Other People's Children

by Lisa Delpit

Oct. 31,2007

 Hi Everyone, hope everyone is having a blessed week. Margo, these are some really good ideas.  Guys I keep forgetting the assigned pages, I am on page 103 and maybe another 20 pages before class.  Is this in the ball park?  I agree that the silenced dialogue section is a great basis for our presentation and even our paper.  There are several issues within this chapter (Silenced Dialogue) to be discussed/investigated.  Maybe we should assign each group member a section from the book to outline in which the important aspects of that section will be listed. We can choose the section we want to focus on the most based upon our outlines and which one gives us the most ideas to discuss.  We might want to include a scenario/case to give to our classmates as their assignment.  This could be in the form of role playing or dividing the class into cooperative groups to discuss issues and probable solutions.  Can we use other books to support Delpit? Margo,you can choose the coffee shop location that is most convenient for you and Marcia since you have to drive farther than Candance and I.  This is good, we are thinking about ideas so we can finish this thing and get a product.  Wow, Process vs. Product.  I almost forgot- In my technology class we are presenting our final papers via wiki.  I thought this might be a cool way for us to to present our papers and even to create them. The wiki will allow us to revise and edit the paper, this will help us tremendously when writing our section of the paper.  This way everyone can continually have an input on the paper.  We can publish the final product via wiki also so that our classmates can have access to it: They can comment and add additional information, which means we will have an ongoing project even after the class is over.  Just and idea, what do you guys think? 

I totally love the idea of writing the paper on this site. That way, we can all have the paper in front of us, and just edit and add stuff at will. How much time will each book group have to present? Are we talking an hour or what? Once we know how much time we have, I think we can settle on a method of presentation. I have a book that supports Delpit. It's called Identity Development of Diverse Populations. Although it focuses on higher education, I think it applies just as well to k-12, but especially secondary education. I will bring it to class tomorrow.  Margo

after reading the "Silenced dialogue" I'm thinking that it would be a good essay/excerpt for the class to read.  It seems to definitely talk back to Murray in a way that other readings haven't. Then again I've only read through to page 90 maybe there are some other sections that are better.  Any thoughts? -c

Read pp.152-183, two essays, "The Politics of Teaching Literate Discourse" and "Education in a Multicult,ural Society."  These two essays add some things to the "Silenced Dialogue" essay. But I think that Delpit's "Silenced Dialogue" does a good job of laying out her concerns in one essay. We can only assign 30 pages, right?  (Margo)

 Oct. 28 --As for our tentatively planned Nov. 11 meeting, there are several Dunn Bros. to choose from. But what about the one in Linden Hills. I think this one might be more kid-friendly for those of us who have kids we might need to bring along. Address: 2814 W. 43rd St., Mpls,  55410. On a Sunday, the traffic won't be so bad.

Book should be all read by Nov. 7, right?

Also, I had an idea about how to present this book.  What if we came up with a case, something that shows a classroom where minority students are not achieving as well in reading and writing. After supplying the class with selected readings, we could have them use Delpit's analysis to formulate strategies to increase minority student achievement.  Just thinking.

I also like the chapter that comes directly after the Silenced Dialogue-If we are able to use perhaps part of that it would be great.  Also, I know we talked about outlining sections before we meet.  I am up for anyone-let me know what you all want and I will take what is left.  See you all tomorrow.