Tonya Little

NELA Cohort II

The Diversity of Educational Life Learning by Doing: Obstacles and Successes LAW #18
Influential People in Leadership

Uzo Ogbu (May 9, John 1939 20 August 2003) was a Nigerian-American anthropologist and professor known for his theories on observed phenomena involving race and intelligence, especially how race and ethnic differences played out in educational and economic achievement

Tonya Little

NELA Cohort II

Learning By Doing: Obstacles and Successes Vignette of a powerful leader in education illustrating the obstacles and barriers he/she had to overcome to be successful.
In 1996, Ogbu played a prominent role in the debate about the utility of African American Vernacular English. As a member of a task force on African American education in Oakland, California he noted that linguists (e.g., William Labov, John Rickford, Walt Wolfram, and others) have long distinguished between the "standard" or "proper" English required in the classroom and black vernacular English spoken at home and with peers. Ogbu encouraged teachers to become familiar with and to make use of this variety (called "Ebonics" by the Oakland Unified School District) in helping speakers of African American Vernacular English acquire Standard American English in addition to their "home" variety.

Making the Connections and Pressures Against Success

Make connections to education, the inequalities and disparities.
Landmark 1979 court case (MLK Jr. Elementary school kids vs. Ann Arbor MI school board) which found that the black children in the school were being discriminated against based on their language. This decision recognized African American English or "Ebonics" as "the home language" of these children and ordered the teachers to "use knowledge of (AAE) in teaching the children how to use standard English." It set a precedent for the 1996 Ebonics controversy in Oakland, CA.

Equity Traps: Racial Erasure Deficit Model

Use knowledge and structure of African American Vernacular English (AAVE or Ebonics) in the classroom as a tool for teaching children (who are speakers of nonstandard dialects of English, such as AAVE) how to speak and use the standard American English dialect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKlmaFQniB0 Click on the video above or access the hyperlink DYSA Ebonics Controversy, Ann Arbor, MI school board

Societal, School and Other Community Forces (Agencies) That Discourage Academic Engagement

Identity Crisis

Tonya Little

NELA Cohort II

Law

#18: Do Not Build Fortresses

Is Dangerous

to Protect Yourself Isolation `

Children can't achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white
SOURCE: THE ROOT 2013-01-30
Working WITH and not AGAINST Oakland schools are using AAE to help children understand standard English. Click on the video above or go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xX1-FgkfWo8

A good and wise prince, desirous of maintaining that character, and to avoid giving the opportunity to his sons to become oppressive, will never build fortresses, so that they may place their reliance upon the good will of their subjects, and not upon the strength of citadels. (Niccol Machiavelli, 1469-1527)

REFLECTION
somebody/ anybody sing a black girl's song bring her out to know herself to know you but sing her rhythms carin/ struggle/ hard times sing her song of life she's been dead so long closed in silence so long she doesn't know the sound of her own voice her infinite beauty she's half-notes scattered without rhythm/ no tune sing her sighs sing the song of her possibilities sing a righteous gospel let her be born let her be born & handled warmly.

No Man Is An Island

WHATS MY ROLE AND HOW DO I MAKE A CHANGE?

As an educator, I have gained the tools to recognize equity traps and employ practices to circumvent them such as;
(1) Drawing on personal narratives to develop trust and honor each others assets. (2) Conduct community walks and home visits. (3) Find or develop equity audits. (4) Meet regularly with focus groups to become more informed and engaged in continuous dialogue.

-ntozake shange, for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow was enuf