Prompt #5 - DELPIT

Imagine that you are the teacher of this classroom. What challenges might you encounter in collaborating with the parents of your students? How might you address these challenges? How might you demonstrate respect for the concerns or contributions of parents?



As the teacher of this classroom, I would need to come up with a way to communicate with parents. The classroom that I tutor in is a bilingual classroom. All of the children are English Language Learners, and all the children come from a Hispanic background. Therefore, I will need to communicate with the parents or guardians of my students in Spanish. Since I also come from a Hispanic background (my mom is Hispanic and my father is Italian), I believe that the parents will feel comfortable in communicating with me.

Communication is key in a classroom, as well as the work place, and anywhere in society. Without communication, what will hold things together? Without parent-to-teacher communication, a classroom will not run as smoothly. As a teacher, you must learn about your students’ personal life, to a certain extent, that is.

If I were the teacher in this classroom, I would demonstrate respect the concerns and contributions of the parents by having a "Parent Appreciation Week". During the week, the children will create books, letters, and songs especially for their parents. A new project or assignment done by the child to honor the parent will be sent home every afternoon for the parents. All of this will lead up to a special "Parent Appreciation Party" on Friday afternoon. All the parents would be invited to come to the cafeteria from 3:30-5:30 pm where I will have provided refreshments, tables, and student work displayed. During this time, the parents will have an opportunity to talk to one another and talk to me as well. I think that having this special time will make the parents feel even more comfortable and able to talk to me about anything throughout the course of the year. This time would also break that barrier of the teacher having more power over the parent. The parents’ voices, as well as their children’s voices, are just as important.

Theorist Lisa Delpit believed that a silenced dialog exists between white teachers and African American teachers. This can also be true parents and teachers. As a minority parent, they may feel much under the head teacher in classroom and therefore will be shy and not talk to the teacher. As a teacher in a classroom, you must break that tense border between you and the parents of your students.

Lisa Delpit also stated that the cultures between black and white educators do not match. Because of this, they will rarely be on the same page about decisions. The same thing is true between parents and teacher relationships. In this classroom, though, we would all be on the same page. Given that I connect on a personal level with each and every parent, they will feel more comfortable and level with me.

In The SIlenced Dialog, Delpit said that we must not teach as if English is more superior to the other language (in this case, Spanish). In doing this, you are inadvertently saying that you, the English speaker, is more superior to the Spanish speaking person. In my bilingual classroom, I would treat both languages with equal importance!