Teaching is Telling . . . NOT!
Gloria Ladson-Billings (1994)details her observations of four different teachers. Three of the teachers are experienced, and demonstrate the culturally relevant teaching practices she argues for in her article, and, the other, a student-teacher, does not.
Ladson-Billings' research is completed within the much larger context of literacy education. The literacy of which we speak here is not limited to simple reading and writing skills. When the author speaks of literacy, she is talking about the knowing, understand, and developing an ability to negotiate the complex cultural waters of formal education, the kind that is required by law -- educational literacy.
Teaching is not Telling
In the end, Ladson-Billings concludes teaching someone something, fostering literacy to the greatest degree, is not the same as telling someone something. This is such a simple observation, but one that is full of implications. Telling someone something activates a very specific paradigm, one in which the authority rests solely with the teller. They are the knower, professing their knowledge to the uninitiated, ignorant masses.
Such a stance creates an almost antagonistic relationship between the teacher and student, as well as between student and subject matter. Ladson-Billings argues that teaching means extending, moving "students to newer learning after establishing what they know and are able to do" (p. 125). Walsh, the student teacher the author observes, makes the mistake of not connecting the material he is attempting to teach to his students' prior knowledge, and because of this, the students refuse to invest themselves in the process, and, in fact, openly rebel against the process as it is presented to them by listening to headphones during instruction, looking out the window, or poking one another with pencils.
In teaching students to read, one of Ladson-Billings' participants, asks students "what they thought the text meant and what connections they could make between the text and their own lives" (p. 124). Such a question, and a paradigm for instruction, moves the authority for the text and the material learned beyond the teacher herself, and grants student authority over the meaning being made during the lesson. Students are gifted with authority, and this gift compels them to invest themselves in the activity.
Ladson-Billings also addresses the atmosphere in a culturally relevant classroom. She argues the "focus of the classroom must be instructional" (p. 124). She argues that student must come to understand the dynamic AND serious nature of the learning process, where "instruction is foremost" (p. 124). The experienced teachers in Ladson-Billings's study use a number of methods to send this message to students. For Rossi, her high-energy, fast-paced classroom leave little time or opportunity for off-task behaviors. Lewis turns necessary reprimands into teachable moments, while Devereaux insists that the reading period is "sancrosanct." In each of these cases, a serious message is sent to student regarding the expectations placed upon them in a learning environment.
Ladson-Billings approaches her research from a critical stance. She addresses issues of power, knowledge, and politics in her research, and argues forcefully for legitimizing students' own knowledge in her assessment of culturally-relevant teaching. In fact, she finds: (1) "when students are treated as competent, they are likely to demonstrate compentence" (p. 124); (2)when students are scaffolded, they can "move from what they know to what they need to know" (p. 125). Both of these findings ask educators to reevaluate their conceptions of student knowledge, and who, ultimately, owns the keys to a mastery of knowledge and skills.
Ladson-Billings' research is completed within the much larger context of literacy education. The literacy of which we speak here is not limited to simple reading and writing skills. When the author speaks of literacy, she is talking about the knowing, understand, and developing an ability to negotiate the complex cultural waters of formal education, the kind that is required by law -- educational literacy.
Teaching is not Telling
In the end, Ladson-Billings concludes teaching someone something, fostering literacy to the greatest degree, is not the same as telling someone something. This is such a simple observation, but one that is full of implications. Telling someone something activates a very specific paradigm, one in which the authority rests solely with the teller. They are the knower, professing their knowledge to the uninitiated, ignorant masses.
Such a stance creates an almost antagonistic relationship between the teacher and student, as well as between student and subject matter. Ladson-Billings argues that teaching means extending, moving "students to newer learning after establishing what they know and are able to do" (p. 125). Walsh, the student teacher the author observes, makes the mistake of not connecting the material he is attempting to teach to his students' prior knowledge, and because of this, the students refuse to invest themselves in the process, and, in fact, openly rebel against the process as it is presented to them by listening to headphones during instruction, looking out the window, or poking one another with pencils.
In teaching students to read, one of Ladson-Billings' participants, asks students "what they thought the text meant and what connections they could make between the text and their own lives" (p. 124). Such a question, and a paradigm for instruction, moves the authority for the text and the material learned beyond the teacher herself, and grants student authority over the meaning being made during the lesson. Students are gifted with authority, and this gift compels them to invest themselves in the activity.
Ladson-Billings also addresses the atmosphere in a culturally relevant classroom. She argues the "focus of the classroom must be instructional" (p. 124). She argues that student must come to understand the dynamic AND serious nature of the learning process, where "instruction is foremost" (p. 124). The experienced teachers in Ladson-Billings's study use a number of methods to send this message to students. For Rossi, her high-energy, fast-paced classroom leave little time or opportunity for off-task behaviors. Lewis turns necessary reprimands into teachable moments, while Devereaux insists that the reading period is "sancrosanct." In each of these cases, a serious message is sent to student regarding the expectations placed upon them in a learning environment.
Ladson-Billings approaches her research from a critical stance. She addresses issues of power, knowledge, and politics in her research, and argues forcefully for legitimizing students' own knowledge in her assessment of culturally-relevant teaching. In fact, she finds: (1) "when students are treated as competent, they are likely to demonstrate compentence" (p. 124); (2)when students are scaffolded, they can "move from what they know to what they need to know" (p. 125). Both of these findings ask educators to reevaluate their conceptions of student knowledge, and who, ultimately, owns the keys to a mastery of knowledge and skills.
posted by CA Lund at 9:26 AM
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