Literacy Response 2.5

Let me start today's blog with a quote I find worth mentioning. Delpit states, "One of the most difficult tasks we face as human beings is communication means across our individual differences, a task confounded immeasurably when we attempt to communicate across social lines, racial lines, or lines of unequal power. Yet, all U.S. demographic data points to a society becoming increasingly diverse, and that diversity is nowhere more evident than in our schools" (p. 66).

Delpit's article was quite interesting. I found myself questioning right along with the text. "How do we become engaged and learn when we cannot connect or relate with the teacher? What do we do when we just don't understand where someone is coming from?

It appears that much of what I'm learning stems from back bone of diversity. It's at the core of who we are, we are all different. I'm personally struggling to work through it, aiming for success despite it all. Delpit addresses the social, racial, and power struggles that exist today and I want to narrow in on the struggles that some learners will face an entire lifetime. How will I as a teacher allow them to see me as a person they can connect with?

Hudson, High, and Otaiba's article on dyslexia is hard to understand for me because I cannot relate or find a bridge to connect with them in order to make meaning for myself. I see dyslexia as something people struggle with, it isn't something I've experienced first hand and I don't understand it. I work with young students everyday who struggle to get word sounds on paper, spaces in between words, and decode for understanding. While they might appear to be dyslexic at first there is a good chance they aren't because young learners typically go through this process. Learning that for some, there may come a time when this stage just never gets surpassed leaves me feeling helpless. How do I help? Why do I feel like this is the first time I'm learning about this?

At least I know what dyslexia is not. I know what it doesn't mean. I know how it will never get solved. I'm still learning, and I know I'll never be done. I will meet many students who will struggle with things I may never understand. At least I will be able to look at them through fresh lenses, without bias, and without judgement. I want to be a teacher who can see someone struggle, take necessary steps, and allow them to feel like part of a world where diversity is okay, we can communciate effectively and it will begin in school.

I can see how these articles are similar because they address how we are all different. The world is full of struggle, full of people who struggle together, and full of people who struggle differently.