This Ted talk was very eye opening as I had never thought about what was discussed before. Jamilia made some great point about how schools and institutions do not value linguistics as they should since it is valued by many people and is part of their culture. Personally, Jamilia said she feels that her literature is powerful in her life but when she steps into a classroom her, "..Power is not valued and often stripped away". I had never thought about language in this way but I 10000% agree with her. Schools and institutions tend to have "standards" within their classrooms. For example, as mentioned by Jamilia, five paragraph essays. This is a very common standard in schools but Jamilia argued that many students have much more to say than just a simple essay. Thus goes the same for language. We emphasize "correct English" in our schools and institutions, but what English is the "correct English". We have many different dialects of every language so why can't students use black literacies?
After listening to this ted talk, I started understanding more of the change needed within our institutions, classrooms, and society in general. "Standards" should not be a thing, as mentioned in the ted talk, and instead our institutions should rethink their spaces. Students are often times taught that African American English is bad which takes away their identities.
I also really enjoyed how Jamilia had 5 principles to back up what she argues in the ted talk...
2. Agency and access- Once you understand what agency can you access? Communities?
3. Actualization- Continuous opportunities on how to know and express institutional spaces?
4. Achievement- Powerful standards for students, classrooms, and institutions (diversity)- assess both students and institutions.
5. Alteration and action- Institutions must be adaptable and accommodating.
One thing that I really took away from this ted talk:
We need to be aware of ourselves in order for there to be social justice in the world. This really stuck with me since Jamilia compared it to balancing on a bike. The balance aspect can be applied to many many social justice issues that are especially affecting and the people around us today.
I feel as though my identity is always represented and respected within the spaces I am part of. I was always taught the "correct" way to say things and never felt like my language was not represented. As far as other identities that I have, I feel as though I had many common identities with people around me and they are accepted. My pronouns are also asked frequently which makes me also feel like my identity is shared and accepted.
Christa, I love your blog. I really like the quote you chose, "power is not valued and often stripped away". These are powerful words and I agree that this can happen in our schools. The fact that "correct English" is what is taught can make some people feel less valued just because their language may be different. In my blog, I also talked about the five A's. I really liked how you explained what Jamilia meant by each one.
ReplyDeleteHi Christa I really enjoyed reading your blog and i couldn't agree more with you. We talk about in schools constantly about having to speak "correct English" but how do we really know what correct language is?! I also really enjoyed how you talked about the five principles and how you made them bold which to me makes me think these were highlights to what you learned and I did as well I also really enjoyed how you explained each one
ReplyDeleteOMG!! YASSS Christa! power is everything, I loved when spoke about that so beautiful. Its stripped away students have these skills and should be valued and she would welcomed into these spaces.
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