Gaps in Language, Gaps in High Expectations?

I was wondering about similar questions, HannahB, and I wonder if Delpit is really suggesting that we should be expressing high expectations in students’ terms. On page 81, Delpit writes, “I want to make it clear that I am not suggesting that everyone should proceed to be mean to or yell at black children…what I am saying is that real concern about students’ living up to their academic potential should be transmitted in the teacher’s genuine mode of emotional expression.” And yet, as you made really clear in your post, a teacher’s “genuine” expression or language might be very different from what students are accustomed to or value. I might express myself in one way, and it might be interpreted in a totally different way by my students. To further complicate this, my same expression might be interpreted in different ways by different student who are coming from different places. And my students might interpret my expression differently based on their perceptions of me and where I am coming from.  It seems like, if I were to tell a student that I believed in their potential and that they needed to do better, especially with all of the emotional and body language, as well as the somewhat round about spoken language that I am used to and that feels genuine to me, it could be interpreted in many different ways.

For my inquiry project, I’ve been reading a book called "Teaching Other People’s Children" by Cynthia Ballenger. Ballenger writes about her initial struggles trying to communicate with the Haitian preschoolers she was teaching. She writes that her classroom was initially chaotic because the children would not listen to her or follow directions. With further research, she discovered that the language around discipline in Haitian culture was completely different than what she was used to; instead of focusing on the individual’s situation and feelings, the Haitian people she talked to focused on the group and the responsibilities of group membership. During her year teaching this particular group of kids, Ballenger writes that she learned to love the ways of communicating that she learned from the Haitian people she talked to, and she used them in her class. So I guess I am wondering, how does a teacher being “genuine” interact with knowing “the lives and culture of their students” (87)? Was Ballenger being genuine? I think maybe she was, in that she really came to love and take on the ways of communicating that she used. Maybe, then, there are ways of expressing our expectations in genuine ways while also incorporating the knowledge we have about students’ terms or understandings. But this seems so complicated…I agree with you, I’m not really sure how or if I will be able to do it.