Godley, Carpenter and Werner "'I'll speak in proper slang': language ideologies in a daily editing activity" ---

Like other teachers who are willing to participate in collaborative research with university folks, or who conduct taped, actions research, Cynthia Weber both making a real contribution AND was really shocked when she saw on tape, the disconnect between what she thought she was doing, pedagogically, and how those actioans actually affected her students (p. 124). She saw that her students were really and truly guessing at answers. And what a monolithic view of "correct" English she laid on her African American students. Inside herself, the article says that she wanted to take them to that place of equal access through explicit teaching -- like Delpit talks about. But, instead, she ended up belittling her students and "annoying" them. I'm suprised she didn't have an insurrection -- well, she did, I guess. It must have been agonizing to sit through week after week of unchanging Daily Language Practice -- for the researchers and the kids. I like the way the authors take us through a painstaking ascent to their vantage point and end up with a strong recommendation for creating critical dialogic classrooms and classroom cultures. That said, I also think Cynthia and other teachers whose work is studied are courageous in their service to the field as a whole. We all need to dust off those tee shirts and bumper stickers that said "Question Authority" ....