asian –American female and supposedly they are all smart. However, this child was completely lost and the teacher was unaware because she appeared to be doing her work. The teacher never took the time to check because she just knew that the girl had to be doing it right because she was an Asian-American student. If we do this as teachers, we are going to have a lot of students fall in the gap and it will be our fault for stereotyping.
o Another type of stereotyping that Delpit discusses is the Nurturing stereotyping that occurs when “African-American girls are rewarded for nurturing behavior while white girls are rewarded for academic behavior.” (171) Once again, this is a negative stereotype that many teachers carry with them. Basically stereotyping makes teachers “learn that poor students and students of color should be expected to achieve less than their “mainstream” counterparts.” (172).
· The Affective Filter
o “The affective filter is likely to be raised when the learner is exposed to constant correction.” Constant correction of a student’s speech could possibly cause him or her to stop speaking aloud in the classroom. Delpit states that “such correction increases cognitive monitoring of speech, thereby making talking difficult.”
· This book reminds us that even our most progressive notions and tactics in the classroom, while well-meaningful, might not always be what works best. We need to be open to whatever solutions there may be, like in the case of the Bay Area Writing Project where even though the problem had good intentions that were meant to help minority students, flaws in the design of the project were creating negative results with these students yet certain educators did not want to examine the problem and find a solution which is what we should always try to do as educators.