Journal #9 - The Dream Keepers

Reading The Dream Keepers by Gloria Ladson-Billings helped me understand a little more about race and culture in the classroom. I was and am committing one of the downfalls that Ladson-Billings points out that many teachers do. On pages 34-35 she points out how teachers make the statement “I don’t really see color” and “I don’t care if they’re red, green, or polka dot I just treat them like children.” I always thought that this was a good way to go about it; just treat all of my children the same way. This might not be the right way to approach teaching or a classroom. The fact of the matter is that these children are different and not just different based on color. We cannot just look at all of our students the same because let’s face it all of our students are NOT the same. Some are going to come with learning challenges; others will come from challenges at home. It is truly our job to be able to recognize these differences from student to student, be able to accept them and be able to adapt our teaching to reach each student.

I think that the teachers in the book demonstrate teaching wonderfully because they all involve a sense of community and holding students to high-standards in the classroom and in life. Ms. Dupree dressed well every day because she believed she was working with the most important people in the world (pg. 38). What a confidence boost it must have been to those children to have a teacher say that each student was the most important person in the world. Another teacher Ms. Devereaux points out that “you’ve got to get a good education because the community needs your brain power.” (pg. 43). Not only is the teacher pushing the students to excellence but she is telling them that it is essential to give back your gifts to the community to help the community grow and thrive. Ms. Devereaux also created a parent phone chain that allows parents to contact each other if there is something going on. The book shows an example of a parent’s concern for her son being missing and the parents call around to find out where the boy is. The teacher can not only get in touch with parents quickly but she clearly has their trust and that goes a long way.

Something else that I wanted to point out was a quote that I highlighted on page 13. It says “[m]y father often worked two jobs, yet we still lived more modestly that most of my classmates did.” It disgusts me when some people argue that black people are lazy and they are kept in a “circle of poverty” because they do not work hard enough to get out of it and do better for their families. If they are raised in an educational system that is deprived they are less likely to go to college and get well paying jobs. Now laws have changed so employers cannot discriminate based on race but I am sure some companies still find ways to do that. Not too long ago a white person and black person could hold the same exact position and the white person would make more money. No wonder the black family had to work two jobs and still made less than the white family. How can we point fingers and blame people for being lazy when they have been put into a situation where there is no positive outcome or no outcome that builds them up as people? Like this book points out, there needs to be a stronger sense of community in the classroom and link that sense in the classroom to the greater community.