Week 2

Where does the problem of poor teaching that does not provoke change lie? Is it in the standards the government has set for teachers to "teach to" or is it in the training of the teachers? This question was raised in lecture last week and we could not come to a general consensus. It is true that the standards provided by the government make it difficult for teachers to having meaningful learning occur in their classrooms that could provide for a "change" in the future. I personally think that teachers teach largely on how they were taught or how their teaching role models teach. In Other People's Children, Delpit identifies that "the majority of teachers tend to model their teaching on methodological orientations taught in teacher education or on other practicing teachers they have encountered" (Delpit 116). I found this interesting and very true. This emphasizes the need to have improvements made in teacher education since it is one of the main sources for knowledge of teaching.

Delpit discusses how universities do not prepare teachers to teach students of color but rather they prepare teachers to teach the white population of their schools. It needs to be taught that more connections need to be made between teachers and students with less focus on the decontextualization that white people generally have in literature. Delpit says there is too much focus on the words and not enough consistency between words and actions. Some cultures communicate more through actions than white people do, so this would be a way to differentiate instruction to benefit students of color. It was very interesting to read her thoughts on this, for I had never made the connection concerning relationships, contextualization, and how this affects how students learn. I am a firm believer that younger generations today lack in face-to-face social skills mostly due to communication through technology increasing. This could be addressed and improved if teachers work to create better and more meaningful relationships and personal connections with their students. These relationships could help students enjoy school as the teacher may be able to use those relationships as a tool for teaching and helping students make connections between material and real life situations.