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Discussion post 4-2

What are your takeaways from the Daniels article on white women teachers and raciolinguistic ideologies?

11 thoughts on “Discussion post 4-2”

  1. Mina Collado says:

    My takeaways from Daniels’ article is that we should just start hiring people of color as teachers because even after that whole lil experiment (a combo of critical discourse analysis and discourse analysis), the white teachers maybe felt bad for like a total of .5 seconds but then went onto saying that this is what POC students need to learn to speak like white people if they want to be in a place of power in their future (page 11 Kylie directly says this which is so sick). I genuinely expected these teachers to understand where they did wrong, but it was like they still didn’t understand after all that. I feel bad for Daniels because she probably had to have so much patience with them.

    Additionally, I learned about a few different people as well here- to list a few that stood out, Foucaudian and Picower caught my eye. Picower is the person who explained how whiteness protects itself and therefore white teachers from perspectives that might reshape their understanding of racism and oppression (3)! And Picower right! Literally these teachers are so oblivious to why speaking to colored people differently is actually condescending and telling them they have to talk white to get further in life is racist af. Oblivious because they are protected by their whiteness; or should I say, too blinded to see anything outside of themselves.

    Personally as a kid I always wished for another spanish speaking/afrolatina teacher person like myself and I can imagine a lot of other kids wanted to see people from their race that understood them too. Students need teachers that believe you can succeed the way you are, no matter how you speak or where you’re from. That’s how I feel although that wasn’t asked.

    1. Tuvi Voorhees says:

      While I agree with you that we need more teachers of color in education and that it is important that children of color see people like them in these roles, I don’t think it is a practical solution to only have teachers of color teach children of color and vice versa. I think the better solution is for teachers of any background to accept and encourage children to be authentically themselves in any situation and to accept that authenticity (in language and everything else) as valid. This is a very useful contribution. Thank you for posting.

  2. Carlos Wil says:

    Daniel’s article contributes to the linked advantages of Whiteness in society and the creation of the “invisiblized” norm through code-switching. The four teachers represent the white listening subject that enforces the raciolinguistic ideologies by teaching their students of color to code-switch from their native “inferior” language to a standardized colonial “proper” language. The teachers perceive that code-switching would afford their students’ societal and academic advantages. Based on the demographic data, majority of the students were Latino, Asian, and Black race which reemphasizes the raciolinguistic aspect of the study in which the teachers would try to separate language from race to create this “invisiblized” norm through code-switching. The research also shows how Whiteness is being preserved through systemic teaching.

    The teaching of English language to students should be used to leverage academic development and not used as a byproduct of racial positioning in society or as a means of division. It is almost as though the ideology of Whiteness is all that is important in a society when it’s actually being used as an control mechanism.

  3. Chayanne Vasquez says:

    Daniel’s article was very intriguing, some things definitely caught my attention.

    The teachers taught code-switching because they believed it would help students of color succeed in school and their future careers. Nonetheless, they didn’t always realize how their own background as white teachers could affect their students’ learning. This made it harder to see if there were any unintended negative effects. While the teachers shared their own language experiences to connect with students and stressed the importance of code-switching for their future career or schooling, this personal approach, might have improved relationships, but it did not meet the needs of a diverse group of students…It was striking to observe how the teachers grappled with a genuine concern for avoiding the perpetuation of racist patterns while teaching students to code-switch, acknowledging the potential negative racial implications of their actions. Yet, they consistently enforced the expectation that students engage in code-switching in academic settings. This commitment was especially notable given the teachers’ inclination to challenge other administrative policies within their classrooms, “all four teachers regularly resisted many of the expectations or demands of their administrations within the confines of their own classrooms.” (166). This suggests that, for these teachers, code-switching was considered a non-negotiable aspect of their instructional approach, one that they prioritized over potentially conflicting viewpoints or practices within the educational system.

    The teachers’ instructional approach was guided by two pivotal ideological beliefs. Firstly, they centered their instruction on what THEY believed students of color ‘NEEDED’ to learn, without fully considering what might be crucial given their own racial identities.

    Secondly, they drew from their personal language experiences, which downplayed the impact of their whiteness and overlooking the connection between race and language. This shows the nuanced dynamic in how white teachers navigate language instruction for students of color, balancing their apprehensions with their perceived obligation to encourage code-switching into standard English.

      1. Chayanne Vasquez says:

        I think that in order to create a more inclusive and educational environment, a good place to start is by actively incorporating diverse content into the curriculum to better represent the different backgrounds that students might have. I think that selecting materials and resources from a range of cultural backgrounds can ensure that certain /specific cultures are accurately and respectfully represented. Another thing could be fostering open lines of communication between teachers, students, and parents and offering resources and support for students to develop their code-switching skills, and advocate for policies that promote inclusivity!!

  4. Joselee Santos says:

    My takeaways from the Daniels article on white women teachers and raciolinguistic ideologies are on how they would teach “ students of color”. The article by Daniel states “ In relying on these assumptions, however, the teachers largely ignored the impact of their own Whiteness on their students’ learning experiences. The teachers focused exclusively on what they believed their students of color needed—not on what they believed students of color might need from White teachers”. This proves to me as a reader that “ colored students’ ‘ were reminded to speak “ proper English’ ‘ or singled out to try harder in school because of their color. These white teachers are justifying what colored students need. They didn’t acknowledge how much a white woman teacher impacted colored students. For example the article states that Amy states “Teachers are preparing students for college and if students use this language in college then they’re gonna be seen as a low income student. We don’t want to silence students but we need to prepare them for the job market and college”. How are they so sure their student will look like a low-income student or silenced student? These students are freshmen in highschool. Teachers don’t know what their students “need” in their life to be successful just because of their color. That justification is completely wrong.

  5. Grace Valette says:

    This article definitely stirred up a lot of thoughts in my head. I think with all the good intent that the white women teachers had, they still couldn’t find a good solution as to not teach code-switching in the classroom. The article was written to show how four different white women teachers taught code switching in their classrooms and, despite their feelings about not wanting to be racist or have their Whiteness affect the way they taught their students, consequently, it did. Daniels explains the point of view of the teachers and their reasoning for using code switching in the classroom. First of all, all the teachers expressed that it was put in the curriculum that they had to teach code switching so it wasn’t really a choice. They said they taught it as they thought it was needed in the classroom, not based on what the curriculum said as to try to be better about not having their Whiteness be a factor while they teach. Secondly, the examples the teachers gave of their reasoning for why they taught code switching were all very similar, basically, they all thought that because of the way the school system is set up, code switching is necessary for these students to be able to further theirs educations and get to a point where they can create a change in the system and these policies. Although, they had good intentions, their Whiteness still played a role in how they taught because their experiences that they explained to their students to try to relate to them and explain why they used code switching were tainted because of the fact that they’re white.

    This is a difficult topic because I see what is wrong with what these women were doing but I definitely don’t think they had any bad intentions. I think they tried their best given the circumstances but policies need to be changed as does the curriculum for real solutions to happen. It hits close to home because my mom is a teacher who works with majority ELD students and she has to teach “proper” English to her students because that is what the school says. I know she does her best to incorporate diverse cultural backgrounds into her curriculum and praise the cultures of her students but there is still a standard she has to follow and that is grammatically correct English.

    For solutions to this issue I would say teachers need to do their best to be open about their methods of teaching and be inclusive of the diversity in their classrooms. There also needs to be a change in the policies of how the code switching is taught in the classroom.

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