Approaching a teaching career

First off, I apologize for the lateness of this post. My mind was convinced I had already done it and then I realized that my mind was incorrect.

1. If you are preparing to teach, what are you taking away from Delpit’s article regarding language and power that might help you as a teacher, and how could you apply these ideas to your proposed level of teaching?


I feel that Delpit's article is essential for those of us entering the teaching realm. So much is dependent upon the words we say and how we say them in regard to our student population. If we have the slightest implication in our speech that we aren't fully engaged or that we are assuming anything of our students, we are failing them as educators. Watching what we say and how we say it isn't easy, but it is necessary. I think that how Delpit discusses the differences between the way white audiences and black audiences listen to a lecture is essential because each culture picks up on different things depending on their own internal biases.

Biases are very common amongst the teaching profession and it is our job as educators to maintain a level head when speaking to our students so that our biases aren't made more public than they may already be. Language and vocabulary are seemingly the most difficult aspects of being a teacher because we are the center of the classroom. The students are listening to us. Everything we say is taken to heart and people from different cultures, people from backgrounds take things differently. It isn't something I always think about when I'm in the classroom, but Delpit really makes it that much more important for me to focus on this when I'm planning a lesson.