Friday, October 17, 2008

Gee and Delpit in their articles are talking about discourses and the impications that they have on us as teachers of literacy. They talk about how these discourses effect the education and even everyday life for many people. One of the main arguements that they have with eachothers views is the idea that language, especially your primary discourse, is either aquired subconciously or conciously. Gee believes that the acquisition of language is unconscious and is pushed on you just by being immersed into whereas Delpit believes that it is a conscious decision, a process that people actively take part in. So what does this mean for me as an educator. As a future teacher it will be imperative to have an understanding of discourse and the terms around it to be able to tap into the many different students that I will have. Every person comes from different walks of life and has different discourses that effect how they function. It will be necessary for me to be able to sort through this and figure out the best approaches to teaching these students and bringing them to a point that they will be able to function properly in the mainstream discourse of society. I think that the main thing that I want to know is how to better identify different discourses and how to address them.

2 comments:

Shawnee McPhail said...

So, do you agree with one more than the other? And if so, how do you plan on going about addressing literacy through their structure/ideas?

Luke Thomas said...

You end with a very important idea. How do we reach and understand different discourses that we are not a part of? I think it is very optimistic to believe we can understand every discourse, but I believe we can make an effort in the right direction.