Deficit Myths are About Power
“ Blaming the children's parents, the culture, and their language for their lack of success in school has been a classic strategy used to subordinate and continue to fault the ‘victim.’ ” (Flores, et al, 1991, p. 371)
We are all familiar with terms like at risk, below grade level. They are labels we are used to seeing associated with certain students often without thinking of the historical, social, political or economic origins of the terms or the implications they have for students labeled as such. If we are not conscious of the origins of such labels or how they are likely to shape a students relationship to school, then we will be responsible for perpetuating, “policies of those in power that are used to control those who are not in power” (Flores, Tefft Cousin, Diaz, 1991, p.369). As educators we are obligated to advocate for all students, especially those that need extra support. Too often children are blamed when they don’t succeed. As stated in the article Transforming Deficit Myths About Learning, Language, and Culture by Barbara Flores, Patricia Tefft Cousin, and Esteban Diaz, “this label is used to rationalize their failure if they do encounter difficulty in school” (Diaz et al, 1991, p.369).
I have shared before that I often feel overwhelmed at the thought of how hard the work of teaching will be. There is plenty to be done and each task seems daunting. However, if students leave my classroom without the skills they need to be successful, then I have failed those students. Students alone do not have enough power to change the structure of school but, with our help we do have power to create change together. Deficit myths are about power. They are used reinforce the status quo while placing the onus of failure on those that have been systematically marginalized.
Have you encountered such labels as “at risk” in schools before? If so, how and to whom were they applied?
Did you notice a pattern such of those described in this week's readings? Did it influence your interactions with the student? How so?
Were these children expected to lower-cognitive level work than students that had not been labeled?
The students at the school where I work come from homes where Spanish is spoken. The students are bilingual. Many of the parents come to the school in the evening to take English classes. I think this allows for things to happen that would not happen if the children were white and their parents spoke English. I don’t see much communication between teachers and parents. The secretary speaks Spanish and is the primary point of contact for parents. I feel like many of the teachers have given up on the students so there are many instances occurring of Myth 4: "At risk" children have problems because parents don't care, can't read, or don't work with them.” (Flores, et al, 1991, p.372). Teachers have said things like, “Don’t bother. He never does his work anyway. His parents don’t care.” I am curious if this assessment was based on student work or this teachers one-sided critique that only seems to represent the perspective of the institution? Things like this become self fulfilling prophecies as the student is not getting the help they need so they can’t do the work and then the teacher can dismiss it as their fault or that of their families.
Have you seen any of the four myths played out? Which ones? How did you respond to these instances of deficit thinking?
Aside from using the four assumptions as an antidote to the four myths and incorporating student communities funds of knowledge into classroom practices, what are other ways to counteract deficit thinking?
The students where I work speak Spanish mainly as means of not being understood by teachers and staff. The only school work I have seen that incorporated their L1 is vocabulary worksheets for their religion class. Despite the fact that these children often become de facto translators for their parents there are very few (if any) translanguaging instructional practices occurring in classrooms. These practice which would help students create more meaningful translations and develop deeper understandings (Cole, 2019).
Have you seen any examples of translanguaging instructional practices beyond Spanish language vocabulary next to English on word walls?
By framing these languages as separate entities, one used at home and one used at school we are doing a disservice to students by not letting them use the full scope of their linguistic repertoire. We are also emphasizing the space that exists between the two which ‘others’ the home language. It sends a message that your home language should stay there when you come to school. Framing such as this, whether intentional or not, may cause students to feel like they have to choose. In her article, Language Diversity and Learning, Lisa Delpit posits that this separation of home and school languages may suggest that it is wrong or ignorant to use their L1 or home language at school. This is the language spoken in the comfort of home by those that love you. Implying that it is deficient in some way is insulting and dismissive of their lived experiences. If we want our students to see school as part of the community, we need to take care that we are not asking them to identify with one over the other.
What can we do besides welcoming home student language in the classroom to mitigate the affective filter?
What does it look like to honor student home languages while helping them learn language skills essential for success?
Below is a link to a video in which teachers describe their own experiences as ELL students and how it made them feel. Speaking from this perspective they share how it has impacted their teaching practices.
References
Flores, B., Cousin, P. T., & Diaz, E. (1991). Transforming deficit myths about learning, language, and culture. Language Arts, 68(5), 369-379.
Cole, M. W. (2019). Translanguaging in Every Classroom. Language Arts, 96(4), 244-249.
Delpit, L. (2003). Language diversity and learning. The critical pedagogy reader, 388-403.
Great post, Amber! I have definitely seen terms such as 'at risk' used before in schools. As a Title 1 aid, my job was to help these 'kids performing below grade level.' That's how my position was explained to me by my supervisor. The demographics of my groups and those of my colleagues matched the racial/ethnic patterns described by Flores, Cousin, and Diaz (1991). Every single student in my groups was either black or Hispanic. I didn't really think much of it at the time, but 95% of the white kids at the school were in the advanced class, while 99% of the kids receiving help for being at risk were students of color. I'm positive that there were some black or Hispanic kids who deserved to be in the advanced class, but weren't allowed because of 'behavioral issues,' language 'deficits,' or some other reason.
ReplyDeleteI loved the video link you included. It reminded me of two case study articles I read in my Second Language Acquisition course a year ago. The first (Valdez, 1998) described two little Mexican girls who moved to California and started in the public schools. The article described their ESL 'class'--their teacher required complete silence, they often spent hours coloring pictures and 'learning vocabulary,' they were rarely around English-speaking classmates, and the books they had were overly simplistic. Both of these girls struggled in this context (duh, I would too) and ended up joining gangs and dropping out of high school. The second (McCay & Wong, 1996) described four Chinese elementary students and their experience with English writing instruction. For one of the children, the authors included an example of his Chinese writing (a sophisticated, connected paragraph. That contrasted sharply with his English writing, which was a list of unconnected sentences all starting on the left margin. His teachers refused to use his Chinese literacy skills as an aid to gaining English literacy. Instead of allowing him to se translanguaging, he was taught to separate the two languages.
Thanks, Rachel! Your story reminds of the school we read about in math, Johnson Middle school, that labeled all incoming students as below grade level because they came from low performing schools. It frames the children as problems in need of solutions. Everything at the school was constructed as a dichotomy. Students were either good or bad students. They imposed their own beliefs about these children onto them rather than basing their assessments on student work. Kids will internalize these labels just as the example of Timmy illustrated in the same article. Despite the fact that he could do the work successfully, he was labeled "slow at math" because he needed more time than was allotted during the teachers math game to determine who was queen or king (Jackson, 2009). Students will internalize labels just as the girls you describe reading about. I have seen it myself. A boy once told me that he was "just a bad kid." He seemed to think that it what adults expected from him so he acted accordingly. He was surprised to hear that maybe he just has bad days like everyone and that was ok. He could still make good choices. The example of the Chinese students demonstrates the importance of offering a variety of options that demonstrate learning while accommodating different learning styles, especially for students learning English. How would we feel if put in that situation? We learn best when we can build on what we know and use fully all the skills at our disposal. I always liked the graphic on the home tab of Dr. Magee, "If you judge a fish by it's ability to climb a tree it will spend it's life thinking it is stupid."
DeleteAmber - your posed such meaty questions, it's difficult to narrow down what to answer! Like Rachel, I was a Title I Assistant. My experience was a bit different, as I wasn't limited to working with a specific level of students. However, I have encountered teachers/faculty speaking of children or labeling students as "at risk". I think that this was mostly due to myth #3 - teachers using standardized tests as a means to "identify and categorize students" (Flores, Cousin, & Diaz, p. 372). After the test labelled them, then the other myths came into play. It was as though the "accuracy" of such scores couldn't be contested, and therefore, other labels followed: The problems were because of "uncaring parents", "they lack experiences"...and ultimately, their labels landed them in the lower-performing group or track (myth #2). Why do we rely so heavily on the numbers? I feel it's our responsibility to have an asset POV and to look for reasons to challenge the numbers from the tests - focusing on their strengths, their funds of knowledge, their capabilities - instead of taking the label as truth.
ReplyDeletePriscilla, I tried to cover a little bit of everything. I don't have answers beyond what we have discussed in class. I just remind myself this is all a work in progress. I am always wary of labels when I encounter them. Perhaps because of my background and relationship to school, I always question the motive of labeling children. I think it is done to make it easier for adults to deal with children. As in the book Dr. Taylor shared with us, we place kids in "boxes" so they are easier to deal with. We impose expectations on students so they can learn to abide the world of adults to gain our adoration and approval. This perspective ignores what is in the child's best interest. I definitely experienced being placed into boxes by teachers that did not know me as an individual. I did well on tests but was shy. My home life was such that completing homework was not always a priority. I think we rely on tests and labels because it is any easy out. It absolves the adults of accountability if "those" kids fail. I agree that we need a strengths based POV that builds on what the student knows and can do.
DeleteGreat post, Amber! I want to try to answer one of your questions: What does it look like to honor student home languages while helping them learn language skills essential for success?
ReplyDeleteThis question made me reflect on the translanguaging article. The concept of translanguaging is to "encourage students to fluidly utilize their full collection of linguistic resources in ways that reflect how bilingual people naturally use language." (Cole, pg. 244). The article address the importance of valuing languages a student has and utilizing it for their benefit.
One approach on doing this was having the students translate a passage from English to their home languages. The article mentions the importance of using passages with metaphorical language to add challenge to the translation process. "Students build deeper understanding of the text as they work together to create meaningful translations that are more complex than the simple direct transation that online translators like Google Translate would provide," (Cole, pg. 246). We talked in class on Monday about the value that having students reteach things to other kids has on their own understanding of the lesson. I think this approach is a great way to utilize the home languages within the classroom and have the students learn skills essential for success.
Thanks Tori, I also appreciated the examples offered in that article. I agree that having the kids translate and compare translations is a great way to use their full range of linguistic ability. This task would be especially beneficial as many kids have to translate for their parents and it is a skill in and of itself. I wonder why I don't see more of this type of activity happening in the school where I work. Perhaps it is because I work with younger students, but I still feel like they would benefit from this type of activity or the others described in the article.
DeleteAmber, I really like all of the questions you have posed! Unfortunately I don't have much experience working with students that have been labeled "at-risk", but I do feel as if these articles did a great job of giving tangible examples I could potentially use when approaching teaching students with multilingual or bilingual backgrounds. To answer one of your other questions about how we can go beyond the four assumptions, I think that if we continue to engage in critical self-reflection so that we ask ourselves how much responsibility we take for our own actions and the way we think of students, this is a solid foundation for keeping ourselves away form deficit thinking. I'm sure that there are biases I still hold deep that I will need to address and reflect on as I work with students that come from different backgrounds than I do, but that's part of acknowledging how I can change my own "habitudes" (Flores, Diaz, Cousin, 1991). While I was reading the article on Transforming Deficit Myths, Assumption #3 really stuck out to me as something that seems so far from where we are headed, but it sounds so much more promising in building our asset-based knowledge of assessing our students' learning. Flores et al. quotes Taylor in saying "observations of abilities that contradict test scores should not be denied" (Flores et. al., 1991, pg. 374), and I think this mentality is very useful in shifting how we determine whether a child is furthering their knowledge of a subject or not. If we can all acknowledge that students struggle with test assessments, why can't we also use their work as a way to advocate for them? I really like they examples in the Cole article, Translanguaging in Every Classroom, because they provide simple ways in which students can use knowledge of their home languages to make connections with the target language, especially from the cognate word study lessons. I think making these kinds of efforts will go a really long way in not only creating connections for students between their home and school languages, can also help us make our own connections with our own home language and their home language. We should make small efforts to learn phrases and words ourselves along the way, because I think that kind of effort will go a long way.
ReplyDeleteThanks Emma. We all have biases, many of which we are not aware of. I agree with you that it makes the importance of self reflection a necessary instructional practice. I am a journal keeper, so hopefully I can manage taking time everyday to commit to paper what happened that day, how lessons could be improved, noting useful information about students, et cetera. The importance of using a variety of student work for assessment has been stressed in many of our readings. Keeping track of how students have progressed as the year goes on is a great counter narrative to labels that may get affixed to certain students. I agree that cognate word study lessons would help everyone in the class make connections that would deepen their understanding of words and how they are related. Anything we can do to get the students and ourselves to make these connections will positively impact our classroom interactions. I have been researching Spanish language immersion programs in Mexico! I love words and language and wish very much I was not monolingual. Language conveys such intimate knowledge of culture and history. What a great source for potential connections.
DeleteWhen we were walking around looking at signs placed around Enlace during our Diversity class, I saw a sign on the cafeteria door that said, “food for at risk students”. I found the terminology concerning, but also the fact that they posted it so publicly on the door. What kid needs another label placed on them, especially in such a public way.
ReplyDeleteI’ve heard similar comments from teachers while subbing. It’s so disheartening, especially because typically when I do ignore the teacher and choose to work with the student, that student proves them wrong. Students sense when their teachers don’t care about them and shut down. If I had to do assignments for a teacher who didn’t care about my well-being, I’m not sure I would try very hard either. Honestly, isn’t the whole point of teaching that you don’t give up and keep trying day to day? I get that there will be days when you’re not connecting with the student, but that shouldn’t mean you just give up on them indefinitely.
Thank you for sharing that video! The statistic of 5.3 million ELLs in public schools should be a wake-up call. That’s not a small number. Yet, for some reason we still lack policies and curriculums to support these students rather than alienate them. The reading on deficit myths mentions how we remove our students’ voices and power, by denying their identity within and outside of school. I think the first step toward negating this is to get to know them personally. I’ve seen teachers make assumptions about a student celebrating a certain holiday or eating a certain type of food based on where their family is from. Teachers could easily avoid these misconceptions if they just took the time to talk to their students. In my experience, students at the elementary level love to share!
Addy, I totally thought of those signs when I was doing this weeks readings. At risk of what? Being exploited by capitalism? I get that communicating that the meals come at no cost is needed but the choice of wording is insensitive. I have seen it at every school I worked that was a free meal site, so maybe it has to do with signage being dictated by those that fund the program? Probably not though. Labels are placed on students regularly with little thought to the origins of the label or the implications for students. Kids do know when you don't care. I think labels make it crystal clear. It seems like getting to know students is such an obvious, easy answer, but I guess it is hard work for those that don't care to make the effort.
DeleteAmber, good post! I think you bring up very good questions and concerns. I personally don’t have any experience with “at risk” or any labeled students. One of my best friends used to work with students who were labeled “at risk.” He would often talk about how other teachers in the school would avoid these students and pass them off if possible. Once the school realized he was good with these students, he got a promotion and was the teacher who worked with them. Knowing what I know now, I realize he was really the only teacher who got to know the students personally despite the language barrier, which was one of the main reasons behind his success with the students. “Educators, policy makers, and parents have complacently accepted that if a child has a problem, the explanation for the problem is found in the child.” (Flores et. Al, pg. 371) Just like your quote you added, this adds to the complacency of why we continue to blame the child. Everyone is one board with the problem even the parents which makes this a big challenge. That’s why it’s even more important for us as educators not to give up and keep chipping away for change. You asked what we can do besides welcoming the home language, I believe it also starts with teachers like my friend to continue to advocate for these children and prove to our educational peers that it’s not the child. It’s the way we welcome these so called “at risk” students into the school.
ReplyDeleteAmber, great post! You ask a lot of important questions and I really appreciate hearing about your personal experiences! “In many cases, teachers will not know all of the languages of their students, and in some cases, they will be prohibited from delivering content in languages other than English…” (Cole, 2019, p. 245). Over this past weekend I was talking with a teacher, who has been teaching in IPS for several years and has recently taken an Assistant Principle position, about communicating with ELL, ESL, etc. students.
ReplyDelete(I apologize to her and to you all in advance, as my recollection of our conversation will not be as precise as I would prefer and the terminology/etc. are probably not spot on…I certainly won’t do her account justice, but I feel it is very relevant so I will do my best! I will definitely be discussing this with her again to make sure I get it right! The general ideas are there…)
Anyways, She was telling me that the two schools she worked in had a large Latinx student population, but very few, if any, of the teachers spoke/understood very little, if any, Spanish. As such, in both schools, the administration brought in a certified interpreter / translator to help educate students and communicate with parents – although I don’t know if this was pressure from the teachers or required, but I got the sense that it might have been because the school was required by rule/law. Anyways, She told me there were many problems, but the two major problems were: (1) Only 1 certified interpreter/translator for an entire school was not enough, but the admins stated “it just wasn’t in the budget to hire more” and (2) The interpreter / translator wasn’t actually certified in the language of need, Spanish. First, she told me she and the other teachers were so upset with the admin over their budget restrictions… actually they were pissed. Then, second, the interpreters / translators, rather than being certified in Spanish, one actually got her certification in French and the other, at her most recent school, was certified in Hindi. She said this was a very common problem as there is incredibly high demand for Spanish certified interpreters / translators. She hinted that basically schools can get away with…and only need to show they have a certified interpreter/translator on staff, not that their certification is in the language necessary, which i got the feeling goes against the actual intention/requirement (or if not…wow…). In these circumstances, especially when the person brought in to provide assistance doesn’t actually speak the L1 language of the students, it is much more difficult for teachers to integrate Tanslanguaging into the classroom. The students have little to no support and many/most of the teachers, like the teacher I talked to, want to help, feel the need and feel it’s their responsibility to their students, however, they don’t have any support either from the admin/school. You mention that “The students where I work speak Spanish mainly as means of not being understood by teachers and staff,” which is very much similar to what she was saying occurred in her school(s). This teacher worked on learning Spanish, and attempted many things, she used the Spanish language vocabulary next to English on word walls – I would have to ask her about Tanslanguaging practices! – but she ultimately decided to approach it in a different way, which was to move up the food chain to make a difference.
Great post Amber! I really like your idea about how "We are also emphasizing the space that exists between the two which ‘others’ the home language. It sends a message that your home language should stay there when you come to school." I completely agree with this statement and I also thought about how this idea is often expanded to other things and not just language. There are many things teachers and schools prohibit students from bringing into school whether directly or indirectly. Language, clothes, games, beliefs, religion, non-verbal communication, and I feel like so many more things that I can't think of off the top of my head that students are directly or indirectly told to keep separate from school. The message that is sent to keep student's home language (as well as everything else) at home can and does effect students idea of identity and culture.
ReplyDelete“Can you imagine how difficult it would have been to make sense of the new vocabulary without connecting the terms to concepts and words you already knew in your first language? How much more difficult would it have been to learn all of our academic content in that language> now imagine you had to learn that content without opportunities to converse with your classmates in your home language or to explore new topics in depth in ways that would have been impossible using only your emerging second language proficiency?” (Cole, 2019, p. 245). For students to have to go through this, it robs them of their identities. It can make it take much more time and is far more stressful and complicated than it should be for these students. As Cole (2019) explains, “We now have decades of research consistently demonstrating that students supported to use their home language outperform those limited to monolingual, English-only approaches,” (p. 245). But even more devastating are the mental/physiological impacts this can have on students… I do not have the statistics, but I do have an example. My sister-in-law was telling me that she has a child in her class that only knows a few English words and his native language is Mandarin. She said it is absolutely devastating to see him go through the school without having anyone that is able to communicate with him… even more devastating is the impact it has had on the student mentally. He has developed selective mutism, he has disengaged from school, he has begun to give up. My sister-in-law has reached out to try to get an interpreter / translator, but has not had success in finding one. She has used Google Translator, but the student has been so crushed and his voice taken from him for too long that she said the process of earning his trust and building his confidence continues to be incredibly challenging.
ReplyDeleteI just imagine, in too many schools across the country, children being psychologically scared due to being stripped of their language. I feel that Translanguaging can mitigate, if not prevent and alleviate this and is essential in that "it is collaboration, high-quality instruction, and a school-wide commitment to the success of emergent bilinguals that is ultimately more important to their success than structural constraints like program model or language of instruction policy," (Cole, 2019, p. 245). The evidence/research is there and we have the approaches / strategies to do something about this, even in a Monolingual Classrooms... "even in English-only contexts, it is possible to pursue a translanguaging pedagogy." (p. 245).
DeleteBut, what about those students that are alone? That speak an uncommon language? Although Mandarin is the most commonly spoken language in the world, finding an interpreter / translator here presents quite challenging … so how do we help / what do we do for students like the student that came to my sister-in-law's class, already feeling completely stripped of his sense of self and language... with no other student or even staff, faculty member, volunteer, etc. that speaks his language?
Amber your post is so thoughtful and I love your questions! Upon initial reflection I didn't think I had much experience working with kids deemed "at-risk" since I haven't had much experience working with children in settings such as being a Title 1 aid or substitute teaching. However, then I remembered I spent a summer working with the children at The Julian Center (a domestic violence shelter), and when I was working in Austin, TX I did after school programing with students that would have been deemed "at-risk". I think this was so easy for me to overlook, because luckily I didn't have people introducing them to me as "at-risk" and once you sit down and begin communicating with them and working through activities it was so easy just to see them as children without the stigma of "at-risk" and whatever that label meant for the particular student.
DeleteI really liked your question, "Aside from using the four assumptions as an antidote to the four myths and incorporating student communities funds of knowledge into classroom practices, what are other ways to counteract deficit thinking?" I think it is so easy for me to approach these challenges from a place of personal deficit, because I don't have a lot of real experience in a classroom, so how do I really talk about the best approaches or ways of debunking these myths. However, realistically I think the first step is taking a look inward and asking what frame of mind or assumptions are we as teachers making about these students who have been labeled "at-risk"? It may go against your instincts, but if you can approach your students from a clean slate and really get to know who they are, what the motivations behind their interactions, what their home life is like, etc. it is much more beneficial to approaching your time with them. Flores' article isn't the first time I've heard the myth that these supposed "at-risk" kids have problems because their parents don't care or are not invested in their child's success. However, I often wonder if the teachers or administrators that believe that have ever really opened up opportunities for these parents to become involved in their classrooms. Just because they aren't regularly reaching out to you doesn't me that they don't care, but maybe as Flores suggests they don't want to overstep their bounds or don't feel comfortable stepping in especially if you haven't formed relationships with them or encouraged them to take part in different aspects of their child's school experience.