Richard Rodriquez
gives a very honest portrayal of himself that almost seems to border on
pessimistic. His critique of his private versus his public identity and
persona made me think about how teachers and students act and perceive
themselves in school and outside of school. This week I began applying
for new jobs in Wisconsin since I am moving there (as of next week I will no
longer be a South Dakota resident) and one of the school districts I was
applying to required that I take a survey. This survey took about 40
minutes and asked me three sets of questions, one of which was a preference
section that gave me a scenario and I had to pick my most likely response from
a set of multiple choice prompts. One of the common questions was how much
to share with students about your own (teacher's) life, emotions and private
persona. I did not have a lot of time to respond to each prompt (50
seconds per) but it really made me think afterward considering they asked me
that same questions a handful of times in different ways. I like to think
that I share my emotions with my class because a personal emotions can affect a
group and I want students to understand my happiness, frustration, anxiety with
how it relates to school but I do not think a teacher should "unload"
their emotional baggage on students. That is inappropriate and
unprofessional. But as I was relating my thoughts back to Rodriquez and
how important his teachers were to his academic development, I wondered if
maybe I am just someone who is too personal.
It is crucial for teachers to set boundaries and make it clear that they are
not students’ friends but rather a trusted adult that can and should be
available to talk. I like to get to know my students because when I
understand my students and they begin to find a comfort with me we can learn a
lot more easily because we have built a trusted relationship. Richard
talks about how he looked up to his teachers/ nuns at his catholic school
because he saw what he wanted to be, but yet he did not know them. So I
wonder, how personal does a teacher-class relationship need to be? And
how would you respond to sharing your private life in your public life at
school?
At the
same time I was annoyed and frustrated with myself for not realizing how much
English as a Second Language students give up and sacrifice to become “educated”
in our assimilating school system.
Language is a main component to a student’s family cultural and private
development and it seemed like Rodriquez immediately lost his identity with his
family and culture when he entered school and had to learn English like his
teachers. I grew up in a very diverse
town with many races, religions, economic status and so forth, but I realize
that is not the norm for many people.
Culture has never been a boundary to me, but rather interesting parts to
the people I met and became friends, peers and classmates with. I was blind to a lot of the cultural changes
that some of my fellow students had to face because I did not have to deal with
them. Rodriguez’s book was very
captivating and thought-provoking and I hope to read more books like his that
open my eyes to more parts of teaching and people that I had not
considered.
I’m curious because I have not had that much experience
with ESL students, how much of what we teach is assimilating and detrimental to
students acceptance in both private and public spheres and how much is just
teaching them a new language so they can open up either spheres? How much are we asking students to sacrifice
in our ESL programs, or have the drastically changed since Rodriquez was a
student? I would hope as a time went on
and as more students like Rodriquez moved through our education system that we
would start to realize that students’ language is a powerful part of them that
needs to be cherished and understood before we begin to ask them to learn a new
language and its norms that come along with it.
From my own limited experience with ESL students, I recall one
experience in particular that I kept revisiting while reading the book about an
ESL teacher confronting a family’s culture.
At lunch this teacher was venting about how she was struggling to get
this one student to listen to her because in their culture women do not hold
positions of power or high levels of respect.
She asked the student’s parents to come in so she could talk with them
and get an understanding of how the student could be reached. Her frustration came from confronting a
rivaling cultural expectation; the father was the same way as the son and did
not hold the teacher’s comments in a high regard. When two cultures clash it is hard to stay
open to learning new ways or finding a middle ground, but I wonder, now, what
our ESL programs and teachers are being taught for our students who are
battling this equilibrium.
Hi Sarah! It’s good to work with you again!
ReplyDeleteIn your first sentence, you mention that Rodriguez’s portray of himself is almost pessimistic. I hadn’t necessarily thought about it in this way, but I agree with you. Rodriguez takes an almost melancholy tone in describing his childhood and schooling. I found this to be beautiful and strangely relatable. I don’t necessarily think of myself pessimistically, but I am introspectively critical. Memoirists often try to pull the best from even the most negative experiences, but I think Rodriguez gives a more balanced, realistic portrayal of himself and how his experiences have shaped him.
It’s interesting that Rodriguez’s text made you think of the extent to which an educator should reveal his or her private self in the classroom. I guess I didn’t even really consider this - probably because when I think of parochial teachers in the 1960s, I imagine them being very straight-laced and not very open with their students. How might Rodriguez’s educational life have been different if he would have realized that perhaps there’s some room for one’s public and private spheres to meld? In the Aries reading from Cycle 1, we learned that long ago, there wasn’t much separation between a person’s “spheres” (educational, familial, religious, etc.), but as the world of academics evolved and progressed, this came to be the case. In the 1960s, when Rodriguez was growing up, I think this was particularly true. However, times have changed, and I think it’s more acceptable (and certainly healthier, from my 2014 perspective) to have some balance.
You ask how personal a teacher-class relationship should be. Actually, this is something that I struggled with when I was student teaching. I think many young teachers struggle with sharing too much. I shared just about nothing with my students and wouldn’t loosen up at all. I was an effective teacher and the students did seem to like me well enough, but looking back on it, it seemed robotic. On the last day of student teaching, my mentor teacher told me what a great teacher I was, but subtly hinted never to forget the power of humor and personal stories. When I started a long-term sub job the week after, I spent the first day telling students about myself and playing an ice-breaker game with all of them. I could tell by the end of that day that I’d established a positive rapport and started to create a nurturing classroom environment that would make school a better experience for me and my students.
Now, whenever I get a chance, I try to share tidbits about myself and encourage students to do the same. Of course, as you mention, it’s always appropriate (and oftentimes related to English and my love of literature because I’m a dork), but I think it helps students to see that teachers are people and not just professionals (and it helps to show that we see the same in them).
(continued...)
I don’t teach ESL students, but I was also wondering about how our bilingual and ESL programs have changed to reflect that we now understand the cultural weight that is carried with knowledge of a different language. I think that merely going in to teaching ESL students with the mindset that a native language is important and not just an obstacle to “overcome” has probably helped a lot. However, I can imagine that it is probably very difficult for teachers to do this in practice in areas where a.) The second language is used almost exclusively in the “private sphere” b.) Economic depression is prevalent and schooling is perhaps not a priority among families and c.) Past school failure has led the administration (perhaps even a state “emergency” administration, as is the case in many places in Michigan) to be hyper-focused on curriculum. It’s hard enough to provide an effective bilingual education (or even sensitive ESL education) where resources are readily available. Obviously it’s not impossible, but it would be interesting to see cases where this is being done effectively.
ReplyDeleteYour last example of the student/parent who would not respect a female teacher was really interesting. To what extent can we honor a cultural difference in our school system when that cultural difference a.) Contrasts what we, in our culture, hold to be a basic human right (equality for women) and b.) Threatens to interfere directly with a student’s learning? I believe in valuing cultural differences and working against ethnocentrism. But when any two cultures meet and expect to move forward in any way, there has to be some sort of compromise. This is difficult when whatever’s in question dips into “moral” territory.
I just got the midterm for this class, and I think it’s really cool that we’re asked to respond to a hypothetical scenario. It would be neat if undergrads in ESL (or maybe all education undergrads) had to try to respond to scenarios like the one you listed. I’m not exactly sure how I would break ground on the issue, but it’s interesting to think about.
Danielle
Hi Sarah,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post and the responding dialogue it created. Great job!
So you are on the move again--that's what I guessed from your initial post, though I wasn't sure. Now to WI. That survey sounds kind of scary. I hate having to choose from canned choices. So much depends. I'm like you, I want to open up, but I realize, of course, there are limits.
I do think that question of how much to share is very appropriate for this book, because Richard takes a strong stance that a classroom is not a family and cannot provide the intimacy of a family. A classroom is a public place and one must learn a public identity there.
What does that mean for teachers? There is quite a bit of literature on how the US elementary teacher is modeled on the mother/social worker image, whereas in France, for example, it is much more the father/civil servant of the state image. One really allows emotion and feeling and the other, to be blunt, doesn't.
But I wonder how much that confuses kids like Richard. We come on caring but the, at the end of the day, we still have to judge and rank them against some public standard. So I wonder if that doesn't hurt even more at the end of the day?
That, too, is kind of pessimistic, but I appreciate this take on life and education. I just think this book is so beautiful because is asks us to look at what we have lost in growing up, in becoming educated. Richard is pessimistic, because he doesn't believe you can reclaim what you lost. I think I do believe we can find something of what we lost. Call it the inner child, or whatever, but I think good teachers have it.
Thanks for your post!
Kyle