Fall 2014 -- Volume 29 #1, pgs 19-23
As soon as I logged into ReThinking Schools, the first article I saw was the one about using The Hunger Games to teach social class, and I was beyond tempted to just go with it. I kept digging around a little bit (mostly because I feel like I was takingThe Hunger Games in a slightly different direction than Marshall and Rosatti did, but I'm sure we'll come back to that), and came across an article that seems to segue beautifully from our first few discussions. Michelle Kenney, a white, middle-aged language arts teacher in Portland, Oregon, makes a point of having a very important discussion with her students every single year - the "n-word talk." My first thought as I started reading the article was holy brave soul, but as I continued, I realized this is a woman who knows what she's doing. Reading about the sources, methods, and discussion techniques she uses makes me realize even more how necessary this conversation is for each of us to have with our students.
Kenney uses different forms of media (documentary videos, rap songs, talk show clips, news reports) to draw students' attention to how the n-word and its meaning have changed significantly over the years. She then asks them to reflect on this after they have discussed it at length, and to decide how they feel about using the word, along with how they feel about other people using it. What I found most powerful about this was that this white teacher had openly discussed something "taboo" with her students, an issue that they may (or may not) have thought about in depth previously, but one that they had certainly encountered in their diverse community. I wonder what this conversation would look like in my classroom. How it might differ in the classroom at Tolman that I was in last year. How it might differ if I was older, or in a different setting...but then I stop and ask myself, why?
Why should it matter where I am teaching? Do my students not hear the n-word on a daily basis in the music they listen to, the videos they watch, the friends they have? Do my students have to be able to decide whether or not they will use the n-word, and know why or why not? It would certainly be a very different conversation from the one Kenney has each year with her students, and different from the conversations that Emily Bernard has with her university students as a black professor. But it would be a conversation, out loud, in which my students would be asked to analyze and assess the n-word, its history, and its meaning. Don't I owe it to them?
I can't wait to discuss this article and all of yours on Wednesday.
Also, I came across this after our "Take a Step" activity from last class, and was going to share it with you all anyway, but I feel that as I am pondering my responsibility of teaching my students so many things I never thought I would be ready for, this is beyond appropriate, and just may become my new mantra.
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ReplyDeleteYour article caught my attention--
ReplyDeleteI think the approach of how Kenney introduced the topic and the historical context makes the topic less taboo and less degrading. Of course the use of the n-word as it was used during the Civil Rights movement (by mainly whites) was derogatory, but I think the n-word today is used as a friendly salutation or a degrading connotation simultaneously (depending on how blacks and whites use it). I think the best way to teach about the n-word is through the historical context, which has been suggested. I think that it is a powerful conversation to have in the classroom. I believe that Armstrong and Wildman would not be oppose to it either. "Race has had different meanings over time and its significance continues to fluctuate. Even word usage has evolved and keeps changing. This color insight begins by considering the different contexts that participants in the discussion of race bring it to the table" (69). Even though it stems from racial slurs-- it completely gives meaning to how culture has changed as it is redefined throughout history. The word has mutated into a word just like the use of "gay", over the past few decades. People may use these words to lessen something. I think this may be another one of those topics that students should encounter, because as you said, do they know the "true meaning?"
Pre-SED 561, my thoughts and attitude would be "Absolutely not" -- Today I would say "What would it hurt? As long as the intentions help others better themselves- put it out there on the table"
Kristina, I agree that this discussion would look very different in diverse settings. But I also think that you are right...it is a conversation that needs to take place in each and every classroom regardless on demographics. In fact, as part of teaching Of Mice and Men this Year, I want to do what Kenney does in deconstructing the n-word. But I am nervous to do so. How will the kids react? Will they understand what I am trying to do? Will it backfire? The word has evolved over the years and I think it is our job to try and relay this history and evolution to our students. Especially when (esp in my case), the literature begs for me to do so.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree, Melissa and Ken...pre-SED, my thoughts on addressing the n-word would be, "No way!"
ReplyDeleteMelissa, have you taught Mice and Men before? If so, what sorts of conversations have you had with the students when that topic comes up? The way Kenney breaks down her conversation in this article is super helpful and offers several resources for the discussion.
Ken, that was a spot-on interpretation of how the n-word is viewed today: "a friendly salutation or a degrading connotation simultaneously (depending on how blacks and whites use it)." The students in Kenney's classroom have varying opinions, and it's surprising that even some of her black students refuse to say the word out loud.
Ok, so with all the conversation around Hunger Games, and the fear of the n-word, I have to comment on another children's pop classic.........you guessed it......Harry Potter. In this 5 billion page story of young wizards, the bad guy is named....he who must not be named. It is the change agents, the young children, Harry and his friends, who start to actually say his name when it comes up ... Voldemort. Then the wise old sage Dumbledore, says something to the effect of "I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying the name."
ReplyDeleteTeaching at Central Falls HS, I have no choice but to be confronted by "the n-word" on a daily basis, my students have reached a point, where they don't even recognize that their adaption of nigger to nigga, is still inappropriate for use in school, and use the latter term constantly. As a middle-class privileged white man, I have addressed the use of the word in class, in small groups, and with individuals. These conversations have been uncomfortable, pointless, and deep and rich at various times.
What I find interesting more recently, is that the use of the word has very little to do with race, as students of all backgrounds (including white) use the word nigga to address each other with alarming frequency. Our staff, as a whole, have largely been uncomfortable with this, and even within discussions among ourselves, tend to prefer referring to students speech by "the n-word", as in "I',m so sick of walking around hearing students using the n-word all the time."
Until August 26th this year. One of our veteran teachers (a black woman who grew up in Central Falls and graduated from the HS) was asked, along with many colleagues, to read a short memoir of what teaching here means. At the end of her speech, she said her community service project was to end the use of the word nigga in school this year. She walked off stage to rousing applause, as she finally took the power of the word, as none of the white faculty were able to, and in doing so, gave us all the implied permission to address it openly as well.
So far as I have read through everyones blogs I am amazed at the diversity of our topics, but that they all relate to bringing up the tough conversations in the classroom. They mostly relate to the power of privilege and the above/below line that we have been discussing. This topic that Tina has brought up is right up there. This is such a tough conversation with so much angst around it, but it is also part of main-stream dialect, music and entertainment. I liked how both articles that Tina posted where about educating about the history of the word and having people make the conscious decision on whether or not or how they would use the word in the future. I say conscious because both these articles open up the discussion on the word nigger/nigga and its history, and that we should conscious think about the vocabulary that we choose to use on a daily basis. I think that we should alway consciously think about the words that we speak and the meanings those words have to all types and groups of people.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, Brian! Yes, that's totally right! I'd never thought about that before, but now that you've explained it, it makes SO MUCH SENSE. Leave it to J.K. Rowling...I love her even more now. Also, thanks for sharing your fellow teacher's story...I think Kenney would be proud that some teachers are finally starting to have these conversations to make a difference.
ReplyDeleteJenny, I agree - I think we all picked interesting and incredibly relevant and related topics, although they might not seem to be at first glance. Thanks for pointing out the fact that people (students, as well as teachers) need to be educated enough to make the CONSCIOUS decision and when/where/how/why they will or will not use nigger/nigga (or any loaded word, for that matter).