Language is so much more than words, it can create images and share emotions. Language can connect and divide us; it can be used to build others up and to tear down. It is a powerful concept. Within these readings, I have chosen four pieces that have spoken to me, but for very different reasons.
The first quotation that I chose was from Kelly's (2016) text Creative development: Transforming education through design thinking, Innovation, and Invention.
This quote spoke to me in such a profound way as a teacher. As someone who has been teaching for 15 years, I have already had the opportunity to see the coming and going of so many trends within education. Unfortunately, so many of them are just copies of things that are not effective. We need to be ready to shake up education and look at the various aspects of education, not just what is happening within the classroom, but in the training and the physical structure of the schools and school day. So many tweaks and little changes are being made, but many are just add-ons or pushed off to the side to continue to uphold the archaic model of education. It will be messy, and we will make mistakes, but there are schools out there (and so many excellent teachers!) pushing back against the systems that focus on consumerism and uphold oppressive practices. I love that this quote is inspiring in why we need to change.
This quote perhaps spoke to me in a way Snyder did not intend. Instead, it spoke to me as an advocate of those who is often marginalized.
As someone who loves and cares for many 2SLGBTQSIA+ folks in my life, I have heard one of the biggest pushbacks: they cannot use those pronouns, that it is “incorrect language.” It is so important that language is constantly evolving and changing. The complexity of language is ever-changing, and things that were normalized and considered progressive are no longer considered. This is because how we express and share our identity through language evolves.
The article in the MB Teach magazine shares the following:
Cotton and Brown say that language around inclusion is constantly shifting and evolving, and teachers should be training to keep up.
“We need to move to a space where it’s not just students constantly letting their teachers know what their pronouns are,” says Cotton. “If adults are finding it hard, it’s up to adults to overcome their hard, not up to the child to reinforce and correct.”
And how teachers handle pronouns and names matters.
“We hear students being asked to fill out a form on their pronouns and teachers will say don’t worry we won’t tell anybody, and while that teacher is respecting confidentiality and trying to protect the child, what the student is hearing is that pronouns are a secret,” explains Cotton.
“A few years ago we were using ‘she’s’ and ‘he’s’ and then we moved everything to ‘they’. But now we know that those who are ‘they’ are ‘they’ for a reason. Some people have gone from a ‘she’ to a ‘he’ and they want to be a ‘he’. To them the ‘they’ is a slap in the face. We can no longer just use ‘they’ and mean that to be inclusive.”
Another aspect of pronouns that has evolved is the term ‘preferred’ pronouns. “For me, I know pronouns aren’t preferences, they’re a reality,” says Cotton. “It’s a shift in thinking, especially when you thought you were already doing it the right way.” (Tuhtar, 2022).
The evolution of languages is because of many complex issues that change as we learn more in our own thinking.
The quote by Felstiner says, "That dire word “unless “keeps coming up. Unless China and India in Indonesia and the industrialized nations make immediate radical changes, our children will be breathing unacceptable dangerous air before they’re our age" takes me to Dr. Suess' book The Lorax. The Lorax laments, “UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not. This mindset is something that I have experienced with family as suggestions of more environmental activities or products were suggested. Instead, it was met with the pushback that our earth will not get better unless countries like China and India make changes. This blames countries that face many of their own barriers. One of the reasons for the pollution in these areas, although this is a very simplistic explanation, is the mass consumerism of the North American culture. Our need to have more and more cause increased manufacturing, often in unsustainable and ways that are against human rights. Yet this does not stop our consumerism. We all need to make changes in our ways, realizing that different groups can contribute in different ways.
This quote was made about Dr. William Carlos Williams’ poem Red Wheelbarrow. Whenever I hear that poem, it instantly makes me think of a book called Love the Dog by Sharon Creech. This book is about a young boy named Jack, who does not consider himself a poet. He believes that poems are just for girls and that they are just dull and rhyming. It is a one-sided journal with his teacher, who shares that poems are so much more than rhyme, meter, or a profound message; it can be an image, a moment, or a feeling. As Jack discovers his voice as he shares what is on his heart by being "inspired by" different authors by using some of their styles and words to retell his story of his yellow dog. It is a book I read every other year to my class as it is such a powerful book as to what poetry can be... be careful while reading it; make sure you have a tissue nearby as you will need it as you read the last few chapters aloud to your class! Seeing poetry as more than the rhyme and romance of much-popularized poetry has helped to create and inspire my class to write and read poetry as they know it can be about just a moment, a memory, a feeling.
And if you are interested in the story of the Red Wagon poem and the author Dr. William Carlos Williams, this is a great read-aloud to use. The book is called 16 Words: William Carlos Williams and "The Red Wheelbarrow."
Resources
Felstiner, J. (2009). Can poetry save the Earth?: A field guide to nature poems. Yale University Press.
Kelly, R. (2016). Creative development: Transforming education through design thinking, Innovation, and Invention. Edmonton: Brush Education.
Rogers, L. (2020, April 22). Read aloud with Lisa Rogers: 16 words: William Carlos Williams & "The red wheelbarrow". YouTube. Retrieved June 12, 2022, from https://youtu.be/SzaoxaTy1DI
Snyder, G. (2000). Language Goes Two Ways. In C. McEwen & M. Statman (Eds.), The alphabet of the trees: A guide to nature writing (pp. 1–5). essay, Teachers & Writers Collaborative.
Tuhtar, M. (2022, May 18). Inclusion work is never done. The Manitoba Teachers' Society. Retrieved June 12, 2022, from https://www.mbteach.org/mtscms/2022/05/18/inclusion-work-is-never-done/