Week 1
"I can be neither for Ebonics or against Ebonics any more than I can be for or against air (or Oxygen as stated by Professor Stevens in class today with respect to technology). It exists. It is the language spoken by many of our African-American children. It is the language they heard as their mothers nursed them and changed their diapers and played peek-a-boo with them. It is the language through which they first encountered love, nurturance, and joy" (Delpit 17). Allow this blog to serve as a technological book club for the members of the Real Ebonics Debate. As well as a wonderful fishbowl discussion for which the members of ED 447 Literacy and Assessment in the Secondary School can participate through reading.
From what I have noticed thus far in the reading (through page 76), we can break down the Ebonics debate into a few discussions:
1. What was the effectiveness of the Oakland school board's approval of the Ebonics Resolution?
2. What was the effect of the media upon the Ebonics Debate? Clearly not a positive effect, but to what extent? How does this relate to the response from Academia and Leadership, especially Black Academia and Leadership? We see an extremely unlikely response from people such as Jesse Jackson, Maya Angelou, bell hooks, Toni Morrison, and the liberal community, how so?
3. Is Ebonics a separate language from English? Is it a dialect? Is this even an important discussion to be having? Generally, what is Ebonics for those who are unfamiliar with it and how does it function? What is the aspectual be? The stressed been? Multiple negation? Adjacency/context in possessives? Postvocalic /r/ deletion? Copula absence? Camouflaged and other unique lexical forms?
4. How does whiteness function in this debate?
5. What was the response from educators? What should teachers do?
I hope that these questions and insights can offer us a starting point for the Great Debate! I look forward to your thoughts.
-Matt
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Matt,
ReplyDeleteThis is a wonderful way to begin educating others as well as having meaningful conversation about 'Ebonics'. I look forward to contributing to this blog. Thanks for getting it started.
I think, and we talked about this too, that the main problem stemming from the Ebonics Debate in the Oakland school system, comes from serious misunderstandings. I think Matt said it well that they were not trying to teach Ebonics, but use it as a tool to help students be successful in learning standard "school" English. The media really ignored this point and lashed out at the educators for flat out teaching Ebonics, which wasn't what they were doing at all; the kids already knew Ebonics.
ReplyDeleteAs a potential teacher, I don't see how it so devastating to use tools in the classroom that will help our students meet the standards that have been set for them. It's like someone's saying "He's where you have to be but don't expect much help getting there."
Also, Matt, the blog and the link are amazing! Well done.
Hi it's Emily...
ReplyDeleteMatt, WOW thanks so much for putting this together!
One the things that immediately struck me while reading the beginning of the book is how outraged everyone was over something that has been proven to work -- using a student's L1 to teach/learn L2. I feel as a teacher I do whatever it takes to get my kids to learn -- if I have to call Macbeth a badass to get them to see my point then so be it; if I have to use Ebonics I would totally stink at it but I would be willing to try if it meant helping my students to learn.
One thing we discussed on the first day was how people who need to read this book won't. We're all teachers or studying to be teachers and so we aren't as enraged over the debate -- we get it! Unfortunately it seems that those who don't get it won't get it as they are highly unlikely to pick up this book and educate themselves... they're too busy worrying about everyone else's education.