Week Four- Class Reflection

“We die. That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.” -Toni Morrison

Having Anne Charity Hudley in class tonight was great-- it was really interesting to hear her talk about meaning making along with symbols and language and especially how as educators do we best best reflect, serve, and incorporate the communities we serve?

Key question that has driven her research—How do we value the home language and build on it while learning standardized English, without demeaning the student’s linguistic and cultural background?

-This resonated with me, particularly after taking the Leadership and Cultural Competency class.  We read many articles about how people were thought to not be as smart due to accent (southern drawl), culture, etc.  

 The comment that Professor Hudley made about talking so well for being black is something I have heard and read about on many occasions.  (microaggression!!)

Another thing that stuck out was when we talked about front porch initatiatves.  At Bucknell, all the dorms were made out of "Bucknell brick", with the exception of the 7th Street House for Africana studies.  This was a big rambling house with an awesome front porch, and the house did a lot of their programming right on their front porch.  This was a big aha moment for me-- and I wish I would have been able to make that connection earlier.

I really enjoyed the connections that her talk made directly to the readings.  I loved hearing about Prof. Hudley's research but especially how it has implications in the everyday, particularly with the variations in language depending on the time and place and that we speak differently going from one situation to the other.

When do I speak differently?

- with my husband

- with friend versus work

- in my office vs admin meetings

-this list goes on, but it made me think about my persona-- and made me think critically if just the way I spoke changed or who I was as a person. I should be the same from one scenario to the other-- but am i?

 Acronym ultimately based on S&M's Observations/reading--SPEAKING

-thought this was a great concise way to explain it

·         S- setting and scene.—stands for time and place as well as the psychological characteristics of communication 

·         P- participants—speakers and audience—both intended and unintended

o    Ex- wedding toast- intended audience are guests, unintended- catering staff

·         E- ends-stands for purpose of the communication and what participants seek to accomplish

·         A- at sequence- refers to the form of the order of the communicative event.  Discourse order of the situation

·         K- key represents the tone, manner, spirit of communication, much as we talk about music being in a certain key.  The key can be communicated both verbally and nonverbally.  (key should relate to end goal)

·         I- instrumentalities- forms and styles of speech that are used

·         N- norms refer to the social conventions governing the communication, including the participants’ actions and how the events unfolds

o    How the social interactions and the norms of the school influence/suggest how you act/respond

·         G- Genre- refers to the type of communication—written, oral, multimedia

Microagressions-- I also found this really interesting.  I was always outspoken as the oldest of five children, but I feel like I really found my voice during my freshman year of high school when I attended an all-girls school.  Not having males around for some reason was so liberating  and I felt like I could really speak my mine.  Then when my family moved, I went to a very rural high school.  I was called a dumb cheerleader, etc, and being outspoken in such a small, conservation town, I certainly had microagressions targeted against me. 

But I'm hypocritical and use my own toward others-- the most common one is "Oh, Honey" -- similar to the Bless your heart we talked about.  I need to work on this.

 Speaking out and being your own advocate is important, especially when women aren't heard or don't speak up as much.  One of my favorite readings/books from my organizational behavior class was entitled Women Don't Ask and it discussed that women make significantly less because they don't ask for me/don't negotiate.  I do more publicity for my blog than for me personally, but I appreciate how much Prof. Hudley puts herself out there to advance her career and does it deliberately.

Here is my last note from Prof. Hudley's talk--

Hmm—I want to help her with research---fourth book, college area.  How/when can I get involved?

I think maybe I need to get my master's thesis done first, but it's a thought :)


At the end of class, we watched the videos from bureaucrats, President Reveley, and teachers, and we filled out the worksheet "language and symbols of policy."  Depending on the actor, the tone and approach was very different.  Kerri's point about ethos, logos, and pathos was very appropriate, and it was another thing that made perfect sense, but I don't think I could make the connection on my own.  I should have because I am tutoring a young man in tenth grade English, and that's what we covered this past weekend :)

P.S.  I did reach my goal for this week-- I sat in a different seat this week-- I met a couple wonderful people, but one not so great person.  In the downtime sitting next to him, he told me was sorry for me because I advise one of the "bad" sororities, sang a song about my sorority's stereotypes, and insulted my rec kick ball team.  I was and still am so taken aback.  I know we all have our own biases, but I would hope that in a professional setting or with someone new, you wouldn't put them out there so easily.  It makes me a little sad and a little worried for the students that he works with and if they get a fair deal when working with him.