Identity

     

    

This week learning about Identity I felt as though I was really able to connect with. Before joining the Youth Development program at RIC I never pay much attention to my identity it was more along the lines of I identify as a girl and not much more than that. But after joining the YDEV program my identity became everything and part of who I am and who I am becoming as a person in my every day life. 
After watching Jamila Lyiscott's ted talk "Why English Class is Silencing Students of Color" she made me think of a lot of things in a whole new perspective. Jamila makes a great point that schools and institutions don't value linguistics (Which Christa also mentions in her blog) which in my opinion is true. For as long as I can remember if a student's first language was/is not English teachers and schools tend to make those students speak English. Which isn't benefiting the child instead of working together with them. She also talks about having "Correct English" how are we certain that that is "Correct English"? It is like any other language there are so many different languages that are the same. For example take the language Portuguese there are two completely different dialects but both are also considered correct. So how do we know that there aren't different dialects of English? 

 One of the quotes I got from the video which I found very powerful is " power is not valued but often stripped away" This quote resonated with me because it made me look back on my own school career. There were many times where I felt helpless and powerless and just when I felt like I had a little bit of control of what was happening it was taken away. Whether it was by another student or a teacher. Early in my school career teachers put a label on me and my classmates they made it obvious and I felt as though they took part of my identity with them and stripped me away from being able to find myself and my identity because they put me and everyone else already in a "classified bubble." Because of this experience I found myself to be shy and hold back because I thought that's who I was supposed to be and when I opened up I would get shut down. It wasn't until recently that I realized speaking my mind is part of who I am and I shouldn't let people shut me down. However, I still feel as though teachers all over the world are making there students feel powerless. Like they don't have a voice especially those whose first language isn't English. Students begin to feel helpless and parents of those students even more helpless because they don't understand assignments because they don't understand the schools "Correct English." 
Jamila also speaks upon balance. Which we as youth workers and teachers need to be more aware of.. Not only for the youth that feel they don't have a voice and all of youth as well. But also we need to be more aware of this for ourselves and the people we surround ourselves with. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4dc1axRwE4


Comments

  1. YROBEVNovember 20, 2020 at 6:30 AM

    Hi Kylie, I enjoyed reading your blog. Something that stood out to me the most from your blog was, "Teachers all over the world are making these students feel powerless. Like they don't have a voice especially those whose first language isn't English" because teachers should understand that all students have a different identity and need a better way to get support and succeed through their academics. Teachers seem to force to students to learn English and tell them there are no classes of their own language. They are making students whose English is their second language isolated or oppressed. For students whose English is a second language, they could be a multi-lingual learner or speak a language their teacher has not spoken before, which makes them great students. As a youth worker, my goal is to be careful when teaching students whose first language is not English because they are important in this community and need our help. When I also came to the Youth Development, Identity became more important. As future professionals, we want youth to be honest and express their own identity because their own personalities what makes them unique. Also, it will help us learn who they are and how we can best help them.

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