September 29 post

As I began reading the Sleeter article I found myself getting a little mad about the assumptions that the author was making about pre-service white teachers. Being a white person myself I did not appreciate the forcefulness that I felt in her words. Granted, I could have been reading the article too harshly, and she could very well be a white, 5’5”, brown haired, 21 year-old herself, but I doubt it. In no way do I assume that students from an urban area or students of color will come in with an attitude and will not bring anything to the classroom. However, I can respect the statistics that she gives. For example, she says that “historically black institutions only represent 5% of the institutions of higher education” (2), and I believe this to be true based on observations and based on statistical facts. Yet, I think that it is wrong to write off all white institutions as a bunch of judgmental educators with closed minds that “have subordinated any interest in multicultural education” (2). Regardless, I do agree with the argument as a whole, it is important that we recruit more teachers of color because they may have different experiences or different teaching styles to add to a curriculum. I have always found diversity important, just not at the expense of bashing those who make up the majority. I did like, however, that the essay lobbied for teaching students ethnographic research skills. This is something that I was not taught in high school, and even in college it is something I just sort of figured out and was never formally taught any skills. I think if we did this with our students they would be forced to explore areas outside of their comfort level while still learning.

As for the SIOP model, I immediately had a preconceived notion about what it was because of this word “shelter.” To me, being sheltered is a bad thing and if I were going to another country, being sheltered is the last thing I want. However, I now realize that the SIOP model is much more than that, and in fact there are so many factors that go into a culture and before students can be exposed to all of them, they should focus on getting the best instruction possible so they can learn the language (even if this means they need to be sheltered in a few areas). I liked that the model stressed engagement and motivation because this is something that I feel is extremely important in any classroom. The model seems to focus on all areas of language development, and not only context, and therefore I am a supporter.