Double Journal Entry #3

Quote

“Mainstream America’s intolerance of language varieties extends to the classroom, where dialect is pitted against Standard English.  The classroom creates a dichotomy of good and bad, poor and proper, and correct and incorrect with home voices always falling short of the standard.”  (Epstein & Herring-Harris, 2011)

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I chose this quote because I have experienced it many times.  My dialect has been judged as wrong and uneducated, and I completely disagree with the notion that Appalachian dialect is bad and poor.  I don’t believe there is such a thing as a right way to talk.  You are going to talk based on your upbringing and the people around you.  The people that you spent the majority of time with in first few years of your life are more than likely going to be who you inherent your dialect after. 

One thing I learned from the article about teaching literacy development is to let students use their informal speech in class.  You should never tell them that their way of speaking is wrong or bad.  You could create a situation where the student has lowered self-esteem and is afraid to talk for fear that they will be judged.  A second thing I learned from this article was how to use code switching as a way to transition from Appalachian dialect to Standard English.  Students are more likely to learn Standard English if they can see the relationship between it and their own dialect.  A third thing I learned from the article was ways to help students identify dialect patterns throughout their community and the surrounding communities.  I think this is a great way to show students that everyone talks different depending on where they’re from, and that they shouldn’t be ashamed of how they talk.

In high school I had an English teacher who was very ineffective with literacy instruction.  A majority of our class assignments was to read a poem and story and then we discussed it in class.  She was constantly correcting grammar instead of listening to what students were saying. Personally, it made me very self-conscious and made me not want to speak in class.  She didn’t care what I was saying, just how I said it, and it gave me a negative feeling about literacy.

When I was a senior in high school I took a college English class.  The experience with that class and that teacher was completely different from my previous experiences.  That professor came in the first day and told us he was not teaching grammar and we would not be graded on it.  He believed we talk how we talk and we can’t change it; he was more concerned with what we had to say.  This was a very positive experience and motivated me to want to write.

I believe there is a relationship between the code switching strategy and inclusive practices.  Code switching is a process that everyone can participate in.  It gives students a sense of belonging because everyone is doing it and everyone talks like they do.  It  also gives all students a feeling of safety when talking or writing because the teacher has stated that no one’s dialect is bad or wrong. 

Resource

Epstein, P., & Herring-Harris, L. (2011, September 15). Honoring dialect and increasing student performance in standard english . Retrieved from http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/3655

Other Source

Below is the link to a blog post about how common core standards effect Appalachian dialect.

Blog

Resource

Crotteau, M. (2011, October 28). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://connect.nwp.org/english-language-learners-network/blog/7809/appalachian-english-speakers-and-not-so-subtle-messages-common-core-standards