Prompt #3

The teacher I work closely with has to assess the reading comprehension of her students on a bi-weekly basis. The process is extremely regimented, with testing results plugged into a Palm Pilot and sent off to be processed with the school’s official records. This technique makes it impossible for the teacher to adjust her assessments in order to respond to the linguistic, ethnic and sociocultural differences among her students.
The Palm Pilot testing leaves no room for a variety of learning styles, much like the standardized tests that have engulfed the world of education. I understand its convenience in terms of less paperwork and faster, easier grading, but it seems like a harsh approach.
After discussing these issues with my sister and mother (both teachers) I came to the conclusion that there are certain tasks that need to be committed to memory in order for any student to move forward and achieve a higher level of success. Much like Lisa Delpit discusses, there is a “culture of power” and we are responsible, as educators, for providing our students with the necessary tools to participate in this “culture of power”. One of the fundamental tools they need is a firm and complete grasp of reading and writing. Although the teacher I have been volunteering for doesn’t enjoy seeing her students struggle to meet the reading goals that have been set for them, she understands that they will be in far more trouble if they are not forced to learn the skill set. As she recently said in class, “I promise you, in third grade your teacher will not do the reading for you, so if you don’t get it down now you’ll be out of luck”.
Unfortunately in her classroom there is not much focus on the importance of their own unique dialects, cultures and, in some cases, the different languages that they speak at home. Lisa Delpit points out that we should not dismiss their rich and diverse cultures as useless, but incorporate their diversity into the basic skills they must learn. I believe even with the best intentions, teachers may find it difficult to find the time to explore their student’s diversity because they are so pressured to have their students on a certain level of achievement by a certain date.