110: Assignment 1

In many ways, “The Silenced Dialogue” stands in direct contradiction to material we learned in REACH 106 and through the GLAD program. Often times, when criticism of “progressive liberal” approaches arouse, it felt like many of the approaches to classroom management that we’ve acquired came under direct fire. This was most clear in the discussion in the article over authoritarian approaches to classroom management. The article explained that in dealing with African American students it is important to understand the culture in which those students are raised. He/she went on to explain that in such a culture, students are told explicitly what to do. Instead of giving the students directives such as “are you making a good decision?” in order to get them to perform a certain behavior, they should be told what that behavior is and demanded to do it since that is how, for many of them, they are directed to do things at home. In 106 and through the GLAD strategies, we are taught to offer the students more choices. Although we are taught through GLAD and reach that directions should be very explicit and that behavioral expectations should be clear, the enforcement of those expectations should be done authoritatively, rather than authoritatively.

This brings a number of questions into play, especially in regards to the particular community that we teach in. It appears that the point of the article is not to say that “authoritarian approaches” are best, but that approaches should be tailored to the community where you teach. Essentially, there is no one sized fits all approach to classroom management or instruction. In order to truly understand how to approach these situations in your classroom, you have to know and understand where your students come from. Although I’ve gone on numerous home visits and have participated in community functions, I am generally unsure of how parents handle my students when they go home.

I also wonder if there is a way to effectively balance being authoritative, with being authoritarian. Is there a way to provide students with choice in African American and similar communities but still express your power as the instructor? Is there a way to issue directives that are painstaking clear?

One particular area of the article that I think ties in closely with material that we’ve learned so far on reach, focuses mostly on direct instruction:

“The teacher’s role is to maintain the full attention of the group by continuous questioning, eye contact, finger snaps, hand claps and other gestures and by eliciting choral responses and initiating some sort of reward system”

I feel like through REACH, we’ve all become strong at direction instruction and generally maintaining engagement through repeated questions, choral responses and acknowledgements of student success. I also feel as if the strategies we use are inline with the article in terms of allowing students to be experts on areas they already know. I feel like I often learn from my students, as much as they learn from me. A somewhat off-topic example is with Spanish. Often students help me when I need to translate. Although that Spanish isn’t incorporated into instruction, it provides them an opportunity to share what they know.